A new day and a new city (3rd location in under 4 days)

post written back in August

After a busy few days of shopping n the big city I headed to a different big city where my fiancée lives. I have to admit this is where the culture shock affected me the most. I had been warned that at some point I would feel overwhelmed with the big city after living in my remote location and I expected it to happen in the first city I was in as it was bigger and more modern. A huge contrast to the life I have been living. It didn’t affect me then but I sure felt it in this new location. The interesting thing is I had a much better understanding of what life was like from chatting with my fiancée and also seeing some pics/videos sent me over the years compared to the first big city. One of the first things I noticed is how much of both the big city and the rural areas there was mixed together to create its own uniqueness. Looking back I think this was the biggest factor in the culture shock as I couldn’t seem to process the combination of city and rural life in one place. I also noticed my preconceived perception from conversations and pictures was much different. Some things were bigger than I imagined and some were smaller. Overall it was a lot to process the first few days and had my brain working in overtime. I don’t even if there is a good way to explain all the thoughts/feelings I had going through my mind as even I didn't really understand my own thought processes.  It was like I knew what to do and expect yet I didn’t feel like I belonged and knew what was going to happen. It was definitely a weird feeling.

gardening

Since there are very limited foods available in the market many people on our team have started their own gardens.  SO far they are growing well out here. We are even getting some squash, pumpkin, tomato, and watermelon growing randomly on the compound. All of these foods will be beneficial and enjoyable when they are ripe and ready to eat. Next challenge will be my own herb garden. I think that will be next year though as seeds are hard to come by.

 the large garden with lots of tomatoes 

(the tomatoes unfortunately didn't survive)

garden with lots of pumpkin/squash

Giving blood

The need for blood is worldwide. We are all walking blood banks in one sense and out here that is truly more literal. There is no blood storage bank so when blood is needed, the local hospital checks family members for blood matches. If no family members match or if family is unavailable they check their donor list for potential matches and start calling people to see if they can come give blood. I got one such call a few weeks after being put on that list so off I went with a friend to the local hospital to give blood. In my past experience giving blood back in Canada it was a long process of getting a finger prick (to make sure my blood levels where high enough to donate), a long questionnaire, then some sticker thing to put on my bag to indicate if I really did want to give my blood or not, a chat with someone who again reviews if I want/am able to give blood and then I’m off to actually give the blood. Cookies and juice always follow J   Out here the process is somewhat different.  I chatted briefly with the lab tech and told her that I did not have the standard disease for which they are concerned (Hep A,HepB, HIV,AIDs, etc) and she then took a small vial of my blood to test for the above mentioned diseases, checked that I had enough to give,  check my blood type and ensure my blood was compatible with the patient’s. Once this was confirmed she went ahead and started the actual donation process which is pretty much the same as my past experiences. A BIG needle gets jabbed into my arm. This is attached to a tube that connects to a bag which collects my blood. It took about 20 minutes for me to give the blood and once it was done a nurse took the bag and went to give it to the patient. No fridge storage or any transport. Just blood there when you need it. 

cutting trees

One of our team members was able to trim many of the trees on our compound. The finished open space looked great but resulted in lots of branches that needed to be cleaned up. Most of the smaller branches with their leaves made good food for the local goats and the bigger branches make good posts for future fences. This means we have to cut the smaller branches from the big ones to clean things up. This is the fun part of things. It’s great to be able to grab a panga (Kenyan version of a machete) and clean off the branches. I’m not sure if it’s the type of wood or the panga that makes it easy but its simple to do J. Once the branches are clean the harder work of lugging the small leafy branches to the fence and tossing them over starts. These branches are quickly eaten clean by the hungry local goats. At times it seems easier to just let the goats into the compound for lunch instead of tossing them over the fence however there are some dogs who would enjoy it for other reasons……and I don’t think the goats would have much of a meal thus defeating the entire plan. 

Food

I mentioned in my newsletter that many of the foods we eat we have to cook from scratch. One book that has been a huge help has been the More With Less cookbook as it has recipes for most things and they are from scratch. Google is another huge help and I’ve been able to find some good recipes with it. My biggest challenge so far is to get produce in the local market. For the most part so far all that has been available on a regular basis is onions, garlic, and some local greens which I’m not sure what to do with. I have seen some potatoes, oranges, and watermelon, and mushrooms but they are there on a limited basis. There for a few weeks then gone until next season. Other basic necessities are readily available such as noodles, flour, soaps, sugar, salt, tomato paste, and coffee/tea for those that drink it. There even are a few stores that have cheese, canned tuna, and other luxury items we normally ship from Kenya. Its expensive but then so is flying the stuff in, especially the canned goods. one thing I have been working on figuring out is how to eat from what is available locally instead of flying foods in. 

One such sort of success was spaghetti. The pasta and tomato paste is available locally and once my tomato plants start producing tomatoes I should be able to make spaghetti and only need to ship in the spices and herbs from Kenya. That being said I have a few ideas on how to grow my own herbs and spices too but I’m still working on that part.

Another success was homemade potato chips. I have yet to see any potato chips in the market but there are potatoes some times. I found a recipe online and decided to try it. The result was a great success. Now I just have to figure out how to add the different flavors to the chips. Salt is easy enough. I recently even found some salt/vinegar powder in the big city when I was on my R&R. I’ll try that and see what happens. 

some local sorgum partially prepared.

what not to do with milk.... 

this was accidentally left out of the fridge overnight....

 

food at the local ethiopian restaurant

same ethiopian restaurant, different meal

 

quick update

I am now in the capital city and enjoying a quick break from normal life to get some paperwork and shopping done (and spend time with a certain special someone). I haven't been able to post much on my blog over the last few months as the internet connection where I normally stay hasn't been very reliable. I can get emails pretty regularly however anything beyond that is difficult and blog posts have been impossible. Over the next day or so I hope to get some old blog posts up that were written over the last few months. My time here in the capital has been productive and I'm thankful for the time I have had here. I've been able to get most of what I needed completed and have learned many things about city life and how I can best fit in here in the future when I move here in the future.