Another fun weekend has begun. Last night I stayed over at my fellow intern's place, which is closer to the bar area, so we could do some serious barhopping and still end up home safely. I scored four bars, three rather slimy local admirors, quite a few glasses of wine and a tough hangover.
The best bit of the evening by far was a poetry night in an Ethiopian restaurant. Anyone could read out their poetry on the theme "love, peace and unity", mostly referring to the political situation. It was moving to hear young, smart people read out emotional poetry about politics. That's something you'd never find in Finland - people who are so heartened by the state of their country that they organise a political poetry karaoke! Besides, for once we were the only muzungus ("whities") in the place and we still didn't attract too much attention.
Although one of the self-made poets took an instant crush on me and wrote me two quite amusing love poems on the spot and even bought me a perfume. It became quite clear during the evening that many Kenyan men would give their left leg if only they could get to date a muzungu woman. Maybe they think it'd bring status or money, maybe it's some other kind of fascination - I still haven't figured out the motives.
Today we washed away our hangover at the pool in my friends' backyard. Quite a few houses here have a pool. Once again, life can be quite luxorious here for some and really shitty for others.
I volunteered to represent our embassy on a breakfast meeting with a UN under-secretary general on Sunday morning at 8 am because I thought it'll be interesting to meet one of the big bosses, so now I'm spending a peaceful Saturday night at home.
Below are some photos. The first one is a countryside cafe near our house, and the guy coming towards me is my new taxi driver who spotted me taking photos and reasoned I'll be a good customer. The blond girl is Tuuli, the other intern in the embassy and my closest friend here. She's sitting in my small garden. The lower photo is a view from my friends' balcony and some of my new nordic friends sunbathing by the pool.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment