SM family

Note: Pictures taken by Melissa or Katie unless specified

Tanzi is pretty much awesome. She's already graduated and spent many years as a camp director, so she's pretty awesome with the kids. I would LOVE to be in her computer classes, or even PE! (and that's saying something!)
Whether it's teaching and connecting with the kids, or force-feeding me swahili words in the library, Tanzi is crazy passionate about everything she does, making her the perfect person to spend a year in Africa with!

 Jaqui is the one and only non-american in our group of SMs. She's from Canada, which makes her that much more awesome! A crazy talented musician and artist, Jaqui has led us in praise time and jam sessions, with a voice that really needs to be recorded. (she even sang her maid of honor speech at her sisters wedding! How awesome is that?) Even though she's crazy talented, both with music, art, and in the front office here at Maxwell, she's still super down to earth and incredibly humble.

Katie is a constant source of non-stop fun. She's the one who brought our wonderfully growing quote book (which is roughly half full of her own hilarious words!). A junior from Walla Walla, Katie is exceptionally good at photography and storytelling, and not so great at making up her mind. She said she's the "special ed" at the elementary this year, but her specialness really comes from her love of summer camp, and determination to get things done. Kenya wouldn't be the same without her!   

Taylor is the assistant girls dean this year, but with the dean lacking, she has gone far beyond her job description to make sure that the girls at Maxwell have a great year. Of all the SMs, I think Taylor is the most unique. From her assortment of random instruments and music, to her obsession with her celtic heritage, Taylor makes sure that she remains true to her one-of-a-kind self. Her dedication to this year is inspiring; from getting up before any of the rest of us even think about stirring (even though she's not a morning person), to showing patience and kindness to Sofia (girl with special needs), Taylor's definitely a great person to have around! (this is one of the few pictures that I took)

Keith, my fellow traveler, is the only guy SM at Maxwell this year. He now has 7 wives (the girl SMs), as well as his own girlfriend. I haven't seen him too much since school started, but that's just because he's off in the dorm building friendships with all of the guys there. Keith is all around awesome: He plays the guitar like non other, loves to be adventurous, and drives in downtown nairobi at night like a boss. Keith is a great addition to our team, and we're all glad he's able to deal with 7 girls! As he said - "I grew up with one sister, what's 7 more?" (I took this picture!)

Macy is my roommate and a constant source of entertainment. Not a day goes buy that doesn't include some insights from Macy, which are usually hilarious! Macy loves to think out loud, and since we sit in the library for most of the day together, I get to be part of a lot of role playing! This year, Macy is not messing around! She has a bullwhip in her back pocket, and she's not afraid to use it.

Melissa is the second teacher in the elementary school this year. She is a passionate elementary ed major who loves the outdoors and asking questions. She's also super fast! She rivals me for the fastest eater on campus, walks fast, and runs fast! I know that she will be the first one to the top of Mt Kenya when we climb it next semester. But no matter how fast she's going, she always finds time to slow down to offer a helping hand. I've already been blessed by her advice and her encouraging touch.

This years SM team is pretty much the best! This picture says it all... :)

Kissing Giraffes

This sunday, both teams A and B were on, but we still all got to go on another unexpected adventure! Mr R offered to take us all to the Giraffe Center in the afternoon. After a little bit of shuffling responsibilities, we (all 12 of us) pilled into their vehicle and drove down the road. The giraffe center costs money, but people have figured out that if you go around 5pm, the giraffes have to cross the road, and you don't have to pay to feed them! It was a memorable experience to be sure! 

Giraffe food. AKA Katie's "carrots"

Yum?

This is Kelly. She knows how to kiss.

Jacqui's friend came along

They should totally make the cover of their school's newspaper!

Katie was just a little excited...

This is Hellen. I'm pretty much the most blessed SM alive!

Giraffe Kisses

Emmanuel

After-glow last night was incredible. What started as a small circle of the SMs and richard singing a cappella turned into a ring of song that completely encircled the fire. It didn't happen all at once, or even at all at first, but students started joining our circle and suggesting songs. The kids didn't know all of our songs, and we didn't know all of theirs, but there's something about music that has the power to connect people, to bring them together in a way that nothing else can. That's really what happened last night, in the middle of our unplanned praise time, God was in our midst.

We all went home spiritually filled: It was a banquet to remember
Jacqui
Tanzi
Keith
Katie
Taylor

Little accomplishments

I feel pretty proud of myself. I made salsa from scratch using the few things I picked up last tuesday (the SM town day) outside of Nakumatt. The salsa goes great with my better-than-doritos-chips! It turned out very chunky due to the difficulties I had using our knifes, but Tanzi seemed to like it, and I'm partial to chunky salsa anyway. It seems like such a little thing, making my own salsa, but it's really satisfying to pick out my produce, pay for it in my own schillings, an then come back to the house and put everything together.

In other domestic news, I actually finished all my wash this morning! That's right! The clothes were in and out of the wash, and on and off the line all in less than 6 hours! This is mostly because I used the dean's house washer instead of the tiny one in my own house. The deans washer didn't take as long (at our house, it's 2 hours, plus however long it takes the washer to decide to release your clothes), and then I also had time before lunch to come and put everything out on the line. The dry air may not be as good for my skin, but it's great for drying laundry!

On a less homey note, Loti, our demon cat, is no longer omnipresent. This is actually an accomplishment, although I'm not sure how proud the four of us should really be about it. At the beginning of the week, Loti started trying to adopt us. He really came from the house next door, but he wanted to be the only cat, so he left and came to us. When he first started coming around, he snuck into the house at least two times, and even climbed up on the kitchen table! None of us wanted him, so we just shooed him away and ignored him. That worked for us, but not for him. He would meow incessantly at every door and window possible until Katie came home one night yelling, "Take that you spiny spawn! I kicked the cat in the trachea!" I think our collective neglect abuse has finally made him take the hint. I don't worry about him too much though. According to Taylor, the assistant girls dean, she saw him living in the attic above the girls dorm. I think he's found a good place to stay.

Holding a baby gazelle

It never ceases to amaze me how God can COMPLETELY turn my day around!

That's right!!! I just held a baby gazelle! I had 6 witnesses, but not one camera. The sad thing is my camera was in the library in my backpack the whole time. It was getting dark anyway, so any pictures I would have taken wouldn't have been as amazing as the experience was.

Today didn't start out on the right foot. The only thing for breakfast was a heaping pile of potatoes and soy meat (not my favorite) so I ate sparingly, and although I took a baby banana back to the house to eat, I never actually got around to eating it. By the time I finished teaching my first Biology class, I was famished! (In Tanzi's words, we starved our way through 7th period...). Lunch was great, but short as always. When two students came into the library in the afternoon for math help, that was, hands down, the low point of my day. You have to understand that tutoring is something I absolutely love to do, but for some reason, I couldn't seem to explain anything effectively. Now, to be fair, it has been a few years since I've taken basic math courses, but still, I should be able to figure this stuff out! I left the library very discouraged. It wasn't until after dinner that things really turned around. That's when I got to hold a baby gazelle!

I was walking to the house after dinner, when I saw the gazelles walking towards the football field (This is really common). What wasn't so common about it was the noise coming from the field. I looked and it looked like a gazelle had its horns stuck in the net. I didn't know what to do, so I ran back to where a group of staff were standing and told them. Gershom knew about it and immediately called Derek. It took all four of us to hold her down and get her untangled. She had been struggling for over half an hour, so she was completely hanging helpless in the net. Her herd, and especially her mom, stayed close by through the whole process.

I'm so incredibly thankful that I saw the gazelle when I did and was able to help free her. Experiences like that (thankfully) don't come around very often, and I'm grateful that I was able to be there.

The gazelles grazing near the football net

Hello crazy!

The tranquility I have been enjoying this past week at Maxwell was shattered today. Tanzi and I were tucked neatly away in the library office for the morning lesson planning while the other staff made their own preparations for the students arrival. When I finally emerged for lunch, I came out to a completely different campus! Students flooded the front office and laughed nosily down every hall. I can definitely tell this is a high school now. No question about it! As I sit here in my house (on the backend of campus) I can hear snippets of "We are Young" by Fun and intense soccer cheering coming from the gym (which is NOT on the backend of campus!).

In addition to the new noise, there's also something new that I didn't expect. The height difference. With the exception of a handful students (presumably freshmen), everyone here is now taller than me. I shadowed earlier this year at the high school I attended in the States and the majority of those students were significantly shorter. Luckily (or unluckily) for me, when I'm teaching the hight won't be a big issue. The classroom I will be teaching in has an elevated teaching station in front, complete with a nice long counter to hide teach behind.

Crescent Island

For our first Sabbath in Kenya, the entire staff of MAA went on a trip to crescent island. It was a two hour bus ride through some pretty incredible scenery! The island is a piece of private property on Lake Naivasha. It only becomes what most people consider an island when the water rises and cuts it off everything but the built-up entrance road. 

We had a lovely haystack potluck (really, I don't think anyone has had a bad meal here! I think we all need to work on moderation...) and then a nice walk around the island taking pictures, and trying to get as close as possible to the animals. There are no carnivores on the island, but plenty of zebra, giraffe, and water buck!

Part of the View

We stopped for bathroom breaks and photos

The SMs broke into the brownies early. Don't worry, everything was blamed on the staff kids :)

He likes to get up close and personal with the Giraffes 

The group on our hike around the island

Examining an anteaters hole

My Giraffes!!! Definitely my favorite African animal!

Yum!

Making friends with Enoch, even when he's fast asleep

My first few days at Maxwell

After my little adventure through Amsterdam and hours of flight, I finally got to Maxwell around 9am on Tuesday morning. At that point, I had no idea what day it was, or even what time my body should think it was. I had just slept the past “two nights” on a plane, and my body was very confused. Thankfully, this confusion seemed to work in my favor. I had stayed up all day in Amsterdam, so I had begun to become adjusted. Plus I stayed up all day once I arrived.

Tuesday was one of the longest days ever!  I arrived just in time for a pseudo shower and a morning meeting. Since the cafeteria is not open yet, the staff have been feeding us amazing food, and so all the SMs (8 of us in total) went over to Pollys house for lunch. After lunch, a few of us went on a town trip to “The Junction,” which is a large mall. The ride over there was the only time I felt like completely crashing that day. I think I even fell asleep a few times in the van, which is impressive seeing as how ridding in Kenya makes four-wheeling look smooth. The town trip was a success; I got soy milk and toilet paper along with a few other necessities. The mall is really nice. It even has FroYo and an apple store! I have a feeling that any time I go back, I’ll be spending most of my time/money at the Nakumatt (Wal-Mart equivalent) or the book/stationary store. By that night, I was sure I had been at Maxwell for more than just one day! Even now as I’m typing this, (it’s Wednesday night, but I’ll have to post later due to internet difficulties) I feel like I’ve been here for much longer than the two mere days it’s really been.

Already, I've found that the smallest things are making the biggest difference. My job on Wednesday was to pack up the old girls SM apartment that is connected to the girls dorm. Because there's so many  female students this year (more than the 50 they have rooms for) the SM apartment is being converted into more housing for the students. While we were packing everything up, Macy and I found tons of treasures! The previous SMs had left us TONS of wonderful things like notepads, string, clothes hangers, teaching supplies, and more! It really did feel like Christmas! Thanks to our finds, I think everyone in the house now has a rug in their room, and another one in the bathroom. It's amazing how excited we can get over simple things, even after two days! 

Amsterdam - Blessings in disguise

So, because we missed our flight in Amsterdam by a grand total of 5 minutes, we got to chill and relax in the airport and city before our flight to Nairobi. Our sudden 10 hour layover was perfect! We got to spend some time on the internet, and do some pretty awesome sightseeing! 

We stowed our carry on luggage in lockers and then just asked for a train ticket that would take us near the city center where we ended up spending close to 5 hours just wandering down random streets. I really wanted to see the Anne Frank house and museum, but we never knew where it was so we didn't make it. We did get close when we wandered into the red light district, but that was not intentional.

Look at the awesome tea pot that has DINSEY movies playing inside!!! Could this airport get any cooler?
(maybe it could be if it had more than 30 minutes of free wifi... Just a thought...)

The train station

Wooden shoes in the windows!

I've never seen so many bikes in one city! It was insane, but the city seemed to be extremely rider friendly.

We stumbled upon this chip shop which ONLY sold french fries.  That's all they did, and they did it very well!

We both got the curry frite sauce. YUM!

There was interesting architecture everywhere. It was interesting seeing what looked like old churches right next to modern stores.

Bubbles!!!

Headed back to the airport

Great outing/adventure! Would have never thought that a delayed flight could be this great!

The delay not only allowed us to see Amsterdam and take a break from flying, but it also put us into Nairobi during daylight hours. (pictures/posts from Maxwell soon to come!)

Packing

In less than 54 hours, I will be on a plane... This fact, while it appears to be rather simple, has taken my mind months to wrap itself around. Denial is officially over, and my nerves are working overtime. 

The vast majority of my stuff is stowed away in suitcases (2), and goodbyes are flying at me faster than I can even compute. I'm so grateful for the friends who have made the time to help me process everything!

After driving down to Atlanta with my family, I'll hop on a plane to Amsterdam where all four of the SMs Southern will meet up. After a short layover, (one not long enough to get outside the airport, :( very disappointing) we will all four fly to Nairobi together. School starts less than a week after we arrive, so I'll have to hit the ground running! 

Late nights with friends are the best nights

Somehow, ALL my clothes have managed to fit in one suitcase! Craziness! 

a new chapter

I finally finished both summer semesters of general physics last friday! I can't believe that this day is actually here and I don't have to worry about online homework, or in-class quizzes next week. Eight weeks have come and gone, and with that, Im officially less than a mere two weeks until my crazy adventure begins. The end of summer classes has definitely made next year start to solidify in my mind. Daily, leaving becomes less and less some idea in my head, and more and more fast-approaching reality.