Carcasses, fries, & chocolate

*I have just posted a ton of blog entries written over the last 3 weeks......We FINALLY have fast internet now that we are in Nairobi
One day during training we were challenged to go into town and accomplish several tasks, a sort of scavenger hunt. Instead of a race to get all the answers we were encouraged to build relationships and gather information about families, history of the area, and people. I had to fight my natural tendency to want to speed through it and “win.” Fortunately for me (and unfortunately for my group) Annikah was a nightmare most of the time preventing any hurrying on our part. She was ok at first but after a few minutes of walking through town she was begging for food. The only respite from her fussiness came when a local butcher began smiling at her through the window where there were disgusting dead animals hanging in the window (the smell was also lovely as there was no refrigeration). He loved making Anni smile and it was hilarious to see this grown man wielding a knife and hiding behind carcasses playing peek-a-boo with Annikah: Totally creepy but very sweet. After our run in with Sweeney Todd we acquiesced to Anni’s request and went to lunch. She was not happy at the selection at the restaurant and cried the whole time. She asked for “fries” so we decided to break from our group to take her to the local fast food place we knew had fries (or chips as they are called). It took us about 15 minutes to find the place and then once inside we promised Anni the fries soon to stop her wailing. We sat down and when the waiter came we ordered chips only to find out they have no fries because they have NO POWER! A frustrating situation just became even more chaotic and we decided to make a quick exit before total meltdown in T-minus 1 minute due to the lack of fried potatoes. Poor Annikah, of course, did not understand why she could not have any food and explaining to a toddler in mid meltdown is useless. Our best option at that point was to make a quick stop at the grocery store to get some other options, yogurt, bananas, avocadoes, and some candy bars: all 3 of us needed chocolate at that point! The happy ending came when we found another restaurant that served fries and Annikah was elated to gobble down the greasy goodness. That was enough of an adventure for us and we grabbed a Tuk-Tuk ride back.

Comments

Laura S said…
So glad you can post again, and good to hear about what you are learning, exploring, and growing. I spent the first 30 minutes at work reading this, a much better use of my time ;). God gave me a dream about you all last night as a reminder to pray for you all. Also, yesterday I read Psalm 91 and will be praying those word for you and your family. Lots of love,
Laura
Stan and Jess said…
wow. I love it. Part of this makes me miss Africa & on the other hand with Fred now I can't imagine! Just think of the gift you are giving to Anni to learn a new language and culture and always have a broad and global view. But the black root freaks me out. Love reading about it all!
Beck said…
After reading about the "Black stick" (I secretly want one of those stateside) - I'll bet malaria medicine suppositories seem like a walk in the park.

Sounds like you're on an adventure. The kids looked at the blog pics and video with me but Ais whined until we went to "Anni Pahk". Sigh - maybe after you get settled there will be an Anni Africa pahk video we can show.

Glad everyone is OK - hooray for fries
sarah said…
this is all so amazing!!!!!!!!! Reading it makes me realize how wonderful a calling this is for you, even if it seems challenging--such a great use of your gifts, openness, honesty, fortitude, integrity. I am so glad for you all. lots of love to anni especially--seems very wise of her to laugh loudly but cling close. :)
Lola said…
Yay! You're back on! It's so strange to not read a post from you for a while because you are my blogging inspiration. :) Thanks so much for sharing your stories and all that God is doing in your lives over in Africa. It is amazing to have a small glimpse inside your experience. We love you lots! Laura, Joe, and Gavin

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