Kenya Part Mbili

Getting the chance to come back to Kenya has been so special! At the end of everyday I can hardly believe that I have one less day here. And although time is passing rapidly, I'm taking many pictures to remember my time with later.

I finally arrived in Nairobi around 1:20am where I eagerly rushed through the airport to buy my visa and collect my luggage! There, Derek Raymond (My Kenyan dad) greeted me and drove me to campus in his wonderfully refurbished Landrover! At about 3am I arrived on the campus of Maxwell Adventist Academy. Returning back to my African home a year later has been just too cool. I would have never guessed I would have the opportunity to arrive one year later. Upon arriving on campus, I was greeted by my younger brother, Caleb Raymond, who was still awake! :) Soon after, I surprised Yani! (who was sleeping!!) She could barely believe her eyes and ears and was so shocked that I had come.

After getting a couple of hours of sleep, I work up to surprise the other staff and students of Maxwell. Walking into staff meeting was a big shock for all and my 8th graders from last year waited outside to see me when it was finished! It made me so happy to see everyone again and to catch up on the past year! I spent the rest of the day catching up with several of my old students, their parents, staff, and all that I could! Being able to meet up with my Kenyan friends once again has made me super happy.

Thursday was town day for Derek, Yani, Leroy (Reloy) and Debbie. We traveled through the familiar roads once again, past Junction, to have lunch at a fantastic Mexican Restaurant (ran by the Mexican embassy). I was treated to amazing Mexican food and fantastic company for the entire day. After lunch, we sat in traffic, lots, shopped at Nakumatt, ate hot and corny, and I even got to purchase some African material at Junction's Maasai Market (along with receiving two gifts, might I add). All in all it shaped up to be a great day!

Friday, since I'm giving a recap of every single day, I was able to finally catch up with Hadassah. It was so wonderful catching up on the happenings of my previous year in school and her last year at the elementary. Zivah and Zahra, her daughters, are growing to be to big and I am so impressed with how much Zivah remembers! After a delicious lunch provided from the cafe and visiting old placed on campus, I finally saw Karl! Seeing him again was crazy and felt like there was a small piece of my SM year still alive! I keep thinking I'm going to see Drew at church or Ashley with the girls, so it's weird not having all the other SM's  back here with me-they are my family! After a beautiful vespers program and taking many, many pictures with everyone, I went to the Raymonds for a final celebration with the remaining SM's, Karl, and the couple of students that are staying over. We not only kicked the evening off with a soup party, but we were spoiled with homemade bread, chocolate cake with whipped coconut icing (vegan!) and pina coladas! Debbie has an amazing jucier, (which I am in love it) that allows you to put frozen pineapple and coconut cream through and mix into pina coladas. It literally comes out like ice cream!!!!! WOW. So after the intense feasting, we chatted and went to bed.

I could really get used to living here again. I want to in the worst way actually. I wish finances didn't have to hold me back and I wish that I was offered a position. Returning to Maxwell for another year would be unbelievable.

8 days...winding down!

So some great things have been happening lately.

Friday:
LAST DAY OF SCHOOL!
Rode in a matatu and listened to "Paradise"

Saturday:
Zumani

Sunday:
Goodbye Drew :(  (Not so great)
8th GRADE GRADUATION

Monday:
Saw the President of Kenya

In 8 days I go home and I CAN'T WAIT!!!! The next time I go to the airport will be because I'm the one to board the plane. I'm so tired of airport runs...it's almost my turn! I will miss everyone so much...but I can't wait to see my loved and missed ones back at home! <3

1 month left

Wow, I leave here in one month from today. I know my last post was similar to this..but the day when I leave Africa is really coming soon. wow.

I knew that while coming here I would miss some special things at home. It's been hard to be away from home with the deaths that have happened over the past year, especially my grandma and my dog. Death is never an easy thing..but being away from your family doesn't help. Also, any day now my sister in law is going to give birth to my first niece! I'm super excited! And, my friends Abner and Edely are getting married on Monday..YAY! :)

I have 3 more weeks left for teaching. I think I'm almost more excited about that fact than the students! It will be so nice to get a little break from lesson planning, grading, ect.

Last Wednesday Eric went home. Although he came to Maxwell late, he had been in Africa since July and his 10 months were up. It has been pretty sad to see one of my best friends leave. Good news is that he made it safely home, didn't miss any flights, and he is enjoying time with his family/driving again!

I just posted like 150 pictures on facebook, so I don't think I have the patience to post any on here for now. But, I'll try to get some more out before I leave. I'll have a couple of friends from Southern come visit before I go, so it will be nice to see some familiar faces again in Africa.

Again, it's going to be hard to say goodbye, especially to the Raymonds because of how close we've become this year. They have treated me like a part of their family in such a loving and caring way that I don't know what I would have done this year without them. They love me for who I am and don't try to change me. They listen and they've shown me Christ in their personalities. (and teach me some great recipes) 

Soon, this dreaded day will come, but I know that it will only lead me to a great summer at MAC!

I don't have much time left here in Kenya. I am definitely having some mixed feelings right now. Although I'm excited to see my friends and family again, I'm really going to miss my new friends and family I have over here. As excited as I am about eating delicious food from places in the states, I'm really going to miss eating and cooking with the Raymonds! I'm very excited about working at camp again, but I'm really going to miss going on safaris and seeing really cool sights in Africa. I'm going to miss my students and I'm going to miss my African home and my year in Kenya. Although I am ready for summer break, June 5 will be very bittersweet, and I have no idea what is in store for me. I want to make the most of my time left here. And I'm so glad I came as an SM.

SM Documentary

When the SM's met in Amsterdam...we decided it would be really cool to make a documentary of our experience in Kenya. Turns out that Drew Forsey is actually extremely legit at making videos and two parts of the documentary had been released..until last night. Here are all three parts...love looking at these and remembering all the really sweet times I've had here in Kenya. God has really blessed me throughout the past 8ish months and I'm so glad I came to Kenya as an SM! In case you're wondering, there is about one more part left that will be released just a bit after we leave. ENJOY! :)

Trailer: http://vimeo.com/30752794
Part One: http://vimeo.com/31078372
Part Two: http://vimeo.com/35616284
Part Three: http://vimeo.com/40669737

Another update

I sit here as I wait for the hot water to heat up. It is rainy out side, my housemate turned the pump for the hot water to off, and I need to shower and be ready for church now in about 40 minutes. This is not the first time this has happened, and it is not pleasant when it does.

This past week went by so quickly. (they always do!) Nothing too exciting happened. I had a good time watching over Kyle and Caleb while Derek and Yani were enjoying Mombasa! AND I got to make some really good Cuban rice and beans thanks to Ashley's mom, Loida, for teaching me the recipe! :) skyped Lynzee one night, and Mom, Dad, Kristel, and Aunt Darney last night. It's always nice to see the faces of my family and talk to them for awhile. It's so hard to keep up with skyping sometimes because of the time difference, but I'm glad for what I can do.

Thursday afternoon was our last classes before long weekend. I'm working again this long weekend..so I went to staff worship for the first time ever on Friday morning (it's usually during classes at the elementary so we can never make it), I supervised on the "town trip" with the students at Galleria, I played piano, baked a cake, went to vespers, and came back to enjoy some company at the Raymond's house (and ate a lot of spice cake, tea, and noodles to fill me up) Today will be pretty chill. I'll be going to brunch here soon, then we're watching a movie for church, hanging out in the afternoon and who knows what I'll do tonight.

Anyway, nothing to interesting or profound this time. Just a little update to let you know what happened the last couple of days. A couple of things I'm really excited for: my sister in law, Julie, to have her baby, coming back home and seeing friends and family, eating American food, showing some good recipes to my friends and family, (sukumawiki and ugali is included in that list) working at summer camp, (and seeing ALL my awesome camp family, days off, chipotle, ect!) going back to southern, being an RA and living with Lynzee and my friend Sophie in BIRCH 1 (newest SV building) and being in Rachel's wedding! I can't wait! :) Happy Sabbath peoples!

Recent news

Today it rained big time!! It actually started last night. During the banquet it was raining and it continued to pour all through the night. This morning I didn't expect it to rain for some reason...but all day long there were thunderstorms and the students acted like they had never seen anything like it before. It was a bit ridiculous. OH, and with the rain comes termites! WOW. They were everywhere today! But, the good news is that we moved into the new classroom and it's nice because now I don't have to bother the how much noise the 7/8 graders make.

This past weekend, I went with some SM's on a impromptu camping trip. We packed up, and left with the white van Sabbath morning for Lake Naivsha! Once we got there, we ate lunch and explored around our campsite and Crater Lake. Crater Lake was pretty cool because it was up high and had a cool view. Unfortunately, I kept forgetting my coat and due to the rain I sit here typing with a drippy nose. :( After we got back to our campsite we made ramen noodles with FRICHIK and went to bed. (we kept getting attacked by mosquitos) The next morning we woke up for the beautiful sunrise, had noodles again for breakfast, went shopping for some cards, played some pool, drank some tea, and headed for Crescent Lake. Once we arrived there, we hiked around the island, chased wildebeast, took pictures with giraffes, no big deal. It was fun..but I kept getting thorns in my feet and I got a bit of a sunburn.

What a great trip!! I'm so glad that we decided to go...camping is fun and full of memories! :)