Fun little African finds.

Today, I ventured out with a friend. I definitely needed to get out of the house. My friend, Cathy, was going to this glass blowing factory called Kitengela. I hopped along for the ride. And quite the ride it was! It was seriously in the middle of nowhere. At one point, Cathy pointed out the window and said "Look at the horizon over there, its Nairobi!" I squinted my eyes and could just see trees, dirt, and dust. "No...look further!" And sure enough...we were FAR from Nairobi! We had left the city life behind and were driving through land that looked like a scene from the Lion King...minus the animation, of course. To further the point of how far out there we were, as I looked out my window, there were zebras, antelope, and baboons! I couldn't believe it...we weren't even in a safari park, but these animals were just roaming around! I was really hoping we wouldn't run into any wild hungry lions out there!

Ever since I moved into the house, I've been searching for cheap ways to decorate. One thing I was thinking of buying was some glass jars and somehow tying twine around the rim and hanging them up with flowers. Well, I walked into the bargain part of the glass store and looked above my head, and there they were. Flower vases with leather string tied around the rim to hold flowers! Even better than I was imagining! I practiced quite a lot of swahili with the glass blower to try to get the best price possible. I ended up with 8 of these hanging vases and he threw in one for free! I already cut flowers from my back yard and hung them all up on all the random nails in my house...amazingly there were 8 nails already in the downstairs wall which left one vase for above my kitchen sink!

(Aren't they beautiful?)

I was going to the grocery store yesterday and stopped by the market. I've been looking for a lamp shade for my ceiling light but hadn't found one thats caught my eye. In the market, I found this woman who makes these really sweet looking ceiling lamp shades. From what I understand, she dips twine into colored glue and wraps it around a balloon and leaves it to set and dry. Once dry, she pops the balloon and then you have a really cool looking lampshade! I found a blue one that totally completes my bedroom!

(More pictures of the house is on the way, but not till the house is finished)

The other African find that I wanted to share with you is kinda silly, but I thought it was fun. Check out their bananas! I put an egg next to the bunch just so you get an idea of the size. I laughed when I saw them because it seemed like even fruits are going for the smaller "100 calorie pack" sizes.