I have been posting a lot about the things we do on the weekend so I wanted to take a moment and talk about some of the things that happen on a more day-to-day basis.
That’s all for now! More updates to come :)
- Almost everyday we stop by the mama mboga (vegetable lady) right by the AU center to pick up some delicious fresh veggies for dinner. Today I grabbed four giant carrots, two onions, a bag of green beans, three tomatoes, and two zucchinis all for Ksh 180 (about $2). This is definitely one of my favorite parts about living in Nairobi - the food is so fresh, delicious, and inexpensive!
- Every night my apartment cooks and eats dinner together. We love to experiment with different ways to cook vegetables (our favorite is baking a bunch together with oil and tons of seasonings), making Kenyan food (my roommate Shreya makes the best chapati and McKinnon makes delicious mandazis), and figuring out other creative things to make so we're not always eating pasta (as much as I love pasta)
- It is now rainy season in Kenya. While it usually does't rain too much during the days, today on the way home from class Allie and I got stuck in a downpour. We huddled under a tree for a while before just deciding to brave it and walk the rest of the 20 minutes home. By the time we got back we were soaked!
- When it rains at night we are greeted by the presence of lots of flying termites in our apartment. They like the light and dryness inside and sometimes when our windows don’t shut all the way they love to swarm in our kitchen and bathroom. This was definitely an unpleasant surprise the first few times around but we have gotten more used to them.
- Getting sick in Nairobi is very real. Last week I had been feeling pretty sick for a few days and eventually went to the doctor who recommended de-worming pills. By the time I felt back to 100% I had an incident this weekend in the middle of the night when I was pleasantly woken up to a painful two hours of throwing up (still not sure why…). While these have been low points, it is all part of the experience of living in this part of the world - I would have been shocked if I made it home in December without getting sick at least once.
- On Thursdays at the Junction Mall there is a Maasai Market where a group of artisans gather to sell their products. After classes a lot of us like to go and pick up gifts and souvenirs and practice our bargaining (it’s so much harder than it seems!) We tend to be a lot more successful when we speak in Swahili, which is also really good practice!
- We are almost done with classes for the semester! Since our classes are all front-loaded we do twice the class per week for only eight weeks. This means we have less than two weeks of school left until we go for rural week and then intern full time. We are all so ready to be done as amazing as our classes have been.
That’s all for now! More updates to come :)