Happy 2010!

12-31-09
Last day of 2009. Wow Wow! Pretty amazing. And I’m spending it hear in Kenya with my brother. I have no idea what we are going to do in 5 hours to celebrate.
We went over to Pauline’s home (she is the high school secretary) and videotaped her making chapati. Philip and I are going to edit and turn it into a cooking kind of show. If we have time we will tape something else (any recommendations?) and do that as well. We will be getting recipes and making a cookbook also (any recommendations?). I think it will turn out pretty good. I figure we can combine the two and sell them to make some money for Rohi. So be on the look out for that in the next couple months.
Mary and Eric with their kids left this morning. It is quiet in the house. Philip just said that it is lonely out there. It was good having them around and getting to know them. Nice, good people.
I think I am writing a lot less, and not as exciting stuff lately. I think it’s because Philip is here and I have somebody to share things with, instead of the computer. He is leaving in a week, so maybe I will write more when he leaves. The last few days have been good.

1-3-10
Happy New Year everybody! I rung in the new year with an amazing celebration of dancing, music, disco balls,… well not really. Philip and I went to bed at 10:30 and were struggling to stay awake. Then we got a call from home. That is how he celebrated, lying in bed and talking on the phone. Yay. It would have been cool to go somewhere and celebrate with other people in a different country. Another year perhaps. The first day of the year was spent at church then at home. We just hung out and did a few things around here. Yesterday we went with Troy and Becca and their two daughters to Lake Elementia. Not too much there, but it was fun spending the day with them. We were only at the lake for a few minutes to see the flamingoes and check out some other stuff. Then we went to see about going to a game conservancy. We checked out the rates and decided that it would not be worth the time we had. So we went back to their house, had lunch, watched Little House on the Prairie (their daughter’s choice- we weren’t arguing), and just hung out. It was really good. Becca made some snickerdoodles. They were so good. I think they were really good, but not having anything like that for a while made it that much better. We ended up staying the night there and came home this morning for church. We had steak for last night for dinner with sliced potatoes, green beans, tomatoes, and feta cheese. It was so good. The food Mama makes is great, but it was good to have something different.
I can’t believe I have been here for 8 weeks already. That means I am coming home in less than four weeks. Wow wow. Then all of you can shed your pent up love and kisses on me soon. : )
I just found out that the matatu that charged me and Philip 50 shillings for a ride when it is usually 40 shillings, may have been correct. There is no law or anything like that, that decides what the set amount will be. Apparently they just change it whenever and the charges are almost never posted (I have seen it posted twice). When they changed the cost, I have no idea. However I don’t feel bad about what I said (I didn’t say anything bad anyways).

1-4-10
Philip and I worked on the dump video. We are hoping it will be done by tomorrow night before he leaves. We had some issues with space on the computer but it’s ok now. My stomach was hurting for just about the first time since I’ve been here. Don’t know why. I was feeling kinda dizzy too. I tried to sleep for a couple hours, and I feel better now. Don’t know what that was all about. We were going to go to town today but it was raining pretty good. El Nino has apparently hit Kenya. There has been some major flooding in some areas. Roads have been messed up pretty bad and villages also. Matatu drivers are going on strike I guess. Don’t know what they’re striking about. High school students are coming back to school today. Primary on Wednesday. Many take matatus, so it will be interesting to see how many arrive.

1-5-10
Philip is leaving tomorrow. Sad day in Kenya. Happy day in US. It’s been good having him here. We are almost done with the video, so there will be info on that soon. Pretty excited to show it to people. We’ll probably post it on youtube also. It’s been a good lately. I’m feeling encouraged about stuff. Not sure what the next 3 weeks hold, or even what to look forward to, but I think it will be good.