News from Nairobi: January 2012

I've really been enjoying Christmas Break!!! I was able to have a great time with Amy while she was visiting!! My family gave me tons of stuff and I am so happy!!! While Amy was here we took a camping trip to the Maasai Mara, Hell's Gate (the inspiration of Lion King) Mombasa (took an overnight train to the beach-Indian Ocean) and afterwards I went to Amboseli where I was able to see Mt. Kilimanjaro!

The Mara was really fun and I always enjoy seeing the animals there! At night we made a little fire and I walked around a little bit for a good place to see the stars. IT WAS SO BEAUTIFUL! Oh, and I got attacked by safari ants a couple times so Amy and I decided to sleep in "da beast." On Christmas day we spent time safariing around and I was even able to drive "da beast." Well, anyway, we had an exciting trip back and only got stuck while on safari once! When we got back to the house late at night the other SM's and their family were having a Christmas party with yummy snacks and some games. (Although I was too tired and fell asleep on the couch) Oh, but then I woke up and called my family briefly and Katie Mac!! It was nice to hear from them!

A day or so later the Raymonds, Amy, Eric, and I took a trip to Hell's Gate! It wasn't really too far away and I was able to get in for residents rate. (DESPITE STILL NOT HAVING MY WORKERS PERMIT-but that is another story) So when we got there we hiked around in the Gorge for awhile. It was pretty fun climbing up some rocks and through the water. At first I wanted to try not to get my shoes wet, but then after awhile I was just walking around in the puddles of water. Caleb and I walked around for a bit and it was pretty fun talking to him. Towards the end of the walk I saw some maasai children but was able to talk to them a little bit in swahili! That was cool.

The next trip was to Mombasa-that's the beach on the coast! We left friday evening (almost 4 hours LATE from the train station) Once we got on the train we quickly ate dinner. It was quite an experience walking through the hallways of the train, like 5 cars down, to the dinner place. The food wasn't all that good but I feel like that's expected. This was the first time I'd ever been on an overnight train and it was pretty fun! OH, and I also saw the Big Dipper (really cool cause I've never seen that here yet) Baobab trees (the really fat ones) and I THINK I saw lion eyes..not exactly sure. Then, the next morning I got to see the sunrise. This was the BEST one I've EVER seen. The sun was BIG and RED! Too bad there are no pictures to share. I was really tired afterwards so I went back to bed. I was really happy that I was able to sleep for pretty much the rest of the way there. BUT, it was extremely HOT on the train. I felt all nasty and crusty when we arrived. Once we got to Mombasa we then took like a two hour matatu ride to Watamu. That is the Adventist Resort that we stayed at the whole time. Anyway, we were greeted with nice cool towels and cold fruit juice. Amy and I quickly changed into our swim suits and went to the beach before dinner. The whole day I didn't even realize that it was New Year's Eve!!! But, we had a good dinner (with delicious veggie meat) and then we went back to the rooms and played Monopoly Deal--a really fun card game that we've been playing a bunch over Christmas Break. New Years wasn't as big of deal like it is in the US, but we all stayed up and wished each other a Happy New Year and watch this burning thing the hotel next door had. The next day I went out to the beach and snorkeled a little bit and swam at the pool. We had a pretty good lunch and then I realized how burned I was and stayed inside. Although I had put on 50 spf in the morning..I forgot to keep reapplying it. I was so burned that I stayed inside all the next day with the exception of going out to get pizza and gelato for lunch. The beach was really beautiful and the sand was very soft and felt good on your feet. It was also really nice to see the stars on the beach at night. The last night we all went out to this restaurant which was a lot of fun. (Despite getting eaten ALIVE) The next morning that we left was so long. We decided to ride back in the vans which was bumpy and long, but I did get to sleep a lot of the way which was very nice.

The last place we went to was Amboseli. This is a National Park known for Elephants and seeing Mt. Kili. It was a long, hot, bumpy ride--but this is nothing new. Seriously I was burning up. We saw tons of elephants though. Like 50+ in one area! And some of the males were fighting which was quite a sight. Oh and the worst part is that I had to pay visitors rate which was $80! But, we still had a fun time.

It's been really nice being back and getting a chance to relax a little bit. Saturday we had a big potluck at my house. Then we went to Ngong Hills and had pizza at the Raymonds for dinner. Pizza at their house is ALWAYS TO DIE FOR! Afterwards we watched Courageous which was a very very good movie. Sunday, we had a good breakfast at Java House, went to New Life Missions Orphanage (AMAZING) to the Glass Factory, to Karen (a town where I bought some great roses for 100 shillings and had some delicious mint chocolate gelato) and ate Italian for dinner. The food there is very good--but don't go there if you are starving or in a hurry!

Anyway, this is SO LONG and I'm getting ready to relax. haha. Idk, I guess maybe I'm still tired. Tomorrow I should be going to get a pedicure so I'm really excited. I'll post more pictures later!