Lucy, New Appliances, and Tough Chicken

Trip Start Nov 29, 2004
1
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Trip End Dec 27, 2004


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Flag of Kenya  ,
Wednesday, December 1, 2004

We got up this morning and I watched a movie about exploring Africa by balloon, it was really good. Maybe I can save myself $400 by watching that instead of taking a trip. We then had some fruit for breakfast, then went on to meet yet another relative. This one was the mother of one of Sara's cousins, Mungai. We met her at work. She is a legal secretary, and her office is actually in an apartment. I guess this is pretty common. Businesses rent out and convert apartments into offices. She looked strikingly like her son, who has been in the U.S. for about 3 years. We also had lunch with her husband in town, and then checked out a local mall. It was pretty Western really, except we had to pay for parking and they played hip-hop music. We also went up in a large building, the National building, for a view of the city. It was interesting to see the main matatu terminal from above; there are hundreds of those things. They are all brightly colored vans and buses fanning out in all directions, playing all different kinds of music
Arthur Kibui
Arthur Kibui
.

We went to a large Fred Meyer type store called Uchumi for some groceries. After that we went to another, similar store that also sells large appliances. Sara and I bought a microwave for the family, and a refrigerator for Mungai. Those are things they really needed and it made everyone quite happy. Additionally, the store actually delivered the items for free, but we did tip the drivers 100 shilling each (a little over a dollar).

Dinner was at home again - really tough chicken and sukumawiki. Sukumawiki is kale sliced very thin, and mixed with beef and chopped tomatoes, and a ubiquitous spice in Kenyan cooking called Mchuzi Mix. Mchuzi Mix tastes like curry and beef bullion. It was good but the chicken was hard for me to eat. Last night, I thought I had lost my PDA. It turned up the next day thank God, that would be very inconvenient. Also, it is AIDS week (or AIDS prevention week) this week, so there is some kind of meeting downtown, and lots of signs and TV commercials about it. AIDS is a big problem in Africa, mostly in South Africa. They say it is due to a lack of education, lifestyle, and lack of medicine. In Kenya, a new service has started that let's people sign up and receive AIDS prevention tips on their cell phones. Nearly everyone here has a cell phone
Kenyatta conference center from National building
Kenyatta conference center from National building
. More often than not, the guy sitting on the street asking you for money will have a cell phone tucked away somewhere. Five times as many people have a cell phone as have internet access. (that fact taken from the BBC)

We visited Lawi's office and uncle Mbogua showed up. He had visited us in Seattle a few years ago and we showed him the town. He is a really great guy I am always happy to spend time with him. Unfortunately he was attacked in an attempted robbery a few months ago. He is OK now but is missing parts of his front teeth.

We also bought some Kenyan booze - gin and Tusker beer - and got free tickets to an event on Saturday. Wamaitha's sister, Gladys (Wanja) also showed up, she is very nice and is always willing to lend a hand. Also, everyone loves the fudge that my mom sent. Mami is refusing to let people eat it because she wants to save it for relatives who visit.
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