Sweet 16
Well this is e-mail is no. 16, so everyone, please celebrate with a piece of cake, ideally with pink frosting.How was this week? Well, I've started a new routine to avoid the street kids. I will sometimes cross the street to avoid them if they're on one side, and hope that they don't see me. I'll still buy a kid a meal every now and then but I just can't do it everyday. I still refuse to give money to the kids that sniff glue. I had an interesting experience a few weeks ago with a gluehead. I'm not stereotyping - he had the bottle glued to his mouth. He saw me walking up the street and stuck his hand out to me. He didn't even ask for money - just muttered something so incoherent. I didn't break stride - just kept telling him "no thank you" and "sorry" in my wonderful Swahili.
Work wise, well I'm reading a lot about well let's just put it like this: human waste. Way too much for my liking. Apparently it's a valuable resource for compost if treated properly.
You know what else is a great thing about having learnt way too much about compost: the word humus. which is a shame b/c i really like to eat humus. I tell you, I'm going to be the hit of the cocktail party circuit once I get back. Kidding. Here's my promise to you: Once I return I promise never to mention anything to do with waste. Ever again. Ever.
I'm starting to get better deals from the street vendors. Sometimes they give me a good deal without me even having to bargain. They're kind of suckers that way b/c sometimes they'd get more than what I do end up paying them, but woo hoo for me.
Of course, I had one vendor renege on our deal. I don't know if I should sue him for breach of contract or not since it was a) an oral one; b) i don't think i have that much faith in the kenya legal system; c) what would I be saving: $20 us? Maybe $50?
Last week I made it to basketball training but once. This week twice. I don't go when it rains or when the ground is wet. Not b/c i'll melt a la the wicked witch of the west but b/c the court is outdoors so wet cements increases the chance of injury. I made it back twice this week. Either those kids are getting much faster or i'm getting much slower. I've decided that when i get back to Canada, i'm going to just try to play basketball with the 70 to 80 year old crowd. For starters, I hope I can out run them, and outjump. "c'mon, Gramps, that the best you can do!?"
So this week is valentine's week. They do celebrate here in Kenya but it is not as commercialized as it is in North America. There have been cards for sale for a number of weeks now, but in Nakuru, it was only this past week that the grocery store put out a Valentine's table (note: one table, not rows and rows) of gifts. One of the funniest things I find is that the cards here are way too overdramatic and over the top. I don't care how romantic you are, some of them should just not be given. I'll try to take a photo of some of the cards to show you just how cheesy they reall are.
One of the newest souvenirs I've seen is some sort of key chain with a name on it and what I assume is the meaning of that name in Swahili. Example: Roy means king. One of the vendors selling such artifacts told me that he had my name. So I just looked at him and said: "My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father prepare to die."
Dude just looked at me. I don't think he had a clue what I was talking about. It really sucks living in a pop culture vacuum.
How much does Kenya Standard Time suck? Well, I was supposed to be at a meeting on Tuesday. We were to leave the office at 2. We left at 2:30, and drove less than 4 minutes away to the district officer's office to pick up some officials. That should've taken all of 2 minutes tops. We were taking them to see the agronomic trials of the crops being grown with our organic fertilizer. Well, 30 minutes later we finally left. So we were uberlate for the meeting at the trial site. When the professor called my boss, she said we were 5 minutes away. That's also Kenya speak. Everything is 5 minutes away. When i ask the wait staff how long till my dinner is ready, their reply: 5 minutes.
The same night I had to meet the guy from the ngo to give him the goat money. Well he told me to meet him at 6:30,. I decided to leave my office at 6:40 b/c I figured he'd be at least 5 minutes late. Dude wasn't even there yet! I called him and he told me 2 minutes. 5 minutes later he shows up. Longest 2 minutes ever!
Thing about Kenya that cracks me up this week:How polite they are. I'm not talking about please and thank yous when appropriate, but "please" when a please is not even called for. On Sunday, I asked the chef making the omlettes "are those mushrooms?" His reply: yes please. Uberpolite. And apparently, here you don't ask for a beer by saying "give me a beer please." you say "Help me with a beer." I hear that and I picture the bar keep opening the bottle, nursing you with the bottle, and then turning you over his knee to help you if you drank the beer too quickly and developed gas. THAT's helping with a beer.
Heroes of the week:
1. the raptors: who may make the playoffs for the first time since i was in school! they have a 4 game lead on the nets. Go Raps!
2. the liberals: who picked up 1/2 a game on the torys this past week when Turner went Red.
3. Didi: for also buying a goat. The NGO has advised that male goats will do the most good.
The way it works is that those who get the female goats have to bring them to a farmer who has a male goat, pays said farmer $1, they put the goats together, put on some luther vandross or john mayer, light some candles, pour some wine, and let the goats get to business. so basically i'm helping facilitate the illicit sex trade in goats.
then when that female goat gives birth to a female kid, the farmer gives the kid to the ngo to repay the ngo for the credit in kind.
Random question of the week:How much does Bon Jovi's Wanted Dead or Alive rock?Answer to Random Question of the week: infinity.
Kenyan mystery of the week: This country has the technology for instant payment mechanisms in place (think e-mail payment, PayPal) but their postage stamps are still the old school licking kind.
Next week: Pictures of Bananas the Goat. I met him on Tuesday afternoon.
Till next week, happy Valentine's Day, and remember, who loves ya baby?
Work wise, well I'm reading a lot about well let's just put it like this: human waste. Way too much for my liking. Apparently it's a valuable resource for compost if treated properly.
You know what else is a great thing about having learnt way too much about compost: the word humus. which is a shame b/c i really like to eat humus. I tell you, I'm going to be the hit of the cocktail party circuit once I get back. Kidding. Here's my promise to you: Once I return I promise never to mention anything to do with waste. Ever again. Ever.
I'm starting to get better deals from the street vendors. Sometimes they give me a good deal without me even having to bargain. They're kind of suckers that way b/c sometimes they'd get more than what I do end up paying them, but woo hoo for me.
Of course, I had one vendor renege on our deal. I don't know if I should sue him for breach of contract or not since it was a) an oral one; b) i don't think i have that much faith in the kenya legal system; c) what would I be saving: $20 us? Maybe $50?
Last week I made it to basketball training but once. This week twice. I don't go when it rains or when the ground is wet. Not b/c i'll melt a la the wicked witch of the west but b/c the court is outdoors so wet cements increases the chance of injury. I made it back twice this week. Either those kids are getting much faster or i'm getting much slower. I've decided that when i get back to Canada, i'm going to just try to play basketball with the 70 to 80 year old crowd. For starters, I hope I can out run them, and outjump. "c'mon, Gramps, that the best you can do!?"
So this week is valentine's week. They do celebrate here in Kenya but it is not as commercialized as it is in North America. There have been cards for sale for a number of weeks now, but in Nakuru, it was only this past week that the grocery store put out a Valentine's table (note: one table, not rows and rows) of gifts. One of the funniest things I find is that the cards here are way too overdramatic and over the top. I don't care how romantic you are, some of them should just not be given. I'll try to take a photo of some of the cards to show you just how cheesy they reall are.
One of the newest souvenirs I've seen is some sort of key chain with a name on it and what I assume is the meaning of that name in Swahili. Example: Roy means king. One of the vendors selling such artifacts told me that he had my name. So I just looked at him and said: "My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father prepare to die."
Dude just looked at me. I don't think he had a clue what I was talking about. It really sucks living in a pop culture vacuum.
How much does Kenya Standard Time suck? Well, I was supposed to be at a meeting on Tuesday. We were to leave the office at 2. We left at 2:30, and drove less than 4 minutes away to the district officer's office to pick up some officials. That should've taken all of 2 minutes tops. We were taking them to see the agronomic trials of the crops being grown with our organic fertilizer. Well, 30 minutes later we finally left. So we were uberlate for the meeting at the trial site. When the professor called my boss, she said we were 5 minutes away. That's also Kenya speak. Everything is 5 minutes away. When i ask the wait staff how long till my dinner is ready, their reply: 5 minutes.
The same night I had to meet the guy from the ngo to give him the goat money. Well he told me to meet him at 6:30,. I decided to leave my office at 6:40 b/c I figured he'd be at least 5 minutes late. Dude wasn't even there yet! I called him and he told me 2 minutes. 5 minutes later he shows up. Longest 2 minutes ever!
Thing about Kenya that cracks me up this week:How polite they are. I'm not talking about please and thank yous when appropriate, but "please" when a please is not even called for. On Sunday, I asked the chef making the omlettes "are those mushrooms?" His reply: yes please. Uberpolite. And apparently, here you don't ask for a beer by saying "give me a beer please." you say "Help me with a beer." I hear that and I picture the bar keep opening the bottle, nursing you with the bottle, and then turning you over his knee to help you if you drank the beer too quickly and developed gas. THAT's helping with a beer.
Heroes of the week:
1. the raptors: who may make the playoffs for the first time since i was in school! they have a 4 game lead on the nets. Go Raps!
2. the liberals: who picked up 1/2 a game on the torys this past week when Turner went Red.
3. Didi: for also buying a goat. The NGO has advised that male goats will do the most good.
The way it works is that those who get the female goats have to bring them to a farmer who has a male goat, pays said farmer $1, they put the goats together, put on some luther vandross or john mayer, light some candles, pour some wine, and let the goats get to business. so basically i'm helping facilitate the illicit sex trade in goats.
then when that female goat gives birth to a female kid, the farmer gives the kid to the ngo to repay the ngo for the credit in kind.
Random question of the week:How much does Bon Jovi's Wanted Dead or Alive rock?Answer to Random Question of the week: infinity.
Kenyan mystery of the week: This country has the technology for instant payment mechanisms in place (think e-mail payment, PayPal) but their postage stamps are still the old school licking kind.
Next week: Pictures of Bananas the Goat. I met him on Tuesday afternoon.
Till next week, happy Valentine's Day, and remember, who loves ya baby?
posted by kacob at 8:39 AM
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