day ninety three

This week has involved many life lessons, some funny and others harsh... let me share with you.

Firstly, I learnt that whilst there might be stima (electricity), it is not always strong enough to power the appliances. From Saturday afternoon until even now, the electricity has been waning between enough to recharge your phone to absolutely nothing... either situation the power was not strong enough to power the water heater in my shower. Meaning that for about 10 days I didn't wash my hair. Yes, I washed my body, don't go thinking I'm a disgusting smelly mzungu, but I struggled to wash my hair using a bucket. The lesson learnt here was that baby powder and hairspray are best friends to my blonde hair, with some people even commenting that my hair looks better in this state of unwashed. Yeah no, I am not willingly going to not wash my hair for that long again... my scalp was super itchy. 

my hair at about day five of not being washed...

Secondly, I have learnt that unless you have knowledge in ark building, make sure you are somewhere safe and dry when the rains come. This week I was coming back from the matatu stage walking towards home when the rains started... actually I wouldn't call them rains, I'd call it buckets of water being poured on me. I have only ever been that soaked once before, on the Gold Coast when there was a tropical storm coming in and we were stuck at that shopping centre that is outdoors... anyway, I was drenched all the way through, and my poor shoes took two days to dry out. Umbrellas don't do a thing when the rain is like that. 

Thirdly, I have learnt that if you are tough and speak in Kiswahili, then the mzungu price disappears. Three or four times this week I've turned around and said "Sitalipa bei ya mzungu"(I'm not paying mzungu price) and argue back the price with my limited knowledge of numbers and hazaah, the price melts away and becomes more reasonable. For example, this morning we had to take the car to be fixed as the window had come off the track. I know that the price should be 200Ksh, because my host brother had it fixed previously at that price. However, at the completion of the work, the fundi tried to charge me 350Ksh... ha! Using my ever growing Kiswahili knowledge, I basically told him to get real and go away, only paid him 200Ksh, and drove off. Mwah ha ha ha.

Fourthly, I learnt that I am addicted to my mobile phone and feel like I'm dead without it. Unfortunately I dropped my phone one too many times and the colour leaked out... it started with a black spot in one corner which slowly moved across the screen until I could no longer see anything. The glass is fine and the touch-screen still works but I couldn't see anything... waaaaaah. I didn't have whatsapp for 24 hours and I felt so out of touch with the world. I have borrowed R's second phone so I have contact with the outside world, but I don't have everyone's numbers so don't feel mad if I haven't gotten a hold of you.

Finally, I learnt that I need to grow thicker skin, become deaf to gossip, and be slower to trust. Maybe I've been sheltered or maybe it's the culture, I don't know, but this week has been harsh. I don't want to get into specifics because it's not important, but it's been a good lesson.

Yeah, some of the names for the "share a coke" campaign here in Kenya are super weird...