Blending In With the Locals

It has now been one month since I left home. By this point, I would have expected to be fluent in Swahili (Kiswahili as they call it here) and have been completely adapted to life as a Kenyan. Unfortunately (or maybe, as to be expected), even after one month, I still can't blend in with the real Kenyans. But I am making progress. For one thing, my skin has become slightly darker. Amazingly, this is not the aftermath of a killer sunburn, which I have been lucky enough to escape up to this point, but actually tanning/the re-population of my skin with freckles.

Unlike Andrew, I have never needed a special formula to get my freckles. Just sun.
And I've never tried to erase my freckles using lemon juice, like another of my childhood-book friends.

Despite my freckles and summer tan, people still call me mzungu, or white person, wherever I go.

I am also learning to cook a variety of traditional Kenyan dishes. One of my co-workers, Peter, says my efforts are good enough that I am worthy to go to his village and cook for his mom. Which basically means that I'm well on my way to becoming a good Kenyan wife. However, my parents' one condition for sending me to Kenya was that I don't meet a nice young Kenyan man and stay in Kenya forever. So don't worry everyone, I'm coming home eventually. But that doesn't mean I'll stop trying to be a good Kenyan cook. So far, I have learned to make ugali, chapati, and mcheche, as well as other general dishes.

Ugali is one of the staple foods in Kenya and is really simple to make:

Known as ugali to the Kenyans, I've also heard it referred to as polenta or corn mush, or as my boss calls it, white paste, which he says is identical in consistency to wall paper paste left out overnight. Needless to say, he does not enjoy ugali. I however do.

Boil some water. The amount depends on how much ugali you want. I've seen people measure 1 cup of water for 2 people, but Jane, my co-worker and ultimate authority on cooking Kenyan-style, says it's best to just eyeball it. Like all cooking here.

When the water is boiling, add ugali unga, which is maize flour. Again, eyeball it. It should get thick and not be at all soupy.

Kusonga the ugali using a muiko, a sort of flat wooden spoon which I'm sure at one point had a secondary purpose as a paddle to discipline children. Kusonga means to move or to mix, but it is more than just stirring the pot. You really have to work at it, especially as the ugali becomes more firm.

After the ugali is cooked, shape it up and put it on a plate. Serve hot, so when a new ugali-eater like me pulls off a piece with her hands, she has to play hot potato and toss the lump of ugali back and forth so it doesn't burn her hands.

One part of Kenyan mealtime which was very easy for me to adapt to is eating almost everything, including soup, with your hands. So I guess it is kind of convenient that I never became "civilized," despite all those years of Mom and Dad telling me that no one will accept me if I keep behaving like a heathen and eating with my hands. Or maybe I really was meant to be Kenyan.


P.S. Thank you everyone for your concern regarding my previous post. I am doing alright and currently experiencing working with the Kenyan postal service to get a package with things my mom sent me. So really, this is just allowing me to experience all different parts of Kenya that I wouldn't experience otherwise. It has also exposed me to the expert advice my friends/family have for "blending in with the locals," who are apparently all pirates. How had I not noticed?
Ponti: Have you ever considered an eye patch/wooden leg?
Aunt Karen: Maybe some cool face tats or a nose ring!