the pictures from left to right are 1. a babboon, 2. the trout tree restaurant 3. my roommates and i at the lusoi farm, 4. some monkeys, 5. the lusoi farm house where we stayed, 6. kayla (my roommate) and i at the equator, and 7. a cute little boy (or maybe girl) we saw on the drive down from mt. kenya.

Well it’s been quite an exhausting week and weekend, but it’s all been quite good. I finished up parent-teacher conferences last week. I met with over 30 parents, which sounded quite daunting at first, but it ended up being an energizing time. Everyone was so encouraging and supportive of what is happening in the classroom. All of the new students in my class have adjusted quickly, and none of them want to go back to their old school. I have a couple boys who struggled a lot last year and are really beginning to excel this year. It’s nice to know that the Lord is blessing my efforts. I certainly feel inadequate for this job at times, but He is helping all these kids along as He helps me. Thank you so much for your prayers.

This past weekend a group of us teachers went up-country to the Lusoi Farm. Our friend Kungu’s aunt runs a sort a bed and breakfast at a house that used a British-colonist house. It was about a 3-hour drive to get to the farm, and there were several large rooms for us to stay in. We had such a good time! On Friday we explored around the farm. I went running in some of the fields nearby. I greeted the locals with “sasa”, which means “what’s up”, but unfortunately I don’t know much Swahili beyond that. One man took my little greeting to mean that I was a fluent speaker, so when he started talking to me in Swahili, I smiled, nodded, and ran past. Maybe I should just stick to English. Or better yet, I should learn some more Swahili. In all my spare time…

On Saturday we went to the equator. It sounded so exciting, but it was actually quite anti-climactic. There was a sign. We took pictures underneath the sign. We took some more pictures underneath the sign. Then we got hassled to buy a bunch of souvenirs that I can get for cheaper at the market near my house. But even when I say I have no money, they say, “Come look at what I have. Looking is free.” They never believe me when I say I have no money. After the equator, we went to the base of Mt. Kenya. I thought our poor little car wasn’t going to make it up that horrible road. It was a beautiful drive, of course, but we scraped bottom more times than I care to count. The drive back was awesome because the sun came out, and there were little kids everywhere chasing our car, smiling at us, waving at us shouting, “How are you! How are you!” in their cute little Kenyan accents. It was so beautiful. I felt like I was in Kenya! Nairobi kind of wears on you after a while.

On Sunday we went to church…for 3 hours. Then we went to the Trout Tree Restaurant. At this restaurant, they serve trout. In a tree. Hence the name. It’s probably the coolest dining experience I’ve ever had. We sat in a tree, we ate good food, and we watched the monkeys. It was quite nice. The drive back was fine until we got a flat tire. It was bound to happen. We had been over so many rough spots in our car, but the neat part is that we didn’t get the flat tire in the middle of nowhere. We got it about 10 minutes from our house, right by a gas station. We pulled into the gas station, and one of the attendants put on our little spare donut for us. We also had friends in a car in front of us who helped out. I felt like God really protected us.

That about wraps up my exciting weekend. Thanks for reading this incredibly long update. I hope you enjoyed it, and I hope you enjoyed the pictures too. Good bye!