Round trip fare to Nairobi- 800 Ksh
Haircut with wash and style-1,000Ksh
Getting your haircut by an African mama with a wig....priceless
There are not many things money can't buy in Kenya...
"so do you um cut a lot of um... mzungu hair?" I ask nervously (mzungu is the word that Africans call whites) trying not to sound like a raciest, "Oh more than African hair," she assures me. I was told this was the spot to get a cut, cheaper than the Indians who do it in my little town of Nanyuki and they are supposed to be well versed in white hair. I try to let myself be assured by what she says, after all it is just hair and it always grows back, but the fact that she has a big ugly wig on isn't supper reassuring. I get the wash, its nice but it takes 4 applications of shampoo to get out the African hair product that I thought would make a nice deep conditioner, made my hair plaster to my head. The woman who scrubbed my hair offered to do some braids in my hair saying that I have nice hair for it. I politely decline telling her how nice the braids look on Africans but for some reason don't think I could pull the look off. She finishes up with a nice head massage and conditioner and sends me back over to Mercy, my hairdresser with the wig. I tell her not to take too much off, "just a trim" I tell her as she eyes my split ends that haven't been touched with scissor since March. Ok so she did a pretty good job and she blow dried the crap out of it until I looked like a sexy model from the 90's with a big fluffy bouncy do. She didn't take too much off, and best of all its even! Whooohoo! So the haircut when off without a hitch sure I took a 2.5 hour journey to get down to Nairobi to get it done but I bough a yoga mat and some herbal tea from a near by health food shop, things you can't find in my little town, so it made the journey worth it. It would have been better if I could have stayed the night in Nairobi and gone clubbing or something to show off the sexy style, every woman knows that your hair will never be as hot as it is right after its washed, cut, and styled by a pro, but Shobhan (my roomie) had to get home to her puppy dog.
Nanyuki is a trip. A sociologists dream town this place has an absolutely fascinating mix of ex-pats, white Kenyans (or Kenyan cowboys), tourists, and of course good old Africans. This makes for a little society that has it all, drama, gossip, parties, and of course hookers. Hahaha! My roomie and I threw a Halloween party last weekend and it was fantastic. It wasn't a rager by any means, after all this is a small town but it was a good time including fireworks, hooping, plenty of booze and a late night after party trip to the "club" here in Nanyuki. The club here is sooooo funny! This was my first trip there, I actually didn't know it existed until we pulled up to a bumpin club with tons of people and loud music. It was fantastic, I was totally trying not to have a nostalgic Halloween wishing I was back home shakin my booty to Bassnectar with my friends, and it really helped to be able to just get out and boogie! The club was hilarious totally decked out pirate themed, which wasn't a Halloween thing its always like that, with a wooden ship as the dance floor. Why didn't anyone tell me about this place earlier? The sexy African music was hot, the hookers where dressed up in their Saturday night finest, and I was lovin every second of it. Good times in Nanyuki.
Work is going pretty well here for me. I am teaching some yoga and I am doing about 3 massages a week....but this Sunday I recieved a job offer from Mt. Kenya Safari Club, which is like the Hilton of Safari Clubs here in Nanuyki. They want me to train some of their current therapist and they want to add my treatments to their current offerings. This is good new for me if I am able to really work and save some money. Finding work is tricky with the economy so bad everywhere, people are spending less and massage is something that is definitely affected. I have a meeting with the manager this coming wed to show him my proposal for training and the flyer I have created for my own services. On a fun and brighter note, I have a order of over 50 meters of hose pipe due to arrive this wed. I plan on makin over 70 hoops with this hose pipe and I plan on doing trade with the kids in Nanyuki and Likii. I want them to help me clean the trash up around the town in trade for hoops and hoop dance classes. Super exciting, I really hope to make a difference with the youth in this community. Trash is something that is a huge problem in 3rd world countries for a variety of reasons, and since I watched people throwing plastic over the edge of boat on the Amazon river. And now I have maybe found a way to do it!
I am headin to Spain in a month, I got the plane ticket I leave on the 10th of December and will spend 2 weeks hanging out with them for Christmas. I have a return trip back here to Nanyuki on the 27th of December. Looks like I will go to back to Lamu island for New Years....Christmas in Spain....New Years in Kenya....life is rough...
until next time
ONE LOVE
