Merry Christmas!!

Because what's more festive then 3 shoulder-mounted bucks in christmas hats (and garland necklaces)? I love that the little buck gets the fake antlers to round out his points.

I'm out of the country, visiting my sis and bro-in-law! Hope you have a wonderful holiday!!

Any guesses where I took this picture??? I've been told their names are Gut-Shot, Road-Kill and
Phil (ok I forgot the 3rd name, so we'll just call him Phil)

Happy Holidays!

You Know Its Time For a Vacation When....

Life is busy- crazy crazy busy (as I'm sure it is for everyone else this time of year!) But life is just really really crazy now. I'm leaving for vacation in 2 days but there is a TON to do between now and then.

But today I realized I really really need a vacation. I was at the store with some friends, I picked up what I needed, paid and walked all the way back to the car. I got in, sat down, and then I realized I hadn't picked up my bag of groceries that I had paid for!!! My friend said "I wondered why you walked all this way without a bag!" So I had to go back for them. I need a vacation!

But tonight, I baked Christmas cookies with a neighbor kid for a party on Saturday, and that was fun.

It's Official!!!

I'm going to my sister's for Christmas!!! I've had the tickets for a while now, but I was waiting on visas and red tape and all the fun that goes with intercontinental travel when you aren't leaving from your passport country, but its here!!! And just in time- I fly out this weekend!! Nothing like cutting it short! So I get to spend Christmas with family, see my sis and bro-in-law's place and what they are up to and spend some time with a great great friend of mine from college that I haven't seen since college! So excited!!!

Christmas is usually one of the hardest times to be away. I have great friends/family here but its just not the same. Everyone deals with it in different ways. I usually bake my favorite Christmas treats from home (last time I tried to make marshmallow cream from scratch for a recipe- a bit ambitious) and I find new traditions too (like listening to The Vinyl Cafe "Dave Cooks the Turkey"). But it will be really great to be with the sister and brother in law this year!

A Day of Hilarious Firsts (including my first sit-in)

A few weeks ago, I bought a pair of defective headphones at a store in town (a store store, not one of the dukas on the road side but an actual store with receipts and cash registers and everything- I mean this is a snooty electronics store selling TVs and stuff!) I should have known that day that these guys were trouble because I had to fight to get a receipt from them. But I got home and realized they were missing parts and broken. So I went back last week to return them. Long long long story but 45 minutes later I'm still arguing with them refund my money. They wouldn't. There were all sorts of excuses but in the end they agreed to refund my money but claimed they didn't have any in the store so I should "just leave my phone number and they would call me" yeah right. In the end, I agreed to give them a week, but they would write me a promissory note on the receipt - and I would be back in a week if I didn't hear from them. This was just one part of a pretty horrid monday last week.

So fast forward to today. I still hadn't received a call saying they had my refund (no surprise) so I went back. the mama kept saying that they didn't have the money- they hadn't sold anything all week (which is a total lie b/c some of the old merchandise wasn't out anymore and if they hadn't made a sale in a week- how in the world do they pay their rent at this big mall?) So she's claiming yet again that there isn't any money to pay me back. So I said, "Ok! I'll wait!" And I sat down on the floor in front of their cash register and started playing games on my phone. The mama said "we'll get you the money this week" and I said "no problem! I don't have anywhere I need to be today! I'll just wait here! .... Or I could always go to the police!" Insert sweet smile. So I sat. And they just stared at me. I said "You know, I wonder how much business you will get today with me, a mzungu, sitting here waiting for my refund. I don't think many people will want to buy from you." And I went back to playing Tetris on my phone. After about 20 minutes, they agreed to pay me half. I said "fine- I'm going out of town and I'll come back for the rest after Christmas." So this was my first sit-in! It was fun! But seriously! They obviously didn't know not to get into a battle of wills with me- once I dig my heels in I don't cave! Although in retrospect, if I should have come better prepared with snacks and stuff to last the long haul but I hadn't planned on camping out there. I'll be prepared next time...

So after that, I caught a matatu home and about 4 blocks from my stop, we blew a tire (my other hilarious first). And I mean BLEW a tire. This sucker went right down to the rims. About 3 of us got out while the conductor was trying to loosen the lugs- I left when I realized he was going to try to change this tire without a jack and with about 20 people still sitting in it! Good luck with that!!! I'll walk the last 4 blocks! Especially after I saw the spare tire- it looked worse then the one that was in pieces in the road!

Uggghhhh- Flying Termite Invasion

Image by celeste343 via Flickr

Its raining (which is really good- we still need rain) but we have been getting an abnormally large amount of rain this Dec. Generally, the rains come in November and December is hot and dry. So strange.

But along with the rains are the Flying Termite Invasions! These guys come out by the hundreds of thousands and wreak havoc. They aren't dangerous- just annoying. If you have a window or door open (or just a window or door that doesn't close tightly) they come in and take over the house. Usually I'll be sitting the in the dark and they will dive bomb my computer screen.

Tonight, I was working in the living room and forgot that my windows were open in my room with the Christmas lights on when the rains started. I had them EVERYWHERE- in the curtains, flying all over. You can get rid of them- but you have to move fast. As they fly around and bounce off each other, the walls and everything else- they start to loose their wings. After they loose all their wings, they crawl and wriggle around until the find a way out or you stomp on them. Plus if they loose their wings in your room- you may never find them all- they can be in all the clothes, the bed, everything. Nasty.

The trick is to lure them out by strategically turning on and off lights and closing and opening doors- all before they loose their wings (b/c the slow wriggling really slows down the whole process!). I closed my windows and turned off all the lights in my room and turned on the hall light and left the door open. After about 10 minutes, that got them out of my room. Then you close that door and turn on the living room lights and turn off that hall light- that gets them far enough away from my room that I can turn on the bathroom light in my room and get a shower while I wait for all the termites to get to the living room. Once you get them into a room with a lot of open space you let them fly around and bounce around until they loose their wings. Then you just sweep them all up (or at my old place, wait for the ants to carry them away- that's the gross option.)

At least this time it wasn't nearly as bad as my adventure a few years ago when I ended up with a bunch of them all in my hair and clothes! (check out the link to my old post for more pics of the termites at my house and my story).

The thunder is now booming loud enough to set off all the car alarms and the power keeps browning out so I'd better just post this before the power goes out. :o)

This is making you all really want to come visit isn't it??? Come on! It's fun!

Anyone want to do me a favor?

Can someone who lives near my parents go to the house and insure that the ugly ugly green construction paper ornament that I made in pre-school isn't on the tree? Please???? I'm not there to defend myself! If you see it- REMOVE IT!!! I know my mom will claim that I gave it to her when I was 4 so it's hers and she can put it up if she wants to- but I still claim that I created it and I should be able to destroy it! My brother LOVES to put it front and center when I'm not there. Anyone want to go and defend my artistic honor! I promise I can make a better ornament now!

Its The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year...

My Advent Calendar (sewn by refugee women). It has little hand carved animals in each pocket that you hang on the buttons to count down to Christmas.

I LOVE Christmas (which isn't much of a surprise to those who know me). I love it. I break out the Christmas music in August and September. The movies in November. Every year I put together a Christmas Mix album- this year it was a 60 day countdown to Christmas because I couldn't narrow it down any farther then that (and new songs keep getting added...) I love the traditions, the decorations, the memories and the FOOD!

Christmas in East Africa is a bit different then home. No snow. At all. I'd never had a un-white Christmas until I was in college and its still an adjustment. Christmas Day is a big deal here but there isn't much a lead up to Christmas. Which is cool. Just different. We are almost done with all of our Christmas parties for the kids and families we work with- they are always a ton of fun with great food and great times spent with friends.

But, Christmas is HERE in my house. My roomie and I both love Christmas so we make the most of it.

We decorated our trees (we have 3 trees- all under 2 ft tall but they are trees!)

A store here also randomly had some spray on snow mixed in with the post-diwali sale stuff. So here are my creations!

My biggest non-barred window is my bathroom mirror, so that's what got most of the snow! I also did some smaller creations on the window.

I have Christmas lights in my bedroom window- which all my neighbor kids love.

And what would Christmas be without Christmas treats? This weekend I went on a cooking spree (with varied results). I made caramel on Sunday- it was supposed to harden up into caramel that you could cut up into squares (like the kind you buy in bulk with the annoying wrappers) but that didn't exactly happen. The result was more like caramel sauce (but I'm not complaining! That's yummy too!) I made fudge too, which turned out AMAZINGLY!!

Then I made Christmas tree gingerbread cookies (that the neighbor kids helped me frost- that's why some look a tad bit sketchy- still taste great though!)

Masai Jumping Contest

Today was our Team Christmas Party- tooo fun! Its always great to get together, and its even more fun to get together around NYAMA CHOMA! Especially Nyama ya Mbuzi!! Seriously, one of the best Christmas traditions in the world is the Kenyan tradition of eating roast goat for Christmas! I know I know- you all think that doesn't sound like the best of traditions but TRUST ME! NOTHING beats nyama choma!

Every year, we go to this great restaurant that doubles as a Crocodile farm (its an open air restaurant with little huts spread out all over the grounds) and eat our weight in goat- seriously we ate at least 1/2 a goat and about 3 chickens! And there was only 9 of us! We spent about 4 hours eating, chatting, laughing, exchanging gifts and just enjoying each other.

But this year, on the way out of the restaurant, we ran into a few young Masai men. The Masai traditionally were herdsmen (and many still are). They have a rich and interesting culture and they are one of the most well known tribes in Kenya. So we ran into these Masai guys who started singing and dancing (and by dancing I mean jumping straight up in the air- its amazing to see). So 2 of my teammates decided to try jumping with them. HILARIOUS!!




Usually Masai men and women don't want their pictures taken (or they want payment to take a picture) but these guys asked us to take pictures with them.

classic recycled tire shoes

I've also come to the conclusion that I'm ridiculously tall (since I'm significantly taller then these Masai guys- and the Masai are some of the tallest Kenyans around.) Maybe I should have tried jumping- I sure had a head start!