The Awkwardness of Newly Arrived Goods and Rachel

Rachel came bearing gifts (thanks Rachel) which I told her we do not have in Kenya.  However, when we went to the store while she was here this was not the case.  The first day, she found off brand Mac & Cheese and Shells called MagicTime from Florida (the Mac & Cheese is good, the Shells cheese is NOT Velveeta).  I looked at her and said, "that's new."  Later in the week, she found Skippy Peanut Butter from the States and once again I looked at her and said, "that's new."  This is when she started rolling her eyes at me.  Then as we were walking out, I decided to check the cereal aisle for Honey Bunches of Oats (HBO) because Rachel (other YAV) has been searching for them since we came to Kenya.  I have looked for HBO at every store I have gone to in the past seven months to no avail, but this day was different.  I went down the cereal aisle and there it was, two rows of HBO 15 boxes deep.  I got really excited and started calling the Gatundu girls to tell them I had found treasure.  They didn't answer, so I checked my wallet and bought as many boxes of HBO as my wallet would allow.  Therefore, with Rachel comes food treasures...and doubt about what Kenya does and does not have.  I went to the store this week and the HBO is down to one row with five boxes.  My speculation is that a magical barge came full of goodies from the States recent, but now our treasures are selling out.

The First YAV Man Night

Friday night was Man Night.  It was glorious.  Shelvis, Henry, and I watched Obama on Leno, Michael Jackson music videos, and then Usher music videos, very manly!  We ordered lots of pizza and ate like Kings.

Michael Jackson can dance:


Kenya Pizza:


Splash and YAV Dinner

Saturday morning, we went out to a big manly breakfast and then to the Nairobi water park (with some women), Splash.  They have two pretty good winding slides, the white slide and the black slide, and apparently no rules.  We were going down six people at a time which was a lot of fun.  I ended up climbing the stairs and going down the slide 12 times and after that was spent.  Shelvis and Henry went down 35 times!

That night the seven YAVs got together at Leslie's for the first time in a month.  It was really nice for all of us to be together again and catch up.  The night ended in the way every YAV night ends with games: Concentration, Categories, and Big Booty.

Big Booty:


Andy's Pizza Party

Sunday, I went to church and felt my 12 slide trips.  I went home after church and took a nap.  That afternoon we went to a play about a Kenyan person with physical disabilities and what her life is like in Kenya.  It was very interesting to experience a play here and also to see how they presented people with physical disabilities.

Sunday night we went to Andy's apartment for pizza.  Andy is a Lutheran missionary who works in Madagascar, but has had to leave since the problems there.  The conversation and Andy's children, who are three and nine, was very entertaining.  Most of the night was spent getting shot with Spiderman's web and sticking to the wall.  Yeah, it was as amazing as it sounds.

The Seven YAV's: