Life at Kundayo

Monday, January 14, 2019

Life at Kundayo Serviced Apartments Lodge

http://www.kundayoapartments.com/

Kundayo is a complex of apartments with a restaurant and a lovely courtyard. My apartment is next to John and Janet’s apartment.  It has a kitchen, a bedroom, a bathroom and a small back room. There’s cable TV. I can get MSNBC and Fox News for different perspectives.  E! Entertainment keeps me apprised of Hollywood and Fox Entertainment has a plethora of crime shows like CSI.  There’s also a Nat’l Geographic channel and several others showing history, environment, and current issues throughout the world (but mostly Africa).

In my kitchen

My day begins with coffee. Once in awhile I’ll put some milk in it but usually it’s black.  The instant coffee here is quite good and I have two different kinds right now.  Africafe is mild while Tanica is more robust for a morning jolt.  While I’m waiting for the water to boil, I eat 3-4 spoonfuls of yogurt to get my natural probiotic fix of the morning.

Mount Meru

Usually I'm up before the sun, so I go outside and watch the dawn. This morning, I noticed that Venus and Pluto were bright in the sky. Once the sun is up, I can often see Mount Meru from the path in front of my apartment.

Agnes

I leave my apartment for awhile so that Agnes can clean it.  It’s so unusual to stay in a place that has a daily cleaning service and a laundry service.  

ML sitting on the toilet washing clothes

Today, I gave shirts and pants to the laundry.  I’ll do the unmentionables myself with my trusty bucket and toilet plunger.

Last week, John and Janet introduced me to Kitambura—a lovely pastry made out of rice flour.  You have to get them first thing in the morning because they are very popular and gone by mid-morning.  

Kitambura

Last week, Beatrice brought us some on her way into work so we sat on the veranda drinking coffee and nibbling on kitambura. 

Beatrice

I liked them so much that when I went to get fruit and veggies on Saturday morn, I stopped by the little pastry shop on my way there to be sure to get some. I enjoyed a mid-morning snack when I returned.





When I’m “home,” I’m reading or working on swahili or doing something on the computer. In the courtyard, I can get an internet signal to email or text.

Coffee and Swahili on the Terrace

ML on Terrace

For the last two Sundays I went to church with John and Janet.  This Sunday, I managed to get photos of the offering baskets which are very unique. There’s also a feedback basket.  Since it’s a community church, the church members are very active in leading the services, giving the sermons, and doing the music.  Then they use the feedback to plan everything.

Rogers and the Offering Baskets

Feedback Basket

After church yesterday, we went out to lunch at Njiro which is like a small shopping center with a cinema and a food court.  For your information, the new Mary Poppins and Aquaman, as well as others flicks, are showing.  

Find the kissing giraffes

At Njiro, there are several restaurants surrounding the central courtyard. When we sat down at one of the tables in the courtyard, we immediately were surrounded by servers from all the restaurants who laid a plethora of menus on the table.  Chinese, Indian, Bistro, and I don’t remember what…..  The servers all waited patiently for us to look through the menus and decide what we wanted to order from which restaurant.  I decided on ----saagwala from an Indian restaurant.  It was chunks of chicken in a spinach sauce. I also ordered naan.  OMG! It was to-die-for-delicious.  Although there was enough for 2 meals, I couldn’t stop eating.  I was soooooooo stuffed BUT it was sooooooooo delicious.  I ordered a large bottle of water (from a different restaurant) and did take the leftovers of that home.

ML eating Indian food

Janet and John at Njiro

The rest of the day was spent reading and trying to organize my photos and recovering from lunch. (Here are some more photos of Kundayo.)

Path in front of apartment

Man trimming tree