Making Plans

Today is our plan day.  We know we are going to Nakuru tommorrow and coming home Saturday. We know we want to go to the Masai Mara Sunday and stay till probably tuesday, maybe Wednesday.  After that.................  So we are gonna start working on plans after lunch.  They are pretty much wide open.  Just have decide what we are in the mood for.  I'll keep editing this post as we start to figure it out.

Building the Kitchen

What started out as just putting a roof on the kitchen, has become much more.  We started with taking apart the old flat roof and had to even up the back walls so that we could put back on our rafters.  The main purpose for this was to allow smoke to leave the kitchen.  As it was to begin with, the ladies cooking just had to stay in a kitchen that was too hot and too smokey.  While we are putting up the rafters, they start taking down the outside tin which is the walls.  Then they start taking down the support structure of the wall.  All while we are standing on them.   Anyway, we got the rafters up and were going to do the tin today, but when we got there Patrick and David (the two African guys that Will works with) had already started.  And since it was really only enough space and work for two, we have decided to go to a High School Rugby game and then get dinner.  The Kitchen will get completed today, just not by us.  Oh well.  

We have planned to go to Lake Nakuru this Friday with Will and his new woman Kim.  Yes, another Kim.  So we should have some more to write after that happens.  Oh, and one word of warning............. Once we start traveling around more, there will be fewer posts due to less chances to have internet access.  But that won't be until Sunday.   

Attack of the Giant Flying Termites

Ok so here is the story...... Last night Steven and Will left to drive Joe ( Will's roomate) to the airport. I decided to stay at the house and watch some tv. Well its pouring rain outside and I am watching Supernatural which was kinda spooky. I had the inside den lights on as well as the tv. So here I am watching tv and I start to hear this buzzing noise, of course I think its the tv. So I ignore it for about ten minutes and then i realize its much louder. So I mute the tv and the buzzing is still there. I look up and there are about 40 HUGE FLYING TERMITES. I mean they are about the size of a normal persons hand and they are flying above my head. So I start looking around trying to find out where they are coming in the house. I find this window that has the smallest crank and these things are fighting their way in because they are atracted to the light. I tried to get to close but i couldn't so I start running around turning off lights and evacuate to our room where I shut the door with no intention of opening it until the boys have come home to fix the bug problem. Well, come to find out, this is a normal thing around here when it rains, though no one thought to tell me about it. So when Will's other roomate Adrian gets home and I come running out of the room saying "Don't turn on the lights the bugs are invading," he thinks I am a nut. Anyway all is well that ends well and now I know to turn off the lights when it rains at night.

Kim's First Safari

Yesterday was Kim's first Safari. We were gonna rent a car, did actually, but when we got to the Rental Car place, there was no car. So we tried elsewhere but to no avail. So Will graciously let us use their's. We went to Nairobi National Park. Just a small game park near the airport of all places, but they do have Giraffe, Wildebeast, Warthog (Pumba's to Kim) and many other animals. It was nice driving on the left side of the road again. I forget how much I like driving in countries with only a few rules if any. We will be borrowing Will's car for the remainder of the trip after he heads home. So that will be a big money saver. I'll let Kim describe the Safari better since it is her first........


Well its alot like mud bogging, except you get to see really cool animals :) One minute you are driving along, the next you have a family of zebras hanging out right by the side of the road. I was most excited to see the girraffs since that is all i have been talking about for the last week. The family of Pumba's was really cute, we tried to get a picture of them running away with their tails in the air but they were a little to fast. We didn't get to see any lions but the baby baboons made up for it they were really cute. We had a wonderful time and steven tells me that the reserve we went on is one of the smallest so i am really looking forward to some of the bigger ones.

The Orphanage

I have learned how to mix movies together!!! So this is just a video of the orphanage Will helps out with. The man who runs it is Patrick. We met him on Friday. We are about to go to the Nairobi National Park so that Kim can see some Giraffe and other animals. So here is the video and maybe tonights entry will have wildlife!!!!!

Early Sunday

It is 6:30 and I am already up. Might be because I couldn't stay awake past 9:30. Jet lag can be rough. Kim is still sleeping so I thought I would give ya'll a little update on what we did yesterday. We went to the Kibara Slums. The are just outside of Nairobi and over 1,000,000 people live in just a few square kilometers. Apparently it was also the set for "The Constant Gardner." I know you see these type things on TV, but until you stand in one it's hard to get the real image. We didn't stay very long because it starts to feel like you are taking a tour of poverty and you don't want the people (at least the adults) to feel like a sideshow. And you can't take many photos because its impolite to take a photo of someone without their permission.



The video is from a school that is in Kibara. It's a primary school, which gets kids up to our equivalent of 8th grade. Right now Will and Joe are working on getting a secondary school started that will take the kids all the way through graduation.

An Evening Like Home

Last night was a very non African evening. We just hung out at the house. Made some pizza. Drank some wine. And played some Ping Pong. We had a good time though. Not sure what is in store for today. Will and Joe (Will's roommate) don't normally have much to do on the weekends. Kim wants a lazy day of watching "How I Met Your Mother" and I am perfectly good with that. Will is making pancakes and chicken sausage for breakfast. His friends (and now ours) are still here from last night.

We are trying to decide what to do for the weekend. There is a park in Nairobi we may go to tommorrow. Kim is desperate to see some animals. And I wouldn't mind myself. Get out and do a little something other than be around the house.

Monday we plan on beginning our construction projects at the LCC and at their day school they have. Assuming we can buy lumber. We stopped at the lumber yard on Friday and they didn't have any wood. Supposedly they will have some on Monday. If not we might not get anything done. The sad thing is the nicest hardware store was in the grocery store. We went to 4 different hardward stores looking for a skill saw and only found 2. The first was $450 bucks so that was a no. The second was $130 from the grocery store so we decided to buy it. I just can't make myself do construction with a handsaw. Spoiled I guess. The three projects we have are to put a new roof on a kitchen, build a chicken coop, and build a rabbit pen. I think we can get them all done.

Ok its my turn now. For those of you who might be confussed, this is Kimmie talking!!!!! This place is really amazing. One moment you are in the slums and the next you are looking through hills and valleys that you only see in the movies. I am loving the food, so far its mostly vegetables. We have had meat with most of our meals although Will tells me they don't usually eat a whole lot of meat. At first I thought Steven would starve but he is being a good sport and eating all his vegetables. This morning everyone one is just kind of laying around talking while Will cooks breakfeast. Hopefully we will get to see some animals soon so I can post some cool videos. I am having so much fun driving Steven crazy with my camera :) I promised my sister I would let Steven film some so I would actually be in the video so I apologize now for future clips starring me :)

Our First Visit to the Orphanage

This post was meant for yesterday, but didn't get done because the blog wouldn't let me upload the video.

We drove to the LCC (Limuru Children's Center) today. Really neat place to see. The Kids are on Holiday this month (Easter Holiday) so there were only 23 of the normal 38 children. The other children have gone to visit with their relatives. Tommorrow we are gonna go back and get to work renovating the kitchen. Right now there is only the stoves (not the same as our idea of stove) and no real way for the smoke to leave the room. Plus the sink is outside and away from the kitchen area. Hopefully we will be able to help.

Blog Migration

Sorry everybody. The other blog just wasn't working right. Videos were hard to upload and there were other issues. So this will be the new blog (assuming all works well). Everyone who was subscribed to the previous blog should be subscribed to this one. If you don't get e-mails soon, please let me know.