Sunsets

The house I live in with Honey and Heidi. My window is the one on the far right.

The bear climbed over the mountain...

This Sabbath after lunch a group of us went to hike a little ways on the Ngong hills. It was warm and Heidi gave me some sunblock (SPF 70!!) that helped a lot. The other girls decided not to come, but I think they really missed out! It was wonderful. Fortunately the hills are close and I think I'll get to come back many times.

The view was spectacular! I couldn't believe it. I had heard of the great rift valley, but never imagined it like this. It's like another world on the other side of these hills. One side is lush and inhabited, the other side is barren and expansive. It's something I could stare at for the rest of my life :) As I told John, I was in heaven..

This is Ronito, one of the cutest little boys alive. He got carried up half the way and then he ran the rest. A little bundle of energy, he is. Speaks spanish way better than I do..

Here Heidi, Rachel and I are enjoying the rest at the rocks. There was a nice breeze up there, but climbing up was sweltering.

It was a beautiful day for a hike with clear blue skies and with a gorgeous view in every direction. Coming down was faster than going up, but it strained my muscles. My gluteal muscles have been rather sore all day today (the day after).

On our way back down Susan and I stopped by a house because the girl, Emily, invited us in. We saw their house and their bee room. It was full of bees! Her mother and other relatives were sitting in the yard making bead crafts. Emily and her sisters and cousins walked us down to the bus.

We made it back for supper and vespers at the amphitheater with a beautiful sunset. I can only imagine how beautiful it would have been from the hills.

Lake Nakuru

Last Saturday we went to Lake Nakuru for the day. It's a park filled with animals, especially flamingos. The lake had a pink lining of flamingos all around it, when they started flying it looked like something from National Geographic movies.
It had rained recently, so there was more water than usual lying around. We heard some vans had been stuck on the beach overnight. We got stuck as well, but fortunately it happened near to where they had a tractor and equipment to dig us out. The younger generation gathered around for a prayer asking for help. It was answered.
We even saw some lions, but they were rather boring, just catnapping in some long grass so that you could barely make them out.
It was a long day and a long drive. I burned my left arm by sitting next to the window, it's starting to peel a little now.
But it was a fun trip.

Whispers

John took us to the elephant orphanage a few weeks ago. They are rather cute. The elephants there are fed and taken care of until they are old enough to be set free. Every morning they're brought out for the visitors to see and they are fed from a bottle and they get to play in a mud puddle. They were funny, climbing all over each other.. Reminded me of the piles the guys would make in 8th grade.

R.I.P.

ShuShu
June 2003-August 10, 2007

next year

Hoy estuve limpiando mi pieza y encontré cartas, recibos y papeles de Argentina. Me senté por algunas horas leyendo cosas que hicimos en clase. Muchas veces me parece que fue ayer cuando me fui. A veces todo parece a un sueño. Pero no es así. El tiempo pasa rapidamente. Creo que el siguiente grupo de CLE ya ha terminado sus clases, o están por terminar. Y en un mes va a empezar un grupo nuevo. Espero que haya muchos que van a llegar para CLE. Es una experiencia inolvidable, como dijo un chico en Misiones.

Extraño mucho a la vida en la UAP y a mis amigos que conocí allá. Mirando mis fotos recuerdo muchas situaciones alegres y también tristes. Me siento muy bendecida por esos seis meses al otro lado del mundo.

Hoy recibí noticias que me aceptaron a Maxwell Academy para servir como voluntaria. No tengo ni idea de lo que voy a encontrar en este nuevo lugar, pero espero que Dios me va a cuidar y bendecir otra vez. Me siento un poco triste por dejar mi país otra vez, pero esto va a pasar con tiempo. Y bueno, me gusta viajar y conocer a gente nueva.


For those who don't understand Spanish, I received notice today that I was accepted to go to Maxwell Academy in Kenya to serve as a volunteer. I don't know yet when I will leave. Either next week or the following one.

last year

A year ago I was in the British Isles. We spent almost four weeks driving around and seeing sights. I was looking through my pictures (thousands of them) and picked out a few to post here.

Every country was beautiful in it's own way. I liked the Highlands in Scotland for their barren beauty. Mountains always intrigue me. The good news is that the place was full of them :)

I'd like to go back someday for a longer stay, maybe someplace farther off the road. With a camera of course.

We only spent two days in the Highlands. One day passing by Loch Ness, Eilean Donan castle and Isle of Skye. We stayed overnight in Ullapool and drove up the coast and back down the middle during the next day. Most of our time was spent in the car. I'd like to change that next time. I remember the roads being narrow with passing places every 200m or so. The scenery looked better live than on film, but I did my best to capture it.

This is the Skye Bridge, connecting the island with the mainland. My sister had booked a Clydesdale-horse ride on Skye, so while she rode, we explored the town and a little waterfall. The mountains were rather awesome.

On our way back home, we spent an afternoon walking along Hadrian's Wall in northern England. It was built by the Romans long, long ago as some kind of barrier between their empire and the wild people of the north. It was nice. Interesting to think it's been there for nearly two millenia already. My mom was thrilled. She loves history. I suppose I like it too, but maybe in a different way.

I have two days off work now. After Sunday, I will be done with my job. It has served me well-I now have a laptop of my own. I still don't know whether Maxwell has accepted me or not. I hope they'll let me know soon because there are some arrangements still to be made. I got a tetanus shot a week ago. It swelled up and hurt for a long time. Now it's only a little bump though. Finally. The first few nights I couldn't even sleep on that arm because it hurt so much.

I finished the book The Da Vinci Code yesterday. I liked the idea of a secret society and a treasure hunt, but otherwise I didn't think much of it. I guessed the bad guy soon after he appeared so the rest of the book went by without too much excitement. In Deception Point and Angels and Demons the ending was more surprising and I think the overall experience was better. But now at least I've read the books and know what they're about. Dan Brown is a good author, I will say that much.

Happy August everyone!