November 12th
I apologize for the extended time between posts! The time is going so quickly here that, before I know it, a month has passed and I haven’t posted! Things are going very well here. I really love living here and have met so many wonderful people. Although my job can be very tiring, I love my students and have gotten to know them well. I am getting used to the power outages, lack of internet, and bargaining system. In fact, I am writing this during one of our day-long power outages. I have learned to take nothing for granted!
For the month of November, my room mate, Jenn, and I are trying to spend only the amount of money that an average Kenyan would be able to spend by eating a “Kenyan Diet.” Now, some of you (especially those of you who were here in Kenya
Ugali- Better know as “African cornbread.” It is a sticky bread-like food made with corn flour. It looks like mashed potatoes, but don’t be fooled by its looks, because it doesn’t taste anything like potatoes! It has a very bland taste and is usually used as the utensil in the meal. You take a piece and flatten it out in your hand and then scoop other food up with it to eat. It actually works quite well!
Sukumawiki- Similar to collard greens. It’s a mix of kale and spinach cooked with some onions and tomatoes. The word sukumawiki means “push through the week.” A small amount makes a lot of food and it helps to fill the stomach so you don’t get as hungry.
We have also been eating some eggs, rice, beans, cooked cabbage, eggplant, and other vegetables that are very inexpensive here. Avocados are also very cheap here, so we have also made some guacamole. Fresh fruit is also very inexpensive, so we have been able to eat a lot of that. Vegetarians and Vegans would probably enjoy this diet very much! Unfortunately, being a white person here means that you usually get charged more for everything, including food. Our good friend Anne has been helping us out by buying our fruits and vegetables for us at the Kenyan price. The other day she bought us 4 quart sized bags of sukumawiki, some tomatoes, onions, and green peppers for only the equivalent of $1.30! About 3 days into this diet we were ready to quit. It is so hard to have to think about whether the food is within our price range. I think the food that we both miss eating the most is cheese. Kenyans don’t eat a lot of cheese because it is too expensive. It has been an eye-opening experience to have to eat only on a few dollars a week. In the first week we ate all of our meals for only about $5. The only time we eat food other than Kenyan food is during lunch at school. The school gives the teachers free lunch, so we have been eating that to continue to save money. Most of the time the school lunch is Kenyan anyway J We are also making an exception for Thanksgiving dinner. In turn we are going to eat Kenyan food on December 1st to make up for the one day of turkey, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie. Through living here in Kenya
In other exciting news, I am moving to a new house in December. Myself and three other teachers wanted to live closer to the school, and so last month we began to look for a new place to live and found a beautiful house only about a half mile from the school. It used to be an orphanage, so it is very large. We are so excited to move into this house that has a yard and is further away from the hustle and bustle of the city! The house has 5 bedrooms, 3.5 baths, 2 balconies, and a fireplace! There is a garden that has already been started, a few banana trees, a few avocado trees and the day guard even keeps some chickens! We are looking forward to moving in there in mid-December and having some peace and quiet. The landlord has really been helpful to us and worked with us on price and deposits and everything.
Today I got to go to the home of our house help for her daughter and niece’s 2nd birthdays. It was so interesting to go to a Kenyan’s home near the slums and see how they live. The house was divided with curtains, not walls, and most of the food was cooked out on the front porch over hot coals. They were so hospitable and were so happy to have us there. She calls us her girls and tells us that she loves us all the time. She is so sweet and we love having her here to help us around the house. I think we are going to have her start cooking us some Kenyan food during November because the food that I ate at her house today was delicious!
Next week will be an exciting week at our school. LaCrae, a famous Christian rap artist, will be coming to Nairobi
Not much else is new here. Every day is an adventure as always. We still have not found a home church. There are just so many options, and none have seemed to fit yet. We are going to a Methodist church this weekend to see how we like it. I think one other interesting thing that I have experienced here is the idea of having free-time and down-time. This is new for me, as many of you know. I am usually running from one place to another and never taking time to rest. Now I have all the time in the world and don’t know what to do with my time! Jenn and I play cards, watch movies, and do puzzles when we aren’t doing school work. It is nice to just sit and talk and relax every once in a while J I guess that is all for now. I will post next weekend about how the LaCrae concert went!
Prayer Requests:
- For us to find a home church and be able to get plugged in.
- For the soldiers fighting on the border of Kenya and Somalia
- For everything to go smoothly with the LaCrae concert, and that many students lives would be changed by his testimony.
- For the rest of this month to go well for Jenn and I on our Kenyan diet.
Verse of Encouragement:
This one is for my students. We have been practicing it every day J
“Do all things without complaining or arguing so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God.” Philippians 2:14
We often times take for granted everything that we have been given. There are times when we are frustrated, but I hope that we always remember how blessed we are and that complaining will never solve a problem.
