Hujambo!

I’m finally settled in Nairobi. Last night was the first night sleeping in my new place. I’m now located in Westlands, one of Nairobi’s ritzy suburbs. The complex is very secure, but pretty secluded. That means it’s very quiet! It’s a nice place, a three bedroom apartment with a huge sitting area, kitchen, and several balconies. The apartment is located on Wayaki Way, just past Sarit Centre in Westlands. That means there’s no traffic jam in the mornings, and it’s just a fifteen minute matatu ride up the road. It’s about 15 minutes the other direction if I want to go to downtown Nairobi. Not bad!

I don’t own much stuff here in Kenya, mostly clothes, but moving was still kinda lame. It took me three separate trips, I guess it’s because I only have two medium-size bags. I brought a buddy from Tala with me for the last trip. The room I’m renting has a bed, cabinets, and a bathroom with a shower, one of the bonuses of paying a bit more per month here since I might not be staying after December. All I really had to buy were those blue curtains hanging over the window. My roommate likes having parties, and I’m getting old, so they’ll be handy if I want to be a party pooper and go to sleep early and not worry about people peeping in the window!
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Kenya is like a music factory, and it’s not just quantity: there is a diverse range of quality music in this country! Gospel, reggae, rap, you name it. I’m not sure if there is any local rock yet, but I’m sure it’s on the way. I’ve really come to appreciate Nairobi, though I don’t always understand it. The youth speak English and Swahili, but they’ve created an interesting hybrid, sheng, which evolves every single day. Sheng finds its way directly into Nairobi’s entertainment industry, so if you speak Swahili and you have no clue what the kids in Kenya are saying, you’re not alone!

Hii ngoma is “this music” and noma is sheng for “nice” or something like that. Basically, “this music is off the chains!” Also, if you haven’t seen Get Mziki.com‘s new music blog, you’re missing out! Enjoy these tracks from three of Nairobi’s most popular genge artists:

My two years as a VSO volunteer are coming to an end: I’ve accepted a position as a Linux system administrator with a Kenyan-based non-governmental organization, ILRI. I’ll be working with ILRI from August – December, and then we’ll see after that. I’m done with VSO. That means I’m done with teaching. I’m done with snakes and scorpions. I’m done with Tala. I’m moving to Nairobi. I will miss this place but maisha iendelee ( “life goes on”)!

I arrived in Kenya in October, 2007 and was supposed to stay until October, 2009, but I’ve changed my mind. I began looking around for jobs in April or so I think, and I had just about given up hope when ILRI contacted me in June. Before then I hadn’t heard anything from any of the 7 positions I had applied for. Nothing! Not even an automated “Thanks for your application” response. I guess the sheer number of applications makes those sort of courtesies impractical? Who knows.
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For the past year and a half I’ve been working as a teacher at Holy Rosary College in Tala, Kenya. It has been a great experience but it was a bit nerve racking at first because I wasn’t prepared to be teaching classes. Over my time as a volunteer at the college I’ve taught five different units, for each of which I prepared my own course material. In the community-oriented spirit of open source I’ve decided to post my course notes online.

Unless otherwise noted, these fall under the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike license. In a nutshell, you’re free to use them but…

• don’t forget to tell people you borrowed from me!
• no profiteering!
• you can share your additions as long as you use the same license!

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I know I haven’t written about cooking recently, but tonight I discovered something delicious and comforting from my past: rice milk. I used to eat it all the time when I was a kid. Take a bowl of white rice, pour some warm milk over it, add a pinch of sugar and cinnamon, and voila! I guess it’s a popular dish worldwide. It’s eaten everywhere from Norway to Malaysia, so there are plenty of variations. I guess the name is a bit misleading and only refers to one variety of this sweet dish. My version isn’t a pudding or purée, just rice sitting in a bowl of warm milk!

I remember eating this on family camping trips when I was a kid. More recently, I remember requesting warm milk for my rice when eating at the dining hall during my first year at Chico State University (2002-2003). It’s great when you have some left over rice and you want a sweet snack in the morning, especially if it’s cold outside (or if you’re just feeling lazy). On a side note, I had some German friends over recently and they mentioned that it’s a popular dish in Germany.

I know the people in Tala think I’m a Jew/Israelite, but maybe I’m German after all?