Epic fails in Kenya

Kristopher and I have lived in ten different homes during our nearly twelve years of marriage. That doesn't include short periods of time where we lived in someone else's home (eg with my parents this summer). We've actually had rental leases on 9 different residences, and owned our home in Utah (by far our longest stay in any one residence). Adjusting to a new home, new neighborhood, new city is ALWAYS a challenge. Adjusting to a new continent, country, and culture is all the more challenging. We've done our best, but some of our failures have been comical (maybe not at the time, but in retrospect...). Here are a few examples:

Dominic wanted a chocolate cake for his birthday. I thought this was a great time to use the bundt pan I brought back after Andrew and Elyssa's wedding. The result looked a little like a donut (okay, a lot like a donut) but that's okay - donuts are a real treat here.

(See donut shaped thing with stars exploding out of it, back row)

Today, I was craving chocolate and decided to make the cake again. I probably should not have substituted vanilla yogurt for sour cream. The result is still tasty, but somehow even less aesthetic...

One late night in Nairobi, I completely forgot everything I had ever learned in chemistry class and set a glass bowl in the sink to wash the dishes. In went the boiling water from the kettle, next the cold water from the sink...

Most women in the US are counseled to undergo c-section if their baby is breech (meaning bottom first, not head first). However, in Kenya, vaginal breech delivery is more common. I was called to the delivery room one day out of my clinic for a breech delivery. The woman had arrived completely dilated with the baby's little bottom already visible, so we checked the baby's heart rate (normal) and proceeded to deliver the baby. Only after the baby was delivered and required significant help breathing did we realize there were in fact TWO babies, and the normal heart rate we had heard was from the (previously undiagnosed) TWIN! Both babies did fine. And just in case you're wondering how often that could possibly happen - the exact same scenario played out again less than two months later!

One of our first trips to the market ("soko") in Kapsowar, we bought some unripe bananas. They sat on our counter for at least a month before Gladys, our house helper, told us that those bananas are for cooking, and they would never turn yellow.

After our "exile" in Eldoret, one of the last things we did was stop at the mall to load up the car with groceries. I first went to the fruit and veggie market and spent over $20 US on fruit and veggies. That might not sound like a lot, but in Kenya, that's a LOT of fruit. Not wanting it to spoil in the hot car, I left it at the "bag check" area of the grocery store. I remembered that I needed to pick it up - about 4 hours later, when we were finally back in Kapsowar. Amazingly, our neighbor Mike had to go to Eldoret the next day, stopped by the grocery store, and returned with my full bag of groceries!

Try as I might, I cannot keep straight the Swahili words for bottle ("chupa") and underwear ("chupi"). It's an embarrassing mistake when all you want is some bottled water at a restaurant!

On our return from Andrew and Elyssa's wedding, Kristopher and Dominic both wanted to sleep on the second flight (Frankfurt to Nairobi). This flight departed Frankfurt around 10am and arrived in Nairobi around 11pm, and they slept the ENTIRE flight. Great - until Dominic was jumping around our hotel room at 3am, having run out of snacks and activities and still raring to go!

Now for a few successes:

Termites are ubiquitous after an evening rain. They are attracted to light, and will crawl through the tiniest cracks under doors or windows to get into your house. At first it was really gross, then it became a sort of game to see how quickly we could kill them when they came in. (Termites, for the record, don't really squish like other insects. You just have to give them a good quick whack, and they're done for.) Feeling lazy one night, I took off my flipflop and hurled it across the room, knocking a termite out of midair. Ten points! Dominic has been trying to replicate that heroic feat ever since, with minimal success. If you enter our house after a rain, watch out for flying footwear!

I'm not sure if this is a success for an American living abroad, or a failure of American culture; for culture day at language school, I made this rendition of "Snicker salad." I used genuine snickers, apples, and grapes, but the closest thing to Cool Whip I could find was strawberry flavored "Dream Whip."

I think I've already shared this picture on our blog but it bears repeating: talking Dominic into wearing his bathrobe and a free eye mask from Delta for a Halloween costume was a major success!

Turning this:

Into this:

For $30 USD!

I hope you've enjoyed a chuckle along with us. We pray daily for our friends and family all over the world during this really strange and difficult time, and we appreciate your thoughts, prayers, and encouragement as well. Blessings, and stay well!

Kim