Well we made it back to our little island a little over a week and a half ago and I am just now sitting down to blog about it. Thankfully the trip back was a good one. We took this little old bus back down to Tanzania, spent the night, then hopped over the next morning on the 12 passenger plane...which felt more like a roller coaster with the thunder storm we went through.
The girls all did spectacular. Braelyn slept half the trip which was awesome. Things were a little different though. On the big bus, there was plenty of room, few passengers. Well, on this one they packed it full with standers in the aisle and stopped every 10 minutes to pick someone up or drop someone off. B had fallen asleep right away on her seat, head in my lap. Culturally here children don't count when it comes to things like seats....especially really little ones. There were certain murmurings about the selfish white lady who wouldn't hold her baby so someone could sit. After a while I spoke up (in Swahili) to say we had paid for her seat and that was why I wasn't holding her. It got real quiet for while after that. It is always fun to wait and let people talk in Swahili when they don't think we understand and then when the time is right explain to them in Swahili what is going on. Personal space is a foreign thing here and locals do not buy children seats when traveling. 5 hours holding a toddler became a clear differing point in our cultures that day!
But we and all our Kenyan goodies made it home, along with a wicked cold bearing ear aches and deep coughs and green yuck. It's abating thankfully, but you can pray for the lingering coughs to heal soon. Like today.
What else is new? We have started a garden. If it didn't take me over a week to get just these 2 pictures loaded and blogged, I'd promise pictures soon. I'll do my best. We've got sweet corn, green beans, bell peppers, carrots, lettuce, broccoli and 2 kinds of watermelon in the ground. Carrots and melons are the only ones of those grown locally, so we are really hoping some of these work and we can get some more veggie variety!
Oh, I chased down a potential thief. Yep, me, 30 year old Shannon. Of course, the thief was a girl of less than 14 years. And, I'm not really sure she stole anything. Here's the story: for background, we've had several things stollen. Expensive and not, kids take whatever they can get their hands on here whether it be a ball, chair or even a piece of chalk. Well, Saturday our neighbor kids were over and left the gate open, allowing several non-invited kids to come on in and start playing. I told them they had not asked to come in and I had not invited them and they needed to leave. As the oldest passed by me, I glimpsed some of our chalk in her hand, with something sizable wrapped up in her "khanga" (rectangle of fabric used for any- and every-thing here). I snagged her sleeve to ask what she had in her khanga and she BOLTED.
Something primitive in me snapped and I tore off after her...flops flying off, barefoot and nearly bare headed down the street, skirts flying up above my knees. I would have caught her, too. If I hadn't been 30, out of shape and easily winded. To make myself feel better I keep saying that she was a teenage African girl who could most likely out run most. 100 yards down the street I gave up and turned to greet my audience. HUNDREDS of men ride their bikes home on that street every day all stopped and staring. I gave a good number of them a nice show. Not to mention all my neighbors standing out by the road waiting for me to explain what had just happened. And my 2 year old now running down the street after me.
I gathered up the bundle she had dropped, found a mango, and tried to face the questions with some amount of grace. Well, you see, I thought she might have stolen some chalk. Yes, chalk. Perfectly rational, right? My comfort came the next day when Sandy asked me, "Do you know how many children I've chased down????" Oh good. I'm not the ONLY crazy white lady.
Well, more stories to come later I'm sure. No new answers on the Adult Ed Center. I've started a new language program. We miss you all.
