good.

I am here in Kenya and life is good. I am just doing the normal things like teaching the kids this and that, visiting new places and making new friends. I am going to church. I almost got married the other night but that is not a story you blog about. That was crazy. Back to how life is good. 

I feel like the second that you get comfortable in a routine here something throws me for a loop. Kaleigh and I were in this routine. We aren't traveling anywhere crazy again until we head to Ethiopia in less then 2 weeks. We are just happy chilling in our house here in Thika on the weekdays and with our church loving people on the weekends. Basically, living the dream. 

We see a Facebook post about Irene, a girl at the Mormon orphanage we frequent. She has fallen ill. I read through the symptoms she is having and how all the tests are coming up negative. I tell Kaleigh that we will go visit her on Sunday after church and bring her a blanket. 

That Sunday will never come. The next day she passed away. Just like that. It was so quick. Everyone is still in shock. I knew that Kaleigh and I needed to do something. 

I thought of the normal things that white people do when someone dies:

Bake cookies.... I have no oven.

Make a casserole... I have no oven and there are tons of kids. 

Buy an over sized flower arrangement... I have no idea where to start. 

Let off balloons in remembrance... no helium.

Let's all agree that white people are crazy. 

I thought of the next best idea:

Heart Attack! 

Right away Kaleigh started cutting hearts. In the morning we got more paper and finished cutting them on the matatu. Kaleigh and I woke up early and headed into the city. We grabbed breakfast at Java House with Dan and then off to the orphanage. It was really hard to make this a secret. We tried our best but the solider spotted us from a mile away and wanted us to come inside. We politely rejected and started to decorate the gate. We had cut out over 150 hearts of various colors, shapes and sizes. 

Slowly people from inside the orphanage started pouring out to help us. Luckily the kids were all at school. By the end there were at least 7 people helping put the hearts up. It was magical. The hearts in the middle spelled out a message, "Families can be together forever."

We did what we came for and left. 

We rushed home. We had a little less then 2 hours to get home before we need to teach class. After a while it was obvious that we were going to be late. I called another teacher to warn the kids. 

The last matatu we needed to take was all full except one seat. Kaleigh told me to take it and she will meet me at home. I walk into class 2 about 15 minutes late and they start cheering for me. I love that they love class as much as I enjoy teaching it. Kaleigh and Dan join me later. Class was fabulous. 

The day was fabulous. Everything was fabulous. 

I got to help the boys clean the dining room. That is a lot of work and it was a deep clean day. They don't use mops and stuff. We use old cut up blankets and bend over to clean the floor. It is hard and time consuming but so rewarding. 

The boys continue to teach me how to do cartwheels and flips and whatnot. I love it. I am getting so much better at it. I have moved from using only the ground to cartwheels off a tire. I am a baller. They are practicing to show Oscar when he comes to visit. I love my boys. They are little blessings.

In the midst of so much heart break from death I am finding so much joy. 

It is when I lose myself in the service of my fellow beings that I am the most happy. 

I forgot about my own personal problems for a second and it made it so today was a great day. 

Tomorrow we get to bless this orphanage that is suffering from a loss with 2 puppies. I feel as if tomorrow will also be a great day. 

Let's end with a little story:

I was talking to Peter Jimmy. He is about 5 years old. He knows no English at all.

I don't remember what we were talking about but I turned to him and said, "Am I making you blush?" 

He turned to me with a huge smile and the deepest dimples and responded, "YES!"

You see... Life is good. 

baking class

I was asked to teach the ladies in the ward how to bake on Saturday. Thanks to the help from my roommate I had an easy peanut butter cookie recipe and I found a good cake recipe online. 

It went really well and I think they feel confident in baking what I taught them. One of the ladies says she has an oven at home and she was going to make the cookies 24-7. 

The hardest part for them was to understand the different measuring cups and trying to figure out what 2 1/4 cups of flour is or something along those lines. After the ladies were done cooking of course the priesthood showed up looking for something sweet to eat. They shared with them. It was seriously such a fun activity. 

Next time I teach them they will learn how to make bread. They are just amazed that I know how to make bread. Little do they know while we wait for the bread to rise we will make ice cream.  

up country

I feel like I am not going to describe up country right but it is the place that their family is originally from. My grandmother's up country would be New Zealand and my grandfather's would be Idaho. Everyone has a different up country. People live off the fat of the land. Some people are in huts and so are in tin structures. There is a good chance if you live there you will have to go fetch water. In up country everything is cooked on a wood fire or a coal stove like thing. I think of it like camping for the rest of your life.

The rest of up country was just a lot of hanging out with Rispah's family. We quickly became friends with two of her cousins that were around our age. We went to the salon to get their hairs blown dry. While I was there I got lines on one side of my head. 

They also taught me how to wrap my hair. I am super excited about it. 

We met and saw a lot of kids. On our last day in up county we went to a high school and a primary school. At the high school they set up a Q&A for the kids to ask us any question. A lot of the questions where about the differences between American schooling and Kenyan schooling. They also asked questions about scholarships and what happens if you are talented. They were very smart students. Kaleigh answered the questions the best we could. There was about 150 students. 

Next to the high school was the primary school. We just went from classroom to classroom and introduced ourselves. Those kids were so excited to see us. They also think that all Americans sound like they are plugging their noses when they talk. It is so funny. 

Right as we left the school the kids were also getting out. We were surrounded. One boy tripped and fell.I got to use my first aid kit that I carry around with me everywhere. After I fixed him up all the kids wanted to greet me. It was so cute. 

After that we headed to the market. Before we went to up country my (real american) mom told us to look for a way that we could help out the people we were staying with. Rispah's family is doing okay. It didn't seem like they needed much but her uncle's family was struggling. While we were there the dad's only pair of shoes broke and most of the kids did not have shoes. We got shoes in the market for this family. 

They were so grateful. It cost us a little over $10 to do this. It was a $10 well spent. 

We left kids in the village in tears. It was an incredible experience. Before we knew it we were on our way back to Nairobi and Thika. 

sugar

Rispah's mom on the way to up country said, "The grandmother to Winnie lives near our place." Of course I said that it would be fun to visit her. That is how it all started. 

Here are a few characters for this story:

Winnie is Oscar's sister

Shosho is slang for Oscar's grandmother

Rispah is my old roommate

Ester is Rispah's mom

Mzungo is a white person

It is a day into our adventure up country when Ester says let's go visit Shosho. We jump on the back of some motorbikes and find our way going up the hills. I have no idea what I am getting myself into. 

We walk down a old road that is also a river bank during the rainy season to get to her house. We stop off at the aunt's house. 

She is so excited to have white people in her house. I guess she used to live in Nairobi but moved up country. I didn't get the full details. She was beautiful and super nice. We only had a quick stop there because she needed to sell her goods at the local market. We were off to Shosho's house which was basically across the street. 

Shosho lives in this plot of land that reminds me of New Zealand. It was lush. She was at the top of the little hill.

We get to her house. I can hear her chattering about in the backroom. Someone calls for her. She comes into the front room. I doubt she has ever had white people come visit her. She is so excited to see us. 

Let me take this moment to inform you that in up country most people do not speak English or Swahili. Up country is a place where they speak their tribal languages. Shosho only knows Luo and I had to have a translator for everything. Just keep this in mind for the rest of the story. 

I have no idea what happens next. All I see and hear is Ester point at me and say Oscar. It was like a bomb of excitement exploded in that room. Shosho came over to me and greeted and hugged me like 400 more times. Someone was outside collecting a chicken to slaughter. It was crazy. Someone else tells me that she has heard of my case and is so excited for Oscar and I. She knows exactly who I am. 

I am over here... so confused and wishing I knew how to say more than "thank you" in Luo.

I don't remember quite how it happened but I ended up outside shortly after all of this. It was nice to be outside. There was too much happening in that house with happy emotions and confusion and cooking and what what. 

One of the kids that was around climbed up a large tree to get me a fruit. I have no idea what kind of fruit it was but I do know I liked it an no one else did. That meant... more for me. It really meant that Shosho made sure I went home with a food storage of them. 

After the fruit I went and played jump rope games with other kids around. We all know they kicked my trash. Cinderella dressed in yella... she didn't get any doctors when I jumped but when the kids jumped she got more then enough. I got tried and headed to where the older adults were. I am brought out a seat and Shosho starts to give me marriage advice. She tells me that another mzungo married into the tribe and I should not be worried. 

She tells me all the good characteristics of Oscar and how he is just like his grandfather. She tells me not to wait and just marry him now. During all of this I am served with food. They first start us off with githeri (maize and beans) and then move to coco with bread. She tells me that next time I come I will be the one cooking and I have to bring Oscar. (It is more like Oscar will be cooking because we all know I have no idea how to cook a mean githeri or slaughter a chicken.) She tells me that I have to stay until dark. Every chance she get she tells me how grateful she is for me and how it is such a blessing I came to visit. 

We end up inside for our last course.: ugali and chicken soup. 

I try to eat as much as I can but I am just so full. I was fat dogging it for sure. It was delish. I felt like a princess. After eating we took a few pictures and had to head out before it got dark. Ester had to start making dinner soon. (no joke... when I heard that I thought I was going to die.) Shosho would not let us leave until she gave me a chicken. It is the first happy engagement chicken I have ever gotten. 

I had an insta-love for Shosho. She is just like the rest of her family. She has the giggles and is so welcoming. She has barely anything and was willing to give me everything. I just have so much love in my heart for her. 

It started raining on the way out and so we stopped at another uncle's house for about 5 minutes until the rain passed. I swear I have met the entire extended family and they are all so nice. 

We walk back up the hill and head home. 

As a side note: The second we get there I am asked if I brought sugar. I am so confused. Why do I need sugar? Is Shosho out of sugar and needs it for the chicken? You know I am with 4 Luos who know tribal customs and should have told me as we passed by 5 shops to get to Sho's house but they didn't. They expected me to know the second I got there. A little too late, I am told that you are supposed to bring your in-laws sugar, salt or unga when you visit them. On the way out we stopped at a shop. I got 2 kilos of sugar and a packet of salt for Shosho. 

After the shop I can hear everyone in the village point and say, "Oscar" in hushed voices. Everyone knows exactly who I am and I am over here thinking... "I am not even dating the brother." There was no way I could get the courage to ask a translator to tell Shosho that. 

mombasa

Kaleigh and I were headed home from the Abilia's home last Sunday when I turned to her and said, "Kaleigh, let's go to Mombasa this week." I said it out loud and that was all that needed to happen. Everything from there got pulled together flawlessly with tons of help from Babu and we were on the all night bus two days later to Mombasa. 

It was a long night. My butt bone was not very happy with the 7 hour ride. We get there and it is humid. We take a motorcycle taxi to Mombasa Backpackers and check in. We tried to sleep a little more but nothing was coming for me. We hit the beach. 

We encountered beach boy after beach boy. They walk and talk with you up and down the beach... even if you walk a mile or two. They will stick to your side. They try to sell you things and get you to go snorkeling or swimming with the dolphins. Also on this beach were a plethora of white people. This is where they have all been hiding. Most of these white people where older grandparents in bikinis or speedos. It was awful. I bet the beach boys really like Kaleigh and I because we were a good break from that nasty sight. 

We just walked the beach that day and then headed back to the hotel. While grabbing lunch their we met Jochen. He is this blessed soul from Germany. He taught German in Eldoret, Kenya for 2 years and was back to visit. He has a ton of tattoos, piercings, is vegan and loves to smoke. He was so nice and just a great person. It was an insta-friendship and after lunch he took us on an adventure to Fort Jesus and Old Town. 

Fort Jesus is this old ruin looking place. I have no real idea on the historical stuff behind it but I do know that it is in the shape of Jesus. There are two arms, two legs and a head. It was fun to explore and it looked super cool. I also don't know very much about Old Town but it was one of the first towns settled by the Portuguese when they came to Kenya. 

Old Town was just cool to walk around. I love walking around Kenya. I think that I just love Kenya. Yup, that is it. We went home after that. We watched movies and hit the hay. In the morning we woke up and hit the beach. We walked up and down it for hours. We made an appointment to get henna at 2. We take the matatu into Mombasa and then jump into a tuk tuk to get the rest of the way. 

I love tuk-tuks. It was Kaleigh's first experience in one. The driver dropped us off where this lady said she would met us. She came like 15 to 20 minutes later and had us go up 3 flights of stairs to her house. She did my henna first. I got a portion of my shoulder and foot done. Kaleigh was next. She got a ton done on one foot/ leg and both hands. After I got a little done on one hand. She was a proper Indian Kenyan. She didn't over charge us. We paid 800/= for the both of us and headed home. 

My shoulder is my favorite part. I love it. We watched more movies that night and went to bed. In the morning we went back to the beach. We hustled with the beach boys and struck a deal with one of them to go snorkeling for 2000/= a person. We went back to the hotel and changed. Jochen ran into us on the beach and ended up joining. We got onto this ghetto isha wooden boat and headed out into the ocean. 

The tide was way out. We walked on the reef for a while before we got to the lagoons to snorkel in. We saw a lot of cool animals and creatures on the reef. Kaleigh also fell into the reef and got sea urchin in her foot. That was eventful. 

Then we went snorkeling in the lagoons. It was sweet. The first lagoon we went to was like we were apart of Finding Nemo. There were so many fishes swimming around. I loved it. We could have stayed there for hours. They took us to another lagoon that was larger. It was crazy. We were right there with the coral reef. It was sweet. We also watched a puffer fish go from normal to blown up. It was incredible. I loved it so much. 

We headed back to the boat via the reef again. We found more animals and creatures. 

Jochen was super hungry. We basically ran home and changed and went to the Java House. Jochen and I got fajitas and Kaleigh got a burrito. It was a good taste of home. It was Jochen's first taste of Mexico. He loved it. 

After that Kaleigh and I went to get aloe vera for our extreme sunburns and then to the hotel to pack. We got our things together. Our night bus left at 9:00. We got to Nairobi at 7:00 am and were back in our home by 9:00. 

It was a wonderful vacation. I know you are all thinking that we are already on a vacation but it was break well needed. Also you are most likely thinking... did I wear the same thing everyday? The answer is yes. No shame. It was comfy and that place was freaking hot. Don't hate. A girl has got to do what a girl has got to do.