Two Celebration Dinners

I really didn't mean to lead you on when I said that I would post about the farewell dinner "the next day."  But our arrival back in Nairobi came with some....unexpected difficulties.  You would think I would expect them by now, but I had this image in my mind of getting to an easier, more pleasant situation once we left Machakos.  I think I need to realize that nothing will be easy here...the sooner I come to terms with that, the sooner I can begin to take things in stride.

The photo above is in front of a poster that some very creative people in our group made for the celebration dinner on Sunday night: Survivor Machakos.  ABO (Africa Based Orientation) was definitely a bonding experience with our new friends, and we could laugh at the power and water issues that we experienced together (look carefully at poster).

At the dinner, we had cheese for the first time in almost a month!!  I totally forgot about cheese!  The staff in the dining hall let us come in and prepare the dinner ourselves, so we were able to see how and where they have been preparing our meals for 3 weeks.  We made hamburgers and hot dogs, roasted veggies, salad, and apple crisp.  The hamburgers and hot dogs were similar to those in the US, but not exactly, and the rest of the menu was actually pretty familiar (familiar being a really good thing after a month here!).

The row of gas burners/stove area.

This white appliance is the only oven - that is when it dawned on me that they haven't baked anything!

Veggies roasting - notice that is heated with coal.

This is the only fridge, and they prepare food for a whole campus of students.  They are good at preparing without having leftovers.

The hydrator: source of all our coleslaw!

Cutting board.

Here in Nairobi, we arrived at the rental house where we are staying for 10 days during our language training.  The house requires 6 or 7 keys to get from the front gate to the back.  The neighborhood, like most things in Kenya that we have seen, has a gate around it and a guard.  Then the house has a fence with a huge padlock on the gate.  Another gate with a padlock in front of the front door, then front door lock - you get the picture.  There is a steel door at the top of the steps with another padlock on the inside that you secure when you go upstairs to bed.  I guess someone could come through a window, but they'd have to do something about the bars on the windows.

Door at top of steps - all locked in for the night!

 The evening of our arrival, we were able to get take out pizza!!!  We all really enjoyed that, and we were also very thankful for it because the the power was out that evening.....and all night and a lot of the next day.  In addition, it turns out that Nairobi turns off their city water from Tuesday until Thursday.  There is a water storage tank behind the house, but it has to be pumped to the top of the house and into the kitchen....and that requires electricity.  So, today we have had electricity all day, and it has been fabulous!!  I had a hot shower this morning AND coffee, and I felt like a new person.  We even put our first meal together after going to downtown Nairobi to fill out alien registrations and get fingerprinted.  The meal took HOURS to prepare (the water is the rate limiting step: Nairobi city water has to be filtered to get out the visible dirt, then boiled to be safe), but it was a success....chicken pot pie!! 

The first thing everyone did when the power came on!

This was being cooked in the market - "African sausage," intestines, and pancreas (in the front).  Wow.

Here is the first meal we prepared in Kenya - it felt like a HUGE accomplishment!  Rick is the master of pie crusts - can you identify the shape in the middle?  

I doubt I will ever take electricity and water for granted again - at least, I hope not.  Rick and I were so excited and relieved when the city water came back on today and started refilling the fairly low storage tank!  It is easy to see why some things don't get accomplished here...it can be so difficult just to provide for your basic needs.

We start our language class tomorrow....

Love,
Sarah
Matthew 6:25-34
²⁵  “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? ²⁶  Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? ²⁷ And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?^{[g] 28} And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, ²⁹ yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. ³⁰ But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? ³¹ Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. ³³ But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
³⁴  “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.