Kenya Part 2: A Maasai Village

Before heading back to the Nairobi area, we visited a Maasai village.  The lovely women shown above greeted us in song as we arrived.  It was the song that they greet their husbands with each time they return.  (The women basically run the village year-round while the men take the cattle out to graze for months at a time.)

This is Mama William with her grandson.

It is the role of the Maasai woman to build the house.  This is the house that Mama William built.  It is a process that takes several months.  They use sticks and mud, then they add manure to keep the termites away.  There are no windows, but just a few holes, since the darkness keeps the masses of flies out.  They make everything out of the stick and mud material, including their bed, which they cover with a cow hide for comfort.  An item that Kenyan village women aspire to own is a cupboard to store dishes in.  Mama William just made her own built-in shelves, as seen in the bottom left corner. 

Some friendly children from the village.

Saying our farewells to sweet Mama William.

(Feel free to contact me for tips on how to style your hair like mine below.  Hot, I know.)

It was another good day in Kenya.

We certainly felt the contrast of the rural versus urban that is so extreme in Kenya as we returned.  Not to dwell on the negative (Nairobi really is an amazing and relatively well-developed city), but the statistics on this slum we flew over,  Kibera, are just shocking.  Kibera is roughly the same size as New York City's Central Park, but with a population density estimated at 800 people per acre.  The average makeshift home is less than 10ft x 10ft, most housing an average of five people.  Two in every three residents must defecate in the open and the waste runs straight into the dam which is used for swimming, bathing and laundry.  And the part that really pulls at my public health heart-strings: there are more than 50,000 AIDS orphans in this one slum.  The safari was over and it was time to get back to work!

Kenya Part 1: Safari in the Masai Mara

I consider Africa my second home and last month Jason and I were finally able to share an experience there together!  One of my former colleagues is the Senior Medical Advisor & Regional Coordinator for Africa at CMMB and he was kind enough to set Jason up to volunteer at a hospital just outside of Nairobi.  Meanwhile, I did some volunteer work for Touch a Life Africa Mission.  Of course, no pre-travel plans have ever remained the same in Africa and upon our arrival we discovered that no operations would take place at the hospital over the Easter weekend.  We promptly switched our safari plans and after only two days of work, we were seeing the untouched parts of Kenya.  It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, not to mention an incredible anniversary weekend!

Our tiny plane shoved about a dozen people into an extremely tight space.  This was my view.

As we landed, we were able to see some views of the local villages.

We saw innumerable exotic animals just on the drive from the airstrip to our camp.  You can see how huge these ostriches are by the size of the gazelles in the background.

Before you look below, let me tell you that we stayed at a tented camp, called "Ol Seki".  It had no fences to keep the animals away.  We were roughing it in the wild.

Okay, so our tent in the wild was no where near roughing it.  It was definitely the nicest we stayed while we were in Kenya and possibly the nicest place we've stayed since our honeymoon.  Hard to believe it is a tent in the middle of nowhere, right?

Then off we went on our safari!  We saw more animals than I can even post, but here are some.

Topis, a warthog, lions (we ran into a pride of 7 male lions, which is rare), and a baby giraffe.

We saw zebras everywhere we went, this baboon I captured from our tent (we found a group of them about a foot from our tent one time), a hyaena who just finished eating its kill, and a group of buffalo.

An eagle, hippopotamuses and elephants.  What we didn't see were people.  We were on a huge conservation where only one other camp was allowed to drive people around on the land, so we didn't see anyone else - it was just me, Jason, our two guides and the animals.

After our safari, we were able to relax and shower before dinner.  As you can see, Jason fit right in with nature. Sometimes I accidentally took pictures of him, thinking I was seeing another strange animal.

Below are the library tent and the dining tent.  There was only one other family staying there at the same time as us and we ate meals at one table with them and the Kenyan manager, who answered all of our cultural questions.  It was perfect.

That evening, we did a "sundowner" - a night drive, where we stopped for drinks to watch the sunset.  We were able to see and hear many of the nocturnal animals.

Everywhere we looked was a picture waiting to be taken.

The next morning, we did a sunrise drive.  We saw many large groups of animals, like elephants.

And giraffes.  There are seven of them in this one photo.

But the most exciting adventure of the day came when the impala and the lion met.

We were watching a lioness and her two cubs when our amazing guide could tell that they were hungry and ready for a kill.  And then it happened - the lion suddenly sprinted after two impalas!  The mother impala escaped, but the baby was caught by the female cub.  Then the three lions fought over the small kill, with the male cub getting the bulk of it (lions are not so different from humans, I see).  It was amazing to watch the circle of life happen right before our eyes!  A baby impala is not anywhere near enough food for three lions, but since it was the end of dry season, they would take anything they could get.  Here is a video of the process, if you can stomach it.  In case you are wondering, it is not easy to video while standing up in an off-roading vehicle.

If you didn't think you could handle the video, here is a sneak peak of what you missed out on.  Crazy, right?

With our new perspective, we counted this zebra with a bite out of its leg as lucky.

It was hard to believe that all this was happening within view of our tent.  Certainly an unforgettable trip.  And that was just the beginning.... 

Amsterdam

On our way to Kenya in April, we had a 23-hour layover in Amsterdam that Jason and I actually enjoyed.  I have been to Amsterdam several times and seem to always have bad luck there.  Past incidents include:

• ran out of gas somewhere between Paris and Amsterdam during a rain storm
• car broken into
• car "booted" by police
• got to our awesome-deal hotel only to find out we were in the center of the red light district on the ground floor with a large window that people thought was part of the show
• was locked in said hotel alone with creepy Bates-Hotel-like man knocking on the door regularly
• was nearly killed by one of the million bicyclists who apparently always have the right-of-way
• "slept" in a tiny French car with three friends in the chill of February and awoke to someone looking into our foggy windows

Granted, most of my experiences either had something to do with the fact that my friend drove her car or that I was a college student trying to get by on minimal funds, so this time was much more positive.  We were able to really enjoy the charming streets and canals and we made sure to stay for less than 24 hours, before the city realized I was back.

We went on a boat tour of the city, like any good tourist should.

We also went to the Anne Frank Museum, the flower market, had delicious dutch pancakes at The Pancake Bakery and most importantly purchased some dutch necessities like stroopwafels and Vla.  Vla is basically pudding in a milk carton and it is genius!  Jason was skeptical at first, but I caught him enjoying it anyway.  Worst mistake of the trip: I was still recovering from the crazy illness that sent me to the ER five days before we left and wasn't feeling well enough to really chug down our Vla, so I put it into our hotel fridge and forgot it the next morning.  Tragic, I know.

Moment of the Month

Gabby loves to say prayers, but lately they have taken an unusual twist.  Here are some quotes:

• "We are thankful we are safe from the Big, Bad Wolf."
• "We are thankful the big dinosaurs can't bite us."
• "We are thankful that we could go somewhere else to eat."
• "We are thankful for whatever."
• "We are thankful for everything as well."
• "We are thankful we can go all the places Mommy & Daddy tell us to go."
• "We are thankful that we can all pray together."
• "We are thankful that we can spend some evening together."
• "Help us to not hit each other."
• "We are thankful that we can live in houses."
• "We are thankful that we can be SO good."

The hardest part about some of her prayers is that they go on in a list like this for 5 minutes sometimes and Jason and I cannot hold in our laughter for that long.  The few times that we have burst out unexpectedly, she just looks at us the way that parents look at their children when they are out of line and have no reason to be so.  

You Know He's a Good Friend When...

That's right, it's Gabby's friend Landon again.  It is no wonder why she likes hanging out with him.

The Last Few Months

Just when our two readers had given up on our blog ever being updated... voila.  We are back.  I wish after three months of a hiatus that this post would actually be interesting, but things were so busy I didn't even take pictures.  Well, we did take lots of pictures in Kenya, but that will have to wait until next week.  In the meantime, this is what I remember from the blur of the last months:

• Jason went to San Francisco for a conference and learned some new things about how to do orthopedic work in developing countries.
• Jason and I had a superdate a couple weeks after Valentine's Day and used multiple gift cards, which allowed us to have a dinner followed by the show, Oklahoma, then a night in downtown Seattle.  The next day we slept in, went to brunch at a French place near Pike Place Market, walked the streets and then reluctantly returned home.  The girls stayed with the Murphy Family.  (We watched their youngest while they went to Disneyland, so it felt like we even had a gift card for child care!)  It was a great weekend.
• Gabby had her "Spectacle" / school performance.  She was a ladybug who danced a cute little dance to the Bear Necessities song in French.  She didn't run off the stage, so we count it as a success.
• Gabby and I went to see Snow White put on by Pacific Northwest Ballet.  She loved the performance and has yet to stop asking when she gets to start ballet lessons.
• Our family managed to go ice-skating again with Gabby's school.  Gabby is pretty talented on ice.  Claire not so much.

For Gabby's Valentine's Day party, I ordered some valentine cards in French through Scholastic.  They came the day after Valentine's Day.  Not very helpful.  So the night before her party, we were suddenly frantically putting these together from our own odds and ends.  (We made these same cards two years ago, but luckily Gabby didn't remember.)

Gabby was pretty excited to come home with so many valentines from her school friends.

Gabby has been going to a lot of birthday parties lately.  She does cards for each friend completely by herself.  She also comes home from each party with a new party plan for when she turns 4 (... in 6 months).

Moment of the Month

I suppose the most shocking moment of the month for January goes to Claire.  The day after she turned 18 months, the girls were playing hide-and-seek in the bathroom closet and came across Gabby's old training toilet. You would think it was a buried treasure chest, the way they were so excited about it.  The next thing I know, Claire is sitting on the toilet and going pee!

We all assumed it was just a stroke of luck, but when she asked to go again later, she did it again - almost instantly - and has continued to do so 3-5 times a day since then (for almost a week now) with mostly dry diapers.  I am a little confused because I still have her mentally categorized as a baby (it seems with each child you think they are comparably younger and capable of less, perhaps because you aren't looking so anxiously towards the next milestone).  So I guess I am being dragged into potty-training, ready or not.  The funny thing is that we thought that Claire would be our difficult child to train because she finds so much joy in doing the opposite of what we want her to do - oh, wait - she is doing just that.  Plus, this is only the beginning....

Whistler

Last week, we spent 5 days in Whistler, a ski resort town just north of us in Canada.  We made plans hoping to give the girls a little taste of real winter fun, knowing that Seattle rarely gets snow.  Then Seattle's uncharacteristic winter storm hit the week before, stealing a bit of the excitement.  Nevertheless, we had a fabulous time and we are glad that we went.

I really wish I had video of the girl's first day sledding.  It went a little something like this: 

• Top of the hill - smiles; screams of joy and excitement
• Middle of the hill - eyes clamped closed; faces scrunched; silence
• Bottom of the hill - faces splashed with snow and tears; screams of misery; "I don't want to go again!" shouted multiple times after stopping.

I suppose it was not the most successful first activity for a week in the snow.  In retrospect, we should have started out a little slower.  (For their first time down, Jason put both girls on the sled by themselves and let them go.)

We realized we better adjust the girls to the climate slowly and played at a park - familiar territory for any child.

We stopped to pose by the Olympic rings.  After the picture, Gabby explained to Claire, "I have no idea what those are for."

Then we discovered Gabby's niche: ice-skating.  She was a star on ice and surprisingly stable.  We had to return the next day for more.

At the (free!) outdoor ice-skating rink, they had these little cart things for kids to push, which really helped Gabby learn quickly.  This freed up Jason to show off his North Dakota ice-skating skills from his youth.

Day two of sledding went a lot smoother.  Possibly due to the fact that we didn't have to use our feet to stop before crashing, spraying the girls with snow in the process.  Of course, there was still the time that Jason decided to create a jump and went over it with Gabby.  Poor thing went flying up in the air and almost swore sledding off for life:

Our friends, the Hammonds, joined us for the weekend, including our sledding adventure.  For some reason, they couldn't ever go down straight.  (We'll pretend it was their sled's fault.)

 The oldest Hammond kids are able to babysit, so we even got a kid-free night out.  I wish I had taken a picture of the enchanting chalet-filled walking streets.  Everywhere we walked looked like a scene from a fairy tale.

We ate yummy food at Flipside Restaurant and enjoyed good (uninterrupted) conversation.  We are so glad they were able to join us!  (And not just for the babysitting perk, though it didn't hurt their case.)

Nonni & Papa B Visit

We happily welcomed Nonni and B for an extended weekend this month, although it has led to some grandparent withdrawal for all of us after being so spoiled with company.

With Nonni & B, our first stop was to Snoqualmie Falls, just a 15 minute drive from Gabby's school.

It may not seem like a very pleasant time of year for a waterfall, especially since it was extra cold last weekend, but it may have been even more impressive.  The mist from the waterfall had created a shell of ice on every plant in the vicinity.  So remarkable.  (You may need to click on the image below to see what I am referring to.)

As you can see, the girls are quite comfortable with their grandparents.

We enjoyed the French tradition of eating galette des Rois (king cake).  The pastry is sold in France during the month of January (especially January 6th) to celebrate Epiphany / the three kings arrival to visit Christ.  In the cake, there is a figurine hidden.  The person who finds it in their piece becomes king or queen for the day and gets to wear a crown.  Gabby found a little king in her piece and was very excited.  Lucky for her, she was already wearing one of her royal gowns.

[On a side note:  The first time my family had this pastry in France, my dad discovered a figurine in his piece and we thought the baker had accidentally dropped it in.  At least until he bought another one and bit into a second figurine.]  :)

The next day we went to the Museum of Flight.  The highlights for the adults were going aboard Air Force One (from the Eisenhower/Kennedy/Johnson/Nixon era) and the Concorde, not to mention seeing the historical and experimental planes.  The kids on the other hand, enjoyed anything that they were allowed to ride on and steer themselves.  

Then came the snow!  We tested out the kid's snow gear.  After Claire face-planted into the snow, we determined that her hand-me-down boots were too big.  Gabby, on the other hand, was so toasty that she would have stayed outside all day if we had let her.

Our drunken snowman defied gravity... for a little while at least.

First Day of Primary & Nursery

At Church, Gabby has graduated to the Sunbeam class!  She loves Primary and her class of 8 is an adorable group of kids who go everywhere with their arms folded and their heads bowed.  :)  She has already memorized all three verses of this month's new song, "As a Child of God," and sings it so continuously throughout each day that Claire is beginning to pick it up, too.

Claire will officially be in the Nursery class in a week, but she was invited to go early since the older kids moved up.  She is as happy as can be and reportedly acts a lot better there than she ever does at home.  :)  Apparently, the trick to having your child move into Nursery without any problems is to abandon them early:  Jason and I both have Sunday callings, so our friends have been watching her during classes.  She was already used to us ditching her, so now she is just relieved to be able to run around, play and eat snacks.