Kambi ya Waya

We had not been to see Rodgers' mom (whom we now call Grandma or Nyanya for Nate) since my parents were here in May/June. We didn't have any previous appointments made for yesterday, so we decided to make a day trip. It was rainy and gloomy for most of the drive up, but the sun came out by the time we got there.

It's getting to be corn harvest time up there. Many of the fields looked like the corn never grew, which is devastating. These country people live off of the corn they grow. Grandma's corn was looking good, though.

corn drying up

Fence made out of sticks keeps cows out of the fields

Last time we were there, Ben wasn't quite mobile. Plus, my mom was there to take a turn holding him. He does not like being held by people he doesn't know well, or Grandma, aunts, or cousins could have held him. So this time, we took his walker. I didn't want his feet in the dirt (Nate is allergic to it - he loves playing in it but always breaks out in a rash), so we took socks and (too big) shoes for him, too.

The "pen" behind Nate is actually a storage area (in progress) for corn when it is harvested. Also pictured are peas drying in the sun.

They kept roasting corn for us. It was good, but soo much. Nate even ate some. We gave Ben the cobs to chew on - I'm sure he'd swallow the kernels whole.

Nate had taken his red frisbee to play with. One of the other boys played with him, but the rest of the kids just watched. Then, they pulled out their balls, and everyone started playing. Can you tell what the ball is?

It's a t-shirt tied up with string, which I think is actually strips of another t-shirt.

Lunch was ready around 2:30. Ben was napping by then, but Nate was still up, and he ate lots of chicken and even ate ugali. Last week, he suddenly started eating meat - including a hamburger, fried chicken, and grilled ribs, now stewed chicken. The ugali really surprised me. We offered it to him several times, and he wouldn't eat it. Then he just grabbed a bit himself and started eating it.

Grandma couldn't send us home empty handed. When we started saying goodbye, she went out to the field and came back with 21 ears of corn for us. She also gave us a big bag of pojo, which is a kind of pea. It translates as vetch, which according to Wikipedia, is no longer used for human consumption, but for livestock. Hmmm...people eat lots of pojo here.

pojo

It was a good trip, but long. We left before 8 and were home about 12 hours later. We're going to have to give some of this corn away, though.

Edit: I have learned that pojo is mung beans! Also, more pics of the trip here.

bragging

Happy to report that my scripture memory efforts with Nate have been going very well! He loves memorizing Bible verses. I introduce a new one every week. They are just portions of verses, keeping things simple for him. When I tell him it's time to practice, he wants to recite all of them that he's memorized so far, not just the current one we're working on. It is very fun.

Ephesians 4:32


Proverbs 30:5 (probably his favorite because he loves being silly for the "proobs twoo" (proves true) part)


Proverbs 3:5 - this week's verse


and just for fun...

toaster

When we moved here, we had to furnish our home from scratch. Honestly, it was fun getting to pick out everything, but at the same time, we were in a rush to buy necessities. And then we would keep forgetting to buy things like spoons.

We decided that we didn't really need to get a toaster. After all, we could always just eat plain bread or toast the bread in a skillet or in the oven. Then, we realized that we hate the oven. The temperature control is a big flame on one end and a small flame on the other. I have no idea if the things I want to bake are big flame, small flame, or somewhere in between. Plus, we don't have an outlet to plug the stove into, so we can't use the (electric) self-lighting function. We have to light it with matches. The whoosh that happens when you light the oven scares the pants off me, so I am definitely not lighting it. (I do work up my courage to light the stove burners, though.)

One day (ironically during the week we had no electricity, but we didn't know it was going to last for a week yet) we decided to try to find something like a slow cooker. What we found has such a wide temperature range that it can also be used for steaming, stir fry, deep frying, and more. I roasted potatoes in it in under 20 minutes, but we have also used the lower temps to slow cook beef stew. While we were shopping, I noticed there were toasters for 1000 shillings.

That's like $12.50.

The boys had been enjoying/requesting skillet toast for 2 or 3 weeks.

I said, "Rodgers, we need this."

And now we have a toaster.

We use it almost every day!

family picture?

I was hoping for a family picture since we were all dressed cute for a wedding today, but it didn't happen. This is the closest we've got!

The boys were both extremely worried by all the noise and people.

cabbage

I don't really like cabbage that much. It's not like mushrooms or olives, which I would pick out if I can to avoid eating them. I can tolerate it. It's just...I don't enjoy it. But anyway, a good friend brought us a big bag of fresh veggies, fruit, and potatoes. Included was the biggest cabbage I have ever seen.

I'm not just going to waste food, so I had to do something with it. I asked my group of e-friends what I should do with it. Stuffed cabbage and pickled cabbage were the top 2 suggestions. I've had pickled cabbage as kimchi. It's not for me. We tried stuffed cabbage. Rodgers really liked it. As a non-lover of cabbage, I can say it was alright. It only used 12 leaves of cabbage. Now what do I do with the rest?