My host family's house

Here is a picture of my host family's house:  

Just kidding...when I first said I was going to go to Africa, I think many people including my parents and roommates thought I would be living in huts like in the picture above.  While in very rural parts of Africa certain tribes such as the Maasai (the above huts are of the Maasai tribe and made out of cow poop...ewww...gross...I know...more on this in a different post) do live in huts, people in the city live in modern apartment buildings, houses, and tin shacks.  Below is a real picture of a my host family's home.

This is my host family's real home.  It is in a walled off subdivision with many homes that are very identical to this one.  Many young families live in my area.  The house to the right is where my wonderful British neighbor, whom I talked about in an earlier post, lives.

Side view of my host family's house.

A view of the surrounding homes in my neighborhood.

The living room of my house.  The couches are real leather.  The plant is fake. 

The entertainment system.  We have a DVD player and a decent sound system.  Interestingly, there are many stores in downtown Mombasa that specialize in selling pirated DVD's.  In the US and other parts of the world that I have been to, pirated DVD's are usually sold by some street merchant, but here in Mombasa, there are massive stores that only sell pirated DVD's right in the middle of the busiest business districts.  I recently purchased the pirated version of "The Social Network" and had a viewing party with my host parents.  Facebook is big here so they loved it.

Computer room. 

Kitchen.  The fridge that my host family has is like the size of a large fridge in a college dorm room.  It is not very big.  I found out that most houses don't even have a fridge.  I'm realizing most Kenyans don't like to refrigerate many things.  Items such as eggs are never refrigerated here.  That may be part of the reason I am spending so much time in the bathroom.

My room!  If it wasn't for the fan, I would probably be back in Chicago.  On the first night, I had no fan and I thought I was going to die.  It is so hot and humid in Mombasa, even during the night, that I woke up drenched in sweat.  My pillow soaked up so much sweat that it took 2 days to dry after the first night.  When I asked my host parents to take me to buy a fan, they thought it was funny that I couldn't sleep because it was too hot and said Americans are too "weak".

Sink in the hallway.  Contrary to popular belief in the US, they do have running water in Kenya.  Although there are 2 knobs on the sink, no hot water really comes out. 

The throne.  I have spent a lot of time here while I was "adjusting" to the food.  It flushes and works like a modern toilet in the US.  I actually think it may be considerably more powerful than a US toilet.  I have never seen a single toilet in Kenya clogged or backed up.  

They even have toilet paper here in Kenya!  On a side note, I think my host family thinks I use too much toilet paper.  They give me the "not again" look each time I ask for more toilet paper for my bathroom.  Like I said before, I have spent a lot of time on the toilet "adjusting" to the food here.

Shower room.  Just like the sink, there are 2 knobs, but both only spit out cold water.  I don't think there is any hot water here in Kenya except at the resorts.

View from my balcony.  I don't think there are any property zoning laws here.  Outside (by outside, I mean within several feet) the new and modern subdivision I live in, there are many tin shacks and mud huts that have no electricity or running water.  Sometimes when I take walks around my neighborhood I see many children crowding around a public faucet collecting water to take back to their homes.

This also seems to apply to the even nicer parts of Mombasa.  In the neighborhood of Nyali, which is a short distance from where I live and where many famous and wealthy people like Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones and Middle Eastern oil tycoons live, some of the worst slums in Mombasa exist.  When I inquired why this is the case, the response that I received was that the servants of these wealthy people need to live close to the homes they work in.  While this makes some sense, I don't believe this is the complete reason why slums are next to multi-million dollar mansions...

Some more homes and stores right outside my home.  The difference in the "niceness" of these neighborhoods and my subdivision is astonishing.  These homes do not have electricity or running water.  I have been told by my host parents to not walk in this area 2 blocks away from their home after dark because there is a good possibility I could be robbed.  On the rare occasion I walk by at night, I can see the candles dimly lighting these homes while the children play in the dirty water in the drain along the side of the street.