Let’s Get Stereo-Typical
The only non-plain oatmeal I could find here is “Tropical Jungle” flavor. This seems to me to border on self-parody. // Whenever I see a shirtless Kenyan child with a runny nose, I have an impulse to pick him up, find a dirt road to walk down, and start doing a Compassion International promo. // I listened to Toto’s “Africa” and “The Circle of Life” whilst shaving a couple days ago. // When a Kenyan pastor friend of mine told a cab driver that there are white homeless people in the U.S., the cab driver burst out laughing and told him that it was a good joke. // Even in Eldoret, where decent restaurants are few, there’s a place called the Siam Palace owned by a crazy, overly-subservient, creepily cheerful Chinese man. // People here run really fast.
Surprising
The most common drink here is Kenyan “chai.” Basically, it’s a hot chai latte with less tea, less cloves and cardamom, more milk, and vanilla flavoring. It’s delicious, and they drink it constantly. // Grocery stores here have everything you could want if you’re willing to pay for it. // It isn’t much cheaper to live here than in the States. Most things are roughly the same price—it’s just that no one here can afford them. // My first Kenyan meal was a Belgian waffle. // There is barely any demarcation between outdoor and indoor, and that isn’t just because people don’t have the money to build better buildings. Even nice, well-funded structures have outdoor walkways instead of halls and screen-covered holes in the wall instead of air-conditioning. It's just what you do when you live in the climate of Eden. // Most restaurants serve Indian food, and Indian immigrants are the primary non-government holders of power and wealth. // Kenya hasn't yet discovered deodorant. // There is a bizarre and fascinating collision of Western technology and African culture. For example, people have nice computers and TVs in their mud houses, because they prefer that style of living.
So is all of Kenya in a great climate? The high-tech mud homes sound eerily similar to 500 sq ft houses with H2s or Chrysler 300s on dubs (Atlanta).
ReplyDeleteHow's the teaching?
I thought about that, too. It does seem rather similar to the way American poverty works, although more extreme. I think that in both places, poor people make a way for the things they want, somehow. The difference here, though, is that it isn't just a question of investing more in one place (electronics) than another (you're house); rather, it's an intentional choice to invest a certain way in a particular kind of traditional home, and also invest in technology that is hundreds of years more modern.
DeleteI think the climate here is pretty typical of Kenya as a whole, yes. As for the teaching, it's going quite well, thanks. I had a couple of great classes today in particular, one of which will probably find its way into the blog eventually.