No Santa

Friday night was an exciting event in our family. Our little diva had her first ever Christmas concert. She sang her heart out, along with hundreds of other kindergarten through 5th graders, and had the time of her life.

Unfortunately, she'd been battling a fever for about 24 hrs. I tried to keep her home from school Friday, but the fever was gone (temporarily, it turns out), and she really didn't want to miss math. (She doesn't get that from me.) I let her go half day.


We had a low key Friday afternoon, a high-key concert, and dragged ourselves home. By the late hour of 8pm, we were all feeling a little worse for wear. By Saturday morning, Andrew was encapsulated in blankets with a roaring fever; I was holding off the shakes myself. Calynn claimed she was "better", but around 11AM I came into the room to find...





Saturday was the day Santa came to the American Embassy folk. We heard it was great for the kids...

Acculturation

I parked on the sidewalk when I went to the market, didn't even think twice until my way home...

Age Creeping

Preface: Google is having trouble fixing the "Follow". I can't follow other blogs and you may have issues trying to follow mine.

I have to thank my dear friend Sara for electronically wishing me a happy birthday the day before my birthday, US-time. Hers was the first wish to come in -- the second was the University of Michigan Alumni Association, and next the UNC Alumni Association. All this moving and I still haven't managed to lose those guys.


The weather for my birthday weekend was what we are coming to see as typical - warm enough to play outside in shorts if it's not raining, but cool enough to build a fire if it is raining. Thus, Andrew made steak on the grill and still built me a fire in the fireplace.


The wee lass worked on her art. You can barely see the edge of our artificial Noble Fir Christmas tree purchased with much hassle from the States, and of course boxes -- nothing says "Home" like open boxes.
Here is her tremendous creation - "mom and dad and their thrones." Bold, daring, yet with an endearing sentimental twist.




One of the great things about Kenya is that Andrew can indulge in buying me flowers whenever, and neither of us feel guilty about how much he spent - because it's not that much! Aren't they gorgeous!

Multilingual

One of the benefits of the foreign service life is learning different languages... This morning my daughter informs me that she speaks 6 languages.

Oh? What are they?  

French, Spanish, Swahili, English, Wookie, and Ewok.

Christmas Project

The kiddo's school, the wonderful Rosslyn Academy, is sponsoring their annual Christmas Project. The school community raises money, food, and clothes for a selected cause. This year they are sponsoring the Village Project Africa in Makutano, Kenya, and the New Dawn Education Center just around the corner in Huruma slum. See the school's video here.

This morning, my daughter pulled out her purse where she has been keeping her piggy bank money, grabbed a handful of shillings and quarters, and carefully put them into a donation envelope to take to school. As I was tucking the envelope away in her backpack, she says, "Wait a minute! Now I don't have as much!"

Yes, sweetling, let's go.

Goodbye

Andrew left today for a 2-week trip to Addis. One does not take a job in a foreign country without having a nearly uncontrollable itch to travel around and see new countries, so I was happy for him and excited for his trip.We were all disappointed that he was going to miss the Princess Leia debut at Halloween, but since I've missed Halloween before because of cool international travel we tried to act like we were OK with it. Until the taxi came and picked him up. ARGH!!! I hate to see him go! Unexpectedly, my first thought as he drove away, was, "How can you bring me all the way to Nairobi and leave me here?" Kiddo and I spent the rest of the afternoon at the pool. I'll be OK with it, just give me a day or two.

Touring Car

So, yes, we purchased a car sight-unseen from Japan. It's cheaper than buying one in Nairobi, and has the added benefit of not having been driven in Nairobi.

However, our car is taking a vacation on the way to stay with us. We thought it would be here by now (along with all our household possessions) but it has stopped in Malaysia for a while. That, uh, seems like it's still quite a ways away....