I posted some pictures today. Hopefully, I'll figure out how to do a web album in the near future and put the link on this blog.
Thanks for reading! And thanks for any comments you have left or will leave! It was great hearing from our friends and family through this website while we were there.
Monday, January 5, 2009
January 2 - last day in Kenya
Busy day today for us. We all went to the Maasai market by about 9:30am. It's at the parking garage in the mall near Crums' house. MANY sellers with all sorts of Maasai items - scarves, baskets, carvings, jewelry, glassware, shoes, shirts, bags, etc. If you make eye contact with the seller or point to an item, the bartering will likely start then! Pat and I bought some wooden bowls, baskets, scarves, giraffe carvings and kikoys (wraps for skirts, etc.). Claire bought some jewelry, a picture frame, a giraffe shelf-sitter, and purse/bag. Kyle bought some wood and soapstone carvings, and a Maasai shield. You decide what you want from a certain seller, then they tell you their price. If it's high, you tell them what price you will pay. Then you barter until you are both happy with the price. Rachel helped us and Claire a couple times. Connie helped us know what a fair price for the baskets and bowls was. Josiah helped Kyle some, too.
Next Rachel, Claire, Connie and I went for manicures or pedicures in a salon at the mall. Claire, Connie, and I enjoyed the pampering of the pedicure. Rachel enjoyed a manicure. What a treat!
We all met in the food court and had lunch before going back to the house to finish packing and to get ready for the flight home.
We ate supper together at Java House, which is a place we have heard great things about for a couple of years from Crums. Yummy food, and nice outside dining. We all talked about what the highlight of the trip was for each of us, which we decided was the game drive on Saturday. They drove us to the airport and Connie gave us good instructions about all the steps we had to go through there. Lots of hugs for everyone came next, and some tears, too. We will miss our friends so much!
We went through security, etc. with no problems. The only glitch was that we had bought 4 liter bottles of water to take with us. We then found out that we were not all the way through security as we had thought, so we had to throw away the bottles! It was about $8 worth of drinking water! Yikes. Live and learn...
Our flight to London was uneventful - we were served a supper meal at 1am in the morning! Then we all slept some the rest of the flight. We had a 6 hour lay-over in London at Heathrow airport. We ate a traditional English breakfast there - eggs, bacon, sausage, baked beans, grilled mushrooms/tomato, toast and hash brown. Then we played a game of Euchre to kill some time. Our flight to Chicago was again uneventful. We were able to get the back to the van easily and then drove on home. We were pretty tired when we got back on Saturday evening, but we had felt the prayers of our friends and family! What a good feeling to be safely back in our own house after about 30 hours of traveling. Thank you, God, for our safety!
Next Rachel, Claire, Connie and I went for manicures or pedicures in a salon at the mall. Claire, Connie, and I enjoyed the pampering of the pedicure. Rachel enjoyed a manicure. What a treat!
We all met in the food court and had lunch before going back to the house to finish packing and to get ready for the flight home.
We ate supper together at Java House, which is a place we have heard great things about for a couple of years from Crums. Yummy food, and nice outside dining. We all talked about what the highlight of the trip was for each of us, which we decided was the game drive on Saturday. They drove us to the airport and Connie gave us good instructions about all the steps we had to go through there. Lots of hugs for everyone came next, and some tears, too. We will miss our friends so much!
We went through security, etc. with no problems. The only glitch was that we had bought 4 liter bottles of water to take with us. We then found out that we were not all the way through security as we had thought, so we had to throw away the bottles! It was about $8 worth of drinking water! Yikes. Live and learn...
Our flight to London was uneventful - we were served a supper meal at 1am in the morning! Then we all slept some the rest of the flight. We had a 6 hour lay-over in London at Heathrow airport. We ate a traditional English breakfast there - eggs, bacon, sausage, baked beans, grilled mushrooms/tomato, toast and hash brown. Then we played a game of Euchre to kill some time. Our flight to Chicago was again uneventful. We were able to get the back to the van easily and then drove on home. We were pretty tired when we got back on Saturday evening, but we had felt the prayers of our friends and family! What a good feeling to be safely back in our own house after about 30 hours of traveling. Thank you, God, for our safety!
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Happy New Year 2009
We heard some fireworks last night at midnight! Pretty fun to ring in the new year on a different continent. Jeff and Tammie Brown and their 3 kids, Emily (10), Elliott (8) and Edison (2) joined us at the Crums' house for supper and New Year's eve fun.
Yesterday, we went to a giraffe farm on the outskirts of Nairobi. What a thrill to feed them by hand (or mouth for Kyle and Pat!). We got to see a 2 week old baby giraffe also. Then we went to an elephant orphanage nearby. The first group we saw was about 6-7 little babies (just weeks old). SO cute! Then they were led away and another group of 6-7 came close. They were older and bigger (6-24 months or so), but very playful and funny to watch! They drank milk from big bottles which was a riot! One of them trumpeted really loudly - mad about something. We enjoyed watching them play in a mud puddle and climb around and kick a soccer ball, too.
We ate lunch at the Carnivore restaurant, which is one of Nairobi's 10 best restaurants, we were told. Big place, all decorated for a New Year's Eve event. There was a whole cow roasting on a spit inside the main seating area! HOT charcoal fires on 3 sides of it. Pat and I both had ostrich meatballs with our lunch. They didn't taste like chicken! haha Pretty tasty though.
Spending today (Thursday) hanging out at Crums' house and packing. Going to the Maasai market tomorrow morning. We went last week to check it all out. Rachel and Josiah are going with us tomorrow to help with the bartering. They are pros! Then we'll get cleaned up in the afternoon, eat supper at Java House and head to the airport. Our flight leaves at 11:30pm. We are scheduled to land in Chicago on Saturday afternoon at about 3pm.
Yesterday, we went to a giraffe farm on the outskirts of Nairobi. What a thrill to feed them by hand (or mouth for Kyle and Pat!). We got to see a 2 week old baby giraffe also. Then we went to an elephant orphanage nearby. The first group we saw was about 6-7 little babies (just weeks old). SO cute! Then they were led away and another group of 6-7 came close. They were older and bigger (6-24 months or so), but very playful and funny to watch! They drank milk from big bottles which was a riot! One of them trumpeted really loudly - mad about something. We enjoyed watching them play in a mud puddle and climb around and kick a soccer ball, too.
We ate lunch at the Carnivore restaurant, which is one of Nairobi's 10 best restaurants, we were told. Big place, all decorated for a New Year's Eve event. There was a whole cow roasting on a spit inside the main seating area! HOT charcoal fires on 3 sides of it. Pat and I both had ostrich meatballs with our lunch. They didn't taste like chicken! haha Pretty tasty though.
Spending today (Thursday) hanging out at Crums' house and packing. Going to the Maasai market tomorrow morning. We went last week to check it all out. Rachel and Josiah are going with us tomorrow to help with the bartering. They are pros! Then we'll get cleaned up in the afternoon, eat supper at Java House and head to the airport. Our flight leaves at 11:30pm. We are scheduled to land in Chicago on Saturday afternoon at about 3pm.
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Weekend
It's going to be hard to condense and explain our time in Kawai as it was very interesting. Ole Salepu's place consisted of 2 houses and a couple of smaller buildings and fenced-in areas for the cattle and goats. One of the fences had a dent in it - an elephant had tried to ram through it recently! Yikes! Norakadau, Salepu's wife, has a house for herself. She was cooking over an open fire inside. The only light inside was from the fire and a small flame lamp. She was making rice and a potato/tomato/onion mixture as well as hot milk for the chai later. She would put a long branch in or out of the fire to raise or lower the heat under the pots. We ate in Ole Salepu's house about 100 feet away from the other house. That's the building we all slept in also. There were 3 rooms: the middle, dining area, then a sleeping area on each side of the middle room. The girls (me, Claire, Connie, Rachel and Rachel's friend, Steph) slept in one room and the guys (Pat, Kyle, Dan and Josiah) slept in the other. Except for the dog barking right outside the window now and then during the night, we slept pretty well. The mattresses were thin and a bit lumpy but we were warm and felt very secure and safe! So Pat and I decided that it was better than where we stayed in London where we were cold and felt very unsafe. There was no running water or bathrooms for us to use either, by the way. We brushed our teeth outside and found a bush to hide behind to go to the bathroom. We all survived just fine anyway! Oh, and the stars in the sky at night! WOW! What a sight. We have never seen so many stars! God is truly artistic!
Church Sunday morning was awesome, too. The people there were so welcoming and happy to have us there. We were all introduced in front of everyone. Dan and another man from the church interpreted for us. (Dan's fluent in Maa) An adult choir and a darling children's choir sang several praise songs. During the offering time, a lady brought up a gourd of milk as her offering. So sweet. The sermon was a bit longer than we are used to! We survived that, too! haha The people at the church love Jesus. You can see that on their faces! We all enjoyed meeting people that Crums have known and worked with.
Being at Ole Salepu's place with his family was significant for us since our Sunday School class has a connection with them. About 8-9 years ago, their 8-year-old son had cancer and Salepu sold 90 of his 100 cows to pay for his treatment in a Nairobi hospital. He let Dan and Connie know and they contacted their supporters to see about raising about $2000 to help him rebuild his herd. The letter about all this ended up going to more people than originally planned and about $20,000 was raised! 19 other farmers were helped that year from that area! Our class raised $500 toward buying Ole Salepu a cow so he asked Dan to ask me about taking his picture with his cows Sunday morning. I'll post a picture asap.
We spent Sunday night at the missionary house again and headed back to Nairobi on Monday morning. We were able to stop at the CMF training center near Narok for lunch and a tour from Dan. CMF has 8 medical clinics in the Maasai Mara district that saw 30,0000-40,000 people last year. Narok is where the main clinic is located. We have heard about the training center for years, so it was so awesome to actually walk around there!
Church Sunday morning was awesome, too. The people there were so welcoming and happy to have us there. We were all introduced in front of everyone. Dan and another man from the church interpreted for us. (Dan's fluent in Maa) An adult choir and a darling children's choir sang several praise songs. During the offering time, a lady brought up a gourd of milk as her offering. So sweet. The sermon was a bit longer than we are used to! We survived that, too! haha The people at the church love Jesus. You can see that on their faces! We all enjoyed meeting people that Crums have known and worked with.
Being at Ole Salepu's place with his family was significant for us since our Sunday School class has a connection with them. About 8-9 years ago, their 8-year-old son had cancer and Salepu sold 90 of his 100 cows to pay for his treatment in a Nairobi hospital. He let Dan and Connie know and they contacted their supporters to see about raising about $2000 to help him rebuild his herd. The letter about all this ended up going to more people than originally planned and about $20,000 was raised! 19 other farmers were helped that year from that area! Our class raised $500 toward buying Ole Salepu a cow so he asked Dan to ask me about taking his picture with his cows Sunday morning. I'll post a picture asap.
We spent Sunday night at the missionary house again and headed back to Nairobi on Monday morning. We were able to stop at the CMF training center near Narok for lunch and a tour from Dan. CMF has 8 medical clinics in the Maasai Mara district that saw 30,0000-40,000 people last year. Narok is where the main clinic is located. We have heard about the training center for years, so it was so awesome to actually walk around there!
Sopa oleng!!
That's "A big hello!" in the Maa language. We learned a few words over the weekend while we were in the Maasai Mara area so we could communicate with the Maasai people we stayed with and went to church with on Sunday. We learned "Thank you" = "Ashe" (pronounced Ah-Shay) and "Very good" = "Sidai oleng" (pronounced Sa-die). Our weekend away from Nairobi was amazing, to say the least. Rachel asked me Sunday evening if our trip so far was meeting my expectations I had before we came. I told her it has SO greatly exceeded expectations for all of us!
We left Crums' house on Friday morning to drive out to a house in the Mara area that has been a missionary house until a couple of weeks ago. The family living there is back in the US on furlough now. The drive took us down through the Great Rift Valley and over roads that were varying in their bumpiness. That's putting it mildly! By Saturday afternoon, Dan had said more than once, "Is this a road?" When I say "bumpy" think of the roughest road you have ever driven on. Now triple the rocks and ruts and maybe that's about how bad some of the roads were for us. On the way to the house on Friday, we had a flat tire in the middle of nowhere. Dan and Josiah changed it in about 10 minutes with no problems. Then it started raining, which is good for the area, right? Well, then the "roads" become so slick and muddy that it's worse than icy roads in places. Dan drove through like a pro though, slipping and sliding and fishtailing like crazy. What a ride! Then we "took a wrong turn" (hard to find the "roads" which were now more like paths), and got stuck in mud twice! We all had to get out to lighten the load and the 2nd time, Kyle, Pat and Josiah had to push the Toyota Land Cruiser to get it up and out of the mud. We made it to the house and enjoyed a quiet evening together.
Saturday morning we were up and on our way to the Maasai Mara Game Reserve by 6:30am. We drove around the park from 8am until about 4pm. It's so hard to condense our day there! I'll have pictures galore to post later. I made a list of all the animals we saw. Dan and Connie said we were having a good day, seeing so many different kinds. Wildebeest, zebra, Thompson's gazelle and ostrich were the first to be seen. Then we talked to some people in another car who told us about a cheetah and her 3 "children." We found them and watched them for about 30 minutes. After that it was like a floodgate! We saw about 30 different types of animals and birds throughout the rest of the day. Lions, giraffes, elephants, cape buffalo, topi, hippos in the river, hyena, crested cranes with 3 chicks, several beautiful bird varieties, and many more! What has struck me are all the varieties of animals and the large number of most that we see. In a zoo you see a limited number of each animal. There were no fences here! =) So fun to see the baby animals, too.
From the game park, we drove to Kawaii, which is the area on the Siria Escarpment where Crum's used to live. What views we had all day of the savannah and hills and valleys! Beautiful! We spent the night with Ole Salepu and his family. Salepu has been a leader in the church and friend of the Crums for many years. He and his wife, Norakadau (sp?), were so sweet and hospitable! We had a bit of culture shock while there, but were happy to get to spend some time with them.
I am running out of time. I need to get going. I'll write more about the weekend later!
We left Crums' house on Friday morning to drive out to a house in the Mara area that has been a missionary house until a couple of weeks ago. The family living there is back in the US on furlough now. The drive took us down through the Great Rift Valley and over roads that were varying in their bumpiness. That's putting it mildly! By Saturday afternoon, Dan had said more than once, "Is this a road?" When I say "bumpy" think of the roughest road you have ever driven on. Now triple the rocks and ruts and maybe that's about how bad some of the roads were for us. On the way to the house on Friday, we had a flat tire in the middle of nowhere. Dan and Josiah changed it in about 10 minutes with no problems. Then it started raining, which is good for the area, right? Well, then the "roads" become so slick and muddy that it's worse than icy roads in places. Dan drove through like a pro though, slipping and sliding and fishtailing like crazy. What a ride! Then we "took a wrong turn" (hard to find the "roads" which were now more like paths), and got stuck in mud twice! We all had to get out to lighten the load and the 2nd time, Kyle, Pat and Josiah had to push the Toyota Land Cruiser to get it up and out of the mud. We made it to the house and enjoyed a quiet evening together.
Saturday morning we were up and on our way to the Maasai Mara Game Reserve by 6:30am. We drove around the park from 8am until about 4pm. It's so hard to condense our day there! I'll have pictures galore to post later. I made a list of all the animals we saw. Dan and Connie said we were having a good day, seeing so many different kinds. Wildebeest, zebra, Thompson's gazelle and ostrich were the first to be seen. Then we talked to some people in another car who told us about a cheetah and her 3 "children." We found them and watched them for about 30 minutes. After that it was like a floodgate! We saw about 30 different types of animals and birds throughout the rest of the day. Lions, giraffes, elephants, cape buffalo, topi, hippos in the river, hyena, crested cranes with 3 chicks, several beautiful bird varieties, and many more! What has struck me are all the varieties of animals and the large number of most that we see. In a zoo you see a limited number of each animal. There were no fences here! =) So fun to see the baby animals, too.
From the game park, we drove to Kawaii, which is the area on the Siria Escarpment where Crum's used to live. What views we had all day of the savannah and hills and valleys! Beautiful! We spent the night with Ole Salepu and his family. Salepu has been a leader in the church and friend of the Crums for many years. He and his wife, Norakadau (sp?), were so sweet and hospitable! We had a bit of culture shock while there, but were happy to get to spend some time with them.
I am running out of time. I need to get going. I'll write more about the weekend later!
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Christmas Day 2008
We have had a nice, relaxing Christmas Day here at Crums' house. We opened presents at about 10am (a clue that our kids are all older!). We had stockings from Connie and family and each had a present to open. I wrapped up an impromptu gift for Kyle and Claire each also - cash, in Kenyan Schillings, to spend at the Maasai Market tomorrow and next Friday. They were happy to get some spending money! We enjoyed watching Dan, Connie, Rachel and Josiah open their presents from each other. Then they were able to use their webcam and Skype to talk to and see Sarah and Chris in California (it was going on midnight there). They opened their presents from Sarah and Chris in front of the computer. =)
We all pitched in to make our Christmas dinner. Kyle made the pumpkin casserole; Claire had made the cheesecake dessert yesterday and cut green beans today; Pat and Rachel worked on mashed potatoes; Josiah and I made up the yeast rolls; Dan taught Josiah how to carve the turkey; and Connie was the project manager doing lots here and there! We had a delicious, traditional meal. A church friend of Crums, Clarissa, joined us for the afternoon. Her husband is away during the holidays. She works for the UN here in Nairobi and was delightful and very interesting to talk to. She has lived in many places around Africa and the world in her career as a land expert. Developing settlements/towns in 3rd world countries is her specialty. Her husband is a wildlife artist with amazing talent. You can see his oil paintings online at www.paulaugustinus.com. Yes, they are all paintings, not photos...
We are going to the Maasai Market in the morning. We are looking forward to seeing what is available to buy for gifts, etc. Then we are leaving Nairobi by about 11am to drive to Maasailand, about a 7 hour drive. We will be out in the Mara area until Monday. Wonder what we will see and do out there?? More info. later. I will post again on Tuesday...
We all pitched in to make our Christmas dinner. Kyle made the pumpkin casserole; Claire had made the cheesecake dessert yesterday and cut green beans today; Pat and Rachel worked on mashed potatoes; Josiah and I made up the yeast rolls; Dan taught Josiah how to carve the turkey; and Connie was the project manager doing lots here and there! We had a delicious, traditional meal. A church friend of Crums, Clarissa, joined us for the afternoon. Her husband is away during the holidays. She works for the UN here in Nairobi and was delightful and very interesting to talk to. She has lived in many places around Africa and the world in her career as a land expert. Developing settlements/towns in 3rd world countries is her specialty. Her husband is a wildlife artist with amazing talent. You can see his oil paintings online at www.paulaugustinus.com. Yes, they are all paintings, not photos...
We are going to the Maasai Market in the morning. We are looking forward to seeing what is available to buy for gifts, etc. Then we are leaving Nairobi by about 11am to drive to Maasailand, about a 7 hour drive. We will be out in the Mara area until Monday. Wonder what we will see and do out there?? More info. later. I will post again on Tuesday...
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Merry Christmas!
Have a Merry Christmas tomorrow! We are enjoying a bit less traditional one this year - especially weather-wise. It was about 80 again today and gorgeous. What I have noticed so much about Nairobi is all the flowers everywhere. There are flowers blooming in yards and along the streets all over the city. It's very tropical and green. Bougainvillea is in bloom year-round and in several stunning colors. Another colorful site are all the birds we are seeing. I haven't learned some of the names, but Kyle and Claire got great pictures this morning of 3 Crowned Cranes in Crum's acacia tree. Yes, Kyle and Claire were up BEFORE Pat and I this morning! Now that's a Christmas vacation miracle! haha
We enjoyed some Indian food for supper last night at a place called Diamond Plaza (DP). It was kind of like the Nairobi version of Colligny Plaza at Hilton Head Island. We ate outside and about 6 guys met us at a table when we walked up. They represented 6 different eateries in the mall area. Rachel and Josiah (mostly Rachel - we were so proud) took charge and started ordering for all of us. In about 3-4 minutes they were all gone then the food started showing up from all directions. We all ate and got full - even Kyle and Claire! So, no they are NOT starving to death here. =) Rachel had ordered dishes that were pretty mild and not so hot to eat, thankfully.
This morning, we went to the home of Augustine and Lista and their 2 daughters, Sylvia and Lona for lunch. Augustine has been the Crum's house helper for about 9 years and is a dear, wonderful man. They live in the Kangemi slum in a 3rd floor room about 12 x 12 feet, divided into 2 rooms. There were about 11 of us in the first room which is about 8 x 10 feet or so. Our lunch was delicious. Again, we were all full and enjoyed talking to Augustine and Lista and their family. The kitchen Lista made our meal in was probably about 4 x 4 feet. She made a brothy potato/meat stew that she served over rice. Bananas for dessert and then chai to top it all off. I took several pictures of very cute kids who were happy to smile for the camera!
Enjoy celebrating Jesus' birthday!!
We enjoyed some Indian food for supper last night at a place called Diamond Plaza (DP). It was kind of like the Nairobi version of Colligny Plaza at Hilton Head Island. We ate outside and about 6 guys met us at a table when we walked up. They represented 6 different eateries in the mall area. Rachel and Josiah (mostly Rachel - we were so proud) took charge and started ordering for all of us. In about 3-4 minutes they were all gone then the food started showing up from all directions. We all ate and got full - even Kyle and Claire! So, no they are NOT starving to death here. =) Rachel had ordered dishes that were pretty mild and not so hot to eat, thankfully.
This morning, we went to the home of Augustine and Lista and their 2 daughters, Sylvia and Lona for lunch. Augustine has been the Crum's house helper for about 9 years and is a dear, wonderful man. They live in the Kangemi slum in a 3rd floor room about 12 x 12 feet, divided into 2 rooms. There were about 11 of us in the first room which is about 8 x 10 feet or so. Our lunch was delicious. Again, we were all full and enjoyed talking to Augustine and Lista and their family. The kitchen Lista made our meal in was probably about 4 x 4 feet. She made a brothy potato/meat stew that she served over rice. Bananas for dessert and then chai to top it all off. I took several pictures of very cute kids who were happy to smile for the camera!
Enjoy celebrating Jesus' birthday!!
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