tow trucks in Kenya?

This evening I got a chance to go back to Flavors of East Africa, this time with fellow SIM Kenya missionaries! Kristen and Matt have three kids and are leaving for Kenya about a week after my scheduled departure date. It was so great to enjoy Kenyan food together, share emotions and schedules, talk about our excitement to leave and everything in between. I can't believe the next time I see them will be in Kenya... there are very few people I get to say that about!


However, our experience at dinner tonight may indicate a bit of what we may experience in just over 8 weeks. It started out great, we ordered, talked, got our food, enjoyed. We had 3 people taking care of us (hospitality is a Kenyan trait), our waters were never empty, however the waitresses weren't all sure what menu options they actual had and the evening festivities were quite interesting.

Incident #1: would you care for some Mandazis (african donuts) for dessert? So the first time I went to this restaurant I tried ordering these for dessert and the waitress kindly said they didn't have them and I was offered an American mint instead. Tonight however, one of our waitress came over and asked if we wanted to try one. I, excited to hear they had them, said yes, just one. Kristen agreed and I got excited, they had them this time! A few minutes later another one of the waitresses came over with our bill, told us she was taking over, and asked if their was anything else we needed. I told her that the other girl was getting us two Mandazis. She (the same waitress from the first visit I had) once again told me they didn't have them. She left, a few minutes later the first waitress places 2 Mandazis (pictured below) down in front of us. We all looked at each other and chuckled and began to enjoy. They definitely had some interesting spices in them, a recipe online lists these as options: cinnamon, ginger, all-spice, or cardamom... I think ours had all of them. The waitress came over (who said they didn't have them) I held it up and she said, "oh the cook must have just got them." Oh my... she ended up bringing us some sugar to dip our last few bites into.

Incident #2: tow trucks in Kenya? The restaurant is in a location where parking can be very difficult. There is a AmPm gas station right next door and one of the restaurant attendees had parked their car in a their parking area. As we were nicely enjoying our Mandazis the owner (I think) came rushing over and asked what kind of car we drove. He moved to the next table when suddenly the woman stood up and freaked. Both went running out the door to see her car almost getting towed! This wouldn't have been that exciting of a story unless I add the part that it made our conversation switch to, "would this have happened in Kenya?" We went on to discuss traffic in Nairobi, the likelihood of sighting a broken down car in the middle of the street, and whether there will or won't be tow trucks in Kenya. My money would say No. The evening was beginning to make us wonder how similar this evening is to what life will be like when we're actually there.

Incident #3: I thought we were at a Kenyan restaurant. We had finished our dinner, enjoyed our donuts and having some great conversations until all of the sudden a spanish dressed lady interrupts the restaurant conversations to announce the presence of some music and dancing from Spain, the middle east... everywhere but Kenya... or even Africa for that matter. The evening began to turn even more interesting as the volume of the music made hearing each other incredible difficult and the hand drum player came around and motioned for us to clap along (obviously our dinner conversation was not near as important as his musical ability or the cultural dancing taking place in the middle of the restaurant). We would have got up and went and sat outside but we realized it may be a little rude to get up at the beginning of their "performance" in the middle might look like we didn't like it... what's the protocol for leaving a restaurant in a Kenyan culture during a middle eastern fiesta?? Oh the things we have to learn!

My dinner choice for the night: Oxtail, Dengu(lentils) & Chapati(african flatbread)