Tonight is our last night in Kijabe. We just finished packing up our things and are unwinding a bit before bed. Tomorrow we're off early on our Safari - we return Saturday to Kijabe to pick up our bags and then head off to Nairobi for the night. Sunday we hope to visit a friend's church and have our last round of goodbyes before our very late night flight (at 11:30pm!) Sunday evening. Please pray our travels home would be less eventful than on the way to Kenya!
I may not be posting about our Safari until we get back, so this will be the last post for a bit. I hope to share about our Safari next week, as well as recap and reflect a bit about the whole trip. We'd appreciate your prayers for our final days of travel to and from our Safari, to Nairobi (around town and to the airport) and for the way home to Pittsburgh.
And just so you know - we are returning with 4 bags instead of 8. I can't believe how much stuff we were carrying for the hospital and other people! (glad we were able to do it)
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Carnivore and a visit
Bill has been wanting to find time to take me to a restaurant that is near and dear to his heart - Carnivore. With our time getting close to a close here in Kenya, we decided it was this weekend or never. So we made plans to travel to Nairobi (which I have gotten quite sick of since (1) the road out of Kijabe is awful and (2) the traffic in Nairobi is beyond awful) on Saturday to enjoy a feast of meat at Carnivore.
Carnivore - the name says it all. They specialize in spit-roasted meat, everything from chicken and lamb to crocodile and ostrich. Servers bring your meat to you on spears and slice it in front of you onto your plate (Jack found this fascinating). When you have had your fill, you then turn down the flag on your table and they stop serving you meat. If the presentation wasn't enjoyable enough, the monkeys that visited the dining area sure were. They would sneak onto the outside dining area periodically to steal food!
So needless to say, we loved Carnivore. The kids enjoyed the chicken and the playground next to the restaurant. Bill and I enjoyed eating crocodile meat, but we decided to pass on trying the ox balls. (not a joke, they were really on the day's menu!)
Making our day even more enjoyable was the company we had joining us for lunch. When Bill was previously in Kenya, he spent his 3 months with a Kenyan host family. Fortunately we were able to reconnect with them on our current trip and invited them to join us for lunch. Ella and Jack took quickly to the teenage girls and we enjoyed catching up during lunch. After lunch We traveled back with them to their hometown of Thika and spent the night - the kids were excited to "sleepover" in the girls room. But I think they most enjoyed the cable tv (we don't have a tv where we are staying in Kijabe) and the satelite service include the nick jr channel. It was hard to convince them to do anything else.
So minus having to spend extended time in the car (again) we thouroughly enjoyed the weekend. We were sad to have to say goodbye to our friends, but hope to see them again next year if their plans to travel to America fall into place.
Carnivore - the name says it all. They specialize in spit-roasted meat, everything from chicken and lamb to crocodile and ostrich. Servers bring your meat to you on spears and slice it in front of you onto your plate (Jack found this fascinating). When you have had your fill, you then turn down the flag on your table and they stop serving you meat. If the presentation wasn't enjoyable enough, the monkeys that visited the dining area sure were. They would sneak onto the outside dining area periodically to steal food!
(menu at Carnivore)
(where the meat is cooked)
(getting a picture with our meat)
So needless to say, we loved Carnivore. The kids enjoyed the chicken and the playground next to the restaurant. Bill and I enjoyed eating crocodile meat, but we decided to pass on trying the ox balls. (not a joke, they were really on the day's menu!)
Making our day even more enjoyable was the company we had joining us for lunch. When Bill was previously in Kenya, he spent his 3 months with a Kenyan host family. Fortunately we were able to reconnect with them on our current trip and invited them to join us for lunch. Ella and Jack took quickly to the teenage girls and we enjoyed catching up during lunch. After lunch We traveled back with them to their hometown of Thika and spent the night - the kids were excited to "sleepover" in the girls room. But I think they most enjoyed the cable tv (we don't have a tv where we are staying in Kijabe) and the satelite service include the nick jr channel. It was hard to convince them to do anything else.
(at one of the waterfalls in Thika)
So minus having to spend extended time in the car (again) we thouroughly enjoyed the weekend. We were sad to have to say goodbye to our friends, but hope to see them again next year if their plans to travel to America fall into place.
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Meeting Kenyans
The one thing that I didn't count on this month was that it would be a little tricky to get a chance to know a few Kenyans. Except for the friends Bill made from a previous trip to Kenya, it's been a bit difficult to get to know the folks here. Why? Kijabe has a large amount of westerners here. Between the missionary kids boarding school and the hospital, there are just a lot of white folks around!
Now don't get me wrong - it's been nice to have familiar faces here and people I can ask questions of. But it's good to try and get a feel for the local culture too. And thanks to a certain 3 year old in our family, we had that chance this week.
Part of the agreement with where we are staying is we get house help (laundry, cleaning) 2-3 times per week. The kids have grown quite fond of the lady who comes to help us out - so comfortable that in fact I heard Jack exclaiming "When can we come to your house?" I guess when you are 3 it's ok to skip formalities and invite yourself over :)
So last night we were invited to visit for part of the evening. We tried to prepare the children that the house would be very small, but apparently they weren't listening. Pretty much the first words out of their mouths was "it's so small" followed by whining about wanting to go home. I was mortified, but our hosts were very gracious and smiled and laugh.
Eventually the kids got interested in playing with other children outside and we ended up visiting for more than 2 hours! Kenyans tend to eat dinner much later than us, so I was suprised the kids were doing alright with a banana and a bag of potato chips - I guess it means they were too busy playing outside to notice that it was way past their dinner time!
We had a lovely evening learning about Kenyan culture, language and sharing a bit about our home in America.
I am still struct though, by the amount of space that 6 people were living in - and their home is a very typical Kenyan home. In fact, they do ok by standards here - they both have steady work, they have a house girl, they are able to afford school fees, etc. But it is literally half the size of the 3 bedroom apartment that we are staying in, and maybe even then I am being a bit generous by saying that.
At first, it's hard not to feel a bit guilty about all that I have - house, cars, yard, etc - but I don't really think that's the right response. It's not wrong that we've been the recipients of so many blessings; what would be wrong is not sharing my blessings with others. So I've been challenged to think about that - how we use what God has given us...am I seeking only to bless myself with my things or am I seeking to share and bless others?
I think the thing I enjoyed most about the evening was just how nice it was to be there in our new friends' home. Appearances didn't matter - the warmth of their hospitality did. That's invaluable.
Now don't get me wrong - it's been nice to have familiar faces here and people I can ask questions of. But it's good to try and get a feel for the local culture too. And thanks to a certain 3 year old in our family, we had that chance this week.
Part of the agreement with where we are staying is we get house help (laundry, cleaning) 2-3 times per week. The kids have grown quite fond of the lady who comes to help us out - so comfortable that in fact I heard Jack exclaiming "When can we come to your house?" I guess when you are 3 it's ok to skip formalities and invite yourself over :)
So last night we were invited to visit for part of the evening. We tried to prepare the children that the house would be very small, but apparently they weren't listening. Pretty much the first words out of their mouths was "it's so small" followed by whining about wanting to go home. I was mortified, but our hosts were very gracious and smiled and laugh.
Eventually the kids got interested in playing with other children outside and we ended up visiting for more than 2 hours! Kenyans tend to eat dinner much later than us, so I was suprised the kids were doing alright with a banana and a bag of potato chips - I guess it means they were too busy playing outside to notice that it was way past their dinner time!
We had a lovely evening learning about Kenyan culture, language and sharing a bit about our home in America.
I am still struct though, by the amount of space that 6 people were living in - and their home is a very typical Kenyan home. In fact, they do ok by standards here - they both have steady work, they have a house girl, they are able to afford school fees, etc. But it is literally half the size of the 3 bedroom apartment that we are staying in, and maybe even then I am being a bit generous by saying that.
At first, it's hard not to feel a bit guilty about all that I have - house, cars, yard, etc - but I don't really think that's the right response. It's not wrong that we've been the recipients of so many blessings; what would be wrong is not sharing my blessings with others. So I've been challenged to think about that - how we use what God has given us...am I seeking only to bless myself with my things or am I seeking to share and bless others?
I think the thing I enjoyed most about the evening was just how nice it was to be there in our new friends' home. Appearances didn't matter - the warmth of their hospitality did. That's invaluable.
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Souvenir shopping
We spent Friday afternoon doing a little souvenir shopping in Nairobi - on Fridays they have a Masai Market set up in one of the shopping plazas in the capital, and we heard it was definitely a place to check out. It was a bit overwhelming actually! Lots of vendors with lots of wares (many selling the same thing).
The name of the game in this shopping experience was haggling. The thing is since you are a Western tourist, they tend to mark the price quite a bit. So, you just have to barter a bit (and pretty much still get a bit overcharged, but not quite so bad) and come to an agreement. The tough part is as soon as you express any interest in an item at a stand, the seller comes straight over to begin selling to you. This made it a bit tough to browse, so we just had to work hard to do a big loop of the place and then sit down and figure out what we wanted to buy from where.
Fortunately, the market is attached to an upscale "mall" of sorts and there was a playground for the kids to play on so we could take turns walking the market and purchasing items. I am not a haggler by any means, but it was not as bad as I had thought it would be. Bill (true to form) managed to have an eye for the most expensive items and kept returning with things I didn't know he was going to buy! They were worth it though...
Sadly, I won't be posting any of the pics of the stuff we bought (yet) - don't want to spoil the surprise for those we bought for!
The rest of the week has been less eventful. I have not been posting much because there really hasn't been anything major to write about. Bill continues to press on at the hospital and the kids and I have been poking around at home and trying to get outside when the weather has been decent. So my apologies for the lack of posts!
The name of the game in this shopping experience was haggling. The thing is since you are a Western tourist, they tend to mark the price quite a bit. So, you just have to barter a bit (and pretty much still get a bit overcharged, but not quite so bad) and come to an agreement. The tough part is as soon as you express any interest in an item at a stand, the seller comes straight over to begin selling to you. This made it a bit tough to browse, so we just had to work hard to do a big loop of the place and then sit down and figure out what we wanted to buy from where.
Fortunately, the market is attached to an upscale "mall" of sorts and there was a playground for the kids to play on so we could take turns walking the market and purchasing items. I am not a haggler by any means, but it was not as bad as I had thought it would be. Bill (true to form) managed to have an eye for the most expensive items and kept returning with things I didn't know he was going to buy! They were worth it though...
Sadly, I won't be posting any of the pics of the stuff we bought (yet) - don't want to spoil the surprise for those we bought for!
The rest of the week has been less eventful. I have not been posting much because there really hasn't been anything major to write about. Bill continues to press on at the hospital and the kids and I have been poking around at home and trying to get outside when the weather has been decent. So my apologies for the lack of posts!
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Life at the hospital
Well, I thought it was probably my (Bill) turn to write something of my antics since arriving in Kijabe. Things at the hospital have been somewhat different from what I anticipated since the attending surgeon (or consultant in the local vernacular) that I had arranged to work with here has been ill and unable to work for several weeks and now has returned to the US for further evaluation and treatment.
I have spent most of my time working, instead, with an Australian surgeon, Dr Bird, who is the Chief of Surgery here and has been here for 11 years. The first day, in fact the first case, as I was preparing to assist in a thyroidectomy the OR supervisor pulled me out and said: "You are a general surgeon right?" I told her I was a general surgery resident and she took me to another room where a patient with a HUGE lipoma (fat tumor) was being intubated. The rest of the day I was in that room doing cases with a Kenyan intern. The attending would poke his head in from time to time to see how I was doing but otherwise I was on my own. The cases were mostly minor ones that I was well familiar with. If it was something I hadn't seen before Dr Bird would show me how to do it, but most days for most cases I run my own room.
I do get a chance to scrub in with Dr Bird and the Kenyan upper level resident on the service quite often as well on more sophisticated cases and often he will let us do large portions of those operations without him as long as I am comfortable doing it. This has given me many opportunities to teach and learn from the residents here. Coming here after beginning my senior resident year at home is like coming to college out of high school. I felt reasonably competent to deal with most things I have encountered at home, but here the rules, the patients, the diseases and the resources are so different I feel at times quite lost and not infrequently frustrated. I knew life would be different without ready access to a CT scanner but I never thought how heavily I rely on other things that are unavailable to me here such as Arterial Blood Gases, Arterial Lines, and reliable laparoscopic equipment.
Kijabe hospital is remarkably well equipped with subspecialists for a mission hospital. There are training programs in General Surgery, Pediatric Surgery, Neurosurgery and Orthopedics but still the range of things I see are so much broader than I have ever experienced. I will in one day operate on a breast, a toe nail, a colon, a tongue and an anal sphincter. It is fascinating and humbling to again be made aware of just how much I don't know. God has been good to bring me to this place where I am well-supervised and supported so that I can see that despite my 14 years of preparation for this field I still have a LOT to learn. Continue to pray that I will serve effectively and learn fast.
Things I do not want to forget: praying before every surgery, operating on people who have no where else to go, teaching Kenyan residents, eating breakfast while looking out over the Rift Valley, walking home for lunch with my family, watching my children play with Kenyan children, learning from career medical missionaries, sending people away with advanced disease because they were not caught in time, losing patients to resource limitations, trusting in the plans of a Holy God
-Bill
I have spent most of my time working, instead, with an Australian surgeon, Dr Bird, who is the Chief of Surgery here and has been here for 11 years. The first day, in fact the first case, as I was preparing to assist in a thyroidectomy the OR supervisor pulled me out and said: "You are a general surgeon right?" I told her I was a general surgery resident and she took me to another room where a patient with a HUGE lipoma (fat tumor) was being intubated. The rest of the day I was in that room doing cases with a Kenyan intern. The attending would poke his head in from time to time to see how I was doing but otherwise I was on my own. The cases were mostly minor ones that I was well familiar with. If it was something I hadn't seen before Dr Bird would show me how to do it, but most days for most cases I run my own room.
I do get a chance to scrub in with Dr Bird and the Kenyan upper level resident on the service quite often as well on more sophisticated cases and often he will let us do large portions of those operations without him as long as I am comfortable doing it. This has given me many opportunities to teach and learn from the residents here. Coming here after beginning my senior resident year at home is like coming to college out of high school. I felt reasonably competent to deal with most things I have encountered at home, but here the rules, the patients, the diseases and the resources are so different I feel at times quite lost and not infrequently frustrated. I knew life would be different without ready access to a CT scanner but I never thought how heavily I rely on other things that are unavailable to me here such as Arterial Blood Gases, Arterial Lines, and reliable laparoscopic equipment.
Kijabe hospital is remarkably well equipped with subspecialists for a mission hospital. There are training programs in General Surgery, Pediatric Surgery, Neurosurgery and Orthopedics but still the range of things I see are so much broader than I have ever experienced. I will in one day operate on a breast, a toe nail, a colon, a tongue and an anal sphincter. It is fascinating and humbling to again be made aware of just how much I don't know. God has been good to bring me to this place where I am well-supervised and supported so that I can see that despite my 14 years of preparation for this field I still have a LOT to learn. Continue to pray that I will serve effectively and learn fast.
Things I do not want to forget: praying before every surgery, operating on people who have no where else to go, teaching Kenyan residents, eating breakfast while looking out over the Rift Valley, walking home for lunch with my family, watching my children play with Kenyan children, learning from career medical missionaries, sending people away with advanced disease because they were not caught in time, losing patients to resource limitations, trusting in the plans of a Holy God
-Bill
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Lake Naivasha
Bill had the day off, so we took the opportunity to discover the wildlife in our neck of the woods. We headed north about 45 minutes to Lake Naivasha to discover some of the African wildlife up close and personal.
Of course no trip is complete without some type of mishap, and this one was no exception. Less that halfway into our trip, the car we had rented (as in we hired someone to drive us) broke down. Fortunately we had packed a lunch and waited alongside the road for another car to pick us up. (Ironically the next car that picked us up looked absolutely awfully but successfully got us to and from our destination).
We were not disappointed after having to wait on the side of the road! We reached a part of the lake called Crescent Island and were treated to a walking tour of the wildlife. (Impala above)
We enjoyed walking amongst gazelles, wildebeests, zebras, waterbok, giraffes an assortment of birds and vegetation. As you can see, we were able to literally walk amongst the animals!
(the kids standing in front of wildebeests)
The kids really enjoyed the walk (ok, maybe not the part at the end where we had downpours of rain and we really needed a wetsuit, not a couple of umbrellas) and we were amused by their fascination with the many types of animal poop. Go figure - we travel all these miles and walk amongst incredible wildlife and they are fascinated with animal droppings!
Although the video doesn't do it justice, enjoy a glimpse of the beautiful area we enjoyed today. It was simply breathtaking and makes us anxious to take our big safari to the Masai Mara later this month!
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
The lost bags return and wireless internet brighten the day
Our two missing bags have returned! We had made arrangement for them to be delivered last Friday. Well, I guess the day they will be delivered is more of a guideline than a rule. Fortunately for us, we had a friend at the airport last evening who did a little poking around for us and found the missing bags. They were just kind of sitting around, waiting for someone to do something with them. So our friend sent the bags on back to Kijabe with his driver and we have been digging through them today. A bit like Christmas. It is nice to not have to wash underwear and scrubs every two days!
We also now have wireless internet through the hospital and we're hoping that it will be reliable enough so we can ditch the prepaid cell network modem thingy. It's nice to just hop on the internet and not have to worry about how many MB I have been using.
The kids have been having a good day. We haven't had to resort to shows on the computer yet! :) Getting a bag of legos in the lost baggage helped. They have also been a bit more receptive to pretend play and keeping themselves occupied today. And a morning playgroup helped especially for Ella - there was a 5 year old girl that she hit it off with.
I guess it's these little things that help brighten my day. My mood has tended to go the how the children are feeling, so it can be a bit up and down and unpredictable. Trying to steady them in the midst of a new place is a little challenging when I'm not always sure of my own footing and place in a different culture. Finding ways to build a little routine has been helpful, and perhaps today has been the most successful with that.
I think I've gone a bit backwards with the whole culture shock thing - haven't really felt that whole euphoria of being here (don't get me wrong, it's beautiful and lovely, peaceful and simple in our neck of the woods) first. I've skipped right on to the "I'd like to get back to where it's a bit more comfortable and I know how it works, thank you very much." So getting a few things like missing bags and wireless internet brighten things a bit and helps with our transition here for the month. So I'm grateful for a day that feels a bit more "normal."
Now if I could only figure out how to get the gas oven at a consistent temperature below 400...
Sunday, August 7, 2011
Weekend in Nairobi
Midday Saturday we rented a car and driver and set out for Nairobi. Bill has a couple of friends who live there and they were anxious to see us. So to best describe our weekend, I will write about the highpoints, and the not so highpoints.
*Highpoints*
Bill's friends were very good to us during our stay. We had time to simply relax, chat and enjoy each other's company. Since everyone has married and had children since last meeting, we had the oppotunity to meet wives and children as well. The kids enjoyed having other children to play with and I had an opportunity to eat some traditional food. We also had the chance to attend church together and experience the vibrancy and life of praise and worship. (And also somehow the preacher seemed to get through most of the bible in one sermon, or so it seemed!)
We also had a chance to go to the Giraffe Center in Nairobi, where you can feed giraffes from your hand (or mouth, if you like to be slobbered on). Although not a huge place, it was a good stop to enjoy Saturday afternoon. The kids both managed to get the giraffe to eat from their hands, and they had a chance to pet her too.
Sunday afternoon we had the chance to eat American-style at a Pizza place and Jack and Ella were thrilled to eat something familiar. We also had a chance to stop at the grocery store (Nakumatt) which tends to carry imported goods that are familiar to us. We stocked up on things that we had overlooked or can't get here in Kijabe (such as fresh milk - the shelf life milk isn't cutting it for the kids. Doable, but not my fav either).
*Lowpoints*
I'm pretty sure I'm content to not wander far from Kijabe again until we take a Safari trip at the end of the month. We spent INSANE amounts of time in the car and the kids grew tired of it quickly. Driving in Nairobi is not very fun. Traffic is awful - very few lights (the ones that are there don't seem to be noticed anyway) and rules are not enforced unless there is an accident. So it is pretty chaotic, with lots of rulebreaking. And the sheer amount of traffic is just unreal. Unfortunately all of our stops on Saturday (Giraffe Center, meet a friend in Westlands then drive back to other friends house) were all the complete opposite sides of town from one another. The kids let us know quickly and continuously how miserable they were. I can't blame them - it was quite a bit more than we had bargained for.
Kenyan culture and American kids don't always mix. So as you probably know, our kids like to eat at a certain time, sleep at a certain time, etc - they enjoy somewhat of a schedule. Well, let's just say schedules don't really happen where we are right now. Everything takes a bit longer, eating a few hours late is no big deal, etc. It was a hard weekend on the kids in that respect - the amount of flexibility required of them was a bit much and they were over the edge.
*Overall assessment*
We need to be a bit smarter about any other trips we take into Nairobi. We need to stay in a more accessible part of town and not try to get to so many places. We need to do our best to plan what we can before we go and not leave so much up in the air until we get there.
It was good to meet Bill's friends, and I'm hoping that we can get them down to Kijabe so we can enjoy their company on "our turf" so to speak. It was good to go, but it is good to be back at our apartment in Kijabe!
*Highpoints*
Bill's friends were very good to us during our stay. We had time to simply relax, chat and enjoy each other's company. Since everyone has married and had children since last meeting, we had the oppotunity to meet wives and children as well. The kids enjoyed having other children to play with and I had an opportunity to eat some traditional food. We also had the chance to attend church together and experience the vibrancy and life of praise and worship. (And also somehow the preacher seemed to get through most of the bible in one sermon, or so it seemed!)
We also had a chance to go to the Giraffe Center in Nairobi, where you can feed giraffes from your hand (or mouth, if you like to be slobbered on). Although not a huge place, it was a good stop to enjoy Saturday afternoon. The kids both managed to get the giraffe to eat from their hands, and they had a chance to pet her too.
Sunday afternoon we had the chance to eat American-style at a Pizza place and Jack and Ella were thrilled to eat something familiar. We also had a chance to stop at the grocery store (Nakumatt) which tends to carry imported goods that are familiar to us. We stocked up on things that we had overlooked or can't get here in Kijabe (such as fresh milk - the shelf life milk isn't cutting it for the kids. Doable, but not my fav either).
*Lowpoints*
I'm pretty sure I'm content to not wander far from Kijabe again until we take a Safari trip at the end of the month. We spent INSANE amounts of time in the car and the kids grew tired of it quickly. Driving in Nairobi is not very fun. Traffic is awful - very few lights (the ones that are there don't seem to be noticed anyway) and rules are not enforced unless there is an accident. So it is pretty chaotic, with lots of rulebreaking. And the sheer amount of traffic is just unreal. Unfortunately all of our stops on Saturday (Giraffe Center, meet a friend in Westlands then drive back to other friends house) were all the complete opposite sides of town from one another. The kids let us know quickly and continuously how miserable they were. I can't blame them - it was quite a bit more than we had bargained for.
Kenyan culture and American kids don't always mix. So as you probably know, our kids like to eat at a certain time, sleep at a certain time, etc - they enjoy somewhat of a schedule. Well, let's just say schedules don't really happen where we are right now. Everything takes a bit longer, eating a few hours late is no big deal, etc. It was a hard weekend on the kids in that respect - the amount of flexibility required of them was a bit much and they were over the edge.
*Overall assessment*
We need to be a bit smarter about any other trips we take into Nairobi. We need to stay in a more accessible part of town and not try to get to so many places. We need to do our best to plan what we can before we go and not leave so much up in the air until we get there.
It was good to meet Bill's friends, and I'm hoping that we can get them down to Kijabe so we can enjoy their company on "our turf" so to speak. It was good to go, but it is good to be back at our apartment in Kijabe!
Friday, August 5, 2011
Let me catch you up...
(view of the Rift Valley from our apartment)
Now that we've been in Kijabe a few days (and have our internet situation sorted out) I think it is a good time to update on what we've been up to.
Our trip getting to Kenya was quite the adventure. Our flight out of Pittsburgh was mostly on time, but we did not have so much luck in Newark. We boarded the plane, taxied down the runway as far as we possibly could and then just sat. Turns out we had a mechanical issue that could not be fixed that evening, so after 3 hrs on the runway we de-planed, reclaimed our luggage (this was all from 9pm on) and then had pretty much no help whatever from the airline sorting out our rebooking. By midnight we had found a hotel and had a tentative booking for the next day.
Upon arrival for our rebooked flight, we discovered that really nothing was done right so Bill spent several hours running around the airport sorting stuff out while the kids and I camped out and watched videos on the computer.
Finally at 5:30pm Sunday evening we were finally off - connecting in Paris on the way to Nairobi.
It turns out having a 3 hr layover in Paris was a good thing because the airport is ridiculously huge and confusing to us non-french speaking folk. Coupled with tired children and Ella not feeling well, it was extremely stressful. We did eventually get to our gate with a bit of time to spare.
Upon our arrival in Nairobi (after Ella was sick on the plane) we did not have to wait too long to get our Visas and passports stamped. The kids layed down every time we stopped and fell asleep, poor things. Unfortunately collecting our bags did not go as well. Two of them didn't make the connection in Paris, so we had to wait around to sort that out. (They should be here by Monday.) We found our driver and made it to our accomodations that night.
Tuesday morning we traveled back to the airport (under the pretense the bags had arrived, which they had not) and spent a lot of time in city traffic. After our unsuccessful trip to the airport, we had to do some grocery shopping at a Wal-mart-esq store, which was complicated by fatigue and Jack getting sick in the car multiple times. So needless to say shopping wasn't too successful.
Needless to say we were pleased finally to make it to Kijabe. We spent the rest of Tuesday settling in and had several people stop by to welcome us.
Our first full day in Kijabe (I believe that was Wed? It has all run together a bit) consisted of Bill starting off to work straight away and the kids and figuring out the day to day stuff. We had a new friend help us around a bit, showing us the local shops (dukas in Swahili) and telling us a bit about the place.
(Hospital where Bill is working)
Since then the kids have made friends with the 4 and 8 year old across the street, as well as another girl about 6 or 7 houses down. (In fact, Ella was crying that she couldn't have a sleepover with the girl across the street tonight). Bill is quite happy with all the operating he is getting to do at the hospital. And I am feeling a bit better now that I am getting over jet lag and figuring out a little bit how things work around here. (I will say I do enjoy that someone comes and cleans and dose laundry twice a week).
Tomorrow (Sat) we are traveling to Nairobi to check out the Giraffe Center (self explanatory - a place that has giraffes you can see and feed) and visiting some old friends of Bill's.
So that's about all - now that we are here, the pace of life has slowed down and we can be lured into thinking it's a bit like vacation at times, with the gorgeous view of the rift valley and the chance to doze on the couch in the afternoon. But we're hoping to continue to find ways to mesh into the community and not just be in vacation mode.
And as a side note, yes it gets pretty chilly at night. Low 50's (maybe even high 40's) and very windy. And with no temperature controls in the houses, you can really feel it. The temperature reminds me of camping - cold at night, warm in the sun during the day. We are definitely going to have to break in the wood stove one of these nights soon!
(Bill enjoying our porch on a sunny afternoon)
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