Things We've Learned While Becoming Local

• Men, Valentine's Day is coming and your lady wants Cadbury Dairy Milk Chocolate. Add Nivea as prescribed on the billboard below and you should be all set.
• Billboard in town: Have you checked out my boobs? I just did. (insert clothed picture of woman's chest)
• All white people apparently look alike and Katherine was mistaken for someone who is fluent in Swahili.
• Would have been good to know that Sunday and Monday are the days with running water in our area of town. Probably wouldn't have tried to be a trooper in the beginning and skip showers. And yes, this includes toilet flushing (or lack thereof).
• Katherine loves chapati. Andrea likes it.
• Our eardrums have not busted (yet) from the matatu rides, but the music is absurdly loud and either regular American songs (old) or Rastafarian songs or blasting cheeky Kenyan hip hop.
• Who knew getting picked up by a stranger while walking down the road could be an answer to prayer?
• Not all matatus go where they confirm they are going.
• "Kenyan time" means everything starts late, runs late, is always uncertain.
• Soda comes in glass bottles and is only about $0.40 for a large. Fun flavors include: Pineapple Fanta (yum!), Passion, Black Currant, Apple (Katherine gives it a double yum), Bitter Lemon, Stoney Tangawizi (like ginger ale with a kick).
• Kaylie is a natural Kenyan.
• You can order lunch for 5 people for $3!
• Yesterday's walking adventure included several separate herds of cattle and some token donkeys.
• Put on the rose-colored glasses and use the power outage as an excuse for dinner by candlelight (and the debate on candlelight/candlelit dinner continues).
• African days start much earlier for Andrea than when she is at home.
• Don't be fooled, that clear beverage might not be water. We are proud to have been in Kenya to witness the legalization of chang'aa, which, if made incorrectly, can cause blindness and/or death. Bottoms up!
• Even in the slums, there are American clothes everywhere (presumably donations). One boy in our art class today had on a shirt that said, "My first Sacramento shirt." :)