OH, TOTO

(Go watch The Wizard of Oz!)

I MISS KENYA

From the camp we stayed at in Masai Mara National Reserve, Kenya.

CHEESE SLICERS!

After almost two months in Kenya fighting off the deilicious cheeses they produce here using unsharpened knives of all sorts, my colleague Heidi and I were extremely happy when we suddenly found cheese slicers at our local supermarket the other day. And they didn't just have one type, they had four different models! The cheese slicer is a Norwegian invention, originally designed by carpenter Thor Bjørklund, and patented with the number 43377 in 1925.

NICE CURVES AGAIN

When am I ever going to stop obsessing over nice curves?

Answer: Not today

(I found this lamp-post in the government quarters in Nairobi.)

COURTYARD HOUSE

Last Saturday, we went out of Nairobi to the town of Thika to visit a friend. It was a beautiful day with loads of sun, and as we walked around, we passed the usual mix of old colonial arcade houses, modern apartment buildings made of concrete and food booths in the shape of Coke bottles.

When we arrived at our friend's house, I was very surprised that the rather normal looking facade was concealing this beautiful courtyard.

True, it was simple, and very small, in fact the smallest courtyard I've ever seen, but the light was pouring down in the middle and was being reflected by the bright colours, the gallery surrounds were providing shadow to rest in, while people were washing clothes, talking, playing music and enjoying the  fresh air.

Maybe this way of designing houses is more common than I thought, only I'm not able to see it from the outside?

TEAM BUILDING

What is a team building? I have no idea, but this is what it looks like, according to a hotel advertisement we found last week.

Photographer: Kristian Hoff-Andersen
Model: Heidi Norum

BEFORE THE CARS

Yesterday, the bus gave up on getting us into the city centre and instead dumped us right outside of it. Nairobi is full of traffic and congestion, probably because of all the people driving in their of own cars instead of using public transport, and the fact that the CBD (the tall buildings in the background) has almost no apartments, so people who work there have to spend a lot of time travelling there and back again every day.

Anyway.

When we arrived, we saw that many people were walking towards and on this bridge. There were people selling fruit, and clothes, playing music, chatting, burning things (they seem to have an affinity for burning things in this country) and looking bewildered. We decided to follow, and it turned out that this is a highway that's still being built. In between all the others, there were people in yellow helmets trying to finish it. There were huge cracks every 20th metre or so, which I guess explains why the cars haven't arrived yet. Actually, I'm even sure they should finish it. Research shows that expanding roads only leads to more people using their cars, so that capacity doesn't really increase. Maybe it would be better to keep the life and the people, use it as a new urban space and build some houses and workshops or something on and under it?

KENYA ETC.

Finally! I have arrived in Kenya! After a hectic month (without blogging; sorry) I'm starting the work here. Although based in Nairobi, my colleagues and I will be travelling around a lot, and we've already been for a week-long holiday in Mombasa. I promised my teachers I would draw a lot here, but I'll also be taking a lot of pictures of interesting architecture (and some times other things), and will have things to blog about, no worries.

I was walking along the Indian Ocean on Diani Beach on South Coast near Mombasa, and passed this wonderful wavy wall. Constructed in the coral stone typical of the region, it creates both warm, sunny spots and shaded areas, and protrusions out into the beach with earth for the coconut palms to grow in.

In its natural form, the coral rock forms big cliffs, and by the sea it will often be covered in plants, with a dark surface and weathered by the waves like this one. It's chopped up into box shapes that are sold at 25 ksh each and used everywhere in the coastal areas, also in new construction, where is actually often is smoothed over with cement plaster. Here's a new building with walls made of coral stone, presumably covered up to look like concrete:

A whitewashed coral stone wall:

A worn coral stone wall. Note how it's white at the bottom, probably due to being worn from water running down during the two rain seasons in Coastal Kenya:

Finally, a picture of yours truly by the Indian Ocean, just to prove it's all true. Oh, and the horizon is horizontal in Kenya as well, I just haven't gotten any proper graphics software for my new computer yet.