Matatu name: "Oprah"
So the second day in a row I have internet! I'm getting spoiled!
Today we went to this mall in NBI called village market. It is this bizarre alternate universe where there are fountains, louis vuitton stores, and Kenyan nannies following around after blonde expat children... it's strange, especially after living in 'regular' Kenyan society for almost 2 months! I really felt out of place, and even a little angry-- these people live in this strange insular world, where they might as well not be in Kenya at all! I went to this giant wal-mart type store called Nakumatt, and in the book section I was looking for a Kiswahili dictionary, because the one that PC gives us is pretty sad... well, they had French dictionaries, German, and Italian... BUT NO KISWAHILI!!! Come on people! It's one of the national langages! I ended up talking to the Kenyan lady who was working in that section a little in English, a little in Kiswa, and she told me to go to another book store, & said that I'd do just fine in learning Kiswa. Ninajaribu, I am trying!
So we left Village Market and just outside, we hopped on to a matatu blaring hip hop music, cheek to jowl with kids, businessmen, and old mamas, and we were suddenly back in Kenya again. And to be honest, I can say that it was a bit of a relief. This Kenya is feeling a lot more real than the artificial expat world here in NBI, and I think that even with all of its frustrations, I'm beginning to prefer the rough and ready world that I've been living in...
I'm staying on one more night here in NBI and it will be great to have an evening with the other trainees, just to hear about their experiences at FSV... some had much better times than I did, but there are a few who had much worse, so I've got that to be grateful for!
I had a funny conversation on a matatu in Meru the past week, which kind of makes me think that I'll be able to handle the site after all... One of the big cash crops in the Meru area is Miraa. Miraa is a plant, and you chew on the twigs and leaves, and the juice has an amphetamine effect. It reportedly has a very bitter taste, and teh texture is pretty nasty, so I'm really in no hurry to give it a try! But the matatu touts and drivers loooove it, and everyone on matatus seem to enjoy showing the mzungu girl the miraa. So this one tout (kind of like a matatu conductor) shows me his miraa and tells me, "This is miraa, you know what this is?" I replied yes, I did know what miraa was. He then offers to let me try it; "Good! Very good for you, good for bad stomachs!" This was news to me, and I thought it was hysterical that he was promoting the supposed health effects of this twig that gives you the shakes and turns your teeth this lovely greenish-brown color...
I thought that as long as I was there, I might as well try out some of my Kiswahili on him, so I answer, "Sipendi miraa!" (I don't like miraa). When he asks why (kwa nini?), I answer "Ninapenda vitu vitamu- Miraa si tamu" (I like sweet/good things, miraa is not sweet), which got a laugh from the entire matatu. As I was dropped off at the office, the tout says to me, "You could have tried!!", and I reply, "Well, that's just more for you then!", which got another laugh from the matatu passengers.
So yeah, things can sometimes be overwhelming and crazy here, but to be honest, I think I'll get to the point where I can handle it, which makes me feel pretty good!
Here's a photo of a meru farm:
http://www.farmafrica.org.uk/upload/diggin_kenya_meru.jpg
And here's a photo of Mt Kenya:
http://www.wildherps.com/travels/Africa2000/images/Mount_Kenya_big.jpg
Today we went to this mall in NBI called village market. It is this bizarre alternate universe where there are fountains, louis vuitton stores, and Kenyan nannies following around after blonde expat children... it's strange, especially after living in 'regular' Kenyan society for almost 2 months! I really felt out of place, and even a little angry-- these people live in this strange insular world, where they might as well not be in Kenya at all! I went to this giant wal-mart type store called Nakumatt, and in the book section I was looking for a Kiswahili dictionary, because the one that PC gives us is pretty sad... well, they had French dictionaries, German, and Italian... BUT NO KISWAHILI!!! Come on people! It's one of the national langages! I ended up talking to the Kenyan lady who was working in that section a little in English, a little in Kiswa, and she told me to go to another book store, & said that I'd do just fine in learning Kiswa. Ninajaribu, I am trying!
So we left Village Market and just outside, we hopped on to a matatu blaring hip hop music, cheek to jowl with kids, businessmen, and old mamas, and we were suddenly back in Kenya again. And to be honest, I can say that it was a bit of a relief. This Kenya is feeling a lot more real than the artificial expat world here in NBI, and I think that even with all of its frustrations, I'm beginning to prefer the rough and ready world that I've been living in...
I'm staying on one more night here in NBI and it will be great to have an evening with the other trainees, just to hear about their experiences at FSV... some had much better times than I did, but there are a few who had much worse, so I've got that to be grateful for!
I had a funny conversation on a matatu in Meru the past week, which kind of makes me think that I'll be able to handle the site after all... One of the big cash crops in the Meru area is Miraa. Miraa is a plant, and you chew on the twigs and leaves, and the juice has an amphetamine effect. It reportedly has a very bitter taste, and teh texture is pretty nasty, so I'm really in no hurry to give it a try! But the matatu touts and drivers loooove it, and everyone on matatus seem to enjoy showing the mzungu girl the miraa. So this one tout (kind of like a matatu conductor) shows me his miraa and tells me, "This is miraa, you know what this is?" I replied yes, I did know what miraa was. He then offers to let me try it; "Good! Very good for you, good for bad stomachs!" This was news to me, and I thought it was hysterical that he was promoting the supposed health effects of this twig that gives you the shakes and turns your teeth this lovely greenish-brown color...
I thought that as long as I was there, I might as well try out some of my Kiswahili on him, so I answer, "Sipendi miraa!" (I don't like miraa). When he asks why (kwa nini?), I answer "Ninapenda vitu vitamu- Miraa si tamu" (I like sweet/good things, miraa is not sweet), which got a laugh from the entire matatu. As I was dropped off at the office, the tout says to me, "You could have tried!!", and I reply, "Well, that's just more for you then!", which got another laugh from the matatu passengers.
So yeah, things can sometimes be overwhelming and crazy here, but to be honest, I think I'll get to the point where I can handle it, which makes me feel pretty good!
Here's a photo of a meru farm:
http://www.farmafrica.org.uk/upload/diggin_kenya_meru.jpg
And here's a photo of Mt Kenya:
http://www.wildherps.com/travels/Africa2000/images/Mount_Kenya_big.jpg
posted by Erin @ 8:15 AM
1 Comments:
At 12:06 AM,
Anonymous said…
Lol. Glad to see that Village Market bubble annoyed somebody else. I am a Kenyan and I always felt it was part of an alternate universe or something.
As for the Kiswahili dictionary (I know you wrote this years ago, so I'm writing this for the benefit of other folks) you'd be better off checking out a store that sells school books. In Kenya it tends to be the case that most serious study of Kiswahili and reading of Kenyan lit (in English and Kiswahili) is done by students.
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