In The Hood

Well some sisters had told me about this one place in town where all the vendors get their stuff from. Directly from the ships that come in from the UK and States. And so the clothes are super cheap. 2nd hand of course but still veRy good!

So me and Sandra were excited to join the friends who were going today. They told us to dress down not to bring our phones and not to wear jewelry.

When we arrived into that area of town it was such a drastic change of environment. It was unimaginable the kind of conditions these people live in. The roads were so dark and muddy and the buildings very run down. That area is where most of the refugees from Somalia all live.

We parked at the offices where one of the brothers works. He is a dentist, and apparently Somalians like the Chinese, and he is so he has one of his offices right smack dab in the middle of that place.

He had one of his workers take us around. When we were walking it was such an interesting experience. You probably have seen on tv the markets in china Thai land or India where there are bags and bags of spices on the streets for sale. It looked just like that but really run down. They had everything from henna to wood and even rocks for sale!

There was a man making brooms. It was just a really neat thing to see. It reminded me of when I was in Mexico, all the shops of clothes and material.

Well me and Sandra we're disappointed to find out that the shops we went to were actually whole sale vendors! All new stuff. Lol

It was a Lil funny because the local friends were there wanting to buy new stuff for 400 shillings for clothes which is a really good price, and here these 2 mzunguz Sandra and i were wanting to pay like 20 or 30shillings for used clothing!
We went to a different place!

But all in all it was a great experience! Way cheaper than the stores. Its just hard paying 800 shillings for a dress when I can bargan at toy market for 200!!!!

Well we had lost half of the group by the end of the day. Good thing the tour man was with us! He was telling us about the culture and giving us such a good tour. There was so much to see. Lots of nice perfume bottles form India. He said the local Somalian dish is rice and pasta.

Oh, here you see a wild man every now n then yelling in the streets some random bible text. Well there was this older man doing just that, and when Sandra passed by he said "you , woman every head of woman is man." then kept rambling on about how she should have a head covering. There all the women except the Africans had a head covering.

When we got back to our cars we stopped in to see the brother. He has just one room so we all sat inside. While we were waiting for the other friends to come back I was telling him that I was worried about my teeth because I haven't been able to find my retainer! Then he told me he would make me one! So I just got on the chair while everyone watched and he made impressions of my teeth. They will be done tomorrow ! Yay! Random huh?

Anyway that was a good and long day. I would love to take yal there just to get the experience. The brothers said that most of the people who live in kenya have never even seen that part of town.

On a different subject, the other day I went upstairs to introduce myself to our neighbors, do you remember I had told you I met a man from TX? Well I wanted to meet his wife and give her my card. I saw that she was cooking and I said , where did you get those fried onions!!!!!

Well they had just got back from visiting ft worth and brought back a bunch of food! She showed me all the corn tortillas in her freezer! I was so jealous cus I been craving flautas!

I told her that I been wanting to learn how to make them from scratch so she loaned me her tortilla maker thing. I went home and attempted to but it didn't work out too well. They don't have the yellow corn meal here. I made too much dough so I had no choice but to finish making these gross half corn half flour wanna be tortillas. :(

Then I thought to myself 'why don't I try making chips!' So I cut them all up and put them in the oven. I had just happen to make salsa verde the day before so I thought what the hec i may as well try it!

Mean time, since I had a mess everywhere I thought to make doughnuts! But like the old fashion ones. I mixed flour eggs a Lil water and sugar and made small doughnuts. I fried them like my grandma use to do, and then put sugar and cinnamon on them! The first batch wasn't cooked right in the middle but th 2nd ones came out good.

Then I remembered about the chips in the oven. I almost broke my teeth trying to bite one. Oh well... Thank goodness I'm the only one who eats that kind of stuff in this house. :)

Last night we forgot to buy bread, so like a wife in ancient times I went into the kitchen and made some myself! I mixed flour milk eggs and the left over sugar and cinnamon and made swirls. Then layed them on the tray and put sugar and butter. Everyone loved them!!!!! I'm so proud of myself!!!!!!! They really were good even the day after. :)

Those are some of the things I do to keep myself occupied.

Oh one more thing I found to be kinda funny, you know in TX you sometimes see the Mexican men standing around the corner waiting for job opportunitys?
Well here instead of men, you see a bunch of women with their apron on and scarf of the head sitting around waiting for someone who is looking for a house help. :)

Ok well I gotta rest now, have early service Kesho! Tomorrow!

Till next time!

Love drea
Aka nyagothe! :)
(very common not so very pretty kikuyu name I was given by an African Sis who I now call. Josefina Petra Maria!!)

written by  africandre on April 5, 2010 from Nairobi West, Kenya
from the travel blog: Nairobi
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