All is right with the world again... well, I mean, as much as it CAN be this side of heaven :)

Yup, things are back to normal, which, in this case, is a good thing :)

I had to get up early this morning to catch my flight back here from Nairobi. Everything went SO smoothly, though! I had a few heart-stopping moments in the taxi on the way to the airport, but my faithful taxi driver, Joseph, is quite in control, and I made it there all in one piece! I even had 1.8 kg to spare in my alloted weight allowance! Imagine, me, packing "light"! I was pretty amazed.

I had plenty of time to spare at the airport, so I treated myself to a birthday breakfast of a latte and bagel with cream cheese - yum yum! Whilst waiting to board the flight, I met one of my friends from here, which was very nice. Of course, I invited him to my birthday party which we had planned for tonight. I also found someone else that I knew on the flight and sat near him on the plane. Just before they closed the door, a very distinguished looking woman was escorted on board, complete with an couple of ladies in waiting. My buddy sitting near me told me that she is the wife of the previous president of this country! And she came and greeted someone right next to me - so I could have shaken her hand and said hello, had I known who she was! Anyways, her bum brushed me as she walked past me in the aisle... so I have come this close to greatness today.

As soon as we landed, I called Richard on the cell phone, which still amazes me every time it works here, and he jumped in the truck to fetch me. No problems at all. It was a bit freaky when I walked into the airport and the customs guy at the immigration desk called out to me by name. I'm not sure if it's a good thing that the immigration guys know me by name now... I'm hoping being friendly with them will end up working to my advantage some day, but you never know!

From the airport, I came home, just in time for lunch. Over lunch, my kindly neighbor offered me the use of one of his extra computers for a week or two. Wow, what a difference that makes! So I'm now laying on my bed (on my nice orange sheets!), blogging by the light of the solar lamp. My cat, who obviously missed me, is actually curled up on my feet. Yup, not AT my feet, but ON my feet. As if I need a footwarmer at the moment - it's nearing 1 am and still 28C in my room. But Zane noramally doesn't want to ever actually touch me, so I think he really must have missed me! He even followed me around the compound this afternoon as I did my rounds, checking out what's changed since I've been away. He was like a little puppy or something! Anyways, he looks like he's been well looked after while I've been away.

I spent a bit of time checking my email and getting the back-up of my old email onto this computer so I could actually do a bit of work. I also cleaned some of the sand dunes from my shelves, in preparation of unpacking tomorrow, and put up my mosquito net. I also tripped down some steps, and have a nice bit of "road rash" on my arm. I cleaned it up quite nicely, though, since I don't really need an infection starting on my first day back!

This evening, I had such a WONDERFUL time! My friend and I here share the same birthday - exact day, month, year! So, for the second time in a row, we had our birthday party together! I'm so glad I was able to make it back in time for this party. I really had no clue what was happening, or who would show up or what... so we decided to have it at our place, thinking that there was plenty of room for people. But goodness, it was PACKED. I honestly don't even know how many people showed up. There were probably close to 30 people all stuck together in our little house! Thankfully, quite a breeze had blown up, so it was pretty cool, without having to run any fans. And since it was potluck, we had some amazing food. It never ceases to amaze me when we have potlucks that no matter how many people and how few actually bring food, there are always a ton of leftovers! It's like the miracle of the loaves and fishes or something, every time we have a party.

Here's a photo of a small portion of our guests at the buffet table:
My fellow-birthday girl did an amazing job of cooking up a couple of huge pots of curry, and all I did was buy some chocolate at the duty free in Nairobi and cook up a little pot of rice! But it was such fun being together. After dinner, we had some cake, and played some games - Settlers, Dutch Blitz and Wii.
It was such a blessing to be able to celebrate my birthday for the second year in a row in the same place, and to be surrounded by such good friends. One of the surprises of the evening was the presence of a friend that I used to hang out with a lot when I first came to Africa! He's working in a different part of the country, so I haven't seen him in over 7 years! I think he was at my first African birthday celebration! It's really wonderful to be reunited with old friends again like that, especially on my birthday.

We had a ton of fun tonight, and I am still completely wired from being with my friends all evening - I'm not in the least bit sleepy yet. But I guess I probably SHOULD at least try to sleep... afterall, Zane is already snoring away on my feet. I have some great photos of the party tonight. I'll post them tomorrow after I dig my camera cord out of my luggage! Then, those of you know are in the know, can see if you can spot the old friend...

And thanks to all of you who sent me birthday greetings! I've got warm fuzzies all over (and not just from the cat!) because of the nice greetings I got today.