(BOGO) Buy One Get One Free

     

We all love sales right?  Well, I know I do.  I remember falling into the traps of such places like Gymboree with there Gymbucks where if you buy more now, you'll save more later was the mantra.  I can still hear the cashier "Miss., your only $0.75 away from earning $75 in Gymbucks.  Are you sure you don't need these lovely socks here that are $5.00, but are the cheapest thing in the store that could actually be of use to you?" blink, blink, smile......

         I even became the queen of using Cartwheel during the last holiday season.  I mean come on, they had awesome deals at Target during the days that lead up to Christmas.  And yes, I have been known to get up in the wee hours on Black Friday to catch a deal.  I must say, I never made it to full coupon lady status, but hey, like I said, who doesn't like a sale right?

        I rarely see sale signs while shopping here in Nairobi.  So you can imagine how thrilled I was to see a Buy One Get One sign on an item that I've already been buying weekly.  I eagerly picked up four of the family sized packs of the kid's Weetabix Wheetos Cereal.  I practically skipped to the register relishing in my latest deal.  My husband awaited me there at the register wide eyed at the contents of our cart.  I just continued with a shrug and said, "What, they're BOGO?"  Knowing that this just might be too good to be true, I made sure I alerted the cashier that the cereal should be BOGO.  She nodded in agreement and said,  "It will be taken off at the end."  I noticed that each double box rung up about 200Ksh less than the normal price of 650Ksh and at the end, nothing more was taken off.    Wait a minute, did I miss something?  That's not BOGO.  BOGO would have made the price of each Family pack 325Ksh, not 450Ksh.  The store manager spent five minutes trying to convince me that it was indeed BOGO.  In the end, we agreed that the sale was more like buy two get one, and that it was a case of false advertisement.  I still left with the four packs of reduced price cereal, no longer skipping, but still happy to have gotten a sale.

        Lesson learned, in Nairobi BOGO may often times mean something very different than buying one, and then getting another for free.

The kid's new favorite cereal.  Now usually I'm not one for allowing sugary breakfast cereals, but I tasted this one and it's really not all that sweet.  It has just a hint of a chocolate taste (sigh...we Americans and our love affair with sugar).   They also have Weetabix Bran Flakes in a family pack as well and the kids enjoy those too.

Co- op field trip

Today some of the children of our co-op visited Amani Primary School in Riruta.  The school is a part of the Precious Blood Family of Schools.  Amani Primary School was started in 1987 with the goal of helping the poor children in Kawangware slum, a slum of Nairobi.  It started with a meal program and then expanded to offer Bible studies, English, Kiswahili and mathematics. Some of the children attending Amani Primary School are street children and orphans.  The school's vision is to see these young people develop into productive members of society. 

  

       The school's choir performed a few moving performances for us, then our kids performed a portion of the play they are preparing in their co-op drama class.  They topped it all off with a friendly game of football (soccer).  Fun was had by all!  It was a wonderful opportunity for our children to see how fortunate they are, but also to see the drive and determination in these children who are less fortunate materially, than they.

       To give us a better understanding of where these children are coming from, one of the nuns shared an experience she had with one of the students.  She recalled a student who would come to the school with BO (body odor).  She went on to say, the smell was such that she felt she had to talk with the child about proper hygiene.  The child explained to her that he knew how to wash himself, but in fact could not, because he did not have access to water.  That really made me think.

Amani Primary School Choir

One of the songs the Amani Choir sung was a song I remembered singing for Spelman College Glee Club many years ago.  I happily sung along.  The choir did an absolutely fantastic job!

Preparing for the performance

Performing a scene from their play

The children played soccer after the performances

After-game handshake

Update

  So, there has actually been a couple of weeks since I actually created a post. My first several posts are all dated within a day of one another, because that's when I published them. They were actually written over a 8-10 week span.
Now that I'm caught up, I should keep you all abreast of the debacle with the moving company here in Nairobi.
  In case I didn't mention, we started with a moving company that is well known and respected in the US, DC area. Our stateside move was not without issue, but service was more than adequate and we were happy to have gone with a moving company which saved us the headache of packing and loading a 40 foot container. 

  Packing a container is actually like playing a giant game of Tetris.  One must try to pack in as much cargo as possible while trying to arrange items in such a way so as to keep them from moving around during shipping. Imagine having that job....
Well, the DC based moving company promised door to door service.  They would come in, pack our his things, ship our things to Kenya, take care of clearing our things at customs in Mombasa, transport from Mombasa to Nairobi, then unpack our things in our new home.  As mentioned, the moving company is based in DC and it has no presence in Kenya, they had to partner with a moving company here in Nairobi.  They chose a company they felt were professional and who'd handled international moves.
  Well, professional they were not. The container arrived and cleared customs without major issues. Once the items arrived in Nairobi, we had two days to unpack. The team lead on Day 1 reeked of alcohol ( we reported this to the contact person we'd been working with). Then of course as mentioned, on day two of move in, items disappeared with the movers. We notified the company immediately of two items that my husband had seen at the home, but had disappeared. Later we noticed other items that were not accounted for.
  We were told to submit detail of the missing items so that this list could be submitted to the company's insurance by a particular deadline. We complied, submitting a list of the items we'd seen and that had disappeared as well as items unaccounted for.  My thought was that if the movers could steal one or two items, then they most likely stole more. All the missing items were new unused items.
  A week after submitting this list, we received an email, not a call, from the moving company's owner, stating they'd interviewed all the employees on site and no one remembers seeing the items listed and certainly no one had taken anything. He went on to add that of the thousands of moves the company has handled, nothing like this has ever occurred.
  Not to feed into stereotypes, but I'm a Jersey Girl, and can be quite, let me say, spirited at times. I had to call this owner and remind him that we'd seen two of the items prior to the movers leaving, as well as to request a resolution that day as we'd been patient enough and hadn't gotten any resolution. Upon calling, I was transferred to the manager.  I expressed my concerns with the email we'd received and ask for a resolution. The owner stated there would be no resolution, repeating what he'd written in the email. This is when Jersey Girl appeared. Of course I expressed my displeasure and again requested a resolution.  I was then hung up on by said manager of the moving company.   I was besides myself with disbelief! Which manager of a company hangs up on a customer? Which manager allows their employees to blatantly steal and offer no compensation to those they are servicing?
  I promptly sent an email to the US company copying this Kenyan company in the email. I expressed my displeasure and disappointment in the experience with this partner moving company. I threatened contacting the Better Business Bureau.  After about an hour, my husband received a call from the manager of the Kenyan company apologizing for his behavior.  To make a long story short, he agreed to only pay for the two items we'd originally noticed present in the house in Nairobi, then found that they were later missing. We received compensation via check a couple of days later. Of course I'm not fully satisfied as there are still items remaining that were new and are missing. I will resign to say that if there is another move, either someone will be assigned to the front door to keep watch, or no small boxes will be opened by the movers. This was a very unpleasant experience, but a valuable lesson was learned.

Two Months In

So, we passed the two month mark last week.  I must say, I feel we've accomplished quite a bit.  With my husband re-establishing himself as a Kenyan Citizen with the proper i.d.'s finding and moving into a home, starting homeschooling even without all our supplies, and finding an awesome co-op, I sometimes feel like I've been working a full time job!

School Room Set Up

  There were two rooms in the house that I decided to buckle down and really get in order.  The first room I mentioned previously was the kitchen.  The next was the schoolroom.  During our home search, the one must have was an area for homeschooling.  We knew we would be spending most of the day in this space and so we wanted it to be a bright and spacious area.  We were fortunate to have found many homes in Nairobi that accommodated this necessity.  Many of the villas have two living room areas and therefor one could always be used as a schoolroom.  Here is a look at ours 95% set up.

First night at our new house

  Last night was the first night in our new home.  I am so thankful to my mother-in-law who welcomed us into her home for over a month, but I am super excited to finally have a space of my own! I was also super exhausted! It has been a long few weeks, and we have a couple more long weeks ahead. I sometimes feel overwhelmed. I feel like we are not getting good full days of schoolwork in because I have to skip things because I can't find them or because something isn't set up yet. We definitely will have to skip some public holidays to make up for lost time.
Getting back to the house, we had a housekeeper we'd interviewed do a trail run. She did an amazing job cleaning the kitchen, which is now fully functional.
  We have a spider problem, but I think the more she cleans and gets rid of the web's, the less spiders we'll see.
  Finally, A neighbor from a few houses down noticed we had finally moved in, so she stopped to say hello, and even brought over two cups of tea. What a beautiful 'welcome to the neighborhood' gesture!  I'm really feeling blessed to be having this experience!

Amazon can deliver to Kenya!!!! At a price....

So my husband and I discovered last night that Amazon does indeed deliver to four countries in Africa!  Those countries being South Africa, Nigeria, Egypt, and you guessed it, Kenya. So, we ordered a replacement for one of the items that was taken by the movers. The shipping and import fees bumped the overall price of the item up to almost double, but, it is my understanding that the moving company has agreed to pay for the stolen items, so we went for it. Now, one of the other stolen items was personalized so that item may not be so easily replaced. Will keep you posted.

Violated

  So apparently one or more of the movers helping us unpack has sticky fingers. I won't mention the items taken because it's a sore spot for hubby, but I'll say the items were seen in the rental house on the second day of move-in. Then were not there later that day after the movers had gone. Because I had homeschooling for the kids, I remained at my mother in law's home while my husband went to the rental house to be with the movers. He was only one person and couldn't possibly monitor all the movers.  I feel so violated! We payed the price for a professional moving service, thought we'd hired professionals, but obviously we were wrong. Lesson learned: allow the movers to unpack the large items and put those things together and in place, then get them out of your home!

Guess what we did yesterday?!?

Yesterday was a long and tiring day.  Yesterday, the container arrived at our rental house and the guys unloaded our belongings.  They started unpacking, but won't finish until Monday.  Later in the evening after the moving guys had gone for the day, we took the kids back to the house to see for themselves that their things had indeed arrived.  They were so pleased! They even rode their bikes in the new neighborhood to celebrate!

One Month In

As I sit and write, I am trying to wrap my head around all the noteworthy events of the last month.  I'd really like to catch up, so that I'm updating at least weekly, so that the posts are not so long.  So, here goes:
Week 1 Jet Lag: Eastern standard time is currently seven hours behind time here in Kenya.  We had  to deal with massive jet lag upon arrival.  It took me an entire week and a few days to acclimate.  This was longer than usual.  Perhaps since my stay is not as finite as usual, I felt no need to rush, so the jet lag lingered.

Week 2 Surprise trip to Malindi: This second week came with many pleasant surprises.   Our house rented after just two weeks on the market!  We were so pleased and relieved to hear this.  We also were treated to an all inclusive week stay in a villa in Malindi.  A coastal town on the coast of Kenya.  We only needed to pay for our flight.  The besides the mosquito repellent resistant mosquitoes, the trip was lovely.

Week 3 House Hunting 101: Actually we viewed our first houses for rent in the first week of our arrival and have been viewing ever since.   The housing market here in Nairobi is interesting to say the least.  When it comes to pricing there is such a broad range of what you will get for your $$.  In the nicer areas of Nairobi, there can be a range of  $1, 250 +, for very similar homes.  Also, homes have been on the market for months, yet their asking costs don't change.  All logic is defied here and nothing is ever straight forward.   By week three we had seen at least 20 houses, some that we really liked, but no definite housing.
We viewed a house in Karen, a suburb of Nairobi, that we both really loved.  The home had an open floor plan, very similar to many homes in the US.  It had four bedrooms, plus two family rooms which would allow for a separate home-school room.  We contacted the landlord by way of the gate watchman to see if we could negotiate rental terms directly with him.  The landlord directed us to the realtor.  This particular realtor happened to be one that we'd already been working with.We offered a quarterly discounted payment or a monthly payment at asking price.  The realtor had to call the landlord several times to confirm which terms were acceptable (something that could have been avoided if the landlord had been willing to negotiate directly).  There was a lot of back and forth.  Finally the landlord agreed on  250,000 KeS per month ($2,500).  We were very happy we had  finally nailed down a home.  Later to only find out that the realtor had fees that were passed down to the renter.  We refused these fees stating that these costs are usually included in the fees payed by the landlord, not the renter.  We were assured that in Kenya, the renter pays these fees.  Because we refused to agree to these fees, the deal fell through.  This occurred on a Friday.  The following Monday morning we were called by the realtor.  They stated they had agreed to waive the fees and wondered if we would still want to rent the home.  We agreed.  Ten minutes later they called us back apologizing.  There was a miscommunication.  They stated the house we were interested in had actually been rented that morning and so was no longer available.  They asked if there was another home that we would be interested in.  We declined.   Wait for it.......here's the kicker....A few days later they call us again stating that the house was indeed available and if we were interested we could have it without the fees.  Although we loved the house, with it's two family rooms and double shower in the master bath, we declined.  We were tired of the back and forth and by then we had other viable prospects.

Week 4  Birthdays:  This week we had two birthdays in the family.  First my own, then two days later my oldest turned 11.  We didn't have anything big for either of us.  We did a day at an indoor amusement park and Karaoke with family for my 11 year old, and went out to dinner for myself.

Week 5 School Days: We officially started homeschooling the day after Labor Day in keeping with the increasingly less popular tradition of starting after Labor Day.  The kids have been very grateful for the long summer.  We homeschooled at my mother-in-laws dining room table.  With only a few bumps in the road (gosh I forgot to pack highlighters and colored pencils in my luggage),  things went well.  This was also our first week of co-op. Which, I  must say, I absolutely loved!  It was wonderful chatting with parents in similar situations with similar values and ideals.  Even with these similarities the crowd was diverse.  There were  mostly Americans, but also Kenyans, Germans, English, and a family from Australia.  It was great to hear all the stories and experiences from the parents, especially from those who have been homeschooling for years!

Preface

       Where do I start? I guess giving proper background will be best.  My husband and I are crazy! Well, that's what we've been told by some.  But, we've also been very encouraged by many great people that have been very supportive of our decisions.
Our Family story: I am a city girl brought up in urban New Jersey.  I've been fortunate in that I've had tremendous exposure, going to high school in Ridgefield, CT. , college in Atlanta, Georgia, and professional school in Washington, D.C.. I think my time in all of these really different places has shaped me and made me the person I am .  My husband has a similar story, he was born in Nairobi, Kenya.  He came to the U.S. for undergrad where he first went to a small school in Augusta, Georgia from there he went to Tennessee State University where he got his B.S., then he went on to MIT for grad. school.
        My husband and I met about twelve years ago in our nations capital.  He was freshly graduated from MIT and working, I was still a student at Howard University.   We met at what I thought was the most unlikely place to meet your spouse.....a party.  Recently, however, I've been told that a party is not so unusual a place. To make an extremely long story short, we met in the spring, were married that winter, and started our family.  I finished dental school and we remained in the  Washington, DC/Northern Virginia area to work and raise our family.  We have three children, two girls and a boy aged 11, 8, and 5 respectively.
       Over the years we've pondered the idea of relocating to my husbands hometown of Nairobi.  We though of how great it would be for the children to have a global worldview, to learn a second, and perhaps third language, to get to know their large extended family.  To be able to see how fortunate they are not only to have been born in the US, but also to be Kenyan as well.  We wondered what we could bring to Kenya.  My husband, now an experienced software engineer, myself a dentist with several years experience under my belt. We felt we would be assets to an explosively developing society.
       In 2008, we'd just had our second, and what we though was our last child.  We though the time was perfect!  Well, we know what happened to the economy in 2008!  We couldn't go.  Without a company sponsoring your move, moving across seas is an expensive endeavor.  We decided it was not our time.
       We continued to visit Kenya once a year or every other year at minimum.  On our last visit in 2014 (by then we had had our last born) we decided we needed to set a deadline.  We thought if we kept saying we will do it, but never commit, it would never happen.  We decided, whether we have gainful employment waiting on the other side or not, the summer of 2016 would be it.
Nov 2014: James Goes to Nairobi
       My husband found a great deal on airfare and decided to go scouting for positions.  He had been given the contacts of a recruiter.  Besides that, he wanted to look at land, in hopes that we could purchase land, and build a home prior to our arrival in 2016.  You know, pay for it while we were still gainfully employed.  We learned a few things from that visit.  1.  Things don't work very efficiently in Nairobi.  The recruiter, who had been contacted prior to his visit was not responsive at all during his time in Nairobi.  2.  Things are not very straight forward.  Land prices would go up by 1/4  in a day for no apparent reason.  Hubby returned to the states with no leads on either front.
Sept 2015: School Applications
       With our summer 2016 deadline quickly approaching, we decided to apply for schools for our three children.  We'd heard the American school that we were interested in filled up quickly and that waiting lists were long.  They had all previously gone to a Montessori school, our oldest daughter was in her first year at a fantastic Christian school while the younger two remained in the Montessori school.  We filled in the applications, sent in essays and recommendations and waited.
 2015: Changes
       Actually it was my husband who first suggested homeschooling during the spring/summer of 2015. Our oldest daughter was having difficulties in the 4th grade at the Montessori school she'd attended since she was four.  In Montessori classrooms typically there are several grade levels in one classrooms.  So they'd have pre-school through kindergarten.  Then first grade through third and finally 4th-6th grades.   In this particular school, in fourth grade they move toward a more traditional teaching approach.  The teacher expected alot from the students and did not accept that students may learn at different paces (this is putting things lightly by the way).  We decided to move her from the Montessori school, but during that time we also considered homeschooling her.  Instead, we got an Au Pair, and she attended a Christian School.  This worked out  for all three children.  The youngest two were able to continue at the Montessori school which was a great school for them, they could now be picked up from school at a reasonable time (no more before and after care).  The oldest was able to attend a great school that was not very close to our home, but because of the Au Pair, logistically, now it was possible.  It was a win win.  Homeschooling was put to the back of our minds.
Jan. 2016: That Homeschool Thing Again
       My daughter performed a duet with another young girl for the church Christmas Concert.  I remember the interactions with this other child.  She was very well mannered not unlike my own children.  She was very intelligent and outgoing, she interacted well with our daughter and adults.  I remember during one conversation, my husband asking her what school she attended and she replied "I'm homeschooled". I remember thinking There goes that homeschool thing again. Seriously that's what I thought.  I was impressed by her and I did want to know where she was learning.  I left church feeling more curious than ever about this homeschool thing.  Later James and I would discuss homeschooling as a possibility for our children.
March 2016: Waiting List, and Clarity
       So, after months of waiting, we received news via email that there was no space for either  of our children at the school for which we applied.  We were put on a waiting list and have yet to be contacted.  We had put our eggs in this one basket because we'd visited the school and loved it.  We thought it was a great school that taught with the Christian values we want instilled in our children. We felt the children would transition easily because the school taught to American standards.  Also, of the three American Schools, it was the most reasonable financially.  With dreams dashed, we began to consider our other options. We could consider one of the two other American International schools, which was more costly, but still had a good reputation and was also a Christian school.  We could consider other systems such as the numerous British International Schools.  Again, my husband chimed in, in a moment of complete clarity....We could always homeschool!  Wow, why didn't I think of that?  It made so much sense.  Who better to teach them, than the parents who will always have their best interest at heart, who know them best, who can cater to their strengths and weaknesses.  We could give them more customized education instilling in them our values.  We could take more advantage of this time in this beautiful country called Kenya.  We could road school at times!  Wow, so many options.  Our minds were racing with the thought of so many possibilities.
March 2016-June 2016: Let the Games Began
       The thing to know about me is that I never half step.... What I mean by that is, when I am in, I am all in.  Once we had decided on homeschooling in late March, by April I had signed us up for our region's annual homeschooling conference to take place in June.  I was on the Internet all the time researching and pouring over homeschooling hot topics like curriculum, learning styles, and how to homeschool multiple children at various grade levels.  We decided that since we were both gainfully employed, and that once in Kenya, we were unsure of when income would again commence, that we'd pre-purchase resources for at least two years.   I was constantly on eBay, amazon, and Craigslist.  I got some really nice deals on used curriculum.  I also got jump ropes, soft balls,  and a basketball hoop.
         It was also early March that we began looking for a right hand drive vehicle.  We considered changing our minivan to right hand drive and then shipping it in the container with our things.  But not only would that be super expensive, we didn't think the Honda Odyssey  would handle the abuse of the Kenyan roads.  Next we considered a Jeep.  We knew they could easily be made right hand drive because it is what the post office uses.   in the end, the easiest and most cost effective way of getting a car to Kenya is buy buying a used car direct from Japan and having it shipped to Kenya.  This is what we did.  The car, equivalent to a 4 Runner in the US, arrived a few months before we did.  By the time we arrived it had cleared customs, been insured, and was waiting at my mother in law's house.
       Lastly, in the month of March, I gave my three month notice.  Even with the purchase of the car, I somehow felt that somehow plans to leave were somehow not concrete.  This single act of sending in my resignation letter made everything real and inevitable.  And I had three months to get my stuff together.
July 2016-

        The days began to roll so quickly.  Before I knew it, we were approaching August.  July 20 th  was my last day at work.   The ladies from work had taken me out to dinner and then they gave a farewell party at the office.  These times were bitter sweet.  I was so ready for a change, but I knew I'd miss my colleagues and the children I treated daily.  What I would not miss was the daily minimum commute of 3 hours!
       Finally moving day came.  We decided to hire professional movers with a door to door service.  It was not a cost friendly option, especially since there was no company paying for our relocation, but I think for our sanity, it was the best choice for us.   We'd been told that the packing would take two days.  The first day they would pack up the house, and the second day they would load the container. On July 26th the movers came to pack our home.  They spent 12 hours that first day, they packed the first floor, most of the second floor (they forgot a linen closet), and none of the basement.       The second day they came in and it seemed to be more of a rush job.  I was really disappointed in the entire situation, especially because some of our things were left behind.  They did not fit in the container.  I couldn't help but to think that if things were broken down more, there would have been more space on the container.  So if there are any other major moves in our future where space may be an issue, a note to self would be really to go through and break things down, for example; desks, beds, and bookcases can be disassembled ( just have a system of storing screws and small parts).         Clothes should be left in drawers, instead of taken out and put in boxes which just takes up more precious space.  During our initial walk-through, the sales guy from the moving company stated that things can be kept in the drawers, but this is not what the movers ended up doing.  All in all,  I'm glad we went with the moving company as opposed to DIY for my sanity alone.
       We had a five days of sleeping on the floor of our empty house.  We'd already sold our minivan back to the dealership, but we had two smaller cars to deal with.  I gave mine to my brother, and my husband sold his to a family friend.  That way we had access to the car until the day we left.  We just left the car in the driveway for the friend to pick up.  We transferred titles before we left.  On the last day of July 2016, we took a shuttle to the airport headed for Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, then to Nairobi, Kenya.  We were exhausted, but looking forward to this next phase in life.
       My hopes are that this blog will chronicle our time in Kenya.  Not only our adventures with homeschooling, but our adventures as expats, our journey as a family in a new country, where even though it is here that my husband has roots, realizing that it has been over twenty years since he's called this place home.