getting settled

wednesday morning - day 5

two surprises so far...how cold it is in the morning. always darkest before the dawn and the coldest too. high 50s. and the solar hot water for the shower never gets quite hot so i have to train myself to take evening showers for a hot shower. this morning was a quick sponge bath. couldn't brace myself to go all under. but it's cold this time of year with the rainy season. two rainy seasons a year, july and short and ones in april and october. lasting about a month long. the hottest month is january and the coolest is june/july. (hopefully i'll be skiing in switzerland with some british friends in january at their chalet. too classic if that were to happen!)

i'm staying in the servant's quarters here at livingstone guest house in the back off the kitchen by the washer and dryer. it's a cozy little bedroom with a small bathroom, but it works and is clean. it's called the mother theresa room. and is off the beaten path when teams come to the guest house. another team of 5 coming soon. they house one or two teams a month for a week or less so it's pretty mellow. just me and chris and lindy and their baby ezra most of the time.

chris and lindy are from north carolina and have been in kenya about 5 years. they have several projects they are doing as missionaries and are the kind of do-gooder folks that are simply off grid to the rest of the world. yesterday i went with chris on his weekly run to distribute boxed food to needy schools and went into several slums including kibera. a great day of adventure, doing good and seeing sights that most would never get to see. it sure beats sitting in my loft all day watching ESPN. the adventure i was hoping for is already happening. and i was doing something for someone else. that felt good too.

today we head off to their chicken farm. they bought a chicken farm with some partners and are supplying kenyans with work and a livelihood. i'm shooting a video for their year-end report for their supporters so yesterday was fun shooting and today will be crazy shooting all these chickens. they call them broilers. they don't lay eggs. they are for cooking and eating. should be another fun shoot day. filming in africa is so great because the colors are so vivid and the background is always interesting. never a bad angle. so i am loving shooting here so far. more on that later.

the other surprise is how westernized it seems to me this time. KFC, starbucks, IDK, i suppose i got so used to the exotic and the wild last time that this trip it seems normal as i focus on the familiar. i mean, when you see a WaffleWorld in the local mall, it just doesn't seem that exotic. but you'll have a your occasional masai shepherd steering his herd thru the traffic with no regard to vehicles, and that reminds you this isn't kansas anymore. 

but i'm even used to that now. still, it's fun and different, don't get me wrong. and on occasion i'll yell out the window "i'm in africa!" cuz it's so fun and wild. it's a crazy place with it's own drumbeat. i'm sure it will not get old anytime soon. much to learn. like driving on the left side when i do finally get a vehicle. giving way in the roundabouts will be my next hurdle.

money

the currency here is the kenyan shilling...otherwise called a "bob". as in... "it was 200 bob". a bob is 1 shilling. there are 100 shillings/bob to one USD, so the exchange rate is very favorable for an ex-pat like me living off his pension (thank you SAG). i contribute some grocery money here at the house, my room is in exchange for some film work, i have no car yet, so my expenses are fairly low. really low. and it's very weird to walk around with no keys in your pocket. i don't even own a key. that's strange. soon enough i suppose. but for now, it's fresh not even owning one key to have to carry with.

back to the currency, in comparison there are 76 yen to one US dollar and 14 mexican pesos to one dollar and 31 thai baht to one dollar and 49 indian rupee. 

but if you are mzungu, a person of foreign descent, or the token white guy, it means you have money. and the local officials will gladly throw their weight around to get it out of you.

customs reset

i was so anxious flying here with all my gear because i didn't know how i would handle getting extorted upon my arrival. it's morally wrong, unethical, and reprehensible, but after you've traveled for 30 hours and some guy at the door to freedom wants $200 to get thru, what are you gonna do, argue about it for another hour? he said i needed a "license and a letter" to bring in my gear. well, it happens to be my personal property so none of that is of course required, but he saw his chance with the big american and collected a cool 20,000 bob by being the bully in the uniform that you can't really fight. corruption is still a big way of life throughout africa and as a westerner, you have to pick your battles i suppose. but my anxiety came from knowing there was going to be a train robbery and i was the train that was gonna get robbed. imagine flying in knowing you're probably gonna get mugged. well, it happened, and it makes the rest of the kenyans look bad when your first encounter is some customs guy bullying you for payola. it is what it is, i'll be firmer next time, i was happy to pay at the time so i could get home, but everyone here is looking for a handout. a missionary wife here said "i'm tired of being an ATM machine cuz everyone's asking for money". something i have to adjust to, be aware of it, and play it as deftly as i can. still, it's lame being under THE MAN and you're the little guy being held ransom. such is life.

jet lag

doing pretty good on my jet lag. the old wive's tale of one day per one hour of time difference may be true. i'm 10 hours time difference from LA, but it won't take me ten days. i'm doing pretty good, but when i do grab an afternoon nap (a "kip", mate), i sleep very hard. not too concerned about it. it will settle soon enough. and i'm doing better everyday.

karen cc & my health

when i was here in january i had a whiskey at the karen country club. a nice club with a pool! that's my thing! swimming! i grew up swimming and for me it's my best form of exercise. and even though i've run the berlin marathon, i'm not much of a runner. could be a walker, but a swimmer, yes. that's me. and the truth is that sitting in my loft for the last 4 years and becoming so sedentary for the last 10 has not sat well (pardon the pun). one of the reasons for the life change was my health and fitness. time to do something about it. i've been so lazy for so long, not a big fan of joining a gym, and not really a big fan of even sweating if the truth be told (just more dirty clothes to wash). but i had become your basic obese american and needed to do something about it. the "norm" in the states is changing. obesity is even on a shifting scale. as is "high blood pressure". normal is 120 over 80 but the new norm is 140 over 90. that's me. and i should be @ 195 pounds at 6'2" with a body mass of 19-25 but i'm 240 pounds and a body mass of 30.8. in short, i'm obese with borderline high blood pressure and out of shape and not fit. and i say enough. oh yeah i have a large frame and can hide it well, blah blah blah, but i'm sick of my gut and want to do something about it. now you might say moving to africa just so you can join a country club and swim everyday is a little extreme, and i grant you that. it is. i am extreme. but i was desperate. desperately unfit in my old world with no motivation to do much about it, and was borderline hopeless that that world was not going to change much. comfort food and slothfulness had won out. the big fat american. like the walmart photo montages of patrons that float around the web. i was tired of being that guy. i was turning into a fat recluse of a ghoul, stuck in my loft and thinking "so this is what's like to grow old." you eat and watch tv and wait for something to happen. for me it was waiting for the phone to ring or an email audition.  at any rate, i needed change. maybe i'm being too hard on myself, but i've been way too easy on myself for too long. when i swam everyday at the pool at pepperdine in malibu i was fit and strong and felt good about myself. i want to be that guy again. but i'm afraid after two shoulder surgeries and fighting cancer last year, i have gone to pot. time to be the change, loose the gut and the flab, and be the tanned adonis i'd like to be. so that means finding two sponsors to join the karen cc and get my vehicle sorted out, and making it into the pool everyday. a little swim, a little equatorial sun, and voila, a new ddm. that's the plan anyway. drop 40 pounds and lose this fishbelly white fleshtone. my feet are so white. ghostly white. i know i might sound weird, but i want some color, on my feet, my legs, i want to look healthy and be healthy. so there it is. maybe i did move here just to swim at the karen cc. there are worse things to be accused of. at least i want to change my body for the better. lower my blood pressure. lose the fat. look and feel good. i'm not over the hill yet but i could be if i don't change the direction of this ship! so here i am. sick and tired of being sick and tired, bored with the usa, bored with my recluse existence, bored with my life path. i made the move, was fortunate and am blessed to have the freedom to make a new life choice and have landed with some great folks who are doing great things.

today

today CT is going to take me to set up some banking at the funds exchange where i can write a personal check for money without having to open a proper bank account. then we'll see the "street boys" who are the sudanese kids on the street hooked on sniffing glue, gambling, stealing, and barely surviving. CT helps with this outreach to the lost and hopeless. but like he says, it's never hopeless as long as one person cares. am i too jaded to be that one person? am i so "not my problem" that i will turn away to focus on my path, or is there room in my heart to care about the lost and hopeless? good challenges. good questions. then we'll hit the chicken farm. (where i'll get to try out my new camera rig to shoot chickens at ground level. kinda geeked about that.) it's only wednesday, but i feel like i'm getting in the groove. shooting CT for his year end report is a good assignment. gets me shooting again and i set up my edit station last nite. my gear is working and i have a project. i am a happy camper. also trying to take it a day at a time. not worry about tomorrow or next week or next month. trust that things will come my way when they are supposed to...like a paying gig, a place to live, and a car. all in god's good timing...if i choose to wait on his divine plans for me. but i'm meeting lots of kenyans and "non-kenyans" and lots of cool international folks. south africa, australia, UK, europe, just a wide mix of folks here. and my ADD embraces all of it. the accents, the sights, the smells, the colors, the culture, the incredible mix. karen is a cool little town. reminds me of malibu. laid back, a small town center, interesting folks. we're a 5 hour drive to the coast, we're a mile high, and we're on the equator. still adjusting to the altitude. have had 2 bloody noses already and i haven't had a bloody nose in forever. it is dry, lots of dust and dirt and exhaust, and will take a while to adjust to all that. even the high altitude. my face is puffy and swollen in the morning due to the high altitude. again, an adjustment. more to love : )

overall

overall, i'm thrilled to be here. CT has a new project everyday that i get to tag along with and i'll send you the video link when it's all done. driving on the left hand side will be interesting, but part of the acclimation. and driving as aggressive at the mutatu taxis will be a challenge. but you got to stick your nose out. the weather is beautiful, the skies are big, and earth is so red. like hawaii soil. a deep, fertile redness. but very happy about moving here. i'm sure i'll hit some dark days, but so far i am engaged and busy and loving the change. i'm afraid africa has been in my blood since 1974. and i am finally here. for better or for worse, but so far it is all for the better. i was dying back home. starved for meaning and adventure. now i have a whole continent to explore and find purpose. 

here is CT. he's become a good bud already. and even a role model in caring about others. they give so much to so many needy. their time and their very lives. and expect nothing in return. a good environment for this crusty old yank to be around. life is good. and each day is indeed a gift. i am very thankful to be a part of what's going on ever here.

sorry it's so hard to leave a comment on this blogsite. i know it's a hassle. but i love reading your feedback on facebook. i know i may be longwinded, but hey, it's a blog. i'll try to keep it updated, but i can feel i'm getting busier by the day. and it's only week one! i figure i'll give the blog 100 days, like the president is measured by his first 100 days. that'll be the end of january. wow, can't imagine what i'll be up to by then. 

all for now. thanks for sharing the journey. 

african hug,

ddm