making friends in Nyeri

A little while ago, on my way to the market after work, I saw a white woman. You never see wazungu (non-black people) in Kianyaga, other than us three McGillians. For a moment, I had the same wide-eyed expression that a lot of people in town have when they see me, but I restrained myself. However, on my way back, I knew I had to say hello and find out what she was doing in Kianyaga.

Her name was Rose, and it turns out she was born and raised in Nyeri, Kenya. Her parents were missionaries from Italy. Now she has her own business, doing wholesaling around Central Province. Rose then introduced me to her sister Maria, and Maria's daughter Bridget, who were in a shop. They were so incredibly nice. They insisted that I visit Nyeri and visit them.

So yesterday, I did! I took a series of three matatus from Kianyaga to Nyeri, which took a little over 2 hours in total. Rose took me around the Central Business District of Nyeri and then we went to Maria's house for lunch. I was also introduced to their brother's son, Paolo, who attends school in Nyeri.

Maria is totally into baking and showed me pictures of cakes she had made, and all her recipes. She has a whole cupboard of baking supplies that I was insanely jealous of. She has an oven!! We basically talked about food for a very long time. She told me about Kenyan dishes, and Italian dishes, and also how to deal with not having butter.

Maria, where she works her baking and cooking magic. 

All the pots

With Rose and Maria outside Maria's house

With Bridget and Paolo. Wearing hats at 15 degrees is actually quite normal in Kenya. It's "cold".

We had green beans for lunch. I mentioned to Maria that at work, we have been surveying farmers on how dangerous it is to produce various crops and green beans are consistently rated as the most dangerous due to the nature of the pesticides and their application. Rose laughed and told me she grew the green beans herself, without pesticides :)

In the background of the photo, you can see some plants. Rose grows all sorts of herbs and vegetables - parsley, rosemary, thyme, spring onions, green beans. Rose was kind enough to give me some fresh parsley to take home and I was sooooooo excited. I finished it all today! Judging by the fact that I haven't seen parsley anywhere, and the Kenyan staff at the office were intrigued by the parsley in the kitchen, parsley isn't really a thing in Kenya. Rose's sister brought seeds from Italy for her to grow here in Kenya.

What a great day trip! I'm so lucky to have ran into Rose that one day in Kianyaga. I keep meeting such welcoming and hospitable people in Kenya! It's wonderful.