Tuesday;  ended up in a day of typing, typing, typing…

Wednesday; for today I have to excuse my self, I forgot to fill in my ‘research planning a.k.a. logbook’ so I don’t know what I did exactly that day (as it is already two weeks ago), but I am pretty sure it was more typing, typing, typing…

Thursday; however started early as I was going to meet Moses at the potato market. When I called him (wile sitting in the matatu) he told me he was about to leave Machacos (I should have known of course…) well anyway. After an hour of going through the usual traffic jam I went to Karibu Hotel to sit down and wait for him, while enjoying a tea and toast.

After an hour of waiting I went with Moses to buy potatoes, this however also took an hour or more but ‘this is Africa’… after buying potatoes we went to Upperhill Campsite to inquire for some things and to have breakfast. Then on the way back to town we passed by Yaya centre to buy some world maps for one of the visitors from Kitui. It was quite funny in the shop as the personnel in the shop had never seen a mzungu like me (carrying my heavy bags) and Moses made jokes about me in Swahili.

Then (back in town) on the way to the Railways we bought some ‘hapjes’ (snacks) to eat in the matatu. In Machacos we quickly went to T-tot to eat some samosas for lunch and then we rushed to Moses’ ghetto for him to pack his ‘holiday things’.

The matatu to Kitui was one of the last ones of that day, and as ‘the police had stopped working’ the matatu was filled with an additional 4 people… At first I wanted to buy an extra seat to, not be cramped in our seats but then de conductor decided to go and sit next to me.

The drive to Kitui was nice, but the matatu stopped so many times to alight and pick up people. We arrived in the dark, but as I knew the way to knives shop it was not a problem to walk (in the dark). At his chop I had a soda and some chewing gums, and when Moses was finished making his phone calls, he was discussing possible business ideas with Knive. Knive told me that his mom was on the way in a taxi and shortly after, Mama (Alice and Knive) arrived at the shop, so we went home. On the way back home we found a lorry stuck in the mud so we had to walk the last metres to the house.

The area really has changed as there were so many houses build now. At the house we both took a refreshing shower and we had a nice kuku (chicken) dinner. As a guest I was supposed to take the ‘gizzard’ but as I am not a hero in eating chicken from bones, and I don’t know what a gizzard is, I preferred to take a chicken breast and gave the gizzard to Moses.

After dinner we were talking to midnight, actually Moses was mainly talking about shops and business. During talking the power went out so we had to continue in the dark. In the middle of the night the power came back as I woke up from the sound of the TV.

Friday; The next Moring we had a nice fried egg breakfast and then we went to the SASOL office. At the offices (there are two actually) I handed over the things the students had ordered from Nairobi, we had a nice chat with Mutinda and Moses ‘settled the taxi debt’.

Then we went to town to find a matau to Kibwesi (the rural home of Moses). In the time waiting for the matatu to arrive we did some shoppings and we brought the small radio to Titus (of the polytechnic). On the way back to the matatu one of the students did not really agree with Moses collecting the taxi money as he send me an SMS. Moses started a SMS discussion with him in the time we were waiting for the matatu to leave. I would like to say the discussion was raised due to a ‘cultural difference’.

The matatu ride was really nice, even though it took ages to arrive in Kibwesi! When we were in Kisai (yes the place were the Kisai boys come from) I was given a baby to hold for a view kilometres.

 The names of the other towns we passed, I can not remember, but one really cool thing is the ‘Obama Baobab’

This one I took when the matatu had a puncture. Apparently I was not the only muzungu in the town as at one point I spotted a group of them! (Americans I could hear, I don’t want to put a picture of this)

As we continued we left Kitui disctrict and on the way we passed two brides build by Japanese. The ‘stupid’ thing is that 200 metres before the bridge tarmac starts, which is really nice, however the same tarmac ends 200 metres after the bridge, thus sand roads again!

Due to the puncture we lost quite some time, this time we could have saved us from driving in the dark without headlights (as they were not working). We ended up following a car to navigate us into Kibwesi town.

In town we did some shopping and then we had to wait for another matatu to the rural place (of which I forgot the name) it took some time for one to come but we managed to get one. Then the only thing left to do was to take a boda boda (piki piki = motor bike) to take us to the house. While driving to the house my parents called me, it was quite funny to call on the back of the piki piki (which was going 30Km/h) and look at the stars.

At the house I tried to take some pictures of the stars but it my camera can not expose long enough to make a nice night photo… and after showering and having some dinner we went to sleep.

Saturday; The next morning Moses showed me around the farm (which was quite big). I was scared of snakes as (I forgot to tell) the day before we had seen a boy being taken to the hospital because he was bitten by a snake.

Then it was time for breakfast! But before I could take some I had to milk the goat!

 I can tell you one thing, I can not milk a goat! Haha.

The breakfast was nice as we took it outside. I was feeling a bit ‘funny’ so I went to lie down on the bed for a few minutes. When Moses came to check on me and I got up to pack my bags.

By the way, I have to share this picture of the cat of Mama Moses

And after some waiting for Moses to do his things the boda boda came. As there was only one, I went first with all the bags to wait for Moses at Mombasa road. While waiting a guy came to talk to me as he saw my camera, he told me he was a photographer and he showed me his camera and pictures.

I also spotted a piece of Kenyan bicycle ingenuity!

Then when Moses arrived, he had to look for transport for his charcoal. And then it was time ‘to wait’ for a bus to Mombasa. Some busses passed by without stopping, so I said to Moses; ‘I think, when I go and get my writing block, the bus comes’ and it did!.

The unfortunate thing about the bus was that we were sitting in the back seats. But at least we were in a bus going to Mombasa.

On the scheduled lunch stop of the bus Moses and me spotted an ‘unknown’ insect

We were both not really hungry but we still needed to eat something, so we bought a ‘bucket’ of ice (I don’t know how to call it, a 2 persons portion container?). And then we continued our journey to Mombasa.

Luckily, ‘today’ we arrived when it was still light, and as I knew were to get the matatu to the ferry we started walking. On the way I made quite a seen, because I was carrying a back pack and my blue ‘water proof’ bag on my shoulder. The reason for saying I caused a seen is because Moses was translating the things people were saying on the street, this was funny!

When we crossed the ferry we met with the younger brother of Moses called Alex. And he joined us in waiting for the friend I know from 2006.

After a view minutes of waiting my friend arrived, and we went to his house. It was a really nice house at the beach and the first thing we did (after saying hi and dropping our bags) was to take a dive in the nice and warm Indian Ocean water!

That night after showering and relaxing a bit we joined our friends to a family dinner. This was overwhelming for me, as the dinner was so elaborate with all kinds of really nice ‘coast’ food and ice for desert. At first the plan was maybe to go out but we were both so tired that we decided to go home.

Sunday; The next morning (after a sweaty Mombasa night) the ‘house girl’ had prepared breakfast, which we enjoyed at the porch. Then we went to the beach (called Shelly beach) to look for shells. When we came back, my friends came downstairs and they invited us to join them in going to ‘south coast’ for lunch.

We has such a nice time with the family, having nice food for lunch (I even ate octopus legs/arms) and ‘riding the waves of the Ocean. One nice additional thing was the group of German volunteers brought a slackline, so I ‘walked the line’ some times.

That afternoon after a having a nice ice cream and driving home via the ‘touristic route’ (seeing the ‘brick mines’ big holes in the ground along the coast), I was so tired that I took a nice nap (after taking a shower).

That night, the house girl had already prepared dinner. Moses and me served ourselves and after heating the food we sat down to enjoy it (with the nice background noise of the sea the sea breeze and the barking security dogs! Ha ha). That night I had a nice talk with Moses about ‘live’…

Monday; The next day, after having breakfast we met up with Alex, to visit his ‘ghetto’. On the way to his ghetto I spotted the Mombasa style of metal boxes

Then we went to town to check for a good bus company to go to Nairobi with ‘tomorrow’. As we were not sure when exactly we would leave we decided not to book a bus. On the way to the street with bus companies I found a place were you can find Ideal chicks!

When walking back we checked the internet (also discussed the mail I got from my supervisor, and how to incorporate it into my research). When we returned home after taking a soda at ‘the office’ we had just enough time to take a swim before the dark.

That night we had some nice food and we chatted about ‘business’ with our friends…

Tuesday; The next day was our last day to look for shells, and we said our friends goodbye (who were going to work). We left the house ‘early’ to have lunch in town with Alex before taking the day bus to Nairobi. Taking the day bus proved to be a bit of a problem, as the busses were leaving ‘to late’ making us arrive in NBI at 24:00 and the night bus (at which we wanted to book 1^st class seats) did not have seats next to each other.

Then, after Moses already had a nervous brake down, I had a ‘time out’ moment and said, we book the day bus for Wednesday, and tonight we sleep in a crappy guest house to have a good (better then I would ever sleep in a bus) sleep.

At the ‘crappy guest house’ (which was indeed crappy) I had a cooling down shower and a short rest before going to town (as we now had time to do so) to visit fort Jesus. On the way I found out that Barclays bank does not support ‘maestro’ cards in every ATM as I had to go to KCB (Kenya Commercial Bank) to withdraw money.

At the fort I found out the entrance (for a muzungu) is 800 (the same price as the guest house) so we went to the water side outside the fort.

After having a to expensive soda, we walked trough ‘old town’ and then we went to meat up with Alex, who was waiting at the Posta. We had decided to meat a friend to Moses mother in Bamburi. However after half an hour of waiting for a matatu we decided to cancel the meeting. And we went to eat at ‘perfect pizza’ well I have to tell I have had more ‘perfect’ pizza’s in Kenya…

Wednesday; After a good sleep a shower and breakfast, and Moses being signed up for a Barclays account (via Alex) the bus left exactly at 09:00! The first class seats were realy comfortable, the only unfortunate thing was that the door rubbers were leaking a bit (on top of me…). The drive to Nairobi went smooth and I arrived at 16:40. however when I turned in the ‘street’ of my ‘shortcut’ there suddenly was a fence!. As I was walking with all my luggage, I decided to take a taxi home…

At home I started with washing my clothes and then wash my self by taking a shower. Then I started typing out the things I had written in the bus for my research. I was working out a ‘check list’ (actually what my supervisor had recommended me to do some time ago, but it took me all this time to understand how to make one). At the point were I was going to put the ‘references’ to interviews and observations I was so tired that I decided it would be better to continue ‘tomorrow’

Thursday; this was a full day of (taking the lariam I forgot to take ‘yesterday’) typing, siesta,  typing, typing… that night Moses had to sleep ‘in the house’ as his meeting took so long that he was not able to get a matatu to Machacos anymore.

Friday; ‘today’ things went ‘pole pole’ (slow and relaxed) as it was my ‘last day’. We had nice fried egg breakfast, we went to Maurice (I wrote Morris all the time, sorry) to finally take a picture together and to go to the Uchumi to but tools and then we went to print some pictures.

Then we went to Kamukunji to see the Walter² & Maurice NBI Transport Fiets painted!

Then we went to Kamukunji (with the transport fiets) carrying the solar heater, as I was going to bring it to the Jua Kali association office (after doing some final interview questions at the workshop). One really cool thing was that I was able to make photo’s of metal box records, which will be useful in my research.

At the Jua Kali office, after washing the solar heater, I connected it and explained ‘all the details’ to one of the officials.

And after this I gave the office a disposable camera to register any ‘developments’ regarding the solar heater. Look at the picture haha

Then we went past Walter to collect the empty beer bottles, and to have lunch. I also invited Barack who enjoyed him self with half a kuku (chicken) and he even ate the bones!

I also gave Barack one of the cameras, with which he was really happy!

After this we went passed the leather jackets and shoe ‘stores’ to say goodbye, and Moses even bought shoes! Then, after doing the shopping for the bada ya kazi, and passing by the pharmacy girls. I sat down with Walter to give him his bada ya kazi and then we left to mama’s place.

And before actually having the bada ya kazi, I had to check one last time if I could find a green lather jacket, but no success…

The bada ya kazi was really nice, unfortunately mama has travelled ‘up country’ and I could not say bye to her.

As it was running late Moses and me had to leave to get ready for our personal bada ya kazi as we were going to meet up with Jackie and Henk in town…

At home we first had a small siesta before showering and dressing up… as we were ‘going out’

We went to a nice restaurant called ‘The Phoenician’ but there were so many mzungus’! as we were late we had to order immediately and Moses had to order for Jackie (Henk was not able to come).

After the nice dinner we went to Gypsies to meat up with somebody (which in the end did not come) and as Jackie had to work ‘tomorrow’ we went home in time (I have to also say that I was not in the party mood because for some apparent reason my knee was hurting me).

That night we all returned to ‘the house’ to sleep, Jackie shared the bed with Muthetya and Moses slept on ‘the ground’ in my room…

Saturday; The next day was again relaxed, fried egg breakfast, checking the tools Maurice had bought with the money I gave him yesterday as the tools were to expencive in the Uchumi and we did not have time to go with him to the hardware store next to his bicycle repair (ai that is a long sentence).

The we went to town to buy the seeds Teresiah had asked me to bring and then after walking Moses to the matatu I went to check if the online check in was already ‘online’. It was ‘yesterday’ that I found out on the news about the volcano eruption… (the check in was not online).

That afternoon I packed my bags as my flight for Sunday was not cancelled (yet)… and after having lunch, computering a bit it was already evening. Sam already called me, to tell Nyambura to prepare the boys to go for dinner… and when he came home I first had to help him carrying al the fruits and vegetables (he bought at the market) upstairs, then we left to go to a nyama choma place. While in the nyama choma place, I got called and texted by my aunty and parents about the whole volcano situation.

I decided it would be the best thing to check the flights status tomorrow morning before leaving the house…

Sunday;  I woke up at 5 to check my flight status and after calling the KLM service desk, the operator had put me on the evening flight as my (morning) flight was cancelled. Then after sleeping some hours my day was filled with checking the news about the volcano…

In the afternoon I decided it would be a good thing to do some shopping, as I expect to be here for some more days… Sam joined me in going to the Uchumi and when he left for work I went to eat a vegetarian burger at the Thai express (next to Wimpy).

Then I checked the news once again before doing all the shopping… and walking home (via a different shortcut).

This afternoon I was able to take a more clear picture of what I believe is Kilimanjaro

That night I continued with designing bicycles and checking the news. The latest news made me realise ‘tomorrow’ I will still be (stuck) here, and knowing this made me calm down a bit… later that night I had a nice chat with Mattie who also called me on skype and I had a good connection with Bérénice.

I guess I am lucky to be here in the house, and that I am able to stay here for some more days to wait for air traffic to start up again… imagine that I would be stuck at an airport…

Monday, today I woke up relaxed (knowing that today and probably tomorrow I would still be in NBI), apart from my stomach problems (which I probably got from the nyama chomma, are getting less). I had cornflakes for breakfast and now I am still typing this to long story.

See you when I am back in NL,

Tuesday, Moses came in the morning and we spend the whole morning discussing the ‘list of research questions’ I had made, and before we new it was time for a fried eggs lunch. After the lunch we went to Kamukunji, Moses by matatu and I went on my bike. Moses was confident that he would arrive before me. These words he took back after being less then 5 minutes in the matatu and stranding in a traffic jam.

I met Moses in town at the Railways stage and we passed by the market for Moses to buy potatoes and unions. Then we went to Machacos bus station to arrange for transport which proved to be harder then we thought. As we were waiting for almost an hour to get them in (because they went into the luggage compartment at the back) a matatu…

Then we really went to Kamukunji and did some interviews. That night I had a nice hot (shower bucket) shower and did some internetting.

Wednesday; In the morning I did a lot of typing and in the afternoon I was going to meet Morris to get some parts for the transport fietsr (which he stored in his friends shop). As Morris was not at the workshop when I was there, I decided to go to the Masai market and buy some ‘additional things’ and have lunch at Wimpy (and in the mean time do some thinking for my research) the rest of the waiting time I spend with internetting.

When I returned to Morris workshop it appeared he had went to the hospital for a check-up (after a accident he had in November last year) of which he showed me his x-ray’s. The shop of his friend however, was demolished by the city council that morning…

So, no parts! Thus I returned home to make more research questions…

Thursday; was a day filled with interviews and in the night I watched ‘Being John Malcovish’ (strange movie!).

Friday; I did another luggage check, using my new digital ‘pima pima’ it appears that I have 1,5 kilos left if I don’t want to have ‘overweight’ the rest of the day was typing lunch typing and at the end of the afternoon I was so fed up with typing that I went to Morris and go to do ‘pima pima’ and I earned 20 bob!

Saturday; was a bike building day, I had called Walter the day before about what time he would be in the workshop, as he said 9 I said ‘ok I will be there at 10’ as my experience tells me he is always late. Well, when I arrived at 10 he was still not there so I decided to go to the workshop my self because I did not want to waste my time with waiting…

When I had just started working in the workshop Walters brother passed by, and he helped me throughout the morning. It was in the afternoon that Walter called me… to tell why he was delayed. The rest of the day was filled with welding and buying materials to weld… at one point the workshop did not have electricity due to a broken fuse, so we ‘shifted’ to another workshop.

At the end of the day we managed to finish almost all the fabrication of the transports fiets. The only thing missing is a good locking system for the stand… the fact of finishing the bicycle to this point made me decide it would be a good thing to do a ‘bada ya kazi’

Later that night I confirmed with Moses about ‘tomorrow’ going to Thika/ fourteen falls!

Sunday; early in the morning I went to meet Moses in town. After buying some insoles at Tuskys for my lizard skin shoes which appear to hurt my ankles when walking. We went to have ‘full English breakfast’ at the Karibu Hotel (the first hotel I have been sleeping in, in Kenya and actually in my life) and then we walked to the stage to take a matatu to Thika.

In Thika we had to wait some time for Dr Mutunga to pick us up to go to fourteen falls, but the wait and quite long drive were well worth the site of the falls.

And I can say I crossed Athi river on foot (on the top of the falls)

When we were safe back (with wet trousers) on the side from which we started we still had to wait for Jackie one of my Kamukunji interviewees (the daughter of ‘mama mabati’). We showed her the falls and then we went to ‘Metro’ to have nyama choma! Actually it was me who was driving to metro in Dr mutinga’s car! (Jackie and Moses were in another). At metro I asked if Jackie was able to ‘drop me at the house’ and as she said yes so, I did not have worries for getting home.

It was hard for me to say goodbye to Dr Mutunga because I don’t know if or when I would see him again…

When I was home, and checking the photos of today, Moses called me. He told me that there were no more matatus going to Machacos and, in the assumption of it not being a problem, I offered that he could sleep here in the house. The thing was that Moses had to finish his PHd proposal, something he had planned to do during the night in Machacos. Luckely he had his proposal on his mail so, I offered him my laptop and he started working in the late hours…

Monday; today I woke up early (because Noel had to go to school of course) and I could not really get to sleep, because I was to curious to see whether Moses was still working on his Phd proposal or he was sleeping. It was option number 1, as I found out when going for a ‘short call’. I returned to bed to listen to some music, but I could not really doze. I decided to make a ‘planning’ because these last 3 weeks ‘time is getting short’ (this I did on paper while lying in my bed).

As visiting Moses’ mother in Kibwesi was on our planned route to Mombasa I had to ask him (this meant getting out of bed again) when we would go exactly… because we planned to go to Mombasa this weekend as next weekend the visitors from Kitui would come.

After breakfast, some showering, putting my clothes to soak (for washing) and reading Moses’ proposal, I accompanied Moses to the Matatu stop. We made arrangements for ‘tomorrow’ and because my tyre was ‘soft’ again, I decided to go to Morris to get it fixed.

The fixing took almost an hour (because it had 3 holes) and as I was already tired before I went to fix the tire I went straight to bed when I was home. When I woke up I had some lunch and then I started washing my clothes. Walter already had called me if I would come and I promised I would go to him after washing the clothes.

Then I went to town, and as I was cycling I suddenly felt my back wheel ‘bumping’ as I had this before I decided to continue cycling to Morris to put it correct again. However, this resulted in walking after my tire ‘exploded’!... this made me really grumpy…

And when I was finally at Morris, I had already decided that both the tire and tube needed to be replaced. But as it was already to late for me to go to town and buy new ones (regardless from the fact that I did not know were to buy, and that the shop would charge me to much) I had let Morris send one of his boys. I gave him 1000 and I insisted that he would take the wheel to fit the new tire. This turned out to be a good decisions as the eventual tire appeared to be a 27x1/4 in stead of a 27x1 3/8…

In the mean time I went to the Uchumi to go and buy some comforting nice snacks and do some internetting. When I came back (as I said already) my bad moods cleared up when seeing a brand new tyre on my rear wheel. Unfortunately it was to late to go to Walter… that night I did typing…

Tuesday; was a ‘heavy brain action day’. Moses arrived in the morning (a bit late due to the morning rains in Machacos) but, this gave me the time to prepare some things for our discussion. Little did I know the ‘lecture’ Moses was going to give me in the course of the morning. He told me he had waited for me ‘to become a social scientist’ but I failed in that. The thing is that I have a lot of data (technical descriptions) but not data that ‘glues’ (to use Moses words) these descriptions together to a Technographic story. Therefore my brain started acing as I felt again that I had wasted time and I was like ‘what to do!?’.

So, we decided it would be a good thing to cool my brain with an ice cream. And as we thought Newton could use ‘some time out’ we took him as well. We went to get an ice cream but we decided (as it was already lunch time) that we could as well have pizza. The nice thing was that. today or every Tuesday) it is the second pizza for 60bob, and as we were with 3 people we decided a large pizza combo with 2 litres of soda would be the best option.

There was so much pizza that we also took home some for Nyambura. When we all were back at home the three of us were suddenly so tired that we all took a siesta. And it was an addition to relaxing my brain…

When I woke up (after Newton was puling my toes) me and Moses discussed a bit about the ‘how to get more social’ and as my laptop was fully installed on the living room table I had to excuse my self from not being able to walk Moses to the matatu stage.

That night I typed all the notes we made today…

Wednesday; today started a bit bad for me, I had a headache and I felt that I had to do TO much to make the research ‘successful’. Moses told me that ‘I had to be strong’ as putting in more effort now makes ‘going to Mombasa next week’ more rewarding.

After drinking a lot of water the headache started to disappear and the interviews and observations  also went ‘smoothly’ generating a lot of additional data.

And this is the jua kali way of mixing paint!

After the interviews, I went to Walters workshop to help him fix the rear brake for the NBI transport fiets.

Later that night I went to bed really late after finishing my notes and thinking or interview questions for tomorrows interview with the Kamukunji jua kali association chairman.

Thursday, in the morning I had the interview with the Jua Kali association chairman, this was a really interesting interview and it took over one hour. After this I had to go home, to type my 6 pages of notes, and wash my bed sheets and shower before my visitors from Kitui would arrive. I started with washing and taking a shower as the notes were already written on paper.

When I was almost finished writing my notes one of the visitors, who appeared to be already in Nairobi called me. After directing her to a ‘safe place’ (to wait for me) I quickly finished (copying to Word actually) my interview notes. Then I rushed (walking trough the rain) to the matatu stage at Belle vue, to take a matatu to town. This proved harder then I thought but I managed to get one. The traffic jam in town was so bad that I decided to get out of the matatu and walk the remaining distance. I met the visitor at ‘bomb blast park’ as I already instructed her to go there to save time. We walked to the Hilton as the rest of the visitors arranged with the matatu that they would be dropped there. Well, this appeared to be a ‘miscommunication’ or a case of ‘Kenyan yes’ when the visitors called me that they were dropped at Avia centre. We had already ordered a hamburger (at the fast food place at Hilton), and after waiting for them to be finished, we walked back to the rest of the visitors.

And when we arrived, we could already walk back again to the Hilton, to take the 46 to Upper hill Campsite (Othaya road actually). At the junction the bus driver decided to drive another 500 meters before stopping, fortunately, the bus stopped in front of an Insscor (the place were you van buy pizza and chicken) so we decided to take pizza for dinner.

Then we all waked to the campsite and after ‘installing ourselves’ we had some beers and played cards till 12.

Friday, today I was ‘the tour guide’ after the breakfast we all went to town, in town I showed them the ‘immigration office’ (were they can extend their visa’s) and then we walked ‘my usual round’ (this is the one I walked when I was still going by matatu in stead of bicycle). The round started at Muthurwa market, then we walked on the ‘driveway’ (of the muthurwa bus station), in the direction of city stadium. I showed them the ‘NBI transport fiets’ at Walters workshop and then the market at city stadium. Because there’re was to much mud at the market I thought it would be a better thing to go and walk down Kamukunji. I introduced my visitors to mama and Barack and after this I showed the other clothes market (were I bought a leather jacket, I call it my ‘café jacket’). Then we walked back to town, through muthurwa market.

In town we looked for a nice place to take lunch, but because I always go to the cheap places, I was not able to recommend a nice place. On our way to find a nice place, two of my visitors insisted that they wanted to have ‘good food’ and therefore they went to eat somewhere else (which appeared to be the Hilton restaurant). We ended up eating in a place of which I already forgot the name,  I had a toasted beef sandwich. As we were in a group of over 4 we were ablt to get free juice… which was not really nice as ‘it tasted like grass’

After meeting again with the other students, we went to look (while waling trough the rain) for the 106 (matatu) to take us to village market. It appeared that ‘Village market’ is similar  to Yaya centre (a mzungu oriented shopping centre). The Masai market was nice but as I have visited the one at Uchumi so many times I only walked over it looking for ‘different’ things. and I found a nice mask…

Then (as it was getting late) we went back to town, I asked the driver were his (now I know stage was a better word) bus stop was, and then he said he would pass by Hilton. When we almost arrived I asked how much we had to pay, when the conductor said 10.000! I was like huh? Well in the end we paid 600 and just walked away from the matatu as they tried to earn some easy extra money from seemingly unknowing and rich mzungus.

Then we all returned to the campsite to get ready to go to carnivore! As we were planning to eat and then dance. It was quite nice to go there, but also expensive, for me there will probably not be a next time to eat there. However, there is a small ‘side restaurant’ (for Kenyans?) which sells mainly the same meat (from the same grill but for 1/3 of the price) but you are only able to make a limited selection of meats. This is also the place were Moses had his dinner as he arrived ‘a bit late’ after mistaken the location of Carnivore.

Then when everybody was finished eating we went to dance at the samba bar or how it is called…? There were a bit difficulties with arranging a taxi but in the end everybody (including Henk, a Wageningen van hal Latenstijn student) managed to get home.

Saturday; I did not have to be a ‘tour guide’ as my visitors wanted to go shopping at Yaya and in town and they already knew how to get there. Therefore I decided to go home and get some money (as I only had 200bob left) before leaving I had a nice breakfast with Moses and we went to town together before we went our own ways.

It was nice to be home and check my mail, eat a bit of Nyamburas nice lunch and sleep for one and a half hour. I went to get some money at the ATM and I invited Noel for an Ice cream. One thing I learned from this is, ‘don’t give ice cream on a stick to boys of 6!’ as he was eating so slow that the rate of ice cream disappearing in his mouth was lower then it dripping on his hands and clothes… When we came back I washed some socks and boxer shorts and after passing by the Uchumi for some shopping I returned to the campsite (on bike! as tomorrow we are going to Hells gate and I might be possible to fit the bike in or on top of the safari van).

When I arrived I was a bit exhausted, and after placing an order for breakfast (as we leave before ‘breakfast is served’) I went to rest a bit on the bed. That night we went to eat at Trotoria (an Italian restaurant). I had a really nice tomato soup and this soup filled me a bit to much for the nice pizza I had. My visitors were no really impressed by wine they ordered and  ‘the service’ of the restaurant, things which I did not really bother about as they are ‘normal for Kenya to me’

After the dinner we went to ‘party’ in Westlands (a area/place I have not been before). We started in the ‘Black diamond’ were I ordered a warm beer (a thing my visitors totally did not understand, for me I don’t really mind as I am used to drink warm beer at the house party’s on Droef). I have to admit that this one was a bit more warm then I was used, and I took a water as next drink. Then we went to check out Havana’s which was not really ‘our thing’ as was the hip hop/ rap place next to it. Then we went to look for gypsies, which we found after a security guard brought us there. this place was amazing to me as it played ‘house/ techno music’ and it was filled with indies and mzungus and some Kenyans… I had a nice time of drinking (cold) beers and dancing and we went home at half past one…

Sunday; getting up was a bit hard due to the party experience of yesterday, but I managed. I also was able to eat the fried eggs on toast without much problems and then it was already time to get in the ‘safari van’.

When arranging the ‘safari’ the guy said that it would be better to go with two vans. But today there was only one at the camp sites parking. Me I did not really mind as I ‘was used’ (this was the same as the safaris I did in 2006). My visitors had a bit difficulties coping with ‘these sudden changes’.

When we left the campsite the weather was ‘horrible’, as it was raining and cold. After some driving we reached the ‘edge’ of the Rift valley, and when descending into the valley the weather started to brighten up. When we were at the place to get the mountain bikes (to ride around with in Hells gate National park) it was already to hot to wear a trousers and long sleeves. So it was a quick last minute outfit change before we set of to the gate.

I was unlucky as I did not carry my passport and alien card receipt, otherwise I could have had a discount…

The park was really nice, because this time there was a lot of wildlife to be seen (I say this time as I also went to Hells gate in 2006, and then I only saw a dung beetle and a buffalo).

PUMBA!!!!

The only, not nice thing was the rain on the way back to the gate. Luckely I had carried my rain jacket and I was wearing my ‘quick drying travel trousers’ but for the ones behind me they were soaked…

After drying up, and having lunch we went to Mt Longonot. It was not so bright of me to forget to take a picture from the foot of the mountain, however I think it did not change much since 2006 so I use that picture to remember it…

This time ‘we’ the visitors and me timed how long it takes to walk to the edge of the crater. It was a ‘ head pounding’ 45 minutes of walking and after resting and waiting for most of the others the three of us who reached the edge first went to walk to the top of the mountain (another 45 minutes). It was really nice to be on the top and enjoy the view. As we had come so far, and the ‘other side of the crater’ was more ‘flat’ (no steep climbs) we decided we could ‘go round’ (another 45 minutes of actually running most of the parts). When we were back at ‘our starting point’ (at the craters edge) we met the guide who was still waiting for us. We al felt a bid ashamed for letting him wait as we thought he had gone down with ‘the others’ but after another 30 minutes of walking we were back at the gate.

On the way back it was to clouded to make any nice picture from the view point and the rest of the trip home it was raining… At the campsite, after thanking the driver and guide for the safari, paying for the bed (I slept in the past days), placing an order for dinner, having a chat with the camp sites manager, calling with my parents and having a nice hot shower I sat down to enjoy my hamburger and chips dinner.

After this dinner I did not feel so good, of which a clear explanation appeared in the toilet shortly after (racing stomach). I decided it would be the best thing to lie down and relax on the bed and, it did not take long for me to sleep.

Monday; this night I did not sleep really well due to my ‘racing stomach’ and its toilet visits. In the morning I decided it would be a better thing to go home and rest a bit more and then try to eat. This plan went great up to the point of ‘home’ as I arrived at a locked door. Sam nor Nyambura did not pick up the phone and as I was really ‘tired’ due to my ‘healt situation’ I decided to go and lie down in the corridor.

After an hour I was able to reach Nyambura, and I asked her for Sam to contact me (which happened an hour later). By that time, the neighbours’ ‘house girl’ had called the neighbour, who invited me in her house to wait. This was really nice as she also offered me some tea and pancakes.

After another hour (and a half?) of staying in at the neighbours’ place ‘the family’ came home. This was really nice, as now I was finally able to change my clothes, take a shower, eat some of the lunch Nyambura made, put the pictures of the weekend on my computer and check my mail and call Bérénice and then sleep…

After sleeping I took a shower and went to wash my clothes, one nice thing was that I was able to see ‘Kilimanjaro’ vaguely…

Look closely, next to the tree on the left..

This time I was bright enough to exchange a lamp from the kitchen store to the balcony socket, this made me able to wash the clothes (and see if they are clean) in the dark.

Tuesday; today I got up quite late and I made fried egg for breakfast. Yesterday I had ‘consulted’ my how to stay healthy in the tropics booklet” and it said that milk (equals cornflakes and tea breakfast) was not advisable. Therefore, I made the fried egg and took some juice.

After breakfast, I was called by Knive (the brother of Alice, Knive is the translation of his Kamba name), he asked me if Moses and me were coming ‘today’ but I said no, Thursday

And now I am typing this to long story, I did not tell you yet, that I type it ‘backwards in time’

Wouter

Hmm let me see, It was Tuesday when I posted the last message, ah I see, my ‘research planning’ which actually has become a sort of ‘logbook’ to me, is really handy to see what I did during the past week (this is under the condition that you fill it in regularly, which I do).

So, I was typing a document, the thing I did was; reading the articles on which I have ‘based’ my research and look for the key statements. Then I copied these statements and write my own comments. This I did for almost the whole morning (except from uploading the message). In the afternoon I had a short ‘beauty sleep’ as my shoulders really hurt from working on my laptop.

When waking up with my shoulders painless again I went to the Masai market AGAIN!? to buy some things and after a bit of internetting and shopping at the Uchumi I returned home.

At home, were I arrived ‘late’ I realised that I still had to wash my clothes which were already soaking for a day or more. I was just able to finish washing my clothes before it was dark (the thing is, there is no light bulb in the balcony fitting, and in the dark it is a bit hard to see if my clothes are clean or not). Later that night I worked on the 3D model of one of my new bicycle designs

Wednesday, was again a day of typing. The thing is, that the statements accumulated to such a ‘long/big’ (whatever you want to call it) document, that I decided to print it, cut all the statements in strips (of paper) arrange them

After this ‘primary school cutting and pasting’ I again went typing, to arrange all the statements in the correct order. Later that night I was doing some internetting again as I had to upload the file to my mail to print it tomorrow.

Thursday, was a bit more exciting day. It started with Moses calling me that he was delayed in traffic, this gave me the time to go and print the list of ‘statements’. When I met with Moses I had a bit of stressful moment (for me that was) as I believe I had a miscommunication with Bérénice, luckily this got solved in the course of the morning. I first followed Moses to the potato market because he had to arrange transport for the potatoes (for his shop).

With this arranged we went to ‘signature’ restaurant for some ‘breakfast’, for Moses that was, I had a soda. As this place was to noisy to have discussions about ‘the list’ we decided to look for a more quiet place, I suggested to go to ‘the park’. Before we went to the park, we went to the street which has music stores (which I found on an advert some time ago), to look for ‘nice and good priced music things’. As the quality was a bit disappointing apart from the Yamaha ‘things’ we went to ‘the park’. Bomb blast park (the American embassy bomb attack memorial park) that was. It was nice and quiet, and after enjoying some of the snacks we bought at the Tuskys around the corner we started discussing my list.

At one point Moses said; ‘it looks like you do not have boundaries’, and me, I knew of ‘boundaries in research’ but the only answer I could give was Uhhhhhh? So as with other things he mentioned, after some discussion and me becoming ‘scientific’ again and relating the concepts Moses mentioned to the things I intended to do and actually had been doing, a good plan was drawn up.

So with this fresh ‘to do list’ for me, and me being really nervous because I had the feeling I would not have enough time to complete the list, we went to Pizza Inn to have a nice Pizza with soda!

Then as it was already getting late Moses returned to Machacos and I went to pass by Walter to check the status of the bicycle. the status had not much changed since the last time as Walter still was waiting for Morris to bring parts. I went to the market ‘just’ because it is close and I actually found what I was looking for al along! Shoes of course!!!

But because I wanted to check the fit with my ‘collection’, and me knowing the shoe seller already ‘as a friend’ I was able to take one home for fitting.

On my way back I spotted a Dainesse motor jacket, in a really good state, except for the colours and the size…

I went back to Walter and together we went to the place were I bought my bicycle. I was going in the assumption that I would find the bicycle I wanted to buy for the belt drive parts just standing were I’d left it the last time. However, there had been some ‘rearrangements’ in the warehouse as all bicycles were put on a 3 meter high pile. So much for this great idea!...

At home, the shoe fitted, so I called the shoe sales man to tell him I would buy them tomorrow morning. because on my way home, Morris promised me he would be in Walters workshop in the morning to bring the parts and discuss with Walter.

That afternoon I was checking my mail, when suddenly Coen chatted to me; “The roses are delivered” I was like oh yes I almost forgot! I had asked Regina (the girlfriend of Coen, and both are ‘my classmates’) on Sunday, if she could bring Bérénice some roses to cheer her up for the last weeks. Apparently it rained to much on Monday, that she was not able to buy and bring the roses. This was convenient for me as I could change ‘the delivery date’ to Thursday 18 (exactly one month before my departure date). So, to continue, Coen wrote; “it would not take long for Bérénice to send you a message” and I waited in excitement… and waited and waited, till the point Coen typed,; “oh!?, she just passed in the direction of her house… now it takes just 5min” and I waited again and waited. Till the point Coen suggested “to take a look”, finding out she was working in the garden. As he was not able to approach the house unnoticed by Bérénice, he had a small chat (tying to suppress his excitement, leaving a big smile). So when he left, Bérénice went in the house and shortly after I got a SMS, mission accomplished!

Later that night I chatted with Bérénice and also told her this story, on which she finally could understand why Coen was ‘acting so strange’ haha

Friday, I went to buy the shoes in the morning and I spend my time (waiting for Morris) going to look for a green leather jacket at the Kamukunji market and put the solar heater for display at Walters workshop.

It was quite an attraction. And ‘my work seemed to be done’ as the person in the black t-shirt (who is actually a soap seller) started explaining how the system works to the other Kenyans

The endless (disappointing) waiting for Morris had tired me, so when I arrived home, after finding out Morris was still waiting for his neighbour to open his shop in which the bicycle parts were kept, I had a short siesta.

After the siesta I prepared ‘my pasta’ of which I have told before (when Alex arrived in Kenya) and with my stomach saturated I went to the Uchumi to do some shopping. When I returned home it was ‘typing’ again.

Saturday I had a ‘baaldag’ (I don’t know a good translation, lets call it every thing is not the way you want it to go). So after some attempts of typing (working for the ‘to do list’) I decided it would be better to watch a movie (Oceans 12). The movie made me relax my mind and as the boys were outside playing I took the opportunity to take a siesta. After the siesta I went to the Uchumi for, yes to do some shopping… and back home I continued with ‘typing’

That night, when I was still in ‘typing mode’ Martin (the Kenyan with which I shared the same flight) knocked on the door. I knew that he was going to call, but hearing my mobile is a bit difficult when it is in a closed box (in the bedroom) and I am listing to music using my earplugs in the living room.

I quickly prepared my self for ‘going out’ and when martin was back from picking his phone from the car, we had some chapatti and peanut (groundnut) stew. Then we first went to his friends’ place to see if he wanted to go with us and to have some additional food.

On the way to town my ‘kenyan reality filter’ had to work over hours as, when in first instance we thought there was something like a gazelle on the road, up close it appeared to be a ‘somebody’ (note that I have had my share of seeing ‘macabre’ things, the motor cycle accident)

Well when we passed, I asked Martin; ‘can we stop’ on which he answered; “you never know who can jump from the bushes” (referring to get robbed) and as it was better that Martin would call the police, because Kenyans can have difficulties understanding my mzungu English (especially on the phone) and Martin was now even more focused on the road, we decided we would not let this ‘event’ spoil our evening.

We went to a place of which I forgot the name, but it is behind the Nakumatt Mega. I had only one beer and I was already affected because the last time I had beer was in Kitui. We played some games of pool and when we were just leaving one guy asked us to also play with him. So, after playing two additional games (one each) we left for home.

Sunday; in the morning I spotted Mt Kenya!? (look behind the blue thing)

It was ‘amazing’ for me to see the mountain from here, as I had never spotted it before, when looking in that direction.

After some typing I started to develop some study avoiding behaviour as I started watching Oceans 13. When the movie was over the Family came home from church and the really nice thing was that they brought chips for lunch!

After the lunch I had a siesta (hmm… it looks like I have one every day?... anyway) because I came home late last night (01:30). After the siesta I had a nice hot (shower bucket) shower and I went to the ATM to do my last cash withdrawal in Kenya (well this was my intention, let me get back to that in four weeks). That night I did some more typing.

Monday; I had a morning of typing interchanged with lying on the bed (not siesta! but) to listen a view songs and ‘drum a bit’ to relax my hurting shoulders.

In the afternoon I prepared a lunch (cup a soup with pasta) and after the lunch I went to the Equity Bank to deposit next months house fee to Teresiah’s Kenyan account. On the way back I took the touristic route as I passed by the fence of Nairobi National Park, but unfortunately I did not spot animals… back home, guess what… typing…

Now as I am typing my travel stories, I am trying to relax my mind (my shoulders still hurt a bit) from the list of questions I came up with for tomorrow. As tomorrow I am going to meet Moses again, actually, he is coming to the house (note that reduces his travel time with 1 hour!)

One more thing, last night I made a nice photo, as the clouds above Nairobi were lit by the moon and the city lights.

Like I said, Monday was a bike building day. The day started a bit weird, as Walter was different than normal (a bit like he was drunk). He also did not want to start working immediately, but he wanted to have lunch? Well I joined him to the food market (Burma market I believe) next to Kamukunji, and this is how it looked.

Because of the ‘whole situation’ I kind of lost my apatite but after tasting some of the food I had some. Then we went to the welding workshop and we managed to do a lot of welding on all the steering parts of the bicycle. Luckily, we were in a workshop with a roof, because it was drizzling almost all day (this time I had carried my rain jacket, which came in handy since the workbench with vice was outside in the rain)

That afternoon, when driving back home, I bought a trouser, as an experiment to fit with the shoes I had bought. I do not have a photo of me wearing that one because, as I was not able to fit it ‘on the street’ it ‘just’ fits me, as I found out at home.

Tuesday, it is now that I remember that on Monday ‘we’ were not able to spot weld the steering rod correctly because I needed the tires to be inflated (and they were not) therefore I decided to stay at home today and already work on my ‘data check’.

That afternoon, as I wanted to enjoy a bit of the fresh, dust and exhaust gas filled air of Nairobi. I went to try and change my trouser for one that fits (to at least have ‘the correct measurements’) and as this was not a real success I went to ‘sunbeam’, a complex with small shops selling second hand clothes (of first pick quality). This place however, I did not like, to much cramped into one place, so I left for home.

Wednesday morning, you don’t believe it but, I packed my bags! to see how much weight I have, because Teresiah was to leave on Friday and maybe she could already take some things of me. Overweight? well the scale I have bought indicated that I have two pieces of 23 KG each! Exactly right!

Then I went to the Masai market (for the last time) together with Teresiah, she wanted to buy some things and me, I had my usual check list of course! After passing by Morris, and asking him to call Walter if he had already fixed the tires (and fork bearings). Walter answered that he needed to be promoted with some money to buy parts and. Not much later Walter called me (while I was still sitting at Morris) and he told me he already had al the parts…? This was a bit strange to me, and with Monday fresh in my mind I was confused and a bit upset.

Well, not as upset as Teresiah had become at the Masai market (I am exaggerating, is this the correct word?), now I know that the sellers not only annoy mzungus! So after finishing my checklist I saved Teresiah from the market and we went to have pizza lunch at Pizza Inn.

I totally forgot to tell that before we were even at Morris, we went to check if my Moringa seed already was growing (and it did, even better then in Holland!). Then Teresiah got a full elaboration on how to best plant a natural fence for their plot. And after exchanging phone numbers we went to Morris.

When we came back from ‘pizza time!’ (teenage mutant ninja turtles!) Teresiah went to the fund raising, for her aunts funeral. I was actually a bit tired so I went for a relaxing nap, from which I woke up even more bad, then before I went to sleep. This ‘badness’ was washed off by a nice shower bucket shower.

Later that night I ‘called away my home sickness’ ,one of the most funny calls was with Pascal, who was finally able to let me hear his new drumming skills. Me, I have not been sitting still, and I tapped my new skills on the table (which Pascal could hear on his turn).

Thursday, in the morning I met with Alice (who I know from Kitui 2006) it was nice to chat and finally give her the pictures of the 2006 house warming party.

I also took a picture ‘to remember us’

As Alice had another meeting in town (and so did I) I joined her to the matatu stop at Bellevue and then quickly returned home to get my things to go to town as I wanted to meet Moses to discuss about my last phase of the research.

In town I could not reach Moses’ phone, so I went to see the progress of the bicycle at Walters workshop. At the workshop I was pleased to see the fork bearings being fitted as well as the tires. The back wheel however was not finished. It was supposed to have a coaster brake (terug trap rem) but the hub caused problems (it needed additional holes, which the workshop was not able to drill due to the absence of correct drill bits). This made me decide to just use a mamba hub and mount two rear (mamba) brakes.

Then, while waiting for Moses I was able to ask some interview questions, look for the green  leather jacket (which I still did not find) at the (city stadium) market. And after waiting at Walters workshop a bit longer Moses called me that he was on his way.

We first had a soda at the pharmacy as the ladies were already asking me for so many times when he would come again. Then we went to the ‘hotel’ to have some lunch and discuss about the data check, check double check. The discussion resulted in a lot of input (as well as work) for me. Then we went to the Walters workshop to show Moses the bicycle and as he needed a new t-shirt and it was already to late to ‘work on the bicycle’ I joined Moses to the market. I actually bought an Iron Maiden shirt for 150bob!

After the clothes buying experience we went to the ‘muthurwa bus station’ because Moses now finally was able to buy some ‘mzungu’ mattress covers (the ones with elastic at the corners) and I did some ‘pima pima 5 bob!’ (means weight, weight) promotion for the person next to the mattress cover seller.

I forgot to tell something again, because before meeting Moses and doing al the things I had described, I also went to the Ukwala to return my ‘super monkey health scale’. Because, when we weighed Teresiah’s bag it weighted 40 kg’s when put on the scale and 20 when I would hold it in my hands when standing on the scale my self?. Furthermore, as I trust the ‘pima pima’ scale more than the super monkey, my weight has not increased so much as I thought. My weight (including my mountain boots) was 71kg’s (so about 69, the same as in the hospital).

Later that night, when I came from the Uchumi and wanted to cross Mombasa Rd I was stopped by an ‘official guy’ and a police man on the other side of the totally empty road. This was because, as I found out not shortly after, the presidential escort was about to pass. This was a nice experience for me but also crazy, the normally really busy Mombasa Rd. was empty! Except for a and full of military and official cars and police motors passing at about 140Kmh’s! but I can say, I’ve seen the President of Kenya, behind a darkened car window and at the just mentioned speed, but still! I have never seen the Dutch queen or prime minister…

Friday, ‘we were going to start early!’ well I was at the workshop early, to wait for Walter for 1,5 hours! But I am already used to that. And the long wait was rewarded with a finished (and working) steering system!

I had to go home not to late (because tonight we were going to bring Teresiah to the airport) I had a soda for ‘bada ya kazi’ as it was not yet after work. I also had a soda with Morris while showing him the pictures of the progress we made ‘today’.

Then, at home I had a nap and a shower, and before I knew it, it was already time to go to the airport. In preparation to go to the airport, I packed all my ‘newly bought things’ in the metal box to take for weighing. But Sam convinced me that there would not be a scale at the airport. Well, when arriving there was one a ‘pima pima 5 bob!’ one.

We actually went with a lot of family to the airport to say goodbye to Teresiah. She arranged with the security guy that she could check in her luggage and then ‘go out’ again to say goodbye to ‘the family’ but. The checking in of bags resulted into some trouble as she carried one heavy suit case in stead of two pieces, so she ended up in packing things in a box as a 2^nd piece of luggage, despite of her heavy bag, she did not have luggage over weight. And when she finally checked in her bags we were able to say goodbye to mama Africa.

Later that night, the family members all went to the house to have some food and tea and, as I was tired, I went to bed while the family was still talking. When I just had installed my self in bed, Sam asked me I Frederick (bother of Teresiah) could sleep next to me, and I (being a guest in the house) could not refuse.

Saturday, things went a bit slow, I did not have a really good sleep, so after calling Walter (if he was already at the workshop) I went to snooze a bit before I went to work on the bicycle. I passed by Morris (just like almost every day) to ask for a 20” tube, and after waiting for some time to fix the 5cm tear in the tube I went to Kamukunji.

When I arrived I found out I’d forgotten my cap (a vital piece of jua kali (hot sun) survival  clothing for me) so I decided to go to the cap guy (next to the pima and mattress covers guy’s) and look for a new one (which I found, one of G&T plumbing if I’m correct). When I was at Walters workshop I managed to set a new record of waiting to go to work on the bicycle, I believe I have waited over 3 hours because he was to busy with fixing bicycles and piki piki’s (motor bikes).

But, we managed to make the carrier frame! (not exactly as I wanted to make it, but still it works)

Sunday, I woke up early as I was in the assumption we were going early, but things went a bit relaxed so we left at about 10:00 (or even later)… the drive was nice and I asked Sam to stop so that I could take a picture of the view…

Monday, I did a lot of typing of notes I made for my data check (when I was waiting at Walters place and on the way to the village). I received a mail from Bérénice with pictures of her now, longer curly hair and my parents ‘stressed’ me by telling me that before tomorrow I have to ‘collect my student, public transport card thing’ (as it is a new thing called the OV chip card, which is enforced this year, I have no clue about it because the whole of this year I have not been in NL). So after some stressing and looking for a phone number, the only thing I could do was sending an email…

Now I am typing this message, and waiting for Sam to finish with using Internet. Tomorrow I have to do laundry and continue with my data check, check double check. I have a meeting with Moses on Thursday.

One more thing, about the ‘pima pima’ of my luggage, the thing I am going to do is to rent a scale of one. I will pay for him to go to the estate and wait for me at the gate while I am weighing my stuff!

And to be honest it is Tuesday when I am posting this message, yesterday night Sam needed the internet stick so I could not post it.