A Typical Weekday

This past week I’ve begun to establish a routine more or less. I have class down at the university at 9 am. We’ve had intensive Kiswahili class all this week from 9-4 with a half hour tea break in the morning and a 1 hour lunch break. The routine in the house is pretty casual. Everyone kind of does their own thing and is in and out a lot. There are tons of relatives and friends going through all the time. It gets a little confusing figuring out who people are and how they’re related because they don’t usually make it clear when they’re introducing themselves to me. Usually I come in the house in the morning and just get my own breakfast or it’s sitting out for me. I have corn flakes with milk (whole, and you put it through a strainer as you pour it on because there is cream at the top) or bread and butter, always with tea. To make Kenyan style tea you boil milk directly with the tea leaves and water then add sugar. It tastes nothing like the tea we usually drink in the US but Kenyans drink it all the time and I really like it.

After breakfast I get ready and walk out, greet the watchman (they all recognize me now and are really nice to talk to) and walk down past the park which, if it is rainy like today, is especially muddy. I have Kiswahili all morning with Rachel, Annie and Jamie. We’re in the beginner class while the rest of them are in “advanced” because they took it for a quarter at K. It’s a super fun language to learn, I really like it. We have the option of taking another unit after we finish this semester and I think I probably will. In the four days I’ve had Kiswahili I think I’ve learned about the equivalent of everything I learned in 1 year of German, minus the number of nouns I know..we’re learning fast. We have an hour off for lunch and usually find some restaurant in the city for lunch. I’ve given up trying to convert Kenyan prices to dollars because they’re a lot cheaper and instead I am just getting to know how much things in Kenya typically cost to know if I’m getting a good price. It’s good to bring napkins with you because a lot of restaurants don’t have them and Kenyan food tends to be on the greasy side and you eat a lot with your hands.

The afternoons and evenings vary a lot. Many times I’ll go to a cybercafé which is basically a room filled with computers and you sit down at one and pay for the number of minutes you’re on the internet. It’s cheap, 1 Ksh (Kenyan shillings) per min which is about 1.5 cents per min. so I check my email or heh, update this blog because they’re the only places you can really get internet. I’ve begun to figure out which cafes are better than others because sometimes it’s really slow. It’s taken me 15 min. just to log into my email before. We’re right on the equator so it gets dark around 6:30 or 7 and it’s kind of hard to go out after dark because it’s more dangerous so the evenings are basically in the house. I read a lot, bring my laptop inside, talk to my sisters, eat dinner and the TV is always on. TVs are really popular and are kind of a status symbol I’ve noticed in a lot of Kenyan households so it is usually on whether people are watching it or not. This sometimes makes it difficult to talk to people and understand them especially with their accents.

At my house we rarely eat dinner together and food is prepared and we just come in and get it when we want. My mom gets home at different times every day and is usually really tired so most evenings she just takes a shower and spends the evening in her room with the news on or something. Her door is usually open and so I usually go in and talk to her. My sisters are really cool to talk to, I like both of them. I just have to take a lot of the initiative to start the conversations because they mostly go about their usual routine. We’ve gotten into some really good conversations though. I’ve noticed with a lot of Kenyans I’ve talked to that they’re just not as into chit-chatting as Americans are, which is fine with me because I’ve always been bad at small talk, but it’s just something different to get used to. Tonight Rhoda made mashed potatoes especially for me and the three of us ate dinner together while watching One Tree Hill and chatting. Sometime soon Michelle is going to show me how to ride on the matatus because apparently it’s a skill that’s better to master with a Kenyan guide. All the other K people ride matatus everyday to the university so they’re already getting good at them so I need to catch up since I go to school kwa miguu (on foot). The important thing is just to make sure you’re getting on the right one because they go on different routes and remember to get your change because they’ll try to make you forget about it. Rhoda told me the other day that our group is especially adventurous and independent. She said we’ve gotten the hang of things really fast and are ready for more really quickly. That was good to hear, because my goal was to get used to things, or at least get more comfortable as quickly as possible. Life and time here is relaxed, I’m starting to get into it.

Next week we get to go on an excursion to the coast where it’s hot to Mombasa for 5 days for “Kiswahili camp”!!! It’s been really cold and rainy here the last few days (like 50s-60s) Unfortunately there was a tsunami alert for Mombasa, but it’s pretty much passed by now so I think we’ll be good to go. I am super excited to start seeing more of Kenya!