Day Three

We had another quiet day for the most part yesterday.  Jim and I took a walk down the street with a few others to go to the local "Walmart", known as Nakumatt.  It's NOT a Walmart, and it definitely has Kenyan flair, but we were encouraged by the amount of stuff we could find there.  

We purchased a few snacks for the kids for the next three weeks at "Africa School" (our orientation), and walked around just to see what groceries we will be able to get once we move into our home in three weeks.  We left the kids at the guesthouse with one of the RVA moms, and took in our walk through Nairobi without them.  

It's hard to describe, and we didn't take any pictures, because we really wanted our camera to come home with us instead of getting stolen!  There were many people on the sides of  the street walking.  It's a main road into downtown Nairobi, so there were matatu (public transportation... very crowded little vans) stops every so often.  And plenty of other automobile traffic right next to the path.  It was a bit of a rainy, misty morning, so we got rather muddy along the way.  

It's dirty (but not overwhelmingly so), and the buildings are often run down, compared to American standards.  There are little makeshift buildings (shacks?) in places, there are nicer, large buildings being built in others.  We saw five armed guards or policemen in the store, and more outside.  And by armed, I don't mean a little firearm like our policemen carry in the states.  We are still getting used to the thick accents when English is spoken, and ready to know a little Swahili to make communication more comfortable.  So I suppose all this to say: we were on sensory overload!

So after that outing, we came back and enjoyed the guesthouse grounds some more.

The bird books are still packed so we can't identify these birds, but they're pretty!

Passionfruit flower

A look out past the guesthouse grounds

We got the kids a treat at Nakumatt... strawberry milk!  (There's also pineapple, coffee, bubble gum, banana...)

So now we are off to our orientation in Machakos, Kenya, for three weeks.  We'll have a lot of cultural activities, lots of learning about living in Africa, and who knows what else!  The internet may be limited there, so we'll keep in touch when we can, but it may be a while.  Thanks for your prayers and love!