Out of Africa (AKA where are you Denys?!)

On a beautiful Saturday afternoon I visited the home of Karen Blixen, author of Out of Africa. Despite the sometimes uncomfortable colonial perspective, I loved the book and the movie. Real-life Karen made quite an impact on the surrounding community (now called "Karen"), though some remember her as an unlikable figure who used to boss Denys around. She did have a light on her porch that indicated whether Denys was allowed to visit. Bossy? Or appealingly practical? I'm undecided. She was certainly a firecracker.

The tour started with the guide reciting her painfully long monologue as fast as humanly possible. Honestly, I heard every third word. When I took a few pictures while she was still talking, I was instructed to sit down and wait until the monologue was over. Oops!

Waiting for Denys to fly in over the Ngong Hills. Sadly, Meryl Streep and Robert Redford were no where to be found. Next time. 

No sweating!

I have been called a klutz a time or two in my life. Or every day. But who's counting? This leads me to one of my favorite parts of my visit to Kenya. Whenever I dropped something, tripped or ran into something, the people around me would say, "Sorry!" They apologized for my misfortune with no irony or mocking in their voices. No one laughed and no one rolled their eyes. (Looking at you, DAVID!) This was my kind of place!

Another favorite? Going for jogs in Nairobi and not having anyone call me a mzungu ("foreigner," or literally "aimless wanderer" after the early European explorers). No one pointed out my whiteness at all, at least until I left Nairobi for more rural areas. Instead they just thought I was weird for jogging. A young security guard in blue yelled, "No sweating!" and an older man said, "Getting ready for the Olympics?" followed by bursts of laughter. Too much laughter.

Jambo!

Hi, friends! I am currently in Kenya for a work trip, enjoying the fast internet and good coffee of Nairobi. The purpose of the trip is to visit/monitor our HIV program sites in the western part of the country, and to prepare for a cervical cancer assessment taking place next month. The trip is two and a half weeks, with one week spent traveling around Nyanza Province and the rest of the time in Nairobi.

The visit was planned at the last minute, as they always are at my work, and it was not the best of timing.... While I'm gone, David has moved all of our things out of our basement apartment and into our new condo. Oh, yeah! We bought a condo! It is in the Brookland neighborhood of DC, and we are feeling very blessed.

Though I'm sad to be away from my family, I'm having a nice time practicing the Swahili I learned from a foray into Rosetta Stone Swahili combined with extensive watching of The Lion King as a child. Or should I say, The Simba King? Impressed, no?

Hakuna matata, rafiki!

Last few months in 15 pictures

I guess it's about time I update this thing with life since Sierra Leone.


We left in early December. A day later, we arrived in London (via car, water taxi, bus and plane).

It was snowing. We didn't have winter clothes. We ate a croissant in the airport and I was pretty sure it was the most delicious thing I had ever had. Also, we looked silly.

In London, we drank cup after cup of mulled wine to warm our bodies (and hearts). Look at this cold face. We were unprepared for the winter wonderland.

We wandered around Bath for a few days, then hopped over to Paris to meet up with my Dad and Jen. I learned I was too old for hostels after a terrible night in a 12-bunk room full of 18 year old male Aussies.

We had an amazing week full of stories, exploring and food (cheese! chocolate! wine! pasta!) with the best travel buddies around. Really.




David was sporting an impressive beard.

Back in London, we hung out with our new friend Rob and his family (who are the family of Freya, our dear friend in SL). He introduced us to some excellent places (a toast and jam restaurant where you toast the bread yourself!) and we attended his Christmas choir concert.


Shortly before Christmas, we headed back to California. I finally got to meet my sweet new nephew, Conor.

In January, we moved back across the country. All of our things, BACK to the East Coast. Now we live in Washington, DC. We got a dog. We love him.

That's not him. This is Sura, his cousin. Isn't she a beauty? I'll introduce our pup more formally soon. He deserves his own post.

Great, now all caught up!

The island

We had no idea where we were going when we drove out of Freetown. We had coffee while we waited for the others to arrive, then we headed through the hills, out of town, toward the beach. It wasn't 10 minutes before we were on a mountain road looking down at a waterfall gushing through the jungle. They used to bring tourists groups to see the waterfall and hike through the hills. That was before the war.

We drove for an hour and a half, past schools and houses and through a fishing community at the water's edge. A mosque stood tall above the houses, its spires silohuetted against a background of morning sky and the sea. We turned left and were stopped by a rope suspended a few feet off the ground. Our friend nodded at the hut to the side of the road, and the man holding the rope gave some slack so we could pass. It began to rain and the deep green hills were covered in mist.

Finally, we arrived at a small road carved out of the jungle. We followed the road until it ended at a cottage among the palm trees. The patio looked out on a perfect stretch of beach with an island in the distance. A boy walked up carrying barracuda caught that morning, and a group of women prepared it for lunch. One of the locals swam out and brought back some oysters which we ate raw. We drank wine and champagne and looked out at the waves.

The rain did not stop the entire day. After spending a few leisurely hours on the patio, a few of us walked out to the water and headed for the island. David said he would rather just play in the waves, so being the nice wife I am, I said I was swimming there whether or not he was coming. I knew that would get him. So, we swam to the island in the rain.

It was incredible, looking forward at the island and looking back at the foggy, mountainous mainland. It was one of those timeless moments, a moment you feel God designed for you and could never be recreated. A moment when you know you are in the right place and things will be okay. I stood up on the rocks, looked around, exhaled a deep breath, and thanked God for bringing me somewhere so full of beauty.

Before we left

I'm going to admit something I don't want to admit. We were very homesick our first couple of weeks here in Sierra Leone, and we spent a lot of time daydreaming about what it would be like to live back in California. It is not that we didn't like it here, it's just that the time before we left was packed full of family, friends, and so much love. I keep having to remind myself that weddings and baby showers and friend reunions are special and rare occasions that will not be happening every weekend while we are gone. If they did, I'm pretty sure I would have been incapable of leaving.

College roommate reunion

Sister's perfect weddingLaughy family

Beautiful pregnant sister Beautiful pregnant best friend (who is now past due!) High school friend reunion

I am glad to be in Sierra Leone, I really am.... Just so long as all you people agree not to have any fun until we get back. Deal?

Barf?

We are here in Sierra Leone, wandering our neighborhood and enjoying the thunderstorms that have come every night. But, we'll get to that.

My dear friend Leenie took us to the airport in San Francisco on Tuesday afternoon for the first of 3 flights and 1 helicopter ride that we would take to Freetown. An incident happened in the airport that is equal parts disgusting and hilarious. But wait, we'll get to that in a minute.

The weekend before that my old college friends got together for a reunion. It was so good to see their faces and hear about their lives, and I'll show some pics later. The reunion took place right before we left for our adventure. Everyone went their separate ways on Monday and Leenie took us to the airport on Tuesday. That brings me to my story.

David and I decided to get some food quickly before our flight. I bought a bowl of thick, red, cheesy and sour creamy glop called Mexican chicken tortilla soup. I took one satisfying bite and stopped to break into my roll for dipping. The roll was so tough that I lost my grip, my arm flew back into the bowl and the entire thing exploded onto my body. I stood up with a scream, frantically trying to pull my pants from my burning legs without stripping in the middle of the food court.

The soup covered an incredible range- all the way from my boobs to my knees, but mostly concentrated around my crotch. This would not have been so bad had it been a brothy, less cheesy and sour creamy soup. This particular soup, when spread over a body, was the exact consistency and colors of vomit. I stood there with what looked like barf (or perhaps the big D) all over myself, trying to wipe it off but it was too thick and sticky. Our plane was leaving in 25 minutes. I laughed at the ridiculousness of it all.

David had some extra shorts so I held them over my body and walked across the food court to the bathrooms. The soup was down my pants, on my shirt, between my legs, everywhere. I put the shorts on and tried to wash my pants and shirt in the sink. I could see people look at me disgusted from the corner of their eyes. I kept saying, "It's just soup," but I don't think they believed me. One women responded, "Oh, I just thought the flight didn't sit well with you." Duh. Another asked, "Do you have to travel far? Where are you going?" And I said, "West Africa." She shook her head.

Wearing a green shirt and huge, bright red shorts down to my knees, I carried the wet, disgusting pants through 3 airports before I got them clean and dry enough to wear. David called me a Christmas elf because of the colors and my legs looked so short.

So, that brings us to Sierra Leone! Back to lightning, World Cup, and red dirt roads. Slow internet, "How di bodi?" and palm trees.

Back to the West Coast!

It took a week of long driving days (for David) and lots of candy (for both of us), but we made it! This drive felt quite a bit different from the trip out to Baltimore because we were exhausted from finishing school, packing up our apartment and moving all within 2 days. I was tired. And exhausted. But, we got to see some great friends, family and places along the way. Here is a little taste.

Davidson, North Carolina

New Orleans, Louisiana

San Antonio, Texas

Las Cruces, New Mexico

Dreaming of Maui (and friends)

Now that I'm in the final weeks of my program, I've been thinking back on how it felt to finish undergrad. I'll just say it: leaving undergrad was the end of an era that I still haven't quite gotten over. You see, I had the best college friends ever. I lived with 4 amazing girls for the last 2 years of college and my heart aches to think about it. The big house on Buchon with the porch swing and fountain, the green kitchen where we would talk for hours, "family dinners" and snuggle sessions, taking over the dance floor wherever we went, and the laughter, oh the laughter.

After graduation, we went to Maui for a week. This trip ranks among the most fun experiences I've ever had. We played in the waves, swam with turtles, had drinks and snacks every day at happy hour, sat in a hot tub under the stars, skinny dipped in the ocean (!), went to a luau, jumped off cliffs into pools, danced and sang to JT in our hotel room, and just loved each other as only best friends can. I miss these girls. Can we go back, please?

Anna in Kisumu

I know I posted about Anna before, but if you have the chance you should really read her blog. She just recorded the stories of her journey from Cape Town to Kisumu. British trains, baboons, singing and praying with strangers, the Ngong hills from Out of Africa. Amazing!

Farewell, Anna!

(Years ago, after her first trip to Kenya.)

One of my most wonderful, creative, loving, lovely friends just moved to Kenya. This is not the first time Anna has up and left us for months/years at a time. One of her returns was the day of my wedding. She yelled my name and ran across the beach to give me a hug. I'll miss her hugs, but I know people there will enjoy them too.

She flew into South Africa and will travel up to Kenya by bus and train, making friends and having adventures along the way. I can't wait to hear her stories!

New York New York

Before the new term started we took a day trip to NYC, because we're East Coasters now and it's no big deal. Just kidding, it is a big deal. We were the classic tourists- Times Square, Rockefeller Center, Empire State Building, Central Park, FAO Schwarz. The craziness of the city made Baltimore feel like a quiet little country town.

My first trip to New York was in high school for choir. As a group of us were heading to Times Square, a homeless man stopped us and asked, "Going to Times Square? How can you square time? I mean, you can square the number 7, but how do you square time?" Another man told my flip-flop-wearing friend, "Damn girl, you's good lookin'. Nice toes!" This place is wild.

(Enjoying an amazing cupcake from Crumbs. Better than Sprinkles. Believe it.)

(Visiting Rupert Jee and the Hello Deli, of David Letterman fame.)