Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday morning were orientation days at the guesthouse. We went through a lot of things - the purpose of missions, safety info, health info, financial info, and a lot about culture shock and dealing with that. We also had language lessons for a total of six hours - Swahili is a very interesting language...so different from either Spanish or English! Two of the afternoons we had matatu lessons (matatu = public transportation). The whole system is based on numbers that correspond with certain routes, so we had to learn which numbers go where, etc. Riding in a matatu definitely makes me feel like I am in the middle of the Kenyan culture :)
On Tuesday afternoon, in the midst of our matatu lesson, we had the opportunity to go into Kibera! The guy who was teaching us goes to a church in Kibera, so he took us in to see it. We've been told that Kibera is the kind of the place that you don't go into without a Kenya (or two), so it was exciting to have that opportunity! It looked a lot like the Haitian villages in the Dominican, but MUCH more populated and packed together.
Thursday afternoon we went out for lunch and then went grocery shopping before moving into our house! Brandon and I (and a third guy at the beginning of July) will be living there for the rest of our time here. It's such a nice place, and it's fun to be on our own. I'm sticking in some pictures. Please note the palm tree in the backyard (I know I've already talked about it. But it's great.)
The place is incredibly secure. We have to unlock five locks just to get into the house! There are also 24-7 guards at each entrance to the community and another night guard who patrols our street. Our community borders Kibera (you can actually see it over one of the walls), so that make sthe extra security nice :) It was such an eye opener to go into Kibera, though, to see what poverty lies so close to us!
There are a lot of things to learn about living on our own - how to purify the water for drinking, which keys go with which locks (we're getting faster at getting in and out of the house), how to pump water into the house and up to the second floor, etc. Lots of learning!
Friday was my first day back at the hangar to work. It's good to be back! However, there hasn't been a lot for me to do the last few days, so it's been a little disappointing. I'm hoping some things come up today that will keep me busy!
The weekend was a good chance to relax and get out. I got to sleep in (a lot) on Saturday, made a trip to Mayfield (the guesthouse, to use the wireless internet) and to Nakumatt (Wal-Martish place). We had dinner at the Roberts' house (missionary family that lives right behind us). We've been pretty lucky in that we haven't had to cook much for ourselves yet, since we've been invited places so much!
Yesterday we went with the Levanders to New City Fellowship again. Every second Sunday of the month they have a meal after the service, and we stayed for that. It was delicious (and another meal we didnt' have to cook for ourselves!). I really like that church. Several people have told us that short-termers bounce around between churches to really get the "African experience", but I can't help but want to go there for the summer.
After church and dinner we all stopped at the Java House for ice cream. Java House is pretty much the African version of Starbucks. It was pretty darn close!
And today I am back at the hangar again. This weekend is the men's retreat, so on Thursday morning we will be heading out to Mombasa (on the ocean!) until Sunday. I'm really looking forward to that!
Kwaheri!
1 comment:
Yay for taxi lessons! We just blindly followed the teenager taking us into town. Once we even had to sit up next to the driver which was a little bit scary. He wasn't very friendly and at one point he just stopped the van, got out, and didn't come back for quite a while. Lessons would have been a good idea for us, so I'm glad you had them. AND I'm going to be asking to hear some Swahili next time I see you!
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