Security, Technology and Postal Wonders…

For those of you who have been following the news about the grenade bombings in Nairobi, please know that I am very safe in Ngong. On Friday I did go to Nairobi and there is a lot of extra security around. You are scanned with those wands you see in the airport at the entrance of every public building you enter. Other than that it seems to be business as usual. I did hear on the news that they arrested some suspects in the grenade bombings. Kenya is a large country and the violence in the north and likewise with the famine has very little effect on this part of the country; except the cost of foodstuffs is skyrocketing. It doesn’t help that the dollar is so strong against the shilling now.

However, it doesn’t seem that there is a place on earth that isn’t experience difficulties with its economy these days.

Speaking of difficulties (on a much smaller scale), my Kindle has died. Or at least the screen no longer works. So I called Amazon and spoke to a very nice representative who has figured out how to replace it, since it is still under warranty. I just have to get my Kindle to the UPS office at the airport and ship it back to the states. And then they will have to ship my Kindle back to the UPS office at the airport because Kenya only has Post office boxes and UPS won’t ship to a P.O. Box. The airport is about an hour and a half from my house, if I take a taxi it will cost about $30. I’ve heard there is a bus from Nairobi that goes to the airport, which would be much cheaper, but the UPS office is at the freight terminal…not even sure where that is or how I would get there once I was at the main terminal and traveling that way would probably take two or three times as long. I’m not sure how worth it is to attempt this “fix,” which the nice representative at Amazon seemed to think would be a breeze! Isn’t technology great!

Speaking of mailing things. So far three boxes have been mailed to me.

The first one never arrived – I will have to go track it down. The second one is in transit and will hopefully arrive in a week or two. The third one was a book and was mailed last and got here in 10 days.

I’m hoping the postal system will someday be like that of the phone system and someday advance beyond the archaic…so we can make comments like, “what did we do before cell phones,” about mail.