Wednesday 18 September 2013

New town, new things, acclimatizing

It's a quarter past 11 and am feeling quite accomplished to be walking out of my door this "early". Waking up is always a struggle especially when there's not much to be done that capture's my imagination.

Well, let me fill you in. We just moved into this new small town. Not like we from the city, but twas a big small town. My mornings are slow, and my days are slower. The day comes to life in the evenings when everyone's back home from work. But me, am just here all day. Today was my first day of life, tired of staying indoors and loneliness beginning to creep in. I had come to a resolution to step out, know my hood and maybe make a friend along the way. I decide to walk to town instead of picking a mat. My feet would do with some flexing.

It’s an interesting little town which I've come to view as a juncture of rural and urban ways of life. It may be small but it houses all major banks KCB, Equity.. but scaled down to fit into this town. There are movie shops and boutiques with some really cute clothes and shoes. For retail, it lacks the renown retail giants like Nakumatt and Uchumi, but boosts its own local brand-not big and lavish though, and not too many to choose from, but something we can do with. The architecture reflects a different time of yester years whose locals have not really invested in much to upgrade. Most commercial buildings are bungalows or with a single storey not higher than that.

The infrastructure is okay..tarmac roads leading into and out of town and murram roads into the interior. There is tapped water and electricity - not so typical of a rural setup. Housing is fairly priced the standards are good too with keen attention to security and space. It does make a good bet for investors who seek to avoid inflated land prices in bigger towns or near cities. Being the county seat for this county's government, my small town is well placed for lavish growth as companies and government agencies set up shop here for devolved operations- that’s what got us here in the first place.

Taking my time to know my way around, I make a conscious decision to avoid the streets I know - not really streets, coz they don’t have names. I do some window shopping for shoes, the price are like 300/- cheaper than in Nairobi and they said we could negotiate. How cool is that! The fashion sense here is across the spectrum. Young people in their city dress code, vest tops and pencil jeans, jeggings and brightly colored tops, short dresses n skirts I reckon these are university students that are home visiting. These could otherwise be frowned upon in shaggz, but not here.

The beauty of my small town is in its expansive green gardens. The bananas and sugarcane, maize, beans and rice paddies, it’s a view one never really grows weary of; Lots of trees and fresh clean air with the smell of the countryside. There's lots of fresh produce from traditional green leafy veggies, fruits, matoke, milk...the entire spectrum. I can’t even remember the last time we had bread for breakfast we going healthy_ eggs and nduma/ sweet potatoes.

I'm close to home when I bump into one of my Indian neighbors; she's a sweet girl with a pretty face, warm heart and the most adorable 1yr old baby girl. She's been learning Swahili and insists on having conversations in her new language. Sometimes I have to listen in really hard to get it right but I must admit she's put in a full-court press and she sounded right at home today. My other neighbors are the cutest and smartest 7 and 3 yr olds I've ever met. With their exotic Swahili names, curious and playful as any two young lads could possibly get. Theirs is a knack for cars and all tech stuff; I reckon they'll make great engineers someday. It’s a beautiful day, beautiful people and amazing scenery.

I knew leaving our old home would be hard, but what I found on this other side was an adventure. Looking back, I wouldn't want it any other way.


Love Kristy.