Kenya Blog Meme

Let me attempt to answer some of these questions which have been developed by Mama Junkyard . It looks like an initiating ritual for new bloggers. I have laughed my head off at MentalAcrobatic's answer to things that non-kenyans should know about kenyans and in particular at Kenyans drinking prowess. Yaani....Ok. Here goes.

Favourite Kenyan Food

Charcoal grilled chicken with ugali and kunde. This is best eaten at community (upper hill area near the Milimani commercial courts) in those lunch sheds that are smoky full time . Before you go in , you can actually get a piece of the chicken (or roast meat) to taste. The waiters and waitresses take fifteen orders at a go...and deliver !

Favourite Drink

Goat-head soup: I don't know how many of you would retain the head of the goat as you roast the rest of the meat. This is boiled in hot water (duh!) until all the ocntents of the brains etc are reduced to soup. But it has to be served in those metal mugs, the ones we use in shagz these days but we used to have in our digz in the eighties.

Favourite Kenyan TV Programme

1. I guess Vitimbi has always remained fresh...especially now that Ojwang has a "number two"(a mistress) and his wife does not know!
2. Tushauriane: This was a hit and the current local soaps do not come close to it.
3. Newshot in KTN: Political satire in five minutes. But it's dying slowly due to its founder being poached by the rival station, Nation Media.

Top three Kenyan hangouts

1. The kenchic franchise: The fastest growing fast food franchise in town. The chicken (they were the first to display chicken being roasted slowly on their grills that would rotate them on the display window resulting in that tug on mummy's skirt...and hence the name coined for it...kuku porno'!) is unbeatable and i discovered fries taste better when eaten with your bare hands!
2. GreenHouse: The hangout for jango's. Jango' delicacies and the great music group, Orutu Kenge Kenge playing their traditional instruments. English, Kiswahili and any other language is left at the gate and conversation is in the full jango.
3. Java Coffee House, Adams Arcade: I have never tasted hot chocolate like they do it at Java. I'm hooked! I stress the Adams Arcade branch 'cause the town branch has been taken over by local MCs and musicians meeting their fans. It's always full, both inside, in the aisles and outside! Java Adams ,on the ocntrary,is peaceful, especially on Sunday.

Top Kenyan Holiday Destination

Coast and shagz (Kisumu town and rural. In town, every jang' from nairobi has checked in so you feel at home.)

3 Kenyan phrases you use a lot (ati, nini, nani DO NOT count and neither does bilaz!)

Kwani?, Yaani and laterz

Three things about Kenya/Kenyans that make you go 'hmmm'.

1. When it starts raining at about 4:45p.m. everyone panics and gets their cars on the road to dash home,resulting in a mad jam! Why can't guys just sit in the office and surf, or go and have a drink until the rain and the normal traffic subsides?
2. Very idle sometimes: You just need to stand somewhere in town,, and look up curiously, like you have spotted a UFO or something. After ten minutes, you will have a crowd of like twenty guys looking up with you, and some actually seeing something. You can even walk away quietly and leave them still trying to figure out what it is that we were looking at!
3. Very Romantic: On sunday afternoon,under every single tree (and you can take me up on this) at Uhuru Park, there is a couple seated having soda and buns and holding each other. It relaxes your mind and reminds you that depsite the harsh conditions in the country...romance still abounds.

Three things non-Kenyans say about Kenya/Kenyans that make you go 'hmmm'

When I was in Sudan last September, the Sudanese told me that if Elijah Sumbeiywo (who chaired the peace process talks) ran for president, he would win! They love us and think we care for them.

"Are you guys educated?"

Happy , fun-loving and joyful all the time.

Three things about Kenya/Kenyans which non-Kenyans ought to know

Yes, we are caring and that's why funerals are a great part of our life programme....the whole hog, from turning to the obituary page first and being satisfied that our friend and/or relative's face was published; cutting out that page and keeping it somewhere in the diary or wallet for remembrance; going for daily visits to just be with the mourning family and give both in cash and in kind; Crying and rolling on the gorund in mourning then a couple of minutes later asking.." Chakula iko tayari?"

Yes we are very educated, more than you are. In addition to mastering education by your standards and definitions, we are streetwise and even know towns within your states. Do you know Eldoret town?

Our pubs are full every day of every week of every month of every year. It's also amazing how most of those who are perceived to be comfortably wealthy by the cars they drive, how they dress and the jobs they hold or businesses they run, can be found drinking and eating roast meat at their local pub, which is nothing more than a iron sheet roofed ,wooden structure almost bursting with people. This group of people will only be found at high cost , five star hotels when they are attending meetings and forums!

Complete this sentence: I am Kenyan because...

...of my love for the country , the people and the events and activities that are strictly Kenyan and that I would not trade for anything. God bless Kenya and Kenyans.