the first (of probably many) about food

A number of somewhat unrelated thoughts on food in Kenya:

1. At Mamma Mia’s, a pizza place in town, the question was: what exactly is the dried, black things on the pizza? Dried fruit? Olives? Goat?  Turns out the answer is incredibly well-cooked lamb.

2. Chapati (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chapati) is incredibly delicious.

3. Sweets are not very sweet.  Kenyans seem to choose to put a lot of sugar into their tea instead of their baked goods (the only exception so far is the chocolate muffins at Tuskys).

4. Things often taste just sort of Kenya.  Not bad, but just something slightly weird — for instance, I didn’t realize ketchup would ever have such a slightly bizarre after taste.

5. You can buy cheese here.  According to the Lonely Planet, that is the only reason to come to Eldoret.  In actuality, you can buy things that somewhat resemble cheese (solid, likely milk based) and proper cheese (only gouda though) from a creamery in town.  That said, I would really love really sharp cheddar cheese on a cracker.  I think I lived in New England for too many years.

6. I accidentally bought about 20 pounds of potatoes for about $1.75.  I swear I thought the bucket was smaller.

I thought Africa was warm?

Yet apparently it will still hail here.

Rift Valley Music Festival

Last weekend, we went to the Rift Valley Music Festival (http://riftvalleyfestival.co.uk/).  This is where apparently all of the ex-pats in Kenya were over the weekend.  Best quote of the evening said by one of the performers: 

“The well intentioned ex-pat is a slave to many things, but he is not to the rhythm”

Highlights included Mookomba (an amazing band from Zimbabwe http://www.mokoomba.com/), Tusker, and going to the Nairobi Java House

Things that left much to be desired: Finnish rappers (rapping in Finnish) — the only words I could make out were Ikea and Swedish meatballs (sorry, I don’t have any Finnish references).

walking home is always more exciting

when there is flash flooding

… I am starting to understand the concept of a ‘rainy season’

Cycling in Iten

My first weekend in Eldoret, I went to Iten to go on a cycling ride.  Iten is home to Kenyan training facilities for runners where the elite and aspiring run on the same dirt paths (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/02/sports/iten-a-kenyan-town-made-for-marathoners.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0).  Located in the Rift Valley Province, between Eldoret and Kabarnet, the town is mainly supported by the running facilities and tourists who want to see the ‘Home of Champions’.  

I went, mostly because it is quite beautiful.  Our guides for the (mostly downhill) ride were Vincent and his brother (shown in the photo).  Vincent runs a program to bring kids to Iten from Kibera, provide them with fellowships to go to boarding school, and train them to become elite athletes (http://www.globalgiving.org/projects/educate-20-kenyan-youth-runners-from-kibera-slums/).  [Also if you are ever in Eldoret, he is the person you should ask about how to buy brightly colored running shoes.] Right now, 16 students are living in Iten and 3 are training for Rio.  If Vincent’s recruits are unable to run competitively, then he trains them to manage athletes or NGOs. Qualifying for the Kenyan team is incredibly difficult in track events because of the still competition within Kenya.  For example in 2012, 29 of the top 30 marathon times were by Kenyans.  

Hello world

My initial intentions are to update this blog (via photos of giraffes, elephants, and black rhinos) about my time in Kenya (more realistically photos of my desk and code running).

Likely I will forget that I should be updating here and post things to Facebook, although if I remember to write anything it will probably sound like this: http://www.granta.com/Archive/92/How-to-Write-about-Africa/Page-1

*blog name complements of Yonatan