Mein Geburtstag

Today is my birthday. Having a birthday soon after Christmas can be a challenge but my family makes efforts to make it special. So when they asked me what I wanted for dinner, I asked that we go to an Ethiopian resturant. Krista’s Dad moved to Ethiopia when he was two and Krista and all her siblings were born there so when I married into the family, I learned about how good the food is. Now I crave it however we have no Ethiopian resturants near us in Germany. Tonight was excellent. As we say in German, “Ich bin satt!” (I am full)

Another treat was that a German man who is staying here went with us so additionally I got to work on my German here in Kenya. It really feels weird to learn new German vocabulary in the tropics.

Bis Morgan! (Until tomorrow)

Chillin’ in Nairobi

Never thought that I would say this but it is so much cooler here in Nairobi than Mombasa. Today has just been a day of resting. A few of us have come down with colds so there was also a run to the drug store.

For our family worship time this morning, we went to this place called Resurrection Gardens. Built & run by the Catholic Church, it’s a walking path that goes through the some really beautiful gardens with “stations”. At each of these stations, a relief or mosaic depicts a story from the Bible leading up to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. They ask that visitors keep silent (major task with 4 kids under 10) and no photography (which is why I don’t have a picture for you). It was really a great time of prayer and meditation. With the kids, it was awesome as they described the stories (in whispers) being depicted and saw the whole Bible story laid out in a one hour walk.

Being without my computer, blogging on my cell phone is my ‘geeky’ thing for the day so I’ll probably keep doing it untill we arrive back in Germany.

Travel Day

Today we are traveling through the southern part of Kenya from Mombasa to (the relatively cooler) Nairobi. The road is a well kept one as a lot of commercial traffic flows along this path bringing supplies from the ocean to the capital city. Along the way we’ve seen zebras, monkeys, cattle, goats, and even an elephant taking a dirt bath. We just stopped and bought fresh tomatoes and onions from a young roadside vendor. He was smiling really big which means my father-in-law didn’t barter him down so vendor (probably 9 or 10 yrs old) thinks he got away with something. The landscape is beautiful. Large flatlands with these hills periodically jetting up. All sorts of trees are around. We drive through village after village seeing small businesses selling their meats, vegetables, everyday goods, and of course – cell phone “top up” cards to refill their prepay plans. Some of the picturesque stuff when you think of Africa with the women using a piece of cloth to strap their children to thei r backs while carrying jugs on their heads to goat herders watching their herd by the side of the road are here. Something I didn’t think I would see is a mosque in about every village.

Passing a corn field now. Corn grown in Germany is usually feed for the hogs so I’m getting my fill while I’m here.

Our family is having a great time being together. The other day, Alex and I had some father-son time over ice cream and he told me that he’s really enjoying me not working while we’re here. He wishes that I could always be this way. While that expectation is not realistic, it does have me thinking.

Well, don’t want to make this too long but I do have say that in all my travels – Coke-cola has always beaten me to my destination. Even here, red & white signs are everywhere.

Being Watched

We’ve had an exciting day. Were there presents? some – each kid got one. Did we get to see some unique things like a Kenyan Santa Claus do magic trick and some African aerobatics? They were amazing.

However I see something very unique about this Christmas. We are currently at a resort in Mombasa, Kenya that was created as an income generator for the Presbyterian church in Kenya. Mombasa is also a predominently Muslim community. We’re also the only white family at this resort. So today the resort has been playing a lot Christmas music and had special activities for the holiday but a considerable number of the guests are Muslims just here for their vacation. As we celebrate the anniversary of the arrival of our Savior, we are being watched. As they see us playing in the pool and interacting with others around us, we are being watched. As we walk the beaches saying “No” to all the peddlers, we are being watched. They are watching to see what is different about us other than the color of our skin. My prayer is that we are being good representatives in how we’ve acted today and that they do see a positive difference in how we’ve been. May we be a positive influence every day.

Croc on my shoulder

Hopefully you can see on my shoulder the little crocidile that I got to hold while we were at a special park. We also got to see them feed the crocs and play with a python & a cobra. Saw some monkeys and some exotic plants. Hope the pictures turn out. Well, just wanted to send a little update.

Working from my mobile

I’ve gotten my hands on a local SIM card so I’ve got relatively cheap Internet access from my handy/cell phone. (for those of you in North American – most of the world’s cell phones take a special chip called a SIM card that has your phone number programmed in to it. So changing phone numbers is as easy as switching out your chip.) For blogging, this means that I can blog off line on my cell phone and then jump online and post it saving me time & money. Ironically, the speed is actually faster thru my mobile phone than the local Internet cafe. Many parts of the world are skipping the wired high speed connections of DSL & cable modems and going straight to cellular broadband connections. So for me, I’m loving this experience and hope new ministry ideas are sparked from this.

Currently, its the heat of the day and so we are all resting. This morning I’ve been fighting a little cold but the kids got to go swimming and we had Mexican food for lunch. This afternoon we’re planning on going to a crocidile farm and watch them be fed. I hope to get some good pictures of that however it could be disturbing for some.

It really is nice to be around family but it is interesting how we’re all seeing little cultural differences. My mother & father-in-law have spent many years in Africa (my father-in-law grew up in Ethiopia) and my sister-in-law & her family have been in the Middle East for nearly a decade and we’re finding ourselves thinking more German like all the time. So now cultural differences creep in but luckily we recognize them as such and are quickly able to move on. I do wonder though how many families are together for the holidays and don’t recognize the “cultural” differences they have even though they are family and just allow that to upset their time together.

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas Eve!

Mombasa, Kenya

I’ll try to make this shorter than my last post.  Sometimes I’m a real detail person (I said sometimes).  Currently, this update is coming to you from an Internet Cafe here in Mombasa, Kenya (I think I spelled that right).  Unfortunately, I couldn’t get a photo uploaded as I’m dealing with a 128K line here and no way of making the photos smaller.  Life is interesting without my own computer – a serious challenge for me.

Anyway, on Monday we made the 8 or so hour drive down from Nairobi to Mombasa.  It was a beautiful drive going from an altitude of 6000 or so feet to sea level and the heat index went up as we drove.  Here in Mombasa its about 35 degrees celcius (near 100 F) but the humity (being on the India Ocean) is extremely high.  I feel like my sister who lives in Savannah, GA but with less air conditioning.  Well, the drive was beautiful and we got to see zebras, wilderbeasts, donkeys and monkeys on the drive down.  We also had a wonderful lunch at this “Oaisis” where I got a club sandwich – not what is typically in a North American club but it still tasted really good.  Once we arrived at our hotel, everone went for an immediate swim to get cooled off and it was extremely refreshing. Read more >>