Not quite the same

Things aren’t quite what they seem here in Kenya. Today I bought a 5 in 1 DVD off the street from some guy. (Early on in our stay in Kenya, a gal in our group - Andrea - said, “Isn’t it funny that all those people on the street are called ‘hookers’?!” referring to all the vendors. We politely informed her that she had misunderstood her informer; they are in fact called “hawkers,” since they float around from car to car looking for a sale.) So I had thought I’d bought a DVD with 5 movies featuring Will Smith, but back home when I took the DVD out of the case it turned out to be some other kind of American mainstream trashy movies. I suppose it serves me right for not checking, but the DVD does work fine. It just plays movies I’d prefer not to waste my time watching.

Another interesting thing about Kenya is that I have yet to run into an American chain of any sort. Instead of McDonald’s we have Steers or Wimpys (yes, I joke not). Instead of Chevys we have Peugots. There are a Shell and Exxon stations, where they pay about the equivalent of $3.75 gallon (are we up there yet?). Even the ketchup here isn’t American ketchup, but more like sweet and sour tomato paste.

Other things are oddly different here. An apartment to rent is called “to let.” We’re thinking of calling our apartment complex, which has a “TO LET” sign out front, the too lay, as a spin-off from the name. Also, when boxing up leftovers from a restaurant or to simply do carry-out, in Kenya it’s called “take away.” Probably my favorite saying oddity is the local television station, NTV: Turning On Kenya. I’m not sure how much the English have influenced the use of the language here in Kenya (there are a bunch of “centres” and “theatres” around here), but it’s enough to give one pause… and a chuckle or two.