Kenya

Food, Kenya

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 She looked a bit puzzled so I reassured her that I had withdrawn money, but that the machine was working slowly.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.

Animals, Kenya

Ugh! This morning I was rudely awakened by a big, stupid bird making a racket on my roof. I looked around the web and apparently it’s a Pied Crow, by the way. I have a roof made of aluminum and these stupid birds love to party up there. They are neither beautiful to look at nor lovely to listen to. They are only annoying as hell. I don’t know what kind of dance moves he was working on this morning, but I was just trying to catch some last Zs before work and the noise was so loud. I jumped out of bed yelling all sorts of bad words, rushing to see if I could catch a peek at what was going on. Unfortunately, by the time I opened the door he had heard me and flown away.

This is not the first time. They even go collecting things from my compost pit and take them up there to hang out and eat a nice meal. One time I heard something rolling down the roof, so I ran outside just in time to see an egg shell hit the ground (a chicken egg shell I had thrown, not like “awww, poor baby crow never had a chance…”). What the hell? Anyways, other favorite moves of theirs are dive bombs; they just get a lot of speed and land on the roof with everything they’ve got. Whaaaaam! Ahhh!! And it always happens at the worst time (like when you just want FIVE more minutes of sleep).
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Kenya, Miscellaneous

I was walking around in Tala’s market today with a buddy when some old mlevi (“drunkard”) with a guitar came up to me and started strumming and saying some crazy things. Then, all of the sudden, he mentioned something about La Bamba. The funny thing was, I recognized the beat, and it was right on. I waited a few seconds and then started singing, “Para bailar la bamba… para bailar la bamba… se necessita una poca de gracia.” To my amazement this guy instantly started singing along with me. He may have even known more of the lyrics than me!

The guy was even wearing a Sea World hat that said “Whale Trainer,” hhahahaah! That, and the fact that Despised Icon released some studio clips from the production of their new album, made my day today.