My Kiswahili Report Card

I had my first Kiswahili test last week and I received a solid A on it!! So I am really excited. Classes are hard, but I’m holding my own. We started spending 1 hour each day after lunch working on our orals with our language helpers. This really will help with fluency and vocabulary- plus it’s a lot of fun to meet new people and actually utilize the concepts we are learning in class. Today, Irene (my language helper for the week) and I talked about different types of music and she taught me how to do a Luo dance. Nilijaribu ni kashidua (I can’t do it very well but, at least I tried!) Oh, and I’ve had Irene run time drills with me- because Swahili time is 6 hours off of English Time (so if it is 6am in Kenya, in Swahili it is 12am- I know it’s confusing!! But it actually makes sense- at 6 (when the sun comes up) is the 1^st hour of the day. At noon- the sun had been up for 6 hours, so it’s 6:00!) But it’s hard to remember when my watch says it’s 3:30pm, and the Little Hand on the clock is pointing to the 3, but I have to think it’s really 9:30 and then translate that into Swahili (which, by the way is “saa tisa na dakika thelathini”- just in case you wondered!)

So here are the things that I am studying for my next test:

Noun Classes and all their adjustments- all conveniently found on the Big Scary Yellow Chart!!


So that's pretty much all that's new with me! Hope you are doing well too!

Name That Vegetable -- TheAnswer!

So here is the answer to my quiz:

This Vegetable is.....


Bitter Melon (I know, that makes it sound like a fruit, but it's a veggie!) Apparently, it is know the world over for its notorious bitter taste and medicinal qualities. I still haven't had the guts to prepare it, but I will!

The Pics You Have All Been Waiting For!!

The Pics You Have All Been Waiting For!

Ok, so for all of you who keep pestering me for pictures, here they are!! My roommate went home for a few months, so her last few days here we got brave and broke out the camera a few times. Most of these were taken sneakily from a moving matatu, so the clarity leaves a bit to be desired; but you can at least get a feel for where I’m at!

A street-side shop (kiosk) in Nairobi

The Jakarange Trees- so amazing! They are blooming all over Nairobi right now!



Ok, so here is my favorite view in Kenya so far- and this picture doesn't even come close to doing it justice! You come around a huge bend in the road and all of a sudden this valley opens up and it is full of acacia trees! Beautiful!
Another acacia tree (with the pine tree air freshener from the matatu in the pic as well!)
Another view from the road
Here is part of the path up to my house

And another part of the trail to my house
My roommate and I at her surprise Going Away Party! And for Warren- the Nairobi Fire Station.

Time to Play "Name That Vegetable!!!"

Happy All Saints Day aka Reformation Day! If you don't go to a liturgical church, this is the day we celebrate Martin Luther, 95 Theses, and a something about the Diet of Worms (guess I should go back to for a remedial Conformation Class!)

Ok, now on to NAME THAT VEGETABLE!!!!

Ok, so any guesses as to the name of this Vegetable????

I found it at the market this week- it looked so interesting I had to buy it.

Still not quite sure how to prepare it, but I'm asking around.

Lions and Tigers and ... Donkeys???

Ok, so for all of you who are concerned about lions attacking me on my walk to school (and you know who you are!)- Fear not! I see a lot of punda (donkeys) and wajuzi (lizards) , a few ng’ombe and mbuzi (cows and goats) and the occasional kuku (chicken) but I have yet to see a lion. I’m fairly certain that there aren’t any lions my immediate vicinity- tea fields don’t seem to be their preferred domain. But fun trivia fact- the Kiswahili word for lion is simba- just like the main character in Disney’s The Lion King.

Sorry it’s been a while since I posted any updates!! I started Kiswahili school 2 weeks ago and it is taking up all my time!

Classes are going well- it’s a lot of work, but I really like it. My class is really small (there are 3 of us total) but that is nice because I have a lot of opportunities to practice with the teachers. Right now we are focusing on basic grammar and sentence structure. It is hard because an entire English sentence can sometimes be combined into one or two word in Kiswahili (because prefixes, infixes and suffixes are added to signify all the stuff that we would take a whole sentence to say). But there are plenty of long complicated sentences too! So I’m still working on getting the right words with all the right parts in the right places. But we took a field trip on Friday to practice our Swahili out in the community and I did well. Plus all my friends are really good about speaking to me in Kiswahili and they make me figure out what they are saying, so I get a lot of practice!

My newly revised Top 10 List

Ok, so apparently Lyssa didn’t think that my list was exhaustive enough- so I’ve expanded it to my Top 10!

1. Homemade Peanut butter courtesy of Mama Justine (Jiff’s got nothing on her!)

2. Amazing people- I love that you talk to literally everyone you see, at least a greeting ; good friends

3. Food so good that it can get even me to eat my veggies

4. Mama Christine’s skuma wiki (this technically should be in the veggie category, but it gets a spot all to itself- it’s that good!)

5. My watoto- the kids that live around me that come over for chai and help me practice my Swahili every night.

6. Two words: Java House

7. The big curve on Limuru Road- I think this may be the most gorgeous view I have ever seen- I’ll have to get a picture of it one of these days.

8. Beautiful scenery- you haven’t seen anything until you see the tea fields

9. No daylight savings- the sun always rises at 6:00 and sets at 6:00

10. Maasai Market- so fun, so many adventures to be had there!

Canadian Turkey Day!!

So yesterday was Canadian Thanksgiving. My roommate and I thought it would be great to make a real Thanksgiving dinner for some of our friends. Now keep in mind that we have never actually attempted to make a real Thanksgiving meal by ourselves before, but we figured it was worth a shot. So originally, we had planned to just make the meal for ourselves, but then some of our friends found out and wanted to come and then the guest list kept growing and growing! And of course, cooking in Kenya isn’t like the States, you don’t just grab a frozen bird go to town- we did find some frozen chicken, but we had to make a trip to the veggie market (about 20 minutes away- and a whole other story!) on the day of to get our veggies. We had to kind of revamp some of the traditional dishes because of time, availability of ingredients and the fact that our oven is about 1 cubic foot! So we ended up making Julia’s Mom’s baked chicken, my grandma’s stuffing, roasted potatoes, lots of veggies, salad and apple crisp. Not too bad for 2 girls who can’t really cook!! But it was a fun evening- we had great friends, good food and we even watched the Thanksgiving Episode of the Cosby Show!

Here is a picture of some of my neighbors- I have about 30 kids who live around me and they have been teaching me some Swahili basics before I start classes on Thursday! It’s a blast! And these three- Stanley, Job and Peter are great teachers!

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving!!

So my roommate and I are now backing fiends. We have a gas stove/oven in our house- but you have to light each burner when you want to use it (there is no pilot light). That’s not a big deal for the stovetop, but we were scared of the oven. We were pretty much sure we were going to blow the house up (we tried to light it a few times, but it out smarted us each time!!) because if you don’t get it lit right away, the kitchen starts to fill with gas and one of our friends did manage to blow her stove sky high. But it was our friend’s 4^th anniversary this week and we said we would make a cake for them, so we were determined to no longer live in fear of the oven!

And we were successful! The house is still intact and the cake was delicious- so we are now baking super stars. We then went on to bake chocolate muffins and scones just because we can! Our next adventure is to make Thanksgiving Dinner for 8 of our Kenyan friends on Monday in honor of Canadian Thanksgiving. We may have over estimated our new-found abilities. I guess we’ll see!!

Adventures in Homemade Face Paint

So this Saturday, we had a Fun Day for all of the kids in the various ministries we have around Nairobi. 60 kids, 15 birthdays, 6 homemade cakes, 8 tubs of homemade face paint (thanks for the recipe ann!) 2 volunteers and 1 movie. It was crazy, but super fun!! The kids loved the face painting (although I think I ended up wearing more paint then I put on the kids!). I’ve never tried to MAKE face paint before- it’s interesting! We decided that it would be fun to show Madagascar- most of the children don’t speak much English, but physical comedy and talking animals pretty much translate into any language! So I do believe it was a success (although I still have blue paint on me that won’t come off- at least it all came off my face though!).

Here are some of the pictures from the day- I believe most of these are pre-face painting, though!

This is my roommate with some of our kids!!!

Amani Ya Juu

Hey Everybody!!! Sorry it’s been a while since I blogged, my computer has been having issues! So this week was a busy week! I was able to visit Amani ya Juu- this amazing ministry to refugee women living in Kenya. Amani helps teach these women a marketable skill (sewing) and then they continue to work for Amani sewing various (amazingly beautiful) things that are sold collectively to tourists. It is a great arrangement because the women can help support their families and have a job that is flexible enough that they can continue to care for their children. I met women from all over Africa working together at Amani (Amani means peace in Swahili). They work together, worship together and are able to minister to each other. Amani is an organization that we partner with (several of our ladies are sewing for Amani) so it was a great to see this place in person.

Happy Ethiopian New Year!! (and new millennium!!)

Today is Ethiopian New Year, and since Ethiopians follow a different calendar, it is also their Millennial Celebration (year 2000). So Happy New Year! My roommate and I went out for Ethiopian food a few days ago- yummy!!

Team Retreat

So I arrived here just in time for the annual Team Retreat. It is actually perfect timing, because this is when the entire team sits down and discusses what we are doing, where God is leading and what will happen next. It's been very exciting to hear more about the ministry opportunities on this team and it has been great to just spend time getting to know each other.

I also thought you might all enjoy some of these pictures... We just pulled of to the side of the road and took these while we were driving to our retreat (about 1 hour outside Nairobi).

Man, Kenya is just amazing. Seriously.

So much to tell...

Well, I’ve been in Kenya for almost a week and it has sure been an adventure- and a week of a lot of firsts! I’ve taken my first matatu ride (and several more after that!). Matatus are a form of public transportation in and out of the city. They are the size of a van, but you can get way more people in it! I’ve also tried my first ugali- a staple of most Kenyan meals. Ugali is like a corn porridge only with a different, thick texture. I’m also starting to learn some of my first Swahili words. While my attempts are often interesting- and usually pretty funny, I’ve made many new friends that have been egger to teach and correct me. I've seen my first tea field, been to my first Kenyan Church service, and I've seen my first Kenyan night sky (very cool by the way).

The weather here has been very chilly. In fact, I bought a space heater yesterday because the nights have been so cool! While the actual temperature may not seem all that cold (especially for a Northern girl like me!), houses aren’t built for insulation here, so when it gets cold outside, it gets cold inside too. My house is at a high elevation (higher then the city) too. That's nice because there aren’t many bugs, but boy does it get chilly in the evening. But I’m told we are just finishing the winter season, so warmer weather should be on the way soon.

Well, that’s all for now. Check back soon for more updates!! I'll try to get some pictures up next time I write!

I'M HERE!!

Hey everybody! I made it to Kenya! The flights were pretty long (I got in to Kenya about 28 or so hours or so after I started). But I was met at the airport by my team, had a nice hot shower at my new house and then proceeded to sleep for about 12.5 hours. Now I'm feeling great and getting ready to explore my new home! I'll write more soon! Thank you so much for all your prayers!