Catching up with Life by the Slice (pt 1)

We spent our first month and a half in Kenya (relatively) off of social media, making an effort to focus on our family’s transition. That was a very fruitful time for us, allowing us to be extra in the present during a very critical time for us. But it has now been a while since we have been able to share with everyone, and there is MUCH to share. So we figured we would piecemeal everything into little “slices of life”, a veritable smorgasbord of slices for you!

This first batch in part 1 was shared in installments on facebook. But then I got tired of Facebooking. So my 2nd post will be all the leftover (“mabaki” in Kiswahili) slices that didn’t make it to social media. Here goes!

Nakuru trip

We took a 3.5 hour road trip to the city of Nakuru to get our “Alien Card” registration all set up and ready to rock. We needed passport-style pictures taken, so we got them done on the spot!

Taco Tuesdays

One delicious food that appears quite often in Kenya is a type of bread called “chapati”, adopted from a fellow former British colony, India. These flat breads are a little more fried than your typical tortilla, but they work just as well, making every burrito a little more like a chalupa. They have become somewhat of a Tuesday tradition for our family now. Combine it with guacamole made from avocados that fell off the tree about 20 yards from our house, and we have ourselves a winner of a meal.

Also, it was a small but meaningful surprise to find out that Kenyan grocery stores offer a significant amount of hot sauce options. I am currently experimenting with a couple of them, and things are quite promising!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chapati

Wall o’ Ducks

We have had our fair share of "yays and yucks" this past month and a half. Thus far we have kept up with the habit of sharing them together at dinner, writing them down, posting them up, and lifting them up to God in prayer saying "Wow God" and "Father help!" for yays and yucks respectively. This is what the wall by the dining table looked like before we collected the post-its in a book, making space for the next batch.

Chameleon

Apparently local folks here do not look favorably upon the local reptiles. This makes sense with some of the snakes around here. We still have not seen one, but I am not looking forward to any introductions. HOWEVER, they are also not too wild about the chameleons that hang out on the bushes surrounding the houses. Wazungu children didn’t get the memo, and they LOVE chameleons.

Regarding “Mzungu / wazungu”

Swahili is an interesting language that changes the meaning of words frequently with heavy use of prefix manipulation. Pluralizing a word happens on the front end. A good example of this is the word for “white person”, literally translated to “one who wanders around”. Mzungu is its singular noun form. A group of white wanderers becomes “wazungu”.

Swahili studies

We are now in our 4th week of full-time language study. We have individual tutoring sessions 5 days a week with a Kenyan tutor named Carol. She does a great job meeting each of us where we are at, and accommodating whatever questions/requests we have, and offering us valuable insights into Kenyan and Kipsigis culture. It has been a lot of work and a LOT of vocabulary, but we are certainly seeing some encouraging progress.

Here is a time-lapse of my 3-hour afternoon tutoring session, with a chai break in the middle.

Extra note: the gazebo-like porch we meet under has a special kipsigis name, "kipagenge" which roughly means "unity". A nice name for a gathering place.

Kipsigis Circumcision ceremony

One Saturday I got to witness an outdoor ceremony celebrating the “initiation” of 4 young Kipsigis boys into manhood. This happens around their early teenage years, when traditionally these men are circumcised. The 30 days that follow the procedure are something like a mentorship retreat, where the initiates are instructed by a group of elder family and friends in what it is to be strong, responsible, Godly men for their future families.

The party/ceremony is the culmination of the 30 day process. It features quite a bit of choreographed dances by the men. The video below shows the young men and their mentors stepping in time together. Quite educational and entertaining!

Regarding parties

If you are ever invited to a wedding, party, or ceremony of any kind, you should get yourself acquainted with the Kalenjin party song of 2020, “Very Nice Tumdo”. It will be played at least once during the festivity. And even if you are not invited, you will hear this song echoing off the hills. The speakers are booming at these parties.

Might as well practice your dance moves now.

Be sure to check out part 2 as well!