As It Turns Out

I found out this evening that the “IT guy” I thought I had gotten fired yesterday may still have a job. That’s a good thing I guess. Today wasn’t like any other day since I’ve arrived, which in some ways makes it exactly like every day since coming to Kenya. On our way to the office Grace and I stopped at a massive market to find a couple shirts for her. One shop had shirt she liked but the dressing room, which housed the only mirror, was occupied so we used my camera to let her see what the shirt looked like. She clearly loved it.


After a few minutes I realized we were next to one of the only shops that I’ve seen selling plastic containers of a diet soda so I went into buy one. I hadn’t been out of the shop for thirty seconds when a young girl came up and asked me for the drink in very broken English. What to do, what to do? Dealing with beggars is really really hard for me at home and even harder here. You can’t give them all money and sometimes if you give to one you will be forced to give to all. I gave here ten shillings hoping that she would no longer want my (diet) soda, but to no avail. She tagged along with us for five minutes before we threw in the towel and headed in to work. Once we got fifty feet from the market the girl faded quit following. I hate things like that.

We arrived at work and got a lot done until about twelve thirty when we decided to head to town. We split fresh rolls and made sandwich/pitas which chicken kabobs we got on the street. The sauce was really really spicy but I was far less affected than the other members of the group which I found odd as I don’t really consider myself someone whom can handle spicy foods. I think our entire lunch cost $1.50 each. We topped it off with AMAZING gelato from the bakery next door. I’ve decided that Heaven is gelato in the middle of a hot and dusty city - all of the chaos seems to disappear. After lunch we went and got some things for work and went “exploring” for bookshops, which are in very short supply here.

After a couple of hours we met a friend from church named Joseph who played tour guide at a massive woodcarving co-op. From what he said 10,000 carvers work at the place that we went and supply woodcarvings to most of the tourist areas in Kenya. We spent an hour or so walking around the area. All of the artisans (is that the dorkiest word in the world?) were very friendly, and I was amazed over and as we walked from hut to hut and saw what was being made. Everything from little two or three inch figurines of animals two or three inches tall to giraffes that were taller than I was and everything in between. Like many things in Kenya, their techniques in carving are all about utility; safety always seems to be an afterthought.

We got side tracked by a few EPIC spiders. I posted pictures of a black red and white spider a few posts back. These were the same species but much much bigger.



I can’t believe that no one seems to be bothered by having the spiders around. The three spiders that we saw were on webs covered in dust which means to me that they have been there for some time. As I said, the spiders were huge.

Before the novelty of the spiders or the carvings could wear off we had to leave for an appointment with someone from church that had asked to have us over. As is custom the woman whom had invited us over had prepared a meal for us. This is always so bitter sweet because they always take very good care of us and make plenty of food, but you feel bad because you know it was an enormous sacrifice to put such a meal together. I knew they would never accept payment so I took some money out of my pocket and put it between the cushions on the sofa. I don’t know if they will ever find it – I hope they do though. The food was great… we had stew and chapatti, which are like a tortilla slightly thicker than what you’d get at the store, which is used as an accessory and a utensil for the meal though spoons are also provided typically.
This is us with the family we visited.

After the meal we struggled to find matatus to ride during the crowded rush hour. We all felt that we had spent so much money today but on actually adding it up, I spent less than five dollars. Not to bad I guess.

I’m realizing that this is a bit of a novel already but um, by the way… our friend Sam thinks he has malaria. I’m a bit jealous because I feel as if getting malaria will top any other “What did you do this summer?” answer in a couple months. Lets all keep our fingers crossed for me Sam… shall we?

This is where I sleep and occasionally write my blogs. Nice net eh?