What's Unique About KENYA?

                        What's Unique About KENYA?

So what is Kenya like; how is it different?

Without seeing the country for yourself, you may not get a clear picture of what it is really like, but I'll try to give you a little insight into the adventures we have in Kenya.

     I'll start with the word "Mzungu". That is what all of us, white folk are called by Kenyans. The word means, the people who never stop working, or who are always going in circles. No,I do not spend my day going in circles. We have gotten so used to hearing that said about white people, that now whenever we see a white person we say, "Hey look there is a mzungu."

     Shopping is one of my favourite things to do.Hey, they say, shop till you drop, right? We have quite a few large supermarkets in Thika like: Nakumatt(like the Walmart of Kenya), Tusky's, Leens, Mathai (the best place to get doughnuts), and Naivas. Most of our main shopping is done in these stores, but as for fruits and vegetables, we get those in little "dukas"(little stands selling only fruits and vegetables). 
I left my favourite for last, how do we buy clothes, or most of them? Out door markets. They are like a maze to get through;  mainly just little stands or tables where all the clothes are hanging up or all folded and stacked in piles. I find it a lot of fun. Enough about shopping.

The outdoor market

Mathai

Tusky's

a little "duka"

       Swahili, the language most Kenyans use to speak with each other. It is kind of like a go - between language, because of there being around forty different tribes, all with their own languages. Swahili therefore helps us out a lot. It is a pretty easy language to learn, and I  was able to learn it while I was in school.

      The word school reminded me of another topic, and that is the school system here. From first grade until fourth grade I went to a private Kenyan school here in Thika, named St. Davids. I enjoyed it and am glad I went ,mainly, because of learning Swahili and making many friends.The kids are taught all the usual subjects as well as Swahili. Instead of nine months of school and three months off, here we do three months of school and  one month off. Once you get into the higher grades like,seventh on up  you have to do school from 6:00am to 6:00 pm. That's a long day of school and there's homework to take home as well. High school ,which is mainly boarding, keeps an even tighter schedule of waking up at four A.M and going to bed at ten P.M.

on a field trip

waiting in line

my siblings in their class

     What do we do for fun in Kenya? I thought I'd add this one in because I know it's probably interesting. Well, we just got a new mall around twenty minutes drive from us ,and we love going there. It is complete with bumper cars, food court(pizza too), tons of little stores, and my siblings favourite, the play area. We love to go camping; our favourite place is near Lake Naivasha. We have gone on many safari's to see animals as well; I love going shopping, but for others in my family it's probably not what they call fun.

camping fun

As I am writing this the electricity just went out, and our large supply of candles comes out. 

There you have it, in a nutshell, what Kenya is like. There is probably many other things you may want to know or maybe I covered the lot of it.Anyway, I hope this long description has not bored you too much. 

See how much fun we have as an MK in Kenya? 
By - Ashlyn Elaine.