Dubai

I am always looking for a travel deal. I have found that usually means visiting places not during the high season. Examples are Maine in June, Puerto Rico in July and San Diego in November. I once suggested we visit Iceland in February and Rhett said no. When I reiterated what a great deal it was- $149 r/t from Atlanta he reminded me that it was FEBRUARY. IN ICELAND. We went to Florida instead. But this time I suggested we go to Dubai in August which is kind of the opposite of Iceland in February. Rhett actually agreed this time and we set out for our Middle Eastern adventure. We found out why we got such a good deal - It is HOT. Like the high was 120 and low was 99 each night. And no, it is not a dry heat. It is extremely humid because it is on the Arabian Gulf. But as we learned winter is the time to be outside in the UAE and during the summer everyone moves inside the "malls" which are really indoor cities. It goes against most of what Rhett believes in to vacation inside a mall but he was a good sport since it was a great place for kids and we had a great time.


The Dubai Aquarium inside the Dubai Mall.


The largest aquarium viewing panel in the world.


The Burj Khalifa (I have no idea how to take pictures in the dark soory). It is the tallest building and the tallest freestanding structure in the world - by a long shot. The second tallest building is about 2/3 as tall.



We went to the indoor ski slopes at Ski Dubai. We played at the snow park and Rhett went skiing.


The kids went tubing.




Funny that this is Ford's first time in the snow. Does it count?

The best place in the world for kids is Kidzania. I can not understand why this place isn't in the US. It is a big children's museum set up like a city. You (kid) get a check when you arrive and you take the check to the bank where you get Kidzania money. Then you get to go spend your money. When you need more money you go to work. Simple idea but SO much fun!


Here is Claire spending some money getting her nails done!


Ford went to the barber shop and got some facial hair (too bad Daddy had just shaved his beard off!)

Then it was time to make some money by working at the milk factory making boxes of milk.

And making more money by working as a dentist, nurse, painter and many others.

Here she is working as a chef.


And as a model on the runway! So much fun! They announced them as they came out and everyone wanted to be a model or a rockstar - except Claire who wanted to be a teacher :)


Now our trip up the Burj!


View from the top of the world!





You start to loose perspective that those are 40-60 story skyscrapers down there!


Gus on the Burj at sunset.


The architecture was simply amazing. It seemed like an architect's dream. The most modern buildings I've ever seen. We took a tour through the old part of town and enjoyed some more traditional architecture too.















Somehow I always seem to end up on a water taxi. It is so hot in this picture I can not begin to describe it to you. We also spent a day at a great water park. We started a new family tradition of filming our vacations "Amazing Race" style. It was fun to send to our family at home and will be a fun way to relive our holidays one day.

Dubai offered lots of comforts of the US - mostly comfortable beds, soft towels and good food. We ate at McDonald's, Subway and Macaroni Grill! The breakfast at our hotel was out of this world -but we definitely have expanded our breakfast horizons since living overseas. We love roasted tomatoes, smoked salmon, cheese, croissants, olives, hummus and tea for breakfast these days. I still can't get into baked beans for breakfast but, hey, I'm not ruling it out. There were wonderful American options like waffles and scrambled eggs too :) We still talk about how great that breakfast was! A lot of what we really enjoyed about Dubai were the comforts that we haven't
had in Kenya (the joys of fast food). I was excited about the shopping but quickly found out there wouldn't be much of that going on. I picked out a pair of Nike running shoes and did the math 3 times before concluding they they did indeed cost $285 dollars. Needless to say I didn't buy them or anything else. Our kids had a blast though and we were able to show Ford real, live, working traffic lights. However, when we arrived at our hotel he picked up the remote control and said "What's this?".

We had a great vacation and it was a nice step away for a week of family fun. Dubai was great for kids and we would recommend it for a get away from East Africa. It was fun for Claire and Ford to pick up their 4th continent too!

July in Pictures

We spent a lot of time outside in the mud and muck and practiced our game faces.

Rhett grew a beard.

Gus learned how to eat with a spoon.

Ford climbed trees.

We spotted a Kenyan motorhome.

We ran into a Massai Warrior on a rope bridge on the way to lunch.

We went to Ngong Hills to visit our friends and see their project there for Vapor Sports.


I celebrated my birthday and anniversary with 8 dozen roses.

If I don't do this now I never will

Well this is by far the longest "dark" stretch for my blog since I started it over 4.5 years ago. I'm not really sure what happened. It may have something to do with the fact that I have three little bits that are always home right by my side. It may have something to do with the difficult time I was having during what can only be described as "The Long Winter".

First the rains came and everyone was really excited because of the long drought previously. It rained and rained and rained. With the rain came the flying ants, then the moths, then the grasshoppers, then the locusts, then the mosquitos. Then it got cold. I know, you are wondering how it gets so cold in Kenya, but let me tell you it was downright chilly. Especially in a concrete block house with a plastic/acrylic roof with no heat. We built a fire every day and night for quite a stretch but even then the kids would wake up freezing and be in our bed by daybreak each day. I can stand the cold but we went what felt like weeks with out seeing the sun. Just gray drab skies each chilly day. I just kept thinking about summer lake trips, blueberries, cook outs, humidity and swimming lessons. I'm not sure if those thought helped or hurt. I would joke about SAD but I wasn't really joking!

So I was already feeling a little down when everyone up and left. Let me explain. Here at Kijabe the calendar revolves around RVA. Rift Valley Academy is a year around boarding school that takes extended breaks every Nov/Dec, April and July/August. Everything stops during those breaks. No bible study. No playgroup. No RVA church. No Sunday school. No small group. People leave for extended breaks to take kids to college or go on vacation. Of the nearest 10 missionary houses there were only 2 families here for many weeks this summer. It was lonely. It was just me and the kids huddled by the fire for days at a time (or so it seemed).

Then I got blindsided by something I should have seen coming. They say missionary kids are always having to say good bye and we learned that is very true not just for the kids but for their parents too. We had a small group of 5 families who we had spent time getting to know and investing in since shortly after we had arrived here in Kijabe. This "summer" we were the only family out of the five still here. Some were gone for just 6 weeks or so but others are still gone and may or may not be returning in 6 months. It seemed really frustrating to have the people we had gotten to know the best leave in the middle of our transition to feeling settled in. I felt like I had to start all over again. And I was right. It wasn't like other transitions I had made to a new place where you get plugged in and meet people and become part of what is going on. Things and people are always changing here.

Then towards the end of August something happened. About that time a huge group of new people moved in (mostly to RVA since they turned over about 40% of their staff but some new families arrived at the hospital too). I was shopping in Nakumatt one day when the RVA staff bus brought a load of people fresh off the boat to do their shopping. I watched as they walked sweating and wide eyed trying to convert shillings to dollars, find the boxed milk, figure out what cheese tasted good enough to buy and wonder what "mince" was. It was then that it dawned on me: I wasn't a freshman any more! I knew where to find the cereal, that Anchor cheese was the best even though it was the most expensive and that mince was ground beef. I had somehow figured out how to live here. It happened gradually over the last 10 months and seeing the new people made me realize just how far I had come.


So after many cold, gray, lonely months there was a bit of sunshine shining my way. School started back, our life activities started again and it started to warm up a little bit. So I am thankful. Thankful for God being there during those long winter days. Thankful for his provision of friends old and new. Thankful that he could use me to help others feel welcome here. He doesn't promise us it will be easy but he does promise he will be there with us.

There was one very hot break to the Long Winter and that was our trip to Dubai. You can look forward to that post and a photo catch up post next! Thanks for hanging with me if you haven't dropped me off your reader yet!

Mommy - what's that?

Not long ago Ford and I were reading a book together when he pointed and asked, as he often does, "what's that?". I looked and saw that he was pointing to . . . a traffic light. Yes, my little boy was wondering what that strange thing with multicolored lights in the street with all the cars and trucks might be!

I think back to our life before we left the States and I can count 3 traffic lights between our house and the grocery store, 5 between our house and preschool and probably 15 between our house and church (aaalll the way down 280). We were out and about in our car most days and since we lived in a modern American city we encountered many traffic lights as most Americans do. But now we live in non-urban Kenya where I drive a couple times a week around our small town. The kids sit in my lap, or in the front seat or in the way back totally unrestrained (my friends aren't believing the car seat fanatic would let her children ride around utterly unrestrained but, well, this is Africa). At least I don't let them drive motorcycles or ride on the TOP of my car like other missionary kids around here. So my son has no idea what a traffic light is. I tried to explain it but you really need to see them in action to understand.

So while we were in and around Nairobi last week I made sure to find some traffic lights! There are some in the "City Centre" that I remembered seeing and we were headed down there to visit the immigration office. It is a bit confusing though because most of the traffic lights are at roundabouts (those things we formerly called traffic circles) which, in our mind, totally defeats the purpose of a roundabout which is to keep traffic moving. So you have a roundabout with traffic lights at each entrance which is just a total mess!

Anyway, the first lights we came upon were not working. No surprise there. Ford was just terribly disappointed. The second set of lights was not on either. Now he was starting to thing this whole "red, yellow, green" thing was a sham. We finally find a roundabout where the lights are on but there are policemen directing the traffic and effectively overriding the traffic lights. So as he sits thrilled watching the light and waiting for the turn from red to green so he can shout "GO!" he is once again disappointed as we continue to sit through the "Green is for Go" light so as not to take out a Kenyan police officer and make a suicide leap into traffic in the circle.

He does get the gist of the whole idea of a traffic light now though. It's funny that cultural things like that kind of creep up on you. What kid in America doesn't know about a traffic light? What kid in Kenya does? Ours are kind of in between so I guess it makes sense that he sort of gets the idea but has never seen the beauty of an actual intersection with traffic lights managing traffic!

On the Road

Some of the most interesting sights in Kenya are on the road. Having spent a considerable amount of time in the developing world I don't notice a lot of things now (donkeys causing traffic jams, women carrying things on their heads, people pulling carts, families on motorcycles etc.) However, there are still lots of crazy and interesting things to be seen. Some of the signs are hysterical! I wish I had my camera for the "No Hooting" sign I saw the other day! Hooting as in "to hoot" or "one that hoots" (who is a hooter, I guess) which can be translated into "honking". I decided to keep my camera in my lap yesterday during our 1 hour drive from Nairobi to Kijabe to show some of the interesting sights . . .

Hawkers. These are people who make a living by "hawking" or selling goods to those stuck in some of the miserable traffic jams around Nairobi. It is amazing what can be had . . .

Do you need a ball or toys? Today is your lucky day!



Perhaps some educational posters for your little one?



Towels??



My favorite hawker sighting was a man carrying a satellite dish. Not kidding.

I thought this sign was funny :) Make mine a double!



This is something that I just can't wrap my mind around. This is how the people cross the HIGHWAY! If they haven't chipped away at the diving wall as shown here they just hop on over wherever they can carrying huge bunches of bananas, 5 liter bottles of milk and small children. Whatever. It is scary.



Need a lift up the hill?



Which lane do we drive in again?? I still try to get in on the wrong side of the car from time to time. I still turn on the wipers when I mean to turn on my turn signal. Driving on the other side isn't too difficult of a transition - the driver is still in the center of the road. Turning feels strange though.



Need a new cowhide?



Roadside rutabega?



This one might not make it up the hill without toppling over.



At the turnoff to Kijabe roasted maize awaits you.



Karibu Kijabe!

Making the news

I am so glad I decided to take the paper three days a week. I am much more in the loop as far as local news goes (since we don't have a tv)and I feel much more in touch with the culture. The articles can be very enlightening too. It is interesting to read Africans' perspective of events. For instance, how put off they were that VP Biden made a visit to Kenya but Obama has "snubbed" his homeland and how they are horrified at the "poverty/slum tourism" industry that has popped up as wealthy westerners make a stop by the slums of Nairobi between safaris to "help" the poor people or just to gawk. I am continually enlightened by some articles and outraged at others for instance those that suggest to Kenyans that they are somehow being cheated by their government because it does not fulfill the "basic responsibilities of government" which is providing housing for it's citizens as "developed countries do". Some things are amazing (such as the obituary for a 115 year old) and some are just sad. Like this one . . .

A slightly cheating post

Our friend Alyssa who is serving in the Post Residency Program at Tenwek Hospital here in Kenya came for a short visit this weekend and did a lovely blog post about it. I hope she doesn't mind but I'll just direct you over to her blog and you can read about our time together. Whew. That was the easiest blog I've done in a while. Thanks Alyssa (for the blogging and the wonderful visit!).

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to the wonderful father of my children! You are the most encouraging, loving and caring Daddy these kids could ever dream of having. Thank you for all you do for these sweet little ones. I hope they grow up to be just like their Daddy.

Dinner with friends

One of the best parts of our time here so far has been some of the wonderful friendships we have made. Mirelle (Mir-ay) and Heuric are two people that we have enjoyed getting to know and calling friends. They are from Madagascar (so that makes them Malagasi just in case you are wondering). He is a surgeon who has just completed his pediatric surgery fellowship here at Kijabe. Mirelle is a physician who works with Rhett in the AIDS relief program. It is encouraging to meet and know people like them who have dedicated their lives and careers to serving others. Before fellowship in Kijabe Heuric was a general surgeon with PAACS in Cameroon and they were also missionaries in Cameroon for several years before that. Mirelle is on her way to attend a Tropical Medicine course in the States - it will be her first time in the U.S. so it was fun to prep her and encourage her. She is a fantastic cook and I think I proved that by having three helpings at dinner.



Mirelle bonded with Gus one Sunday in the church nursery. Gus tolerates being away from me for about 10 minutes before he goes into hysterics. This is a new experience for me since Claire and Ford were always very easy to leave everywhere but now I have "that" baby who cries. Can't blame the poor little guy he hasn't been out of my sight basically his whole life so he is a little partial. But poor Mirelle tried to handle him in nursery one Sunday and had to deal with Gus's wrath. I was glad she got to see what a cool little guy he really is (when Mommy is near by at least!). (There will be few pictures of Gus without something in his mouth for a while - he is working on 6 new teeth right now - 4 of which are huge molars. His mouth looks like a minefield - bless his heart.)


And just so we could make a grand exit from our lovely dinner Ford chased a soccer ball into a concrete wall and ended up with this goose egg. Claire hit her head into a concrete wall in Peru and the exact thing happened - huge goose egg erupted in about 12 seconds after the injury. It's amazing it can happen so fast! Good thing they are both fairly hard headed :)

Kijabe Ballet

One of the unique things about living in Kijabe is some of the more American or Western activities that go on here because of RVA. One of those things that we have enjoyed so much is ballet. It was a wonderful "connector" for Claire since she danced in Birmingham. Before we left I could tell her to look forward to dancing in Kenya and she could feel connected to one of her favorite activities from home by dancing here. As most are most things in Kenya - ballet was a little different. Her teacher had pretty high expectations of her Kindergarten and younger class. For instance there was no "prompter" available off stage to help the girls remember the dance steps they had spent so long learning so when they all came out in a big blur of pink they just sort of stood there and waited for direction which never came. They rallied a bit and of course everyone always thinks the little ballerinas are adorable (even if they are staring like deer in headlights!). Here are some shots from Coppelia . . .








Ford is very proud of his sister, as always. This little boy has watched a lot of ballet in his life. He learned to walk in the observation area of the community dance center in Homewood :)


Sadly, the ballet teacher is moving back to Ireland so the Kijabe ballet is no more. We hope someone else will come along who can fulfill this role again. Claire has enjoyed it so much and it is sad to not think of another recital next year.