Oh dear, I'm in love with manicures. I have been able to adequately justify this unnecessary yet essential expense in that I'm supporting someone in a highly competitive beauty industry, in this case my cousin. Lol, ok, the deal is that the manicures cost about Ksh 100 which is just over $1.50 so I'm seriously tempted to have one every week except, oh yeah, no washing machines, dryers, dishwashers and it would be a serious waste of money anyway.
I've began to look at every shilling I spend on something frivolous as a shilling I could have used to buy internet time. It has actually helped me cut back on spending money on useless things. For example, a bottle of beer, Ksh 90 OR an hour and a half on IM with sis and crew back home. Plate of fries that you really didn't need for Ksh 40 OR roundtrip matatu trip. Actually, yesterday this woman carrying a huge sack of not sure what asked me for a "bao" (slang for Ksh.20) so that she could get a matatu home and I looked at the cheese I'd just bought that I really didn't need that left me with no change and had to apologize Puts things in perspective that's for sure.
So yesterday I went for the International Education Exhibition at one of the original malls here, a place called Sarit Center in the suburb Westlands. Well, all I can say is international admissions in the U.S. is in serious trouble. There was not a single U.S. school(s) represented. The only institution close enough would be the United States International University (USIU) which is located in Nairobi and is affiliated with the USIU somewhere in California. Other than that, there was an independent group that helps potential students put together TOFEL, SAT, GMAT etc packages together as well as assisiting with financial aid queries. Other than that, not a single US representative. On the other hand, the Australian campaign has been particularly aggressive when it comes to recruiting. Actually for a month solid, they ran huge colorful ads in both dailies talking about the advantages of studying in Aussie as compared to U.S. At the fair yesterday, they were out in full force, as were regional universities in Africa, some of the local schools, Canada, Switzerland, UK, Germany, Russia and (brace yourselves) Ukraine, Malaysia and Singapore. In most of the info packets they broke down the benefits to studying at their institution and the Canadians went as far as to do a direct comparison with US schools, outlining the disadvantages to studying in the latter. It was an okay fair, I had hoped the school I'm interested in would have been there but sadly they didn't show. My second choice was there and I will be seeing their advisor next week. It was more geared for undergraduates and as a result there were less than 10 post-grad programs being represented.
After the fair, I had a few hours to kill before I met my brother so I took a good walk around this mall. It's only 4 storeys high and not as congested as you would imagine a typical mall to be. It has a movie theatre, currently showing "Bridget Jones; Edge of Reason", "Closer" and "Are We There Yet". There's a really nice food court with an amazing variety. There's a mega store that serves in three sections, Thai, Indian & Italian foods. They even have service staff! so that when you order your food at the counter, they lead you to a table, plop down a reserved sign with your order number and bring your food to you. Right next to them is a dodgy Chinese restaurant (dodgy because there are no pictures of Moo Goo Gai Pan, General Tso's Chicken or Kung Bao Pork or any other menu item and no food out front on display) It does have a couple of boards on display listing the food, no frills, just what they can make like cashew chicken, large vegetarian menu and I've been assured that they actually serves the best Chinese this side of town. It also has the distinction of being the only food court restaurant I know that has beers on tap! Lol, actually the booze is the only thing on display and I don't know if they used that as a marketing ploy....deliberately hiding hot steamy chinese cuisine but proudly displaying ice cold beer to draw weary shoppers or Fair folk.
There's also your typical burger joints which people avoid and instead steer to a restaurant that proudly displays "Kienyeji Foods" (traditional foods) e.g., Ugali - ground corn flour cooked into a hardened paste, sukuma wiki - Kale; the translation literally means push-the-week, kuku karai - stewed chicken, mbuzi - goat, kondoo - sheep etc. Really good food actually but slightly pricey. Actually the prices at this food court are kinda shocking considering you can go downtown and find the same meals of at least half that price. Location and clientele however dictate pricing and it's more for the upper-middle class, lower-upper class who frequent this mall.
There's a huge supermarket below the food court, takes up about half the floor space actually. You can find anything and everything imaginable inlcuding the oh-so-vital must have for your fridge, Hellman's Mayo. I've actually been hesitant about buying this secret ingredient for everything as the small jar will run me about Ksh.300. I've always been snobbish about mayo so I will not buy the other brands so I'm mayo-less for a while. The produce is amazing, the coffee and tea aisles...I could happily live there for a month. Coffee and Tea are Kenya's largest exports. The former beverage dispatched all over the world, the latter sees about 1/4 of its earnings coming from the Pakistani's. Actually there was a huge row between both governments over Pakistan refusing to ship us rice because Kenya had been forced to tack on a 75% tax to all its tea since it joined the East African Commerce.....long story but fascinating. If you have the time, google it. Lol.
And then they're loads of clothes shops. There's a Woolworths store, basically JC Penny, a Secrets, a rip-off of Victoria but this one also sells swimsuits. There's no difference in prices by the way, your eyes will open in amazement at the highway robbery cost of a bra. Some of the stores sell brands I recognize: Nine West, Vuitton, Kenneth Cole etc. but either they are really good knock-offs or the originals because the prices are the same if not more than what you'd find in the real stores. Ah, let's see, oh yeah, there's a Kikoy store. Kikoy (or kikoi) are these really cool print wraps with solid lines in thin or thick patterns, that you will mostly find being worn at the Coast. Actually men wear them a lot as it allows for freedom of movement and is very light and great for dealing with the super hot heat and women love them as they are versatile enough to be used as a top, bottom, shawl etc. (Today's a scorcher by the way, I could see heat waves at 8 a.m.) I'll try find a decent website for y'all to check out what they look like. There's a really nice bookstore called the Text Book Centre. Used to get all my school books there as a kid but they've expanded and developed a whole other section that is specifically for fiction, non-fiction, travel, hobby etc. I think that one is online. There were a few discount clothing stores, travel agencies, cyber cafes (4ksh a minute? I don't think so!), furniture and art stores. All in all, not so bad a place. This weekend I hope to go check out the newest mega mall called the Village Market. It has a Splash City....not sure what it is but everytime you mention it around kids you'll go deaf from the squeals and shrieks.
Have to go now, but more later. Oh, remind me to discuss literature and the Kenyan, especially libraries.
Back again.
I had no idea there was a mini-WTO meeting in Mombasa this week. So proud of Kenyans; there was a huge demonstration outside the resort where the talks were being held and some demonstrators went as far as the little airport that services the South Beach to admonish arriving world ministers and representatives who were coming back from safaris in the Masai Mara. Sadly people were arrested, mainly farmers who are affected by cheap and subsidised agricultural imports, but it seems they may have gotten through as the Canadian rep. echoed their sentiments in the meeting calling for an end to subsidies.
About the libraries. Unfortunately, there are few public libraries. I've been ruined by WCPL and the Cleveland system as a whole. If you want to get a book here, there's a private club not far from town that we've been members for ages, so much so the librarian remembered me. The public can buy membership just to the library so there's is a medium to heavy circulation. The club houses elderly exparts and so the reading room usually has alot of international newspapers, magazines etc. The fiction and non-fiction sections have changed very little. The books are old, some falling to pieces, out-dated editions and generally crowded. Next time I go I'll ask if it's possible to expand and get donated books from the US. Remember the dollar book sales in the basements? The books that didn't sell could very well be used here. I know there's a huge vacant room next to the library....hmm, I'll ask. I know that most if not all the country clubs around the country have their own personal libraries but the collections are mostly colonial material. Lol, would be interesting to find out how many first editions are lounging on the shelves. They appear to be seldom borrowed as you'll usually brush off a layer of dust from whatever you pick. (Ooh, project for me, find out whether there is a main public library. I don't think there is as one of the brothers would have told me about it.)
Kenyans loooooovvvveee to read. Anything and everything is visual fodder here. Non-fiction, brochures, fiction, books, newspapers, everything that has been printed will be read. It's not out of the ordinary to see a couple of people crowded around one newspaper reading it. In the morning while waiting for matatus, you'll usually find a crowd around the many open-air newstands reading while one seller stands on the street waiting for cars to slow in traffic to sell them the dailies that are tucked under his arm. Every morning, with a spicy cup of tea, I read the newspaper, front to back, scanning even the most minor of articles as you'll always learn something interesting.
Must run now, very hot outside, want to meet Friday traffic. Over here, people take late lunches at 1.30 or 2 and you won't see them until Monday. Lol, weekend has to start sometime.
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