It is nice being in a country where orange and black don't automatically mean Halloween. When I go out in my school-inspired favourite combination of colours, I get no odd stares or children coming up to me asking "Trick or Treat," confused by my choice of clothing and thinking gleefully that somehow their favourite holiday for consuming mass amounts of candy has come early. Today, I am wearing all orange and black and no one has batted an eye. Indeed, orange and black is very popular here. Just on the way to work this morning, I spotted at least five people wearing completely Princeton Pride (orange and black) outfits. It was wonderful. Now, of course, they may not realize that they are repping for Princeton, but I acknowledge it for them.
In general, people dress very colourfully here. Even the women selling mangos on the street wear brightly coloured kangas, which are patterned lengths of fabric in all sorts of colours, from purple and yellow to electric green and orange and are tied around the waist and worn as long skirts. (I will put up pictures soon!) Every morning, driving to work, I go kanga shopping. I look out the window at all the women walking by, some with babies slung across their back with a kanga, some carrying baskets upon their heads, and I choose which kangas I like best. This weekend, I'm going to Kongawea, a open-air market in Mombasa which sells everything from watermelon to used shoes from America, to buy a kanga or two of my own.
P.S. Some of you may be wondering why I have adopted British spelling. My boss here is British and has ensured that all the computers, including my new laptop, are programmed to use British English spelling, rather than American English spelling. I've had letters I've written handed back to me to correct because I wrote "program" instead of "programme." So it seems I have more than just Swahili to learn; I have to learn English too.
Bright colors! It sounds like the perfect place for you. I hope you've been rocking the orange glasses to show the locals a thing or two.
ReplyDeleteAlso, 30 Rock: yessss! Here's one of my favorite quotes: "I don't get why people like brunch. What's the benefit of combining break-dancing and lunch?"
You are so cute! You forgot that the first English you learned and spoke was the Queen's English!
ReplyDeleteAnd look for a "konga" for me too; I think I need to add one to my fabric collection :)
Sounds lovely to see all those colors all the time! Are you going for a Princeton konga or perhaps an 80's electric pink and green? Hope you have fun at the market. Be sure to find a few small souvenirs to keep around your room.
ReplyDeleteMarkets are one of the coolest places to explore you can see so much and buy little trinkets if it's a good market. kongas sound fun.
ReplyDeleteI actually write some things with english spelling anyway like colour and sometimes favourite and will have to do that if i end up going to the UK for school.