Although in many ways Kenya is a very modern country, you get almost anything you can get in they US or Finland, it many ways it is also like going to back to when we were kids.
When you go to a grocery store you can buy milk in plastic bags and triangle shaped cartons. I have no clue what the benefit is, as more often than not you see them break or leak. The candy section is filled with P.K. and Juicy Fruit chewing gums and tic tacs among the more global candy like Mars, twix or Cadbury's chocolate. Soft drinks like Coca Cola are predominantly sold in glass bottles, and in fact I saw an ad where they were promoting the benefits of the new plastic bottle. By the way, Coca Cola tastes better here. I don't know why that is, maybe it is the local real sugar they use to make it.
I already wrote in my previous blog how mail is not delivered into your home, but you have to rent a P.O Box in the local post office and then collect it from there. Stamps of course are the good old kind that you lick, you can't find the nowadays more common sticker stamps. Also, when you send a letter abroad you have to remember to lick and stick a blue 'Kenya Airways Par Avion' note on it.
Although in Finland almost all bills are paid online, cheques are still used in many places. Same thing in Kenya, you use them to pay the bills as well as to withdraw money from your account and online banking is available, nothing special here. What reminds of the really old days that some bills you have to pay in person at the service providers office or at the post office. For example I can't pay electricity bill online but have to take cash there in person.
It is refreshing to see kids still play outside. Not with game consoles but with what ever they can find. Seeing kids pushing a wheel with a stick or playing soccer and other games is very common.
Service, although sometimes a bit on the slow side, is available in most places. For example if I need to fill up my car I don't have to do it myself. An attendant will do that for you, and while waiting for the tank to fill up he usually washes the windows and checks the oil and water if needed. I don't think I've seen that this millenium elsewhere.
It is nice to see things that used to be, on one hand it reminds us that change is constant and inevitable and on the other hand it offers an opportunity to remember how things used to be 'the good old days'
When you go to a grocery store you can buy milk in plastic bags and triangle shaped cartons. I have no clue what the benefit is, as more often than not you see them break or leak. The candy section is filled with P.K. and Juicy Fruit chewing gums and tic tacs among the more global candy like Mars, twix or Cadbury's chocolate. Soft drinks like Coca Cola are predominantly sold in glass bottles, and in fact I saw an ad where they were promoting the benefits of the new plastic bottle. By the way, Coca Cola tastes better here. I don't know why that is, maybe it is the local real sugar they use to make it.
I already wrote in my previous blog how mail is not delivered into your home, but you have to rent a P.O Box in the local post office and then collect it from there. Stamps of course are the good old kind that you lick, you can't find the nowadays more common sticker stamps. Also, when you send a letter abroad you have to remember to lick and stick a blue 'Kenya Airways Par Avion' note on it.
Although in Finland almost all bills are paid online, cheques are still used in many places. Same thing in Kenya, you use them to pay the bills as well as to withdraw money from your account and online banking is available, nothing special here. What reminds of the really old days that some bills you have to pay in person at the service providers office or at the post office. For example I can't pay electricity bill online but have to take cash there in person.
It is refreshing to see kids still play outside. Not with game consoles but with what ever they can find. Seeing kids pushing a wheel with a stick or playing soccer and other games is very common.
Service, although sometimes a bit on the slow side, is available in most places. For example if I need to fill up my car I don't have to do it myself. An attendant will do that for you, and while waiting for the tank to fill up he usually washes the windows and checks the oil and water if needed. I don't think I've seen that this millenium elsewhere.
It is nice to see things that used to be, on one hand it reminds us that change is constant and inevitable and on the other hand it offers an opportunity to remember how things used to be 'the good old days'
No comments:
Post a Comment