Our Weekend Entertainment

We shop every Saturday morning.  At home I'm used to having a lot of storage and three freezers so it's hard for me to have so little food storage.  But we're managing . . . Our weekend entertainment is . . . grocery shopping!  We've discovered a new mall with lots of stores and a clean, very large Walmart-type store (but higher class).  Security is the same as at other malls.  Check the vehicle, check your purse, check your bodies.  Some even take a mirror and scan under each vehicle.  We're getting used to it.

I took some pictures in the store and was chastised by a store employee.  Then he saw my name tag and said it was okay but don't do it again.  So I didn't get a picture of a sign that said "Priority for Pregnant Women" at the check-out.  Also "Priority for the Handicapped" but that's more common.  And I didn't get a picture of all the rubber boots for sale along with the high-heeled shoes.  Rubber boots are a necessity here if you do any walking.

 We always enjoy visiting with people in stores.  We've met the nicest people!  We definitely stick out like a sore thumb!  I always tell them who we are and why we're in Kenya.  They always listen (they don't roll their eyes like people do in the West) and they say they'll phone the missionaries and some actually do.  I asked one store worker if he'd ever heard of our church before. Turns out he is a less-active member who wants to start attending again but didn't know where to go.  He was surprised to learn that there are now 15 congregations in Nairobi, including two stakes.

If you enlarge this picture, you'll see it's a huge display of wigs and hair pieces.  African hair is very wiry and so they braid fake hair into their real hair.  Anytime you see smooth hair, you know it's a wig.  I'm amazed at the many different ways there are to braid hair.  Also they add color to their hair by braiding colored fibers into it.  So interesting.

These are our neighbor children.  Faye had just gotten her hair done.  So cute!

Cool display of Prosciutto ham.  Thought our son Craig would enjoy seeing this picture!  This is the picture I was reprimanded for taking.

Now that we don't do the hour drive into downtown Nairobi, our drive isn't as interesting.  But this is a cool scene on the way to the mall.

Everything is for sale on the streets.

Winter coats for sale.  I'm tempted to buy one!  I left all my winter coats home, not knowing it was going to be so cold here on the equator.  We finally did buy us two little heaters, one for our bedroom and one for the living room.  They warm things up somewhat.  We turn them off when we go to bed because I like my head cold when I sleep.  And to save electricity of course.  We have to put money on a card for electricity every couple of weeks.  Then we have to key in the number just outside our door or the power goes off!  And talking about buying clothes . . . I stopped into a Woolworth's store and all of the sizes were just huge.  Not sure why.  Kenyans are not big people.  But maybe they're catering to Westerners.

You'll have to click on this sign I made for our office to see the lower line:  "Polite Notice."  You see these signs everywhere, especially in stores but I didn't want to get in trouble again for taking a picture in a store.   So here's the sign I made for our office.  In stores you'll see:  Polite Notice: Returns within 7 days.  Polite Notice: Return only to store of purchase.  Polite Notice: Pay your parking before leaving.  So cute. So nice to be polite.

Lots of hot water bottles for sale!  Reminds me of my childhood in the days before electric heating pads.  I even bought a hot water bottle today since I'm having trouble with my sciatic again and I've been wishing for a heating pad.  Or a tub to have a hot soak in.