Kiaumu --> Nakuru --> Nairobi

Greetings from Nairobi!

Here we are again, and it has been quite an enjoyable and completely unexpected weekend!
Rahel and I left Kisumu on Friday at 7.30am and walked to the main road with my carry on luggage (small, yes, but after that walk suddenly all the clothes I had seemed unnecessary!) and got a matatu to Tuskys. It was SO cool to be walking to the bus station, the sun shining, the sharp clearness of the morning… I was so happy! The trip to Nakuru was uneventful (I am reading: A Voice in the Wind at the moment) which is a good thing and we were welcomed in. To not make this too long, lets just say Nakuru was great, we were in Mission in Action, a baby orphanage and we walked in and went to greet the kids (about 50 maybe?) and they all came running over “what is your name?” and started climbing all over us and speaking to us in ENGLISH! Half the kids are younger than those at nursery school yet they were blabbering away in English and it was great (Ivan and Mary are the “mummy and daddy” of these kids, they are Australian (so I got a little taste of the land down under)). The house was made for the kids as well as the family so it is one big family! We stayed Friday to Sunday (after lunch) and played with the kids, fed the babies (OK, they were gorgeous, and I was officially initiated on Sunday when little Daniel projectile vomited all over me), spent time with some of the volunteers and at nights we were able to watch a DVD (Christy… reminded me of Anne of Green Gables a bit, when she teaches), there were warm showers, very different from Kisumu but it was nice to visit.
Sunday afternoon (was it only yesterday?, it feels like ages ago) found us on a matatu going to Nairobi, we arrived safely, wandered around looking for the bus stop and got to Rose Avenue. I was able to visit Colin and Fey again (they are still here!! =D) so we had a chai and a chat and then came down to Rose 5, had tea and stayed there the night . This morning we woke up early, had granola, oats and milk (oh bliss) and went to the office for our visa’s….OK.
* Originally we were going to come back on the 20th (date of expiry), do our VISAs and stay in Nairobi till my flight the 27th
*We decided to extend our stay until August so we could finish the term with the kids so moved our flights to the 6th of August
* We decided to come back to renew our VISAs in June, halfway through our time here so we didn’t have to leave Kisumu to do the VISA just before the exams start.

TURNS OUT, we can only renew our VISA on the DAY of its expiry. So after considering the other possibilities (doing it in Kisumu, no too risky, it may not work with the immigrations and someone would have to come out to Kisumu to do it with us or being illegally in Kenya for 2 weeks, no) we realized we would have to come back. So we return to Nairobi on the 18 – 21st of June to do the VISA (traveling at night is not recommended). That was a bit gutting but we had the rest of the day off so we went to Java House and then home.
The backs of my legs are if anything worse, and at Nakuru they were really itching and my left leg has a big infected wound. Brigitte the nurse here saw them and gave me the number of a doctor, so at 3.30 I called the reception, was told the doctor finished at 4pm, got a taxi at the speed of light and Rahel and I went to the dermatologist to see about them. It turns out to be eczema so I was prescribed 4 different medicines (one for the infection, one for the outbreak, one for dry skin and one for dry scalp). I was a bit discouraged… I have been fine with my skin playing up but when I had to pay it wasn’t that expensive but it was the money I had got out that morning to last me a month in Kisumu and bus fares there and back again. Rahel said she could lend me some until we come back here. It was a challenge to bring my necessity to God and remember that he is in control of what happens… I remembered the sparrows he talked about… and then later on Colin and Fey gave me the money I had just spent and I gave them a cash withdrawal paper so they could withdraw from my account what the gave me, so it is all well now =).

It has been a pretty mad weekend (especially today) but I am glad we got the time off, even though it seemed to be unnecessary, I got my medication, we got to see folks in Nairobi (I thought I wouldn’t see the Holtums again!), we relaxed, enjoyed a pizza and tomorrow we get up early-ish to go back to Kisumu. The guests arrive this Friday (chaos!) so I don’t know if I will get down to town on Thursday, no doubt we will be helping prepare everything (plus, I have had internet today). So that’s all for now, will be in contact next Thursday. =).

ps. I will attempt to add pix to facebook now!