Lessons Learned: Extra Credit

Wrestling is completely and without question real. It must be watched with complete undivided attention.

Foreign soap operas captivate the country. Again, everything people do in these soap operas actually happens. With names like The Promise, Shades Of Sin, Storm Over Paradise, Mari Mar, and The Wind of Promise, how can you not get sucked in?

To "catch" something is to hold something. Some of the kids ask me to "Catch this for me" or "Catch your hair".

When someone tells you that you have increased or have become bigger, it is supposed to be a compliment. So basically when people tell you that you have become fat, take it as a good thing. Try to anyway. If you look upset after it is said, they will try to apologize but the damage has already been done.

Volcanoes and Rain

Megan and I were supposed to be together by now but because of the erupting volcano she will not be getting here until the end of next week. Hopefully. Because she is loosing a week, we have decided to stay an extra week in Nairobi and a few extra days in London. I have yet to come here and stick with my original ticket date.

Peter went in for another chemo treatment on Tuesday and got out of the hospital yesterday. As soon as we get in the hospital he is ready to leave. He is doing really well right now. He had to move back to the house a week ago because he had a rash and they thought it might be chicken pox. It wasn't, but his white blood cell count was low anyway so it was best that he stay at the house to help his count go up. Peter moved in with the Pastor for the time being and James moved back to Cheryl's. Kieren is in Tsavo for the week so I am at the house alone from today until Monday. John and George, the security guys, are here, and so is Carol, so I am not totally alone.

I was just thinking the other day that for the rainy season it has not rained much. The rains here come as quickly as they go. Which is to say, very quickly. It has rained here at least once a day for the past week. Every time I walk outside after the rain it is a challenge to not slip on the mud or step in a puddle.

March Madness

March has been a long month. To all the mothers out there, I don't know how you do it. I always knew it was a hard job but after three and a half weeks I can say I am done for a while. Thankfully Carol, the woman who works here was cooking Peter and James lunch and dinner so I did not have to worry too much about that. Just had to make sure there was enough food in the house.

The only major problem we had while Kieren was gone was Peter having a very low white blood cell count. When he goes in for chemo he has to have blood work done before to make sure his WBC is high enough to handle treatment. It was extremely low a few weeks ago and I could tell something was wrong because he was sleeping all the time and not talking much, and just seemed off. He had to go get shots everyday for five days to up his count and after a few days I could tell a difference already.

Peter had another CT Scan a two weeks ago and the results are amazing. The tumor is pretty much all gone which is amazing in itself, but to have it gone in just a few months is incredible. Another test came back and revealed that the tumor was more of nerve tumor than a gland tumor which it was initially thought to be. This means that the treatment is going to change and instead of going for chemo once a week for a year he is now going to be going once every three weeks for eight months. The doctors are going to be doing a dye contrast test this coming week to see where the cancer is and then continue treatment for the eight months and redo the test when they think they are finished to make sure they got it all. His next appointment is at the end of next week. Peter and James moved back to Cheryl's from Thursday until Monday, so the house is very quiet now.

Two weeks ago some of the boys in class six and seven came over to hang out with Peter. While we were at the home to pick them up to bring them back to the house one of the girls asked if she could use my camera. I told her sure, but that I was only staying for a few minutes and then leaving again. Of course in the process of getting the boys ready to leave and making sure they had everything they needed for the day, I forgot my camera. Knowing the kids knew how to use it and have used it plenty of times I was not too worried. I called James who was at Cheryl's and asked him to bring it back to the house with him when he came back. Unfortunately, one of the kids dropped it in a bucket of water while it was on. There is no coming back from that. Cameras, even the cheap ones, are twice as much here as they are in the states, plus I have my old one back home too.

Last Saturday, Kieren, myself, and a few other volunteers went to the National Park for the day. I have yet to venture out of Nairobi this trip, so it was nice to pretend that I was somewhere outside of the city. It was strange being in a national park and also being able to see the largest city in east Africa in the background. Nairobi has been consistently growing around the park for the past ten years and one day, sooner rather than later, the whole park will be surrounded by the city and the animals will no longer be able to come and go as they please. We saw rhinos, zebra, giraffe, monkeys, buffalo, birds, wildebeest, and many kinds of antelope (some of the just look like graceful deer). One giraffe was on the road when we were on our way to the lookout point so we stopped to admire t as it was feeding on the surrounding trees. Thinking that it would cross over into the grass area if we slowly crept along, we inched forward but the giraffe had other plans. He was not at all phased but the car and walked right by us, pretty much touching the car. It was incredible. We went to the hippo pools to try to see...well, hippos, but there were none. On the walk back from the pools we saw some monkeys and were able to get very close to them, some of them were about an inch away with their babies hanging onto them. We turned down a dirt road hoping to see a leopard but instead all we saw were mud puddles. I thought we were either going to get stuck in one of them or loose control of the car and swerve into a bush or tree. Thank goodness Kieren can handle the car and al we got was muddy. Even though we did not get to see any cats it was still a nice relaxing day. It was also nice to be able to enjoy things seeing them and not looking through a camera screen the whole time. (Pretty much just trying to make myself feel better for not having a camera).
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Chris left a week ago. The last few days he was here we tied up some loose ends and had as much roasted meat as we could since it's pretty much illegal back home. We went into town and became tourists for the day, going up to the top of the conference center and seeing the whole of Nairobi from the top. Its supposed to cost 400 shillings each but we told the woman at the counter we were residents so it was 200 shillings each. I was skeptical at first, paying to go up to the top of a building but it was worth it. I have never seen the city like that. It looked so peaceful, even though I know better than to think that for too long. I will put up some pictures when I get them from Chris.

The rainy season has begun. Earlier in the week the power went out for the evening. James and Kieren played checkers while Peter and I played cards by candle light. Last night Kieren and I went to go see the woman who lives in the guest house on the compound, Maia, who is in a band, play in Karen. It was so nice to hear live music that I enjoy and to eat some delicious food. We were sitting outside so thankfully it didn't rain, but as we were driving home the ground as we got closer to home was soaked. Its so strange that it will rain in one part of the city and not another.

Lessons Learned #35-40: Language Differences

35. Rubber= eraser (Completely different meaning back home)

36. Jumper= any type of sweater or sweatshirt (This includes zip-ups and cardigans)

37. Series= season (when talking about T.V. shows. For example: Storm Over Paradise series 2 really means season 2)

38. Anything can have bad manners or be told to stop behaving badly. (For example: When James was washing dishes in the sink and the water stopped he proclaimed that "The water has bad manners. It is not coming out." and again when we were playing cards in the hospital last night and he could not get then all straight "These cards are behaving badly.")

39. Courgette= zucchini (This is the same in the UK)

40. Aubergine= eggplant (Also the same in the UK. Thinking about it I'm not sure why they are called eggplants. They don't have any egg-like properties)

HIV Testing and Deworming the Children at Robert Henry

Last Saturday we finally tested and dewormed all of the children at Robert Henry. We dewormed about 52 children and tested 50 kids (including Chris and I) for HIV 1 and 2. Chris and I split the cost of it (and snacks for the kids for after they got tested) for about $60. I was in the room with the kids when they were getting tested and only 2 of the kids shed a tear, most of the didn't even notice when they were pricked with the needle. Overall it was a long, tiring, hot day but it was something we had been trying to do since December so it was a relief to get it done before Chris has left.

the year in pictures..two months in