Rainy weekend in Tala

This weekend was awesome! The rain and the mud were pretty lame, but a few of our friends came from Nairobi to visit us. I suppose I should get used to the weather because one of the rainy seasons is coming soon; maybe I’ll even buy some “gum boots.” This wet dirt road leads from the college to the highway, which runs through Tala and eventually to Kangundo a few kilometers down the road. As we were waiting for a matatu (like a taxi) by the highway I stopped to take a picture with this cow. Yeah, I know I’m not very close to him, but he had big horns and I’ve seen too many videos of stupid tourists getting eaten by lions and stomped by elephants. No thank you! We spent Saturday in a Nairobi suburb where one student wanted us to meet her family, see her neighborhood, and eat some African food.

After our friends left on Sunday morning I spent some time in my shamba (farm) planting a few rows of corn. I have been joking with all my co-workers that I’m going to have “mahindi kubua” (big/tall corn), so it’s about time I actually planted some. Sister Euphemia thought it was strange I was working on a Sunday (oops!) but I wanted to get the seeds in the ground as soon as possible before the rains come. If I’m lucky I will have more food than I know what to do with come February! Last week I was in the Sister’s office and it began raining and she cracked up when I started getting excited. I was happy because it hadn’t rained in nearly a week and my poor vegetables were looking pretty sad! Now I understand what it must have felt like for early humans and tribal peoples when the rains finally come after a dry season. I have a hunch most people from “developing” countries who are closer to their food production share these feelings (the Native American “rain dance” comes to mind). It’s unfortunate to me that in the “developed” West, save farmers and their families, people know very little of how food gets to their table. I guess that’s capitalism and diversification of labor in a nutshell, and I wonder where Africa is headed.

Finally, if Keyzer, Borofka, or Mario are reading: Despised Icon is so sweet! The only music I brought with me is Despised Icon and Misericordiam. If you guys want to send me some CDs full of the latest death metal and hardcore MP3s, I would be really into that. Imagine how productive I could be in my farm if I have some good music to rock out to! I’ve also been reading a lot lately: I finished Killing Rage (about the provisional Irish Republican Army) and now I’m onto Huckleberry Finn (Mark Twain is hilarious!).