I don’t want’ to count the months it has been since I last wrote because I will have a mountain of guilt on top of me if I capture the tally. We haven’t been just sitting around (well, except for these days of social distancing), but we have mostly just been trying to figure out life in a time of a lot of transition.

There has been tons written on this (e.g, the Honeymoon Phase – when you arrive, the This Effin’ Sucks phase – when nothing works after 8 weeks, and the This is AMAZING Phase – when everything begins to feel normal). I don’t know if the experience of moving overseas for us has been that linear. It’s a popcorn mix of a lot of good, a lot of challenge, and a lot of hope that some.day.our.container.will.show.up.

So biggest takeaways so far as we enter month 9 of our time here?

1. Adjusting to big change is a marathon, not a sprint.

2. We have more gray hair.

3. We are blessed here and at home with an amazing community of friends, colleagues (who are friends), and neighbors.

4. Our stuff may eventually show up in our house. But today it is still not here.

Probably the weirdest thing we didn’t expect to encounter is the experience of watching COVID-19 unfold and especially hit our home country (and home city) so hard. When we had the choice to consider going back to the States, we made the decision to stay put and ride it out here. Now that the borders are closed that decision has a degree of finality to it.

For now, we are doing what many others are doing in terms of social distancing: working from home, schooling from home, living from home, and baking from home. It’s loud, crowded feeling, and my little genetically-related colleagues here at this new work location often have little regard for whistling, snapping fingers, fighting, and mess-making. But it is another part of the adventure to go through together.

Almost like a scene from “Dead Poet’s Society” , the past few weeks have included moments of inspiration with the onset of a new school year, mini-moments of victories against insidious flying demons (mosquitoes . . . like about 3 ), more unintended medical safaris, and the ongoing payment of “The Normal Tax”.

Part 1 : School Begins.

And they love it.

So what’s the difference? Like their previous school they have great teachers, but here they have more time in Art, Science, and Music . . . and even dedicated rooms for these subjects. Additionally, they get more time outside for recess and PE . As a reformed teacher, it’s music to my ears to hear about a focus on project and inquiry-based learning. They are excited so far about their classes and new friends they are making.

Part 2: Flying demons (aka mosquitoes)

We forgot that we should care about these guys b/c in Nairobi they don’t carry malaria . . . but like many places, mosquitoes still seem to only fly between the hours of 10pm-6am with that awful whining noise that is right above ones just-about-r.e.m.-state-were-it-not-for-that-sound head. We tried ignoring it, we tried almost accidentally suffocating ourselves under the blankets (that was just me) in an attempt to really thwart them, we tried several attempts at makeshift mosquito net arrangements that only ended up smothering one or both of us, and now we finally have a solution that works. thanks to Tony. So last night we slept.

Part 3: Medical Safaris revisited again

We’ll keep this short and without any pictures: bacterial infections are not a dieting solution. Thankfully we live in an area with access to great medical care and provision of antibiotics. The safaris continue.

Part 4 : The Normal Tax

Even if one has traveled to Nairobi oodles of time, stating the obvious, it still is different getting settled here. I call it the “Normal Tax” the price one pays to get back to whatever normal is for themselves. It’s not a whining tax , which would be more of a bemoaning all things different. Instead, it’s just figuring out how to get adjusted to a new rhythm and routine. There are so many good things about this: like asking questions, being surprised, learning new things, and adapting along the way. The only downside is the test to one’s patience and assumptions. Coming from a place of massive privilege, maybe that’s not such a downside after all.

In addition to regular activities like sitting in traffic, eating breakfast, getting groceries, trying out the local crossfit gym, and getting the right forms stamped by the right people, we had a full week of irregular activities as well:

1. “Lion King”: Scar kills the dad (I already forgot his name), there is lots of singing, and the 3-D version is not so bad, especially when it comes to the wildebeest stampede. Better yet are the prices for IMAX in Nairobi and the more-than-decent popcorn.
2. . A vomit safari with no pictures: We had 2 more stomach bugs attack the family and so here is where we sincerely apologize to all those who witnessed our kids’ successful stomach evacuation process which ended up taking place in quite a few public places in Nairobi (first after the Lion King in the mall and then, en route to our first attempt to go the beach . . . Java House, side of the road, parking lot, etc.). The second edition got so bad that while driving into the small local airport in our first attempt to go to the beach we quickly pivoted and found a very helpful health clinic lo and behold, behind the gas station not too far away. One very sick kid got good treatment and we said a big “kwaheri” to our plans for heading to the coast while she got an IV and antibiotics. Thanks to miracles of medicine and youth, she went from being totally listless (believe me it was scary) to singing songs from the Lion King within a few hours.
3. We made it to the beach . . . more later
4. “Polepole”: It means “slowly” in Swahili and it is a good explanation for the distance in time from when someone says ” It is coming” to when whatever “it” is actually arrives, like when you order food, or when you are trying to get from Point A to Point B. Said otherwise give or take 5 min to 1.5 hours or so. Our lesson for the week for learning this with kids is that when we order food and are on the brink of utter hangriness (for the uninitiated: hunger + anger = hangry), we should actually anticipate a bit of “polepole” in the preparation before said hangriness strikes and try to order our food earlier. Coming from the land of “I want it my way and I want it now!” you realize that the end result is usually more than worth the wait.
5. White Sand Beaches! After the stomach bug threw a wrench into our first attempt, our kiddo rallied and responded to meds so much that she got the all-clear from the lovely folks at MP Shah to travel the next day. In another miracle, the good people of Safarilink and Sunset Villa Resort adjusted our schedule so easily and we were able to head to Diani Beach. A picture is worth a thousand words so enough said here (not shown is the size of our stomachs after eating all the incredible food here):

Hey friends, after 3 planes and a long layover, we made it to Nairobi. Here’s evidence of our first wildlife encounter:

We got a lot of great questions about our move, and so we thought it might be helpful to post them here.

1. Where are you living? We moved from our home in Shoreline, WA to Nairobi, Kenya. As the albatross flies, because let’s be honest a crow couldn’t make it, it’s about 9,000 miles away from where we live = 2 plane rides of about 9 hours each.
2. Why did you move? We wanted to. And there is a short and long-version to this story. Given attention spans, you get the short version: Tony and I had long-wanted to move to Kenya for a number of reasons and we decided to make the change before our kids totally resented us and reached their teen years (they may still yet). Besides, we’ve long thought that the best education we can offer our kids is a chance to see and experience other parts of the world.
3. What are you guys going to be doing there? We are going to be doing usual and unusual (for us) things: Usual: the kids are going to a nearby American school, my job is also located here (check out http://www.bomaproject.org), Tony is going to be our transition team and then doing work in the design sector. Unusual: we will learn how to drive on the other side of the road, go on safari to national parks (pending how said driving on the other side of the road goes), try foods that are different to us, see habitats that are new to us, travel to different parts of Kenya and the continent, and live life outside the US.
4. Won’t it be hot? It’s winter time here in Nairobi, and it’s not getting past low 70s so far. Summer will be later in the year.
5. Is it safe? Security in Nairobi is different than what we are used to at home. Yes, there is petty crime, and there are security risks, but then again, we have these at home in the US too. For example, my 7 year old can provide in full detail how to ward off an active shooter at school, something that we may need to worry about less here.
6. Do they speak English in Kenya? Yes, and Swahili, and a host of other local languages. The hope is that we get to a working knowledge of Swahili (Kenyan friends please keep me honest on this) while we are here too.
7. Where will you be living exactly, like in a house? We are living in a temporary furnished house until our container arrives sometime in the next few months. It’s comfortable, in a suburb, and it came with a lovely overly-tolerant 10 year old Golden Retriever (another story).
8. How long will you be there? We plan to be here at least 2 years, but who knows. We will be coming back to the US to visit at least once a year.
9. Are you going through a mid-life crisis? To be fair, no one asked us this, but in case it crosses the mind the answer is: no.
10. Can you drink the water? Funnily enough we thought we could on day 1 which may explain why on day 2 Tony got a bit of a stomach bug (it’s gone now). The solution for us was our first visit to the hardware store and the purchase of a dependable water filter.
11. Can we visit you? Yes, please do!