The things we take for granted

After living here in Korr for almost 5 months, there are some things that I will never take for granted again.

Like electricity, for example.

In Korr we're so far off the power grid it's ridiculous. Praise the Lord for solar panels - we are so fortunate to have electricity in Korr because of them.

However, the batteries that our solar panels charge up need lots of distilled water. LOTS. But what do 4 twenty-something girls know about solar panels and batteries and keeping them healthy and fully functioning? Next to nothing. I mean, we didn't even know we should be checking these things! Thank goodness Intebessyie thought to come over and check them for us. ALL of our batteries were stone dry. Which, apparently means they could quit working at any time.

Yikes. These batteries are EXPENSIVE. That, and you have to buy them down country and bring them up yourselves. The next time we head down south? April. So tonight, Alicia and I with the help of Bagajo (our night guard) topped off our batteries.

Thank you Jesus for providing us with electricity, and this stunning view out our front door every evening:

January 13th

Yeah...these have been my two best friends the past few days.

I'm a sick girl right now.

The irony is not lost on me that I lived in Korr for 3 months without getting sick, managed to not get sick going home for four weeks (talk about a climate change!), and then BAM! 3 days after getting here I'm in bed all day.

I didn't even go to school today! THAT makes me sad. This term I'm getting to teach math (which I LOVE!), AND geography. I hate missing school!

Typically, on Wednesday afternoons we have mentoring time with our students. Each teacher has 3-4 students in their small group that they meet with weekly to pray with and for. The goal was to not only get to know our students better, but to be able to guide them in their walk with the Lord and create opportunities for conversations one-on-one.

But, since I was sick, I couldn't handle the 2 km walk up to school. BUT...

My girls came to the house to surprise me! They wanted to see how their "Madam" was doing. So, I gave them cold water (which two of them so sweetly asked for "warmer" water. Refrigerated water is too cold for them!) and we sat in the living room and laughed at the antics of the two ridiculous cats that live with us. The picture is of Lucy sitting in our rocking chair - they were FASCINATED by how it moved.

"Madam," they asked. "Will it break?"

"No!" I reassured them. "In fact, you can put your feet up on THIS part of it too!"

That was almost too much for them to handle. They ALL wanted pictures of themselves sitting in the rocking chair.

After praying for them, they asked if they could pray for me. Um, yes! This is a BIG deal...we've been meeting once a week since September and every time I ask them if they would like to pray, they always ask me to do it. So the fact that they wanted to pray today...

The Lord is SO good.

Oh yes. I live here.

New term, new house.

Grant & Loki, a missionary family that live here in Korr, are on furlough for the next year down in South Africa. Grant & Loki - we miss you tons!

However...

that means that the four of us got to move in to this nice, BIG, house!

Here is the bedroom Ruth and I share. It's Caity and Abby's room - Caity and Abby are 3, so that explains the bright pretty yellow with flowers painted everywhere! Alicia and Claire are sharing the master bedroom.

One of the best parts about this house...

...is the running water.

Oh, yes. You read that right. Here in Korr, where we are so far from the power grid that the only electricity comes from solar panels, we have running water. Grant & Loki's house has this elaborate set up of tanks and pumps and pipes that allows us to have sinks.

What else does that mean?

Well...

It means we have SHOWERS. Yes, that IS plural - not one, but TWO showers. This is the outdoor shower...we have another one inside too!

The Lord is so so good :)

Puppies! Inspired by...puppies!

January 11th -

There is no way to say no to a face like this.

Matope, one of Nick & Lynne's giant heifers they lovingly call "dogs," had 13(!) puppies the day Alicia and Claire arrived in Korr. We didn't even know she was pregnant!

There are several guesses as to who the baby daddy is...but for now, the 10 remaining puppies are holed up in Nick & Lynne's guest house, free to play with at any time :) The Rendille ALL want them as guard dogs (as in, there are 22 people who want 10 puppies), which is comical to me, because Tigger and Matope are about the friendliest and silliest dogs you'll ever meet. Case in point: on a walk we took last Sunday evening, Tigger came across a Rendille puppy that was literally the size of his face - and when the puppy tried to play with him, Tigger BOLTED the opposite direction with his tail between his legs.

Eh well. At least if Tigger's the father we know they'll all be lovable...

One year. One picture a day. So it begins...

So recently I've been challenged by several people to jump on the "picture a day" bandwagon. Never heard of it? It's pretty self-explanatory: take one picture a day, every day, for one year. In the end, it's 365 pictures, chronicling a year of your life in photos.

Well, I'm a few days late. So it's going to be more like 358 photos by the time I've done. But hey, better late than never!

So here, without further adieu, are the last two day's photographs.

January 9th - Ruth's 19th birthday! We made her a scrumptious breakfast of scrambled eggs and sausage, as well as some of Claire's homemade rolls. We sang "Happy Birthday" and Alicia even found some candles for Ruth to blow out. AND, Alicia and Claire woke up early and made a huge sign out of rocks that said "Happy B-day Ruth" right outside of our front door. (Check out Alicia's blog for that photo) Ruth loved it! Her first full day in Korr was her birthday - what a special way to start your life in the bushlands of Kenya :)

January 10th - You know, just another typical day in Korr - a herd of goats wanders through our yard (and through our fence) to graze as their herder looks on. You can't see it, but there is actually barbed wire strung between the fence posts...clearly, it's doing a lot of good. Don't worry, Mom - the barbed wire is far enough apart that goats seem to get through without a struggle, but hyenas are much, much bigger than goats ;)

Travel Diary, Take 2

Well, I arrived back safely in Korr this afternoon...though it was quite an interesting journey! Korr does not have a paved airstrip - all we have is a cleared runway-shaped area for pilots to land. With all of the rain that northern Kenya has been having, our pilot flew over the airstrip five times before deciding it wasn't safe to land because it was too muddy and our plane was too heavy. We were flying in a 16-seat aircraft - the largest I've seen fly this far north in all my time in Kenya! He then flew on to Marsabit - a big town in north Kenya that's about a 20 minute flight from Korr - and dropped off the remaining passengers before flyingback to Korr a second time, flying over the airstrip two more times to check it out, and THEN finally landing the plane. Whew! We were greeted at the airstrip by half of Korr...well, maybe not half, but there were a ton of people there. Alicia started to give me 31 hugs - one from each student! After about the ninth we just agreed that I had been well enough hugged to suffice for them...31 hugs is a LOT of hugs.

I've mentioned this before, but starting this term Alicia and I are being joined by two more short termers. Their names are Claire and Ruth - Claire is from California and will be teaching at the secondary school with us, and Ruth is from North Ireland and is teaching at the upper primary school. I actually met up with Ruth in Nairobi and we flew up to Korr together today...thus the picture above. We took it about 3 minutes before we boarded the plane for a rather bumpy ride! This afternoon we were walking back to the house and Intebessie, one of the guys on the project here, got the chance to give Ruth her Rendille name - Robeya. It means "green." The Rendille say that Ruth coming has brought the "green" with her that's come from all the rain. It's a perfect fit, seeing as Ruth is Irish!

This afternoon we walked up to the secondary school and I got to see all of my students again! Alicia told me they've been asking about me since they all arrived last weekend to begin school this last Tuesday - the entire class even begged her today to give them "permission" to leave school to come to the airstrip to greet me today! They're too sweet...they're definitely spoiling me. Whenever I do begin teaching in the States I will never have students as polite and kindhearted as my students here are! We've also had a pretty steady stream of visitors this afternoon - apparently it's quite big news that "Siberyan" (my Rendille name..."Jamie" is too hard for many of them to say) has arrived back in Korr. I guess I'm pretty easy to miss though when I'm one of six white faces in all of Korr!

It's really good to be back, although it certainly is hot here...I'm a little jealous of the cold in Texas right now. We're getting all moved in and settled to Grant & Loki's house, and WOW is it a step up in life in Korr. We have running water now! Which means...(dum dum dum) we have functioning showers. Don't get me wrong, the bucket baths weren't bad, but they can't compare to a nice warm shower.

All for now - we might watch a movie tonight before turning in to bed. That's right - a movie. Because we have a television now :)

Travel Diary, Take 1

Monday, 4:30 PM: Another tearful goodbye at the Houston airport with my mom and sister. I'm terrible at goodbyes.

5:30 PM: Watch my last Texas sunset for a while as I wait to board the plane. No telling when I'll be back to witness another...

6:30 PM: Plane taxis down the runway and off to Dubai I go. Another long flight...15 hours to be exact. Somehow I manage to sit between the two loudest snorers on the aircraft. Awesome. I didn't really want to sleep anyway...riiiight.

Tuesday, 7:30 PM Dubai time: Lost an entire day in the air and the Dubai airport, while stunningly beautiful, is terribly confusing. Everything is in Arabic. Flying Emirates back to Kenya was the cheapest choice, but it has certainly been an experience. Everything is in Arabic first, then English - the captain would come over the loudspeaker, speak for 5 minutes in Arabic and then say 3 sentences in English. Something's getting lost in translation here...

I somehow make it to Customs and then pick up all of my luggage.

8:30 PM: Arrive at the hotel. Plus for flying Emirates: they put you up for free overnight in Dubai. With free food! Dubai is 10 hours ahead of Houston, and after being stuck between Sleepy #1 and Sleepy #2, I'm a wee bit tired. They have some delicious-smelling if strange-looking Middle Eastern food at the buffet for dinner, but my severely sleep-deprived brain is not in a place where I can handle "trying new things." I had a slice of watermelon and half of a baked potato instead. How...filling?

11:45 PM: Collapse into bed after showering and talking to my mom. I hate jet lag, because...

Wednesday, 4:45 AM: I'm officially up for the day.

7:30 AM: On my way to the airport. I see the Burj Khalifa tower through the bus window - it's kind of impossible to miss. Here's a grainy picture I took from the airport (the window had stuff all over it and you can see the reflection of the inside of the airport, but hey, it proves I saw it!):

9:30 AM: Enjoy my last cup of Starbucks coffee for a while as I take advantage of Dubai's free wifi. Seriously, nicest airport ever - so open and airy. Oh, and the five star restaurants and gardens every 15 feet don't hurt either. Only downside: Dubai is EXPENSIVE. A Time magazine would've cost me $15, and I paid $5 for a grande Starbucks latte...

10:45 AM: Plane is supposed to be taking off, but we have to wait for a flight from Delhi to arrive because half of our plane is on that flight. 65 Indian men come streaming on to our plane, and who manages to sit by me? The loudest snorer EVER. Seriously...I could hear this guy over my ipod. How does this even HAPPEN two flights in a row?

3:30 PM: KENYA! Customs is a breeze - I proudly showed the guy my multi-entry visa (I'm a resident now! Was fingerprinted and everything) and walked right out into the waiting area! George from Mayfield Guest House was there to pick me up. He points out the giraffes and zebras on the side of the road as we leave Kenyatta airport. NBD.

The drive to Mayfield is just as I remember Kenya being. Lanes are merely a suggestion - really, all traffic laws are. Anytime traffic stops there are men and women looking to sell you anything - and I mean ANYTHING - through your car window. Want fruit? Flowers? Flags of the world? Lamps? Hair nets? No need to worry - you can buy them while you wait in a traffic jam! I even saw a guy selling pillows. They were the same Ikea pattern that I have on my bed in Houston. Only in Africa...

They recently installed traffic lights in Nairobi. For anybody who's ever been on the road in Africa, you know how laughable this is. I asked George if people actually used the traffic lights. His response? "Well, when the police are there we do!" He tells me this as he maneuvers the bus onto the sidewalk to act as another lane of traffic. It doesn't even faze me anymore. We turn onto Ngong Road and while there is only one official lane of traffic, there are two lanes driving: one where there is supposed to be a lane, and another in oncoming traffic. Oh Africa.

We arrive back at Mayfield just in time to meet Ruth. RUTH! She's just arrived in Nairobi Tuesday and we're flying up to Korr on Friday. Ruth is joining Alicia, Claire, and me up in Korr to teach at the secondary school. FOUR SHORT TERM VOLUNTEERS! This seriously unheard of.

5:00 PM: I fall into bed for a quick nap before dinner.

It's good to be back.