Reef Hotel Christmas Party

After the branch Christmas party, we left quickly to attend another Christmas party that the Fairbournes gave us free tickets to. It was held at the Reef Resort Hotel. I couldn't miss out on an opportunity for Reyna to meet Santa Clause for the first time! She cried, as you may have guessed. :)

It was quite a sight to see Santa Clause all decked out in his warm red suit with the beautiful Indian Ocean and swaying palm trees as the back drop and "Feliz Navidad" playing over the speakers.

Santa was actually really nice. He was very patient while Reyna shrieked and we struggled to get a photo. 

Lots of mzungus on this resort stretch of the beach.

There's that camel again.

What made this experience interesting was this was a crowd of, I'm assuming, some pretty wealthy people from all over the world who had gathered for this fundraiser that was advertised at the Fairbourne kids' school. Theirs is an international school with families from all over the world and many from Europe. So it felt strange stepping into this environment where all of a sudden there were a ton of white people. Strangely, it was almost uncomfortable to be there. But the kids had a great time bouncing on the bounce house and making Christmas crafts. We were very grateful we got to go.

Mombasa Branch Christmas party

On December 12th, which is Jamhuri Day--a national holiday, we made our way into town to a place called Little Theater where we were to meet for our Branch Christmas party. Our Relief Society president had been cooking all morning at the church. I felt bad that I wasn't able to make it to help cook, but some other ladies showed up.

The party was really relaxed. We had a short program with the kids putting on a "nativity" the likes of which I have never seen before. The costumes they found looked like they were for a Mardi Gras celebration. But the kids were so excited to be decked out.

 Betty played Mary, the mother of Jesus. That's Joseph to her left and an angel to her right.

Cute inn keeper.

This is Joy. She sits on Hunter's lap every Sunday. I don't know why she favors him so much...I mean, I know why I do, but I don't know why she does. Heh heh.

The primary sang, some did a dance, I sang with Sister Mwangi, and we played all these hilarious games. Once again, Hunter will have to add his videos later. We played some funny traditional field games, like balance the egg on the spoon race, and the potato sack race, tug of war, and jump rope.

Miriam jumping rope.

Elder Ledwaba from South Africa, and Elder Tausi (I forget where he's from) got in on the jump rope fun. Look at this funny succession of pictures:

Poor thing. Nice reaction Elder Tausi.

Pretty Betty.

We also played this funny game where a bunch of couples are brought to the front. The husbands have to blindfold their eyes and guess by touch whose hands belong to their wife. The wives removed all their jewelry to make it extra tricky. A young newly wed, Brother Robinson, thought he had found his wife, but it turned out to be the senior missionary, Sister Palmer! It was hilarious!!!! Hunter also guessed wrong. He said that when he felt my hands, they weren't sweaty and clammy like they usually are, so he said "No". Ha! The only ones who knew their spouse's hands were Brother Richard, and Elder Palmer. Way to go, brothers!

What and fun and memorable day!

Coconut Rice and Swahili Donuts

Hunter's associate from work, Mishi, came over the other evening in December and taught us how to make Coconut rice and Swahili donuts.

First let me say that Mishi is a very sweet lady with a really fun and kind of sassy, out-spoken personality. She has been so kind to Hunter, and has been impressed with his efforts to learn Kiswahili. She tests him a lot and pushes his limits by only speaking Kiswahili to him. He's the only one who's really consistently working on learning the language among all the fellows at work.

Anyway, she has been just as kind to me, welcoming me as a friend with open arms. When I see her, she greets me with a kiss on both cheeks.

As she taught me how to make the coconut rice, she demonstrated a little bit and then put me to work so that I would know how to make it myself. She's a good teacher.

Coconut rice is sooooo good! Of all the different kinds of rices we eat, Hunter says it's his favorite. Seriously, it makes any dish taste good. It takes a lot of work to get all the milk from the coconuts, but we now have all the right tools, and when Hunter has a craving for the rice, he does most of the work :) We have a "mbuzi" which is the grater that you sit on while grating the meat out of the coconut with a sharp serrated blade, and we have the bamboo strainer, "kifumbu," that you use to squeeze the milk out of the grated flesh. Mmmmmmmm.

I am still in disbelief that I now know how to make a decent donut! The donuts here, are similar to the plain white cake donuts. No glazed sugar or sprinkles. But Mishi adds little bits of cardamom and sugar to the dough so it tastes really unique…and addicting! The donuts came out looking so perfect! 

Here are some junky photos. Hunter will have to add some other nice photos later.

I've never been so successful in frying anything. I usually don't have the oil temperature right. Mishi does everything by sight and smell.

I'm going to have to try this recipe again on my own soon so I don't forget. She's such a cool lady.

Old Town Mombasa

Our landlord, Ma Suma, along with her husband, Moiz, and teenage daughter Zahra, generously offered to take the kids and me out on the town one night a month ago. They drove us around Old Town Mombasa, which used to be Moiz's old stomping grounds. They took us to try the best ice cream in town, the best sugar cane juice, the place along the coast where people hang out and eat freshly fried cassava chips. They slice them right into the oil and bag them up for you fresh. They were delicious! 

They showed us the old sea port near the mosque where they worship, and the old light house. It was a very fun and spontaneous evening. They were extremely generous. 

Moiz said this boat has been sitting in this same spot since he was a kid. 

Zahra likes to take photos with my cute kids. 

Lighthouse that isn't really in operation anymore.

Side story: Zahra kept asking if she could take a picture with Reyna sometime when she was ready with makeup and everything. Finally, we had an opportunity, but when I handed Reyna over, she started to cry so badly that Zahra quickly handed her back to me saying "Oh, sorry, sorry!" and sped-walked away, embarrassed. I tried to tell her not to take it personally since Reyna's been having major attachment issues lately. Poor Zahra. We'll have to try again another time.

Thanksgiving

Man, I'm behind on blogging again! I need to catch up on some of the cool little experiences we've had recently that I want to remember.

The Fairbournes invited us over to their place for Thanksgiving dinner. When I woke up that morning, I was surprised that I felt really excited. I love Thanksgiving!

Natalie had worked hard all day long preparing a wonderful dinner with TWO turkeys! yummy stuffing, green beans, rolls, mashed potatoes, salad, and pies. She was so generous. 

Once again, I prepared sweet potatoes. It was a bit of a challenge to find the ingredients, and I had to use macadamia nuts in the topping instead of walnuts, but it turned out AWESOME! I think it tasted even better than the normal kind I make…more natural or something. 

Hunter kept making a big deal about how everyone else was making a big deal about my sweet potatoes. Everyone including the Kenyans loved them, which surprised me. I thought the Kenyans would think it was too sweet.

Anyway, after the dinner and some people went home, the only people left were the fellows from work. We were listening to some music, and then it just spontaneously became a fun dance party that lasted kind of late into the night. The kids were all dancing, everyone let loose and was able to dance as crazy/silly as they wanted. (this video is really short, but I thought it was funny. It might be embarrassing to Natalie, but I think she's making fun of "the shimmy" here.) It was hilarious! We had such a good time.

Good food. Good company. Good Thanksgiving to remember.