Indiana-Kentucky

The next stop on our trip was to southern Indiana/northern Kentucky. This was a different visit to see family than in years past. The most significant change was that this was our first trip as a family since the passing of my father-in-law. The implications of that fueled much of what we did over the course of the visit. While it didn’t necessarily result in a heavy atmosphere, it was certainly something that was a sort of backdrop to activities and conversation.

bridge walk in Louisville

Though the weather was the usual July hot and muggy when we arrived, it soon cooled and it ended up being one of the more comfortable trips we have spent in southern Indiana.

cool shot of Kiran at the front of the Kentucky Science Center

One of the first areas of attention was assisting my mother-in-law to settle into her new house. A while back I advocated for them to consider leaving the house out in the country (off a long, windy, sometimes precarious road) and move to town. The desire was multi-fold and seems somewhat obvious to an outsider. They needed to be closer to health care. I was increasingly concerned about their safety with the amount of time they spent going back and forth on that windy road, particularly during the winter. Socially they were more cut off from their church and other friendships. It was also simply inconvenient to be so far away from basic amenities such as groceries, the pharmacy, the YMCA, etc.

Kinaya getting wet at the Science Center

There was obviously a flip-side to this. The house was remarkably functional and could accommodate visitors (ex. us) well. The grandkids were less than a hundred meters away. It was quiet and just a peaceful place to be. There were obviously trade-offs but as time went by, the rationale for remaining was diminishing and it eventually became just a matter of time before the move would happen.  

the beautiful male cardinal

It wasn’t easy, both practically and emotionally. Even though I have known for a long time that this was the right thing to do, I have a developed nostalgic side to me. I was sad to see the old place go. Early in our visit, we stopped by the house to pick up some final things. Looking around the now-empty rooms I thought back at all the memories we accumulated during our semi-annual visits. I should say that over the years, with all of change built into my life, I dwindle less on things like this than I used to. I suppose I felt a sort of sweet sadness, the kind that comes from acknowledging both loss and a sense of delight looking back. Soon we were back in the car, looking forward.

catching a AAA baseball game in Louisville

We had visited the unfinished house over the Christmas holidays. We knew generally how it was going to look. So there were no big surprises to see it completely done. It’s nice and I think a good fit for what Priya’s mom needs. Given that it was a new house in an area that had not been residential before, I was eyeing some of the growth that was lining the backyard. It was overgrown and had reduced the space by about a quarter. One morning, with temperatures in the upper nineties Fahrenheit (and with the blessing of my mother-in-law), I tore into the overgrown limbs and brush with reckless abandon. I had a general idea of what needed to be done when I started and it more or less went as planned – except for the poison ivy. It’s true that I’m not too bright sometimes. Since I was very young I have had a habit of tearing into things without fully thinking them through. This impulsiveness has resulted in several broken bones. I’m sure there’s a positive side to this quality but I’m still sorting out what it is. In this case, I did not have proper coverage of my legs and feet. Sure enough, a couple days later the area below my knees was covered in itchy welts and blisters.

Louisville Slugger Field at sunset

Needless to say it was more than uncomfortable for a couple weeks. But the end result was quite satisfying, I have to say. It will need maintenance to keep the growth back away from the house but it will likely be much easier going forward.

happened to catch a home run in the making

One of the key events of the trip was a weekend at a large cabin in the hills not too far aware from the old house. I’d never been to this area and I was surprised how quickly one can transition from farmland to a thick forest. The cabin is perched on a hill overlooking a small lake. The air remained thick and hot, unlike the thinner, cool air that I’m used to in forested areas. But you felt as though you were more remote than you really were.

cabin with a view

The house was able to accommodate the dozen members or so of the southern Indiana family. Some of the rooms had AC. There was a game area in the basement complete with a nice pool table. It was without a doubt the warmest lake I’d ever swum in. It was like bath water. I’m not sure that it was very cooling but it did make it easy to get in and out.

time for reflection

Other than pulling the family together, one of the main reasons for the weekend was to remember Priya’s dad. To avoid making it an overly sad event, we did some fun activities as a means to lighten the atmosphere. There were, and still are, sad moments but that’s expected and appropriate given the tremendous impact he had on the people around him.

even some time for a horseback ride - very fun

After a very pleasant weekend, it was back to the flatland (and to internet access). We would spend the next week and a half hanging out with family, running errands, doing more things around the house and going into Louisville. I’ve grown to enjoy Louisville and each time we visit I discover something new. It would be a livable city if it weren’t for the insanely hot weather and lack of real mountains...

Soon we would be wrapping up the visit. Always shorter than we would like but far longer than what most people have on their vacations, particularly since we would still have another two weeks in Idaho. So we can’t complain.

Stopover in The Hague

In July we made our semi-annual pilgrimage to the US. As usual, we made a stopover in the Netherlands before continuing on. Just prior to leaving we were informed that one of the friends we were planning to stay with had fallen from a ladder and received a head injury. It was a shock to learn that he had fallen (a normally careful Dutchman) and we hoped that he was okay. In addition, due to their sudden inability to host us, we quickly needed to sort out where we might stay in the Hague. We would still be able to see them, and some other friends from elsewhere in the Netherlands, but for shorter duration and under different circumstances.

We settled on a hotel in the downtown area that was not too far from the train station (logistically useful) but also accessible to some interesting things to do. Given that we would have more time on our own, this seemed like a good base for exploring the city.

In fact it worked out quite well. We arrived at the airport in Amsterdam early morning on a Friday after the night flight from Nairobi. We put our bags in storage and headed towards the train, conveniently located within the air terminal. We weren’t in a huge hurry given that theoretically we wouldn’t be able to check in to the hotel until the afternoon. The weather looked to be a bit unsettled as we arrived in The Hague and sure enough, it began to rain about halfway into our fifteen minute walk to the hotel from the station. We had to be a bit careful about getting wet since we had limited clothing options for our 2-night stopover.

After a relatively short wait in the lobby (long enough for me to fall asleep since I hadn’t slept on the night flight), we were able to check in a bit early. Once settled, we set out on getting acquainted with the downtown – a part of the city we hadn’t frequented much in the past. Over the next couple of days we would mix touring around by ourselves and hanging out with our friends. Turned out that our injured friend had a Mercedes Benz symbol-shaped crack in his skull with some blood clotting. The first evening we spent with them he was well enough to prepare dinner but not well enough to stay up the full evening. He needed lots of rest so after a couple hours he excused himself and went up to lie down. The second night he seemed a bit better and made it most of the evening. Hopefully there’ll be no long-term consequences of the concussion. When I hear about these head injuries I think back on some of my own, particularly one when I was 17 where my concussion led to temporary amnesia (American football injury). Scary stuff.

These are friends of ours from our time in Burundi. In fact there are a couple families that we are still in touch with that we were able to see on this trip. It’s the sort of thing people always do. You meet some people, whether it’s during a certain chapter in your life or on holiday, and you say you’ll stay in touch and meet up at some point but most of the time people never do. In this case, we have. In fact we’ve seen these people about every year since they left Burundi in 2015. Obviously it’s been facilitated by our travel through Europe a couple times a year. It may not be as easy if that were to change. But for now it’s been great to stay connected (and explore their city).

The days before leaving

The days before leaving on holiday are always packed. It’s inevitable. You’re trying to get as much done as possible, both at work and at home. Because there are so many Europeans working here, the annual work rhythm is influenced by their tendencies to take their generous (sensible) vacations in July or August. Though I don’t work for a European organization, the nature of my work affords me a bit more annual leave than other professions. I’m quite thankful for that.

Kinaya ballet performance

Kiran doing something I'll never do

So given that much of the international community skips town during the Western hemisphere’s summer months, people try to cram in loads of activities before leaving. They all tend to fall during the same two or three weeks from mid-June to early July. We are culpable as well. The girls’ birthday parties both fall in July. For some time we were getting away with them attending others’ extravagant birthday events with bouncy castles, clowns, gift bags, etc. (seems to be a thing here) while going to the US and having more subdued affairs. Our lovely and maturing daughters finally called us out on it last year. “Why don’t WE get to have parties with our friends here in Nairobi?” Ugh. I suppose it’s fair since they are pretty much the only ones among their friends that get cheated out of a big party.

And, if I’m honest, it’s not terribly expensive here, certainly compared to what the same thing would be in Europe or the US. I was even more supportive when I learned that these clowns are mostly starving college students. So we caved and told them they could have a combined party with some of, but not all of, the party trappings they have become acquainted with at their friends’ parties.

celebrating the Queen's birthday at the UK event in Nairobi

Another event that was squeezed in among the others was a football match (i.e. soccer). For some reason I have been to few matches in my life. I’m not sure why. They’re quite fun and, so long as they don’t get too violent, it can be a nice outing with friends. I went to one many years ago (1985) in Rio de Janeiro that sort of turned ugly. It was a home match of Brazil’s most famous (and richest) club Flamengo. I don’t remember who they were playing but police in riot gear lined the area between the opposing spectators to prevent all out war. I was there with my basketball teammates and we were stupid enough to wear our team colors. Anything non-Flamengo was reason enough for targeting. From the time we filed in to take our seats we were pelted with all sorts of things. The riot police eventually moved us to seats near the opposition fans where they could protect us more easily. Though we had no allegiance to either team, we were immediately converted to Flamengo supporters in order to try to limit the amount of rubbish being tossed in our direction. To be honest, I don’t remember anything about the match itself. Only my preoccupation with what went on in the stands.

But I have seen matches in a few other countries where things were a bit less crazy and more enjoyable. This match in Nairobi was crazy in some ways but turned out to be great fun. It began by an invitation of one of our friends who has a high position in the company that was the primary sponsor of the event. A few of us hopped in his van and we braved nasty Nairobi traffic to see what was somewhat of a historic event. It was the first time that an English Premier League team, Everton, would play in Kenya. It was huge. They were playing against one of the top Kenyan teams in what I think was the largest crowd ever to see a match in this country. To make sure the stadium was packed to something like 65,000 people, tickets were sold for the equivalent of $1.

It was tense even getting to our VVIP parking. Between that and the traffic on the highway, we ended up being a few minutes late. People were climbing the fences and rushing the gates as they would open for vehicles. A part of me was thinking that things could get ugly if the police don’t keep things under control.

In the end it never got too out of hand. We finally made it inside and were able to be in the VVIP box alongside the important people. We felt a bit like posers at first but soon we were caught up in the excitement of the match. It was such a good time – stoked by the fact that the home team, who was supposed to be annihilated, scored first. The place went bonkers and sort of stayed that way to the end. Everton ended up scoring an equalizer and normally the match could amicably end that way (given that it was a “friendly” or exhibition game). But it was agreed that on this occasion, to give fans their full dollars’ worth, it would go to goal kicks. And the home team won sending the capacity Kenyan crowd into euphoria.

second from left, first Kenyan to win the WBC title - post match party

To be fair, Everton didn’t play their stars much and they had little to gain by winning (compared to the Kenyan team). But it must have been a bit of a blow to their egos. On the upside, the players were very gracious losers, made a point to salute the fans at the end and likely gained at least a few hundred new supporters.

After the match we walked down onto the pitch and one of the Everton staffers gave us cool, blue Everton jerseys. So I’m a fan now.