This entry may be my longest yet. I kept a list during the week so that when I finally had time to blog I could write out my entry and not forget quite so much as I normally do.

This last week I looked down at my feet and saw my tennis shoes. They were rusty looking. When I bought them they were bright white. The dirt on our soccer field is this color. I’ve only seen pictures of red dirt and of course seen it in Anne of Green Gables on Prince Edward Island. I quite enjoy looking out over our soccer field. The red dirt against the green grass, with the blue sky above, and varied green trees behind makes for a beautiful scene. I run around this field twice a week. My students have PE on Tuesdays and Wednesdays at the end of the day. While they are out for PE I take the opportunity to get a little exercise in. It’s a great release for the culture stress that sometimes tends to build up.

One night week before last one of the guy teachers came over to use our water so he could take a shower. His water had already been out for a week at his apartment. Well he rode his bike to our place. While he was in the shower we heard a light knock at the door. I opened the door and one of the girls in our apartment complex stood before me. She leaned forward and pointed to our friend’s bike. She simply said, “Can I have that bike?” She was 100% serious! I said “no honey you can’t have our friend’s bike.” She shrugged her shoulders and cheerfully said, “ok.”
My roommate Amy and I took a taxi for the first time last week. We shared it with Amber and her daughter Abbey. Amber’s husband teaches at the school. It was quite the experience. It was raining and we were stuck in serious traffic. We were coming from a shopping center called YaYa. YaYa is a four-minute walk from our house but it was late at night and dangerous to walk home. People were driving in the wrong lane to get around the traffic and were causing more traffic problems. People were driving along the ‘sidewalk’. The sidewalks here are not nice cement ones. They are basically dirt paths. There are also no stoplights here. While waiting in the taxi another taxi driver turned in the middle of the street to go the opposite direction and yelled out to us about ‘the manic driving’ in Kenya. He was quite amusing and we got a kick out of him.

Coming back from school one day the car Amy and I were riding in with Peter and his family got stuck in traffic. It was extremely backed up. The driver, Peter, takes his car off the main road and onto the ‘sidewalk’ with a stream of cars already flowing in that direction. We skipped so many cars that we probably saved twenty minutes. In the States we would have gotten a hefty ticket but hey this isn’t the States. Good thing because it was quite fun and exciting dodging people.
My birthday was this past Tuesday. I turned twenty-six years old. It turned out to be a great day. I went out to dinner with some of the teachers at a restaurant called ‘The Rusty Nail’. Don’t let the name fool you. It was definitely a classy little restaurant. The weather was perfect to eat outdoors and the scenery was lush and green.

The school year is in full swing. I struggle with wanting to do my best and not burning out. I realize that the expectations here are not as great as teaching in the States, but that doesn’t lessen my eagerness to do my best for the Lord. After four weeks I’m finally beginning to get adjusted to the curriculum. We took a break from school and had a retreat to Lukenya Getaways. It was very relaxing. I read almost an entire book while there. I was able to lounge in the shade with beautiful surroundings. On the way to Lukenya Getaways and back home I saw giraffes, zebras, impalas, gazelles, and wildebeests. The way home was just as bumpy as the way there. When we got to Nairobi people were between the cars in traffic selling things. Several people on the bus bought items from them. Behind me were two of the teacher’s daughters. They were listening to an ipod together and were singing and laughing. It carried through the whole bus and made for lighthearted fun.

We had devotional times during the retreat. There was a visiting pastor who preached to us. On Friday morning he gave us a message about disappointment that was very convicting. He talked about expectations and how we all come with them and when we get here we can sometimes get discouraged because of them. He also made the statement ‘it doesn’t take long to get over culture shock, but you live every day with culture stress’. That statement is very true. I’m accustomed to seeing people openly urinating on the side of the road and goats wandering around aimlessly, but I come home exhausted every day from life being harder here. There aren’t all the amenities that the States offer. Even with the culture stress I wouldn’t give it up for anything in the world. I’m right where God wants me to be and He is my strength and rock. I have more time to spend in His Word and talk to him. I don’t have the distractions that I had in the States. My relationship with my sweet Jesus grows sweeter with each passing day.