week one

wow...so busy


i love it when you ask me questions, cuz i don't always know what to write about. someone asked me if i was lonely. a legitimate concern for sure. but after week one, the answer is i'm too busy to be lonely! things have been happening fast and furious. it's like i long for my down time now. after my motorcycle taxi meeting with ogilvy africa on thursday and sound & pictures on friday, i had a black tie gala dinner friday night for the TOP 100 MEDIUM BUSINESSES in Nairobi held at the famous Carnivore restaurant. a sit down tented affair for 1000 folks with dinner, drinks, entertainment, and awarding the top 100 businesses with a trophy. a ritzy affair for sure. (took an hour in friday nite traffic to get there! 20 minutes to get home!) 


the gala


i was invited by delia stirling of brown's cheese. they ended up 30 out of 100. pretty impressive. we had a fun table. a very funny indian attorney woman to my right with her hubby.(Indians from India, not Cherokees).  the whole room had a esprit de corps vibe...we were all winners! very fancy and fun. old mr. gin killed me the next day with a wicked hangover, so i have some adjusting to do. may just give up drinking altogether. at this altitude (5450 ft) it makes you sleepy and headachy much faster. maybe i don't have my chops yet, but i'm not sure if i want them. hardly drank all week. a big shift from DTLA days. i'll figure it out. but it will be less for sure. i think...


artcaffe


after a busy friday and friday nite i met with "winston", my secret contact into the commercial and film world here. we met at artcaffe at The Junction. tres chic. had a two hour meeting. touched base for the first time in person. a great coach and mentor, the takeaway was relax, see what happens, don't rush into a work visa or opening my own prod company, just be patient and see what happens and see if i love it here and and. good advice. my visitor visa is good for 90 days, then i get a 90 day extension, then i must leave kenya for a few days (maybe even leave east africa) and then come back to start over with a new visitor visa. in the meantime, i can get my alien card and my kenya driver's license. little things. and i already got my flying doctors airvac medical insurance to fly back to nairobi if something grim happens out there. i need to get health insurance and then car insurance.


power outage

 

Quiet day today. The power has been out all day and still is. It’s 3pm and i've been sleeping and reading and having a quiet day. All week i was jamming so it feels good to have a day off. To recharge. Finished the week with a tea in my honor up in Tigoni with delia (Brown's cheese) and some friends. Saw my old friends Sean and Adrian from Encounter Africa and i may shoot some safari footage for those guys next month down in the Mara at their new safari camp. plus hope to see calum and sophie at the elephant peppers camp as well. could be a week to 10 days down there. it'll be awesome. love that part of the planet. so serene and breathtakingly beautiful and so much game. and the skies are gorgeous.

 

Finished my commercial treatment for Airtel and emailed it before the power went out. so funny to have the power out all day. nothing you can do about it. no email, no internet, no electricity to do wash, nada. that's africa. and all the more adventure. candles at night i'm sure could become common. kinda cool. hey, it's africa!

KVC (karen vineyard church)

Church here is great. Love the pastor. Good crowd. We got a church retreat the 20-23 so that’ll be fun. meet more folks. haven't been lonely or homesick yet. i'll probably have a rough day sooner or later, but i've been swamped with activity and peeps. amazing really how quickly things are moving. Already have been asked to shoot a vid promo for  an intern program. I’ll shoot tomorrow and cut it asap. Cute couple named mark and sue from wales are great and are doing the spot. it'll be fun. we met sunday at Tamambo, the karen blixen coffee gardens place,  to go over some ideas. so old colonial and cool. really am digging the british colonial vibe here. always have. 

 

Stomach has been pretty puny. Borderline diarrhea. Seems like any alcohol at this altitude is an instant hangover and effects my stomach. first it was mr. gin, then it was beer and wine. Gotta adjust. Or just give it up altogether. Could be part of my life change. Just give up booze. Okay, a gin and tonic on occasion. But seriously thinking about not much booze over here. Dry out a bit. Why not? give my body a rest!!!!! (BTW, still working on the karen country club membership. contacted a couple members i've met. they're helping me get in front of the committee. it's moving forward. 

family

 

Chris and lindy (MY HOSTS at the livingstone guest house) are great. Like cool roommates. like brother and sister. really fun. And such southern accents from NC! Thick southerners! But lovely and loving and love ddm! And the southern accent somehow takes all the pressure off! They all sound so relaxed and chill. they are lovely sweet. And his family/team just arrived today and they are a riot. Doing well over here. Not lonely at all. Not homesick at all. but my living situation is very social and family like. No chance yet to be lonely. But that day may come.

airtel

 

Somewhat anxious about the commercial gig. Anxious if i get it, probably bummed if i don’t. whatever. It’s all good. god is in charge. I will work when and how i’m supposed to work. regardless, i feel right about being here. it was the right move for me. and the new life will unveil itself in time. very glad to be here. not missing spring street in the slightest! the great journey has begun. and my transition is like i haven't missed a beat.

Been cold and rainy all day. Dirty sheets can’t be washed now because no electricity and they don’t use the dryer cause it’s takes too much electricity to run and it costs too much. Weird. Plus its raining anyway and we can't line dry it. Can’t check email all day cuz no power and my new phone doesn’t get email and my iphone isn’t jailbroke yet so no email service by phone. Hopefully will jailbreak it soon. Miss my iphone like crazy. what a great device. thanks mr. jobs.

 

Lots of family now in the house. Pushing my comfort level. Yikes. My 4 years of loftville solitude in DTLA is being shattered! actually, a lifetime of living alone is shattered! Ddm has to interact 24/7 now! but it's all good. beats being lonely. so weird not to have any power all day. So Africa! No power would never happen in the states! (well, maybe NYC!) All part of the adventure!

 

So cold and wet today. Feels like England more than Kenya! Today is the first day it feels like a vacation. Probably cuz this team just arrived from the states to be here for 10 days. and i've been able to sleep and read and chill out and have no power to anything.

cool crib

 

Life is good. the adventure continues. A day at a time. Found a potential 2 bedroom + office to take over in January in a total African compound over in Karen/hardy part of town. Insane open floor plan with lots of character and cool neighbors from KVC living on the compound. Just what i was looking for. Quiet, lots of nature and vegetation, very African feeling, the cabin has lots of windows and a cute little office space for my edit bay. Too cool. could be quite the pad. i'll do an african theme makeover with it. geeked about that possibility. just what i was picturing. this new compound is in a nice remote part of town near the giraffe center with lots of nature and is big and secure. Totally safe and safe for my gear. There might be one couple ahead of me in the cue for the flat, but hopefully it's for me. It is very nice and open and African feeling and the guest room is huge. i'm pumped about it. can handle company easily!

(sorry no relevant photos in this entry but jailbreaking my iphone i lost my most recent pics. oh well. next one).

a vehicle

 

The car situation still looms overhead. They say for $16,000 - $20,000 i should get a good Toyota Prado. Like a smaller land cruiser. For some reason i’m stressing over it. You wanna try and get a non-Kenyan owned one cuz they maintain their vehicles better. But finding the right sled has been a stressful thing for me. Need to trust the right one will come my way. Motorcycles are death over here. Everyone says don’t go there. So…guess i’ll not go there for now. bummed about that. but could still jump up on a motorcycle taxi on occassion! maybe one day i'll get a bike. it would be too cool, but not worth dying over.

went to take a shower but rainy day means no solar power so no hot water so no hot shower. no bueno. african camping indoors! no power and no hot water! more adventure! at least the power just kicked back on a second ago after 8 hours. i can at least check my email and finish my blog. i'll shower tomorrow if we get a sunny day. classic. it's going on three days. yikes!

at the tea yesterday at my table was a housewife who was carjacked on the main road thru tigoni (limuru road) and was held at gunpoint for 5 hours after being transported to another car and lost her nice toyota land cruiser. scary stuff. then the guy to my right confided he carries a gun on him. and it was stuffed in his backside waist belt. a glock? i asked. no he said, a beretta. talk about the wild west!

overall

well, all for now. week one has exceeded all expectation. great decision to be here. meeting lots of nice folks, finding community and professional opportunities, and loving the cultural change and adventure,  from business meetings to black tie to taking food to the slums to no power to no hot water. an exciting time. feels like i'm alive again. motorcycle taxis, coffee gardens, nairobi traffic, rainy days, open skies, the full gamut. just the adventure i was looking for. and my work station here at the house is awesome. good move so far. thanks for taking the ride with me. feel free to ask me anything! either here or on facebook. 

love knowing you are all there. the support of y'all means a great deal!

kwaheri (adios)

ddm