Happy Birthday Sarah!!
its the end of our second full day in nariobi today, and the last two days have been good, although i have pretty much sleep walked through them. anytime i sat still today i was almost falling asleep.
we spent much of the day yesterday going all over nairobi in search of an apple charger for sarahs phone. her original charger hid in her car back in new orleans. on the way back sarah and i got dropped off at the nakumat. it legitimately has everything. we ate dinner with the family that night and another visitor arrived right at dinner to stay the night and have some meetings the next day. she was from south africa so of course i was happy to have a little talk about capetown.
today we went to city harvest with edward in the morning. we got up at 630, and by about 8 i was pretty tired...dang jet lag. we attended the morning prayer meeting with the staff, sarah played computer wiz and set up edwards computer that was screwed up, and then we went out to see a couple of the church's programs. we first went to the hair styling and beauty school in a slum called southbee (probably wrong spelling but thats what it sounded like). we met some of the girls in school there and the teachers. we also hung out in alex, wiki, and kevin's room for a while. they live right by the beauty school. after that we went to the vct (voluntary counciling and testing)center. this is where they have HIV testing and counseling. next week they are going into kibera to make testing more accessible and i think we will probably be going with them.
andrew and jean are a ton of fun and have been keeping us entertained constantly. the difference between a 9 yr old boy (andrew) entertaining visitors, and an 8 yr old girl (mia) is not surprising, but i still find it amusing. one is jumping over stack of backpacks and chairs, while the other is putting on singing and dancing performances.
and tomorrow baylor begins their football season!! i will either be listening to the game online, or watching it via channelsurfing.net (fingers crossed it works out)
and aint technology great, we had an hour long skype with ben carroll today, just blissful.
Friday, September 4, 2009
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
kenyan morning song birds
i awoke just a few minutes ago to lots of morning birds singing. its not yet dawn, about 6am right now, but still dark. i guess i didnt get much sleep, but that was a great way to wake up on my first morning here.
im sitting alone in the downstairs living room cause i beat everybody else up, ideally i would be sleeping for a lot longer, but i feel wide awake right now so that doesnt matter.
i forgot to mention last night that nairobi is currently under electricity rationing. we will not get electricity on monday, wednesday, and friday during the days. thankfully its thursday so we get a day to adjust.
our day today will probably consist of getting a new apple computer charger, a frame, and whatever else it turns out we need at the supermarket. i forgot its name. interspersed with that will probably be me hitting a wall of tiredness about 3 times throughout the day.
one thing i left out yesterday was how much better my layover in london was with sarah being there than being by myself like i have always been in the past. so that was great even though the seats changed on us again once we got on the flight.
the internet here is really good...which means i will be listening to baylor football games!! and skyping will definitely work so if you have one then talk to me.
at the moment i am skyping with brett. he is in cairo. it is about 630 in kenya, 530 in cairo. i am already awake and brett is about to go to sleep after being up all night. this is so awesome! it sounds like he is having an amazing time. its ridiculous, he needs to start a blog...
i met the cook at pastor edwards house, her name is susie. she has the morning breakfast table set up with tea cups and cereal.
apparently the roads arent as bad as they used to be to the pokot tribe. it might only be 6 or 7 hours now and not nearly as bumpy.
i am loving everything in life at the moment so much right now. things went great arriving here and it is just blissful talking to by brother in egypt right now and hearing all his unique stories already.
im sitting alone in the downstairs living room cause i beat everybody else up, ideally i would be sleeping for a lot longer, but i feel wide awake right now so that doesnt matter.
i forgot to mention last night that nairobi is currently under electricity rationing. we will not get electricity on monday, wednesday, and friday during the days. thankfully its thursday so we get a day to adjust.
our day today will probably consist of getting a new apple computer charger, a frame, and whatever else it turns out we need at the supermarket. i forgot its name. interspersed with that will probably be me hitting a wall of tiredness about 3 times throughout the day.
one thing i left out yesterday was how much better my layover in london was with sarah being there than being by myself like i have always been in the past. so that was great even though the seats changed on us again once we got on the flight.
the internet here is really good...which means i will be listening to baylor football games!! and skyping will definitely work so if you have one then talk to me.
at the moment i am skyping with brett. he is in cairo. it is about 630 in kenya, 530 in cairo. i am already awake and brett is about to go to sleep after being up all night. this is so awesome! it sounds like he is having an amazing time. its ridiculous, he needs to start a blog...
i met the cook at pastor edwards house, her name is susie. she has the morning breakfast table set up with tea cups and cereal.
apparently the roads arent as bad as they used to be to the pokot tribe. it might only be 6 or 7 hours now and not nearly as bumpy.
i am loving everything in life at the moment so much right now. things went great arriving here and it is just blissful talking to by brother in egypt right now and hearing all his unique stories already.
arrived in kenya
well first of all, im here!
as for the previous 30 hours before arriving at edward's house...they had their ups and downs much more than my normal international trips. right at the start of my flight from dallas, i had about 4 annoying/frustrating things occur which just added up and had me fairly annoyed. they were- bank of america's slow phone service after not working for two days, my leaving my newly bought Freakonomics book at the airport, and sarah and my seating plans not working. but after i got calmed down from that buildup the flights werent too bad. i didnt have anybody sitting next to me so i was never cramped.
i think i caught about 10 minutes of sleep on the flight to london ha. so 3 movies, 2 tv episodes, and one rugby game got me through the flight. our layover in london was pretty good, just 3 hours, so it never felt like we were there for way too long. i actually slept a bit on the second flight which was a nice change.
arriving in nairobi ariport was very smooth and laid back. one of the guys there showed us where a shorter line was to get our visas. we met victor right outside and he drove us to pastor edwards house. he is a driver for city harvest. we have spent the time at edwards talking about some of the church's plans, and friends back in waco.
no water, but whats another day without a shower given my recent pace. andrew, edwards son, is intently watching the emperors new groove, actually i think it is the emperors new groove 2 by this time. there are mosquito nets for the beds, however theres no malaria risk in nairobi, but they still are annoying.
if i think of anything more ill add it
as for the previous 30 hours before arriving at edward's house...they had their ups and downs much more than my normal international trips. right at the start of my flight from dallas, i had about 4 annoying/frustrating things occur which just added up and had me fairly annoyed. they were- bank of america's slow phone service after not working for two days, my leaving my newly bought Freakonomics book at the airport, and sarah and my seating plans not working. but after i got calmed down from that buildup the flights werent too bad. i didnt have anybody sitting next to me so i was never cramped.
i think i caught about 10 minutes of sleep on the flight to london ha. so 3 movies, 2 tv episodes, and one rugby game got me through the flight. our layover in london was pretty good, just 3 hours, so it never felt like we were there for way too long. i actually slept a bit on the second flight which was a nice change.
arriving in nairobi ariport was very smooth and laid back. one of the guys there showed us where a shorter line was to get our visas. we met victor right outside and he drove us to pastor edwards house. he is a driver for city harvest. we have spent the time at edwards talking about some of the church's plans, and friends back in waco.
no water, but whats another day without a shower given my recent pace. andrew, edwards son, is intently watching the emperors new groove, actually i think it is the emperors new groove 2 by this time. there are mosquito nets for the beds, however theres no malaria risk in nairobi, but they still are annoying.
if i think of anything more ill add it
Friday, August 28, 2009
5 days remaining
some quick hits.
brett just left for cairo today
im so bored i have started packing 5 days early. really not a lot left to do. by far a new record
surprised by the amount (or lack there of) of clothes and stuff im gonna take. which is good because i think i will take a lot of books. its a tall stack and im not done. recommendations welcome
scott gets into town for a few days tomorrow. im excited, another unexpected visit from him
hadnt posted a picture yet so i thought id just make sure how it worked
brett just left for cairo today
im so bored i have started packing 5 days early. really not a lot left to do. by far a new record
surprised by the amount (or lack there of) of clothes and stuff im gonna take. which is good because i think i will take a lot of books. its a tall stack and im not done. recommendations welcome
scott gets into town for a few days tomorrow. im excited, another unexpected visit from him
hadnt posted a picture yet so i thought id just make sure how it worked
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Waco
for anybody who has ever had even a short conversation with me it does not take long for my love and appreciation of waco to become obvious. i dont think i have ever spent more than two months away since i first arrived. as i prepare to leave for a few months in nairobi, kenya it will certainly be more than four months till i come back home. that makes my last week here especially important. its been good, nothing too mindblowing, but definitely just good solid waco time.
im not sure what it speaks to that i have managed to improve my halo skills more than i ever have noticed before, but ill take what i can get i guess.
im now down to a week and a half before leaving for kenya. iv had some good conversations over the past week and feel like i have a fairly good mindset going into the trip. one thing that has got me a bit excited is thinking about things that we can do in the many hours per night in the house. aside from hopefully large amounts of reading, theres p90x to some extent, and any other activity that can be carried out in a house that i am willing to consider. this is a trip that i have been looking forward to for long enough that while i dont expect everything to be perfect, i have no hesitancy in going.
its getting close.
oh, and a major assist to jack and aaron for removable hard drive and p90x. they're lifesavers, or at least major simplifyers
im not sure what it speaks to that i have managed to improve my halo skills more than i ever have noticed before, but ill take what i can get i guess.
im now down to a week and a half before leaving for kenya. iv had some good conversations over the past week and feel like i have a fairly good mindset going into the trip. one thing that has got me a bit excited is thinking about things that we can do in the many hours per night in the house. aside from hopefully large amounts of reading, theres p90x to some extent, and any other activity that can be carried out in a house that i am willing to consider. this is a trip that i have been looking forward to for long enough that while i dont expect everything to be perfect, i have no hesitancy in going.
its getting close.
oh, and a major assist to jack and aaron for removable hard drive and p90x. they're lifesavers, or at least major simplifyers
Monday, August 10, 2009
sushi
yesterday i did the last of the dunking booth promotions which i have been doing periodically this summer with Crazy Water. i thought i had completed the entire summer without having to get dunked. i was wrong.
but the really amazing thing about yesterday was my epiphany moment concerning sushi. i had had sushi before, but never really good sushi, and normally california rolls, but not much with tunu and salmon. at market street in collyville they have a sushi chef making it right in front of you, and he knows what he is doing. so i ate a bunch of sushi yesterday and can no longer understand why i had felt no desire to try really good sushi before. and raw meat is so good im not sure why ill ever need it cooked again. well not quite.
also, imagine my surprise as i walked out of the store while setting up and saw leasha heffington. i thought it was her at first glance but could think of no possible reason why she would be there, much less be in conversation with carol, my boss. yet it was her and we were both in for a pleasant surprise. leasha was there with a wish for wings, the charity we were partnering with for the dunking booth this weekend.
and you know something is consuming your thoughts when it becomes the subject of nightlong dreams. that would be the case with my upcoming trip. even when i am not conciously dweling on it, i seem to be pondering it.
and anthony bourdain has the worlds best job, id like to be his intern...travel the world eating the best local food and drinking beer
but the really amazing thing about yesterday was my epiphany moment concerning sushi. i had had sushi before, but never really good sushi, and normally california rolls, but not much with tunu and salmon. at market street in collyville they have a sushi chef making it right in front of you, and he knows what he is doing. so i ate a bunch of sushi yesterday and can no longer understand why i had felt no desire to try really good sushi before. and raw meat is so good im not sure why ill ever need it cooked again. well not quite.
also, imagine my surprise as i walked out of the store while setting up and saw leasha heffington. i thought it was her at first glance but could think of no possible reason why she would be there, much less be in conversation with carol, my boss. yet it was her and we were both in for a pleasant surprise. leasha was there with a wish for wings, the charity we were partnering with for the dunking booth this weekend.
and you know something is consuming your thoughts when it becomes the subject of nightlong dreams. that would be the case with my upcoming trip. even when i am not conciously dweling on it, i seem to be pondering it.
and anthony bourdain has the worlds best job, id like to be his intern...travel the world eating the best local food and drinking beer
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
home
i just returned today from another weekend in waco. for any who know me, you know that there are few, and none other that i know of, places where my soul feels as happy and content at just being there. i have yet to make it more than two weeks this summer without a visit to waco.
i stayed an extra day this time in order to be present for the return of griffin kelp. griffin is one of my favorite people and one of my roommates this past year. since i hadnt seen him since graduation there was no way i was going to miss him by a couple hours and have to wait a few weeks to see him again. his return coincided with mug club and it was a blissful night.
i was also able to get a good deal of reading done at common grounds. before the summer i had grand plans of long reading list of classics and gk chesterton. however i was soon hit with the realization that having a job where i work all day for the first time in my life puts a huge damper on reading plans. the book im currently reading is The Everlasting Man by GK Chesteron. this is possibly the most dense book i have ever read. it is basically chesterton looking at the history of man and then Christ from a non christian perspective. but that really does not do the book justice. i have probably only read about 50 pages during my two weeks in mineral wells while reading this book, however a few days in waco has allowed another 120 or so pages which i am very thankful for so that i now have a hope to finish it.
i spent my drive back today pondering africa. trying to find the specific feelings and thoughts that cause me to want to go so badly, and what i am even hoping to get out of the trip. i also had a great conversation saturday night with tanna, and my new friend lotto about their trip there earlier this summer. i just cant wait, however i am trying to enjoy my time before i leave as much as possible.
i stayed an extra day this time in order to be present for the return of griffin kelp. griffin is one of my favorite people and one of my roommates this past year. since i hadnt seen him since graduation there was no way i was going to miss him by a couple hours and have to wait a few weeks to see him again. his return coincided with mug club and it was a blissful night.
i was also able to get a good deal of reading done at common grounds. before the summer i had grand plans of long reading list of classics and gk chesterton. however i was soon hit with the realization that having a job where i work all day for the first time in my life puts a huge damper on reading plans. the book im currently reading is The Everlasting Man by GK Chesteron. this is possibly the most dense book i have ever read. it is basically chesterton looking at the history of man and then Christ from a non christian perspective. but that really does not do the book justice. i have probably only read about 50 pages during my two weeks in mineral wells while reading this book, however a few days in waco has allowed another 120 or so pages which i am very thankful for so that i now have a hope to finish it.
i spent my drive back today pondering africa. trying to find the specific feelings and thoughts that cause me to want to go so badly, and what i am even hoping to get out of the trip. i also had a great conversation saturday night with tanna, and my new friend lotto about their trip there earlier this summer. i just cant wait, however i am trying to enjoy my time before i leave as much as possible.
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