Watching Soccer

One of the best things about my life is that I am Josiah Matlak's favorite chair. =)

Twin Day

For those of you who don't know her, I'd like to introduce you to my colleague and friend Wendy. She teaches next door to me, and we are the only 2 female teachers in the middle school. So when "Twin Day" came during Spirit Week, we knew we had to dress alike. (That and the Kenyan staff can't tell us apart anyway- never mind that she had blond hair and a thick Texarkana accent. We are clearly interchangeable).

How we made the decision to be Rodeo Queens is still a bit of a mystery to me- it was an organic process that I believe neither of us could take credit for on our own. She brought the earrings back from the States over the summer (she's a planner...); I didn't have any clothes to match hers except jeans and a white t-shirt. Abby Nipper, age 4, made us tiaras. And if you're wearing a tiara, you've _got_ to wear a lot of lipstick, right?

My 2 favorite kid comments, both from Korean boys:
JuWon: Miss Gac! Beautiful! Miss America!
John: No offense, Miss Gac, but that's just not pretty.

Mount Longonot Hike

So this past Saturday, I hopped in a van with 11 new teachers and drove into the Rift Valley to hike Mount Longonot. Pictures first, narrative second.

Parts are steep, dusty, (but still fun)

We saw some giraffe on the way up, but I'm afraid I've seen enough giraffe that I no longer take pictures of them. I just take pictures of the people taking pictures of them. On the other hand, it is awfully cool to happen upon a giraffe while you're hiking.

We still had enough energy to smile when we arrived at the rim. Chris was apparently tired enough to lie down. Naw, we just didn't know the camera was was aiming high enough. He was pretty dusty when he stood up.

The peak in the background is where we were heading. Yay for mountain hair!

The view from the very top

The girls, whose arm strength clearly had a lot to do with getting there

A few things of note:
- High Road Leaders are good at hiking food. Scott and Lara brought dried mangoes and gouda, greatly adding to my lunch on the rim. I brought blondies for Lara's birthday, which were the tip of the mountain reward. As Lara said, "You gotta love hiking. It's exercise with snacks!"

- A Kenyan driver's license is NOT sufficient evidence of residency at Mount Longonot National Park. Even though I had to have my residency in order to get it in the first place. Logical, eh? But my African negotiating skills are improving; I asked to meet the head ranger, and I greeted him appropriately and was very respectful and showed him my driver's license and explained that I hadn't brought enough money to pay the non-resident fee and I was a resident and we as a group were being very honest about who had their work permits and who didn't, and I did, and I promise I will bring my passport next time and I would appreciate it very much if he would give me the resident rate. Eventually he did. And it's true that it's all about the relationship- he greeted me when we came back down, smiled, and showed me where I could wash my hands. He was very kind.

- Doug will really enjoy this hike when he comes to visit in December. And I'll be sure to bring my work permit this time, as promised.

A Normal Weekend

I have at least one Deep And Meaningful Blog Post simmering in my brain at the moment, but this isn't it. This is just a rundown of my weekend because I know you haven't heard from me lately.

Friday highlights-
1) The "Miss Gac Heart Spiderman" speech, which is an elaborate ploy to get middle schoolers to learn the integer multiplication rules. It begins with the attention grabber, "I am going to marry Spiderman when I grow up. Seriously." And then I've got 'em. =)
2) Friday afternoon frisbee: a dozen staff members, a handful of kids, a few gusts of wind, and one passionate-about-ultimate Language Arts instructor. I especially enjoy playing with my friend Scott Barnett, who was an amazing ultimate player back at Honey Rock, is still amazing, but has now developed the super-skill of throwing to the handful of kids so they can feel like champions.
3) Habesha. Ethiopian food is addictive, though the drive there can be a headache. My friend Chris R blew through a police checkpoint on our way home; how come _his_ car didn't get beaten on?

On to Saturday-
4) Sleeping in, then drinking lots of coffee. Possibly the best thing about Saturday.
5) Squeals of delight from a 4 year old when we go over speed bumps. The sound is worth the wear on the shocks. =) Jonathan Howard (Wheaton friend) and his wife Laurie recently moved here with their 2 boys to work at the embassy; we did errands and chatted they day away in their new car.
6) Snapple. Jon escorted me into the Commissary, which contained wonders like Spray & Wash, Kraft Mac & Cheese, Cheetos, and Peach Snapple. Wow. Pretty sure I got fatter just breathing the air.
7) Skype conversations with family and friends.
8) A quick trip to the vegetable market, when I realized that I'm now capable of making "quick trips" to places- it no longer requires significant energy to make every single decision.

Sunday-
9) Beautiful weather as we walked to church- blue sky, puffy white clouds, reminders that God is worth worshiping.
10) Being able to sing along when the pastor improv-ed into a Swahili song that wasn't on the powerpoint. There are little clues that I am learning after all. (I think this song only had about 4 words, though, so I shouldn't get too proud of myself).
11) Meal with the Chutes (new boss and family), plus Chris L. The Chute boys knew what goulash was and were exited about it; Chris got the glittery penguin plate, and he handled it with style. But really, who wouldn't appreciate the glittery penguin plate? Especially with goulash on it...
12) Work avoidance expressed through blogging. I should probably get around to preparing for tomorrow's Bible Study.

But what a great weekend- fellowship, rest, worship. Gets me psyched to talk about Spiderman again tomorrow.