What is wrong with this picture?

Not Eli’s cheesy grin, or Lucy’s monkey face.

Not the lack of carseats…temporarily removed Erika, we ARE using them.

Look deeper.

 

You’re never too old for….

Plastacin.

That’s the name that has been given to the Playdoh the staff worked on making from scratch at the Centre.

We’re working hard to keep costs down and to maximize materials for the kids.

Megan got the project started, and she quickly had the attention of all of the Centre teaching staff who were incredibly curious as to what she was making.  In no time at all, they had all jumped in and were making their own batches:

In no time at all, an entire collection of playdoh had been made:

It is nice for the staff to be able to do some fun things together.  Here they proudly posed with their creations:

 

And then Ian had a little fun:

 

Mission: Denied.

Last week Ian got to leave mid day for a meeting in Nairobi and then hopefully to pick up Megan from the airport.

Since her plane was delayed, so was  he, and he just hadto spend the night in Nairobi at the home of friends.   He called me that night to check in on me and the kids.  He was calling from the middle of a movie where he was on a “Man Date”.   Cruel.  Simply.  Not only was he alone without the rugrats in the metropolis of Nairobi, but, he had free time and was watching big screen entertainment!   I wished him well and knew that some day my turn would come.

My turn came yesterday.  We got word that it was time to visit the Nyayo House to complete paperwork for Megan’s alien card.  Sweet!   We tacked on some errands for the Centre that needed to be completed in Nairobi and were off!

Nyayo House is not an exciting place to visit in itself. Thanks to expathousewifeinNairobi you can see that it  looks like this on the outside:

and the inside is dark, and gloomy and filled with the smell of way to many bodies in desperate need of a shower.  There are long lines (longer yet if you don’t bring an extra copy of your passport and you have to go hunting around town for a copy machine),  lots of sitting here and there, and the final signal to the end of the process:  undergoing fingerprinting like you are being booked in the county jail.

Anyhow, along with the work errands that needed to be run, Megan and I decided to pop into a beauty salon I’d been tipped off to in the first week of my arrival to see if they might happen to be able to squeeze us in.

They were.

And it was pure heaven.  I haven’t enjoyed a pedicure in a while, and this one was especially sweet and necessary.  This Kenyan dust and dirt is doing some serious damage to  my poor feet….which my pedicurist reiterated time and time again throughout her multiple bouts of rubbing an enormously large pumice stone over my foot.  She went on to prescribe that I no longer wear flip flops and switch to tennis shoes or closed shoes.  I’ll opt for the closed shoes.   Shoes are pretty cheap and cute here any how, and if I’m being told that I am doing permanent damage to my feet by not having proper shoes, well then the only responsible thing for me to do is to do some serious shoe shopping.

For the health of my feet of course.

Anyhow, this story ends with us waking early, driving into downtown Nairobi, chatting with our immigration liaison and deciding to meet at the amazing Java House for coffee.

It’s not this one, but this is what they generally look like outside.  A bit like Starbucks actually but with red umbrellas and logos.  http://www.nairobijavahouse.com/

I had a cafe latte, Megan had a green tea.  And then we waited patiently for our  immigration expert to arrive.

We waited a long time, and had 2 unanswered phone calls.  We were about ready to give up when I received an odd call saying the woman who we had just talked to, and who was on her way to meet us, had taken very ill, could not walk, and was being taken to the hospital.

Guess that means we won’t be doing immigration today?

I called Ian to tell him and his response was, “That’s Kenya.”

We’ll give it a go another day.  In the meantime, Megan better behave, cause she’s not really a legal alien yet.

 

And this would be?

So on Friday after the program let out I took Megan in to the Makongeni market with me to do a little veggie shopping. She had been to the market previously with Ian, but on an off day…one with very few vendors and a crazy man screaming at them that they didn’t belong here in Africa, and to go back home. Not a great first market experience.

We walked to the market to avoid all of the trouble taking a car into the market can cause, and were there in no time. It is just a little bit across Garissa Road from the Karibu Centre. We made a short side trip to the post office to pay the electricity bill (which costs pretty much the same as in the States) and then entered through the main market gate.

It didn’t take long to find the vendors with pineapple, avocados, carrots and tomatos and then I convinced Megan to browse the purse and clothing vendors with me. We thought this purse would be perfect for her:

　

So did the vendor.

After browsing the clothing and not finding anything, we turned home. We decided to take the back path from the market to the Makongeni Police Station that allows one to miss most of the Garissa Road traffic. On the way I enjoyed seeing Megan’s face as we passed the various butchers with entire carcasses hanging in their windows. Then we saw a man cooking what looked like sausages on a grill.

It wasn’t readily apparent what kind of sausages they were. I think he said they were pork or beef. I really can’t remember because all I could see were the huge chunks inside of them. No Jimmy Dean sausage here.

I dared Megan to eat some. She took my dare. I didn’t really think she’d agree, and then I was stuck!

This is what we were faced with eating, I wish I’d gotten a picture of the sausage before the butcher made these slices:

Then I figured that if I said, “No, you go first!” that Megan would chicken out and we wouldn’t have to eat them.

She didn’t. Here’s the proof:

　

I couldn’t believe that she popped the whole thing in her mouth at one time. Then I had to pony up and eat one too. It looked worse than it tasted. Mostly, it tasted like salt. I’m not usually a chewed gum saver, but in this case we had both saved our gum so we could quickly pop it in to rid our mouths of the taste.

Phew, am I glad that’s over! That’s about as close as I’m getting to Fear Factor.

　

 

Free gift with purchase

Or perhaps better titled, “Things That are Not Safe for Children: Part 3″

Ian picked up some diapers for Lucy the other evening at the store as she has still is holding out from being a “big girl”.  She is something.  This girl bargains.  She tells me, “When all the diapers are gone, then I’ll wear panties!”  But then I remind her that panties means that she is going in the toilet and then she attempts to strike a new deal.   She has won so far as she seems to have no qualms letting loose wherever she is…including at the dinner table.

This is what he picked up for me:

free gift with purchase

Not any knife.  It’s a combination tool.  Serrated blade, bottle opener, peeler, and knife.   Quite random taped onto a pack of diapers.  We took it over and added it to the Karibu kitchen.

While we’re on the “Things that are not safe for Children” them, here’s another:

 

Yeh, it’s a little hard to tell, but that’s a swing that kids in the Kiandutu slum here in Thika have made out of a live power line.  They’re just getting power for the first time there, so  they don’t quite know what to make of it, or rather, what they shouldn’t make of it.

 

Karibu Megan!

In about October or November last year we found out that a fellow Portlander, Megan Steele, would be joining us here in Kenya. We met for dinner a few times in December and beyond, got to know one another (and our kids), and all made our predictions about our actual VISA approval dates and departure dates for Kenya.

Megan was the most optimistic. She guessed that our VISAs would come through in March and that we’d leave I think by the end of April. Ian said VISA’s in April, leave in May. I hedged my bets & was hoping to finish my school year at work so I bet that the VISA’s would get issued in June and we’d leave in July.

Megan was right about our VISAs and arrival. I was more right about hers. It has been a long couple of months for her….waiting, waiting as she hears and sees the things we were experiencing over here…wanting to be a part yet unable.

Well, she finally arrived yesterday after a very delayed and tumultuous plane route. She said there were blessings though for every negative. Getting bumped to first class on 2 of the 4 (actually the longest) legs of the journey isn’t bad, not bad at all.

She was pleasantly surprised by the size and heat of our shower and has settled right in….except for the spider sightings. Lucy and Eli didn’t help when they told her there might be some in her bed too. Megan was thoughtful enough to bring some heavy duty fly swatters over as a gift to us (and one for herself). We gave them a good work out last night on the 3 spiders we promptly found in the short journey from our living room, through the hallway to the guestbedroom. After the excitement of spider squishing (Eli was thrilled this morning to show his technique by the way), Megan informed me that she was too afraid to leave her clothes out in the open where they might be invaded, so she slept the night away curled up in a ball inside her bug net with her entire wardrobe squished securely at the foot of her bed.

Welcome to Kenya Megan! No truly, we are so happy to have her here safe and sound. It is nice to have someone familiar around.

 

Perspective

There are things daily that frustrate us.

Computers, waylaid plans, people who don’t do what we expect or want, whinning kids.

I was just reminded of what is truly important though…..not by anything an particular, but just one of those moments, probably the whispering of the Holy Spirit.

What is important:
Our loved ones, particularly communicating in some way that they are important and valued. By us and by God.

Finding the time to set aside the frustrations, taking a breathe, and just taking a moment to soak in all of the things that do go right.

To all of you, thank you for:
Your prayers
Your encouragement
Sharing humor with us
Doting us with cards and packages
What you do to support Orphans Overseas or the Salvation Army and in turn these people surrounding us
Living life a little more dangerously

 

One stop shopping

This is a short post, but I had to share my horror or perhaps laughter???

My house help Esther asked if we could stop on the way to her house at the dentist so she could get some medicine for her son who just had a tooth extracted.

I waited in the car while she ran and got it in Mokongeni.

She returned, hopped in the car and we were off.

As we drove, she pointed out the building where the dentist practiced.   Then she added:

He does dental work, and circumcision too.

I turned to her aghast, and explained that in the States those two things would never be practiced together.

Seemed perfectly normal to her. 

A new business concept?

Trust me, there really weren’t any appropriate pictures for circumcision.  Try a google image search yourself.

 

HP Computer: 2 Ian and Anne: 0

If you’ve been reading this blog for awhile, you’ll remember that we had to buy a new laptop in March, and then immediately had problems with it.  If you can’t remember, here’s a refresher:  http://mayfamily.wordpress.com/2009/03/07/sometimes-technology-isnt-all-that/.

We”ve been doing pretty well with the computer after the HP chick in India stripped and completely reinstalled the operating system…..until this week.

That feared message of  there being an error with the hard drive & the warning to back everything up before it is forever lost came up.

We bought the warranty for this computer.  (Hah!!! The Hard Drive warning message just popped up again!!!)  They (Best Buy) assured us it would be covered all around the world.  Upon clarification when we had problems, well…….They would pay for it, after we took it to a warranted dealer/distributor and then sent them copies of the bill and warranty.  What is it about all of that song and dance that makes me believe that we’d never see a dime of reimbursement for the repair/replacement?

I’m trying not to be bitter.  But come on!?!   So, we called HP.  Of course, they would ship us a replacement hard drive immediately.

Oh, but not outside of the United States, and the hard drive would need to be returned in the original box to HP within 15 days. 

I don’t know about you, but a computer box is not one of the essentials I keep out of a storage space when I’m packing up my entire life, let alone something I “keep” with a dear relative “just in case”.   That’s what I do with my will and life insurance papers!   And, it might just be me, but I don’t think that Kenya Posta has proved reliable enough to get something important to the States…..let alone within 15 days.

Sooooo….We’re open to grand ideas.

Our best idea yet is to Fed Ex our hard drive to a relative in the states, call HP and ask for leniency on the “original packing requirement”, have the relative call HP for the replacement drive, receive the replacement hard drive, then have them ship the defective hard drive back to HP, then somehow get the replacement hard drive to us here in Kenya, preferably in person (again, that whole getting through customs ….and the mail service hasn’t been so reliable).  If seeds can’t get through, I’m not thinking that a HP laptop Hard drive will either.

Or just go and buy a freakin new one.

Again, we’re open to ideas all of you smarty pants.  And I mean that with all due respect!

 

We’ve Got Mail!

One of my small pleasures in life has always been checking the mail. I don’t know what it is. It doesn’t really matter what the mail is, even bills are a thrill to receive. Ian has learned this about me and happily leaves the mail for me to collect every day. I even love catching the mailman before he has put the mail in the box. Sometimes I am just a second too late, and in Portland, I’d hear the little beep of his machine scanning the bar code on our “point of delivery” mailbox.

I haven’t really had this small pleasure while here in Kenya. There is a post office box for the center….but I am not the holder of the key (and neither is my sweet husband), and sometimes it is not available to me so that I can have the joy of driving to the Posta to check the box. I’ve found out also that having someone else hand me my mail (not the posta man) just kind of squelches the joy.

Well….this week we were blessed with packages from Rachel and my mom 2 days in a row!!! That is a record. And they both now hold the record for sending packages that have required zero to less than a dollar customs tax on our part. Though the 10 seed packets mom sent us did get confiscated and are awaiting approval in some customs warehouse….somewhere. Finding and retrieving the seeds will be an adventure for us soon.

We are loving our spice & salad dressing packets….as well as all of the other goodies.

Thank you friends and family for loving us in this way…..and feeding my small pleasure. Now if I could just get my hands on my own Posta key!

 

receiving grammy’s package

Sweet tattoos from Rachel.  A big hit!