Untukmu Para Pengunjung

Wow - we're having the vacation of a lifetime! We just got back from our Safari in the Maasai Mara. I totally recommend it - it's like "The Lion King" in real life! We saw so many animals! We spent a lot of time tracking a pride of lions. We also saw cheetahs (and some baby cheetahs), leopards, buffaloes, giraffes, zebras, a black rhino (very rare), elephants, thousands of wildebeests, gazelles, hyenas, elands, and a warthog (being gnawed on by lions - mmmm). John was fascinated by the lions, since "shumba" is his totem. We stayed in a beautiful resort with a swimming pool and all-you-can-eat buffets. It was cheaper than the rough-it-tent-cook-your-own-food package. Go figure. John, Rhonda and I had our own safari matatu (van) and driver to take us around the park each day. It was amazing fun. We also learned a lot about the Maasai culture. They wear red Maasai blankets, which actually look quite Scottish to us. And it's amazing to see this splash of red in the middle of this vast green/brown expanse. It made me nervous that they were herding cattle so close to the lions, but obviously they know what they're doing. It was explained to me that they're strong and thin from a diet of cow blood, milk and meat. We saw a jumping contest too. Did you know that male Maasai attractiveness is based on ability to jump high?

Now we're back in Nairobi. John ran the half marathon this morning. He was going to do the full, but the altitude and weather conditions are quite different here, so he made a wise decision to finish a bit early. Because of his last marathon time, he was placed in the "elite" section. He tried to go with the regular marathoners, but they wouldn't let him. He was quite easy to pick out of the crowd, which was nice for me. I think it's really cool that John ran the marathon in KENYA with all of these top runners. I must say, they are skinny and SO fast!

Wow - back at the internet cafe! Yesterday we met up with Rhonda and Nkatha. It was SO nice to see some friends from home (although Nkatha is from Kenya - she had just come to U of T to study and sing in choir with us!) Yesterday we went back to the giraffe park (it IS cool - trust me!) and today we took a road trip to Lake Naivasha in the Rift Valley. It was beautiful. We saw a hippo and a buffalo that looked a bit drunk. We also spent hours trying to find Hell's Gate (a national park). By the time we got to Hell's Gate, we had to turn around and head home. We thought it was quite symbolic anyway! :) On our way here to the mall we stopped in at a baby orphanage. Wow. There were some cuties. I don't know how you'd ever choose. I wanted to take them all home. Tomorrow we go on safari... God is blessing us so much here in Kenya.

We are having an AWESOME time in Kenya! We arrived here on Friday (Kenyatta Day), and we've done so much already. Within minutes of being in the country we saw a giraffe on the side of the road, so we knew it would be a good place to visit. Some of our highlights:

* Feeding giraffes (oh my gosh - one of the coolest experiences of my entire life - looking into the eyes of a giraffe and feeding it pellets from my hand! John said he hasn't seen me that happy since our wedding day. It was just like a dream. I loved it! Pictures will come later...)
* Walking around Kibera (one of Africa's biggest slums - and the one that was featured in the movie "The Constant Gardener." Everywhere we went there were tin shacks, garbage, and kids screaming "muzungu! I'm fine! How are you?" We also had some sweet nursery school students sing to us - 85% of them are orphans, and it was very touching).
* Seeing storks (I don't think I've seen them in real life before, and there's a whole bunch of them that just hang out at one of Nairobi's big intersections) - oh, we saw a camel too.
* Slumming in the rain (our first morning in the country it was raining a bit, so I went out for my run. It started to pour, and I was free entertainment for so many people who cracked up laughing seeing a drenched white person. I also got quite lost, and ended up walking all through Kagemi - another large slum - up and down hills with the bright red earth. People were very helpful in getting me to the main road. John is loving the running here, because there are so many hills. He's even registered for a marathon on Sunday!)
* Going to the biggest corps (Statistically speaking, Nairobi Central Corps is the biggest Salvation Army church in the world. We went there Sunday morning for the English service, and for the first bit, it was only us and one other guy. I thought it was ironic. More people came later).
* Visiting an orphanage (we went to Kabete Children's Home today. It's run by The Salvation Army. I met two cuties - Faith and Susan).
* Going to Kithituni (we went outside of Nairobi for a couple of areas to visit a rural area called Kithituni, where The Salvation Army is doing some really cool community work. We met a beautiful woman named Agnes, who was orphaned at a young age, and has put 12 children - and many grand-children - through school. I asked her the key to a good, long life. "Trust God of course." Of course...)
* Eating Indian food, and home-made lasagna, and a chocolate brownie sundae and oreos (you know we love food! You can actually buy Lindor chocolate in Nairobi - imagine!)
* Taking a hot shower every morning (it's glorious!)

Man, it's amazing. We're staying with the Pelletier family - who are good friends of my brother's in-laws. They are a beautiful, kind, generous, wonderful family, and we're really enjoying spending time with them. They have 2 great kids - Josh and Jena. They adopted Jena from India. John totally wants a girl now! :) The adventure continues...

The first one advertising Kill Bill Movie. I am not to sure if the image of blood would illicit negative connotations with the movie.

The use of the soap dispenser in the next ad, I do not know what it is promoting dont know if they would be able to get away with this in Australia too.

From New Zealand the stickers are placed in mens urinals. When the sticker come in touch with urine they reveal the sticker of 'If you drink then drive you are a bloody idiot.' When flushed with clean water they are covered with black again.

Quirky advertisement for woman to get Brazillians. The ad is placed conveniently under the basins

Last night I was visiting and calling some people, to say good-bye before we head off to Nairobi this morning. I was really touched as people seemed sincerely sad about us leaving. I heard some really nice comments like, "but you make me laugh every day - I'll be so sad when you're gone" or "but I will MISS you - 2 weeks is forever" or (my favourite) "Rochelle - I love you!" We have such a big, wonderful, caring family here in Zim - it is awesome. It's also just really nice when people share words of life with you. Oh, and don't worry - John's loved too. 3 of his friends came over last night to hang out with him, and they prayed for our trip. It was so kind. Oh man, a life of love is a life worth living (I know, I know, John - I should work for Hallmark!) :)

When I was a kid and people would ask me what my favourite part of myself was, I would always say my imagination. I've always liked making up stories, and letting my imagination run wild. It's also nice to see someone else's imagination working. I have a friend from Tanzania, and she asked me to help her with her English. She only got to Grade 7. So, we meet and go over dialogues from her textbook and do grammar exercises, but my favourite is when she writes compositions. Of course, in her schooling, everything was very prescriptive - memorize this, copy this, etc. There wasn't much room for creativity. It's wonderful to watch her, as an adult, creating and imagining. She was asked to write a fictitious report on a school club or team. She said that when she was in school she sang in the choir, so we used that as a base. It was wonderful to watch her write this composition, because she got to excited about it. She named the choir Tam Tam ("sweet sweet" in Swahili), and made herself the star singer. She kept laughing and making comments as she was writing, like "wow - I really am a good singer" or "Yes, the choir really is sweet!" She was really picturing herself in the story, and it was a wonderful thing.

And imagine this - tomorrow we're taking a holiday to Kenya and then Rwanda. 2 brand new countries for the McAlisters. I'm so excited!