hectic but good

Last week, there weren’t a lot of posts. Why? Because my life is not all that interesting. Really. I get up, do my daily B90x reading & have breakfast, then I get dressed and go back to the laptop broken up by the occasional trip to Nakumatt or the kitchen. See, VERY boring… so I don’t feel like there is anything to post.

But today made up for it. I got up, normal routine, and because its Monday that means leaving by 8:45 for staff meeting @ the DOVE office. When I got home, the first thing I noticed when I walked in the door was the smell of BLEACH! This is what I saw when I walked around the corner from the lounge (living room for the Americans) into the kitchen:

Yup, Irene & Mercy had emptied every cabinet & were scrubbing everything down with bleach water. What prompted this you may ask? Me. Yup, yours truly. See last week I casually mentioned to Diane that I’d seen some cockroaches when I went in at night to make my tea before bed, & that the kitchen could really use some organization. I didn’t know we had measuring cups until Mercy found one for me while I was making some soup (how else could I figure out how much 850ml of water means in english?) So, she said something to the girls & boy howdy did they get busy.

Now, this means that tomorrow afternoon, Mercy & I get to go into the kitchen & put it all away in a lovely organized fashion. Makes my heart happy… I’m sure this doesn’t take my mom by surprise at all because I tend to do this to her kitchen whenever I return after a prolonged absence. (especially corralling the plastic lids & containers, they breed like bunnies!)
BUT that is not the end of my day. Nope, Diane came over a little after 4 and asked if I would go w/ Bouvince to the FOREX office & cash a check and run a few other errands. As a bonus I got to drive! (well at least while it was daylight – no one likes to drive after dark!) So we went to Karen & the FOREX office, then back toward the house to the feed store (gotta fatten up the chickens!), and then back toward town & the Junction shopping mall/plaza to meet Debbi’s bus. Just to make life interesting, that meant driving through a 4-way intersection that doesn’t line up 3 times. And if that wasn’t enough, there was a cow in the middle of the road. Ahh, life in Kenya.
However, there was a VERY big upside to waiting for Debbi at Junction. That is where JAVA HOUSE is. JH is a very western style coffee house/restaurant. That means I was able to get a large iced vanilla latte & a fruit salad. SO yummy… Take a look for yourself:
So, all in all a good day. Tomorrow looks promising too.

airing some dirty laundry…

Real quick before I start this post… I’m endeavoring to post 5 times a week, well at least here at the beginning of this adventure so I can introduce you to my crazy new life & the people that help me survive it…

One of the things that I have to learn to live in Kenya is how to properly do laundry – by hand. In the past the closest I’ve come is washing out someunmentionables (but did I just mention them?) in the sink while I was traveling. Here, there is NO washing machine, except for the two that God gave me on the end of my arms.So today Irene, Ruth, & Mercy offered to teach me. As I said, I’ve never really done anything like this before so I decided to start small with only a few things & nothing big. Suffice it to say there was much laughter at my expense. Though they promised that I would be an expert by the time I leave.

And, I even took a few pictures & I’m willing to share them with you. Why? Because I dare any of you machine owners to get outside & do this… Perhaps I’ve reached a new level of domestic diva-ness. Just wait ’til its time to do sheets & towels…
This is the laundry area… those are my clothes in the smaller blue tub
Here I am filling the laundry tub w/ water…

Now I move the tub over to the concrete so I can wash & not make a larger mess by making mud…

Finally, its all done & hung on the line… should be dry in just a few hours thanks to the abundant sunshine here…