orphans on a tight rope and a 1 month anniversary

i think the title of this entry is the best so far.

Yesterday was a very fun day, i gave the sermon, was able to right a very very long message to an awesome someone, and then the fun started. the power went out ("hakuna Stema") so bill busted out his slackrope, which is a "hacky sack" version of a tight rope. he put it between two trees and in no time, had 30 kids wanting to go on. at first it tough for them, but after a few times, they could clear the 13' of rope in a few sec. they still held on to our shoulders but they had it down. i tried it and did not do to bad, bill said it's tougher for tall people, but seeing as how everyone calls him kamow, which means tall warrior in swahili, i figured it take a good bit of practice.

before i left, my friend Holly Peters, the same one who named my blog, said she wanted to do a pen pal type thing but with email. we finally got to pick back up with it earlier this week which was a nice change of pace to the average day. to stop and read about stuff my friends are doing back home makes me feel more at home. i love updates about home just as much as you guys love updates about here. 

to fill in space i will tell you about how to buy soda here.
you have 2 options when buying soda, glass or plastic. plastic is easy but cost more, seeing how recycling is tougher to do here. glass though is a bit tougher. i noticed the last time i was here, that bottles get reused for soda here, after being cleaned of course. new lables are applied and they are refilled. since they don't have to make glass bottles new as much, it requires a down payment on a glass bottle. so you buy your orange fanta or coke or krest or something, you pay 125 schill for it, once you drink it, and want another, to to a shop and return the bottle, then you exchange for another soda and only pay 25 schill. the bottles get picked up and go through the process again. there are always 2 sizes, 300L and 500L, the bigger the bottle you bring back, the more money off. it's a neat system. though i have not since i got off the plane.

random fact updates

-i am reading a book that i got from the school book depository called "3 cups of tea". i suggest you go out and buy it and read it. it's amazingly good.
-i have not been able to buy salsa making materials yet.
-i will be gone this weekend on an outreach in the mountains with a church that my housemates introduced me too.
-i learned how to make mud bowls today
-today is my 1 month anniversary of being in Kenya woot woot. now 3 more to go.

okay that's all

bye

ich bin ein American

'Well hello again all, my blog post are becoming more frequent because of days off and having the internet. Things have been interesting around here this week, I have had classes canceled due to mid term exams, which means a lot of free time. Next week should be normal. We only have till the end of march though to teach, and then mid terms again, and then a long break. I will use my break chilling out in Nairobi and doing whatever I can for FMP. My highlight of the week is still the dinner we cooked on Tuesday. I will attempt to make salsa tomorrow if possible, they have everything I need to make it but who knows if it will come out the same. My roommate and I have been spending an hour each night hanging out in the boys dorm before they go to bed. It's a lot of fun because the boys are crazy and wild even though they should be in bed soon. Some boys wake up just to hang out. They have been trying to teach me Swahili, but it's not as easy as it sounds. I now tell them “mimi ni simba” which means “I am Lion” in Swahili. I taught them a few words of German and Spanish but it was a no go. It reminds me of kids camp. We show the kids our facebook photos of us and our friends, and it blows their minds. They like the white people. I went on google maps and showed them where we were but from space. We also showed our homes to them on google maps, maybe not the best choice. They like CNN, and like learning about things other then where they live. I might push to teach an intercultural studies class maybe in May, but who knows. A lot of them think London is a country, they only think that because of where Soccer teams go. It is funny to hear them yell at the planes that fly over the school, if it's Emirates, they will yell “Fly Emirates!!!!!!” because thats the slogan that goes on kenya soccer jerseys. We finished the bootleg version of the Expendables yesterday, I laughed when you could see people standing up in front of the screen, just to prove that it was shot in a movie theater in Russia. Reminds me of the Seinfeld episode. I was able to surf the internet like an American yesterday too. I read a few articles on roasting pigs and one on skinning goats. I am preparing to by something big for the kids before I leave, and meat is an awesome thing to by them since they never really get it. A Goat is around $25, so maybe for Easter I could toss in a live goat for dinner. The rule is the person who gives it has to slaughter it. I thought it could be a really nice example for an Easter message. Before I leave though in June, I was thinking a pig might be nice to do, we have the supplies to roast it the Hawaiian way, plenty of pineapple, red onions, garlic etc. I think it can be done. I will have to talk to the cook about it, but knowing him, he would be up for it, he might even throw in his expertise into it and make it the best pig anyone could ever eat. The cooks name is George, and he's one of my favorite people here. He is calm and collected always, but will make me laugh some how when ever I set foot in the kitchen. We just made him a facebook this week. He grew up watching the NBA during the Jordan years, he likes American cartoons and can cook some of the best meals. We like to use really bad swahili around him to make him laugh.

The list of kids I would like to adopt is getting longer everyday. It's hard not to love them. It makes me happy that I won't leave for a while, and I told them the other day in service, that yes I miss America but this is where God wants me, and this is where I want to be. They think my watch is the most interesting thing in the world. But even I think that. I made my first goal in soccer last week in a quick pick up game with a few of the kids. Proud moment, but Lucy says they let me score. I am getting better at it......kinda. the soap opera we watch ended last night, so we have to find something else to do at 8 pm. My dreams lately have been varied and always strange. Last night I had a dream that I was talking to a bunch of my friends about butcher shops but kept getting interupted when trying to talk. The other night I was at a gun show and some protest group proved that you could steal guns easy from gun shows, and I started yelling “those are loaded” but no one responded. I hope the dreams get less weird, I would love that. But till then, yay for American dreams.

Bill and I were tasked with leading the service on wednesday, which was the first one to be done on a wednesday. We had some idea of what we were doing, but it all worked out. i turned to him and said "2 mzungu's lead a service". I felt like it was a youth group wednesday night at cornerstone, but i did not get to do any lame jokes. I love being able to speak here, since i always have at least a few backup sermons ready. i talked about Jonah on wednesday with the kids, my favorite sermon i have ever done. i did it in front of orange lutheran last year, and was more then happy to do it again.

Love you all.

more updates soon.

in search of goat meat part 2

3 weeks ago I consumed my first kilo of grilled goat meat. last week my roommate and i did it again, and i was just as happy. but this week i wanted something a bit different. my roommate bill and i went up to junction to get a few things. while waiting at the post office while bill was sending somethings, i could not help but watch one of the many butchers of the 1/8th of a mile strip of shops clean a very large hunk of meat. she went over it with a small knife like a someone shaving. so delicate and caring, she striped the meat of everything that was not good to eat. my stomach wanted meat. after stopping off at a few stands, we bought onions, garlic and herbs, just to have to mix into dinners and what not. we hit on the subject of getting a few kilos of meat for dinner, but bill said "why not get it raw and cook it at home?". so after stopping at the butcher shop and being tempted by the already cooked meat on the grill, i walked inside to buy the freshest meat i could. i put up 2 fingers and as clear as i could, said "2 kilos of goat". the man inside became so excited, he grabbed a fresh leg, and started chopping and weighing it. "1. 3 kilos" he kept saying, i guess 2 was not possible. after some talks with bill, he dropped the price from 700 schill to 580. Tip 1: always bring the smarter American with you when buying anything. we took the meet home, but not without striking fear into a few passing goats by showing them their own departed brothers. when we got home, i went to our resident expert chef, Lucy. i sometimes call Lucy our team mom, because she takes care of us much like a team mom would do for her sons basketball team. Lucy lives on the premises with her 2 daughters and the 3rd one going to a nice school close by. Lucy has agreed to show us how to prepare the meat and make it the best possible. she would know, the food she produces is out of this world good.

she starts by boiling the meat in a pot for 10-15 min to get the meat to fall off the bone. already i start to get really hungry. after it's done, she transfers the meat to a tray and starts slicing as much of the meat away from the bone. not long after hitting the tray, there is a nice pile of meat. she then takes the onions and garlic and herbs we bought and throws them into an empty pot. i should mention the water that the goat was boiled in is being saved almost as a stock for future meals. we heat the pot and toss in the meat. Lucy says to let the meat sit on top so the fat melts off and cooks the onions and garlic below it. we begin to stir it, not wanting anything to burn. it's like stiring almost solid conctrete, the bones work against us stirring, but when Lucy stirs, it's like stirring butter. she tosses in salt and beef seasoning and we are told it's done. the kitchen smells like the kitchen in Heaven smells like, fresh herbs and meat. we portion it out among us (giving Lucy the most) and finally we sit down to eat. the first bite hits me like a nothing else, this is the best meat i have ever eaten. i devour my meal while savoring the intense flavor of the meal. I am somewhat depressed when i took my last bite. but the satisfaction that the entire meal brought with it is unforgettable. on the way to the boys dorms to say good night, the 2 dogs who live here, can't help but follow the smell of the goat that has sunk into my clothes. the boys ask why i smell like meat, i don't respond.

I love kenya.  

the devils mangos

salaama my dear blog readers.

it's sunday evening here and i have locked all the kids out of the computer lab just to write this. it turns out that one of the mangos I got from the city, has been possessed by the devil and has made my stomach upset for a good 4 days now. but it soon will pass. i am starting week 4 here which seems crazy to me, because it only feels like i got here last week. it is unknown if i will be teaching after the semester ends in april, so it could be only a month more of class time work. my daily devotions have turned into one man bible studys that last for an hour or two. there seems to be a lot planned for the up coming months at Jubilee, a big Gospel group from South Africa is supposed to be coming, just for the kids, and so are a lot of news cameras. so updates should come soon about that. my next months here are packed with big things, i am hoping for at least 4 skyping events with youth groups, meeting up with friends from America, getting coffee with pastors and a handful of outreaches. i am excited to be able to look back in 4 months and see what went on during this trip. but the end of month one is only a week away, so i better get to work now. Home is starting to feel closer and closer with the amount of emails and facebook things people are sending me. when i first got here, my roommate talked about having dreams at night of him going back home but only for a day. at first i thought he was crazy, but then i started having them. the other night, i had one where i was visiting home trying to get everything ready before i left to come back that night. which is weird, because i had dreams of Africa ever since I got back the first time. it was strange for the kids to see pictures of winter camp, since the only snow they can see is the snow on Mt. Kenya. a boy in the library asked me today what hotdogs were, but he knew who Carmen Electra was. i have found that the negetive things of America have been imported to kenya, but yet Americas good things, have yet to be sent over. some boys did not even know that sports illustrated was sports oriented, they thought it was a swim suit magazine. so many of the kids want to come to America, but we tell them that we left America because we think Kenya is much cooler. i pray for this generation of Kenya.

updates and pic's to come. so far not that many updates, and not that many pic's.

ok bye.  

whats up week 3

Well hello again. It's officially week 3 here now. Time will go by quicker now that I have a way to talk to the outside world. It was strange going on CNN today to look at what is going on outside of the school. The kids are going through midterms right now so almost all my classes are doing that right now. I was able to video chat with Phil and Sarah this morning, but not using Skype, by using Ichatchurch.com (shameless plug). Though they could not hear me, I heard and saw them clear as day. So things are looking up. The banana pile that was brought Tuesday is slowly becoming smaller and smaller by the hour. I went to sleep at 8 last night because I did not feel well, and did not wake up till 8 this morning. Luckily I did not have any classes to teach. I got awesome news today that my friend Jessie Hamilton is coming to Nairobi in March, so I have an awesome hang out day to look forward to. My roommate is saying that he thinks March will go by quick, but we will see. 2 new goats came into the school yesterday, I think one needs to be eaten cause it's a pain in the butt, but no one agrees with me.....other then the cook. I waiting for my pineapple and my mango to ripen so I may devour them accordingly. It's a good patience tester. I know winter camp is this weekend and I am sad that I cannot be there, but I am excited for what is going to happen up there. My missions beard is coming in nicely, though the high school boys keep saying I should shave, but they can't grow facial hair very easily, I think they are jealous.

So I decided that since this update is not much of an update, I will spruce it up a bit with another travel tip list. This one is regarding top things to bring on a missions trip to Africa.

Africa missions trip packing list.

-study bible-if you are asked to speak, it's always nice to throw in fun biblical tidbits that no one knows.

-mini bible-if your walking a long way just to get to a bible study, don't take the 3 pound study bible, take the mini one and save your arms.

-snacks- you can only eat so much ugali before you reach the breaking point. Load up on nature valley bars, freeze dried food, fruit, and anything that will keep. It will save your life.

-Garlic powder- put this on your dinner and all you taste is garlic, it's a life saver.

-zip ties- zip ties are a cousin of duct tape, it fastens anything to anything as tight as it can go. They are quick, light, and cheap, what's not to like? Best used when putting a tarp back up against a window to keep a swarm of bugs out of your room.

-books- the longer the better, when the power goes out, you will love every page.

-bug repellent- mosquitoes can poke through nets, deny them this by taking a shower in bug repellent.

-Gold bond powder- helps you keep dry, that's all I am saying.

-Swiss army knife- has everything you need and ever will need.......except internet.

-really good flashlight- for finding your way through power outages and for finding hedgehogs in the grass.

-cheap watches- if you take a trip into the market, and don't want to deal with money, trade the watch and get your weight in souvenirs. You can scribble “omega” or “Rolex” on it just to mess with them.

-legal pads-come in handy when writing letters, directions, list or anything else you need. And you look important carrying it around.

-boots- a big black pair makes people think your some Jack Bauer knock-off, which always works in your favor cause no one will want to rob you.

-pack of cheap white t-shirts- neutral, comfortable, easy, and you can toss them out when your done or make it a wash cloth.

-empty plastic bottles- work a t-shirt inside of it, fill it wish water and laundry detergent, and in 30 min you have a clean shirt. Also a must for quick showers, punch some holes in the top and let it rip.

-stuff sacks- usually used for camping, but for traveling, a months worth of clothes goes into one bag and makes it the size of a weekend bag.

-lots and lots of pens-no need to explain.

-a very large first aid kit- when the closest hospital is an hour away with no traffic, become your own doctor. Also needed, military first aid manuals, they are dumbed down for everyone.

-550 cord- it's used in parachutes and used by hikers, climbers, and those preparing for the apocalypse. It's strong, cheap, and can get it in 25' to 50' bundles. Used for strapping mosquito nets down, new shoelaces, or just to play with.

-Bungee cord- quick cloths line, quicker belt. Always nice to have.

-lighter- just cause it's always good to have.

-good, light backpack-hauls everything you want it to.

-clothes pins- needed for laundry, also a cheap clamp.

-cases-if it's important, put it in a case, airlines don't care about your iPod as much as you do.

-fellow Americans- Americans are nice to have cause they speak your language, and that means you have someone to talk to.

That's it for now, I will put more on the next time I have nothing interesting to put.

So long, farewell, Auf Wiedersahn, goodbye.

help out my housemates

So as you may know, i have 2 wonderful housemates named Bill and Liz. they have been here for 4 months and will be here another 4 months. double the ammount of time i will be here. one thing they want to do before they go home to vermont is make it to Europe for an overdue vacation. they are working 100% off of donations and i would love it if some of you could donate to help them reach their goal. they have helped me so much getting comfortable here.

here is their blog with the info to donate,

http://billandlizafrica.wordpress.com/

the last 2 weeks worth of blog updates

so i typed these over the last 2 weeks, but with no internet, could not post them, but now i do have internet, so yeah, enjoy.

Hello all, I know it's been over a week since I have posted. Internet is not as easy to come by here as it would seem. So anyway I will try to catch you up as much as I can. The orphanage is called Jubilee Children s center and it's in Ruai. We are about 45 min away from downtown Nairobi. The area is not the best of areas. Dirt roads go for miles in all directions, but there is the Ruai Junction about a mile away that has a quikmart and an ATM. The first day I was here, I helped paint the kitchen and then assisted in the burning of a field to clear brush and allow the dirt to be exposed for the rainy season. I have 2 house mates, Bill and Liz, both from Vermont who have been here since October and won't leave till around the time I leave. They have helped me with so much so far and are the only Americans for a while. On Monday I was made the bible teacher for Forms 1-3, which is their high school. It's wonderful being able to teach the bible class and I have a pretty nice schedule. The kids are adorable and I can't get enough of them. After school, I usually help out in the computer lab with Bill or open the Library for Liz if she can't do it. It's been a calm first week, but homesickness kicked in early. I already miss my family and friends and the simple things America offers. But then again, as much as I miss home, I know this is where God wants me, so that's where I'll be. I have made a few trips into town and experienced the area more and more. The local food is very good, I am hooked on a fried dough called Mdazes, and an new all time fav, Chipatti, which to put it simply, African tortillas. Yesterday I made my first trip into downtown Nairobi since I have been here. We walked around a lot and I was able to buy a internet stick, but later today we found out it does not work, so we will soon go back into the city and figure it out. 

It's Tuesday now and still no real internet yet. I have written my first test ever for one of my classes today and will review with them tonight. I am pretty excited, seeing as how they have not done any real bible class since the last teacher was here. I know that people are worried about my lack of communication since I have been here, and there are a few emails I need to respond to (Holly Peters cough cough). It's been 12 days since I landed here, but it seems like a month, though the days go by quick. I ate my first mango in country today, it had to ripen for 2 days which was the 2 longest days ever. It was the best mango I have ever eaten, you would of never known I bought it off the side of a busy street in Nairobi. Since I only have 1 class to teach tomorrow, I am going to get some grilled goat meat and fries at a butcher shop in Junction. On Saturday while in the city, I met a German girl who is working at an orphanage down the way from us, it was a chance meeting. I have slowed my reading down to a few pages a day just so I don't jump to far ahead and have nothing to read by the time I leave. I did get to do my first load of laundry yesterday, this would not be as big of a deal if there was a washing machine here. All it takes is 2 buckets of water, a bar of soap, a clothes line and some time. It's peaceful to do until you get a stubborn stain and then it's the most frustrating time. There really is no smog here, even though there is no such thing as a smog check here and all the cars spit out fumes like no other. One of the sheep here had a baby on Saturday and it's up and running around now. Nothing ceases to amaze me here. 

Since I have been here, there is one thing that seems to irk me. I have adapted to everything else, the shower from a empty sprite bottle, washing clothes with a bar of soap, and even the power outages. There is something else that I can't seem to kick, and that is the urge for meat. As a kid, meat was off limits due to the fact that my family were disciples to vegetarianism. I never really felt the strong urge for meat until I was 15 and severed my ties with vegetarianism. It was at that time that I tried meat. And I have yet to go back. Since then, I have tried my best to make up for lost time and eat every animal that I can. Cow, pig, chicken, etc. I have consumed my fair share so far. But here, meat is expensive for the average person to buy, so meat is rarely ever on the menu, and by rarely, I mean never. The other night though, I overheard my housemates talking about a time they traveled up to Junction and bought a kilo of Goat meat for 500 schillings. Junction is a half hour walk from where we are, and a 40 minute walk to the bank, so everything is within walking distance. Seeing as how 500 schillings is only about $6 back home, I had no reason not to go down there. So for a few days, I waited to ship off and find this meat. We went to Nairobi Saturday, so could not go then, Sunday I preached. Can't go then, Monday and Tuesday I had classes and review with my class. So Wednesday was my day. I taught one class in the morning and then had the day to myself. After class. I strapped on my boots, threw on my backpack with a full canteen in it, and took off. The walk felt like it went on forever, I walked down to the bank, got some money, stopped off at the quikmart, picked up some things, then finally made my way to the butchers shop. What I found is it's not just one shop, but several shops all next door to each other, which means that any white man that gets within 50 yards is bound to bombarded with offers of the best meat in Kenya. To make it easy I picked the first shop on the corner. His grill was laid out for every passing person to see what meat he was grilling, I decided he looked best. I looked for the butcher and couldn't seem to find him, finally without missing a step, he jumps up from a seat and runs to the grill ready to show me what he has. As I look at the grill, full legs of Goat are slowly roasting on an open grill, looking as good as any other meat I had seen on a grill. I asked what kind of meat it was. All he said was “meat”. Meat it is then. He ask if  I would like it off the bone, then without my response, starts chopping away. His wife comes out and says “Mzungu likes meat?”, I nodded and laughed. Several other butchers though will still attempting to get me to buy their meat, holding it in the air offering free samples, but for the sake of my butcher, I had to deny their offers. He wraps the meat up in a nice bag, I pay him and now it's a race against time to get home and eat this meat that has plagued my brain for the last week. When walking home though, I could only focus on all the goats that are tied to post on the side of the road just staring at me, knowing that I have a fallen companion of theirs wrapped nicely in a bag ready to eat. I finally sit down at the table ready to fill my stomach with the meat. As I open the bag like it's a Christmas present. I no sooner start eating, the first bite is all it took for me to be hooked. It had the perfect blend of salt and marinade which only complimented the Goat's already unique flavor. As I eat, it only reminds me of the lamb I eat at home. I finish the small bits of cubed meat, and start in on the bones. As I stare at the wonder of Gods own creation, I can't help but see the intricacy of the bone and tendons. The bone has a golden brownish hue to it, as I soon realize though, I am picking meat from the ankle of the Goat, which would be no problem in America, but let still holds a patch of fur the butcher missed. It did not stop me from eating, but it did make me think, “this is incredibly fresh”, the goat was probably killed that morning, only a few hours before I spotted it's leg sitting on a grill ready to be served. After I clean the bone of every bit of good meat, I head outside and toss the bones to the dogs, Fidel Castro and his girlfriend( we call him Castro because he was castrated only an hour before I arrived). The devour the bones in minutes, and enjoy the meat just as much as I did. I am now proud of the fact that I broke down the barrier of nervous American and made the leap into trying to attempt to see what the life of an average Kenyan is like. Of course, I will never be able to know what the life is like, I am only a spectator, but I got the taste of Kenya contained in that meat, the hard work, the sacrifice and the dedication it takes to make a living. It was the fairest of trades, he put food in my stomach so he could put food on the table.

So hello again, it's been another week without an update. We went back into Nairobi last Saturday but they said that all they could do was to call tech support and have it done buy Monday, but now it's Wednesday and still no internet. My housemates headed in again to take care of their own personal things, and said they would stop by and try again. I have been up graded to the 5th grade science teacher, which is a very nice position because the class is the best class here. I gave my 2nd test yesterday in bible for my 2nd bible class, the class average was 82% and the test was pretty tough. Easy to say that I am proud of them. It's been raining the last few days, but only at night. Sunday night the clouds came in and it started to downpour at about midnight. It was up in the 90's though that morning, when I was giving my sermon in church. Last night the rain sounded like heavy wind, but it never stopped. When I woke up this morning, my roommate ran in saying that the 5th grade class room flooded, we both ran down and took pictures. It was about 2 inches of water in the classroom. The kids thought it was the coolest thing ever, and within 10 minutes had it cleaned out. The kids are a lot tougher then American kids, tell a bunch of 5th graders in America to clean all the water out of their classroom and they just look at you, tell these kids, and they have it done before class starts. The soil here is killing me though, it soaks up the water like a sponge and then sticks to the bottom of your shoes like nothing else, my shoes are caked with mud and are having to dry out just to get it off. I have adapted well to the shower in a bottle and to hand washing clothes, I am pretty much an expert. Dr. Joe, the owner of the school came back last Thursday from California. The whole area was cleaned before he got here, and school was canceled in the morning. Once and a while, my housemates and I get to eat the extra food from his dinners. Yesterday, someone dropped off 600 bananas here, 200 went to the kids, 40 to my housemates and I, and the rest were taken away for something else. The fruit here is one of my favorite things, the pineapple is the best I have every had, the mango’s are huge, and the bananas are sold in huge bundles. For valentines day, Bill and I bought chocolate bars for a few of the teachers, and seeing as how the chocolate here is so good, they were very happy. Instead of chocolate for us, a bunch of the kids picked the bogon via and gave us both a large amount of flowers. Bill and I also went into junction yesterday after school and bought more Goat meat, which we devoured like Vikings. On Saturday, after dealing with the internet problems, we met up with some friends from bible study and took a very long walk to a park that is home to a lot of monkeys, they grabbed food from us and ran around. I have a lot of pictures.  Everything has been fine here, and I have worked into my groove here. It's hard to believe it's only week 3 here, and that I have 15 more to go. I got to see my first bootleg DVD today, one of the kids got their hands on the expendables, it was in English, but the subtitles were in Swahili.   I promise that the blog will be updated more often as soon as the internet is fixed. As for all my facebook people, don't feel unloved if I don't respond right away, I do see your comments and messages but I don't have tons of time on the modem cause it's used for the school. Happy late 11th anniversary to Phil and Sarah, I wish I could have been there for it, or better yet, you be here for it. You will all know if my internet is good to go if you see this blog post.

Love you all.

p.s sorry Mom for eating all the Frenches onions in the pantry and not telling you.