Sweep the Shelves and Stock the Freezer

It was a sad day when I heard twinkies would be no more and then I was devastated when it clicked that this was also the end for snowballs.  This seems trivial that I am sitting in Kenya with pangs in my heart writing about the discontinuation of a silly snack cake.

BUT, Snowballs have been a huge part of my childhood.  For as long as I can remember, my dad, brother, and I have shared this delicious snack cake.  (I don’t recall my sisters being too crazy about them.)  Snowballs are more than the cream filling inside a chocolate mound with marshmallow covered in coconut. 

Snowballs were for good days, for bad days, rainy days and sunny days.  They were for celebrations after winning a softball game, they were for making bruises and scrapes hurt a little less.  They were for sharing over board games; they were a quick dessert after dinner.  Snowballs hold a special place in my heart but really it has always been about the people I was sharing them with.  While I enjoy snowballs, they have never been a snack that I eat alone.  They have always been connected to those I share them with.  It was a happy day when my nephew, Roman, enjoyed them as much as I did (but really what food doesn’t that kid like?)  They were for special occasions or no occasions at all, they were for just because.  I just picked up a box from the posta from my Dad and Karyl.  They sent it to me before this life altering news hit and do you know what was in there….

 SNOWBALLS! 

They are instant happiness and childhood memories remembered.  They are so much more than a snack cake. 

Dad – Sweep the shelves and freeze them for me. 

And yes, I totally did just blog about this.  I apologize that you even opened this blog post. 

But seriously why am I not there, in America, to gorge myself with snowballs over the fact they are soon to be extinct. 

You know what would make this news easier to swallow.  Yep, exactly.  A snowball. 

To bathe or wash dishes? That is the question.

Ok so a few months back I was asked to write about my water situation since I don’t have running water.  I know crazy right.  Honestly, I don’t even notice. (except when my buckets are empty and I don’t have a magical faucet that is always ready to dispense way more water than I need.)  And well I figured I’d get around to that so H2o is what’s happening in this post.

Instead of a sugar daddy I have a water mama.  She brings me 60 liters of water at a time and the going rate for someone to deliver is 30 bob (a little more than 30 cents.)  She works at the school near my house, which is convenient for me to tell her when I need more water when school is in session.  However, when school is on break sometimes I have to go looking for her and sometimes to no avail.  So I have to be even more careful with my water usage.  A couple months ago there was a school strike making it difficult to find her and I had to choose between bathing or washing dishes.  This is a regular occurrence.  Definitely not an issue I ever had to think about in the States.  Most weeks I can get by with 60 liters of water.  And this is for drinking, bathing, cooking, cleaning, washing my hands, and doing laundry.  The UN states that every person needs 20 liters of water a day.  That would be 140 a week.  So I am doing more than my part to conserve. 

And now it is picture time. 

This is where I store my water. 

This is how I do my laundry. 

 After I do laundry I use that water to mop.  When I first got to Kenya I couldn’t do laundry without getting bloody knuckles.  Those days are long in the past.  Jeans and sheets are let’s just say a pain to wash.  I will never again complain about having to switch my clothes from the washing MACHINE to the DRYER.  Ahhh fresh warm clothes from the dryer.

Getting water from the pump.

Every time I go to the well or any water source I always get laughed at.  Like hey look at this white girl and she can’t even carry 20 liters on her head.  Seriously I have had this conversation a thousand and ten times of why I can’t carry 20 liters on my head.  They don’t understand that because I haven’t been doing this since I was 3 that it will snap my neck.  Because I can’t perform this task they think I’m weak and they find it quite amusing.   It really is quite impressive though, sometimes I will see a mama with 20 liters on her head and then carrying 10 liters.  The water pumps are crazy busy in the mornings and when the sun is going down.  There is almost always a line to get water during those times since it’s not as hot. 

Up until 5 months ago I was using PUR packets to purify my water.  That consisted of dumping chemicals in my water, stirring 5 minutes, waiting another 5, then using a funnel and handkerchief to keep out all the dirt and gunk, then waiting another 20 minutes till I could drink it.  See for yourself this is what was pulled out of my water. 

Now I use a lifestraw.  You dump water in and let it filter down and drip into a bottle and it is ready for drinking… so much easier and much less time and effort. The only thing is it takes about 7 minutes to fill a liter so I always start doing something else around the house and forget about it only to come back to water on my floor.  Which is a complete waste.  So that means its time to mop.  I’ve gotten better about how much water I pour in and have perfect pours these days.  Yeah me!

 

Sometimes when it rains really hard I’ll take my buckets and set them under the edge of my roof to catch water and it’s free!  The short rainy season is back.  Thank goodness.  Rain makes it so much easier for me to have access to water.  I was able to catch 100 liters today after work.   

My dishes and I will both be clean this week!  

Bless the rains down in Africa.  

Ya, that pretty much sums up water for me.