Hujambo!

Haha, actually, computer bugs suck, and even Linux crashes. Anyways, the ATM in Tala had this error on the screen the other day when I was getting some money. It was working fine, just a little slower than normal. I even got a chance to practice Swahili with a mama (mama is a respectful word for a woman, pronounce it like in Spanish, with the accent on the second “a”). When I left the booth I tried to explain to her that it was broken, but only a bit, and that it was still working: imeharibika kidogo, lakini inafanya kazi. She looked a bit puzzled so I reassured her that I had withdrawn money, but that the machine was working slowly. She seemed relieved, so I hope it worked… I didn’t stick around to see if she was successful.

On a side note, I’m cooking some fried rice with enough cilantro to kill a horse. Just another Friday night alone in Tala… good thing I have Linux and death metal.

I posted a few days ago about making a “salad” for dinner in Tala. I found some new ingredients in the market and I’ve improved on my past attempt. I don’t know what I was thinking before, but I’ve got it down now. I decided that hot peppers and cilantro are not necessary, but I’ve added zucchini, bell pepper, and avocado! Tonight I used the following:

• Two small cucumbers, cubed
• One small zucchini, cubed
• Half a small onion, diced
• One medium-sized tomato, cubed
• One medium-sized avocado, cubed
• Two small carrots, diced
• One small green bell pepper, sliced

I just throw it all in a bowl and add a pinch of salt, mix, and let it sit for a few minutes… and voila! I only wish I hadn’t lent my ground black pepper to a buddy because I think that would be the ultimate addition. It’s delicious AND nutritious!

Sara has a book which has a funny caption on the front, “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” It’s Michael Pollan’s In Defense of Food. I never read it, but I think the the caption is catchy and probably true (duh?). Anyways, I’ve been enjoying eating a lot of vegetables lately. No cooking, no cleaning of dishes. I think it’s a no brainer…

I ate a bunch of crappy food today so I wasn’t looking forward to deciding what to eat for dinner. I got to thinking and figured I’d really like to have a nice salad. Well there’s no lettuce anywhere around Tala so I had to improvise a bit. I ended up just mixing cucumber, carrots, tomatoes, onions (kidogo tu!… “just a little”), cilantro, and some hot pepper (raw). The pepper was a little on the hot side, oops, but the cucumber was refreshing, and I’m sure the carrots are helping somehow too. Maybe vision? Other than that, I cooked a lot of fried rice a few weeks ago, and this week I was experimenting with beef stew since I had a really sweet one in Nairobi at Tash’s house over Easter weekend. I learned that beef gets very tender in a pressure cooker!

Pat came over today and we tried to bake brownies. I’ve tried it a few times before when Sara was here but we always missed some ingredients or had some other problems (oven doesn’t have degrees, only 1 -7!). The first batch was decent but I gave the second batch to the students because I wasn’t looking forward to eating OR cleaning that mess… I’m sure they loved all that chocolate and sugar, but that’s not a brownie, man! I’m getting a big discouraged because I’ve failed so many times. I even resorted to frying my cookie dough once because the pan was too big. I can get brownies in Nairobi at Java house, but it’s just not the same as a home-cooked Duncan Hines…

I just realized the other day that I only have eight months left here in Kenya. Not that I’m counting down, but because I arrived in October, 2007 I should be leaving in October, 2009 I guess. I haven’t decided if I will leave early or extend a bit. Since I came back from the evacuation after last year’s post-election violence I have steadily become a full-time lecturer at the college. That’s important to note because we will have a semester beginning in August/September or so, and if I leave in October I will leaving more-or-less in the middle of the semester. Not cool! So we’ll just have to play it by ear… whatever that means, haha.

I’m very used to life in Tala these days. I walk around like a local and it shows. When I walk into any of the cafes I can just make some small talk and then say, “Kama kawaida” (“like usual” in Swahili) to get my tea and chapati. Even my afternoon students know that after class I’ll either be going to eat chai/chapati or Kisumu ndogo. Kisumu ndogo, which means “small Kisumu” in Swahili, is a place in Tala where you can eat delicious fried fish. It comes in small pieces, served with ugali (corn meal staple food) and some kachumbari (kinda like salsa fresca). Tala’s a funny place, a few months ago I noticed a new place called Kisumu kubwa (big Kisumu), which serves whole fish. Kisumu, by the way, is a town in Western Kenya on Lake Victoria, and the people there are known to eat a lot of fish.
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