Note: New photos posted!
Already I am saying goodbye to my host family tomorrow: Mama Rose, Baba Gabriel, my host-brother Dennis, and Househelp Anna. I'll be moving out to live in my own place, which I'm excited and sad about. As a thank you gift I got them a solar-powered lantern since the power goes out every night and everyone is always so shocked and dismayed each time. I also printed some photos and put them in an cheesy "Sweet Memories" album I found in the market. They absolutely love photos since most of the time they only have one or two from their childhood.
My young host-brother, Ian, left a couple weeks ago for boarding school. On his last day he told his parents it was his birthday and no one had remembered. I went to the market to haggle for a soccer ball since he's obsessed with futbol (got it half price yeaaah! Haggling is fun) I came back and put it in a bag and left it on the living room table. I told him I had a present and his eyes lit up. When he saw the ball, he had the big smile, said "Asante" (thank you) and walked away with it. I didn't know if he was just being polite or not. Later, he was speaking in swahili to his mother, and she laughed that he all day he has been saying "God has answered my prayers! I have been wanting a soccer ball. This is the only birthday that I have felt happy!" Good, well I'm glad he liked it then.
My host-sister also left to go back to boarding school so I made her a watercolor painting of Mexico since she wants to go there one day. She taught me a little about water color, and we tried doing some sunsets since her brother, Denno, insisted that there are no sunsets in Kenya. In return for the painting, she gave me the first piece of jewelry she ever made, which is carved from coconut! (see pics)
The other day I met a young boy named Zachia, 4 years old. He was wandering the house curiously following me from a distance. He came with his slightly older brother Owen (maybe 9 years old), who never smiled at me. When I gave him a piece of gum he snatched it and turned to the tv. After a few days of them being scared of me, eventually Zachia started opening up and I lent him my sunglasses and watch to wear for a while since he kept pointing at them. And when those sunglasses came on, he suddenly morphed into a 4-year old gangsta, strutting and dancing around the house to the rap music videos playing on tv. This cracked me up and finally I saw Owen laugh too, score! Owen became a sweetie helping to clean the mess that Zachia kept making. After playing many games around the house, his family members started coming over one by one to coax Zachia into leaving. He kept refusing, which they thought was hysterical since he doesn't usually care for "mzungus" (the white folks). Then another would come, try, and fail. Eventually the entire family came for an intervention. He ate dinner pouting on the floor as his family stood around him in a circle. And finally they got him to leave after a lot of bribing.
So I'm all grown up and moving out of my host-parents place into one of my own like a big girl. I'm not the best cook so I'm wondering how making meals for myself will go. However, I'm determined to learn how to cook most of the Kenyan foods, which means I'll know how to cook more Kenyan food than American food when I come back. It's a start!
Already I am saying goodbye to my host family tomorrow: Mama Rose, Baba Gabriel, my host-brother Dennis, and Househelp Anna. I'll be moving out to live in my own place, which I'm excited and sad about. As a thank you gift I got them a solar-powered lantern since the power goes out every night and everyone is always so shocked and dismayed each time. I also printed some photos and put them in an cheesy "Sweet Memories" album I found in the market. They absolutely love photos since most of the time they only have one or two from their childhood.
My young host-brother, Ian, left a couple weeks ago for boarding school. On his last day he told his parents it was his birthday and no one had remembered. I went to the market to haggle for a soccer ball since he's obsessed with futbol (got it half price yeaaah! Haggling is fun) I came back and put it in a bag and left it on the living room table. I told him I had a present and his eyes lit up. When he saw the ball, he had the big smile, said "Asante" (thank you) and walked away with it. I didn't know if he was just being polite or not. Later, he was speaking in swahili to his mother, and she laughed that he all day he has been saying "God has answered my prayers! I have been wanting a soccer ball. This is the only birthday that I have felt happy!" Good, well I'm glad he liked it then.
My host-sister also left to go back to boarding school so I made her a watercolor painting of Mexico since she wants to go there one day. She taught me a little about water color, and we tried doing some sunsets since her brother, Denno, insisted that there are no sunsets in Kenya. In return for the painting, she gave me the first piece of jewelry she ever made, which is carved from coconut! (see pics)
The other day I met a young boy named Zachia, 4 years old. He was wandering the house curiously following me from a distance. He came with his slightly older brother Owen (maybe 9 years old), who never smiled at me. When I gave him a piece of gum he snatched it and turned to the tv. After a few days of them being scared of me, eventually Zachia started opening up and I lent him my sunglasses and watch to wear for a while since he kept pointing at them. And when those sunglasses came on, he suddenly morphed into a 4-year old gangsta, strutting and dancing around the house to the rap music videos playing on tv. This cracked me up and finally I saw Owen laugh too, score! Owen became a sweetie helping to clean the mess that Zachia kept making. After playing many games around the house, his family members started coming over one by one to coax Zachia into leaving. He kept refusing, which they thought was hysterical since he doesn't usually care for "mzungus" (the white folks). Then another would come, try, and fail. Eventually the entire family came for an intervention. He ate dinner pouting on the floor as his family stood around him in a circle. And finally they got him to leave after a lot of bribing.
So I'm all grown up and moving out of my host-parents place into one of my own like a big girl. I'm not the best cook so I'm wondering how making meals for myself will go. However, I'm determined to learn how to cook most of the Kenyan foods, which means I'll know how to cook more Kenyan food than American food when I come back. It's a start!
2 comments:
Good luck on your move and living on your own!! Hopefully you can cook us some Kenyan food when you're back home in Rancho :) Hope everything is going well in Kenya. Your story about the soccer ball was so sweet :) Yeah, in Rwanda they called the foreigners Mzungos too!! Haha..hope your projects go well.
Your blogs are fun to read. It's amazing how sunglasses can change a personality. It's something to hide behind. Good job adjusting to new people and new experiences.
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