Happy Birthday Ian!

Today (8/22) we celebrate Ian’s birthday!

He’s a big whopping 35 years old.  He is an amazing husband, father, friend and leader!  I am so proud of everything he has directed here in Africa.  He really knows how to get things done!

Here’s what he looked like when we were first married, I think this was at a casino in Tahoe when we were there for a relatives wedding:

Ok, well this was almost 4 years into marriage

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here’s what he looks like today (in all of his full beard glory):

 

Note: I pulled this self portrait from Ian's BEARD file on the computer

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I went to the market here in Makongeni and designed/ordered a pair of sandal type shoes for him earlier in the week.  The man assured me they would be ready by yesterday.  Silly me,  I forgot I lived in Kenya and believed his time frame.

I went to pick up the shoes yesterday late afternoon after work and…..they weren’t ready.  They hadn’t even been started.  ARGGH.  But, he did have a huge gigormous pile of about 30 other sandals he had made sitting there on the workbench.  When I enquired what they were for, he replied, “Nairobi”.  Dang, I don’t think my 1 shoe order can compare to the demand of the Nairobi market!

Anyhow, at least Ian gets some birthday loving from the kids (complete with way too early morning back scratching) and a birthday outing, dinner & cake.

SKIP FORWARD….THIS IS AN UPDATE ON THE REST OF BIRTH-DAY

So, we went out for our birthday adventure to explore new places of Nairobi with Ian & I both feeling a bit under the weather.  Our explorations to 2 new places in Nairobi were dampened (literally) by ran and horrible traffic.  In total, we probably spent 4-5 hours in the car (with 2 preschoolers) in traffic.  Not the best way to spend the day when you aren’t feeling well, let alone on your birthday.

Megan and I drug Ian and the kids to the Toi Market which we discovered last week.   We thought it was WONDERFUL!   Ian described it as his worst nightmare, but here he is in a rare moment looking at something in the market:

 

Looking for new *old* pants

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Eli enjoyed the market, especially because vendors kept trying shoes on him:

 

the vendor trying to cram Bob the Builder sandals on Eli

When we got home, Megan and I worked at making dinner and Ian’s birthday cup-cakes:

We ended Ian’s birthday by lighting the candles on his birthday cupcakes and singing happy birthday to him with his parents who had just skyped in.  But, because it had been less than a *perfect* day already, Eli added some drama by throwing up his last tiny, tinybite of soup and then some that dad had somewhat insisted he eat..all over himself, the chair and the floor.  We had to take a little break before we felt ready to eat cupcakes after seeing and cleaning that up.  But in the end, the cupcakes were delish and we all went to bed happy and full.

 

Shopping for friends

Ok, now I know some of you will relate to this.

You know the feeling.  It happened to me in junior high, again in college, then when I was new to Portland and went to my first care group meeting, and now here in Africa.   Standing in a sea of people and wondering:  Where are they?

Friend shopping.

That feeling of being in a crowd of people, scanning and looking for someone who looks friendly (and about the same coolness, or better, but not too much better)…..like looking for a date, but perhaps more important cause this person might end up being one of your “girls”.   The ones you shop with, whine to,  try and work out with, get pedicures with, do  favors for, hopefully swap kid sitting with, borrow butter from, go to coffee with, trust their opinionabout if the jeans make you have an 80’s butt or a “hot” butt, the one’s who really know you and get you a sweet birthday gift.  You get the drift.

I found myself friend shopping in church a few weeks ago.  I was looking around at all of the possible women aged 25 and up.  Some of the best friends are older women with time and energy to spare.   And then I caught myself and realized what I was doing and that  I hadn’t had to “friend shop” since moving to Portland in like 1998.   That’s 10 years folks.  And then I realized that I really wasn’t in the greatest ”friend shopping” form.  I’d need to spice myself up a bit, be aware of my scowl/frown line that is developing on my forehead from too many Eli corrections, and put on some good fun lipstick and some less “mommy” clothes.

I must have done ok, cause last Sunday I found myself with a lunch invite for the family for this coming Sunday.  The prospective friend’s name is Anne.  Is she only doing it out of pity and the fact that we have the same name?  Or perhaps because Eli has permanently attached himself to here sons and made sure to get their phone number the first day he met them (yeh, I thought it was a little forward too for a first meet), or perhaps….she is friend shopping too!

And, just for the record girlfriends back home….these are simply “back-up” friends until our friendships can be reinstated in full, in person with all of the benefits.  ***Insert big sigh here***

 

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.

 

Driving School

Today I had the wonderful joy of doing a little retail therapy. I so look forward to the weekend because I know it means we’ll make the drive into Nairobi and explore a little. Today I got to do it with a girlfriend, Armida, who knows her way around (that’s always a shopping plus). The May family split up, boys versus girls and we went our separate ways. Ian with the grocery shopping list, me with the last part of my American dollars ready to exchange and spend.

First I was taken to a consignment shop. Yes, gasp, there is one here!! Tiny, but I was still able to find myself a little shirt (hah! A Macy’s brand) and a nice little bathrobe that I had been hoping for even this morning as I stepped out of the shower. The window advertised “new stock” coming in on Tuesday and I am trying to plot how I might make it back to Nairobi on my own, find the shop, shop, and get back in time to pick the kids up from school. That might have to wait until another day!

From there, we headed to a great handmade ceramic bead factory/shop. I spotted some sweet vendors along the road that I might be visiting another time for some gifts to send you all back home. Anyhow, the shop is known for it’s ceramic bead necklaces, earrings, bracelets and dishes.

After that, some lunch and a few more stops (some good touristy type objects) and my therapy session was over and back to joining the family.

Ian insisted that I drive home from Nairobi….so I did. And we all survived. Only 1 matatu honked at me, and there were no near misses. I’m looking forward to knowing my way around Nairobi…so I can get my shop on whenever the need arises without having to wait for a big weekend trip.

Another funny thing, we have this book called Everyone Poops. It discusses the full anatomy of pooping across the animal kingdom. On one page it discusses how some animals poop in place while others poop on the move. Why am I talking about this? Well coming home I almost hit a cow that was refusing to move from my lane. Who knew cows are one of the animals that don’t do it on the move. Got to stand still to make duty. OK, another thing I didn’t know I didn’t know.