Telephones, rats, and other reflections on the week....

Greetings from Kenya,

This week has seemed to go by fast, but it has been good. A definite highlight would be after my slightly homesick blog post of last week discovering that Safaricom(my Kenya cell phone provider) had just lowered their rates for calls to the US to 3ksh a minute, and the exchange rate being something like $1 to 80ksh, that is a good deal. So I was able to call home and talk to my family for the first time since being in Kenya. It was pretty glorious... I had had my share of disappointments between realizing the computer I am borrowing would not let me download skype and that the phone card I was looking for was elusive... So yes, being able to talk to home makes one feel much closer, and so homesickness goodbye...

Another highlight of the week was less heartwarming, and has to do with rats. We, in our visitor quarters, had what one would call a rodent problem... They had been here for sometime, but there visits were becoming much more frequent... So we got the cook who is the nicest man to come and set a trap, and the other night we caught a rat(and here we had been thinking they were mice... ignorance was bliss). And it was a big, mean looking one... Like the rat villains in Disney cartoons... And by the next morning it was clear we had more than one rat, as its friends had come in the night to gnaw on it... THankfully, the cook was willing to take away the dead rat and reset the trap... Which sprung that evening, but did not catch anything although I might have at least got the rat some because this morning I go into the sitting room and there is this rat, just chilling on the floor, watching me. What do you do when there is a rat on the floor? Welll, normally probably it would run away, but if it didn't run away? Personally, as he had escaped our trap but we did not want him anymore, I decided the best course of action would be to pick up a table and throw it at the rat... Not perhaps as tidy as a rat trap, but it did the job, and I am hoping the cook will be able to come and take this carcass away too...

Another highlight is yet to come in that tomorrow I will really get to go to Nairobi, and then will come back the next day. In addition to restocking my book supply, I am looking forward to having a little freedom, connecting with a few friends, and being less conspicious(while I will still stand out as a white person, at least I will be the anonymous crazy mzungu, right?)It was a wrangle getting permission, but I think everyone is ok with the plan.

And on the news front, the eighth graders begin their national exams this coming Monday and for the four days they are sitting, we are not allowed to be in the proximity of the dining hall(and so will not have class as the school is adjacent). I will be curious to see how the week enfolds, and think it a little unfortunate as the rest of the students will be taking their exams the week after and probably could have used the prep time. And the holidays are fast approaching, and I will be curious to see how those enfold as well.

Otherwise, this week has been a good business as normal kind of week with classes and my continuing in a more regular schedule with the babies which has been good. It is the moments with the kids that remind me why I am here, and make me so thankful to be. Whether its playing basketball, which I am getting pretty good at, or having the kids sleep on me while we all wait for dinner, or any of so many little things, life here is rich and full and while I may not always be sure where exactly I belong in the mix of it all, that just keeps life interesting.

Anyways, love to everyone back home, and I still love getting emails(and always reply), so if you got this far...