Sunday night we had a birthday gathering because 3 people from our group were born in March.  We had Nyoma Choma (BBQ) that was brought around on sword dealies.  It was good.  I ate a lot and we had really good dessert after as well.  Since my usual diet consists of mainly rice, it was a change.  They had a show after dinner with dancers and acrobats.  The acrobats were crazy cool.  They stacked each other 4 people high and swallowed fire...you know, the usual.  I was a bit concerned the entire time the acrobats were out being a person who has compound fractured his right tib/fib, so I enjoyed it while saying a silent prayer.

Monday night I saw The Curious Case of Benjamin Button which I thoroughly enjoyed.  I had been told that I should go and see it, but had no idea what it was about so it was a delightful surprise that I really enjoyed it.  I forgot that I was in Kenya during the movie and thought I was back in the States...funny feeling.  It is based in New Orleans which brought back memories of my visits there.  One of my best friends, Brad Willis, and I drove through New Orleans on our way home from visiting his sister in Florida in the summer of 2002.  Then after Katrina I returned to participate in a project called RHINO (Rebuilding Hope in New Orleans) which gave me another perspective of New Orleans.  Later, I was on a planning committee for a big interdenominational conference in New Orleans so I flew there and spent the weekend in New Orleans 3 times over a year a half with the Presbyterian Church paying for my food so I sampled Mother's, The Red Fish, and some other New Orleans' goodies.  It was interesting how many memories were flushed out and the connection I had with a city half way around the world.

Last Friday, I was at Dorman's Coffee Shop which has become my usual Friday routine (they have really fast internet, comparatively).  Any who, 2 wazungu walked in and one had an Oklahoma State University hat on.  Therefore, I asked if he went to Oklahoma State and it turned out that one was from Enid, OK and had gone to OSU and the other was born in Austin, TX, had gone to high school in Round Rock, TX, and then went to John Brown (where a lot of my high school friends went to college).  So, we hit it off and became best Kenya friends.  Being half way around the world together speeds up the process.  They had just arrived the day before and still had that washing and drying machine clothes smell.  They have come to work at an orphanage in the Thika on the other side of Nairobi.  We cracked a lot of movie jokes and other jokes that are mid-west US relevant.  It was amazing and very refreshing.

The next week I received a text message telling me to meet them at Dorman's again and asking if they could come to AEE and spend 2 nights with me.  So, they did.  They are both my age and play guitar.  Mark is better than me and Nick is not.  So, Mark would teach me some theory and then I would teach it to Nick which helped me learn it more thoroughly.  It was fantastic to start playing a song and then have Mark join me on guitar and both of them singing along with the lyrics.  I didn't realize how much I miss jamming out on songs that everyone in the circle knows.  Mark taught me more on guitar than I have learned in the past year in 2 days which is pretty amazing.  It was basically a lot of music theory that I knew an abridged version of, welp, not anymore.  So, that was my amazing mid-west connection.

Me, Mark, and Nick


Me, Mark, and Nick again


Friday, two new Foxies (Foxfires) came and moved in on the other side of the wall.  Steve is the tall, happy, singing one.  He reminds me of me when I was fresh out of high school.  Sam is reflective and very intellectual, but goofy and funny too.  They seem to get along with each other well and I like them.  It is unusual having roomies again.  I am excited they are here!