1...2...3...4

Sort of reminds me of the Sesame Street song, 1-2-3-4-5, 6-7-8, 9-10, 11-12 dododo. Ok...yeah weird moment for me! Ha!

Anyways, as life here continues to return to normal, Kenya had Census day yesterday, to be counted or not was determined to be the mystery, as far as I know, I wasn't counted. But our dear President of this fine land, granted a public holiday, random I know, as it was just announced on Monday. But they count everyone here every 10 years I learned, but as a Westerner looking in I was left to wonder a few things, and see that they can improve the system.

For being here in Nairobi, the population here is just under 3 million, recently, I learnt that just in the Kibera Slum alone, there is over one million people, now if you were to look at the area of Kibera (2.5 square Kilometers or the size of New York's Central Park)...it is hard to imagine, living here it still amazes me.

So a little more of an update from me this month.

Well, my two roommates have left, to return to the States and back to school. Things in the house are much quieter but I still have a dog and 2 cats to entertain me. Lindsay has returned to Rocky Mountain College in Montana, and Sammi is at Grove City College in Pennsylvania.

I just learnt how to make bagels, yes, homemade bagels...mmm good. I keep trying new things in the kitchen, the other night I made a meal for dinner and just amazed that was so good, mind you, the kitchen looks like my sister was in there cooking after I was done, but if anything...the food was still good. Yesterday I tried a smoothie of mango, banana's and avocado's with yoghurt, delicious!

Time with the family has been precious this past month. This month I had the opportunity of having a sleep over with the kids, Cassidy, Titus, and Ella came into town, while mom and dad got a rare but much needed weekend alone to celebrate their wedding anniversary, their 13th wedding anniversary. So as we spent the day, playing with play dough, going to the market, watching movies, baking cookies, playing Uno and Whoonu, and making pizza's it was much fun. This was the day of our tragic accident, so in the midst of it all, I got another girl to babysit during the day. The kids all had fun and then we all made it to church in the morning, Titus was sure that I was going to make them ride the Matatu, but I opted for the taxi, which is usually an experience with me in the vehicle, but this time it was pretty safe.

I also just went up to see them a couple weekends ago, this time I became the big kid, we laughed until we couldn't laugh no more, with tears in our eyes at Ella who was doing a little jig for entertainment. Cassidy tried to have a waffle eating contest, only she had already won once it was declared. Ella insists that I am Aunt Jo, or just Jo. We built forts in Cassidy's room, had church, played games, and just cherished the time that we had with everyone.

I still am being "hit on" when I am out and about, yesterday I was surprised that no one followed me home. I am trying to work on getting a vehicle here, I really am feeling vulnerable and that I have to stay close to home at times when I am by myself. I have had a couple of scary experiences that I rather not get stuck in again. (Sorry, no marriage proposals)

Work is going well, I have been gradually getting more busier. I am assisting in the accident information gathering. The real director was here for a few days, and that kept me busy as well, he came very close to asking me to iron a shirt for him, I know that as a personal assistant somethings should not surprise me, but it was asked in such a way that I knew that he wanted to ask me but he just gave it to me and said find someone to take care of this. He knew that was just one of those things. But we had fun, he thought I was out to make fun of him, but you all know that I wouldn't make fun of my own boss. I just offered to assist in his disabilities, trying to be nice!

Power rationing is happening here in Nairobi, as well as water rations. We have power outages three days a week of scheduled times and randomly as they feel fit the other days. It is usually out from 6:30 am to 6:30 pm Tuesday and Thursdays, and then 8 am - 2 pm Saturdays. Lets just say that there is lots of laundry being done by hand. It is sad though to hear of the livestock being unable to eat/drink and things are really dry here. They don't expect rains until October or November, the next rainy season.