November

November was a busy month for us here in Nairobi. Not only did we finally buy a 'new' old car, but all of us were traveling at different times. At school there was a St. Martins celebration with a bonfire and an appearance of St. Martin on his horse. I had some Goethe business in Munich plus some down time in Berlin afterwards. Gerard and Sascha met me in Berlin for a few days although Gerard was only en-route to New York for some important meetings. Being in Germany for 10 days was actually a nice break, especially in the pre-Christmas season. The commercialism was a bit overwhelming, but it was wonderful to see some first-class theater performances and to see old friends.

Our 'new' car, a 1999 4wd diesel Mitzubishi Pajera

The Summerfest at school, which was postponed from September for obvious reasons.

Sascha with her friend Lieselotte and Lisa at the St. Martins Fest with their lanterns.

If you look closely you can spot St. Martin on his horse riding by......

Sascha and Maria holding their Breadmen

My Program Curator colleagues from North America at a seminar in Munich. Of course, a few Hefeweizens were an important part of the training....

City Hall in Munich

Out friend Reinhold with Gerard in Berlin. A former MIT postdoc, he now has a research job in Rostock with the Frauenhofer Institute

A cold, damp morning walk in Zehlendorf, Berlin with our friend Helga and her daughter Johanna.

What would a walk in Berlin be without a stop at a museum, here the 'Haus am Waldsee'

At the Swedish Weihnachtsmarkt in Kulturbrauerei, Prenzlauerberg, Berlin.

An ice skating outing with our friend Nils' Kindergruppe (preschool class) and Sascha made a new friend

Sascha and Johanna in the U-Bahn

Dornroeschen (Sleeping Beauty) performed with puppets in Prenzlauerberg with the slight variation that the awakened princess decides to marry her real love, the cook.

Alexander Platz is once again a huge construction site. They are reconstructing the original castle (Der Schloss) that was damaged in WW2 and blown up by the DDR to obliterate any reference to past history.

A ride down Unter den Linden with the Double Decker Bus #100 was a must!

At the Holocaust Memorial.

An afternoon with our friend Isa in a cafe reading books and chatting.

St. Nicolaus comes to Kenya

Believe it or not, Christmas is really big here in Kenya. And, not only at the German School. There are Christmas lights and decorations everywhere, which started going up mid-October. I'll put a few pictures up from around Christmas-crazed Nairobi soon. But first, a few pics and videos clips from the St. Nicolaus celebration at the German School that Sascha took part in.

Sascha's Ballet Performance

The Meercats perform at the St. Nikolaus Feier

Sascha with her classmates before the event.

And St. Nikolaus really came all the way to Nairobi!!! The kids were sooooo excited!

Christmas in Nairobi

A lot of people have asked me if we are getting any Christmas here in Nairobi at all. In fact, there is Christmas everywhere here and it feels like the school has been focused on it since mid October. Nairobi and the western part of Kenya are predominantly Christian. People cook big meals of vegetables and meat (mainly chicken and goat) and go to church. Present giving is not as big a thing since most people have little money to spare. But, just about everyone goes up-country to visit family over the holidays. It sounds like Nairobi will empty out over the next week.

The big news is that St. Nicolaus came to the school in person :).  Improvised Christmas trees have ornamented the grounds for a while. Most are artificial - there are no pine trees to speak of here. I've been told that you can get a real one a few days before Christmas, but I think we'll pass on that. I'm collecting pictures of the christmas spirit here and will keep adding as they come in......

Diamond Plaza, which feels like a quick trip to India, is actually always like this. We go to eat Indian food here sometimes and it's the place to buy electronics.

Mobil Plaza in its Christmas shell. Just down the street from us. We suspect that this might be the reason our electricity has been going at half power or not at all for the past weeks

Sascha and I were invited to join for a Christmas sing-along and this is what we found. As you can see, the Western Xmas is everywhere. But, this was definitely geared for a Christian Kenyan audience.

This woman, who had organized the whole thing, had an extraordinary voice. She sang an aria from Handel's Messiah absolutely beautifully, as well as a more popular song.

Everyone took part somehow.

Christmas baking at home

Even Mimi gets a Christmas card from Sascha this year!

A sampling of typical homemade toys here in Kenya, as seen in the National Museum.

 These are soccer balls and slingshots (a necessity to keep the monkeys away!)

Lake Elmenteita

The Sleeping Warrior

Sascha and I tagged along with Gerard who was meeting Somali colleagues at the Serena Lake Elmenteita Camp last weekend. It was quite a luxurious place with sleeping tents that really didn't have much to do with tents anymore (luxury bathroom and every comfort you could want). Lake Elmenteita is about 2.5 hours drive north of Nairobi, between Lake Naivasha and Lake Nakuru. It is a salt water lake in which little can survive, but which nurtures crustacean and insect larvae that flamingos feed on. The camp is located in the private Soysambu Conservancy which Sascha and I explored with a guide. The pictures below are from that game drive, during which I was driving our 'new' old 4wd car.

Sascha with our guide Gilbert overlooking the lake. To Gilbert's right the hill is called "The Sleeping Warrior". Can you make it out?

The Sleeping Warrior

A male Water Buck

A rare sighting of a black and white Colobus monkeys

...taking a dust bath. The name elmenteita is derived from the Maasai word 'muteita' meaning 'dust place'.

Another extremely rare sighting: a leopard trying to stay cool on a hot sunny day.

Crowned Cranes

Water Buffalo, which are considered the most dangerous animal to humans in Kenya as they kill more people than any other animal. The second most dangerous are hippos. Both charge at the sight of a walking person and both are astoundingly fast runners.