Eternal Optimist in Kenya

Dodging stray bullets notwithstanding, from my point of view, we are going through a pretty positive time in Kenya and there's loads to be excited about.   A few years ago I said that living in Kenya today had a lot of similarities to what it might have been like to live in 1950s Britain.  Not any more.

While Europe fights its way through a gigantic economic crisis - The States, Germany, UK, Greece etc. are all looking at their shoes, realising that their countries have overspent horribly and now must pay the price -  Kenya, however, is forging ahead, stronger than ever.  It has now officially regained the development momentum that it so tragically lost after the Dec 2007 election.  Comparatively speaking, it's not a bad place to live right now. 

Politics
The voting in of a new constitution has been huge step.  As I understand it, it will take some time to implement the reforms but at the root, a new constitution means a giant shake-up of the old political order, the judicial system, local administrations (provinces changing to counties), city councils, the police.  All a step forward in the fight against corruption.  And very encouraging news for private/foreign investors. 

A lot of the old faces in politics and the judiciary will necessarily go once reform are implemented.  Add to this the fact that Ocampo will arrest a couple of politicians/powerful businessmen accused of masterminding post election violence, hauling them off to The Hague by the end of the year - and things are definitely looking up for the next election in 2012!  Don't panic Mr Mannering!

Infrastructure 
In spite of the bad roads, lack of water during dry spells etc - there are also huge leaps forward in terms of development.

You would not believe the building boom that has been going on in Nairobi for a good few years now.  Good quality, well built new office buildings, shopping centres, new houses are popping up every where you look. 

Though we like to moan about areas getting built up, more congested - it is a definite sign that development is moving in the right direction.  More houses, more shops, more cars; in many ways means that more people are prospering and moving up the ladder.  In fact, house and land prices have gone through the roof.  We thought it would top out ages ago but it's still going!

Our house, once located in a very quiet/dark road, is now almost entirely surrounded by town house complexes.  When I see a couple of hundred people early in the morning, all on the road waiting to enter a construction site, I can't help feeling slightly pleased that all of them are in gainful employment and not on the streets.  Plus, more houses means that our area is now better lit, better guarded, safer.

There is a Nairobi bypass planned.  When it's finally done - the traffic situation just has to get better...

Communications
The fibre optic cable has improved communications already, but work still continues on this which will benefit everyone.  I think they've laid 3 cables now.

Mobile phones are affordable for all and thanks to a recent price war, the cost of calls and sms messaging has gone down drastically.

Banking
I am constantly amazed by systems like M-pesa and Zap.  At a very low transaction rate, you can use these to transfer money, pay bills etc. improving efficiency and access to finance.  Thanks to micro finance initiatives, it's also no longer the case that bank accounts are only for the rich.

Entertainment
There's always loads going on; concerts, sports, funky bars popping up, cinemas, affordable restaurants.  Check out Kenya Buzz or Access Kenya websites for events info.  Nairobi certainly is increasingly sophisticated, cosmopolitan, fun.

Environment
Thanks, in a great part, to Kenyan environmentalists like Wangari Maathai, awareness of environmental issues has been raised amongst the public and in government.  Since election in 2008, Prime Minister Raila Odinga has worked hard to plant trees, reinstate the Mau forest and evict illegal settlers.  The private sector have got involved too.  See the KMA 'Greenline' tree planting campaign earlier this year.  The Rhino Ark Trust, in partnership with the Kenya Wildlife Service have now fenced the Aberdare forest, a huge water catchment area that services Nairobi and beyond. 

Old Colonial life
It's no longer the case that the expat and old school still have no idea what their kitchens look like and leave everything up to multitudes of house staff.   Though, please note, culturally, employing house staff is very much part of life in Kenya (particularly for Kenyans I hasten to add!).  Basic salaries have gone up.  Staff members, in the main, prefer to live outside the compound with their families and not live in. Standards have improved.  New houses and apartments are being designed and built to fit in with ideas on modern living.

The weather's great.  Landscape, stunning.  People, amazingly friendly and nice.

All in all, the news is good.

When I went to England in the summer, on the first day back, the news headlines told the story of a man who had evidently lost his mind and shot his wife and two children dead.  The next day there was a four year old boy who died having got trapped in a tumble drier. 

Is your cup half full or half empty?  You may hear horror stories from Kenya - but you can find those wherever you live - depends where you look.  All in all, we're pretty lucky to be in Kenya.  Secret's out!  It's not a bad place.  Not bad at all.

Dodging bullets

We went to a fundraiser/art exhibition at our daughters' school the other night.  The idea is that your kids produce a masterpiece or two, it gets framed and then us parents buy it and the proceeds go to the excellent Kigulu school in Kibera (see 'my favourite charities' for a link below).

My husband arrived early as he went to the school straight from work.  Needless to say, I was late.  There was a hitch.  For some very cunning reason, the school had laid on a free bar (we normally have to pay.)

After a glass of wine my slightly flushed husband says, 'let's buy this picture!'  I look at the price and balk.  It's by one of the members of staff.  However, I had to agree it was very good, so I agree.  It's just that I haven't got much money with me.  We write out a cheque. 
I say to the High Commissioners wife, 'my husband's just bought on of the teachers paintings.'
'Oh, that's very sucky uppy!' she said, then left.

We also dutifully bought our eldest's 'hand print' picture.  She's ten. 

For the past two weekends I've been asking her, 'aren't you supposed to be doing a picture for the art exhibition?'  and she repeatedly reassured me that she had it all in hand - literally - it turns out!

I asked her later, 'why a hand print? Could you not have done something a little more adventurous? I'd have been happy to help you with it?  I think that really, you could have done better than that.' 
'I thought the babies would like it.' she said. 'And anyway, it wasn't for you, it was supposed to have been bought by someone else.'
Hmm.

Then on the way home, at about 7.45pm, whilst in fairly heavy traffic, there's a deafening and very sudden bang in the car.  My ears popped.
'Ohmygod - what was that?' I said. 'A stone?'
There was a dent in the middle of the windscreen.  My husband says,
'That was no stone.  That was a bullet.'

Sure enough, on the windscreen there's also a scorch mark, but by some miracle, the glass didn't break.

'It can't have been!' I said. 
Where we had just passed, there was no one on the pavement, no loiterers, no sign of a soul, I didn't feel threatened at all, we were just going fairly fast in moving traffic.
We drove on.  I thought about it a bit.

'I guess if the bullet had gone through the glass - it'd have hit me.' I said looking down, 'in the chest.'
My husband said,
'I was feeling guilty about spending over £1,000 on this proper Landrover windscreen when I replaced it recently.  Now I'm quite glad I did.'

I kind of forgot about the incident but word got out and a few people have said,
'Oh my goodness are you okay?'
'Fine.' I said.

Meanwhile, my husband (a bit of a gun geek), unbeknownst to me, took his car to CID to be swabbed for gun residue the following day.  He tells me we are still waiting on the results.  It's the mean streets of Nairobi.  Wonder if it will turn out that it was just a stone?

Moving to Kenya, Forum, Africa Expat chat...

Finally I tumble to it! Blogger has recently got much better and user friendly.  Hooray!  As a result, I've been having great fun playing about with the new templates, adding new links and enjoying the new statistics information provided.  It's great to finally understand who is reading and how new readers are hitting on this site.  I also love the fact that Blogger finally tells me which blog posts my incoming comments are attached to!  On many an occasion I couldn't respond, because once you had pressed 'send' the comment disappeared into the ether!

At the top you've got the 'Search this Blog' Google button.  I've been writing this now for five years, so if you hunt about, you'll find flipping tons of info on the 2007/8 Kenya election crisis (as it happened), some charities in Kenya, info on Kenya's slums, babygroups, schools, Kenya safaris, Kenya beach holidays, the Aid to Africa debate, the infamous 'Africa expat stereotype' satires etc etc.

Forum
Just to recap, I wanted to point out the link, right there ... next to this text, for the Africa Expat Wives Club 'Forum' - Now you can click directly through to it, so no excuses!  I set the forum up for a couple of reasons.  1. As a place to exchange information between prospective or recent expat arrivals - incomers are always hungry for info and 2. to set up a dialogue between Kenyan readers in the diaspora who fancy discussing what it's like living outside the country, as expats themselves. 

I've been working on the forum itself recently, trying to upgrade it.  Hopefully it's a little more user friendly now and in tune with the blog.  If you are having problems registering or using this site, please let me know.  I did think of starting again and setting up a new, more user friendly free forum, but gave up in the end as they all seem to be more or less the same.  I also promise to keep an eye on the forum on a more regular basis, so that queries and discussions don't ever languish for long periods unread.

Kenya's Homepage: http://www.home.co.ke/
Below the forum link, is a 'read more expat wife adventures' button.  This links right through to a really fab Kenya/Homepage http://www.home.co.ke/  This site is packed full of local info on shopping, eating out, property, current affairs, politics etc etc etc. Read more by Kenyans than expats as I understand it - and there you'll find my weekly 'Africa Expat' column. (any suggestions for topics to cover here always welcome!)

Xpat Link
Scroll down some more and you'll find a tab for Xpatlink.  This is a great buy/sell website/free magasine that comes out twice a month and is circulated widely in Nairobi (Dormans coffeehouses/Silverbird cinemas etc).  Inside you will find; property to rent or buy, cars/furnishings for sale, details of various training courses, a 'personal' column etc etc.  I'll also be writing for Xpatlink from time to time so decided to put their link on this blog.

If you feel like it, happy navigating!

Kenya Telkoms

Late last night we got a random call on our land line phone.  It was a sound that I'd long forgotten.  It almost gave me a heart attack.  I picked up the receiver gingerly.  It was after ten and a very crackly line.

'Just calling to check your phone line is working.'  The man on the other end said, apparently a million miles away.

'Wow' I said.  'Thanks!' and put the receiver down, bemused.

You see, we've had no phone line since last year.  Apparently the cable was stolen from the road for the umpteenth time and the Kenya Telkom technicians just gave up replacing it.
'It will just get stolen again.' They said when I asked the first time. 'We'll have to find another route for it, but for now, it's useless.'
These words gave me a clue that getting a telephone line back was going to be a long haul.

After 8 months of paying (admittedly small) phone bills for a line we didn't have, I once again braved our local Telkom offices a week or so ago, just for old times sake, to enquire about progress.

'Ah! We are getting a new cable for you next week!'
I've heard all this before and hardly believed him.
'Are you?' I said wearily.
'Yes, and this time it cannot be stolen!'  The man said with such conviction.  I had to admire his enthusiasm.  My ears pricked up vaguely.
'Really?'
'Yes,' he said, 'we have a secret way of ensuring that the copper wire is not stolen this time.'
Now I was interested.  He went on:
'But I cannot tell you what that is, or else it won't be a secret for very long.' 

(I was half expecting him to say, 'if I tell you, then I'll have to kill you!')

'True' I said, 'It's okay, I don't need to know the secret.  A phone line by next week you say?'
'Yes,' he said, arms folded across his chest, triumphant.
'Great!' I said.

A day or two later I got a phone call from my husband who was in the office.

'Do we really have to continue paying these silly phone bills?' he said.

'Apparently we will be getting our phone line back next week,' I replied, 'but how they're going to do it is top secret...'

Sure enough, and somewhat promisingly, there were indeed men wearing 'Orange Telkom' overalls on the road outside our house for a couple of days.  I didn't dare hope that they were fixing our line because recently there's always been someone or other digging up the road or scaling telegraph poles - looking impressively busy.

Now it seems that miracles really do happen!  However, since we've got our phone line back, to be honest, I'm not really sure what to do with it.

Years ago I used the land line for my internet connection (this was an extremely stressful time as you can appreciate - nearly went grey in the process!).  Now it's a different story.  Kenya trail blazing!  It's now criss crossed by fibre optic cables, at home we have installed wireless/broadband, our mobile phones can dial internationally (Zain have just put their rates right down causing a local price war between them and their competitors Safaricom) and we've got Skype on the computer to chat with family and friends back home - face to face!   In fact we have little use for an old fashioned crackly phone line. 

Last year, when we did have one, most of the phone calls were actually for Gladys, Florence or Shadrack - I acted as something like an on-hand receptionist, bellowing out their names from my office upstairs.  'Simu!'

Not that I'm complaining mind you, I just must remember to use it from time to time!  If anyone else's landline is working that is....

Read more about the trials of Africa expat wife, 'keeping in touch' here:

http://www.home.co.ke/index.php/african-expat/116-columns/478-keeping-in-touch


p.s.  Just this minute got a personal visit from Njage, from Kenya Telkom in a smart new pick-up.  He was sitting in his car.  I walked over.

'You are from the phone offices - thank you so much for reconnecting us!'
'Well,' he smiled, 'You were making very much noise so we decided to pull the line from very far to get you reconnected.  It was very difficult.'
'Oh.' I said. 'well, now you mention it, the line is a bit crackly.  Do you want to come and listen?'
'Will your dogs attack me?'
'No, they're fine. Karibu!' I said.

Njarge got out of the car.
'As I said, you were coming to our offices making much, much noise about your phone line so we wanted to fix it especially to you ..... oh, and we also wanted to run the new line to your neighbour who is PS to the President.  He is a very important man.  In your country, he would be advisor to Cameron.'

'Aaah!' I said.  The situation was becoming clearer.  After all, I didn't remember making THAT much of a fuss.

We tested the line.  Funnily enough, it was dead.
'I must fix this for you.' Njage said, smiling again from my revolving office chair.
'You are driving a very nice car!' I said, making conversation. 'Is it a gift from Orange?'
'Yes,' he said, 'we are working very hard.  It is nice to be appreciated.'
Being a hot old day, I gave Njage a glass of water, then he left.

He's just called me back from somewhere down the road.  Our phone line is back on - for the time being anyway...

Housewife who does no housework

I call September, 'Housewives New Year'.  This week I've been adjusting back to being a housewife who does no housework and, most importantly, whose children are at school all day!  It has taken ten long years to get to this point.  Subconciously I think I decided to relish it for a while.  So, apart from having to get up at 6am, the adjustment has been rather a pleasant one, especially as I've studiously avoided knuckling back down to any writing work (too much self motivation required).  The past few days have been deliciously free to enjoy a lengthy coffee after aerobics, a quick pedicure accompanied by piped music in a peaceful white space, or alternatively a general schmooze around various shopping centres, gazing at things that I have no intention of buying, stopping for the odd Belgian chocolate or cafe latte for sustenance.

At home, I have managed to get around to doing the odd bit of cooking (having second thoughts about the rather frugal choice of 'oxtail stew' I made yesterday, am now panicking that we will now all go down with mad cows disease!).  I've done some odd sewing jobs - even got my sewing machine out which is usually a great effort!  A fundi has been round to chat about fixing shelves to help with my storage solutions and the cracked glass panels in our 1970s style conservatory have finally been replaced.  All in all, life has been rather calm. 

The downside, however, is that weekday evenings tend to be frenetic and rather shouty in our household.  'Back from school' time comes as rather a shock to the systme.  From 2.45pm it's dashing about in the car collecting children.  Uninterrupted Radio 3 on the way to school is only too shortlived.  The youngest wants snacks immediately and is invariably hot and tired.  My eldest daughter comes home with reams of homework, there's music practise and generally a couple of sets of reading and spellings to do each evening.  By 5pm we are all suffering from low blood sugar level and feeling scratchy.  It's the same scenario every day but somehow I never manage to produce any sort of meal until at least 6pm.  After that, the daunting prospect of propelling all three into bed (having had x 3 baths and stories too) at any sort of reasonable time often seems like its going to be an impossible task - and that's with the long suffering Gladys on hand to help too!

Yesterday a large chunk of the evening was taken up with taking the five guinea pigs to the vet for 'sexing'.  Needless to say, all the girls wanted to come along for the ride.  Just to add a frisson of stress, I took along our aged fox terrier for her annual vaccinations at the same time.   My eldest daughter was convinced that the dog would leap over the car seats and gobble up the guinea pigs at any moment (in fact, the dog did try this once).  I also forgot to take a lead for the terrier, so had to hold her in my arms in the waiting room for forty minutes while we waited for a slot with the vet and in the process got my new 'shopping centre adventures' black skirt covered in dog hair.  When I foisted the dog onto my middle daughter (in white tennis gear), she stoically put up with it for a while then understandably protested.  As I said before, I'm not really an 'animals' person. 

The rather unimpressed vet confirmed that our original 3 guinea pigs are, most likely, girls - but the two babies are too young to tell their gender, so we are still not any better off in knowing whether they will spontaneously reproduce again. 

I also FINALLY got my husband to clear out his garage a couple of weekends ago - so now the very much onus is on me to get the house in order..

(some... of his stuff laid out on our drive)

And life rolls on..

Guinea pig adventures

Yesterday, while throwing some lettuce leaves in the run of my daughters' treasured pets, a revelation hit me with some horror - That 'baby' guinea pig is not just fat - it's pregnant.

You can call me naive - but based on the fact that we definitely have 3 girl guinea pigs and we only got the two new 'baby' ones at the beginning of July - the thought that one might be pregnant was quite a leap.  Having three guinea pigs has taken some getting used to!  There are bald patches all over our lawn and they are chomping through more vegetables than I can buy!  The question 'what can the guinea pigs eat' is becoming a trial!  I am even seriously considering making a vegetable patch just because of them!

I shared my thoughts with Gladys and Florence who work in our house.  They laughed, but had to agree that a pregnant guinea pig might be a possibility.

When the girls came home from school we all agreed definitively.  The 'fat' one must be pregnant.  She had great lumps and bumps in her tummy.  Babies.  I asked my eldest to check if one of our three was in fact a boy, since she is the expert.  She has even taken to reading fiction books about guinea pigs - her favourite series being 'Guinea Pig Adventures', favourite movie, 'G-Force'.  With her sisters, she tipped them upside down but when it came down to it, was not so keen on this idea. 

'Well, we know that the pregnant one is not a boy!' she said helpfully, having given up early.

'True,' I said, 'but you'd better check the other ones.' 
I'm squeamish.  So is she.

'You do it,' she said.

'No you do it.  I'm not getting involved.  I was happy when we only had one lonely guinea pig!' (you are not even legally allowed to own one guinea pig if you live in a place like Switzerland - you have to have two!).  'Getting two more guinea pigs was your idea!'

I had heard that breeding guinea pigs are a menace.  Scratch the surface and there are many expat wives' tales of woe related to 'constantly breeding guinea pigs even though they are definitely all girls'.  In fact, it was my main objection to getting more than one.  

'Anyway, I'm to busy.  I'm off to make your supper!' I said weakly.

'But Mum!!' the girls chorused.

When he got home, I got my husband to google a guinea pig's gestation period.  63-68 days.
'There must be a boy amongst them.'  My husband said finally.  'You must have got it wrong.'

I don't like being wrong so didn't want to believe him.  I got out the calendar and calculated that the 'baby' could have been pregnant when it arrived (in which case we DO have 3 girl guinea pigs).

I said, 'It'll be exactly 68 days since we got the guinea pig....tomorrow.'
My husband said, 'that's pushing it.'

This morning, very early, my eldest said in over excited tones, 'perhaps the guinea pig has had her babies?!'

'Don't be so silly!' I replied smartly, 'we only realised that she was pregnant yesterday!'

After having packed my daughter and her sister off on the school bus my husband said,
'let's take a look at this so called 'pregnant' guinea pig.'

Our youngest daughter was still at home.  She came too.  We opened the hutch and there we got a huge surprise.  Two tiny new babies, all fluffy and mini - Already!  The three had become five.  Gladys and Florence and Shadrack the gardener were all delighted! 

'This is very good,' they said, 'now we will have many!'

I wasn't so sure.  Now I must head out and get a new hutch made so I can separate them immediately.  Being a not very pet friendly 'urban Mum', dealing with baby pets is my worst nightmare - while at the same time I know that it is our eldest daughter's ultimate fantasy and in this case, cause of unforseen joy.  Can't wait for her to come home today.  We are in for a guinea pig petting bonanza weekend. 

Better get that veggie patch going.

Back to school

It's a bit of a social time for mums at the moment - the beginning of a new school year. 

Yesterday, on the school run (for the older ones), I felt a bit like a celebrity - waving and saying hello to long lost friends who haven't entered my orbit for months.  Everyone was on top form - enthusiastic, all of us showing off our new clothes.  However, I'm a realist.  This celebrity feeling is bound to be momentary.  I'm sure it'll have worn off by this afternoon and by next week we will all start looking tired from our 6am starts - back to the old routine.

After the annual 'summer' break in 'expatsville' (it's acutally winter here in Nairobi and anywhere south), where shops have been empty, the sky has been consistently overcast and everyone has been shooting off in different directions around the globe - we are now back to full tilt expat living - traffic jams, sunshine and not being able to find a parking space or pop to the shops without seeing someone you know. 

For the past few days, in addition to having a mega tidy up and clear out at home,  I've been frantically scouring the shops for pencils, erasers (local shops have sold out of these!), coloured pens and pencils, rulers, calculators - then been buried neck deep in a pile of sticky tape, needle and thread and nametapes - surrounded by alternately bickering or screaming kids.

Whilst venturing out, each time I've seen a fellow school mum, it's been the same question:

'How was your holiday?' or 'How have your summer holiays been?'

(meaning, the period of time since schools broke up in July - it's now September.)

I tend to give the honest answer, 'Long!'  (meaning, '9 weeks with the kids at home is a little too much - I'm looking forward to a break!')

I find it quicker to say, 'long' than to track over what has been quite a fun, busy couple of months with a lovely trip to England in the middle.  The people who ask this question are not really interested in hearing a blow by blow synopsis of your life. 

However my answer (evidently) is the wrong one because it's met each time by a humourless look of mild shock, mixed with pity, implying that no one else finds 9 weeks long at all and for goodness sake I should be more grateful.  Apparently, the right answer would be;

'It's been simply marvellous to have had the little darlings around me for so long and now I'm devastated to see them go back to school.'

In fact I'm guiltily elated to reclaim my solitude.

Having said this, it has not come without cost. 

Having carefully NOT lost our seven year's old's four school library books ALL holidays (the wisdom of handing out school library books at the end of the school year I find questionable) - she quite miraculously managed to lose one of them on her first day back before handing it in!

Driving my youngest (5) to kindergarten was a trial this morning.  She cried for the whole twenty minute journey and when we got to the school, wouldn't get out of the car.

'You are lucky,' I said coaxingly, 'you know the school, you are one of the oldest now, your friends are all there, you have a lovely teacher!  Plus....' (I said this rather more impatiently), 'this week you're only actually doing two school days because Friday's most probably going to be yet another public holiday!'

'It's so unfair,' she accused, tear stained face, 'YOU don't have to do ANY hard work Mummy!  You just get to stay at home EVERY DAY!'

'I've done my time at school,' I said rather lamely, then bundled her through the school gates.

In spite of her protestations, I cruelly left her (in the arms of her lovely and sympathetic teacher) and took myself off to the gym for the first time in months.  Doing aerobics was hard work today.  Out of shape, I could feel a lot of wobbly bits that even my smart new gym trousers couldn't hide.  The place was packed with other school mums reclaiming their 'me' time.

Now I'm back home and at a bit of a loose end, so therefore blogging and wondering what I might have for lunch.  Instant noodles? The house is eerily quiet.  It's deliciously decadent isn't it?

Masai and movies

My husband had an interesting chat with a Masai when he was out at Magadi yesterday.  It went something like this.

My husband curiously opens with: 'How old are you?'
Masai: 'Thirty. How old are you?'
Husband: 'Guess!'
Masai: 'Don't know, twenties?'
My husband (seriously flattered): 'No, I'm forty!'
Masai shrugs disinterestedly. 'Oh. So how many wives do you have?'
Husband: 'One, you?'
Masai: 'Two.'
Husband: 'And how many children?'
Masai: 'Well four with wife number 1, and three with wife number 2. You?'
Husband: 'Three.'
Masai (probably thinking, 'poor devil' says) : 'Oh.'

***

Last night I put on the movie: 'The boy in the Striped Pyjamas'.
'This is seriously cheery Sunday night viewing!' My husband said as I sobbed uncontrollably on the sofa, tears rolling down my cheeks.
Later I said, 'I feel like our poor nightwatchman is a bit like a concentration camp inmate - patrolling round the house in all weathers, thin, cold and hungry - and we are like the Gestapo.'

I went out and gave the nightwatchman bread, jam and milk.  He said his bicycle was broken and it would cost 1,000 shillings to fix and by the way, he was sorry he had not made any loan repayments for a while.  I said, 'bring the bike to us this week and I'LL get it fixed.'  Then I felt better.

We also went to see 'Salt' at the movies on Friday.  A noticably emaciated Angelina Jolie certainly looked like she had done a stint on concentration camp rations.  It's official - she's lost her sparkle.  She looks like Michael Jackson with massive, sinuous hands and a tiny body, clothes hanging off her.  Plus, the film was so packed with action sequences and obvious twists that it was too implausible from start to finish to suspend anybody's disbelief.  Even the news that a 'real life' Russian spy ring has recently been uncovered in the States, could not rescue the film from the doldrums.  After an hour and a half, I was almost expecting the black American actor in the helicopter to announce that he was (yet another) Russian spy?

Might try watching Leonardo Dicaprio's film 'Inception' next.  I heard that the box office appeal is that the complex plot means that, challenged and now curious, you keep having to go back and watch it again and again.