Final Weekends in Nairobi for JR

JR is a creature of habit and thus when presented with his final full weekend in Nairobi, it was no surprise to me that on Friday night, he was eager to go to his favorite restaurant here, Abyssinia.  He has grown a strong affinity for Ethiopian food and to be fair Abyssinia seems to do it the best.  We were also hoping that we would finally get to enjoy some of the Winter Games, particularly the US vs Canada semi final hockey game since Abyssinia has Super Sport (the only licensure of the Olympic games in Kenya). Others seemed to have our same hope at catching the semi finals, but in typical Kenyan programming, Super Sport chose to broadcast the short track speed skating qualifying rounds over the hockey game!  Nevertheless, we did enjoy an absolutely delicious meal - although our eyes were WAY bigger then our stomachs and we significantly over ordered:

Before the mains were added to the injera (fermented Ethiopian flatbread)

Once all the food was added to the injera (ridiculous!)

Saturday was filled with selling furniture and getting our home organized for the great migration to Tanzania.

Sunday, we enjoyed one of our favorite loops in the forest with Pickle.  We are both really excited about Dar, but agreed that the forest and weather in Nairobi will be greatly missed.  While out on our hike we encountered some awesome African black ducks which Pickle was going crazy over.  Below are some pictures of him eagerly waiting to pounce on any duck that floated his way:

Next weekend, we head to the Seychelles (a dream vacation) and then JR departs for Dar while I wrap up our lives in Nairobi before joining him.  Excited for the next adventure!

Packing our bags again and heading South East...

J and I are excited to be continuing out East African living adventure with a slight change in location.  J got offered an amazing job through a company called CTS Global working at as consultant to CDC Tanzania.  

The job could not be more ideal for J's interests and skill sets, but it does mean moving again.  There is so much that is exciting about this next step though!  1.  We have both spent a good amount of time in Kenya, but never really explored the other East African nations (with the exception of short stints in Uganda).  2.  This position is far better supported than his current role and offers him the opportunity to work in a wealth of diseases ie HIV, malaria, influenza, etc.  and 3.  We are moving to the Beach in Dar Es Salaam! (which will be a first for us both).

Needless to say, we are very excited about this next journey and will keep you all informed.  J will be starting on 3/10 directly following our trip to the Seychelles and I will follow a few weeks after with Pickle and our belongings.

Brunch in Karen (where colonialism seems to still be envogue)

JR, M, V, and I decided that we wanted to head out to Karen to try a place called Talisman.  Talisman is known for it's food, ambiance, and organic Farmer's Market on Saturday's.  We piled into the Prado and headed to Karen.

Our sweet ride (with model for the shot):

This is the security Caboose, which is at the entrance of the restaurant:

The lovely Farmer's Market:

 A horribly taken 'self taken' group photo (minus J):

My handsome husband enjoying the ambiance

 

The shoes that I wore to 'Salute' (insert irony here) colonialism!

Pickle's got a new play mate and a birthday weekend.

I am pleased to report that after many trips to the forest and cutting back on the food, Pickle is looking svelte and healthy again, which happened just in time for this new friend to arrive on the compound.  Our landlords just got a brand new baby Labrador puppy (of the chocolate variety).

Pickle seems to be tolerating the little ball of fur, and even welcomed Bouncer for a sleep over last week:

Bouncer even showed Pickle one of the tortoises that lives on our compound this weekend - which Pickle had not yet noticed:

All an all a nice Birthday weekend for Mr. Pickle the Grump.  We got him 4 years ago, February 15th! 

We had big plans to take pickle for a long walk in the forest for his birthday, but the long rains that shouldn't arrive until April seem to have made a very early and unwelcome appearance, which means the forest is a MUDFEST!  Hopefully, the new playmate provided enough birthday fun for our favorite pal!

To the Birthday Boy!

Friday, JR and I both took the day off in honor of J's 33rd birthday!

Cheers to the Birthday Boy:

To celebrate, we took the opportunity to explore Nairobi National Park, which turned out to be an amazing experience!  We saw 3 rhinos, a lion, lots of gazelles (hartebeest, impala, Thomson gazelle, eland, etc), Ostrich (both mom and baby), zebra, giraffe, crocodiles, beautiful and not so beautiful birds, cape buffalo, wildebeest, and got assaulted by baboons during what was supposed to be a delightful birthday picnic.  All and all it was an amazing day!  We then went to Purdy Arms for a lovely dinner.  Below are some clips of the day in picture form:

Gherkin needs to shed a few lbs. to earn the title of Pickle, again

After driving lessons, a break from left hand drive during the holidays in the states, and a renewed motivation to get over my fears of manual transmissions, chaotic roads, and Nairobi traffic in 2014 - I have started driving to the forest more regularly for running and hiking with Pickle.  It turns out that this has not only been a good thing, but necessary since Pickle, as we found out at the vet, has put on a whopping 10 pounds since coming to Nairobi and now he is on the dog version of Biggest Loser: Kenyan Style.

When we were in the states over Christmas and New Year's, our landlords were kind enough to help in watching Pickle.  Sadly, they fell victim to the sweet and pathetic lab eyes and began feeding him a daily chapati (fried dough) because 'he looked hungry'.  As you can imagine, this addition to his diet was not the healthiest and most certainly was a contributing factor to his new physique.

Below is a picture story of Pickle's adventures:

Pickle at the vet, where he got his nails cute and found out that he was getting rather portly.

 A walk in the woods...Karura (Dogs off leash area)

Getting a bath after a fun adventure in the woods.