How Do People Procrastinate Around Here?

It does say "yet"... do you think it will arrive in time for the new season of Orange is the New Black?  No??  Ah, well...

What Have We Always Said Is the Most Important Thing?

Breakfast at Mazzoldi House offers generally predictable fare.  Bread, porridge, tea, maybe some hard-boiled eggs, occasionally some mandazi (best described as East African donut holes).  I tend to keep it simple (toast with butter and a mug of steaming hot water).  But this morning I noticed a new addition to the spread.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Kabalagala!

My first guess was that they were some kind of potato pancake, but Fr. Freddy and Fr. Mawa quickly corrected me.  Kabalagala is made from bananas and cassava flour.  They are simply delicious!  These were not served hot, but the outside was still reasonably crispy, and the flavor was surprisingly (though I probably should have called it) sweet and banana-y.  I have learned to be cautious when an African is telling me that something is very sweet (a word used to describe both fish eyes and the dreaded Dorian).  Call me jaded.  But these really were delightful!

I popped back into the kitchen to give my compliments to the chef, a young man named Thomas.  He told me that Fr. Mawa was the one who showed him how to make Kabalagala, since it comes from his home place in Uganda.  This is kind of the neat thing about dining at Mazzoldi House.  Even though it is in Kenya, the priests who live here are from all over East Africa, and they each bring their recipes from home to be incorporated into the menu.  You really get a sense of the variety of the tastes and flavors of this part of the world. 

Unfortunately, Thomas couldn't give me a more specific recipe than "You mash up sweet bananas and add some cassava flour and you cook them."  Looks like I'll have to keep coming back for more!

Also, "Kabalagala" is one of the most fun words to say ever!

To Waste or Waste Not

As I prepare to welcome the C&S7 (even shorter now), I am feeling very conscious of the fact that I will be the "expert" on the scene.  I am pretty comfortable with the role.  I mean, I've spent months here over the years, and I've been very inquisitive during those visits, in anticipation of being able to gently guide newcomers through this chaotic world.  I can fill out customs forms in my sleep.  I don't even flinch when a matatu is driving directly at me on the wrong side of the road.  I know the names of all the foods.  I don't get excited when I see Maasai herders driving their goats through town.*

I can handle myself.

Which means it's time for an ego check.  I got one at dinner this evening.  I was raised in a house where you don't get down from the dinner table until your plate is empty.  "Make it zero!" is a common expression at the family table.  And I have carried that with me to this day (occasionally at my waistline's expense).  It grates on me to leave food on my plate.  It seems wasteful, and I don't want to be a wasteful person.  I make an effort not to take more than I want (or more than I should have), and I almost always lick my plate clean.

I did this tonight (because the food here is flipping delicious!), crossed my fork and knife on my plate, and leaned back in my chair.  "You know, Jo, in Africa, when you eat everything on your plate, it means that you didn't get enough to eat," said my friend Fr. Felix.  I apologized and explained that it is difficult for me to stop eating delicious things, so I just keep eating until they're gone.  "But Jo," he countered, "you are in Africa, and it is our custom to always leave something on your plate if you are satisfied."  Well, I certainly am not one to flout the culture of a place I am visiting, and I am an eager student.  But still... it's so wasteful!  "Jo, nothing here is wasted.  Don't you care if the pigs get anything to eat?  If you eat all of your food, what are the pigs going to eat?"  Fair point, Fr. Felix.

I went up and got just a little bit more food in order to not finish it.  I am so African.

*Just kidding- that is totally always exciting, 100% of the time.

On the Ground

I have arrived safely in Kenya!  Two 8 hour flights, and on BOTH I had a window seat and an empty seat next to me.  Heavenly.  Also, Delta has really stepped up their in-flight entertainment system. Touch screens and USB ports to charge things and great movie selections.  (And yes, even though there were countless quality films and television shows to watch for free, I paid $2 to watch Six by Sondheim and it was totally worth it (If I get hard up for blog posts, I might post a lengthy essay on things I loved and hated about the documentary.).)  (And Inside Llewyn Davis was awesome.) 

 The Come & See Seven (which I have just decided to call them) arrive in just 4 days, so I have hit the ground running even more than normal.  I have a lengthy To-Do List to complete before they arrive, but I will endeavor not to neglect the blog.  I will almost certainly have more important things to share than what movies I watch on the flight (but The Wolf of Wall Street was... well... I didn't like it. I know why it is so polarizing, and I can understand why people would like it, but I didn't.).

Also, I might still be a little sleep deprived.  Gotta make sure that makes it onto the To-Do List.

Into the Wild Blue Yonder...

I woke up this morning at 6:30 without an alarm.
I keep checking the same lists over and over and over again.
I have been loading my iPod with tons of NPR podcasts.
I have been listening to "Africa" by Toto on repeat for about 24 hours.

Time to go to Africa, hon! 

I can't believe it's been almost 2 years since my last trip (I also can't believe that the last thing I wrote about was a Kenyan Reality TV Competition.  Woof.), but I am super excited about this trip.  5 days after I land in Kenya, I will be joined by 7 young adults for a 3 week Come & See Mission trip.  This is the dream, why I started working for the AJs in the first place, and what I have been working towards for 2 and a half years.  It was heartbreaking when I had to cancel the trip last year, but I have been feeling lately that this is how it was all supposed to happen. 

Since 5 of the 7 Come & See participants are medical students at Marian University College of Osteopathic Medicine (including my awesome sister Allie!), this trip will have a medical focus.  When the group arrives, we will spend our first week in Kenya at the Apostles of Jesus AIDS Ministry (AJAM) in Kiserian, Rift Valley.  Then we will drive to Tanzania for a few days of safari adventures (Ngorongoro Crater!), before flying to Uganda to work at the Queen of the Apostles Medical Center at Lima Farm in Nakaseke. 

It is going to be a pretty intense three weeks!

I am going to do my best to keep this blog up to date.  I'm also hoping to have some guest bloggers, so you can hear from the people with whom I am traveling.  Of course, as ever, all of this is contingent on decent internet access. 

Be well, dear readers.  The next time you hear from me, I'll be on East African time!

Tusker Fame Project 5

I never watch "reality" competition shows if I can help it. (I am still seething over what happened to Sabrina on DWTS all those years ago.  I can hold a grudge.)  That said, by Sunday night I still had not seen a single Olympic event and was hurtin' for some hard core competition, and this was the only option that remotely fit the bill.  Since I was already primed to be jumping on my feet and getting way too emotionally involved in the lives of people on television (WHY, KBC?!  WHY DON'T YOU HAVE 24 HOUR COVERAGE OF THE OLYMPICS!!!  I'M GOING CRAZY HERE!!!!!), it took about 3 seconds of the finale episode for me to start shouting obscenities at the television.

So...

I know that no one NOT in East Africa could possibly care, but here’s the deal:

1. Doreen sucks and in no world should she ever have gotten 2^nd place.  She probably shouldn't have been in the top 10.  She probably should restrict her singing to the shower.

2. Jackson rocks and probably should have won and DEFINITELY should have been in the top 2.

3. But if we’re all honest with ourselves, Ruth was always going to win this thing

Watch Out, Boys, She'll Chew You Up

Once upon a time, two lions terrorized the men constructing the Kenya-Uganda Railway through what is now Tsavo East/West National Parks.  (It may have been that then.  I didn't do real research for this.) According to my highly reliable sources, the lions were responsible for killing anywhere from 35 to 135 railway workers.  Apparently, the lions weren't killing people to eat, but just for the sake of killing them, which is always what one likes to hear about naturally fearsome predators.

I had heard about the man eaters from many people during my travels in Africa, so naturally I was delighted that the bus to Mombasa would take us right through the killing zone of 114 years ago.  Combine this with the bus company's decision to show the movie "Prey," and I was giddy with excitement (and laughter at that truly horrendous movie).  Unfortunately, I didn't see a single lion. Maybe I'll have more luck if I stay here next time, but that might just be tempting fate.