Matt went for his first run in Eldoret yesterday and then he felt ambitious enough to go for another run yesterday. It isn't unusual to see runners on the streets of Eldoret since Eldoret is considered the running capital of Africa. Many of the top runners from the continent train here due to the climate, the high elevation, and the training that was initiated by gold medalist Kip Keno starting forty years ago. What is unusual is seeing a runner moving so slowly, especially a muzungu (white man). The first day out running Matt met with quite a few stares, but by the second day they just shook their heads and muttered "crazy muzungu". Matt and Cheryl also went out for a walk in the neighborhood with one of the dogs (or should we say that the dogs took Matt and Cheryl for a walk).
Matt and Cheryl also went shopping trying to find a little furniture in town so they don't have to live out of a suitcase any longer. Still waiting on some furniture to arrive since the selection in town is limited. Matt also went to have his first haircut outside of the United States. It turned out to be his best haircut ever; he even got a scalp massage and a shampoo for one third of the price he paid for his last haircut in the states. In fact, quite a few things are cheaper here: food, rent, clothing, health care, taxis, and a list of other items, as long as your willing to bicker and negotiate (sometimes they like to start with a higher price knowing that we're muzungus, but it helps to get the inside perspective on what is considered the going price for things.) Other items are the same price or higher such as gasoline, utilities, and imported goods.
We eat most of the time at the house and we have had really pretty good meals although there is a lot of formula and baby bottles scattered around the kitchen with three babies in the house. We have had a lot of chicken and fish, rice, potatoes, squash, milk fresh from the cow (we boil it and let it cool before we drink it), eggs fresh from the farm, good coffee, and a lot of Kenyan chai tea. Matt and David made pancakes and bacon this morning for breakfast for the girls and the babies and it turned out to be a hit. Eating out is usually a bargain with good meals available at anywhere from $2 to $8 in Eldoret and Indian food seems to be the best bet since there is a contingent of the Eldoret population from the Indian sub-continent. We will be attending a goat roast probably this weekend (Cheryl's first one) which should provide some really good food and good stories. A few things we would have missed (but which we wisely brought with us) are Peanut M and M's (although they will be gone in the next month or so at the current rate of consumption), peanut butter (although I have seen peanut butter on the shelves at the stores in Eldoret for the first time), Charmin toilet paper (the toilet paper here - let us just say the newspaper would be preferable ) snack bars, protein bars, and trail mix which all will be consumed likely sometime before Christmas. Some things we miss so far are baked goods (although Rachel made a really good peach cobbler yesterday - but we haven't really spotted any bakeries in Eldoret as of yet), steaks (it seems most of the cattle are used for dairy around here) creamer for our coffee (we like the liquid kind but we brought some pretty good powdered creamer), Tillamook Cheddar Cheese (there really isn't any cheddar cheese in town), and fast food (probably a very good thing but there are no fast food franchises in Eldoret; you have to go to Nairobi for that.) Nevertheless, most of the things we miss or the things we brought once we run out are things we really don't need and things that will offer us a healthier diet (not to mention a little weight loss).
Sleeping in Eldoret can be a challenge sometimes with three babies in the house. Nevertheless, the babies have begun to sleep more at night, and the two oldest, Diana and Belle, have learned to sleep through the night most nights. The same cannot always be said for Matt and Cheryl. After we got through with the challenges of jet lag, our sleep had to compete with the three dogs barking in the back yard, the rooster crowing from 5am to 8am incessantly which Matt would really prefer eating rather than hearing in the morning, the Islamic call to prayer at 5am from the local mosque, and the squawking of crested cranes and a variety of other cranes at certain times of the day and night. Amazingly, perhaps out of exhaustion, both Matt and Cheryl have begun to tune out the noises and sleep better, but they are both looking forward to moving to the OAI Village in Mlango which is in a quieter rural setting.
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