A typical day with Mama Kenya

Mama Kenya, Rose, is a Kikuyu women born in Navaisha approximately 40 some odd years ago. She is of a milk chocolate complexion with small freckles around her nose and cheeks. When she smiles her brown eyes and gleaming white teeth sparkle. She is around 5'5 and is a full figured African woman (you can view her in the photos i posted last week).
Her external appearance is not what is important, or what i wish to share with you all. Rather it is her personality and lifestyle that has struck me these past three weeks. From day one she has had a great sense of humor with me, allowing us to have the fun loving dynamic we share today. As a master of sarcasm and unreadable facial expressions, I was initially scared and intimidated by her blunt sense of humor. But as the days have passed I have learned how to read her and her jokes.
From the second i wake up for school (i am in class from 8:30-4 everyday) at 7:30 she is at me to hurry up, claiming that i am going to be late. When in reality she just wants me to hurry so that while i eat my breakfast of toast and peanut butter(my choice, she would rather me eat 10 hardboiled eggs, 6 samosas, and drink 5 cups of tea), we can talk. Basically she wants time to chat and joke around. When i return home from school I always find my shoes cleaner than when i bought them (she is very much like baba shaba in this way). She even brought my zip off rei pants with a broken zipper to a seamstress in town to be fixed. When i asked her what i owed her she said, just give me a hug in the morning and at night, a concession i am glad to make. When it rains, which it often does just as we are getting out of class, without failure i receive a text message from her asking if she should bring me an umbrella.
When i return home from school i am always accompanied b some friends on the trip i have been luckily clicked with already (you can see pictures of them from the last post as well). During these afternoons Mama Kenya is always making us laugh and giving us love. We occasionally go into the shamba and pick avocados from our avocado tree (photo of sonia). Kelly you would kill for one of these, everytime i eat one i think of you! Lately we have been helping her milk the cows (the milk man was fired), meaning she has to get up at 5 in the morning and milk the cows and then again at 4 in the afternoon. When i say we, i mean my friend collin attempts to help while we egg him on.
What i admire most about Mama Kenya is her work ethic. Even when she is about to fall asleep she cooks dinner and does the dishes. From what i can surmise of her marriage to my host dad, a man 20 years her elder, it is not one of love. She puts up with his grumpiness and anti social nature. If it was up to her, she would have people over all the time, but because of him she has to sacrifice some of her social and personal needs.
She loves when my friends come around, but at 6 they must return home because when he returns home he likes a quiet house. She frequently confides in me, explaining how sometimes she feels as though she can't go on with him. She always ends these discussions by stating that marriage is hard and that one needs to work through their problems, not succumb to them. Her personal strength and lovingness have brought warmth to my life here. I cannot believe we only have a week left.

Swahili tongue twisters:

1.wake wako, wako wapi?
where are your wives (my personal favorite)
2. sisi si sisi mizi
we are not ants
3. wezee wale hawali wali
those old men don't eat rice