the plot thickens

new developments

got an email monday from scott harrison at charity:water to hire me for a 9 day shoot in ethiopia to shoot a team of donors at fresh water well sites. dates are oct 16-23. i would fly into addis ababa, the capitol of ethiopia, and have a fun week with new folks of field work. the only conflict is the airtel commercial spot, i wouldn't be able to do both. but i have heard only crickets so far this week from my production peeps. it's a long shot at this point. and i'd love to direct a commercial spot and get that going over here, but ethiopia for a week all expenses paid (and a little extra) sounds very adventurous. it's a win win, either way, either job. we shall see. but i kinda think addis is going to happen.

this popped up this morning...an ex-pat yank (deb) is leaving on furlough to the states for 3 months starting oct 27. i could sublet her place...a cozy one bedroom with a sitting room out in the hardy area for under $300 a month. so i could be there til feb 1, and if that other 2 bedroom opens up with my name on it end of january, the whole timing thing could be perfect. so i'll look at it today. it sounds ideal. could be very cool. more on that later, but it sounds promising.

things i miss

so far the things i miss (in no particular order) are big fresh juicy apples (and some sliced cheese to go with), having a car (still sorting that one out), my bathroom and shower back in LA (room to turn around and lots of hot water), my iphone (still needing to be jailbroke but waiting for new software break the iphone4) and that's about it. the mosquito net every nite is a little tiresome to crawl in and out of and probably overkill (some folks here don't use em) so i'm in limbo about it. but it's a good precaution and keeps the mozzies from buzzing in your ears.

overall

overall, i'm freezing!!!!! lots of cloud cover this week and it's bloody cold. especially in the morning. surprised at that. just a cloudy, rainy week. it'll be hot enough come january! that's summer time here! really hoping this sublet works out. be nice to have my own place for a while although i've loved being here with chris and lindy and lots of family vibe, just what i wanted actually. to land and have some community and land and not live alone right off the bat. but i can't stay here forever and if i go to addis, then when i get back i'll have one more week here. then move into deb's place in Hardy. kinda on the far side of Karen, but a good part of town. feels more like malibu west. bigger plots of land. more open feeling. i just hope she has decent wifi. chris and lindy have great wifi and i love my work station here. wifi speed is almost 1mbit/s so that's pretty fast for over here. the internet speed overall is really picking up here, another component to kenya being an emerging place.

my new indian mechanic, mandeep, is helping me find a toyota prado. i met him this week and felt good about him right away. he also is a part of the karen vineyard community so i feel safe with him, i trust him. he had found a diesel prado for under $20 gr and it sounded good...7 years old (considered a new car here), had a new engine, and and, but alas it turned out not being for sale. a new one came on grid today (a petrol, not diesel) but i can't believe how much used cars are here. a 2002 prado (like a forerunner) with 76,000 miles is @ $20gr! insane! but that's how it is. well maintained vehicles on these bumpy roads are at a premium. and new cars are off the charts!

visa stuff

have decided to chill out on the work visa stuff and forming my own prod company for now. no need to start my own business. we'll see how the freelance directing goes. and if anything more comes from ogilvy africa after this airtel spot. not sure what will come my way. but the cost of living so far has been very reasonable and my monthly pension is stretching pretty far. every day i get more settled and get the lay of the land. last night had a fun fondue dinner party at the Talisman with brown's cheese sponsoring the event. it was chris's birthday as well and his family is in town. it was a nice night out. but visa wise, i can take it a month at a time. i might go to jo-burg, south africa, over christmas so maybe i'll get a new visitor visa coming back into kenya jan 1.

so...so far so good. some things in play. and much more things happening here than were happening for me in LA, so a good choice to move here. hopefully the charity:water shoot will happen and i can do more for them. i love fresh water well projects and everyone is so happy to get fresh water after generations of walking 4 hours a day to get dirty swamp water! i really love charity water and scott harrison and look forward to working with them. this particular trip of 25 donors requires more B roll footage for scott, so i really hope it works out (plus for some reason i'm craving a hotel stay!)  wish i could do the airtel spot AND the addis trip. interesting to see what opens up. will know tomorrow.

all for now. sorry no pics in this entry. everyone loves the pics!!!! i promise more pics soon. i need to be in the habit of shooting more. i'll get on that!

thanks for all the love and support. life in africa is surpassing all expectations so far. i'm busy and surrounded by loving folks already. not lonely or depressed. and not watching any TV whatsoever so my life is not a total waste! i was getting pretty pathetic there in DTLA. a couch potato for sure. watching all my little favorite programs all day like at an old folks home. it's time for judge wapner!!!!!! (kidding).

all for now. gotta finish this UK promo i'm working on. love you all!

ddm