Thika!

This weekend I needed to get back into the ‘real’ Kenya- the Kenya I know from last year! I decided to head up to Thika to see my friend Mary for her birthday! It was SUCH a wonderful day...just what my heart needed. I set off from home just after 7am and arrived in Thika 2 hours later! I did some shopping for some school supplies as it is much cheaper there than where I live. The guys at the supermarket remembered me and chatted with me for a while.

I then went to meet up with a friend, Paul, who is a volunteer at AFCIC (The home for street kids). I had a wonderful morning with him and a few of the street boys. They were teaching me many new things in Kikuyu...which I need to practice a lot! J I also had fun playing with some small children who were around the centre. We then walked to the centre for small street boys and I had heaps of fun playing soccer with them all. After that I asked Paul to take me to a marketplace down the back of Thika. This market has a reputation for being a place where you can get things at rock-bottom prices. I was happy when Paul said he’d accompany me as I knew that I would have most probably been charged ‘mzungu’ price if it weren’t for his help.

Paul then suggested we play a little game in the market! It was SO much fun! He spoke with me only in Kikuyu and I tried to reply when I understood him. Everyone in the market was SO shocked that I ‘understood’ Kikuyu! Haha. This was a great technique as I learnt a bit more Kikuyu and the shopkeepers were much happier to sell me things for cheaper prices! I got 20 shirts for painting for $3.50! I was pretty proud of myself. I tried to respond with as much Kikuyu as I could remember at the time! I was also about to get other craft supplies and such for very cheap.

After this Paul walked me up to meet Mary and Trizah at Jogoo (the place where I lived last year!). It was so lovely to see my gals! I love those pair so much! We then went and had a very late lunch at the Jogoo Hotel where it was great to see old friends from last year. It was then really late and so I decided to stay the night with Mary and Trizah. It was a wonderful day and night and I miss days like this where I can play and joke with Kenyans all day! Can’t wait to do it again sometime soon!