I had a blog ready to post, but I was caught off guard by a surprise internet visit, and so am currently flash drive-less. In lieu of my prepared post, I bring you observations on Kenya.
– If you have even a drop of Anglo-Saxon blood in your body, you will stand out in a crowd. Always.
– You will also attract calls of “Mzungu!” (white person) and the less-than-subtle stares of everyone in a thirty-foot radius.
– When in the Nairobi market, you are suddenly everyone’s friend until you tell them that you’re not buying anything that day. No more friends.
– You very quickly learn that Hakuna Matata (which really does mean “no worries”) is more than just a catchphrase adopted by a pair of animated savannah mammals.
– If you’re not a fan of Barack Obama, Kenya is not for you.
– A fun game is to see how many references to Obama you can find in one trip to Eldoret.
– Meal schedules are very loose. A common day is breakfast at 9, lunch at 3, dinner at 9. Equally common is breakfast at 8:30, lunch at 2, dinner at 8. It’s different every time.
– When going for a run in the afternoon hours, be prepared to have an army of 30+ children under the age of twelve following you. And probably running faster than you.
– If you want to make friends fast, bring a frisbee.
– You have not lived until you have seen the cows going through their Thursday morning tick bath. The 6 am wake-up call is worth it.
– The nightly bedtime routine now includes calls of, “Doxy! Don’t forget! No malaria!”
– If you thought you were a bad dancer back in the States, you will not receive much encouragement in the church services in Kenya.
– The lowest volume on any given amp or set of speakers is 11.
– Your bus is late? Hakuna matata.
– Your bus is two hours late? See above.
– Your bus was cancelled? Guess.
– Most children, after a volume-of-11 greeting of “HOW ARE YOU?” will giggle and run away when you try to continue conversation with them. This is where the aforementioned frisbee comes in.
– If you don’t like rice, potatoes, or cabbage, consider ugali (think couscous, but flavorless and thicker).
– If ugali doesn’t interest you, what are you doing coming to east Africa in the first place?
– I’ve yet to meet a more hospitable or happy-to-host group of people in my life (other than maybe the Romanian gypsies).
Moral of the story: I love it here.
