ROUS's

We have an ROUS (Rodent of Unusual Size- watch the Princess Bride for more info).  We've been seeing evidence of a rat, and we put out traps for the rat, but last night we actually SAW it run out from under the fridge, across my friend's feet and under the stove where it promptly disappeared.  We hunted it for 45 minutes (that's after my friend stopped SHRIEKING at the top of her lungs at 11:30 at night in an otherwise quiet apartment complex.)   So we are still stalking the rat- who is very very sneaky- he even cleaned the trap last night without setting it off! Tricky! 

We Have Priorities Here- Plates Then Plants

My roommate Julia and I finally got dishes today! She had been sharing the apartment with another woman (who apparently owned all the dishes they used) and when she moved out and I moved in, we were left with 3 plates, a wok and a few mugs. Its been a crazy 2 weeks with visitors and tons of people we have been responsible for, so we hadn’t actually gotten around to buying dishes. We knew it was bad when Julia’s brother (who is staying with us for the next month) was eating cereal out of an old margarine container we use for leftovers. So we finally got some stuff to eat off of. The apartment is really starting to look like a home (we want to start getting some plants for the balcony and some other ‘homey’ stuff but we have time to find stuff like that- plates were a pretty big necessity!)

My brother- the officer

Yay! My brother is now a 2nd Lieutenant! So proud! 

Obama-mania

If there was any question if Kenyans love Obama, there definitely isn't one now! Here's a picture of my new phone:

I think my favorite feature is that the 'O' in Obama's name is also the flashlight!

Also, when you turn it on, the background is the Obama logo.

I'm not necessarily a huge fan of his politics but I couldn't pass this up! It's too funny! (plus this was by far the cheapest phone on the market!)

My New Neighbors

So I was sitting on my couch yesterday when I happened to see 2 big monkeys on the roof of the other building in our compound. THIS is why we have to make sure our windows are all shut before we leave! These guys broke into one of the flats (their balcony door must have been open) and came back out with food, which they proceeded to eat on the roof.


And this is my roommate Christine, trying to feed the monkeys. Christine is a great friend of mine from my last trip here- I had no idea she would be staying with Julia and I for a month- what a great surprise!!!

My new diggs

Most of you know that while I was at home, my roommate was here in Kenya finding us a new flat- and she did a FANTASTIC job! Seriously! This place is gorgeous! There are 3 apartment buildings in our compound and I'm on the 4th floor. Its a 3 bedroom (which is really good b/c we have a ton of people here right now- Julia's brother and another friend of ours is sharing it with us too). I'm a 10 minute matatu ride from a shopping center, a 15 minute ride from the office, and in a great part of town. We have a balcony (that my hammock fits perfectly on), tons of big windows and great neighbors. As much as I loved my old place, it sometimes felt like jail (cement floors, cement walls, small windows with bars on them.) This place still has bars on the windows (every place here does!) but its a lot more open, more light and its beautiful! So good call Julia! You picked an amazing place!

I'll have to post pics sometime!

Travel Adventures....

I've arrived safely (internet is kind of hit or miss right now so I haven't really been updating things- sorry! gotta love rainy season power outages!)

Anyways, my traveling adventures. I was on a flight from Chicago to London with an hour layover in London before I flew on to Nairobi. Now an hour layover isn't really enough but that's what my travel agent had booked so I figured I should be able to pull it off. But by the time my flight landed in London, I had 20 minutes to get to my next flight before it left. Not NEARLY enough time (especially in London!) So I get of the plane, take the little bus thing to the main terminal and I'm starting to get worried- I have 20 mintues to pass through a ticketing agent, security, a passport check, the gate agent and board the plane! I get to the main terminal and there is a guy who works for the airline I was on waiting for me with a sign with my flight on it and he said "Ok we are going to RUN now!" So we take off RUNNING though the airport, he's taking me back ways, taking down all the barrier things, cutting through lines of people and shoving me to the front of any lines. And we are running. Running a lot. I'm still on MI time so it feels like the middle of the night, I've been sitting for 9 hours and lets face it I'm not the most athletic member of my family! And I have about 25lbs of books in my backpack! So this guy andn I are running like crazy people, I make it to the gate and the gate agents are waiting (along with a person who was going to get my seat if I didn't make it in time) and I fly down the jetway and get to my seat. And I then I collapsed. Nothing like a 3 mile sprint in what feels like the middle of the night, with a ridiculous amount of books to get the heart pounding.

But I made it! And my friends were there to get me (along with another friend I didn't even know would be in the country!)

So now I'm reaquainting myself with Nairobi- matatu rides and all that! (although I'm so proud of myself- I'm living in a completly different area then before so its all different matatu routes but I still managed to get myself to where I've needed to go!) And I'm catching up with all my friends and what all went on while I was gone.

Its soooo great to be back. I'm still settling in (and getting past jet lag) and I'll be getting back to work soon.

miss you all!! Keep in touch! Seriously! I love email, facebook, comments on the blog, snail mail- you name it, I love to keep in touch!

I'm On My Way!!!!

I'm on my way back to Kenya today! Please keep in touch (email, comments here on my blog, snail mail- whatever! I love it all! And for my Uncle Bob, I opened up the comment section so anyone can leave a comment (you don't need to have a gmail account now- anyone can comment on posts).

Please keep me in your prayers as I travel!

The Countdown is ON!!!

3.5 days and I'm on a plane (well, more like 3 planes) to Kenya!! I just got back from a relaxing 4th of July (with the exception of a small- but quickly contained fire) with my extended family. This is pretty much what I saw for the whole weekend:



Can't beat that!

So now I'm packing (yuck) and getting ready to head out!

The Bottom 5%

"How would you eliminate almost half the planet by subtracting just 5% from it? This map shows you how: delete the countries that constitute the bottom 5% of global GDP contributors, and you scrap almost 3 billion people from the equation. Those people mainly live in Africa and South East Asia."

I found this article on Strange Maps- here's a link to the rest of it...