Happy Proud To Be A Lutheran Day!!!

Aka- Reformation Day.

Go nail 95 Thesis on the church door!
I know a Diet of Worms fits in there somewhere (although it thankfully has nothing to do with eating bugs but instead a big meeting).

Life

So if this blog is really about life in East Africa, I have to tell you about the ups and the downs, right? Well this week probably wouldn't qualify as an "up".

This has been the Week Of Food Born Illness!!! That's right! I got food poisoning! Fun days! or not so much. Unfortunately, you can't find Vernor's here. Not really sure where I got it- I'm pretty sure I got it from a restaurant that I eat at sometimes- its not sketchy but who knows. Since different food born illnesses take different amounts of time to incubate so you can't really pin it down. In all honesty, it can be something as small as a contaminated cooking utensil, so I guess the source will just have to remain a mystery!

I'm on the mend and heading back to work tomorrow. Its all part of life over-seas (and back in the States too- you can get food poisoning anywhere!)

Just After The Rain Today...

Now that the rains are here, the power rationing has been lifted (we've had a FULL WEEK of power (well short outages, but nothing like before!)

Leaky Faucets

Grrrrrr. We have a leaky faucet. Its been getting worse for the past few days, but in a place where water has been SO scarce (as in people and animals dying because they didn't have water, no crops, 3 day a week power rationing up until just last week) it is horrible to waste it!

My roommate and I have kept a bucket in the sink trying to catch and use the water- it goes in the water filter to drink, in the electric kettle for tea, in the sink to wash dishes, in the wash buckets for laundry. But its getting ridiculous.

We've had our super call a plumber. I waited all morning for him (he said he would be here by 9- I figured 10:30) but he didn't show. I left to teach a literacy class at 12:00 and the super said he would come when I got home. Still no plumber.

Maybe tomorrow.

Anyone have any quick fixes for leaky faucets- at least until the plumber shows up?

Best Quote This Week (so far....)

I was chatting with the guards at my gate when I came home from work today. Everyone here lives in gated, guarded compounds (like with razor wire, broken glass and electric fences over the 10 ft walls). Everyone. Its just the way it works- especially in Town. So you get to know your guards really well! I have had great friends in the guards I've had at all my places (and work places). These guys are great.

So I was chatting with the day guards today and they were teasing me about something but then they said "Kila siku- hakuna matata lakhini ikiwa nyesha- hakuna matatus!" Roughly, that's "All of the time- no worries but if there is rain- no matatus! (public transport).

HAHAHAHHA tooo funny! It looses something in the translation but trust me- its hilarious!

Happy Kenyatta Day!

Yesterday was Kenyatta Day! Some friends and I had planned to have a picnic in the N'Gong Hills but with El Nino and the Short Rains here we figured we would either get rained on or the mud that's already there would make it miserable. So instead we had a meal and Game Day at a friend's house. Thanks for the fun Jan!

Update

The rains held back for youth group. It was muddy and chilly but we could still meet outside.

Its pouring now :o)

My Books Have A Home!

I finally bought a bookshelf today! They are ridiculously expensive here so I had been putting it off- my books were fine stacked under my bed and in my closet. But some friends of mine are moving and they sold me one CHEAP! Awsome! My books finally have a home!


Don't worry. I know I'm a dork and WAY too excited about this. But it made my day!

On a different note, El Nino is here. The past few days have been RAINY!!! WooHoo!!! The only problem is we don't have a lot of options for youth group tomorrow. We meet under a tree- not a great plan in torrential rains. So pray for a break in the rains while we have youth group. God's big. He can do that!

Also, yesterday I had some students from my alma mater stay with me as they were passing through my city. So fun! I got to catch up on all the school news- and its great fun to meet up with other people who get where I'm coming from. We know the same people, have done the same things.

So that's it for now.

Quote of the Week:

"Africa has a superhero and his name is Nan'ga-lito!"

Nan'ga was a contestant in Tusker Project Fame (kinda like East Africa's version of American Idol). The story is WAY too long to explain but trust me, this was the best quote of the week.

PS- My favorite, Alpha, won the competition. Woohoo! Go Alpha!

Youth Group Arm Wrestling Matches

I can hold my own pretty well. (even if this was taken just before I lost...)

It's Here!

It's here! El Nino! Rain!! We'll take it! We've been expecting massive rains (from El Nino and from the usual Short Rains) and it just might be here! Unfortunately, we are also anticipating massive flooding from El Nino. But right now the rain is POURING! Awesome. We'll deal with the other as it comes I guess. We definitely don't do things half-way here!

Youth Group Games

Anyone have any good youth group games? Favorite youth group games? Games that could be modified into something resembling a youth group game? Let me know! I'm putting together a collection of games that I can use with my teens (and for our retreat in a few months).

Mzuri Monday Madness!

Mzuri Monday Madness is possibly one of the best things in the world. The local movie theater has a deal- every monday you get your ticket, popcorn, a soda and a choice of either a candy bar or a hotdog all for less then the price of a regular ticket during the rest of the week. I know! Madness!!

So Monday also happens to be my day off (my Saturday if you will). I work every Saturday, so my teammates and I (who also work every Saturday) take Monday as our free day. But for the past 3 months, Monday is one of our 3 No Power days. Which would make for a really stinky way to spend your day off- sitting in a dark, quiet house (no music, no watching dvds, etc) or friends to hang out with because they are all at work.

But today, I discovered that I may take advantage of the Mzuri Monday Madness deal a bit too often. I was in line to get my tickets and food and the guy asked me if I wanted the candy bar or the hotdog and before I could answer, the guy at the next register leaned over and said "She wants the chocolate and a cold coke". Apparently I'm well known at our local cinema- that could be because I've gone to see movies there and been the ONLY on in the theater a few times- even with the Madness of Mzuri Monday Madness, apparently not that many people take advantage of it!

Oh well! Its cheep! Free food! (seriously who needs lunch when you have a huge thing of popcorn, a candy bar and a soda?) Entertainment! and there's electricity there on a Monday! Can't beat that! Plus its like Cheers "where everybody knows your name!"

Sunset From My Balcony

From up here, you'd never guess we are in the middle of a massive drought. The orange-ish building is another apartment building. Check out the Jackaranda tree in the background -the big purple tree. That's the closest we get to fall- Jackaranda blooming!

Dinner: Before and After

I stopped at Mama Mboga on my way home (Mama Mboga is the lady at the corner who sells veggies- or any lady selling veggies on the side of the road- it literally means "Mama vegetables") to get some veggies for dinner. If you know me well, you'd know that that is some serious growth for me! I rarely eat my veggies!

But I stopped to get some tomatoes and sukuma wiki (greens) but they were out of sukuma (which never happens because sukuma is a STAPLE! All the mamas on their way home from work are going to be angry when they get there and there isn't any sukuma!) But as I was going, the mama said she would run home and get some from her garden for me! Awsome! FRESH sukuma- it literally doesn't get any fresher- straight from the ground to my hands!

So here it is. Before: (and this is only half- I already started cooking the other half before I took the picture. She gave me a TON!)

And After:


Yummy! Look Mom! I'm eating my vegetables!

My Legs Are Blue

Not exactly sure how I managed this, but I dyed the the backs of my legs blue today while doing my laundry.

I do my laundry by hand (as in buckets and hand scrubbing- the room looks like an ocean by the end of it all) and I was wearing my blue-ish kanga that I always wear when I do the wash. (A kanga is a wrap-around skirt. Many Kenyan women wear them while cleaning, doing laundry etc so you don't get your clothes dirty- you can wear them over your good clothes or just wear that to work in). I always wear this kanga- its never turned me blue before! But I have very blue, very distinctly dyed legs (complete with blue drip marks). Let's hope it comes out!

Possibly the Best Matatu Ever

I was going through town today and saw one of the best matatus ever. Matatus are kind of like mini-vans (that hold 14+ people) and operate kind of like a taxi/bus. They follow specific routs through the city and its how my friends and I get around town. All matatus are covered in stickers and phrases (many of which don't make a lot of sense but they are really funny). Some matatus have entire themes (one of the favorite themes is Bob Marley).

So I'm in town and this fuchsia matatu (this one is more like the size of a small Dial-A-Ride bus) comes screaming around the round-about right in front of us. The entire back window was a sticker that said "Drive Like You Stole It". Amazing. That sums up most matatu experiences- the driver is driving like he just jacked the car and the cops are in pursuit (pretty much every matatu ride is an adventure of some sort!) until someone else wants to get on the mat and you come screeching to a stop (these things can stop on a dime!)

In all honesty though, it takes some mad skills (and depth perception) to be a mat driver! Nerves of Steel wouldn't hurt either!

Kaimati and Eid

Today is Eid (the celebration of the end of Ramadan (the Muslim month of fasting)) and is also a public holiday here! So I tried to make Kaimati (a typical end of Ramadan doughnut kind of thing). I've never made them before but a friend told me how to make them on Saturday, so I thought I'd give it a try. Yummy! I didn't soak them in syrup, like most people do (I went with powdered sugar instead) but they were good!

RAIN

I was just sitting down to write a post about the drought. No rain. None. Nada. Zip. Hakuna. Its been hot, dry and no signs of rain. Even today, it was blazing hot and not a cloud in the sky (which really is good because we have church outside on Saturdays- if it rains we have a small problem). But we need rain. Desperately. The Evening News is all about the cattle that are dying. Herdsmen are bringing more and more cows into the city to graze. We haven't had consistent power in months.

I took a nap after church today and I woke up to the wind blowing (which often gives false hopes of a storm!). I was cooking my dinner when I started to hear this....

Amazing isn't it! Rain has never smelled better or sounded more beautiful. Its been raining for 30 minutes straight- amazing! (sorry there really isn't any picture with the video- its dark out, but its raining!

So keep praying for rain! We still need more!

Monkey Invasion

So apparently we had a monkey invasion a few nights ago. Neither of us heard anything (Julia thought she might have heard something in her bathroom but the windows in there are TINY- no monkey could get in through those!) but the guards told us in the morning that they saw a monkey get into our appartment through a window. Nice. At least the monkey didn't trash the place (which is what usually happens when they get in!) Its not that strange to have monkeys around but this was pretty bold- they are getting more and more desperate for food and water because of the drought.

So we are being much more careful about locking our windows when we aren't around (or sleeping). Its all part of the adventure!