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Bloooooood
My devil eye... Hello Punda Milias,
Sup in da hood? Speaking of punda milia (Kiswahili for zebra - literally, donkey with stripes), our Kiswahili teacher told us an amusing story yesterday. One of his students was trying to talk about a zebra, but instead of saying punda milia, he accidentally said punda malaya. Malaya means prostitute. Needless to say, Katherine and I have been calling each other donkey prostitutes ever since. Not very complimentary!
Well, I will divide the time since I last wrote a blog into week one and week two. Or ‘week shitehouse’ and ‘week super-dooper’. The first week was a terrible one, because we both came down with a very bad case of conjunctivitis (it seems like every second person in Kilifi has had it). Katherine got it first - in a very very bad way, I thought her face was going to explode - and then kindly passed it on to me. I imagine you think we are being a bit wimpy to whinge about conjunctivitis, but I assure you it is very nasty over here. My eyes still haven’t cleared up two weeks after getting it. I am slightly sick of looking like Satan, with bright
red eyes.
Due to this illness we had to postpone our trip to Lamu. So instead of relaxing on very nice beaches, I spent two days lying on the couch doing very little. I couldn’t even go to the orphanage, in case I infected the kids. Was fairly boring, although at least I had Grey’s and Scrubs to watch on K’s laptop. Anyway, I suggest you read K’s last blog for a much better description of the actual conjunctivitis than I could give, because as you know I’m not very good at sciency/mediciney things.
The only amusing thing about the conjunctivitis is that it hasn’t stopped the Kenyan men trying to bust moves on me. Here are a few examples:
-While walking down the main street in Kilifi, Katherine and I were stopped by a man called Dennis (the menace) who wanted to have a chat. He told me I was very pretty and then invited us both to accompany him to the wedding he was attending the next day, despite the fact that we had only just met him and had no idea who was getting married.
-On Friday at a market in Nairobi (will explain our
trip in a minute) we met a guy who was about a year older than me. He wouldn’t let go of my hand and kept wanting to stroke my hair, and was desperate to take me out on a date, so we could drink Tusker together. He was beside himself with excitement when we randomly ran into him two days later! Refer to K’s blog for a description of how he blessed my eyes.s
-The conductor in the matatu (from Mombasa to Kilifi) told me at the start of the trip that ‘I was very beautiful’…a bit disturbing, considering I had to spend the next 2 hours in the van with him.
OK, moving onto Nairobi, which was probably the best spontaneous decision ever made. Katherine suggested on Wednesday night that we go to Nairobi for the weekend, so we booked tickets on Thursday and headed off the next day. Was an excellent, excellent weekend!! Was great to do some city stuff and eat food that wasn’t African or Italian. Another highlight was having a hot shower for the first time in two months!! Here’s a brief rundown of what we got up to:
Friday: Got a flight to
Wimpy Hamburgers
Chain of restaurants in Nairobi Nairobi which arrived at about lunchtime. After checking in at our hotel we went to a shopping centre (which also had movies, mini-golf, ten-pin bowling, swimming pool, etc.) with attached Masai Market, called Village Market. After that we went out to dinner and then to a bar called Casablanca (can’t think of a Melbourne equivalent, although I wish there was one!). It’s a very large indoor/outdoor bar with massive couches, fires inside and out, great food, and good music. Only downside (although it was pretty amusing to watch) was the large number of disgustingly old white men accompanied by very young black girls. Gross!
Saturday: After going out for breakfast, we headed out to the National Museum, but unfortunately it was closed for renovations. So we went to some local shops and another shopping centre. In the afternoon we went to an African music festival, which we had only heard about the day before. Was absolutely sensational and I was very very excited as one of my favourite South African musicians, Hugh Masekela, was the headline act. His performance was one of the best I have ever seen! Also discovered a great Kenyan singer called Eric Wainaina, whose CD
I am currently listening to. Then we went to a very swish restaurant (apparently has been voted in the world’s top 50 restaurants), called Carnivore, which as the name suggests, was all about the meat. Have never eaten so much meat in my life!! (Massive amounts of chicken, turkey, lamb, beef, pork, ostrich, crocodile, etc.) Was a great meal and we think we might have to head back there when Pops and Liam - and now uncle Roderick - are over.
Sunday: Went out for breakfast again (had one of my top ten milkshakes ever) and then headed out to another market, where I bought two very nice paintings (very happy about them! See picture) and then got a taxi out to the airport. We arrived back in Mombasa to find massive amounts of rain, and lots of flooded areas. On the way back to Kilifi we had to drive though the villages, because the main road was inaccessible (I think K has some pictures of the flooded roads, so check them out when she posts a blog). Unfortunately it was pretty dark, so we didn’t get to see much.
And that’s about all from me. Have been
Great place to do the washing
In the very dirty looking Nairobi river in the middle of the city. back at the orphanage, but only for three days this week, as our postponed trip to Lamu is this Thursday-Sunday. Very muchly looking forward to it. Hope all is well back home and y’all have a good long weekend. Let me know of any news.
Love,
Brigid
P.S. Happy Birthday to Rebecca Jane, Renee Lee and Hippo Grande.
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