Half a cow

For some reason, cows really fascinate me. I find them so interesting with the funny things they do and how they are such a part of life here. They are often tied up around the compound during the day to feed on the grass. They stand there all day just watching the world go by. Last week, one of them thought that my favourite sweater was something yummy to eat and so he pulled it off the line and began to chomp on it. Luckily, he didn't think it was very tasty and didn't do much damage to it. I washed it thoroughly, stitched up the two small holes and it was good to go. 

I walked into the kitchen the other day only to find a huge carcass of a cow. The chef had literally bought half a cow. He got two legs and the left ribs which also included the heart. It was huge! I guess I am so used to steak nicely cut and packaged ready to be bought in the supermarkets. Here you get everything except the skin. So it took till late at night to chop it all up and prepare it to be eaten. The whole thing cost less than $200 and will feed us 25 people for the next two weeks. I think its a pretty good deal. Here is our chef, Sylvester "de-boning" it. I just need to say that Sylvester is an amazing chef! He loves little details so often I find pineapple in the coleslaw or cinnamon in the chapattis. These are things that are foreign to most kenyans. My favourite food he makes are hamburgers. They are so juicy and full of flavour. I think he needs to sell the recipe to MacDonalds. 

Chef Rahab is not really a chef but helps out when it is chapatti day. It is a lot of work but she's the master. She is such a hoot and even dresses the part. I can't tell you how much I love this girl. 

I have enjoyed playing our evening football (soccer) games although at times I can get discouraged because I can be more of an obstacle than an asset. But I love watching the boys play. I have never seen boys play like this before with all the fancy footwork and aggressive play. Some of them don't even have proper shoes. We have one guy who wears about 4 socks on both feet to play. 

If they don't have "soccer boots", which we call cleats, they play in simple rubber shoes or barefoot.

 

This cute little boy came to watch the big boys play.

Today was my first afternoon off since I arrived. I have not had a big chunk of time to just relax since I got here. It's been a good time catch up on emails, reading, and laundry. This is my washing machine. 

Washing is getting easier for me and I am getting quite fast at it. I washed half of my clothes today and then went outside to put them on the line to dry. Just as I got back inside, it started to rain so I ran outside and pulled them all off the line again. I hurried inside and hung them up around my room. As soon as they were placed nicely in my room, it stopped raining. So I packed them all up headed outside to hang them all up once again. It hasn't rained since so they are hanging outside nicely drying.

I am ready to start a new week now. Last week was tough as I was getting quite tired and antsy and really needing a break. I am praying that this week will be more energetic and joyful. I am loving what I am learning. We started the topic of African Traditional Religion. It's a really fascinating topic and very relevant today in Kenya. As much as many kenyans claim to be Christian, many of them still resort to traditional practices like witchcraft. It hurts to see so many people fall into these funny practices. In Tanzania, they have a big problem with murdering albinos. Albino body parts are high on demand in witchcraft circles. Continue to pray for these funny yet very real practices here.