When Darlene and I go somewhere and meet other people, I always introduce her as my wife.  Pretty obvious thing to do. In Kenya, however, I have had other men point out to me that in Kenya men prefer  to not introduce themselves as married, and don't mention that they have a wife. This does not apply to all Kenyan relationships of course, but I have been surprised by the prevalence of such behavior in the circles I have run in.

For example, there seems to be a belief, particularly from women, that men are going to be fooling around and that is simply that. So when Darlene went to DRC for her nine day trip, I was asked by fellow staff members, so are you going to stay faithful? They asked this question with a mischievous look as if they were in on my little secret. Of course my answer was that I was going to stay faithful. I told them the only mango (the word our friends use meaning sweetheart) I was going to see while Darlene was away was Travis. They laughed and started a conversation about homosexuality.

When I tell people I am going to stay faithful there are followup questions, but do you ever wish you married someone else? Or are you comfortable with having just one wife? And my favorite, have you ever beaten your wife? To which I reply in the order they were asked, No, Yes, and She beats me.  I cannot claim to know the reason these questions are asked. I do wonder, though, about the state of romantic relationships in Kenya, and whether the people who have asked me these questions ask out of experience. Sociologists, please book the next flight to Nairobi.

I bring this topic up today because Darlene and I have decided to climb Mt. Kenya (to a summit of over 16,000 feet baby!) for our time off before we leave. I emailed a potential guide telling him my wife and I have been working in Nairobi for the last couple of months and are interested in trekking to Point Lenana. The man responded with what a fully booked tour would include saying (exact text from email), fully board is ,what you have do is just walking and take photo and enjoy buy your wife all your girl friend. I don't know if he means "buy your wife all your girlfriend", or "buy your wife or your girlfriend." It's probably something more along the lines of "what you have to do is just walk and enjoy being with your wife or girlfriend." 

But why the part about a girlfriend since I already told him I had a wife? Hopefully, if we do book him as our guide, he won't also charge us for my fictional girlfriend.