Hopefully those pictures I promised in the last post will get up soon. We’ve tried a couple times, but blogger was being finicky. We took some pics of our apt all set up.
Anyway, things have been getting a little better here. The homesickness is still there full force at times, but it’s a bit dimmer. I can forget about it during the day. We’ve tried to stay pretty busy.
One day Jake went out to give some blood at a local hospital for one of the family’s here at NEGST. Their 4 year old son had to get a heart surgery, and unlike America, there is a VERY short supply of blood here, so they charge the patient for any blood they may need during something like that! So, Jake had the kind of blood he needed, so he donated it to him so the family doesn’t have to pay. Also, some other mzungus went as well, even though they didn’t have the same blood type. Apparently if they give a pint of any kind of blood, then the hospital will give the family one for free of the kind they need. It’s interesting to think that Jake’s blood is actually going to a person! Most of the time when one gives blood in the states, it just goes into a big bank—you have no idea the difference that you’re making. So, anyway, that was cool and I was proud of him for doing that on his 3rd or 4th day here.
Let’s see…. What else? Asante is doing well. He’s cruising around like CRAZY, which for those of you who aren’t familiar with that language, it means he’s walking from one piece of furniture to the next, while hanging onto to something with one hand. He’s much more confident in his walking abilities, but I think it will still be awhile before he walks. Funny story—jake and I said to him, “Asante, I think you are going to walk SO soon.” And he immediately shakes his head no very firmly. LOL. I don’t think he knew what we said, but I wouldn’t be surprised. He’s beginning to understand when we say “no” to him, and he’s begun to indicate that he knows some of what we are saying. He’s such a good boy. We’re very blessed and thankful for him.
We’ve begun to hang out some with a few families here… one is from the states originally, and another is from the UK. We all watched the Office last night, neither of them had seen it, so that was really, really fun. I don’t know if everyone liked it, but I think most of them did. We also had fajitas at the family from the states—YUM! I don’t know how they made it to taste so authentic, but it was delicious.
We attended a local church service here of a church called Karen Community Church. I’m not sure what denomination it was—they didn’t really say. But the people were nice and the service was pretty much what we were used to in the states. Some of the songs we sang were English, and a couple in Kiswahili. They had announcements, prayer, new member recognition, and a sermon. It lasted about 2 hours, but it didn’t seem that long. Afterwards all the visitors went to the pastor’s office for sandwiches and tea. It was quite a good idea! It only lasted about 20 minutes, but it was a good thing to be able to get face-to-face with some of the leadership and meet other visitors. In the bulletin they had a quote from Bill Hybels—and from some of the structure, I have a sneaky suspicion that they may be somewhat affiliated with Willowcreek Association. Being the bibliophile that I am, I scanned the pastor’s little library, and saw a lot of books that I recognized, which was kinda strange for me. I guess I expected everything to be a bit more…. I don’t know, African?
But what is African really? I guess that’s what I’m here to learn. My expectations are blown nearly everyday, and today was no different. I was surprised that they had a bulletin with an order of worship- they also had lots of programs- men’s, women’s, outreach, missions, prayer, youth, etc. etc. They had 2 services- the first was for youth and anyone under 40ish who was single. Then everyone else came to the later service. During the later service, those who were in the first service had Sunday school type classes outside, which was pretty fun. Those attending the service weren’t particularly more or less charismatic than what we were used to in the states. Not good or bad, just surprising I’m not sure if we’ll “shop around” or just stick with this community church. We don’t want to spend too much time going from one church to the next. We know there is no perfect church, so we’re just trying to figure out where we can fit in and use our gifts. It’s hard because we feel like while being at NEGST, an entirely Christian community in itself who has chapel 2 days a week for the students and a small group on Fridays, we don’t want to become “overchurched”, something that we were trying to get away from in the states. So, all that to say we’re praying about it and seeing where the Lord leads.
I guess this is enough for now. ☺ I could ramble on for a while. Thanks for reading!
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
First Few Days in Africa
Hujambo Rafikis!
So brace yourself, this could be quite a lengthy post.
For those of you who haven’t heard, we got to Nairobi after a very smooth plane ride… we had quite the layover in Amsterdam, around 4 hours, which was a little rough—I wasn’t feeling well and Jake was really tired and Asante was… well, not. ☺. Jake kindly let me sleep on a chair and table while we waited for the boarding time. Other than that, the food was good, we had good seats, Asante was well-behaved (thankfully he slept every single takeoff and landing!), and everyone was in good spirits.
When we got to Nairobi, it was pretty late—2 guys from the school picked us up and took us back to a professor’s house to stay for the evening before going to our flat the next day. Asante got up at 2a and was awake until 5, but it was okay because we weren’t that tired either. We eventually got up around 11, and a kind man named Lawrence picked us up to take us to Nakumatt, which is basically Kenya’s Wal*mart type store (complete with blue vests). We bought some basic, basic necessities (like a mattress), and then came back to our place to begin putting things in order.
The first night we were here we were invited to Lawrence and his wife, Dorcas’ house, for dinner. It was AMAZINGLY DELICIOUS. I love love Kenyan food. It was actually cool because as we were talking, we realized that both him and I have gone to the same Leadership Summit! He came to the states a little bit in 2006 and went to Willowcreek in Chicago. It was fun to talk about. He says that there is a satellite location in Nairobi of Leadership Summit, but it’s kinda far away. It’s at a huge Baptist church towards the heart of the city. Depending, it might be fun to go next year and talk about it with those of you BSUers who go too!
It wasn’t until today (Wednesday) that we’ve gotten all of the stuff that we know that we need. Actually, as I write, Jake is out braving his first independent matatu ride to Nakumatt to pick up a few things that we need for the househelp.
Speaking of, many of you know that we weren’t really sure if we would get househelp, but we decided to go ahead with it…. Lawrence’s younger sister, Grace, is going to be our househelp. She came for the first time today, and she did a great job. She’s really sweet and has great initiative. We’re going to be having her help with laundry, watching Asante 4 hours a week, as well as some light cleaning and shopping. It is so crazy that a good wage is less than a dollar an hour. I think she’ll also help us with learning Kiswahili. Asante seems to really like her. I think I’m going to ask her to only speak Kiswahili to Asante so he begins to pick it up. There’s a 2-year-old here named Annabelle—I heard that she knows both Kiswahili and English, and she was 1-year-old when her parents moved here.
Asante is doing very well… he is completely adjusted to the time, and he’s even okay sleeping in his own room (something we didn’t have for him in the states!). The first night he got 9 mosquito bites, but they don’t seem to bother him at all. Everyone loves him – he has friends come visit him everyday so far to play with him. He LOVES it when we’re around other Africans… he reaches out for them and likes to be held. Everyone is quite surprised by his willingness to go to anyone who wants him.
Jake’s classes begin on the 8th of September, but he has orientation all week next week, starting on the 1st. This is where he’ll register for classes and things like that. We saw that they are beginning a new masters of arts here called Organizational Leadership. The classes look so cool, but it’s actually a distance education course. And you have to be involved in an organization on the leaderships level in order to get into it. I think it sounds fun though.
Anyway, that’s how things are going. Although we’ve had a lot to set up, the days have gone by slowly. I’ve been really homesick. I really miss the community, I miss our family. I surprisingly miss a lot of food and conveniences… mostly a vehicle. I can’t really get around by myself here… they say that white women and children shouldn’t ever be out alone. Soooo, I’ll be stuck here during the day—everything is kinda far away. Many people here have cars, but I just don’t think it’s in our budget. I miss the ministry of the BSU. I miss game nights and having a tv on during the day. Internet is hit or miss, but a guy here is working on networking, so we may be able to have internet in the house regularly in a few weeks or months. That would be really cool! But of course no telling for sure.
We’re going to post pictures, so be on the look out!
So brace yourself, this could be quite a lengthy post.
For those of you who haven’t heard, we got to Nairobi after a very smooth plane ride… we had quite the layover in Amsterdam, around 4 hours, which was a little rough—I wasn’t feeling well and Jake was really tired and Asante was… well, not. ☺. Jake kindly let me sleep on a chair and table while we waited for the boarding time. Other than that, the food was good, we had good seats, Asante was well-behaved (thankfully he slept every single takeoff and landing!), and everyone was in good spirits.
When we got to Nairobi, it was pretty late—2 guys from the school picked us up and took us back to a professor’s house to stay for the evening before going to our flat the next day. Asante got up at 2a and was awake until 5, but it was okay because we weren’t that tired either. We eventually got up around 11, and a kind man named Lawrence picked us up to take us to Nakumatt, which is basically Kenya’s Wal*mart type store (complete with blue vests). We bought some basic, basic necessities (like a mattress), and then came back to our place to begin putting things in order.
The first night we were here we were invited to Lawrence and his wife, Dorcas’ house, for dinner. It was AMAZINGLY DELICIOUS. I love love Kenyan food. It was actually cool because as we were talking, we realized that both him and I have gone to the same Leadership Summit! He came to the states a little bit in 2006 and went to Willowcreek in Chicago. It was fun to talk about. He says that there is a satellite location in Nairobi of Leadership Summit, but it’s kinda far away. It’s at a huge Baptist church towards the heart of the city. Depending, it might be fun to go next year and talk about it with those of you BSUers who go too!
It wasn’t until today (Wednesday) that we’ve gotten all of the stuff that we know that we need. Actually, as I write, Jake is out braving his first independent matatu ride to Nakumatt to pick up a few things that we need for the househelp.
Speaking of, many of you know that we weren’t really sure if we would get househelp, but we decided to go ahead with it…. Lawrence’s younger sister, Grace, is going to be our househelp. She came for the first time today, and she did a great job. She’s really sweet and has great initiative. We’re going to be having her help with laundry, watching Asante 4 hours a week, as well as some light cleaning and shopping. It is so crazy that a good wage is less than a dollar an hour. I think she’ll also help us with learning Kiswahili. Asante seems to really like her. I think I’m going to ask her to only speak Kiswahili to Asante so he begins to pick it up. There’s a 2-year-old here named Annabelle—I heard that she knows both Kiswahili and English, and she was 1-year-old when her parents moved here.
Asante is doing very well… he is completely adjusted to the time, and he’s even okay sleeping in his own room (something we didn’t have for him in the states!). The first night he got 9 mosquito bites, but they don’t seem to bother him at all. Everyone loves him – he has friends come visit him everyday so far to play with him. He LOVES it when we’re around other Africans… he reaches out for them and likes to be held. Everyone is quite surprised by his willingness to go to anyone who wants him.
Jake’s classes begin on the 8th of September, but he has orientation all week next week, starting on the 1st. This is where he’ll register for classes and things like that. We saw that they are beginning a new masters of arts here called Organizational Leadership. The classes look so cool, but it’s actually a distance education course. And you have to be involved in an organization on the leaderships level in order to get into it. I think it sounds fun though.
Anyway, that’s how things are going. Although we’ve had a lot to set up, the days have gone by slowly. I’ve been really homesick. I really miss the community, I miss our family. I surprisingly miss a lot of food and conveniences… mostly a vehicle. I can’t really get around by myself here… they say that white women and children shouldn’t ever be out alone. Soooo, I’ll be stuck here during the day—everything is kinda far away. Many people here have cars, but I just don’t think it’s in our budget. I miss the ministry of the BSU. I miss game nights and having a tv on during the day. Internet is hit or miss, but a guy here is working on networking, so we may be able to have internet in the house regularly in a few weeks or months. That would be really cool! But of course no telling for sure.
We’re going to post pictures, so be on the look out!
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
last 24 hours
Today is our last day in America. Tomorrow at this time we'll be high in the sky, heading towards our first destination on our 24 hour journey.
It's pretty laid back today. Only things left still to do is hem up a pair of pants, write a book blog, and head to the hotel where we'll be staying tonight. It feels like any other day. My nerves aren't really kicking in yet. I feel pretty laid back. I think it won't be until the airplane that it really hits me.
Asante has had a cold the last few days, so please be praying for him! He seems to be getting over it already. He had a fever the first day in Waterloo, but he's well over that now.
I dont have a ton to say.... I'll be sending out an email soon, so be looking for it!
It's pretty laid back today. Only things left still to do is hem up a pair of pants, write a book blog, and head to the hotel where we'll be staying tonight. It feels like any other day. My nerves aren't really kicking in yet. I feel pretty laid back. I think it won't be until the airplane that it really hits me.
Asante has had a cold the last few days, so please be praying for him! He seems to be getting over it already. He had a fever the first day in Waterloo, but he's well over that now.
I dont have a ton to say.... I'll be sending out an email soon, so be looking for it!
Friday, August 15, 2008
t-6 days
Less than one week until take off! I can hardly believe it. I was up late after Jake and Asante went to bed, reading through some material that the travel clinic person gave to us after we got our shots last month. It was terrifying! I had to make my mind stop racing as I was trying to fall asleep. Things like parasites and infections and malaria were a big threat in my mind at 11:00p. When I woke up this morning, it wasn't so bad. I think I'll be less nervous about all of that stuff once I get there and realize that it's not as terrifying as the packet of information lets on.
Asante got his yellow fever shot this morning and his Hib this afternoon- he totally took them like a champ! He cried for a split second and then stopped-- without the need of cuddling or a pacifier. I'm totally proud of him. :)
Tonight is the night of good-byes for most of our Columbia friends, and early tomorrow morning we'll be headed to St. Louis to help my little brother move into college. After that we'll head to Waterloo to hang out with my parents until we leave.
It's really weird... I feel like Columbia isn't my home right now (because we have no permanent home here anymore), and it doesn't feel like Waterloo or Potosi are our homes either, obviously because we haven't been there for awhile.... so I have this weird homesickness feeling that is uncurable. I'm not sure if the thought of moving to Nairobi makes it better or worse.
Asante got his yellow fever shot this morning and his Hib this afternoon- he totally took them like a champ! He cried for a split second and then stopped-- without the need of cuddling or a pacifier. I'm totally proud of him. :)
Tonight is the night of good-byes for most of our Columbia friends, and early tomorrow morning we'll be headed to St. Louis to help my little brother move into college. After that we'll head to Waterloo to hang out with my parents until we leave.
It's really weird... I feel like Columbia isn't my home right now (because we have no permanent home here anymore), and it doesn't feel like Waterloo or Potosi are our homes either, obviously because we haven't been there for awhile.... so I have this weird homesickness feeling that is uncurable. I'm not sure if the thought of moving to Nairobi makes it better or worse.
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