Lazy Days

It's another lazy Saturday here in Meru, and I'm about to sign off the internet and go get a newspaper and a bite to eat in one of my favorite cafes. Sounds strange, right? These are the sorts of things that I used to do when I was living in DC, and here in Kenya, I've been developing the same kind of ritual. There is this great hoteli (any place in Kenya that serves food is called a hoteli, and it is not necessarily a place where people from out of town sleep) in Meru that serves *great* samosas and chapati, some of my favorite Kenyan foods that just so happen to be Indian. Or, rather they are Kenyan takes on Indian food. Samosas are the little fried triangular packages of dough, but instead of potatoes and veg inside, they're more likely to have ground meat in them. And Kenyan chapati is this flat, chewy bread that has been fried over a very hot griddle (you can see photos of my friend Steve making chapatis over a traditional charcoal jiko in my photo album). They're delicious, and as soon as my house is set up, I'm going to teach myself how to make them. Of course being fried, they're terribly healthy, and really good for the figure, but what are you going to do? Most foods made in Kenyan households are really heavy on the oil, and the favorite breakfast in Kenya is bread slathered with this margerine-type stuff called Blue Band. The stuff is pure fat, and can actually upset your stomach because of it.

So that's pretty much what my weekends boil down to: Internet, drawn-out lunches consisting of fried stuff, laundry, and maybe re-reading one of the books I've already read. On that note, I've spent the last few days absolutely BORED OUT OF MY SKULL. That's one of the myths about Peace Corps life. Everyone at home thinks that you're off having a fantastic adventure every second of your time, and meanwhile you're so bored that you're considering holding races between some of the spiders you've seen in your house. At least it'd be something to do that wouldn't be reading your latest copy of Newsweek for the 15th time, and really-- some of those spiders are so big I've considered naming them. Expecially the one that lives in my bathroom. So yeah, Peace Corps adventure, look out!