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Published: November 2nd 2009
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Here are some details about our relatively mundane Saturday...
We started off grocery shopping at Nakumat, a Kenyan supermarket chain, located in a downtown shopping mall. Upon entering the parking lot, you pull up to a parking ticket machine where someone is standing and they push the button for you and then hand write the (military) time on your ticket. Next, you pull into a parking garage, which is normal except for the armed guards.
We were looking for an electric tea kettle for our security guard because it gets chilly (65 degrees) here at night. Upon closer inspection, most of the kettles had British-style plugs, and the only model that had a plug that would work here was $100. The purchase was postponed for Amazon.com.
Next up...milk. Milk is available in small, wax-coated cardboard boxes or in plastic bags (like the kind frozen vegetables come in). It is available in 1.5% and whole fat. 500 mL costs $1.50 or a gallon for around $11.00. Our landlord also owns a dairy so we may get fresh milk from her once we learn how to pasteurize it. Butter runs about $3 for two sticks, except that it comes in a big block. They were out, completely out. Can you imagine Safeway running out of butter? Cheese varieties: gouda ($6), cheddar ($60), brie ($20), fresh mozzarella ($6). We went with the gouda. Also, there is very good, full-fat, yogurt for a dollar in flavors like pineapple, vanilla, strawberry, apricot, and passion fruit. Eggs come in boxes of six for $1.50 and are not kept in the refrigerated section (and they still have pieces of "stuff" on them).
Then we had a rare sighting of the exotic butternut squash, and it only cost us $3 a pound. Pumpkins are more common here. Nakumat is not really the place to buy produce. It's kind of like buying fruit at the gas station, they might have some bananas, but do you really want to eat them?
Alex saw some bacon in a package called "Streaky Bacon." Unfortunately, it was $20 so we did not buy it. Nakumat was out of ground beef, so we had to go to another butchery that was about 10 minutes away. They had bacon at this butchery and we were asked whether we wanted the kind with the skin still attached. "No!"
On the way home, we realized we forgot to buy apples (imported), so we stopped by the small market near our house, Frulep. This was Alex's first trip to Frulep, and his impression was that it was f-ing outstanding because they had ginger beer (like really strong ginger ale). They also had samosas for 40 cents each, which is the closest thing to fast food that we can get. Our sponsor had told us that one time in the last year, Frulep had fat-free milk-in-a-box, so we always look, and were rewarded on this trip, and we proceeded to hoard the stash. Unfortunately, we ran out of cash, and had to put back a box. Credit cards are rarely used here, and not safe to use even if they are accepted. We may have had more cash if Jennifer had not spotted the prettiest, and semi-expensive, fabric in the craft store next to Frulep. The people running the craft store refused to negotiate the price, a first here. The use of the fabric has yet to be determined.
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Rhonda Orth
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shopping
Wow - what an experience! I'm sure there's a lot of calculating to figure out how much stuff really costs! Fabric ideas: drapes, quilt, skirt, tablecloth, napkins, placemats.... or wrap it around a frame, staple to the back and hang it as art! Keep the blogs coming - incredibly interesting stuff!