Thursday, December 31, 2009
Video 1
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Christmas, Wadudu Wazimu, and Nairobi
I was was wrong when I said we'd kill a goat for Christmas... we killed two. We actually missed out on the actual slaughtering, but we arrived in time to watch the meat being cut and to eat some of the first meat coming off the grill.
No meat was wasted. Personally I ate the liver, ribs, some leg, and even some intestine blood sausage. The liver and intestine sausage was surprisingly good. Later on they made soup from the blood, goat head, and added bark and roots. I was going to try it but we got a great phone-call from my parents. It was so good to hear word from home!
Throughout the day the kids and moma's hung out in the kitchen and inside the house, while the men (mzee) sat outside roasting meat and drinking. Well.. It starts out mostly roasting, but by nightfall it's mostly drinking. They have this local wine called "muratina" that is brewed from honey and a kenyan beer called "tusker". I tried a little of both and sat out with the men for part of the evening. It was a lot of fun. We discussed a little politics, america, kenya, and even religion. Inside we played card games with the kids and even some hackey-sack. Oh! I haven't mentioned hackey sack. I started playing in the airport on the way to Kenya and i haven't stopped. By the time i return home i'll have another badge to put my hippie belt. ;-)
After the party we returned home in a taxi that was meant to seat 7. We fit 13! It was pretty amazing. Oh and a baby... So 14. We got home around midnight and finished off the day with Mandy loosing her lunch/dinner in the bushes. I suppose that's what happens when you get used to a low meat diet and then eat half a goat. Overall a good christmas though!
In other news... Flies decided to land on our laundry and form cacoons around themselves. See picture above. it's hard to see, but it's the size of a large house fly except it's covered in a white cacoon with the edge of its wings poking out. Our family had no idea what they were, but we found almost 7 hidden on the laundry line. eerie... Oh, and Wadudu means bugs and Wazimu means crazy.
We had a secret santa exchange with the volunteers. The picture above is from the secret santa party a few days after christmas. I received a soccer ball! that'll be a hit with my students.
Things are quickly wrapping up in our pre-service training. We leave loitokitok this Sunday for Nairobi to be sworn in officially and then it's off to lake victoria!
Oh... And lance, i have no idea where to get mosquito nets in the u.s. Maybe online. The good nets here are all dipped in a mild insecticide to deter bugs from hanging out. I think it paralyzes them.
Monday, December 21, 2009
Kiswahili and Electrocution
Again there were only 2 people out of our whole group to get the int. Mid and the other person has a bunch of language experience. I think Mandy finally admits she has talents with language.
This is actually kind of old news. We got our results last week and followed them up with practical exams on how to light coal stoves, wash clothes, order food, haggle prices, deal with come-ons, etc. I think everyone did well. It was a pretty fun and relaxing week.
This week we practiced riding the local transport and spent 3 days in Makindu about 4 hours away by bus. I call them busses... But they actually called "matatus" (a.k.a. - death on wheels). they're full size vans which are packed as full as possible and driven like an ambulance in an emergency. there's also got to be a law that matatus must be as old as possible and decorated with as much rap and religous stickers available. Once in nairobi we boarded a matatu with a disco ball, wild colors, and a big screen t.v. in the front blaring american and african rap videos. It was typical rap with the bling and the ladies and the what-not, but to kick it all off the inside and outside of the bus covered with jesus slogan stickers. An odd mish-mash to say the least.
In other news... I got electrocuted in the bathroom yesterday. Many hotels in kenya have hot water in their showers, but by hot water i mean there is a water tank on the roof which is piped into your room and the shower head is equipped with an electric water heater. well... yesterday i decided to get my first hot shower in a month so i turned the heater on. At first it was great, but quickely the water got too hot so i decided to reach up and adjust the setting to lower the heat. The shock traveled down my arm and down my leg, probably into the tiled floor. It wasn't serious, but it was a "shocking" experience. ;)
To end off here is a picture of Mandy with her "leso" made into a head scarf. We were eating at a "sikh temple" which is open to all travelers and all religions. They had great indian food and the food (and rooms) are donation only. Delicous. (In case your curious, the british brought many indians to Kenya to help build the railroad.)
Saturday, December 19, 2009
A day in pictures
2 - after much grumbling i get dressed and head to the bathroom, which in our case is a hole in the ground. it's actually okay for me. The latrine is vented seperately outside so the actual room has little odor.
3 - after using the "facilities", i head next door (literally) for my morning bucket bath. The house girl (she's awesome) usually has already been up for an hour and has boiled a bunch of water that we dilute to temp.
4 - this is the morning view outside the shower room. You can see our hand washing station and some of the main house.
5 - after cleaning up i head in the house to eat breakfast. Most days that is bread with plum jam and chai/tea. Somedays flat pancakes or eggs.
6 - after breakfast we head up to town for training. it's about a 2km walk up hill, but the scenery is beautiful. Pictured here is brian (from my language group), Mandy, and mt. Kilamanjaro in the background.
7 - we usually get lunch in town as a group and it generally looks like this... Rice, beans, beef, and cabbage. Usually it's good, but it depends who's cooking. This particular meal made me sick... Wrong resteraunt.
8 - usually once a week we head to the "outward bound" facilities towards the mountain for activies. it's a great facility surrounded by forrest and with plenty of cabins.
10 - many times we walk through small farms called "shambas" to get home. it's fun very scenic hike, but one i would only take during the day.
11 - there is no picture 11, because i can't capture the starry night we get. I swear i've never seen this many stars.
Hope you enjoyed the pics, i'll give more pertinent updates later.
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Day's Pictures
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Models and Moto
So... I tried my hand at baking again today. Today i tried to make cookies. I thought of a great idea to simulate an oven. I took a big stew pot and put spoons in the bottom. Then i put a metal plate on top of through spoons and a lid over the pot.
The idea was to put an air gap between the heat and the food. This worked great on the first batch of cookies, but i ran into a big problem the 2nd time. In kiswahili, "moto" means fire. Well... Moto is hot and i was using an aluminum pot. The melting point of aluminum is around 600 C. See the photo below...
Model school
Next week is "model school", where we get to practice teaching a few lessons to real students. We made lesson plans last week and now it's game time. we'll let you know how it goes.
here's also a pic of my brother mike