Simon's Nairobi Diary - Archive 1

7 September 2005 6:35pm

I actually made it to 5:30am before waking up. The jet lag is wearing off and I look forward to when I can sleep under this mosquito net for an entire night. I walked out of my room and was knocked backward by the smell. One of the other single men in my housing unit was boiling water using a coal pot.

After orientation day 3 a group of us students leisured around one of the avacado trees and had a facinating discussion about what it means to live as a Christian. The general consesus near the end of it was that there must be a change in your practical everyday life that is no longer speaks of living self-centered. Antony promised to bring me to his house soon, which is located next to Kiberra, the second largest slum on the continent. 800,000 people.

Afterward was lunch, red sauce over rice and topped off with one of the worst pieces of beef I have ever seen.

6 September 2005 5:40pm

Something has settled so 'right' in me as I am here at this school. This place makes my heart full and big. I do not know exactly how this works. I suppose it is the deliberateness of the faculty in making its curriculum relevant. How honest they were as they told us how the majority of seminary students leave the school relationally farther from God than when they started. "What is truly important to you?" they asked us. "Identify your priorities and schedule them. Do not identify your schedule and prioritize. The Kenyan english is so different. I asked Bazara the driver how long he had been at NEGST and he replied A-T-Yahs. I had no idea what that meant. He said it slower and I realized he meant eight years. Also in class today the professor asked if the two people from the US (myself and a girl Isabella) came together. The class erupted in laughs when I refuted his inquiry.

Overall, I am doing very well. I am so full of gratitude for the priveledge of attending this jewel. I walk to class through scurrying lizards, banana palms, and that bready musty leather smell that permeates my clothing and my skin, and arrive to a room of stone and wood where I am greeted by loving people whom I have only known less than 48 hours. Thomas' welcoming grin after class today was the best thing I have experienced thus far.

5 September 2005 7:10pm

The soldier flashed his flashlight weakly, forcing the van I'm in to pull over. He said something I could not understand in kiswahili and the van erupted in laughter. My people had come to pick me up from the airport and now they were mocking a soldier. I got a little uneasy, especially with the soldier menacingly swinging his woodstocked machinegun in front of the window. They just told him... no no no and then more kiswahili. We drove away and they informed me that he was just drunk and looking for a bribe. No big deal. Ha. ha. right. no biggy. easy come easy go. Hakuna Matata.

My cell phonenumber is now posted on the contact page. Only 250Ksh for a cell number, about $3.25. Amazing. Make sure you call using a calling card.

Although I am surrounded by people I am so astranged from, I am very much at home since we are bonded by being children of the same God. He is so very prominent here. I cannot wait to hear more stories like Riku's, who is a Rwanden refuge who had to flee because her mother is a Tutsi.

2 September 2005 9:48pm

Finished packing this suitcase. I'm sure it will be over the weight limit and I'll have to pay extra.

Some things I have yet to actualize:

I'm leaving for Kenya tomorrow.

I'm out of college

I'm not 21 and my sister and brother are not 14 and 18

I'm not going to see them or my parental units for 10 months - including Christmas

The fact that many of my friends are married or soon to be.

I love olives by the fistfull.

One time I gave Sharon Osborne a piece of my pizza and she ate it.

There is thousands of people that God love, starving to death right now down south.

Fish grow in Lake Victoria to 1200 pounds.

uh, that I'm leaving the country tomorrow.

1 September 2005 12:04pm

Almost done with the roadtrip of the year. 1200 miles in four days. It began with Katie and Grant (and Cleveland the dog) in Cleveland, then Oliver in Chicago, then Nick in ELansing. Great coffee convo with Kent just now. All that is left is lunch with the grandmother and the farewell dinner at Pietros with the GRap fellas. Visiting Alli tonight at Springhill. Then sleeping, at last, at my house in Harrietta. Much to do before the plane departs. Finish writing the letters to the church and Springhill folks, pack my suitcase, clean the room. I watched The Constant Gardner yesterday with Nick, and although the movie in itself was not life altering, it was filmed in Kenya and helped me to see the shanty towns and landscapes that will soon be so ordinary. Reading TheSacredJourney by Buechner. His autobiography. 80 pages of recommended reading.

24 August 2005 12:10am

Took 6 vaccines today. Got a years worth of contacts.

22 August 2005 1:42am

Today I made this webpage. Nothing else will be up till tomorrow after I get some sleep.