Oddities of Kenya

so I thought I would put together a list of some odd things down here in Kenya... not sure if I have time to hit them all but Ill start cause I need to get to work soon

1) Garbage- there is literally garbage everywhere... on the roads in the yards on the lawn even at the beach and in the water.... make shift dumps happen all over the place and then dump truck come and get the garbage loaded until its spilling over and then drive away and the stuff on top blows back onto the street... efficient!
at home there isnt really a garbage inside so you just take whatever you have and throw it out the window......

2) Time of day- the time of day can basically be measured by the sun or the constant sound of call to prayer.... the sun rises and sets at the same time every day of the year give or tak like 2 minutes... and every day at 5am 4pm 6pm 8pm and 10pm call to prayer takes place.... which sounds like chanting over a loud speaker often coming from mutiple directions becaue there are so many mosques... michelle was unsure of the time of day the other afternoon and asked if that was call to prayer we were hearing or a cow hahahaha terrible!!

3) Cat Fights- it is a common occurance to wake up at night to the sound of cats fighting... there are cats everywhere mostly malnourished and very skinny (its sad and we dont really pet them cause they are very dirty)

4) Electric shock- everything here has a charge... we are sure why... like the faucets in the shower if you hold on to them for more than a breif second you get electrocuted haha same with the computer screens... its alittle odd

5) Goats- goats roam freely here... we asked mike the other day how people keep track of them, whether they brand them or tag them or what... he explained that people put magical protection on them so they are free to wander where they want without being taken... me and michelle exchanged confused looks over this!

6) Bugs- there are bugs everywhere literally... there is a little trail of bugs continually moving through our room... not sure where they are going but they seem pretty content to stick to themselves so we dont bother them... its also common t be eating dinner and have a lizard run up the wall bhind you!

7) fire fighters- so the big news story right now is that one of the nakumats in nairobi burned down (its like a superstore) and killed 30 some people.... ben was explaining to us that people dont like fire fighters because often they will get called and then arrive on the scene and realize that they have forgotten the water... we clarifiec whether they had forgotten it or they didnt have any water... ben reassured us they usually just forget.... hmm comforting!

8) matatus- matatus are like taxis but take the form of the public transit here so they are cheap and everyone rides them, they stuff them soo full its insane you often wonder whos sweat is running down ur arm.. yum... they also continuously fight over customers... two matatu drivers actually scrapped the other day as they tried to persuad us into either of their vehicles!

9) Water and electricty- our house is equiped with both but often the power goes out.. as does the water... atthe moment we have no water... ugh

10) cell phones- everyone has a cell phone here and there is little to no ettiquet involved... in the middle of buisness meetings peoples phones ring and they just answer them as if its no big deal... our presenter the other day answered her phone mid presentation... haha oh my!

ok well that is all the time I have for today... it was raining when we arrived its back to sun now... joy another hot one im sure...!!

ok miss you all talk soon!