...these are a few of my favourite things...

I'm back! I totally forgot I promised you an entry dedicated to road side sellers. They amused me with their determination and baffled me with their unending source of products. 

So, along the streets of Nairobi, and along the main highways out of the city you find people just walking down the middle of the road, or alongside the left hand side carrying all sorts of items that they are trying to sell to you, while you are stuck in traffic basically. It's amazing what you can buy from the comfort of your car seat.

I kept a list on my phone everytime I saw new things. I'm sure there were more, but in the week leading up to Christmas there was seasonal choice too, so not a totally accurate picture of year round wares.

So, from 30000ft as we fly across Asia to our Hong Kong stopover, I bring you: 

Taija's List of Roadside Shopping (who needs online!?)

In no particular order...I could have bought:

Sugar cane (which we did! I had to try it once)

Newspapers

Phone chargers for the car

Puppies (yes, real ones...so cute!)

Slices of watermelon (I'm taking slices of a whole...HUGE!)

Oranges

Cold water

Biscuits

Fire extinguishers

Mobile credit (known as airtime scratch cards)

Car floor mats

Car steering wheel covers

Sunglasses

World/Africa maps

Bras

Cookbooks (they tried to sell me a low-fat cookbook, rude!)

Bags of onions

Christmas decorations

Christmas trees (fake)

Lego houses (pre-built to save you time!)

Phew! What a choice! I learned quickly that when you see these guys it's best to wind up the window and don't make eye contact, especially if they see a white person! 

I'll admit, the puppies were tempting, but wouldn't have fit in my suitcase ;)

There you go. Roadside shopping. Not sure the idea will catch on in Oz?

What I've learned...

No song title for this post. I've had a shocking migraine all day so my brain can't think in lyrics!

We have come to the end of our time in Kenya, I am very ready to fly home tomorrow, though my hubby is a bit sad to be leaving his hometown. I'm trying to keep his spirits up with my wit, charm and my tea making skills...poor love.

I've really had a good month, and just as things are starting to feel like the 'norm' and less of a culture shock, it's time to pack up and go back to Aussie life. We have wedding gifts waiting to be opened at home, and I've got to make room in my wardrobe for all his clothes! The real test of married life is about to begin!

Anyway, as a bit of a tribute to my time here, I came up with 10 things I've learned this month. I'm sure I'd be able to come up with more if I had taken notes or didn't feel so sick today, but here they are!

1. Kenyans love news. They literally stop conversations to watch the 7pm Swahili news and then again at 9pm for the English news. 

2. A woman/wife/missus is often referred to as 'mama'. The gate guards for our residential area often say 'hello mama' to me when we come and go from the apartment. My husband refers to me as 'mama' when talking about me in Kiswahili. It doesn't mean I'm a mother.

3. I still get a little frustrated when we run late for others, or other run late for us..but it doesn't seem to bother Kenyans, as long as they know you're still coming. 1/2 hour late is on time.

4. Everyone has PAYG electricity, you buy tokens to top up your supply and a display keeps track of usage. (I know this has been circulated in Oz, but has never quite caught on with the masses)

5. Kenyan prayers are long. Like "i should have gone to the loo before we started" long. Even longer when you don't understand the language. Still, it has been lovely having friends and relatives wanting to pray with us before we leave their house etc.

6. Shopping centres have security gates like at the airport that you have to walk through. The irony is, they collect your bag in a basket, but there is no scanner to make sure your not carrying a weapon in your bag..they often just asked you to open it. Sometimes instead of gates they have those scanning wands.

7. Sprite isn't the same as lemonade, and Coke is incredibly popular.

8. Some shopping centre toilets have a toilet paper dispenser by the sinks, not in each cubicle. I got caught out once (thankfully I had tissues!) but learned to grab the paper first on subsequent visits haha.

9. Speed bumps are rarely sign posted and rarely have any sort of markings on them (occasionally white lines that have faded). Going at 60kph in the dark, then spotting a bump just before you reach it, is a good way to test seatbelts!

10. The CBD has traffic lights, but if there is no police officer around to watch traffic, most people just ignore the red lights... And the roundabouts in the city have traffic lights that stop you half way around the roundabout. So confusing.

It's coming to bedtime, most of the packing is done but we have a few items drying on the line outside to remember in the morning. Also, I realised how much I had bought as souvenirs and gifts today because they pretty much filled my entire suitcase! Luckily hubbys is roomy and can fit some of my leftover clothes in. We get 30kg each and on the way here we only had around 15-17kg each so even though the bags look full, I'm pretty confident we haven't added an extra 15 kg each even with buying 5kg of maize meal and sour porridge flour!

If I don't get time for a final post tomorrow or during stopovers, consider this my farewell from Kenya. I've loved the people I've met, I hope to develop really good friendships with them. I've grown really fond of my inlaws and will miss some of the quirks of this place. 

I love my husband more now that I've seen where he's come from, and why he has the plans and ideas that he has. I love his family loyalty and his giving nature. I like Kenya. I will definitely return. I'm not in love with Kenya yet, but I think our relationship can only grow stronger from here onwards.

I can't wait to sleep in my own bed again :) 

Asante sana for following my adventures!

Good tidings we bring, to you and your kin...

Happy New Year! Officially the start of 2016 today, so what better way to spend it than updating this blog haha! I wanted to cover how we spent Christmas and the final week of 2015.

First off, Christmas. Christmas Eve was spent visiting one of E's cousins and his wife, they made us a nice rice dish lunch- it was tasty, but I couldn't finish it. I struggle to stomach that much rice as I've mentioned before but it always makes me feel bad that I can never finish the food they give me, especially when I know they can't afford much more. Still, it was a nice visit and I can tick two more rellies off the list.

In the evening we visited E's oldest nephew, his partner and their new 3-week baby. This nephew is quite close in age to his uncle because of the age gap between my inlaws children is 15 years between first and last born. On the same property, lives this nephews brother, paternal grandparents and aunt/uncles and cousins. Confusing as it is, E refers to this side of the family as his in-laws even though that's a broad connection through his sister (deceased). 

We had chai and biscuits with them and said hello to all that side of the family and then went home.

Christmas Day we slept in! Nice! I made pancakes and eventually we picked up mum, dad and little nephew to take them out for lunch, our treat. It was interesting to see my inlaws at a more westernised cafe- they weren't sure what to eat or how to choose but it went down well and everyone enjoyed it. We got a puncture on the way back to their place, so that delayed our return as we were looking for a place to get a new tyre. We stayed at their house until evening, handed out the presents we bought for them, and then mum sent us home with a stack of chapatis and some arrowroot for later. Overall a pleasant day with family, quiet and chilled and it didn't rain at all like predicted! 

Boxing Day, we made a trip over to another aunties house, Aunty Mary. She made the most delicious pancakes. I don't know the secret but they were thin, yet not too thin; crispy on the edges but soft in the middle; sweet enough not to need toppings and oh so moreish. I had three, but I could easily have eaten the whole plate. Ok maybe not the whole plate, but you get the idea. I tried recreating them on Monday but still didn't quite get it right.

The next few days we had mostly to ourselves, visited the elephant orphanage near the city and babysat little nephew. We caught up with a couple more friends for a drink and had some time to relax and watch some tv. The weather has been amazing this past week or so, minimal rain and not as humid as when I first arrived so that's been really nice.

That brings us to NYE, which was quite relaxed, drinks with friends and then watching the concerts broadcasted on tv until midnight. We ate pizza and chocolate and went to bed around 1am (well I did anyway!) today, January 1, we've spent the afternoon with mum and dad, eating nyama choma and drinking chai. My father in law told me I'm on my way to being Kenyan, and that I'll know I've truly transitioned when the bones on my plate are completely clean. 

I'm not sure my teeth are quite ready for that challenge, but who knows!