Sunday, April 21, 2013

Various Adventures and the Push to the Finish.


In my last post I mentioned how I would be off on retreat, I returned from the coast the middle of last week. It was a great long weekend spent at the coast enjoying the sun, friends (new & old), and a challenging speaker. Mornings and evenings were spent either in meetings learning more about mission operations or listening to our speaker. The speaker, Dr Patrick was Canadian which was a nice bonus. Dr Patrick is an extremely smart man who has experience working in the developing world and currently teaches at Augusting College in Ottawa – a year of study there would be very interesting.
Afternoons during the retreat were free time. Given the choice of reading a book or playing with the children in the pool – the pool won out everytime. I pulled out some of my old swimming lesson techniques and had a lot of fun with these missionary kids who will be a big part of my life the next few years.

Getting back to school after retreat was a little tough as I have less than three weeks left. It is easy at this point to stop caring but I really need to make the most of these final weeks. Please pray with me for continued motivation.

My school took a field trip this week which included some motivation to continue in my Swahili studies. We went to Toi (pronounced like toy) Market. A large “outdoor” market in Nairobi, outdoor in quotations as there is plastic sheeting covering it. Anyway you can buy almost anything there. Many of the products are thrift store cast-offs from around the world. I saw more than one Value Village price tag. I knew when I came to Kenya that I would need to buy a few things to set up house. When I priced them out at the local “Walmart”equivalent I was shocked by the prices – twice as much or more than what I would pay at home. So Toi market was a gold mine. I managed to buy bedding, towels,crocs, and material for a reasonable price. I did have to barter and my Swahili, halting as it is, did help as it told the shopkeeper that I was not a tourist. I felt like I got fair prices, although I am sure I will hear of someone who got what I got in better quality for half the price but that is the nature of shopping.
All the teachers came with us to the market and it was typical: the ladies loved every minute of it and the guys waited around aimlessly until we were done. We did go out for pizza afterwards which I hope made it worth it for them.
I will end here with some pics of the coast and our outing.

I woke up early to see the sunrise

The adult (quite/boring) pool with the ocean in the backgorund

One of the MK's who is graduating this year, we had an evening to celebrate and encourage them


Pizza after the Market, 


My fellow students showing of their purchases

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