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
