Entertainment Consumed in Kenya

Thought it may be time for a non-humanitarian post.


Just back from an excellent run 1;10 Sunday morning run, joined a boy named Marcel for a couple kilometres, he was late for church and did not speak,just answered my 2 questions breathlessly.


Just found out about a huge international cross country meet in Eldoret (3 hours from here by bus), with lots of Kip Keino's athletes competing- today! If only I had another days notice. Lots of international stars, Indias team for example, are going to test their legs here after a couple months of pre Olympic training in Kenya. I'll have to go seeking autographs when I get there; I would think for the next few months the running superstars will be buzzing around.

They are fixing the roads near Nairobi so that the Kenyan hopefuls can train on London-like roads,because the Swiss cheese tarmac and dry-riverbed roads that are the norm here are not conducive for training.


Kinda funny to go bed 11am your(home) time, then wake up at 6:30pm your time. The internet keeps us quite connected to home,mentally.  There's no TV here worth watching.  The news , on 3 channels that we get, is a commentator reading the newspaper  most of the time. Lots of soap operas and music videos shot in video. About 5% of homes have TV and the stations are no doubt govt-run.  Virtually zero commercials.

So far I have 'read' (audiobooks) Ayn Rands "Atlas Shrugged", Bart Ehrman's "Jesus Interrupted" and Christopher Hitchen's "Hitch 22".  They were all great.  There is something intriguing about listening to atheist audiobooks while rubbing elbows with the most intense Christians I have ever met. 

Tanya and I are watching "Prison Break" at night.  There are many episodes.  The story is dumb, ugly and the acting is mediocre.  But there is something sedating about zoning out on US drama-action after seeing so much real-life chronic, tedious drama of poverty all day.

I am about a 1/4 of the way through Tolstoys' "War and Peace".  It is excellent.mostly because it was written in 1860 about 1805.  I just cannot get over how cool that is.  Being in Kenya where so many people walk and have not travelled more than 5km from their hut in their entire lives brings it home.  Many people living out in the rural area lead very quiet, slow lives, much like a Russian peasant from 200 years ago I imagine.  Checking Wikipedia I have now read, in my life, 5 of the top 20 longest novels ever written.