Note for the folks at home: Greetings in Kenya are an important social mechanism. Copious "how are you?" questions are necessary: "How is your day?" "How are your children?" "What type of day are you having?" "How is work?" "Which news do you have?" "Are you well?" Fortunately, all of these questions can and must be answered with some version of: "Fine." What might be considered Small Talk in America is a large portion of all communication in Kenya. Additionally, handshakes are required. Because hugs are almost completely absent, handshakes, as the only form of person-to-person physical contact available to Kenyans, have the potential to be long, drawn-out affairs, more akin to prolonged hand-holding in the eyes of a foreigner.
