Dan's Pub

Simon and I got invited to watch a Premier League match with the director of the center last week. It was sure to be an interesting night as all three of us have different team allegiances along with the ‘enemy of my enemy’ mentality. For that match, it ended up being Simon and I against Dan. Upon arriving, Dan welcomed us to his ‘pub,’ which is a one story 3 room house on the outskirts of town. It was a fun night and ended in Simon and my favor when Manchester United lost.

A few nights after this, we were taken out for a beer (at Dan’s Bar – had me confused the entire way there) after work by one of the other workers. Although, this time around, it wasn’t quite as enjoyable. You know that one guy who is the first one to point out that someone bought a round for everyone and then asks for volunteers to buy the next round? Yeah, he sat next to me. And in between his trying to get volunteers to pay for next week’s outing (if it happens…) he regailed me with the do’s and don’ts of sleeping with hookers in Nairobi. Neither Simon nor I could figure out how that conversation started. I mean, he is a really nice guy (Fred, a Kenyan volunteer at the center), but just a touch out of tune with the social do’s and don’ts.

In fact it was his generous asking of our host to buy us beef tips and broth after I mentioned to Simon that I was hungry and couldn’t wait for supper. We ended up waiting an extra hour and a half and missing supper to have lukewarm goat and broth. We weren’t very happy. And that compounded when we were told that one of their new found friends was going to accompany us to the other side of the street. Crossing the 4 lane highway on foot is no easy task, but the last time I checked I didn’t need some stranger to hold my hand. I have Simon for that  But yeah, we walked the Western pace and fumed back at the complex. Luckily, one of the German volunteers saw that we weren’t at supper and snagged some for us. She also bought us a few beers and well you just don’t say no to that!

We ate and drank a little more before winding down the night. At that point, we were groggy and still a bit pissed off from earlier. Then Simon got a call from a friend who was collecting bottles for our fence saying that we needed to come pick them up for some reason or another (I later found out that this girl has a crush on Simon, great reason for me to go and carry a few bags of recycled bottles a half mile at midnight). She ended up coming back with us because her water is out; I should have made her prove it. On the way back we saw some guy either get mugged or get caught trying to stiff the bar that is just down the street. Either way we kept walking and tried to pretend that we weren’t there. Simon ended up having to walk her back home and I should have gone with him because there was animal in one of the bottle bags, which were being stored in our kitchen. I got spooked and drunkenly jumped at any noise outside and shriveled at the thought that a monkey had gotten into our house. I spent the next 20 minutes holding the kitchen door shut waiting for Simon to make it back. Even he was on edge from walking back with visions of the scuffle running through his head.

We slept until breakfast and then slept until noon.