wedding cake????

My friend Milcha took me to  her cousins wedding today! I was so excited to go to my first Kenyan wedding. It was beautiful, yet simple.  The day was perfect for a wedding! Most churches here are made of mud with tin roofs, so on a hot day, they are miserable! But today.... perfect! There was a gentle breeze, yet the sun was out the entire time! The wedding itself was very similar to weddings in America. The bride wore white, the bridesmaids had matching dresses. There were flower girls and junior bridesmaids, and matching grooms men. The service took about an hour and a half. Then it was off to the reception. The reception was held at the grooms house. There were big tents, and seats for the guests. The food was (kenyan) to say the least. The only real difference was that there were no tables, just lots of chairs. 

Now to the wedding cake! Let me just start by saying, there was obviously not enough to go around, there were around 500 guests! Not that I would have wanted any cake anyways. Cake here is absolutely .... not the greatest! I don't know why no one here can figure out how to bake a good cake. We have many bakery's here, but all the cakes just taste like crumbly corn bread. They are very dry and all taste the same, whether its chocolate or vanilla. And don't even get me started on the icing. It looks beautiful! But tastes and feels like its been sitting on the cake for years! Maybe after peace corps I stay here and open my own bakery! Grandma, you can come help. They have all the ingredients to bake wonderful things! I've baked numerous things in my jiko oven!, and I know the bakery's have actual ovens. So I just feel like there is no excuse........

I got a picture with the bride and groom as they were discussing dowery.  

Oh you haven't heard of dowery?..... Here in Kenya, when a man marries a women, he has to pay her family a dowery. This usually consists of several cows and goats. Depending on the size of the family and the educational back ground will determine the number of cows and goats. My friend Andrea and I always tell the men who propose to us, that our fathers want 100 cows, plus shipping them to America! hahaha I was told today that, that is way to much, but I now have someone working on getting 100 cow.. Look out dad! 

Anyways, it was an awesome cultural experience! 

One big motley crew

The Motley crew

Kibaibai pretty much has me trained to take him on a walk EVERYDAY. Otherwise he mopes around the house. These are the kids in my village who run screaming to greet us, then sometimes continue to escort us on our walk. They are very sweet, yet sometime annoying. They love Kibaibai and have actually started to pet him. People are usually scared of him, so I consider this an accomplishment. Yesterday I went to church with Anastasia. 3 hours sitting in the sun. No mom it wasn't a catholic mass! But it should count that I went to a church! and since it was 3 hours long, I figure I'm covered till after christmas ;). 

Speaking of christmas, I decorated the house in paper snowflakes and branches from a pine tree. Im expecting company on Friday, so I thought it would be nice to decorate. 

On Friday, Anastasia took me to her cousin's graduation party. It was actually similar to a graduation party back home. The women were busy cooking and helping out and there was plenty of food (rice, beans and meat). The difference was that it of course did not start on time, and the had many people stand up to speak. They put me on the spot and asked me to say a few words! "Congratulations and good luck!" What else is there to say? 

I also visited a nearby Hospice center. It was absolutely beautiful! It is not only for terminal patients however, they also do rehabilitation. The director was nice enough to show me around. There were 5 children there for malnourishment! It was very sad. The center was actually put together by an American! Hopefully on my free days, maybe once or twice a month, I will be able to visit. 

I know I haven been great at keeping up with fashion friday, however.... ta da! You know whats special about this dress?.... I made it! Yep hand sewed it myself! Actually its a skirt so I can interchange the tops and then I made the sash and head wrap as well. Told you there is not a lot going on right now. I have 2 groups to go to next week then there will be absolutly nothing until after christmas! I think I will have to round up some more material...... For christmas I am planning on having some other volunteers over so we can spend the holiday together... although just our luck, the matatus are planning on going on strike from Dec 19 -29, against high gas prices..... yep TIA (this is Africa) At times like this I miss my car and being able to drive wherever and whenever. Oh well, learning experience I guess. 

It's not just fun and games with all this free time however, I am planning alot of things to start in the new year. I want to start and environmental club at the local primary school/s. Also a health club at the secondary school. I am really go to try to start some sort of exercise class for the women in my area, the hard part is finding a venu. You would be surprised how many women ask me about sore backs and joints. This is why I thought a yoga type stretch class might be a positive addition to this community. Also I would like to do a community cook day. I want to show families how to cook healthy meals with the food that is available. A huge problem is that mama's cook with a lot of oil and salt, thus leading to diabetes and hypertension. I guess we'll see how it goes next year!

a little behind... pole! (sorry)

Hello all, I got back from training late Saturday night. Luckily Breezie and Joy (2 other volunteers) traveled back with me and stayed the night before continuing their journey home on Sunday morning.  I know I've said this before, but traveling in Kenya is NEVER easy. We waited in Nairobi for 4 hours before our shuttle left for Eldoret.  The trip home took 6 hours instead of 5, then we had to catch a matatu to my house, stuffed in the back seat with 17 other people. Needless to say we slept in pretty late this morning. I was so excited to get home and see Kibaibai! He seriously doubled in size, I CAN NOT believe it!  It's so nice to finally be home, though like I have already said, nothing can be easy. There is still no propane in Turbo, so I currently have no stove, hopefully that will come this week. Also I spent quite a bit of money in Nairobi so I will be living off of rice and whatever else is in my cabinets until pay day.  Im definitely going to have to get creative with my cooking. Speaking of creative cooking, my mother in America has been bugging me to start putting up recipes that I've used. I'll start with the basic Kenyan favorite, Chapati.  Chapati is a type of flat fry bread, that every family here in Kenya usually prepares at least once a week, hence why some of us have gained some weight. 

Chapati: All you need is flour, water and oil. 

Start with warm water in a mixing bowl ( I usually only use 1/2 cup, it will make about 2). Add a pinch of salt, pinch of sugar and a few drops of oil.  Start adding the flour and mixing with your fingers. Add flour until the dough is no longer sticky. Once dough is mixed, divide dough into balls. Take some dough and roll into circle, add flour when needed. Make sure not to roll it to thin.  Once it's rolled out, spread a little oil over the dough, roll it up, than coil like a cinnamon roll. Repeat with each ball of dough.  Then take the coiled dough, dip in flour and roll out into another circle. Start placing rolled out dough onto hot skillet with oil, one at a time. Let the dough bubble before flipping it and add more oil to the skillet. Repeat for each one. And Voile! Enjoy!  ( you can also find these recipes on the internet, just incase my directions are a bit confusing.)

You can also add cooked and mashed pumpkin or sweet potato to make it a tad bit healthier. 

When I make chapati, I usually make a stew, or saute vegetables and beans, and enjoy a delicious meal! 

 Let me know what you think if you try it. 

14/12/11

I went to the office today, I usually just go to show my face and use the free internet. There is no real reason to go to the office other than that. But just my luck... no internet! And on the way in, the lady sitting next to me on the matatu was reading over my shoulder, every text message! Talk about no personal space..... TIA.  I walked all the way to Turbo yesterday to pick up my awaiting package from Holly!  Totally worth the walk! Thanks girlfriend! Also the post lady told me for future packages, if you send it to me as a registered parcel.. it should cost me nothing to pick up.... Im not sure what registered parcel means, but if you send something, check it out :). The next few weeks are gonna be pretty boring. School is out for the holiday and the JOYWO groups are over on the 22nd. Luckily while in training we had free internet, and I was able to look up a bunch of crafts. Hopefully that will be enough to keep me occupied. During holidays, things kind of stop around here. I mean shops are still open, but thats about it. So I will attempt my hand at hand sewing, painting, and more beading. Of course all this free time should mean I have plenty of time to work out! At training they fed us buffet style for every meal! So I took full advantage of that, and am now paying for it! Luckily my friend Josh is gonna be my new work out buddy. He lives near Mt. Kenya. So we'll be texting each other words of encouragement. 

Past weeks in pictures

my market buys for thanksgiving. This is why I love africa, I bought mangos, bananas, pumpkin, honey, french beans, avacado, carrots, paipaiya, and omena (little fish for Kibaibai). All bought fresh from the market for less than 3 american dollars! Avg. price for this in America? I'm gonna guess around 20 bucks.

I made a cute little indian hat for Kibaibai to wear for thanksgiving, he was not pleased. 

Cassidy, Andrea, Me and Izzy at the animal orphanage.

The monkeys that got out of their cages and groomed us.

A cheetah at the orphanage. There was just this fence seperating us. I could literally get face to face with him.  

A little bit of home in Kenya. We waited in line for an hour for this KFC feast. You better beleive I ate every last bite!

Andrea and I at 2 for 1 happy hour. I won't mention how many we consumed. You have no idea how good ice cold beer from a tap tastes, when your used to room temperature Tusker. 

Feels like home

For the past week I have been in In service Training. This is where Peace Corps gets everyone from my training group together to continue teaching us skills that can help us to improve our work in our communities.  We have learned how to build better pit latrines, inexpensive ways to treat water, how to make sack and nutrition gardens, and how to be better educators. It's a lot to fit in to 2 weeks.  It's been great to see everyone, some people I haven't seen since we swore in in August! On Saturday and Sunday we had free time and were allowed to travel into Nairobi.  On Saturday we did some shopping. It's always such a culture shock when we go to the malls. Lindsay and I were able to buy more materials to make jewelry. We had sushi for lunch, it was super fancy and super delicious. Then to end the day we got to see Twilight: Breaking Dawn, and most of you already know my thoughts on that topic........ disappointment. On Sunday we had an Awesome day! We started our day by going to the Animal Orphanage at the Kenyan Wildlife service. We pet a baby giraffe, fed an ostrich and got groomed by monkeys. Then we went to another mall and waited in line for an hour to eat at the only KFC in Kenya. Totally worth it! An hour is worth the wait for a little taste of home. Then we ended our day with a 2 for 1 happy hour at a local brewery. Perfect day! We were allowed to be American tourist for the weekend and didn't have to worry about all eyes focused on us. 

Saturday we return to our sites and back to reality. I am definitely ready to get back to Kibaibai and back to my site. This training has helped me think of some really great ideas to work into my community, so we will see how it goes!

This monkey and several others got out of their cage (the baboon in the back ground was pretty pissed)  The worker put peanuts in our hair so the monkeys would pick them  out of our hair. 

I love animals

30/11/11
So as most of you know, I am an animal lover. Well what could be better for an animal lover than awesome african animals!? On my way to training, while riding in the shuttle, I saw many zebras, baboons, antelope and gazelle! Then to top it off, at the hotel we are staying at there are monkeys everywhere! The just hang out on the roof tops! Today at lunch they were eyeing us and our food, we were pretty much face to face. It was so awesome however monkeys tend to bite, so it was a little scary. But again, it's just so cool being able to see these animals not in cages in the zoo.
Today we visited a small company that makes water filters. Earlier I wrote that I use PUR, a chemical to treat my drinking water. Well this company makes clay pots that clean the water as it filters through the pores! It was really neat seeing each step in the process of how each one is made, tested, and packed to ship. I am considering buying one, I just have to figure out how to take it back to site, traveling with more than a bag here is a little difficult. I also will try to take pictures if I go back. Ben... if you're reading this, imagine a huge ceramics studio with 4 huge kilns that hold 190 pots each! Pretty amazing!