Muellers in Kenya!

Sights of Kenya

2011-03-29T10:40:00.000-07:00

The license plates in Kenya are different. They are white up front and yellow in back for just regular cars. The government cars have blue plates. The diplomatic cars have red plates and it is fun to watch them. Kristoffers car is 45 UN ----. The 45 meaning he works for the World Food Programme. The UN has many different agencies and they have different numbers. Now the diplomatic plates for the US begin 29 CD ---. Not sure what the other countries numbers, but if we ask Charles he either knows or gives a good guess.

The pictures I’ve asked Lisa to show here are some of the “Gates Of Nairobi” We’ve told friends that you can’t get into a compound, an apartment complex, a shopping center, etc. without having a guard open up the gates. You can see some of the fences with the electric wire on top of them. You can get claustraphobic here very easily.

There are pictures of some of the sights, like cattle walking along the city streets, men pulling carts, women carrying large loads, crazy matatus driving up on the side walk. Very few people stop for a red light. I’ve seen more games of “chicken” on the roads here that I can remember.

Now about the goats. Mike has decided to give Charles the money for the goats on his promise as a Christian Man, that he will buy the goats for his mother, who is the head of his family. Where Charles lives is so different from here, it is still very poor, but different. He doesn’t have running water, but does have some electricity thanks to Lisa and Kristoffer getting him a solar panel and buying them a huge water tank so that when it rains the water gets caught and stored. They do their laundry in the stream which is a long hilly walk. Not sure where they bathe , not too often I think. Kristoffer said that the outhouse was falling apart when he used it. BUT they are so much better off then many Kenyans.

We leave tomorrow night, and are ready to come home. DUNKIN DONUTS HERE I COME.

We Americans don’t appreciate our ordinary lives. When you see what ordinary lives are here, we can just thank God for what we have. We all have problems, but most of us can overcome them. Here problems are just what life is and there isn’t anything you can do to change it.

Hope to see or talk to everyone when we get home.

Some gates of Nairobi...

A cart full of bags of charcoal that will be pulled by men!

Women carry babies on their backs here.

By Grace

2011-03-29T10:19:00.001-07:00

On Saturday we went back to the orphanage By Grace, which you may have heard Lisa and Kristoffer talk or write about. This was the second time we had been there – the last time was two years ago. It was no better – as a matter of fact probably worse because they had lots more children.

Kristoffer had texted the lady in charge the night before saying we were coming. When we go there, she told us that Friday afternoon she told her head teacher to have everyone pray because they didn’t have any food. She said we were the answer to her prayers. We had come with contributions. There are about 280 kids that sleep there and probably another 100 that go to school there. They are orphaned because their parents have died of AIDS. She told us that she now had children with AIDS and that the government gave them medicine, but no food. In Kenya you can learn to distrust what they say, but we saw her kitchen and there was nothing cooking for those kids. Before we left, she had food (beans and corn meal) being delivered.

This is only one of probably many places like this in Nairobi. It is not the slums, but not far from it. There were kids in class. This woman was so proud of the scores some of the students had with their state exams. One student had an A. She showed Kristoffer the sheet with the grades and was so very happy. These students would probably be able to go on to a college or university.

What we noticed from the last time was that there were a lot more young children. When we got out of the car they were all over Kristoffer who was holding Grace. They had never seen a Mzungu (white) baby. She was a little taken back. We went through a few classes, saw these kids trying to learn (most had on some kind of uniform). Where their classrooms were is the same place where they sleep at night. It was a dirty place and the smell was terrible. It was hard not to cry when you saw these children.

The Government of Kenya is rich and corrupt. Lisa has told us they make more than the US Senators and Congress. They drive around in BMW’s and Mercedez. And you drive around this country and see such poverty – that is criminal!

The head of the orphanage, Salome.

Empty stoves, cooking no food :(

The Mara – Our Safari

2011-03-29T09:44:00.000-07:00

We flew to the Masi Mara a week ago. We flew in a 28 passenger plane – small. We were the second stop on this adventure. We landed on a dirt strip! We were taken to our camp by Paul, who was to be our driver. They showed us our room – which was not what we expected. We were told that all “tents” were on the river. This tent was not near the river. Well we were told that the place was sold out and that there were no more tents available. In Kenya you learn never to accept the first argument. They moved us to the last tent on the premises with a small view of the river from far away (there were 30 in all). Next day they moved us to a tent right on the river – just like we had paid for.

We went for our first game drive and Paul left to go to the more expensive camp and turned us over to Reuben. Reuben was terrific. He was better than the driver we had on the last safari – and we thought he was good. We saw many amazing animals. He tried so hard to find us a leopard but couldn’t. We’ve only seen 4 of the big 5 (lion, rhino, elephant, cape buffalo and leopard).

We saw 5 cheetahs (3 males trying to woo two females). While we were watching them, the three males decided to go hunting. They saw a young zebra and took off. It was so interesting. The mother of a young zebra protected him, and kicked and kicked and got one of the cheetahs. As a matter of fact we saw him limping the next day. We saw a pride of lions, a herb of matting buffalos (probably at least 300), we saw a baby giraffe with its umbilical cord still attached. Reuben would tell all kinds of stories about these animals. We saw a cheetah mother with 6 cubs, and the next time we saw them, they had just killed a gazelle and were having dinner. We saw a baby elephant with its family. There was a hippo pool with some very large hippos in it.

The interesting thing about Reuben is that he is Masai, but never had the costume on or told us that he was. Not until he told us he was one of 14 and that his father had two wives (polygamy still happens in Kenya) did I ask if he was Masai. Lisa said you NEVER ask what tribe someone is!

We met a couple from Poland – not too friendly. And a couple from England that were very friendly. We crossed an Indiana Jones Bridge across a flowing river. The reason for the bridge was we had rain and the place where they generally cross was too deep and flowing too rapidly. So Reuben arranged to swap vehicles with a friend so we could see more.

The first night there, we had a terrible thunderstorm. I was awake wondering what to do if lightning struck our tent. Never did happen. The camp grounds were surrounded by an electric fence so that animals wouldn’t come in, but we did hear some in the night. You would see some of these Masai walking around at night. Mike said they were the security. One night we went to a slide show and there in costume was a Masai Warrior giving a power point presentation!!!!!!! We also saw them at the airstrip in the field with their cell phones!

When we left, we left in a 13 passenger plane. Really 12, with 13 being next to the pilot. Mike could have driven the plane, we were right behind the pilot. I had my Rosary handy. We had 3 stops at dirt strips before we headed back to Nairobi.

What an experience.

Cheetah.

Indiana Jones Bridge!

Giraffe - my favorite!

Lion.

The bed inside our tent.

Just outside our tent.

Lioness.

Cheetahs eating a kill!

Masai doing PowerPoint.

Reuben our driver.

Inside our teeny tiny plane!

Elephant Visit

2011-03-20T01:37:00.000-07:00

On Saturday we went to the "Art" exhibit at Grace's nursery school. The teachers went to a lot of trouble to show the work the children do. Each room had a different theme. Grace couldn't believe we were in her own classroom - it was decorated so differently. Late in the afternoon we drove to the Elephant Orphanage. We adopted an elephant for a year for Christine, she loves elephants. It was so interesting. We were there when there were no crowds and when they fed the elephants in their cages and stalls. They ranged in age from 5 months to 2 1/2 years. We adoped the 5 month old. The head trainer told us she had a 50/50 chance of survival. We asked about the baby rhino we had seen two years ago. He was so cute, but he has since died. He also told us about an 8 year old rhino that they finally released in the wild three weeks ago - he was killed by the wild rhinos because they are very territorial and knew he was different. There are keepers who stay with these elephants for a long time, and help them transition into the wild when they are around 2 1/2 - 3 years old. They have beds right in the stalls and sleep there and feed them every 4 hours or so, just like regular babies. If anyone is interested in this orphanage - at the IMAX theaters in April you will be able to see quite a film about them. I kept asking the trainers if they were in the film!!!

Kristoffer is looking for another job - probably out of Africia. When they leave here, they will miss Rose. Rose is their housekeeper/nanny. She is the third lady that Lisa has had - and the third time was the winner. She is wonderful. She is a great housekeeper and is amazing with Grace. Grace loves her and she seems to love Grace. She is waiting for permission from the Canadian goverment to come and work there. There is a family trying to sponsor her. If she would go, she would leave her daughter with family. Her daughter goes to a private school, which Rose works to pay for. Kristoffer says if she gets into Canada (not sure that will happen), she would probably find someone to marry there and stay. She keeps asking about the cold weather.

It has started raining here, and is a little cooler. Of course Mike and I are just in short sleeves, but a lot of people have winter gear on.

We went to the US Embassy to file Noah's papers. You have to go through several layers of security. When we started at the entrance, Lisa told the female guard that she could not use her security wand on her because of her pacemaker. Well the woman went right ahead and tried to do it! Then we proceeded to the next security stop. There was a building where we had to turn in our cell phones, no pictures are allowed at anywhere near the property. Kristoffer said if I tried to take a picture of the front, guards would come after me. Then we went into the building where visas and passports were processed. I was very surprised to see so many Muslim women with children and others with them. They were either looking for visas to get into the country or trying to get visas for family members. Lisa said a lot of them had American Passports and that they were from Somalia. Many may have gone into the country and got married, then tried to bring family there also. I am not too happy about our visa process! It is too easy!!!

I try to keep my camera handy to take different pictures. I missed a good one yesterday. We were close to Lisa's street, when I saw a women along side the road. She had a basket, which hung by some kind of cloth from the her head down her back. Well inside the basked were live chickens. Last time we were here, we saw a bus with live chickens tied to the roof.

We went to the butchers on St. Patrick's Day to try and get some corned beef. They knew what I wanted and said on March 16 and 17 they got requests for it. They use to make it themselves, but didn't have enough interest - so no corned beef and cabbage!!!!! We settled for beef stew!! While I was there, I browsed a little and thought they had good looking meat - then I saw chicken toes!!! Wonder what they use it for!!

Noah on St. Patrick's Day

At Grace's art exhibit.

At the elephant orphanage.

CHICKEN FEET!

Beach Trip

2011-03-16T09:40:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd share our trip to Mombasa. We arrived at the airport: 4 adults, 1 toddler and 1 infant with lots of stuff. We left from an air strip - not an airport. It was a plane that was small, but okay.

We landed about 10 minutes from our hotel. We were met by someone from the hotel and left in a nice air conditioned van. The resort was fine, we were taken to a room that was not what we had paid for. We were supposed to have rooms on the beach, but we were nowhere near the beach. Lisa told the hostess that we needed new rooms. The manager came, and showed Lisa papers that showed no beach rooms. Now Lisa pulled out the papers that showed we had paid for beach front rooms. Someone had charged us for beach front and didn't expect us to make a complaint OR someone made a mistake! In Kenya you never know. Finally we got beach front rooms, really individual little cottages. The water was wonderful. The food was okay and the service was not so good.

The people there were very interesting. They have very few Americans, so we were constantly asked if we were from England. There were lots of French and I think Germans and Italians and several conferences of African associations. The clothing they wore was fascinating. There was one man, we think he was a king or tribal chief. Lisa was getting embarassed by my trying to casually take his picture. The older men wore their speedos - very interesting. The older women wore two piece bathing suits. Now these women did not have very flattering figures, very large muffin tops as my friend Carol Duffy would say. There was a man, probably in his late thirites or forties, who was the pool boy. It was his job to account for all the towels used, he got them from storage room in back of the kitchen. He also had to place all the cushions on the chairs and place all the umbrellas. Once you got a lounge chair and an umbrella, it was yours for your stay - no acceptions. It took us a day to get the umbrella.

There were plenty of monkeys on the grounds. Lisa and I rode the camels on the beach. She and Mike did the negotiating. We would sit on the beach and see these women walk up and down the beach trying to sell scarves. It is probably close to 100 degrees and they have layers of clothing on and go up and down that beach. The poverty is beyond what we are use to. On the drive to and from the air strip, you see thatched huts and tin huts; I cannot imagine what the temperature is in them. Once you were off the beach, where you got a great sea breeze, you were overwhelmed with the heat.

I should tell you about trying to get a drink there. We tried a pina colada - not made the American way. They pour two shots of liquor in a medium size wine glass, then put the coconut milk and other stuff in a blender with two or three ice cubes and spin. They then add this to the alcohol and call that a frozen drink. I tried to tell the bartender out by the pool how it was done, and he just didn't get it. He said you would lose the alcohol . I took a picture of some of the staff and the chef wanted me to send him back his picture. You can see one of our waiters who was pretty good.

Out next door neighbors were French. I have never seen people argue like they did. They were yelling and screaming right on the beach. They were talking so fast that Kristoffer couldn't translate for us. So Lisa and I made up some stories about them. At first we thought they were on a romantic weekend trying to save their marriage (that wasn't going to happen). Then we figured she was the mistress and was yelling because he told her he was leaving his wife!!!

Lunch was by the pool and dinner was buffet style in the main dining room. Our rooms were right next to the "exclusive" restaurant. So we made reservations for dinner one night. Well the restaurant was exclusive alright - we were the only ones there!!!! Both Noah and Grace were asleep and we had the waiter and chef to ourselves.

The trip home was interesting. We went back to the air strip in 95 degree weather and waited. The plane arrived close to being on time. So we got in line with the babies to get on this 16 passanger plane. We waited in the heat for approximately half an hour. There was a problem because a passanger had a dog and was told that the plane was pressurized and it wasn't. At this point three other planes landed on the strip and these people didn't know what to do with so much traffic. The lady was able to get on another plane with the dog and made it back to Niarobi before we did, because we had a stop before we arrived back here. The first part of the flight was terrible - so hot - the last hour and a half were okay. I just had the rosary going!!! I know that got us here safe!!!

I know that Lisa will edit this and put in the appropriate pictures. I'll try to do this again. I want to show you some more pictures of Charles' home - no goats yet!

Grace was excited for the plane ride.

This was our first plane.

This was the airport we flew into.

The exclusive restaurant next to our cottages.

Beautiful ocean.

Lisa and I rode camels!

Women selling scarves on the beach. Can you believe how hot they must be!

French couple fighting!

He might be a kind under that hat!

Two of the waiters. They were always dressed this way for breakfast.

This waiter really liked Grace.

The chefs who made omelettes and pancakes.

This was our second plane.

Can you say claustrophobic?!

We're Back

2011-03-09T05:10:00.000-08:00

My daughter Lisa has suggested several times that now that we are back in Nairobi that I pick up my blog. We arrived here on February 20th to a warm welcome from Lisa, Kristoffer, Grace, Noah and Kirsten and Hans (Kristoffer's Mom and her husband). Noah is a very beautiful little boy! Grace is a very smart two year old - who does not care to eat (unlike most Muellers)! The day after we got here Kristoffer took the day off and we all went to a lovely country club and had a nice lunch. Grace and Kristoffer swam in the pool.

Since then we have been kind of low key. We have visited the Giraffe Center with the kids. Grace was so cute. She loved the tortoises as well as the feeding the big giraffes. I think that the giraffes are my favorite animal here. We got lost a little while trying to find the center, and saw some very upscale homes.

Grace celebrated her second birthday with a party up at their pool and cake back here at the house. Lisa hired some people from the Monkeynastix program (gymnastics for little kids) to entertain the kids - they had fun. Grace is still singing Happy Birthday to herself.

We've visited Grace's school, where she is one of 15 to 18 toddlers in her class along with 5 teachers. It is very interesting to watch them come out of school to go home in the afternoon. It is absolutely the United Nations. Grace's favorite person to play with is Andrew, a Kenyan boy who likes her just as much. Lisa is going to try to arrange a play date back at the house.

My overall impression of Nairobi since we left two years ago: Well there is a lot of construction. A lot of road building (by the Chinese). But nothing much else has changed. We still see women climbing hills with heavy loads on their back. And we still see a lot of men sitting around. The matatus drive as crazy as ever. We have seen lots of dumb drivers - who can cause very serious accidents. They drive on the left here and most roads are only two lanes, and people pass on curves and when other cars are coming their way, they still pass - thus a lot accidents here.

A new adventure for us was a trip to Charles' (the driver) home. Lisa and Noah stayed home. It was a very long ride on some nasty roads. When we got there, we had to climb a 45 degree angle about 50 feet. Kristoffer had made a walking stick for Mike (he couldn't have done it without it, because his hip has been bothering him). We met Charles' mother, wife, children and niece. Now Lisa says they live better than most Kenyans, or at least they are not "very" poor. They live on the side of this hill, and have beautiful views of a valley. It is very green there, but because of the drought some of their crops died. Charles has built a house of his own, next to his mother's house and their kitchen. They were very hospitable to us. They served us coke, some cooked potatoes and a cooked chicken. Now I think the chicken was one I had met a few hours earlier - that was a real funny feeling. We had wanted to buy two goats for Charles' mother. Charles had supposedly arranged the purchase through the local butcher. When we went there, no one could reach the person who owned the goats. Michael had told Charles that he would spend a certain amount, about $100. Charles said he could get a male and female for that price. With that gift his mother could raise goats, have goat milk, have meat and sell goats - a very sustainable gift.

Kristoffer told Charles that we wanted to see the goats. Well that couldn't be arranged. We think that if we gave Charles the money, his mother would never get the goats. The money would be used for his new house that he is still building. We also think that Charles was going to get a cut of the money for getting the goats from the butcher. We left there disappointed - but Kristoffer is looking into someone else getting the goats.

Now about Charles' family. His wife is going to college to become a teacher. Lisa and Kristoffer are helping with the fees. She should finish a year from this spring. Their 5 year old son walks 30 minutes to school all by himself. The road he takes is dusty and hard. He walks home for lunch and then back to school until late afternoon. I couldn't get over the fact that he went by himself. Charles' wife walks back to her college, after visiting home, it takes her well over an hour and a half. She says if she walks fast, it would be an hour. She will be a primary grade teacher and they will more than double their income when she works. We asked about private school vs public school. She thought she'd go private because to get a high paying public school job, she'd have to pay a bribe to someone (that is Kenya for you - everyone wants a bribe)! We saw where the women washed the cloths in the stream about 1/2 mile from their home, I think that is the same place as where they bathe! Lisa is going to help me put some pictures together so you can see what we saw! They have avacoado trees right where their houses are. One in particular had a large overhanging shade. I sat there to get cool, only to find out that is where Charles' father is buried!!!!!

Yesterday was another great adventure. We went out to lunch at the Karen Blixen Garden (the lady from Out of Africia) and then we went to the Kazuri bead and pottery factory/store. We were given a tour and saw women making beads and pottery. These women were given this opportunity to learn a craft. They have been battered one way or another - either by their family or within their villages - and are all single mothers. They and their children live in a small village right there. I felt like I had to buy something to support such a good cause. Then we left and traveled over the countryside to find a glass making factory. They take broken glass, melt it down, and then reshape it. Lisa had been told it was a good place for us to see. It took us a very long time to find the road that led to the factory - then it took us 45 minutes on a road that put the Pink Jeep Tour in Sedona to shame. Talk about OFF ROAD!!!!!!!! It was unbelievable what we saw. When we got to the factory it was sort of like a very dark Willie Wonka place. Not worth the trip. We promised Charles that Lisa would never send him there again!

We've been to several lovely outdoor restaurants - very different. The service is very slow - but when you're somewhere new it doesn't matter. Today we went to a cafe in a garden that had a shop in it. Lisa said that the things were made my women similar to the bead factory. So too I felt like I should buy something :) This past Sunday we went grocery shopping after church and I had a mocha milk shake from a coffee shop. Well they put something a little extra in it and I was in the bathroom all afternoon. Think I'll just get bottled water from now on.

We leave for the Mombasa on Friday. It should be fun with the whole family at the beach. Remember that is where I rode the camel last time! Wonder if they are still there?????

The Windsor Country Club

Feeding a giraffe

Women hand painting beads

All different beads drying in the sun

A VERY rough road

Mike getting to know Noah

Grace saying goodnight to Noah

Safari Pictures - and the last "Muellers in Kenya" blog!

2009-04-13T11:14:00.000-07:00

My parents have gone to the airport and will be on their way home shortly. It is very hard to believe that their six weeks with us is already over - we will miss them a LOT! I like to think that we saved the best for last with the safari this past weekend. Hope the pictures do our trip justice (the ones of my parents with the Masai guys are priceless!).

~Lisa

p.s. sorry but the pictures are in no particular order.

Our Safari

2009-04-12T06:29:00.000-07:00

Last Wednesday Grace got her passport and paper stating that she was an American Citizen born overseas. So if you were wondering, she can be President some day!!! We went to the American Embassy to get the papers. When we got there, we went thru a gate with security. Lisa couldn't just hold Grace, she had to be searched! Then we walked quite a ways, under a canape, to another more secure security! No fooling around here! When we went through there, we just had to wait about 5 minutes before Lisa was able to collect the paperwork. On the way out, right next to the second security, there was a patch of grass with a sign that said "prayer area" and sure enough there was a very well dressed Muslim man, kneeling to say his prayers. That was the first time we had seen that. In Mombusa, we saw towers (not sure that is the right name) that they call people to prayer, but never heard or saw any of it.

On Thursday we left for our safari. We left from a different airport, very , very small. The travel agent met us there with all our paperwork. When we went through the tiny security check, Lisa told them she couldn't go through the security door because of her pacemaker. They said no problem, they just moved their wooden table and let her through. We didn't have long to wait. There was a small plane outside, which I hoped was not our plane. Kristoffer said our plane was a little further down. And sure enough there was a bigger plane, it held about 50 passengers. Kristoffer said, I hope we are the first stop, I thought he was kidding!! Do you know how it feels to be looking out the window of the plane and see you are below the wings!!!

And sure enough the captain comes on and says Mara Serena will be the first stop!!! Thank God it was our stop. It took 40 minutes and we landed on a dirt runway - no kidding. You'll see some of the pictures. There were Landcruisers and guides waiting for us. We were taken to the lodge and had the most fantastic view ever from the lobby. There was a pool overlooking the Mara too where we could relax and use the binoculars to search for animals out on the plain. We had the afternoon to ourselves. When they brought us to our room, they told us to keep the sliding glass doors closed because baboons tried to get into the rooms sometimes.

We had 4 game drives. One the first afternoon, the next morning we had to meet the guide at 6:30, then one in the afternoon, and again at 6:30 in the morning. We had a very good guide who took us out for 2 hours at a time Grace loved it - the bumpier the better. She slept in her car seat almost all the time. We saw lions, as close as 3 feet in front of the car. We saw cheetahs - also very close. We saw hippos, elephants, water buffalo, zebras, giraffes, gazelles, and lots of different birds. We would be driving down the dirt road, and all of a sudden the guide would turn and we would be in the high grass and he would find the lions or cheetahs. We were not able to see a leopard or rhino (but we had seen the large rhino at the elephant orphanage). After the first morning drive, the guide took us to a spot in the wild, where we were met by a Maasai warrior (all dressed in costume). He took us down a trail, where he gave us a warm cloth to wash our hands, then further down the path he poured us a glass of champagne, then further down the path, was a buffet breakfast setup along the river where we watched the hippos and crocodiles - it was something else. On the way back to the landrover, Kristoffer asked the warrior what some tracks were he said it was the leopard (but we never saw him).

The last night we were there, we had what was called a Sundowner. The guide took us to a spot in the bush, not too far from the lodge. Where there was a full bar set up, a chef with hot appetizers, and a waitress to serve. Two small fires were set, while we watched the sun go down over the Mara! Lisa asked if others were coming, they said no - it was all for us!!!! Amazing! The bartender was talking to us. He too was a Maasai, his father was a chief, and gave him permission to get an education if he wanted. He did and told us he was a Christian and had only one wife and did not live the traditional way!

The last night we were there, after dinner, was the Maasai Warrior dance. There were about 12 of them doing their thing which is a jumping dance. The one who jumps the highest gets the girl! After their dance, I asked one of them if Mike and I could have our picture taken with him. Next thing I know there are the 12 of them beside and behind us, singing and putting some of their clothes on us! I have never laughed so hard in my whole life.

So we get to the airstrip to get the plane back on Saturday afternoon. There were two families from Japan flying with us. I was hoping we were the last stop, not wanting to make a couple of other stops before we get to Nairobi. Well along comes the plane, and guess which one it was, the 18 passenger plane. I wasn't sure about getting on it. The pilot gets out, takes the luggage and puts it in the plane, climbs back in and says, here are some mints if you want one (passing the tupperware container), there is water if want, and if you need to use the barf bag, please tie it up and bring it home with you!!!!!!!! I'm not joking! I said the Sorrowful and Glories Mysteries on the flight back. It got a little bumpy and a Japanese guy on the plane was near sick. He was sitting across from Mike, and I knew if that guy got sick, so would I. We landed about 45 long minutes later!

Our adventures here are just about at a close, it has been wonderful being here watching Lisa, Kristoffer and Grace as a family. Now we know how they live and where things are. We will miss them terribly, but know they will be home in June to have Grace Baptized.

Some pictures to be posted on the next blog when Lisa gets them uploaded.

The Week's Adventures

2009-04-05T08:06:00.000-07:00

Last Monday we left for our adventure in Mombasa. We were at the airport with over 2 hours to kill. It was the smallest part of the airport for domestic flights. It sort of reminded me of something we would have had in the 50's back home. Well our flight was full. When we were allowed to board, we had to walk outside a little ways to get to the plane. We were in line at the front of the plane, then some of the people noticed they were boarding from the back of the plane - you guessed it. The ones in the back wanted to go to the front, and the ones in the front went to the back. It was quite a show! Now the flight was only 40 minutes, and in that time we were served a cold drink (smallest can of coke I've seen) plus a sandwich. Now the sandwich consisted of 1/2 dark bread with some kind of cheese, and 1/2 light bread with egg salad (Mike said he thought they used 2 eggs for everyone on the plane). But at least they served you something, by the time they got to us in row 20, they were collecting the trash because we were about to land!

When we landed, we were met by Francis. He took us to the car and gave us a cold towel, I didn't know what to do with it, so I washed my hands. Smarty Mike put it on the back of his neck. You can't image how hot it was and very humid. Then he gave us cold water for the trip. The trip took 2 hours to get to the resort, we waited a very long time to get the ferry across the island. We drove through the center of Mombasa, so interesting. There were a lot of Muslim women. Most of them were covered, some with their faces covered. The material was mostly black and it looked lighter than I thought it would. Also we went by a few mosques. I was hoping to hear them call to prayer - but that never happened. From the time we left the airport and drove those two hours, we never saw another white person until we got to the resort - and then there were only a few. They have the crazy matatus there, but they also have this crazy vehicle, it is a 3 wheeled vehicle with a cover over it, almost the size of a golf cart. They are used for taxis and tiny trucks. They looked like a death trap to me!

The resort was lovely, we were dropped off at the entrance - a very open building. We were seated on a lovely sofa, they didn't want us to have to stand and wait in line (there was no one else checking in). We were given juice and champagne. I looked down at the floor and saw that it was glass and there were fishes below us. We were taken to our room, which was nice with a nice view. This very lovely resort had no more than 50 people there on the first night we were there. It was deserted. We felt like it was our private place. We had dinner on one of the decks. It was a buffet. The food was pretty good. But between the 2 hour drive and the heat we were exhausted and missed the African Night show down near the beach. The second night the resort had some kind of group in. It was African food night out on the lawn. They had all the tables out there with candle light and the seat with covers and bows. It was interesting. When the group arrived, we could hear them being greeted by African dancers and singers. We wished we had waited to be seated.

While sitting under a shade hut on the beach, I got to talking to one of the guards, Jimmy. He asked me my name and when I said Mary - he said "Mary the mother of Jesus - I am a Christian". That was interesting!!! We had a couple of good talks. Apparently they get very few Americans there - lots of Brits, Germans and French. When I said we were from the States - Obama was brought up. Jimmy's mother came from the same village as Obama's father. Then Mike and Jimmy had lots of political discussions. He was quite knowledgeable, and even asked us what we were going to do with Cuba now that Fidel was on the way out!

I had asked Jimmy about the camel guy. Well he brought one of the camel guys up to meet us, so I made Mike go with me on the camel ride. That's right - we rode camels on the beach! It was about 1/2 hour, which was just long enough. All down the beach we had people trying to sell us something. When you didn't buy, they would say "okay just give us money!" After relaxing from the camel ride, we decided to take a WALK out to the sand bar. The tide went way out - we started where we thought was the best path out there. Well all of the sudden "Captain Bob" comes along with his helper, takes my hand and starts walking us over. Thank goodness he did. We both had something on our feet, but he didn't. He showed us where to step and where not to step. There were sea urchins, coral and then there was the stone fish. Well if we had stepped on the stone fish, we would have been in big trouble. It is very poisonous, and he showed us how bad it was when he poked it with some coral and all kinds of black stuff came out of it. When the tide started back in, so did we. Half way back, Captain Bob tells us how much he should get for his services. Well then we had to start the negotiations. Everything on the beach is negotiations. They were selling all kinds of stuff. We made it back, just in time. The heat got to me and I needed shade and water.

The trip back to the airport was not as eventful. We were glad to get back to see Grace and her Mom and Dad. Grace changed a lot in three days.

Yesterday Kristoffer did a lot of driving and took us to the Rift Valley to a place called Naivasha. You would not believe the view we had - it was the most spectacular view. Then we had lunch at a lovely lodge overlooking a lake. They had arranged for a short safari around the lake, I was unable to go because I was having stomach problems. But they went and saw flamingos, 50 hippos, Masai giraffes, zebras, African Fish Eagles, Egyptian Geese, and large antelope. They took some beautiful pictures. On the drive home we saw all kinds of interesting things (you never drive on the highway without interesting things). There were more donkeys then you can imagine, herds and herds of cows, goats, and sheep. Then, I know you wouldn't believe this unless I had a picture, this crazy bus was in front of us with about 100 chickens tied to the top of it. Kristoffer and Lisa said they were alive, so we have suggestions for Purdue on how to de-feather chickens in the wild. We also saw a couple of big baboons just walking down the road.

Here are the pictures from Mombasa (camels included):

And here are the pictures from our day trip to Naivasha yesterday (bus with chickens included):

Gone Fishin'

2009-03-30T07:21:00.000-07:00

Well they haven't exactly gone fishing, but they have left Nairobi! They have gone to Mombasa - the second largest city in Kenya and the largest port in East Africa - for the next few days. They are staying at a resort on the beach and they just called to tell me that they got there safely and it was a beautiful, upscale place. They sounded very happy about it and were off to explore.

I am sure my mom will have lots to blog about when they get back Thursday evening!

In the meantime, Grace misses them so much that she was fussy the whole day! I am not complaining...it is the first really fussy day that she has had which is not so bad in almost five weeks!

~Lisa

Kiambethu Tea Farm

2009-03-28T09:04:00.000-07:00

Today's adventure started out with a drive about an hour from Lisa's house to a tea farm. The drive was interesting. First we went through the normal Kenyan side show on the way to the farm. Today was donkey day - we hadn't seen them until today. All of a sudden we saw them all over the place - pulling carts (that's why Lisa calls men pulling the same carts Donkey Men), standing by the road, and the funniest thing was seeing a donkey cart standing in line at a gas station. Kristoffer wanted to know how many miles a donkey was going to get per liter! When we got to the farm - it was delightful. But when we got close to the farm the countryside was beautiful - hilly, with many shades of green.

The owner's name was Fionia, she was born in Kenya, but sounded very British! She explained that her Grandfather bought 350 acres in 1910. They have sold off quite bit, and of the 35 acres they still have much of it has been kept as a natural forest. First, after being greeted by Fionia, we were introduced to the monkeys that live there. They are colobus monkeys, and we've included pictures of them. They were so funny. They were teasing the owner's dog - it was quite a show. There were several groups with us. One group was from the Salvation Army and the other was from an international missionary group. While sitting on the porch with one of the leaders from The Salvation Army, she asked where we were from in the States. We told her Massachusetts. She then told us she had a brother living in MA too. Of course we asked where - and the answer was in Andover on Andover St. Would you believe that!?!?!?! Then we had tea with a talk about how tea is grown and picked and then goes to a factory to be processed, then auctioned off. Fiona was about the third person who has hinted about the Chinese and how unhappy they are with them here. We then went on a nature walk in the forest that they have kept. The guide (whose father worked for the farm a long time ago too) knew all about the different trees - it was just the way they found the land in 1910. On the walk a man from the missionary group came up and asked Mike if he was a Red Sox Fan; Mike had his BC hat on, so he knew he had some interest in Boston. This man grew up in Massachusetts and has traveled the world, but continues to be a big fan.

When we returned from the walk, we had lunch in the garden. I kept thinking of Rickey Nelson's song about going to a garden party. Never in my life did I think I would be 7,200 ft high in Kenya eating a lovely lunch in a garden. The couple who shared our table were from Nebraska. He is a doctor and they are living in Peru in the mountains helping people and teaching the Gospel!!! Very interesting. They have 4 kids, two of whom were born in Peru.

We shared a lovely day with people from all over the world - everyone had a very nice time. The only problem with getting there was the road. It was by far the worse road we have been on -and that includes going through the safari ride we took! Grace was also a perfect angel the entire day - she barely peeped or woke up at all!

Here are some pictures from our day, including the donkeys on the ride home!

Animal Adventures

2009-03-26T07:40:00.001-07:00

On Tuesday we went to the Elephant Orphanage. Now there was heavy traffic, so Charles thought he'd take a short cut. We ended up near the home of the president, where the traffic was at a standstill. The president was coming home and the cars were stopped everywhere near his residence. We could see them going in the gated areas, lots of cars, motorcycles and some troops. The orphanage is open from 11 - 12 while they feed the elephants. We got there a little late, but saw just about everything. There were 7 baby and young elephants. They bottle feed them, then let them play in the mud. They keep the elephants until they are 3 and take them somewhere to another part of the park and try to get them reintroduced to the wild then eventually they are set free. It was amazing to be so close.

After the elephants left, they brought out a 3 month old rhino - he was the life of the party. He had been abandoned because he was premature. There was also a FULL GROWN rhino in a cage. They said that when the people left they would let him out of the cage and he'd roam around at night, then he'd come back to his home. Before we left, we adopted an elephant for Christine (she loves elephants). It was the youngest one there. They will send her emails about his adventures and progress. It is good for one year, if she or we continue the contribution, she'll always have info on him. And Lisa and Kristoffer can visit Christine's elephant for a year - if they go in the evening they can watch the keepers put the elephant to bed and read him a bedtime story! (Maybe Christine will come back to Kenya to see her baby elephant and her baby niece!).

Here are some pictures:

Wednesday was our safari into the Nairobi National Park. What a day. We got there about 6:30 and went looking for lions. Kristoffer and Lisa have never seen lions in this park, and this is the park with the aggressive baboons. At 7:15 we are driving down the dirt road and what is before us but a lion. Then we look to the left and there was another one. We followed them for quite a while before they took off into the bush. Never in my life did I expect to be following a lion down the road!!!!! We saw hundreds of zebra and antelope - I would say they had the biggest population there. We saw a family of giraffes, wart hogs, ostriches, wildebeasts, and waterbuffalo. Then we stopped at the hippo pool. There were a couple of armed guards there. One of them took us to the pool where we saw only the head of hippo sticking out of the water. He said there were 5 of them there. Then we walked onto where there were crocodiles - they were huge. He walked us a little further and on the other side of the water we saw Masai people with their sheep, goats, and cattle getting water. They were at the very end of the water because they knew it was safe there. Now walking down this path was very hazardous - you had to walk very carefully - there was animal poop everywhere!!!!!! It was a wonderful adventure and now we are so looking forward to our trip to the Masai Mara. We will be there for a couple of days over Easter weekend, and will have 4 game drives while we are there.

Here are some pictures of our safari:

The trip back showed us what the terrible traffic situation is here. There are rotaries everywhere - no one obeys the traffic signals and the traffic comes to a stand still. It took us 25 minutes to get to the park and about an hour and a half to get back! Since we have been hereI have counted about 6 stop signs, and maybe seen only a very few roads with lane separation lines. As Lisa would say = That's Kenya!

Hope you enjoy our pictures.

Pictures of the Giraffe Center

2009-03-23T03:53:00.000-07:00

Here are pictures of our visit to the Giraffe Center with all the cute Kenyan children. Also after that we went to the Karen Blixen Coffee Garden and took a few pictures there.

Grace is now a Citizen

2009-03-22T05:41:00.000-07:00

On Friday, Lisa, Kristoffer and Grace went to the US Embassy. They were given all the correct paperwork. Lisa said the woman kept looking at the passport picture and Grace to make sure she was the same baby. Kristoffer had to take an oath that she was his and she was an American Citizen. She gets her passport April 9. Her next passport is due in 5 years. Now next month she isn't going to look anything like the picture on the passport.

In the afternoon, we went to the Masai Market, It is the traveling craft market, almost like a Rice's Market, if you lived in Bucks County, Pa. you'd know what I mean. There are a lot of vendors. With all their goods spread out. Everything from wood carvings of animals, faces, bowls and salad tonglolored blankets, clothes, purses, jewelry. Everyone trying to sell you something. When I stopped and looked at something and asked the price - it was very high. When I said I knew that that was the Mzungu price, they Oh you want resident price - let's negotiate!!!!! I didn't buy anything, but I'll go back.

Saturday we went to another party. This one was at the home of the Japanese couple we had met the week before. He has received a promotion and is going to Malawi. This was such a great afternoon. Kristoffer's immediate supervisor was there, she is a graduate of BC, a couple of years ahead of Meghan. She is married to a Canadian journalist. There was the deputy country director, a woman from Canada, married to a Kenyan. There were Kenyan nationals who work with Kristoffer and the host. They served a Japanese lunch. They showed people how to make their own sushi (I admit I didn't try to do it because I knew it wasn't for me and that I'd insult them - but Michael did!) Now the hostess had quite a variety of things to eat, all of which were cooked with a two burner cook top. Amazing. The other thing that happened was so beautiful. The daughter of the hosts is about 2 years old, a lovely little girl. She took a liking to one of the Kenyan nationals, he is of the Masai tribe, so he is very tall - with a great smile. She kept going to her room and bringing him her toys - he had made a friend. The thing that was so wonderful - at least the way I saw it - was there in real life was friendship - no race, no color, no politics - just pure love. It was amazing!!!!!! When we were leaving, we got to talking to Danston, a Kenyan national from around Lake Victoria. he told us that his Russian was better than his English. He had studied in Belarus for 8 years. I asked him what his opinion of communism was. So interesting - he said before he had studied in the USSR he was one of Kenya's biggest communist! After living and studying there, he realized it could never work. Wow! His wife has a travel agency here, and Lisa has booked both our trips through her.

Watching TV here, they advertise travel to Croatia, India, Malaysia, Bulageria and Greece. Greece is the only place I'd take them up on.

Today Grace is very much a Mueller baby. Last night she was up every hour eating - so both she and her mother are tired today. Kristoffer has left for the week on his school monitoring trip. So we hope we can be of help for Lisa.

Hope you all are well. We enjoy the emails we are getting from you and are glad you like the blog!!!! Hopefully tomorrow we will try for some pictures

Giraffe Visit

2009-03-19T07:22:00.000-07:00

Well today we went to the area know as Karen. It is a very well to do area of Nairobi, where the very old money is! We went to Giraffe Center. There are 9 giraffes there on a hundred acre park. We feed a mother and baby. There were several buses of school children - ages 4 & 5. They were in uniform. I asked one of the teachers if they were from a private school - she said no it was a public school.

They were so cute, we don't think they had seen many mzungu(white) people. Once one of them came and touched our hands, they all formed a line and had to do the same. Charles, the driver, said they would all go home and tell their family they had touched a mzungu!

After leaving the Giraffe Center, we went to the Karen Blixen (Out of Africia) coffee bar and restaurant. There was a gift shop in an older house home and gardens, where we had tea and scones. Lisa said it was part of the plantation, not the actual museum. I saw the ugliest dog I've ever seen, and whenever I went to take a picture, it disappeared.

We picked up Ida, the housekeeper, after our tea. Lisa and Kristoffer are sending her to cooking school. There are three sessions, today ended the first session, and she told us she was the best student (and proud of it). She gets a certificate after each session, and that will help her in future employment.

On the way to the center, we saw lots of interesting things, including two herds of cattle. On the way back, we saw just a couple of cows walking along the road. A little further along the road, we saw goats. That's Kenya!

We kept Grace with us while Lisa took a nap when we got home. Today Grace is 3 weeks old! Well you aren't going to believe this, but she flipped herself from her back to her stomach. I have pictures. Had to wake Lisa up to show her - she thinks she has an olympic gymnast on her hands!

The power was out for about 4 hours the generator wasn't working either! Lisa was going crazy because tonight is another night of American Idol! Thank goodness the power is back on, and the cable is working!

When we get a chance we will download pictures of the giraffe feeding ! and the cows walking.

Grace's UN adventure

2009-03-16T07:48:00.000-07:00

Monday we took Grace to have a passport picture taken, now this 2 and 1/2 old baby was not very cooperative. She had to have both eyes open, both ears showing and no crying - the US Embassy wouldn't accept the picture if any of the above were present Now in three months when they go to use the passport - Grace won't look anything like the picture!!!!

I want to let the girls in Plymouth aware that we have started our resume for the Plymouth Rock Studio! We can say that we have been extras in a show. At church Sunday they were filming the whole mass - it had something to do with the Pope's visit in Angola this week. The camera came to us several times, I guess because we were some of the only whites in the church! We could understand this Italian Priest better than the older one last week. The congretation sang some of the responses in Swahali - it was lovely.

The driving here is crazy. We have seen 2 stops signs. And the places that have traffic lights - no one pays attention to them. There are rotories all over the place - and you soon learn to play chicken!!!!
thank God Charles is very good driver.

While driving anywhere here, you can trash being burned. Doesn't matter if you see it on the roadside or behind these walls that are everywhere. The other thing is the diesel smell from the cars and trucks - it is terrible. The #1 car by far is Toyota. You see them everywhere. I think Nissen is next. There are lots of Mercedes and BMW. The license plates are different colors, red being either an embassy or the UN, white and yellow are regular plates and then there are blue plates for government. There are some very fancy cars with blue plates!!! The corruption here is terrible.

The other night at dinner Kristoffer's boss told us that China is buying up everything they can here, and it is a problem. They are trying to find oil and anything else that will help them.

In the compound that Lisa and Kristoffer live, there is a caretaker, Hillary. Well Hillary doesn't like Lisa because she turned him into the owner for not paying bills that they had given him money for. Now Hillary is no Brad Pitt, believe it or nor he has 3 wives!!!!! So last Thurs. we lost power here. I was sitting by myself in the upstairs family room, and everything went black. Lisa called up to just still. Sure enough in a few minutes, the generator turned the power back on. Well the cable never came back. They brought the box back to the cable company and there was nothing wrong with it. So she had to call her friend Hillary, who was suppose to call the cable line company. She called, and called and Hillary never answered or lied to her. yesterday a serviceman came and in 30 minutes had the thing going. He said they had just been called that morning! The next door neighbor said they too were having trouble with Hillary. But the owner keeps him because he helped build this compound and knows where everything is!!!!!! That is Kenya!

We hope everyone had a good St. Patrick's Day. No corned beef here or green beer. But we did have gin and tonic with a lime!!!

This week is kind of quiet, we need Grace to sleep a little better at night. Next week we hope to go to the National Park here in Nairobi. Lisa says if we go real early, we could see the Lions. Charles will take us.

Orphanage Pictures

2009-03-15T23:40:00.001-07:00

Here are some pictures from our drive to visit By Grace orphanage:

And here are pictures of the actual orphanage during our visit:

Saturday

2009-03-15T07:49:00.000-07:00

Well Saturday was the big outing. Kristoffer drove us to By Grace Orphanage on the other side of Nairobi. What a trip. You could tell you were getting into the poorer section long before we actually reached the orphanage. We even saw a herd of cattle walking along the side of the road with everyone else. Kristoffer said it was illegal to take cattle into the city!!!!

When we got to the orphanage, we parked on the street in front. We had to cross a kind of cement moat - there was a cement plank for us to clear. The first thing that hit me was the smell. The next thing was the flies! We went through very narrow halls, and up some stairs. They were having classes for the older kids. Most of them had uniforms on. We met with the head teacher, Robert - Kristoffer asked him how his students did in the national exams. He said they did well, as expected. There was at least one who would be able to go to the university with his grades. This man taught math and physics (couldn't believe they were teaching physics). Most of the teachers are volunteers. We went into several classes and you could hear the kids laugh after we left (funny looking white people). These classrooms are the places where all the children sleep.

For those of you who don't know what By Grace is or how Lisa and Kristoffer got involved with them, let me explain. Two women run the orphanage, Salome, who started taking in street chilldren in her own home, and Jane who is educated and tries to get donations to help run the place. There are about 250 who live there and another 50 who come to eat!. These women came to the World Food Program trying to get food for the students. It is a process that Kristoffer has been trying to help them with. The major block is that the WFP has money to feed children in preschool and primary school. No money for the older kids. They have to figure out how to separate the groups and feed them. What I mean by feed them is a dish made from maize meal (ground corn flour) cooked in water (it is something like the consistency of mashed potatoes). Salome is a very Christian lady, matter of fact about the most Christian person I've met (gives Patsy Gurry competition). When we met with her, she thanked God, because she knew he had sent us. We had a contribution from friends before we left, and one contribution of our own.

We were taken up to the top of the building, 3 stories, and that is where the kitchen is! It was a roof that had a room with some kind of stove that was being heated by wood, with two big containers with the maize. There was another large container which heated the water. It was filthy and I mean I've never seen anything like it. There was an area where the kids had some kind of storage for their personal things. So what they used for sleeping, I assumed was in there. The older kids had on uniforms because they had class. The younger kids had on all kinds of things. I thought the boys clothes were a little better than the rags the girls had on. I hope the pictures post well because you can see exactly what I mean. This was the time I wish I had won the lottery - because they have been able to buy land to build a real orphanage, but have not been able to raise the funds to clear and build on it. I'm wondering if Oprah's Angel Network would help them out. I guess there are a lot of places like this one. These children are mostly orphaned because their parents died of AIDS. You could not come away without thinking they were the poorest of the poor. I know we have problems back home, but there is some kind of safety network (foodstamps, etc). There is nothing here, but corruption. We have no idea how very lucky we are.

On the way back, we took Jane somewhere near downtown Nairobi, where she was getting a matatu into the downtown for a meeting. She took us a back way, which she thought would be quicker - it wasn't. The traffic was terriblel!!!!! We went by the real slums, it was very upsetting to me. So much poverty.

Then Saturday night we went to a different part of Nairobi. To the very lovely home of the Country Director of the WFP (he is the head of the organization here and Kristoffer's most superior boss. He doesn't actually interact with him that much.). Very interesting people. He is German and his wife in from Uganda. He has been with the WFP for a very long time and has lived all over the world. He had invited some of the younger members of his staff that he doesn't meet with often. There was a couple from Japan, he studied at the Kennedy School at Harvard, they are going to a new post in Malawi. They have a pretty little 2 year old daughter. Then there was a Danish couple - those of you who heard the story of the guy who had his arm chewed on by the baboons will be happy to know he is doing fine. His wife is now terrified of all animals. There were two women from Canada - one who is stationed in Malawi and one who is here and I think her husband is working in Sudan. All had different stories. The hosts were so interesting to talk to.

What a day it was. I'll tell more about the traffic and driving here at another time. I've probably bored you to death!

We are having some technical difficulties getting the pictures to do a slideshow this evening...but Lisa will try again tomorrow and hopefully you can see what I'm writing about.

Today's Trips

2009-03-13T10:49:00.000-07:00

Well today we went to the vegetable market with Ida. She can do the negotiating much better than Lisa or Kristoffer. Think they get the while people's prices. I took some pictures and hope to share some with you. It was so interesting watching the bartering with different vendors. Also women were shucking peas into bowls along with some kind of beans. Of course we were back to the Mama name. We were looking for acorn squash, we thought we had seen it the last time we were there, but no luck. I was going to show Ida a recipe I have to make with acorn squash.

While we were out we went back to the mall's grocery store. We notice that they have a lot of employees not doing too much. And uniforms are worn. Uniforms are important to Kenyans. Ida has hers, but Charles doesn't. Ida doesn't wear the uniform when she goes to the market or when she is cleaning the house. But when she is in the kitchen getting meals ready, she seems to put it back on. Lisa had to take her two different places, before she got the uniform she wanted.

Riding around today we saw some new sights. They had garbage collection in one part of the city. No BFI trucks here. The one we saw was a large open truck, filled with garbage with a man standing on top of the garbage. Well someone was handing him the garbage on one side of the truck, and it was falling down to the road on the other side! Like Lisa says - that's Kenya.

The other thing we saw was about 6 - 7 women, older women, climbing up a hill, carrying very large loads of wood sticks on their backs. They had them bundled with some kind of cloth that was tied and like a headband on their heads. You really felt sorry for them. We saw so many people walking today, they don't have sidewalks, they just walk on the side of the road on dirt, that has been worn so much their are paths.

On the way home from the Dr.'s office, we saw men skating with roller blades right up the middle of the street. Then along comes some guy holding onto a matatu bus. These are the crazy buses I've talked about. Ida says they have seating for 14, with generally 28 passengers!

Grace made out fine at the Dr., no more jaundice and she'd gained weight and grew a little longer. I took my camera this time, hoping to get pictures of the monkeys, but no luck.

Tomorrow Kristoffer is taking us to the orphanage and to the bar-b-que. Should be a busy day.

Nairobi National Museum

2009-03-12T04:35:00.000-07:00

I will start with yesterday's adventure. Charles took us the the Nairobi National Museum. We first had lunch in their coffee shop. Ordered nacho's and salsa - didn't taste like anything I'd ever had before nor will order again. I ordered a chicken sandwich which was okay. Mike ordered a burger, which he will not order again. Then we went to pay our admission. Mike gave them a $20, which they refused to take because it was printed in 1990; they won't take anything printed before 2002!!!!!! Luckily we had some Kenyan shillings left.

The museum was small, but somewhat interesting. They had a lot of stuffed animals and we were surprised that cheetahs are so small. There were a lot of artifacts of different tribes and traditions. There was a large collection of information about Joy Adamson. She is the woman who the Born Free movie was about. She did a lot for preservation of the animals here (but Lisa says that she was known to be a not very nice woman to people).

Then Charles picked us up. In conversation with him, I asked if the International Casino was near by - funny thing it was! The sign said it was an international casino, but when he dropped us off at the door, no casino. We went to another door, but it was a restaurant. So back we went to the car, and Charles said they should take down the sign. When we left the parking lot we realized that one side of the sign said casino and they other side didn't have anything on it.

Today we are just staying close at home because Grace didn't have a good night, and we thought Lisa should sleep when she can. She sent Charles into the city to pick up Grace's birth certificates to get to get Graces' American citizenship and passport. She paid for quite a few certified copies, because once they leave here who knows how hard it will be to get one. Well when Charles came home with the certificates she realized that the guy who types them up spelled her name wrong, so they are no good to her and now the city employee won't answer his phone - that's Kenya.

Hopefully tomorrow we will put together some more pictures of the scenes along the roadside in Nairobi. Also Grace goes back to the Dr. and we think she has gained some weight. Tonight when her father comes home, we'll have to tell him she looks like him today, we've been saying how much she is her mother's daughter and today is the first day we think she looks like him!

Before closing, I need to tell you about my cooking experiences today. So Ida was not here this morning (she was at her class) and I decided to use that Betty Crocker Brownie Mix I bought the other day. Well between trying to figure out the stove and using Sunflower oil (instead of vegetable oil) and the timing - they are certainly not the best brownies I've ever made (although Lisa likes them!). Next I've tried a zucchini bread - which is all over Ida's oven. I don't think she'll let me back in the kitchen any time soon.

Love to all,

Mary

Some Pictures and Tuesday's Story

2009-03-10T22:05:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pictures of our first days here (mostly of Grace). It takes a really long time to upload pictures on this Kenyan internet so I will do the rest in another blog post. After the pictures is a report on our day yesterday. Now we are off to the National Museum!

This was Grace when she was one week old - she has changed a lot since then (and hasn't been using the binky).

This is a better shot of Grace's vibrating seat, which she loves (thanks to Aunt Judy Hagan in Lowell!).

This is our sun-bathing beauty in the late afternoon one day last week when we trying to improve her jaundice. She is lying on the bed we are sleeping in.

This was Mike and Kristoffer last week unpacking Grace's baby shower that we finally got from the airport.

This is Grace's cradle in Lisa's bedroom. They have a mosquito net hung just for her.

Well yesterday we (Lisa, Mike, me and Charles) took Grace for a trip to the mall. That is where Nakumatt is, the Super Wal-mart of Nairobi. We drove to the underground garage, and took Grace out of the car and put her in her carriage. Well, being the good grandmother, I started taking pictures. A guard came up to me and said pictures were not allowed. I almost thought he was going to ask for my camera. There are a lot of security guards there, sometimes they check under your car before they let you on the property. We have even seen armed military near the banks.

They are afraid of terrorists.

Ida asked us yesterday what we thought of Nairobi. We told her some of our impressions. She talked about how you used to be able to walk the grounds of the US Embassy, but after the terrorist attack, how impossible it was to get on that property. She was working for a family who had someone killed in that attack. She told us that Kenyans do not like Arabs and do not like Muslims - they don't trust them (Lisa questions this statement given that such a large percentage of the Kenyan population is Muslim. Perhaps that is how her tribe feels?). I told her that a lot of Americans felt that way, and that was too bad because most Muslims are good people- just a small minority that have people afraid of terrorists.

While at the market, Lisa found some ice cube trays for us. No one here has ice cubes. Even in the restaurants, there was no ice. Of course, you wouldn't want just any ice - you need to know where the water came from that made the ice. The compound Lisa lives in has there own water filtering. And then Lisa has bottled water (you buy it at the grocery store and it looks like what you see in offices) that they use for everything to do with drinking.

You never know what you are going to see while driving along the road. Yesterday we saw men trying to sell puppies. Cute little puppies they were holding. All the vendors that sell on the road, and I mean on the road while traffic is slow, are men. I've yet to see a woman sell on the road. Kristoffer is going to take us a to a market place that sells native made gifts. Lisa says he knows how to negotiate with the vendors.

Something they do have in houses here, and something we could learn from, is at their electric outlets there is a switch. When you use the outlet you turn the switch on, and when you are not using the outlet, you turn it off. I imagine it saves a lot electricity.

Monday's Adventures

2009-03-09T22:01:00.000-07:00

We met Charles yesterday, and he took us to the Mayfield Casino. On the way to the casino, we went through the infamous "intersection". He managed it very well. We saw very few people walking. We spent one hour in this very small casino, I'd almost call it a parlor. There were no more than 50 machines, a couple of roulette tables and a couple of black jack and I think one poker. There was an upstairs, but that was private. We couldn't figure out the money betting on the tables, so I gave the cashier 1000 shillings ($12.50) and she gave me 200 coins. It took me an hour to loose those coins (Mike did use some). We noticed while there that there were quite a few Indian women playing the machines and roulette. Charles told us that very close to where we were was a new international casino - guess where we will be going sometime soon? When we left the casino, we went with Charles to pick up Kristoffer at the UN. We had to park in a lot outside the gates, because Charles has not been able to get a pass because the machine that makes the pass has been broken.

Yesterday was the warmest it has been here - probably close to 90. After we left the UN we saw a lot of people walking. Some of them in sweaters and one in particular in polar fleece. I was really hot after looking at him. The other thing I noticed while waiting for Kristoffer was that when the local Kenyans left the UN compound and were talking with each other, they were speaking either their tribal language or swahili. So they could really speak three languages, because they all can speak English.

Ida went to the market yesterday and Lisa wanted her to get some zucchini squash for a casserole. I tried to explain to Ida what a zucchini looked like and said it was long and green, I should have said it looked like a cucumber. She came home with something that I don't know what it is. When Ida came to work yesterday, there were not dishes to do, because Mike had cleaned the dishes the night before. He was sweeping the ants in the mud room, and Ida said to me that in her culture men would NEVER do that. It was women's work. Very interesting!

Grace continues to grow and change. She has nights mixed up with days and Lisa is tired. But she is nursing well and has lost 15 lbs. We are happy to be here with them.

I have enjoyed hearing from you, so please continue to write. As far as answering on the blog, Lisa said down at the bottom there is a tab that says comment.

The Weekend

2009-03-09T10:13:00.000-07:00

On Saturday Kristoffer took us to the UN compound - very interesting. We had to go into a security station to get a visitor pass. While entering the station, a woman guard asked where we were from. When she heard we were from the States, she shook our hands and asked about Obama. We went to the commissary to buy a few things. I was surprised to see how small it was compared to the size of the compound. Kristoffer said they were building a new and bigger one. There were things there that they could get cheaper than at a grocery store, because they didn't have to pay duty on them. It was interesting to see cigarettes for like $14 a carton - they do smoke over here (and lots of European expats smoke here). We then went to see Kristoffer's office. He has a beautiful view out his window. The grounds were lovely. Across the street from the UN is the US Embassy. Kristoffer said I shouldn't try to take a picture of it, because I'd be in trouble if I did.

On the way to the UN we got into one of the funniest traffic jams I'd seen. There are no signals here at all. No one has the right of way - everyone just goes. It was interesting to see how it all resolved itself. I took pictures and if I can figure out how to do the picture thing (Lisa would really have to do it) I'll try to post a few.

Sunday we went to Mass. The name of the church is Consolata Shrine. It has Italian priests. The church is made of cinder block. No color on the walls - just cinder block. There are very high ceilings, There are a lot of very small stained glass windows. It was almost a high mass with the incense going a lot. The choir was amazing!! A lot of the hymns were familiar. They had guitars, violins and drums. The singers swayed with the music. It was lovely. The other thing that they said when they were singing the "Lord Have Mercy" prayer is they called the Lord Bunna! The church was pretty full. The other thing that surprised me was that there were so many men there.

Sunday afternoon Lisa and Kristoffer had another visitor. Her name is Sylvia. She came from Canada the other day. She works for a foundation that is run by Professor Coplin at Syracuse; Lisa and Professor Coplin have a great relationship. She is on her way to Sudan to visit a clinic run by the foundation. The clinic was started by John Dau, who was one of the "Lost Boys" from Sudan and has also been a student of Coplin. She might want Lisa to do some work for her. Her views and her experiences were so interesting. She has lived in Darfur for over a year while working on helping developing several clinics. She has worked for humanitarian causes for years. After Sylvia left, the next visitor was Aminata, Lisa's boss at UNICEF. She was a lovely lady, she is from Mali. She was taking leave next week and taking her 16 old son to Mali to be with her family to finish his high school education. He is an American citizen (born in Urbana, Illinois) and will go to an American school in Mali.

Well I guess that is where we are right now. Today we get to meet Charles, their driver. Can't wait to see how he drives on these crazy roads.

Impressions

2009-03-06T22:53:00.000-08:00

Yesterday Lisa had a friend come and visit. Her name is Stephanie,and she works for UNICEF. She told us about a person who was killed in the downtown streets of Nairobi, and how serious this was. She was very concerned. She told Kristoffer not to go in the downtown area this weekend. Lisa said there was an article about this situation in the Washington Post.

Anyway while Stephanie was here she asked us about our impressions of Africa, whether it was what we expected or not. There are some things we expected and some we didn't.

We sleep under a net, which is hung from the ceiling - just like in the movies. Lisa told me she had a hair dryer I could use, but to bring my curling iron. Well in the bath rooms the only outlet is up above the mirror and the voltage will only be safe for a shaver (male built house). So the curling iron didn't work either - so we bought a new one. Well the only places we could use the outlets for the hairdryer or the curling iron do not have mirrors for me to see - so yesterday we bought a mirror for decoration and my hair necessity.

We are very surprised about the Indian influence here. The Indian population is very large and mostly very rich. Ida, the housekeeper, told Lisa that when there is a western influence in building homes and servant quarters, they have hot water and other amenities. When there is an Indian influence, you get the bare minimum. She only has cold water in her quarters here.

We are surprised to see people walking everywhere. From the airport to way out where they live, you see lots and lots of people walking. You see them carrying things on their heads. You see men pulling carts, very large carts, who just jump out in traffic and go with the flow.

We are surprised to see walls. Everywhere there are walls, with either very large houses or compounds behind them. At these walls there are gates with private security to open and close those gates.

All the houses are either made of cinder blocks or stucco. The streets are mostly very bumpy. Mike says that is because there is no structure under them. The earth is red clay.

The flowers here are beautiful. Lisa says that is one of their exports. Yesterday Kristoffer went to their local mini market and while there bought 3 dozen beautiful roses They are white with red ends, and it cost him $3.

Mike thought there would be more of skyline. There are 3 million people here, and the downtown area is smaller that we thought.

There is a very large park in downtown, and that is where people go to protest. In one part of that park, you can see a lot of monkeys. While stopped at an intersection, Kristoffer pointed out a tree and in that tree were very large vultures - what a sight in the downtown.

Kenyans don't necessarily believe in the same hygiene as we do. We noticed it at the post office the other day and yesterday at the mall. I had to leave a store because of the odor.

We have noticed very beautiful women here. We haven't seen many different colored outfits. Mostly we have seen western style clothing. When you stop or slow down in traffic, men try to sell you anything from newspapers to toys to sunglasses. And if you don't buy, they try talking you into giving them money. Then there was a young teenager who approached us at the mall. Lisa said they know him and give him money (the equivalent of 15 cents) about every three times they see him. He knows their car and them. She said he was a street child and that street children tell the children who are in school how much money they make, so the children leave school to try and beg on the street. It is very obvious to us that education is the only way this country is going to make it. There is the very rich, and I mean very rich, and then there is the very poor, and I mean very poor. I guess there is a start to a middle class and that is what will bring them up.

The other thing here is that everything is tribal. Some tribes definitely don't get along with other tribes. And some people get jobs because they are from certain tribes. And certain tribes come from certain areas of the country.

There is this program that we use on the computer called Skype - it is wonderful. Lisa has a camera on her computer. So Christine, Meghan and Molly, Judy Hagan, and Carol Duffy have met Grace on Skype and today Mark and his family will be on Skype to meet Grace. They have Skype on their computer - they also have a camera so we may be able to see them too. Also Mikey, Sean and Tim will be able to meet Grace. Even though everyone does not have a camera on their computer, they can still see what Lisa's camera shows them. She thinks because she has this new laptop the video transmission is better than before when we tried it on her old computer.

I hope none of this is boring to you. I am sure we will come up with more impressions. Just know how lucky we are to be Americans.

Our First Days in Africa

2009-03-06T01:07:00.000-08:00

So here we are in Nairobi,Kenya. I thought we'd do this blog thing, so people who are curious about our adventures could see, and I would not bore those who were not interested.

Our trip started out in Boston at the beginning of the snow storm. We got on the plane 20 minutes late (thought that was pretty good) and sat on that plane for 3 hours before leaving. We were de-iced twice. Now when we arrived at Heathrow, they had booked us on a Kenyan flight that left for Kenya 9 hours later. So we switched terminals (took 18 minutes to travel between terminals) and sat for 8 hours. Actually we slept on some benches for a while. It was really funny trying to figure out how to use the internet with no pounds. We charged once, then went to Starbucks and got the right change to use the internet and tell the kids what was happening to us

We arrived in Nairobi a day late and minus the two boxes full of Grace's presents. We spent a long time in line getting a visa to get into this country. Then came the bad news about the boxes - they had never left Boston.

Yesterday Mike and Kristoffer traveled back to the airport to get the boxes. When they went through customs, the agent asked how much they were worth? When Mike told them $100 the woman questioned him and Kristoffer told her that everything was made in China!!!!! So the duty was less!

We have had several African experiences, some of you I've already told. When we left the airport, we saw a giraffe out in a field right next to the airport. Kristoffer said it was a lucky sign, as he had never seen a giraffe there. The day after we got here, Kristoffer took us to the post office to pick up a package. It was quite an experience - Mike counted 12 people that Kristoffer had to deal with before we left with the package. Then on the way back home, we stopped at an open food market. Actually it was under a tent or tin roof. What a place. I had people coming up to me calling me MaMa and trying to sell me something. The person Kristoffer was bargaining with was giving him a hard time about decreasing the price of the vegetables we bought.

On Thursday my next African experience. While waiting for Lisa in the pediatrician's office, which is at the Childrens' Hospital, I was looking out the window and counted 8 monkeys crossing in the back of parking lot.

Things are very different here - I would never drive here - and can see why Lisa would not want to drive here also. They have these crazy mini-buses that are all over the place, and there are not many stop signs. People just drive any which way.

Lisa and Kristoffer live in a very nice area in a lovely home. There are 10 homes in this compound. It is gated and guards have to let you in. At night they have guards that patrol with dogs. So it is relatively safe. They have a very nice lady, Ida, who is their domestic worker. She cooks, cleans and takes good care of them. They also have a driver, Charles, whom we will meet on Monday.

We are getting over our jet lag now. The weather is beautiful. And Grace was well worth the trip. She does remind us of Lisa as an infant. She is a very content infant. Last night Lisa said she had 6 hours of sleep, with Grace sleeping for 3 two hour sessions between feedings. Both Lisa and Grace have been checked by their doctors and both are doing great.

Before I close, I need to tell you how surprised I was to see several signs for Casinos here. Now those of you who know me will know that sooner or later I will be in one of those casinos. Today, while at their mall, there was a sign for a casino on the second floor. It will open soon. So you never know, African luck may be better than Foxwoods to me!

Well I think that covers our trip so far. We will write again sometime soon to let you know what we are up to.