Hey everybody!

It seems like you've been able to see our pictures from the last week, which is good. We have slowly been emerging from jet-lag and have only had the energy to give visual glimpses of our experience in Kenya so far. This is the third night of everyone sleeping (mostly) all through the night. Both girls usually wake up once, we throw them into bed with us, and everyone is back asleep. It is amazing how much clearer everything looks after a full night of sleep. Let us each attempt to walk you through our impressions of our first week in Nairobi…

It was raining in Nairobi when we landed. We got out of the plane via those roll-up staircases (I always imagine the president when we use those). We waited in line to apply for our visas and then waited for our bags to show. Kirk and 4 porters gathered all 12 of our distinctive black and yellow bins. All 19 pieces were accounted for at the end of our journey, except for Claire’s carseat. After filling out the lost baggage forms, and filling the girls up on mints to keep them occupied, we cleared customs around 11:30pm. Our hosts, the Wegners, were patiently waiting for us, and it was a relief to see them!

As we drove the highway from the airport, we saw zebras (!) on the side of the road. This is AFRICA!

By the time we got to our place (small, cute, and quirky) and got settled, we all crashed into bed. Our hosts had made the beds for us, and stocked our kitchen with food-what a relief! The girls woke up ready for breakfast at 6am, and so started our first day in Kenya. Ainsley must’ve dreamed about hippos in the night, because she was excitedly “explaining” to us about “Hippo! Hippo! Chomp!” and pointing out the window saying “shhh” because, obviously, the hippos were all still asleep. We put shoes on with our pjs and set out on a “hippo hunt” to explore campus in the cold morning. We met the guards at the front gate, who taught us, “Habari za Asubuhi,” Good morning! They have been a daily source of new Swahili words, a fun routine we have gotten into.

One thing that was a bit surprising was the weather.  It was cloudy and rainy pretty much every day for our first week here.  Almost everybody that we met was apologetic, saying that it was the coldest weather that they've had all year.  We went shopping with one of our new neighbors, and she was bundled up in long sleeves and scares, just like a lot of the Kenyans that we saw.  We kept thinking that if this was freezing, we and the weather are going to get along just fine.

Joel and the girls at the Masai market

Our host family has taken extremely good care of us, having us over for dinner (Nancy is a GREAT cook), patiently visiting stores, and answering our unending questions. Kirk went for a bike-ride with Carey through the local Karura Forest, and their son Joel is already the girls’ favorite person-giving them shoulder-rides and buying them little soapstone animals at the Masai market.

It truly is breathtakingly beautiful, both on and off campus, the pictures are not doing it justice at all. As a guest in the house across from us said, Rosslyn is an oasis in the midst of busy Nairobi.  As we've walked around campus, we've been struck by the number of small areas that we've found where a few people or a small group could just sit quietly and relax. We also found a maze tucked away on the hillside below some of the staff houses.  The variety of plants is incredible, and it inspired us to add some colorful plants (the first of many!) around our back veranda this afternoon.

We’ve mentioned bugs a few times, and we HAVE seen some impressive specimens, but overall, they are really not that bad! The most common ones are commonly called “mosquito eaters” (our family calls them “doofus bugs” because of the spazzy way they fly through the air). Claire brought her butterfly net on a walk yesterday and I heard her sigh; “What’s wrong?” I asked. “I’m frusterated Mommy--Why are there no bugs here?” Definitely NOT what you’d expect to hear! (But then, that’s pretty classic Claire.)