Kijabe - Place of the Wind

Today I went down to what they call the "Dukas" (DOOK-ahs). The Dukas are a little shopping area in Kijabe. There's the "Super Duka," of course, the vegetable ladies, the "Pride of Africa" store, and a few others... including a very iffy looking butchery. There's a Kenyan woman who works in the RVA library -- Olive is her name -- who told me that greetings are very important to Kenyans. So I was careful to greet the owner of each shop I entered. So Courtney and I walked into the Zebra Duka ("Pride of Africa"), and I introduced myself to Thenya. I asked how she was doing and asked about her husband and so on... anyway, in the course of the morning, I also met Sarah, Mary, and a few of the beloved "vegetable ladies." Buying a card, some potatoes, a pineapple, and two of the smallest green peppers I've ever seen, then, took over an hour, but I met some wonderful people. :) We bumped into the Browns, who were also picking up a few "quick" things.

The pineapples are incredible here! I hear they're even better in Uganda.

Today I wore shorts for the first time since I've been here. I was only able to wear them for an hour, though, before I put long pants back on. Ms. Mary, whom I met at the Super Duka ("Supa Duka!") couldn't believe that where I come from, August is the hottest month of the year. Anyway, it was a pretty warm day, and I'm getting used to the wind. The wind is a constant here. During the day, it's kind of a restless breeze, and at night it's a bit stronger. But the air is never still. I heard an old African proverb today: "The dust of Africa you can never wipe from your shoes." My shoes are quite dusty.

Last night, some of the "young people" got together to play games. We played a game called Farkle. Why it's called Farkle, I don't know, but there it is. It made me laugh a lot. It's a dice game, and you start with 6 dice. Each time you roll, you set aside scoring dice and re-roll the remaining dice until you either stop or have a roll that contains no scoring dice. A completely non-scoring roll is called a "farkle." Sometimes the dice would get stuck in the little dice canister from which we rolled, and someone inevitably would make a comment about squeezing that farkle out. We also had farkling all over the table, farkling in front of everyone, etc. etc. Needless to say, we all demonstrated our maturity. :)

I have had one meltdown, however. Tuesday morning, I was so excited to have slept so well, I made myself a big breakfast. When I checked my email, though, I realized that Charles and I had missed each other because of a couple of emails that got lost in cyberspace. Anyway, everything sort of built up at once... the new place, the distance from him and from my family and from my friends, the feeling of not quite understanding how things work here... but God is faithful, and I have to keep laying it all at His feet. Every day. And He takes care of me. Every day.

At any rate, I'm meeting and getting to know some wonderful people. :) And! Praise the Lord! I'm breathing and sleeping through the night. :D Do keep me in your prayers, though.

Karibu Sana - Welcome Home

The house where I'm living for the next three months belongs to the Fasses (fah-sees). It's a very nice house, except for the fact that there's no heater. None of the houses here have heaters. We all have either wood stoves or fireplaces. This one has a wood stove, which heats the seating room... and nowhere else. Some nights are really cold, but most aren't too bad. I have 4 or 5 blankets on my bed, though, so I've been fine. The kitchen has everything I could possibly need, and I even have the distinct privelege of having a washer. The dryer is here, but it's broken... so I'll be using the lines out back.

Unfortunately, the house also came with a cat. His name is TO, which stands for Totally Obnoxious. As much as a cat person as I am, this cat drives me crazy! He is almost never quiet, and he likes to hang out right around your feet. When I put him outside, he finds the window nearest where I am and sits in the sil and just cries and cries and cries! Bless his heart.

My first night in Kenya, Nancy and John Nelson graciously had me over for dinner. Also in attendance were Sarah (the second grade teacher) the Browns -- Tim and Laura -- and the five Nelson children: Leah, Caleb, Addy, Hannah, and Emily. Leah, the oldest, is eleven, and Emily is four. It was quite a party! We had enchiladas ("Enchadas!!" -Emily) for dinner, of all things! So at that point, I had eaten pancakes, a bagel, and enchilladas... in Kenya. Very exotic. Anyway, Emily asked me to sit next to her at dinner, which was extremely cute. And now, every time I see any of the Nelson girls, they run up and hug me. They know no strangers. :)

After dinner, we played Old Maid, Trouble, Monopoly Junior, and Snorta. I had never played Snorta -- go figure -- but it's a pretty fun game. :) You choose an animal from the bag, make its animal sound, and then hide it in your lil plastic barn. Then, if the cards you flip up (in turn) matches someone else's you have to say his/her animal sound before he says yours. We played on the floor, of course, and it was quite humorous. We also played Boggle Junior, but by Emily's rules, so I'm not sure if that counts. Anyway, the sun was down just before 7pm, and before 8, I thought I was going to pass out! So we left fairly eary, by US standards. I found out, though, that "Missionary Midnight" is 9pm. Makes sense.

After dinner I went to the Cooks and used their Internet for a few minutes. I watched some of the Olympics with them on one of their greatly-envied three channels, and they made sure I had enough fire wood for the night. They're such great hosts! (Your "host" here is someone who sort of makes sure that you get settled and that you learn your way around.) I think Mr. Cook actually came and made the fire for me. :)

That night I didn't sleep at all. I didn't know the altitude (RVA is at about 7,200 ft.) would affect me so much. I woke up at least once an hour, and I just couldn't breath. I finally got up at about 8:30, feeling like a complete failure. I was so scared I'd have to go home! I took a cool shower -- I didn't know the water needed twenty minutes to warm up after you turn on the water heater -- and got to prayin... I was really scared. On the phone with Charles the night before, I kept telling him I'd be fine and that my cough would get better, but it just got worse and worse. I finally decided to head up to the Cooks' house. They had told me to come up whenever I got up so that Ms. Bonnie could show me around. Their house is four houses from mine -- close houses -- and I thought I was gonna die on the walk over there. I couldn't get enough oxygen, so my muscles didn't wanna work. I felt like my two-pound purse was choking me, and my legs felt like lead. Anyway, I sat and talked and had coffee with the Cooks, and Mr. Cook set up the internet on my laptop. By the time Mrs. Cook (Ms. Bonnie) took me for a tour, the air had warmed and I was feeling much better about my breathing. :)

Safari Njena - good journey

The journey from DC to Nairobi is a long one... I left Aug 20, and that day I woke up excited and feeling quite ready to get to Kenya. I finished some last-minute packing and was just kinda hangin' around with my Mom. About a half-hour before we needed to leave, she came in to get my ring from me... it hadn't left my finger since Charles slipped it on in May. We decided it was best for me not to be flashing my diamond in a third-world country, so it had to stay behind. Anyway, I took it off, and I kinda fell to pieces for awhile. I started praying, though, and I kinda felt God saying to me, "you're not leaving Charles in a box in Virginia. It's just the symbol of a truth that it cannot change." So I picked myself up, plopped myself down on my suitcase, zipped it up, and headed to the airport. :)

Dad wasn't happy with me on the ride to the airport. I didn't have a real back-up plan if the people from Mayfield Guest House didn't pick me up from the Nairobi airport. And... don't tell him... but he kinda had a point, there. So we determined that I'd get a cab to the US Embassy if the Mayfield people didn't show. Anyway, Mom n' Dad took me to the airport and told me goodbye. It was tough... but I knew it would all be ok. :) I dunno why, I just kinda know.

The flight to London was not very good. It left DC at about 7pm and arrived in London at about 6:15am or so, I think, their time. I didn't sleep at all during the flight. I think I really annoyed the lady who was sitting next to me, too. I kept taking pictures! hahaha! The airline food was pretty good, though! British Airways is none too shabby in that department. :) You should've seen the difference between the crowded masses in coach class and the elite members of first class and "Club sumthin-er-other" up front. Gracious... first class had these huge recliner seats with about 4 feet of leg room, divider walls -- every other seat was backwards, which made for good conversation position if you wanted to talk. Anyway, the coach class was pretty crowded, even for a lil person like me. The flight staff were very nice, though, and I enjoyed listening to them talk. :)

The London airport is fascinating! It was really easy to point out the Europeans and the Americans. I'm not sure why.... but it was easy. It seems like Europeans are much more comfortable in their skin. For example, the airport bars, at 7am were already packed. No one was ashamed hahaha! But they have a good system over in Terminal 4. They don't post your gate until about an hour before your flight leaves, so you have plenty of time to spend all your money there, and they can send more flights with fewer gates, it seems. But! Because the climate is so cool there, they don't have air conditioning, and in some parts of that crowded airport... they really needed it. :-\ Also, the symbol for the ladies room was funny, I thought. She had real slim shoulders and then, at the waist, BAM! Wow... she's a hippie kinda symbol. But I suppose that doesn't matter....

I got coffee and a muffin at Heathrow airport... it was so sad! I gave the lady $20, I got 5 pounds back. On the receipt it showed me that twenty US dollars is about 9 pounds. Isn't that awful? I also kinda felt like everywhere I went, people were looking at me like, "stupid American." It could've been because I was taking pictures of everything, though.

The flight to Nairobi was great. :) I sat next to a really sweet Kenyan lady who talked to me whenever I was awake. :) I slept a good deal on that flight, thank goodness. She talked about how skewed the Olympics are in the States -- how they only really show events that the US is strong in, so she didn't get to see much Kenyan action. But, having seen the Olympics in Kenya now, it makes me laugh to think of the way she talked. :) They're way more biased here! hahaha! The Kenyan announcers are hilarious! They're so not subtle... and anyway, they really only show events where Africa is well represented. I understand, though. So far, Kenya's leading Africa in medals! :) Yay, Kenya!!!

Anyway, my seatmate, Winnie, gave me her contact info. She lives in Nairobi.

So I got to Nairobi... I could hardly believe it! I got into the airport and got my Visa taken care of. The man at the counter was really nice, and I enjoyed talking with him for a few minutes. The baggage claim was nothing like in the States! Hahahahaha! There was a conveyer belt, but it wasn't really doin' much! There were just piles and piles of luggage, and a few airport workers sort of shifting it here and there, "helping." hahaha! But they had nice carts for free for us to use. I used one, of course, because I had two 40-lb suitcases! Which! By the way (if my parents are reading this) were, according to the locals, just two little pieces. They were expecting me to bring a lot more. :P Overpacking, my foot!

A couple of men from Mayfield Guest House were waiting for me at the airport. One of them was Kenyan, and he works at the guest house. His name is Alexander, but at first I thought he said Nicholas... which gives you an idea of how thick his accent is. Bless his heart, I was trying so hard to understand him! He was very friendly and talkative... it takes a lil while to get used to the accent. It's beautiful, though! Anyway, Alexander went to get the van because he didn't want us walking through the parking lot at night.

The roads here are crazy! Potholes are the least of your worries out here! The road randomly changes like... height, I guess you'd call it, so there are huge bumps for no reason! Crazy, crazy... and there are no lines. Noooooo, no. It doens't seem to bother the locals, though, so I try to look at the scenery so I don't have a heart attack! There's lots to see... lots of 11-passenger taxi vans called Matatus, I think. Maybe it's Mtatus, but Americans just have trouble with the "mt" sound. Anyway, those drivers have no fear. Alexander is a very good driver, though, and we got to the guest house safely.

I'm finding that Kenyans never let you carry anything. :) Two men came out to carry my luggage when we got to the guest house. It was so nice. ;) The guest house was nice, too. Very, very clean. In the morning, we had a short devotion on Psalm 131 and then pancakes. I sat with what, to me, was the closest thing to the "young, single crowd." I met some girls who were short-term missionaries in Kenya. Their moms and sybllings were visiting, and we had a nice time hanging out. :) After breakfast, we had to clear out our rooms, and then were just kinda hangin' around, swapping stories, reading, etc. I met a Kenyan man named Shadrack. Just when I was being invited to play Texas Hold 'Em, Bonnie and Carolyn walked in looking for me. :) They're two teachers at RVA, and they took me shopping at Takumatt, which is kind of like the Kenyan WalMart. Neat place. I love the smells of Nairobi! Smells like fresh vegetables, animals, and dirt. There's kind of a thin layer of dust over everything here. I think it's because it's so windy.

Anyway, we went to Nakumatt, then to Java House for lunch. I had a bagel with cream cheese n' salmon on it. So... no African food yet. :\ Then we went to Zuccini's for fresh produce. RVA "people" get a discount there. :) They have some crazy-lookin' fruits n' veggies in Kenya! The bananas are wonderful, though, and the mangoes. mmm-MM!

We finally left Nairobi to head to Kijabe. It's about an hour or so drive. The roads were terrible, of course. We drove down THE highway in Kenya. I found out men pee on the side of the highway, in front of God n' everyone, in Kenya. Also, at different points along the road, the Kenyan police have checks set up where they check random cars. They put two HUGE rows of spikes in the road so that people have to slow way down and zig between them. We didn't get checked, but I thought for sure we'd hit one and blow a tire.

We passed a lot of livestock along the roads. Sheep, cows, chickens... And alongside the matatus, Toyotas, and Mercedes were donkey carts and people walking, carrying loads on their backs. We passed some of the slums outside Nairobi. Not good places to be after dark... it was hard to see, though.

Anyway, we finally got to RVA, but I'm not totally unpacked yet. :) I have a very nice place to live for the next three months, and the house came with a very obnoxious cat... but anyway... more of that later. :) Sorry this blog became so long!