Two Month Pulse Check

April 11th marked my two-month anniversary of having left Canada. Therefore, not a bad time to take a pulse check as to how I’m doing:

The good:
• People here are really nice. While walking to work people often say hello and are always pleasant to talk to. I have a strong sense of feeling welcomed and have yet to have had any unpleasant/uncomfortable experiences.
• It is sunny and warm almost every day and this puts people into a happy and relaxed frame of mind. Not worrying so much about what tomorrow may bring may not be the most productive way to be, but I think people here are a lot happier.
• Over the past two months I’ve probably had two years worth of new experiences.
• Minimal stress at work – the financial record keeping is currently in a bit of a mess, but I believe it can be fixed fairly easily with a bit of effort. In the meantime no one seems at all worried about it. The status quo seems fine to everyone but me.
• A short commute – it takes me under 20 minutes to walk either to work or to the town centre. It’s really nice not having to battle traffic everyday.
• My colleagues at work are well-educated and pleasant to deal with. Communication does not seem to be a major problem.
• Forget weight watchers – it’s too hot to eat a lot plus I’m a lazy cook. Therefore, I’ve been able to get back to a more normal weight without having to do all the training. I’m running about three times a week for 45-60 minutes and feel like my legs have their jump.
• The food is okay. It may not be anything to phone-out for, but its fairly healthy and I haven’t had any stomach issues yet. The vegetables aren’t very exciting (are they ever?), but there is lots of fruit to be had. I’ve had to adopt some new favourite foods and this past weekend I found myself yearning for goat meat.
• My residence is quite comfortable by local standards. We have electricity, running water and a western toilet. Not having hot water has not been an issue. Its also feels safe and secure behind a gated entrance.
• Day-to-day life is quite inexpensive and I haven’t had to supplement my lifestyle much out of savings (yet).
• I have loads of free time. I work 8:00-5:00 and without a major commute, triathlon training sessions or other life complications I have more spare time than I’ve known in years.
• The beer is cheap and usually served cold. Tusker is the most popular brand.
• There is no hockey to miss.


The bad:
• It’s a bit too hot. I’m getting tired of perspiring myself to sleep and have my eye on investing in an electric fan. Despite this I'm still getting more sleep than I was at home.
• I hate hand washing my own laundry.
• My social network is still very limited (not so different from home).
• I haven’t really accomplished anything at work yet. I’ve identified lots of opportunities for improvement, but as an advisor I’m not empowered to make them happen. I’m very much looking forward to stating my case in a few weeks before the Board Finance sub-committee.
• There are certainly days when I wonder why I’m here and wonder if some of the other placement opportunities I had been offered would have been more interesting.
• Resources at work are limited. Printing documents is a bit of an ordeal (typically, we use the backside of recycled paper), forget using sticky notes, and don’t even think about trying to access information from the internet. The accounting group shares two computers and the whole organization has only five phones.
• There isn’t a whole lot to do in the evenings. I could buy a television, but I’ve been without it so are and feel like I didn’t come all this way to watch bad TV. So far, I’ve been able to find enough to read and the music from my IPOD has been a lifesaver.
• Too many Mosquitoes – its not really bad, but there are enough of them in the evenings to be annoying and I find that rather than swat at them I end-up reading on my bed under the mosquito net. The cockroaches are also starting to make their presence known.
• Limited access to sports and recreation.
• I know everyone back home is busy living their lives, but my email traffic has been a bit lighter than anticipated.
• There aren’t a lot of nearby destinations of interest that are just a day-trip or weekend jaunt away. However, given a few extra days there are a lot of great places to get to in this part of Africa.

Well, this turned into quite a list. I think its safe to say that the good far outweighs the bad. Of course, this can change by hour which is part of makes living and working in Kenya so interesting.