MOMBASA

The beginning of June, my co-teacher and I flew to Nairobi where we met up with 2 of the teachers from Nakuru and then flew from Nairobi to Mombasa together.  We four had so much fun relaxing, laughing, and just having a great time.  Mombasa is a city on the eastern coast of Africa.  We had a lovely place on Diani Beach with a quick walk down to the white sand and blue, blue Indian Ocean.  

my co-teacher, Charity

Jan and Delores

I didn't take many pictures, because I was too busy soaking it all up in real life.  In reality, I was too lazy and now I'm wishing I had a little more visual proof here to show you exactly how beautiful it was!  Since I don't have better pics of our place, here are two phone pictures... The first one shows our house at Marula Park.  The second one was taken from my upstairs bedroom balcony one evening.  It was so much fun to wake up every morning to this lovely view.  

Here's a picture from Kivulini Beach Villa where Marlin and Lavina's family was staying.  They came a few days after we did and stayed a few days longer.  They were approx a kilometer away, so we got together a few times for meals... This picture is a shot of their front yard...they were right on the beach...no walking for them... :) 

One of my favorite days was Tuesday.  We seven youth headed out bright and early and traveled for about an hour and a half... Got all of our alien card and passport and payment jazz taken care of and then spent the day out on the water.  The day was just topnotch! We had a semi-delicious breakfast, happy music, and good times ...until the good times got even better and we spotted dolphins.  Now, dolphins are fun to watch and these were no exception, so I enjoyed that part of the day so much!

Our breakfast of crab cakes and bread...

Another favorite part of the day was snorkeling.  We dropped the guys off first and then we girls jumped out farther up the reef.  That was just great!  I truly felt like I was swimming through my fourth grade A Beka science book with my students.  Hundreds and hundreds of bright neon fish that really didn't look "real" at all... Seeing several manta rays down below...swimming in sync with a big ole sea turtle ... checking out the beautiful coral... a brilliantly blue starfish ... and many, many fish that were just plain down fascinating.  I had never snorkeled before and definitely enjoyed it kabisa!! The guys saw several octopuses and a lobster, so that was pretty cool!  We hopped back on the boat for a quick break, but then a few of us headed back out for a little.  The second time I was having some serious issues with my paraphernalia and I felt like I spent as much time with my head above the surface trying to fix my equipment as I did looking at anything underwater.  My mask insisted on being leaky and fogging up and my snorkel kept malfunctioning and giving me salty tastes of the sea.  Not to mention that these fins were apparently not the pair I had just been wearing and were beginning to introduce blisters to my feet in rapid concession.  And!  Did I mention that the sun wasn't doing such a splendid job of shining and it was cold!!  So I was happy to climb back on our dhow and head to Wasini Island for lunch... 

We ate our crab, fish, rice, potatoes, chapatis, and fresh fruit (oh and some seaweed too) and enjoyed the magnificent view before leaving for the mainland.  Toured a cave that had been used for holding slaves at one point and then hit the road again and journeyed all the way back to our stretch of the beach.  It felt great to be home, but wow, what an awesome day!!!!

Our view during lunch...

A group pic in the cave :)

Jan and me

Charity, Jan, Delores, and me

On our way back to Kisumu we picked up Rhoda, Charity's replacement.  This picture was taken at her welcome/Charity's farewell... You would have thought that we youth girls had planned what to wear for the evening... :D

Stacy, Rissa, me, Sylvia, Rhoda, Charity

Pictures from long ago...

Here are some snapshots from the beginning of summer vacation...

Last day of school activities:

My co-teacher, Charity :) :)
Yes, we were as soaked as we look... but kickball in the rain is great ;)

 The Nakuru youth came over for a weekend.  Sunday evening, we had supper together and played some group games... fishbowl, stand-up confusion, etc.  Monday morning, we left bright and early and hiked good ole Monkeystone.  It rained while we were at the top so we girls had fun slipping and sliding down the muddy mountain that afternoon.  The guys spent the night at the top and came down Tuesday.  We had lunch together and then the Nakuru folks headed back home.  It was great being able to do something "extra" with them! :) 

Our DRENCHED (but very happy) tribe...

The next week started off with chicken butchering and then cleaning and painting at Charity's house... getting ready for Rhoda... :)  

Days of scrubbing and mopping and organizing get to ya after awhile! 

"Mom" Becky came to help paint... what fun we had!

Our work day at church:

The last Friday in May, our youth group headed out to Ng'ia one last time while the Stoltzfeese youth were still on this side of the world...

...great vb memories...

Group picture at the equator, only a few miles from here...

...another group picture...this time with just the Kisumu gang...

That evening, when we got back, we youth headed to Simba Club for supper.  Janette spent the night at my place and we had a great time talking and looking at the stars from my roof before finally getting some sleep.  

As a "farewell" for Charity, we three girls spent a night at Rondo Retreat.  We had so much fun!!

 Mark's were there as well, so Markus and Micah kept us entertained part of the time... :)

Marlin's farewell with some epic youth volleyball afterwards!!

Lydia, my good friend from church:

Stacy, Charity, and the Gingerich children at the food court:


Last Java House expedition with Charity~ Thanks, Micah!!


Next thing on my summer agenda before heading to Virginia was MOMBASA... that post will be coming sooner or later... hopefully sooner! :)

...until next time...

Today I finally had the chance to help with a house mudding!!  I enjoyed the day so much!  So far, I've always been busy teaching when the opportunity came up, so this time it was great to be on summer vacation! We were planning to head out promptly at eight this morning, but unfortunately the Patrol decided not to cooperate and insisted that it wasn't in the mood to haul six of us girls plus Joseph and Becky out toward the Nandi Hills.  No, actually, there seems to be a fuel leakage problem and maybe some other issues as well.  Ranjit, our mechanic, has been spending a hefty amount of time under the hood, building a relationship with the occupants that inhabit the space there, but apparently, it's a one-sided friendship.  So.... we waited for quite a bit while Joseph did his best to fix the Patrol's stubborn attitude.  Eventually, even Steve came to see what he could do, and it was decided that the Patrol would stay here in the compound and we would head out in one of the old vans.  Eric and Jessica are from Oroba church, so we again went jostling around and through the many potholes and bumps on the notoriously rough Miwani Road until at long last we finally "reached."  After stepping inside to pray a blessing over the dala and to sit a while, we headed outside to begin carrying water while the men started their work.    

Ready to begin! 

Pumping water... lots of it...

Carrying water "the Kenyan way"

 After a bit, Valerie and I jumped in to start mixing mud with our feet.  It was thick and goopy and sticky and rather slippery as well.  It was also exceptionally fun.  We stomped and pranced around in our miry puddle and became slightly splattered and quite, quite joyous.  It's also an efficient and entertaining exercise to work out your leg muscles! 

Mixing mud with our feet...

Before we could start slapping mud into the frame, we were ushered back inside to eat nyoyo.  We washed it down with good strong lemongrass tea and impatiently waited for the signal that it was permissible for us to head back outside.  We were given instructions by a few old mamas and then we began to enthusiastically "mud away."  There was a lot of laughter on our side of the house as our wall grew higher and higher.  A few of us were a bit skeptical that our section was a tad inferior to the native's handiwork beside us, but they kindly waved aside our doubts and jovially told us that we were doing a fine job.   

Teresa (left)... Becky (R) 

Stacy & Lynnae ~ hard at it!

The men carried mud for us and kept us supplied so that we could keep working.

Our happy crew who had the most fun of all:) 

Working hard and laughing harder with Valerie (one of the WATER girls)

Almost finished for today!

A few of the neighbor children...

The completed project ~ finished for today, that is...

In several weeks, after the mud has dried they will put another layer on both sides of the wall and then again another layer later, mixed with cow dung. 

While the cooks were finishing lunch preparations, we had a spur of the moment Bible study in the brand new house, then ate a hurried lunch and rushed home so the WATER girls could finish packing and prepare to head back home to the states.  This evening, Rhoda, Stacy, and I took them to the airport and dropped them off and then headed back for a wonderful supper at Stacy's house.  The power was off part of the evening, so we some rather dark, sweltering moments, but now the electricity is back on and we have FANS and lights and internet once again...and I am SO thankful! What are you grateful for today?

"Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it."             -William Arthur Ward