Maji Sana!

As I have mentioned numerous times in past posts everyday is different and offers a new challenge or surprise.  This lovely Saturday morning Natalie and I woke up to standing water coming from the bathroom, down the hall way, and even under the wall into my room! It was a shock when I tried to get out of bed and my comforter that I had kicked part way off made a sloshing sound when I moved it.  That was at approximately 6:15AM.  Natalie and I spent the next hour or so using every towel in the house to soak up and ring water out into buckets.  You know you are in Kenya when instead of worrying about what may be ruined by the water you are worrying about how much water is being wasted.  I think Natalie and I were both more upset by the incredible amount of water that wasted.  There are so many days when we do not have water and of course, on the night that our toilet is leaking water comes pouring into the house.

Water has been a common theme in my past couple of weeks.  The short rainy season has definitely started.  It literally rains everyday at least for a little while.  Maji sana, the title of this post, means a lot of water in Swahili.  It makes life very very muddy.  It also makes everything greener so I am really ok with it right now.  Ask me next year when the long rains come and I may have a different attitude.

Last week was fairly quiet in terms of work.  The election was a pretty big deal here, not just for Americans, but even Kenyans.  I went over the Mike and Leslie's to watch the election coverage.  It was "Terrific Tuesday" at Pizza Inn so we brought in pizza and just sat in front of the TV.  It was something I had not done in a good while, but was a very simple, much needed taste of home.  Kenya is probably be the second best place to the US to celebrate the Obama victory.  In fact our staff meeting was cancelled on Wednesday and we all rested a little bit.  In the office we even had some "Pure Heaven Celebration Juice" to celebrate.  A.k.a- sparkling grape juice.  I got to play some football this week which I think was good for my soul.  I never realized how much I missed it. Unfortunately I am no where near as fast as the boys at Tumaini.  I will do some sprint work outs and I should probably so something about my footwork as well.

This coming week is the last week Natalie is here before she heads home for about a month.  I will miss her for sure, but I am excited for her to get to go back and spend time with family and friends.  This week is full of meetings with people to get feedback about the program so we can make the necessary changes before we start everything up again.  Next Saturday we are having an end of the year celebration at this place called Splash, which is like a water park.  I will be sure to take pictures and tell you all about the experience.  Since this is just a brief update, there may be another post to come this week if I am feeling ambitious.

I will take one moment to be excited about UGA going to the SEC Championship!!! Go DAWGS!