Entertaining at our place

Once Mike came, we tried to have people over to our place much more often. Something that made this possible was the fact that one bedroom was converted to a sitting room, with seating for up to nine people. The first students we got to know well ended up all to be in the same class, so we decided to have them over for a little dessert party. We only had a one burner stove, and not many dishes, so we decided we would not be able to cook a whole meal. Instead, they went to the Container Cafe (ie a cafe in an old transport container- see earlier post) for a light supper, and we fed them a selection of desserts. Desserts are not common in Kenyan households, so this was all a novelty for them.

The guys were the first ones to arrive. It was very interesting for me to assume the classic Kenyan woman’s role of busying myself in the kitchen while the guys all chatted in the other room. Mike was still fairly deep in culture shock at this time, so I was happy that he could relax with the locals in such a good, casual way. I think evenings like this helped make him feel at home in the country.

Luckily, we found out a couple days before the ‘party’ that it was one of the student’s birthdays that week. I asked if he would like a birthday cake, and he said yes. Big grin. The cake was made in a frying pan- huge chocolate flavoured pancakes smeared with jam and layered with coconut pudding. With one of our emergency candles stuck in, and our voices joining in a boisterous ‘Happy Birthday to You’ it made a great show. On his 30th birthday, this guy got his very first b-day cake!

When ever we got together with friends we seemed to just laugh until our sides hurt. So many entertaining stories, and so many amusing differences between our cultures. One man, who joked about being called King Charles because he would have been next in line if his subtribe had kept the tradition of having kings, told us a lot of stories about his grandmother, who as a young woman managed to avoid getting married off to strange men four or five times before one young man (the grandfather) finally outwitted her and caught her after she tried to run away. Apparantly in that community, it is traditional for the bride-to-be to be kidnapped and brought to her new home in order for the negotiated wedding to take place. He also said he was quite sure that my own grandmother, who was born on a ship on the ocean, was actually a misplaced member of his family because his people are said to be half-fish, born knowing how to swim because they live so close to Lake Victoria. So, Grama K, you know where you can go if you ever make it to Kenya! Another man, from the ocean coast, entertained us with stories of his twin children's antics and the idea of crocodile meat, which was a normal food for his community.

We finished off the evening with each person choosing a different ‘Canadian’ tea to drink. Mike had brought with him a selection of bags from my store at home- Rooibos, ginger, blueberry, apple spice, green… They thought green tea was the funniest thing ever. They all made up stories of what they would tell their kids about how green tea tasted and looked… it sounded as foreign to them as green eggs and ham.

We learned that it is considered somehow rude in their communities to serve tea without milk (usually there is LOTS of hot milk)- like you are insulting them by saying ‘you are not even special enough for me to buy you milk for your tea’. We explained that in Canada it is normal to not take milk in most flavoured teas, and only a little cold milk in some black teas. Weird.

Before they left, some of the students said a little speech and gave a vote of thanks to us for having them over. They don’t have cooking facilities in the dorms, so it must have been nice to be over. One man said especially that he felt that we ‘weren’t like other mzungus’ because we were open and willing to have them over and talk honestly and openly and as friends. He said that ‘sometimes he got the impression mzungus didn’t want to get to close to Kenyans because they were afraid they would be asked for money’. Wow. Perceptive. This is actually true, I think, for many, especially people there for short term, but I have made so many really great friendships and acquaintances with people in Kenya that I have never and hope to never be afraid of something like that. Strangely, we felt quite honoured to be told we weren’t like other mzungus.


The other people we got together with several times were my friends Emily and Jackie (cousins- Emily works at the radio station and Jackie is a travel agent in town) and Emily and Moses with their baby Blessing. This Emily works at an office on campus while Moses is a high school teacher in another town- only home on weekends. They got married 18 months ago, which is why they have an 8 month old baby. Everyone seems to pop out a kid within a year or so of getting married. It is expected. I’m so glad that is different in Canada! Many people were actually puzzled and maybe felt sorry for Mike and I that we had been married nearly a year and we still aren’t expecting a child any time soon.

All these people live about 5 minutes from the campus gates, so we alternated meeting at different people’s houses for meals or tea. It is a popular thing to buy sodas for people when they come over, so you can see glass bottles on the table. The bottles are reused, so you pay deposit on them and return to where you bought them from. My favourites were ‘Stoney Tangawizi’, which is like a ginger beer, or really strong ginger ale, and ‘Bitter Lemon’ which tastes a bit like tonic water- a nice change from the overly sweet other sodas. Mike came to love ‘Fanta Black Currant’. If anyone knows where we can get something like that in Canada, let us know! The coke that he normally drank seemed WAY sweeter there… if that is possible. We are pretty sure all sodas were made/ bottled in Kenya.


Blessing learned that she LOVED chocolate pudding. Such a cute kid!

This last pic was taken before Mike arrived- when I was still living with my old roommate, Janet from the USA (far right). It was taken at Emily and Moses' house (far left), the first time I met this crazy bunch of students, who we became friends with so quickly. Something about being able to laugh together so easily sure bonded us!