33 Things we all thing about...

Wherever I go, the natives want to know about the other places I come from.  In fact, while hanging out at the resale market this recently, I had a conversation about the differences between Chicagoland area, Kenya, and Toliara, which prompted the table below. I hope you find it as fascinating as I do.  

Compare and Contrast

	Wheaton, IL	Nairobi, Kenya	Toliara, Madagascar
Location	1 hour from a LAKE and O’Hare	1 hr. south of the Rift Valley, 20 minutes from the Airport	ON the Mozambique channel in the Indian Ocean
Elevation	748′	5,889′	26’
Geography	Flat and Green	Hilly and Green	Desert
Weather in April	Spring	Rainy (officially summer, but that’s not a word they use)	Dry, cooling down
Temperatures	You tell me	74 F, 61 C	They use Celcius but no one has a thermometer.  Hot and Humid
Trees	Oak, Maple, Apple	For sure, just not sure which kinds	Coconut, Banana, and Mango
Native Animals	Squirrels, Geese	Monkeys, Giraffes, Elephants, Rhinos	Lemurs, Flying Cockroaches’, Geckos
Cows	Yes	Yes	With humps
Sheep	Yes	Yes	Not many
Horses	Yes	Yes	I’ve seen one
Goats	Nope	Its what’s for lunch	Yep
Geese	Yes	to eat	Not in toliara, but rich people eat in it in the north
Rats	Some Maybe	?	Big ones
Beautiful Birds	Totally	And big ones too	Some little ones
Mosquitoes	In the summer	When it rains (low risk of Malaria because of the elevation)	When it rains, but with the possibility of them all year round
Bugs	Spiders	Centipedes, Ticks	Fleas
Dog and Cats	Mostly in doors	Outdoor	Dogs outside, cats in and out doors.
Languages in order	English, Congolese,  Russian, Spanish, Chin…	Swahili, English	Malagasy, French, English
Buildings	With lots of stories	Many tall buildings	Only as high as two stories
Houses	Made of lots of stuff	Mostly Cement	Tin, Wood, Palms, Cement
Roads	Four Lanes, Stop Lights	Four lanes, underpasses, roundabouts	One lane, mostly paved
Transport	Everyone has a car, haha	Walking, Busses, Motor Bikes, Cars	Walking, Bicycle, PousPous, a few cars, Boats (for fisherman)
Breakfast	Whatever you want	The same, Boiled Eggs and Sausage	Hot water soup, maybe left over rice, if you’re rich donuts and tea.
Lunch	Sandwiches	The big meal of the day: Maze, Greens, Fried Bread, Goat	The big meal of Rice, meat and a veggie.  Sweet potato soup if you’re poor
Dinner	The big meal of the day: Spaghetti	I’m not sure – left over lunch maybe	Rice soup, maybe eggs
Grocery Stores	The way most people buy food	Yes, and road side markets	Mostly covered markets, with small grocery stores owned by foreigners and one large grocery store.
Electronics	Everyone has a computer and a phone	Everyone has a phone and access to a computer	Most people have a phone, they can pay to use the internet or a computer when needed
Electricity	Everyone pays for Electricity	Most people have electricity. It goes off for 20 minutes turning a storm.	The wealthy people have electricity, and it too goes off during hot weather or a storm.  Often for not longer than 30 minutes.
Running Water	Everyone pays for water and owns a boiler or two in their house for hot water	Mayfield has it, but I don’t know about others	Even the wealthy don’t always have running water in their homes.  Hot water is rare.
Clean water	Clean water is free at restaurants	It still has to be filtered from the tap although the government adds chemicals to try to clean it in the pipes	Everyone pays for water so some live without much water and go without showers especially if they can wash in the ocean.
Speech	Direct and to the point	Often posed as a question.  Rarely starting with “I.”	Passive
Employment	People can have more than one job and even a side business, but self-employment has requirements by the government.	People only have one job, but self employment is not a problem, however you may not make much that way.	Many people don’t have jobs.  They are often self-employed or have an overhead cost.  In general they make very little.  Wealthy people sell several different products .
Income	Estimated median household income in 2013: $85,234	Average Monthly Salary: 159,722 KES which is $15,972	A rough estimate for the monthly salary is $129.