The weekend

Here I sit in my little “monk-ish” room in the convent (I guess that should be a “nun-ish” room, then, but somehow it just doesn’t convey what I mean!). I’m listening to my radio – switching between the BBC and a local station which plays American 80’s music! It’s so great. Funny, just heard on BBC that a communist has become the new prime minister of Cyprus. It will be interesting to see how that goes! (now I'm just posting this blog that I wrote last night in a word document...)

I’m just typing this out tonight in preparation for getting online tomorrow, so I don’t have to think of what to say once I get to the internet café!

I have a very odd sunburn today. We went adventuring yesterday, and I sort of missed a few spots when I sunscreened myself! I don’t think I’ve ever had my hands sunburned before, and it looks rather odd. I got the sunscreen all the way up and down my arms, but I missed the section on the ‘hand’ side of my watch! When I was finished slathering myself, I rubbed the ‘extra’ sunscreen into my fingers, but not onto the backs of my hands. So I have these two little stripes of bright red along the backs of my hands! I’m SO glad I remembered to wear my sunscreen on the rest of my arms and neck and face, or I’d be suffering today.

We went out to Naivasha yesterday to walk amongst the animals. There were 7 of us in a van (2 Germans, an American, a Ugandan, a Congolese, a Dutch, a Canadian, a Montanan sheep and a Kenyan driver), and we went from Nairobi down into the Rift Valley. Of course, we had to stop at the overlook, which was gorgeous.

It was also really nice to see the mountain that I had climbed last year when I was on a little holiday with a friend. Feels so nice to see some familiar things again!

We drove down the mountain side, and then on to the Naivasha Country Club. From there, we hired a boat to take us over to Crescent Island, as was suggested by a friend here. It was ‘safety first’ for all of us, as we donned our bright orange life jackets.

We spent the next few hours wandering around on the island – moving among the animals! It was like walking around in a zoo, but there were no fences! There are supposedly no predators on the island, just zebras, giraffes, wildebeests, gazelles, bushbucks… and you can just walk around them! It was just incredible!

The landscape was gorgeous, and there were SO many animals around. We just walked around with them and took photos and enjoyed the nature. It’s hard to get Prossy to smile in a photo, but you can see here how close we got to the giraffe! And look at the herds in the background, as well.

There were also some really cool plants and flowers on the island, and it was just wonderful to walk around and enjoy it all.

I think we were the only people on the island, other than the park rangers, who disappeared somewhere as soon as they figured out we didn’t want to pay them to follow us around the island! I felt like we had stepped into a whole new world, one that was so far removed from all the garbage and dirt of the city. I didn’t see a single plastic bag or plastic water bottle for almost 3 whole hours (well, other than the water bottle I was drinking out of J)! It was amazingly refreshing.

It also just felt so nice to be outside, to feel the sun, but to not be sweating! I had almost forgotten how nice it feels when the sun just warms your back, and you’re not constantly trying to find ways to get out of the sun… which would probably be why I got a funny sunburn J

Once we were tired of wandering around the island (and hungry for lunch!), we took the boat back to the other side, and sat on the lovely grass at the hotel and had chicken and chips for lunch. Yum. They even had real ketchup, rather than the neon pink gel that they call ‘tomato sauce’ in this country! I just had to take my shoes off and feel the grass beneath my feet while we sat and ate our lunch. Hew (the little lamb that used to live with me when Grace was there) was also really enjoying the grass (obviously, I haven’t had a pedicure in a while!).

The rest of the day was spent looking in some little shops, driving around the town, and making our way back up the mountain to our little convent. It was just a lovely day all around. Felt SO nice to be out of the city for a day… as much as I love the city, it’s nice to be out of it once in a while!

I had a wonderful day today, too. I walked to a Vineyard church with some friends this morning. It was like being transported back to Canada, actually! The church is in a very high class neighborhood here, and is full of expatriates – I haven’t seen that many white people in one place since leaving home! But we were singing songs just like at home, there was a powerpoint with the sermon, which also included a little ‘multi-media’ presentation. It was wonderful! It’s so nice to worship in a place where I feel comfortable and where I feel like I fit, rather than sticking out like a sore thumb. But it was also a little odd, being in the middle of Africa and being in a church that felt so North American!

It seems to be a really good lively, vibrant church, which has a lot of different ministries and outreaches in all corners of this country. The whole sermon was about how to respond and what to do to help in the current situation of political upheaval here in Kenya. They really do care about this country and her people. So I certainly can’t fault them for worshipping together in a very Western style. In fact, I think people need someplace to go where they can be refreshed and supported in a way in which they are accustomed. I mean, that’s what my work is all about – helping people experience and know God in a language and a culture that they understand and identify with. If I expected a bunch of international workers to worship in an “African” style all the time just because they’re living in Africa, well, that would be a bit hypocritical of me, wouldn’t it?!

We found a friend at church, and he offered to drive us all back to our convent, which was nice, since it was starting to get a bit hot outside, and it was getting pretty close to lunch time!

After a nice lunch of roast chicken, I decided to take myself out for coffee at the little mall down the road. It’s about a 20 minute walk in the opposite direction from the church. But I’d already had a long walk in the morning, and people here weren’t too keen on me walking on my own (I think they’re a bit paranoid, since I walked around this neighborhood on my own last year when I took that course here), so I jumped into a matatu (a little bus – like a 15 passenger van, which runs as public transportation) and in 5 minutes, I was at the mall! Wow, it was so nice to sit on the little patio, drink a latte, write some letters, read a little, and watch people wander by. I also went to the book section of the big Nakumatt (sort of like a Superstore at home) and admired some of the books for a while. After a couple of hours, I jumped in another matatu and came home.

I must admit, it felt nice to know how to catch a matatu and be able to get to where I wanted to be, on my own, without depending on anyone to take me there! I learned how to take those little busses on my own when I was here for my African Cultures course last summer – if I learned nothing else during that course, it at least gave me a little confidence that I can actually get around this city using public transportation!

Of course, I don’t have any photos of that part, since I didn’t want to carry my camera or anything with me! I feel quite safe taking the matatus and being out on my own during the day here, but I don’t need to take unnecessary risks by bringing anything other than a notebook, my cell phone, and enough money to buy a snack and a taxi home (in case of emergency!).

When I came home, I had an SOS message from our conference facilitators. They needed to print the handouts for our sessions tomorrow, but couldn’t make the printer work… so I was able to rescue them with the proper printer driver. I’ve also had two others here ask me to help them figure out some of their computer problems. I was trying to be quiet with my technological abilities, but I just can’t sit on my hands when I see people having trouble with their computers! Tomorrow night I have a “date” with a Congolese literacy coordinator to help him figure out some issues with his laptop. I also cleaned up a computer from a Ghanaian colleague – I gave him homework today to do some serious file management! I tell you, I just can’t get away from computers! I guess being the second to youngest person here at the conference comes with some responsibility to help out with all these newfangled computers J

OK, now I’m rambling and I’m amazed if any of you actually made it this far without falling off your chairs, sound asleep! Speaking of sleep, I should do that now, too, since I get to hear about mother-tongue based multilingual education all day tomorrow! I can hardly wait J