Nairobi

Vacations are so wonderful.  Especially this variety, the "no responsibilities" variety...no having to worry about a car and how to get from here to there and where are we going to stay and when, etc etc etc.  

So, what does a vacation to Nairobi look like exactly?  You shouldn't have asked.  For Ashley and Nathan and I, it's been pretty carefree.  Like I said in the last post, we're visiting WHM com padres who live and work here in Nairobi.  Three single women who do a variety of medical/dental/youth outreach/discipleship type work here, Rachel, Abby and Karis have been wonderful hostesses.  The three of us from Bundi are actually staying at the Carr's house (East Africa Field Director and his family) who are currently out of town.  It's a great house with a wonderful back yard/garden/patio, and two animals to keep us company (Emma, a wonderful black lab with slightly short legs, and Brady, the demon toe biting cat).

What have we done since we've been here?  Um, primarily a lot of sitting around and talking...for hours at a time, actually.  We never really do this in Bundi.  Maybe it's the magic of the rocking chairs in the back yard or the white lights on the christmas tree in the sitting room...not really sure, but we've had a great time just gabbing...about close to everything under the sun...from evolutionary biology and young earth creationism to bad dating experiences and family philosophies on video games...we've stayed up late and slept in late, just enjoying the quiet of the big city (believe it or not) and each other's company.

Surely you've done something other than gabbing, you're likely thinking.  Indeed, you are right.  We've enjoyed Java House (coffee shop started by an MK who grew up in Kenya), the Nairobi National Park (a game park just next to the city, imagine seeing lions lounging under a palm tree with high rises in the distance, and giraffe's meandering across the savannah on the horizon with the lights of the city in evening begining to dot the back drop), a tea plantation tour (Kenya is the biggest exporter of tea in the world, and third only to India and China in production) complete with a glass of wine and lunch in the English Garden on the plantation, a tour of Kibera (the largest slum in the world, one of the most densely populated places on earth), ice skating, swimming (don't know that I've ever in my life done both of those things in the same week), shopping at the Masai market, church at New City Nairobi, and eating BAGELS for breakfast :)

I will write more about the things we've done and the really interesting contrasts to life in Uganda but just wanted to say it's been a wonderful week.  Just FYI, we fly back to Uganda tomorrow evening and then drive back to Bundi on the 9th.  Happy New Year.