November :)

November 12^th

I apologize for the extended time between posts! The time is going so quickly here that, before I know it, a month has passed and I haven’t posted! Things are going very well here. I really love living here and have met so many wonderful people. Although my job can be very tiring, I love my students and have gotten to know them well. I am getting used to the power outages, lack of internet, and bargaining system. In fact, I am writing this during one of our day-long power outages. I have learned to take nothing for granted!

            For the month of November, my room mate, Jenn, and I are trying to spend only the amount of money that an average Kenyan would be able to spend by eating a “Kenyan Diet.” Now, some of you (especially those of you who were here in Kenya with me last year) probably think I am crazy. You are probably thinking, she is going to eat ugali and sukumawiki for 30 days!? Others of you may not even know what those two things are, so here is an explaination:

            Ugali- Better know as “African cornbread.” It is a sticky bread-like food made with corn flour. It looks like mashed potatoes, but don’t be fooled by its looks, because it doesn’t taste anything like potatoes! It has a very bland taste and is usually used as the utensil in the meal. You take a piece and flatten it out in your hand and then scoop other food up with it to eat. It actually works quite well!

            Sukumawiki- Similar to collard greens. It’s a mix of kale and spinach cooked with some onions and tomatoes. The word sukumawiki means “push through the week.”  A small amount makes a lot of food and it helps to fill the stomach so you don’t get as hungry.

We have also been eating some eggs, rice, beans, cooked cabbage, eggplant, and other vegetables that are very inexpensive here. Avocados are also very cheap here, so we have also made some guacamole. Fresh fruit is also very inexpensive, so we have been able to eat a lot of that. Vegetarians and Vegans would probably enjoy this diet very much! Unfortunately, being a white person here means that you usually get charged more for everything, including food. Our good friend Anne has been helping us out by buying our fruits and vegetables for us at the Kenyan price. The other day she bought us 4 quart sized bags of sukumawiki, some tomatoes, onions, and green peppers for only the equivalent of $1.30!  About 3 days into this diet we were ready to quit. It is so hard to have to think about whether the food is within our price range. I think the food that we both miss eating the most is cheese. Kenyans don’t eat a lot of cheese because it is too expensive. It has been an eye-opening experience to have to eat only on a few dollars a week. In the first week we ate all of our meals for only about $5. The only time we eat food other than Kenyan food is during lunch at school. The school gives the teachers free lunch, so we have been eating that to continue to save money. Most of the time the school lunch is Kenyan anyway J We are also making an exception for Thanksgiving dinner. In turn we are going to eat Kenyan food on December 1^st to make up for the one day of turkey, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie. Through living here in Kenya, I have learned to cook so many more things. I have grown to love making everything from scratch and experimenting with new recipes.

            In other exciting news, I am moving to a new house in December. Myself and three other teachers wanted to live closer to the school, and so last month we began to look for a new place to live and found a beautiful house only about a half mile from the school. It used to be an orphanage, so it is very large. We are so excited to move into this house that has a yard and is further away from the hustle and bustle of the city! The house has 5 bedrooms, 3.5 baths, 2 balconies, and a fireplace! There is a garden that has already been started, a few banana trees, a few avocado trees and the day guard even keeps some chickens! We are looking forward to moving in there in mid-December and having some peace and quiet. The landlord has really been helpful to us and worked with us on price and deposits and everything.

            Today I got to go to the home of our house help for her daughter and niece’s 2^nd birthdays. It was so interesting to go to a Kenyan’s home near the slums and see how they live. The house was divided with curtains, not walls, and most of the food was cooked out on the front porch over hot coals. They were so hospitable and were so happy to have us there. She calls us her girls and tells us that she loves us all the time. She is so sweet and we love having her here to help us around the house. I think we are going to have her start cooking us some Kenyan food during November because the food that I ate at her house today was delicious!

            Next week will be an exciting week at our school. LaCrae, a famous Christian rap artist, will be coming to Nairobi to do a concert on Friday, and the chaplain at our school has arranged to have him come speak at our school and do a small concert for our students! We are very excited to have him come and minister to our students. Some of the teachers, including myself, have also purchased VIP passes to go see his concert that night and sit in the front row. I can’t wait to post more about how it all goes!

            Not much else is new here. Every day is an adventure as always. We still have not found a home church. There are just so many options, and none have seemed to fit yet. We are going to a Methodist church this weekend to see how we like it. I think one other interesting thing that I have experienced here is the idea of having free-time and down-time. This is new for me, as many of you know. I am usually running from one place to another and never taking time to rest. Now I have all the time in the world and don’t know what to do with my time! Jenn and I play cards, watch movies, and do puzzles when we aren’t doing school work. It is nice to just sit and talk and relax every once in a while J I guess that is all for now. I will post next weekend about how the LaCrae concert went!

Prayer Requests:

-          For us to find a home church and be able to get plugged in.

-          For the soldiers fighting on the border of Kenya and Somalia, and for the war between the two countries to be over soon.

-          For everything to go smoothly with the LaCrae concert, and that many students lives would be changed by his testimony.

-          For the rest of this month to go well for Jenn and I on our Kenyan diet.

Verse of Encouragement:

This one is for my students. We have been practicing it every day J

“Do all things without complaining or arguing so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God.” Philippians 2:14

We often times take for granted everything that we have been given. There are times when we are frustrated, but I hope that we always remember how blessed we are and that complaining will never solve a problem.

These are a few of my favorite things...

            Again, where did the time go? We have been here over two months now, and I have to say that we are settling in very well. Just after my last blog post, we had a staff retreat out in the Rift Valley. It was really a blessing to get out of the city for a few days and not have to worry about school work. In fact, the only rule for the retreat was that we could not bring any school work with us! The music teachers from the school found out that I played the drums and so I got to be the drummer for the whole weekend for worship. All they had was a small hand drum, and let me tell you, your hands start to get very tired and sore after 3 days of drumming if you haven't played in a while! It was a great time though. We had fun just sitting around playing cards and going on walks to see some wildlife. We saw a lot of giraffe and zebra out in the rift valley as we were walking.
            Three weekends ago, Jenn, Rachel, and I went back to Dagoretti Children's Center to hold and feed some of the babies. They were so adorable! We got there just at feeding time when all 20 babies were screaming for food! We quickly went to work feeding them, and soon the room was quiet and peaceful again. We only stayed for a short while and then left to meet up with some of the other girls to go downtown for lunch and shopping. I got some fabric to have a traditional dress made. It is always crazy to try and buy things here. You have to know how to bargain and try to get the price down. As soon as they see a Mzungu (white person) they automatically jack the price up because they think that we are rich. The one lady even said to me, "You know the American dollar is doing very well right now." To which I responded "I'm sure it is, but I live here, and I get paid in shillings!" Her face was priceless and she was at a loss of words. Later on we went to get some lunch before heading over to the Maasi market to look at handmade goods. We were mostly looking to see how much the people would try to charge us for certain things, but it didn't stop vendors from trying to persuade us to come to their stand to buy things. I had another interesting experience when a lady said to me "Please come and look at my things." I told her we were just looking and not buying anything today. In a very harsh voice she said to me "WHY NOT?!" I have learned that the only way to reply is to say "Because I live here and I don't really need any of this!" They seem to back away very quickly. After we had all made our purchases, we got back on the very shady looking bus to ride home.
          Two weeks ago was Spiritual Emphasis week at our school. We had chapel every day and we did some special things in our classroom. I did some worship and devotions for the students each morning, and they really enjoyed it! I also had them write a letter to God about whatever they wanted and some of my kids are still coming up to me this week asking if they can write more letters. I love that I have the opportunity to share God with these kids. The students loved worship so much that I have decided to do it once a week and add a special devotional once a week for them to read. My kids have so many great questions about God and how to follow Him! Jenn and I were also invited over to the home of one of my students a few weeks ago. Her mother is my room mom and helps me to organize parent help as well as other activities. She made us an amazing meal and gave us some tips about where to buy certain foods. The family has lived in Nairobi for 8 years working for a missions organization. Many students from our school are the children of people from this organization. They fly planes to remote areas and do food drops along with many other things. We got to meet some of the other people from this organization the other night when the same family invited all of the singles from their ministry and our school for dinner at their house. They are a very generous family and a great support to the teachers!
           Last weekend we went hiking in the Ngong Hills (which are more like mountains!). The top peak that we went to was 2100 ft above sea level. It gets very difficult to breathe at that elevation, so in addition to the intense grade of the mountain, we had hardly any oxygen. Even though that was all interesting, the craziest part of the hike had to be the fact that we had to hire 2 guards armed with AK47's to protect us from animals and thieves. That never happens in PA! On Sunday, we all got invited to go out to eat to a Brazilian BBQ restaurant called Fogo Gaucho's. The NICS organization paid for the meal for our entire staff including all of our bus drivers, grounds keepers, cleaning ladies, and teachers! It was awesome to have a time to get to know each other more and enjoy a very nice meal. The idea of the restaurant is that waiters bring around all different kinds of meat on skewers and carve you off some food. We had many different kinds of beef, a couple kinds of pork, chicken, sausage, and crocodile! Crocodile is kind of oily an chewy. It didn't taste bad, but the beef was definitely my favorite :)
       This past week was spirit week and although it was hecktic, it was also a blast! Monday was crazy hat/hair day, Tuesday was New You/Careen day (I dressed as a Phillies baseball player), Wednesday was Decade Day (I did the 70's), Thursday was Dynamic Duo day (Jenn and I were Mario and Luigi...complete with suspenders and mustaches drawn with mascara!), and Friday was Dress Like Your Class Movie Day (Our class had the movie "Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs;" I was Sam the weather girl). My kids did a great job with participating and on Tuesday our entire class dressed up! It was so awesome! I also started teaching karate lessons last week to the elementary school students at an after school program. I think it will be fun to teach them and it will take me back to my first years of karate classes.
      I am continuing to find more and more things about Nairobi that I like (hence the title of this post). I think my favorite part about being here is that there is always an opportunity to serve and volunteer to help. Anyone who knows me will tell you that volunteering is probably my favorite thing in the world (and sometimes I do it too much :) ). Your prayers and financial support have really helped me to be able to do these volunteer projects and give them my full focus. I thank you so much for that!

Prayer Requests:
- Parent teacher conferences are this week. Please pray for good conversation and planning for the future of these kids!
- I have been having migraine headaches for a couple weeks. Please pray that they would not hinder my teaching or focus during school.
- For the families and friends of a high school classmate of mine who passed away last week, and two others who are in the hospital.

Verse of Encouragement:
" So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God."  
1 Corinthians 10:31
         
       

Gettin' off my substructure :)

"Get off your substructure and feed yourself a steak!" ~ Bryce Taylor

     How did another three weeks fly by so quickly?! Some days it feels like things are finally settling down, and others days it feels like things are speeding past faster than a freight train! I am reminded of the quote, shown above, every time I feel a little tired or don't feel like doing anything that day. It gives me the little push that I need to keep going.
     Today was a strange day. In the US it is Labor Day. Today I would typically be at a summer party at my aunt and uncle's house celebrating and have a great time. Instead, I didn't even remember it was a holiday until lunch time! It was a weird experience to be somewhere that is not celebrating a holiday that you would typically have off of work for. It's these small day to day experiences that remind me that I am living in Africa. Believe it or not, I often forget I am on another continent until I use the wrong word for something or I need to figure out something I haven't had to do yet, like pay an internet bill with a cell phone. It's fairly easy to get by when everyone speaks English (even though it's British English, and many things have a different name). Some days it feels like we have been here for months and others it feels like we just arrived yesterday. Little by little we are getting adjusted.
     In the past few weeks I have mostly just been going to work every day and relaxing in the evening with coworkers. We had a day off school last week for the end of Ramadan and a couple teachers got together for brunch. If you are wondering why a Christian school would have off for a Muslim holiday, it's because it is a national holiday here. We have had a few other girls nights where we watched movies and ate a ton of food :) My roommate, Jenn, and I love to cook. There is always something baking in the oven or cooking on the stove in our kitchen! The other girls often laugh when they come over and see what we are making. It is a relaxing activity for us.
    In addition to having fun and relaxing the last few weeks, we also got to work some more with the people of Kenya doing outreach. There are 3 children at our school from a local orphanage that is run by Feed the Children. One of these students is in my class and so a group of us decided to go visit the orphanage and learn more about the kids in our classrooms. It was an amazing experience! Every Saturday a few of the students go to an art therapy class. The class is held at an old art museum called Ramoma. Two men run an art therapy program for children who are orphaned, and also children who are in the hospital. We got to go with the children from the orphanage to make masks and just have a great laughing and doing art. They loved every moment of it (And so did we :) ) After we left the museum, we went back to the orphanage and took a tour. We found out that there are about 90 children at the orphanage, 20 of which are infants under 10 months old. Many of the children are there because they have some sort of disability and their family cannot care for them. Others are there because they have no parents at all and the closest family member can't take them. It is sad to see so many kids without homes. Many of these kids will not be adopted because there are not many people who agree to adopt a child with a disability, no matter how minor it may be. If a couple is looking to adopt a child and they check the box that says they will not accept a child with a disability, all children with the most minor injuries or even children who were born with disfigurements that have since been taken care of, are taken off the list for that couple. Unfortunately, that means that almost 100% of the time, only healthy infants are adopted. The Feed the Children orphanage that we went to was called Dagoretti Children's Center. They also have a feeding program that they run through the center that feeds 270,000 children a day in the slums! I thought that was amazing! The center has asked us to come back at least once a month to feed and hold the infants because they just can't give them all the attention they need to thrive. This week, two of the children from Dagoretti showed up at our school with brand new Tom's shoes on. Tom's slogan is One for One. It means that for every pair of shoes purchased, they will donate one pair to a child who goes without shoes every day. We thought it was awesome to see this program in action!
     I am continuing to look for a home church here. I have found many options, but none felt quite right. The church I attended this weekend was my favorite so far, and I am going to go back next weekend to see if I would like to continue going there. Please pray that I find somewhere soon so that I can feel more settled.
     I currently have 21 students in my classroom. 21 very chatty students may I add :) They are a handful, but I love working with them. Two weeks ago we were reading a story in class and it mentioned something about biscuits. In Kenya, a biscuit is either a cookie or a cracker, so I had to explain to the students that I was talking about a roll. When they still didn't understand it, I decided that I would go home and bake them some American style biscuits. The surprised looks on their faces were awesome when I walked into school the next day with a big container of homemade biscuits just for them :) Like I said before...there is always something baking in our kitchen!
     Although things are becoming more stable, there is still never a dull moment here, and I am always learning something. I had my first driving experience last week. It can't even describe how nerve racking it can be, but we made it to and from school safely. I pray that I continue to stay off my substructure and keep on moving and learning, because what kind of teacher would I be if I didn't continue to be a life-long learner :) Thank you all for your prayers and support! Love you all!

Prayer Requests-
- We have a staff retreat this weekend. Please pray that we can relax and build relationships this weekend while we worship God.
- Continue to pray for the financial situation here and that we would be able to budget properly.
- That I would find a home church soon so that I can get plugged in.
- That I would manage my time wisely so that I give God all the time He needs to work in my life and help me work in the lives of others.

Verse of Encouragement-
^"Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality." Romans 12:9-13

Better than a Hallelujah

"We pour out our miseries, God just hears a melody. Beautiful the mess we are, the honest cries, the breaking hearts, are better than a hallelujah." ~Amy Grant (Better than a Hallelujah)

The last two weeks, since my last post, have been filled with highs and lows of emotions. Happiness, excitement, sadness, empathy, fear, stress, joy, and love are just a few of the many feelings have experienced through setting up an apartment, setting up a classroom, beginning my first teaching job, and trying to build relationships with the people I have met along the way. I have learned something new every single day since arriving in Kenya, and I am not taking for granted any opportunity I am given to experience something about the culture.
Each morning I wake to the most interesting combination of sounds I have ever heard. I would have never guessed that I could find a place that sounds like I am living in both the city and country simultaneously! Each morning I hear car alarms going off, construction sites being worked on, people talking and trucks driving past our complex. However, I also get to wake to the sound of birds chirping right outside my window and get out of bed to look at a beautiful combination of huge green trees and brightly colored flowers in and amongst apartment complexes and homes. It really is extraordinary! Although I am taking in all of these wonderful moments, there are things about living here that can become very frustrating very quickly. One of the other new staff members described the hardest things about living here as having to think twice about everything you do. Has this food been properly washed so that I don't get sick? Has the water been purified enough to drink it? Do I need to turn the hot water heater on now so that the water will be warm enough to shower in an hour and a half? How will the other cars on the road react to the traffic and weather? If this item costs 3000 Shillings, how much is it in US Dollars, and could I find it for cheaper? Will I lose power or internet when I need it most? Will the food items I want be at the store or will they be rationed? It takes twice as much mental energy to do everything here. By the end of each day I am ready to sleep the second my head hits the pillow.  Amongst the stress we have been able to help each other through the frustrations and have had some good laughs along the way.
Since my last post I have done so many different things that it is going to be hard to summarize it all! We visited the Giraffe Park a little over a week ago and had a great time! We got to feed and pet the giraffes and some of the girls had the giraffes eat out of their mouths! The giraffes tongue felt like a cow's tongue. It was rough and very wet! Later that day we got to move into our apartments. They are huge compared to what I was expecting! It is very cold here at night. One night it got down into the 50's, and we have no heat in our apartments. Sleeping with sweats and many blankets has become the norm. On Sunday the 31st we went to church as a group at Emmanuel Baptist Church. The pastor who spoke did a wonderful job on his sermon on Philippians. His passion reminded me a lot of Pastor Bryce at Worship Center :) After church we got to eat at an Ethiopian restaurant. The food was very interesting, but tasted good. The rest of that day and the following couple of days we spent time getting our apartments set up and some people bought furniture. My roommate and I decided not to buy living room furniture right away, but were blessed to receive some temporary furniture this week that is owned by the school. We also ended up purchasing some desks and stools so that we would have somewhere to do work at home. On Thursday and Friday we had orientation at school, and I finally got to see my classroom and get to work on setting it up. It took me most of the day for both days to just get the room cleaned and set up. I didn't even get to do any decorating until Monday! On Saturday we spent some of the day at school doing work, and then went home for what was probably the most exciting afternoon and evening we have had so far. We got the furniture we had ordered delivered, got internet installed, got petrol for the first time, met our landlord (who happens to have a brother that lives in Lebanon, PA!), I got stuck in an elevator for 15 minutes, then we got frozen yogurt at the mall, and then bought over $100 worth of Betty Crocker products at the grocery store for all of the teachers because it is so hard to find here :) I think my favorite part of the day was getting stuck in the elevator with Jessica and having our maintenance man, Erastus, tell us "Don't go anywhere, I am going to turn off the elevator and get you out." to which Jessica responded, "Erastus, I am going to try to run away!" It was quite the eventful day! Sunday brought about more adventures. My roommate, Jenn, and I went with a bunch of Kenyans, and our friend MeLeesa, to an IDP (Internally Displaced People) Camp in the Rift Valley to deliver food and have a "church service". These tent camps are all over the Rift Valley, and they are made up of Kenyans who were displaced from their homes during the election violence in 2007. Their homes and farm land were taken away from them during the violence and many of them are still living as refugees in their own country. It was a very humbling experience to see these families living on nothing and depending on God to get them through the last couple years. One woman invited us to see her "home" where she lived with 6 children. Her husband left during the violence and she and here 6 children (including a 2 week old baby) fled the area never to see her husband again. It was amazing to see the strength, hope and faith in God that these people had. They were so grateful to have us there to share about God with them and bring them some food. The situation in these camps has become increasingly worse due to lack of government cooperation and help here in Kenya. Many of the camps are not receiving any support from the government when there seems to be some very simple solutions. The food that we brought to the camp was from a village only about 20-30 minutes away, by car, that has such a surplus of food that most of it spoils before it can be eaten. If only the government would take the initiative to organize deliveries between the two villages, maybe there wouldn't be so many hungry families in the IDP camps. It was sad and difficult to see the struggles these people are going through. It is very difficult to balance feeling helpless and feeling numb to the situation. The Kenyan who had organized the group that we went with is a teacher at our school, and he told the people in the camp about why he was there. He had been hiking nearby with some friends and at the top of the hiking trail they could see all of the IDP camps. At that moment they decided that they would never hike that trail again until the people in the IDP camps were taken care of and were able to find permanent housing and jobs. I thought this was an awesome sacrifice that these men made. They decided to forgo something that brought them joy to bring joy to someone else. These people really are showing the love of Christ in their actions! After leaving the camp, the Kenyans that we were with took us to a Kenyan barbecue where we had goat meat and chicken with chips (French Fries) and a mashed potato-like dish. It was delicious! We got home late that night, but the trip was so worth it! On Monday we had more orientation at school and spent some more time in our classrooms setting up for our first day on Tuesday. Although Tuesday was only a half day of school, it was tiring to get to know all of the students and get some of the logistics of the classroom out of the way! I have 20 students in my class. Many of them are Kenyan, 2 are Korean, one is British, one is Australian, and a few are American. About 3/4 of my students are boys! The rest of the week was similar to the first day. We did a lot of getting-to-know-you activities and practiced some of the classroom procedures and worked on behavior management. Some of my favorite things that happened this week in the classroom included being asked if Pennsylvania is where they make pencils, being looked at like I was crazy when I mentioned the words rainbow sherbet, and being told that I should run to the grocery store during the student's lunch time so that they could have candy as an end of the week treat. It was an exhausting first week, but I love my class and can't wait to see where the rest of the year takes us! After school yesterday we found out that the KFC opened at the shopping center by our house. We didn't dare try it because we knew every ex-pat in Nairobi would be there to try it out. It is the only American restaurant in Kenya! We might see what it's like in a few weeks when it calms down a bit. Instead, the 8 new girls went to an Italian restaurant to celebrate Jessica's birthday and then got frozen yogurt before watching a movie back at home. Today we got to go to a store that is a sewing and training program for marginalized women based in East Africa. It is called Amani ya Juu which means higher peace in Swahili. It was a really neat store filled with all kinds of handmade items in African fabrics like quilts, clothes, bags, and children's toys. It was hard to chose only one thing to buy, but I will definitely be going back for more stuff soon! After that we went to get lunch and just hung out for a bit. It was a nice, relaxing day.
Thank you all for your continued prayers. Although the last few weeks have been emotional, it helps to know that there are so many people supporting me!

Prayer Requests:
-For finances to become more stable. The Kenyan Shilling is losing value very quickly and because we are paid by the school in Shillings, finances are continuing to become tighter and tighter. It is a little scary to see the value dropping so quickly!
-Continued prayer for my classroom and students. We also have some new children on our campus from a local orphanage. Please pray that the other students would welcome them and form great friendships with them.
-That we would see all of the blessings God is giving us, even during the tough times.

Verse of Encouragement:
"Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.
And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you." ~ Philippians 4:6-9

T.I.A. (THIS IS AFRICA)

            T.I.A.- Three letters that have become a widely-used aphorism among expats living all over the beautiful continent of Africa. During my first few days here I have heard this phrase used to explain things like driving habits, long lines at Nakumatt (a Walmart-like store based in Kenya), and the sudden loss of power/hot water with no idea of when it will come back on. This IS Africa, after all, and even though I have been here before, and have spent the last 6 months preparing myself for the possibilty of the unexpected, jumping into a cold shower first thing in the morning and coming within inches of hitting another car or pedestrian while driving, seem like things that are going to take a very long time to get used to.
            I finally arrived here on Wednesday night after falling very ill on Saturday and needing to delay my plane flight for 2 days. Because I had delayed my trip, there was no time to recover from jet-lag and I hit the ground running first thing Thursday morning. The first few days we have been staying at a guest flat about 2-3 miles from the apartments we will soon be living in. We went shopping yesterday for all of the necessary household items for setting up an apartment. Tomorrow we will be getting our bed frames and mattresses. We went mattress shopping yesterday, but quickly realized that although they have the same names for mattress sizes that the US does, a twin bed could describe a mattress that is 3'X6', 3.5'X6', or 4'X6'. Again, T.I.A., and you can expect nothing to be the same as you would find in the US :) So far everyone has adjusted and adapted very easily, and we have started to build the foundation for some great friendships. Much of our time has been spent getting acclimated to the area, eating, shopping, eating, Q&A time, eating...do you see a pattern? The school, and all of its staff, have taken very good care of us. We had a cinnamon roll and banana bread breakfast, as well as a Kenyan dinner at the Boccaccio's house yesterday, and had a taco dinner at the Bussell's house tonight. A lot of the other staff members went to the Maasai Market with us today to help us get good deals on traditional crafts, jewelry, and household decorations. Pam also took a few of us to furniture row to see what kind of deals we might be able to get on furniture when we eventually are ready to buy it. You can get almost any kind of furniture hand made with wood or metal for a fraction of the price you would for a similar item in the US. The pride and dedication they have to making a quality product is evident when they try to call you over or follow you with pictures when you walk by their roadside stand. Today as we walked we had quite a few people yell to us "Hello white ladies!" or "Hello sister!". I actually had a young Kenyan boy point at me and laugh today. I can only guess it was for the same reason they pointed and laughed at me last summer; I am the whitest of the white people in our group :)
           Tomorrow we are going to a Giraffe Park where we will have the opportunity to have a Giraffe eat out of our hands (or mouths, if we so choose). I hope to get a bunch of pictures to be able to post. The internet is actually better than I expected it to be. Although it can sometimes take a little longer for things to load, overall it is not much slower than my connection was at home. Most of the girls have been able to upload a few pictures to their facebook pages or blogs. I hope to do the same once I take more pictures. Next week starts orientation and classroom set up at school. All of the other girls got to see their classrooms on Wednesday before I arrived, so I am excited to see what mine will look like! The next few weeks will be very busy with lesson planning and continued transition into Kenyan living. We are going to start driving cars on Monday which should be quite the experience because not only do they drive on the left side of the road, but they also have no driving laws except no talking on your cell phone while driving. It's pretty much a free-for-all when it comes to driving here! (To the staff at Ganse: I have to learn to drive a car while I save up the money for Akar ;) )
             I am so excited to see what else God has in store for me and the rest of the new staff here in Kenya. He has already done some amazing things in our lives and has blessed us in so many ways. Please continue to pray for all of us. I miss all of you and can't wait to continue to share all of my adventures in Kenya with you through this blog!

Prayer Requests:
- Our financial situation is even tighter than we expected it to be. Please pray for continued financial support for all of the staff and for wisdom in budgeting.
- For friendships to continue to be built between the staff members.
- For all of us to find a church quickly that we feel like we will be spiritually fed at and welcomed into the congregation.
- For the first few weeks of school to go as smoothly as possibly and that we would begin to form great relationships with our students.

Verse of Encouragement:
"As soon as I pray, you answer me; you encourage me by giving me strength."~Psalm 138:3
My prayer is that God continues to encourage us by giving us the strength to face each challenge that we will encounter here in Kenya. I also pray that prayer would be our first response when we do face those challenges because as this scripture says, He will answers as soon as we pray.

5 Weeks Out

The last three months have been a little crazy to say the least, and posting on this blog has been the last thing on my mind (except when Paul reminds me weekly at work that it hasn't been updated ;) ). With 5 weeks left in the US before I leave for Kenya, my days and weeks seem to be flying by faster and faster!

Although I feel like I have a lot more to do before I leave, I have had fun getting prepared for this adventure! I have gotten my vaccines, sent out support letters, purchased my plane tickets (I even got to pick my seat on some of the planes!), and purchased my luggage. God has really blessed me along the way financially. My vaccines were mostly covered by insurance, and I found a really awesome deal on plane tickets, to pre-field training, from my local airport. I am still greatly in need of monthly supporters. Thank you to those who have already given donations or signed on for monthly support! I cannot thank you enough! Thank you also to those who have been praying for me as I prepare to leave!

I will be in Mississippi for training from June 27th-July 8th. I can't wait to meet my new co-workers and learn more about what I will be teaching! I find it funny that the first missions trip I ever took was to Mississippi, and the second one was to Kenya. Now I get to go to Mississippi to train for Kenya. Evidently those are the only two places I am called to. God really has a sense of humor! Please pray for safe travels, and for good relationships to be built between the staff.

I am trying to make the most of every moment that I get with my friends and family, and enjoying the comforts of home before I leave for a very different culture. Having spent two weeks in Kenya last summer has allowed me to become much more comfortable with the idea of living there for 2 years. I know a little bit of what to expect, and I am going into this move thinking of everything that I learned from my last journey to the other side of the world. Some things I learned from my last trip to Kenya; 1) Even the poorest people in America have a great deal more than the poorest people in some parts of Africa. This was very humbling for me and made me realize how little I really need to survive. 2) In some areas, things are run on "Kenyan time." As Americans, we often feel like we live in a fast paced, need it done yesterday, don't sleep til it's finished, kind of society. My experience with Kenya was that most people were much more laid-back and easy-going. I am looking forward to the change of pace 3) If you travel outside of the city, seeing a giraffe is like seeing a white tail deer! You don't see them all the time, but if you do, it's not that surprising evidently!
Thank you all for your love and support during the last few months of preparing to move. I know that I am going to face challenges, and I am so happy to have such a strong network of people praying for me, and supporting me back here at home. If anyone is interested in coming to visit, I would love to show you around and see you in person, rather than through a computer screen! You can keep in contact with me through skype, facebook, e-mail, and snail mail  (My mailing address is Amber Geist, PO BOX 1333-00502, Karen, Kenya). I will try to update this blog as often as possible, but please be patient with me, especially in my first few weeks, as I am going to be a first year teacher in a foreign country!

Verse of Encouragement:

"Trust in the LORD with all of your heart. Lean not on your own understanding. Seek His will in all that you do, and He will show you which path to take." Proverbs 3: 5-6

Always remember to seek God's will above all else. His plan is perfect, and although there may be trials along the way, He will never leave your side.

Prayer Requests:

-Please continue to pray for all of the new teachers coming to Kenya with me (Rachel, Angela, Kristin, Gari, Jenn, and our newest group member, Tara, who will be teaching 3rd grade!)

-For safe travels and strong relationships to be formed at PFO in Mississippi.

-For smooth airport/plane travels to Kenya

-For an easy transition to a new culture

-For financial support to continue to come for myself and the other teachers from NICS

-For myself, my students, and co-workers at WNS to have a great year together!

Karibu! (Welcome, in Swahili)

Hi everyone!

Welcome to my blog about my journey to teach in Africa! I have recently accepted a 4th grade teaching position at the West Nairobi School in Kenya. Through this blog I hope to keep my friends and family updated on my life and adventures while serving God through this opportunity. I hope to add a verse of encouragement and prayer requests every time I post. I have already learned so much about God's plan and purpose for my life, and can't wait to see what else He has in store for me!

There is a short story to go along with the name of this blog. I currently work as a pharmacy technician and I have a wonderful family of coworkers that have been very encouraging to me in the process of finishing school and applying for this teaching job. They are very interested in what it will be like for me to live in Kenya, and they ask many questions. Soon after I had accepted the position to teach at the WNS, a co-worker asked me, "What kind of transportation will you have to get to and from work?" My response was simply, "A car." Without a moment's hesitation, my very witty co-worker, Paul, asked, "Is Akar the name of your camel?" It has now been the running joke of the pharmacy that I will be riding a camel to work each day while in Kenya. I have so named this blog for the purpose of creating not only a comical and memorable site, but also to be reminded each day of the people who have helped me to get where I am today.

If you would like to support me in my mission to teach in Kenya, please contact me at amgeist@gmail.com and I will send you an attachment of how to send support. I will be making a small amount of money in salary from the school to cover some basic expenses; however, I also need people to partner with me on a month to month basis, as well as offer one-time donations. This will help me to cover my additional expenses and have a small amount of savings to be able to travel home during holiday breaks. My goal is to have 25 people sponsor me at $25 a month. If you are not able to help financially, I am thankful for your prayers! This is a huge step of faith for me and a big jump out of my comfort zone, but I know God will only give me what He knows I can handle!

Verse of Encouragement:
"Only ask, and I will give you the nations as your inheritance, the whole earth as your possession." Psalm 2:8

Prayer Requests:
-Please be praying for the new teachers for the coming school year (Rachel, Angela, Kristin, Jenn, Gari, and myself). We are all about to make a huge move!
-Please pray for the current teachers and administration at the WNS as well as the other schools that are part of the Network of International Christian Schools (NICS). Especially pray for the NICS school in Japan. They have a challenging next couple weeks in recovering from the earthquake/tsunami/nuclear disaster.
- Please pray that financial support would start to/continue to come for all of the teachers. God's economy is very different from ours!