GAWD, ITS HOT!

Went to Kenya with Adam and met his college roommate. We had a lot of fun. Nairobi is awesome! Had some great food (got some sushi, which I didn’t have in the states), watched a movie in a real cinema, hung out in real shopping malls. When we were in the mall, we decided to look in at the Japanese restaurant to see if we wanted to eat there and ran into one of Adam’s friend’s parents. He knows everyone everywhere. Don’t think there is a country we could go to without running into someone who knows and loves him. So, they had us eat lunch with them and invited us to their house the next day. Had some good vegetarian sushi. They live in Karen, which is a suburb of Nairobi and is named after Karen von Blixen, the woman who wrote Out of Africa. You might have seen the movie with Meryl Streep and Robert Redford. I’ve watched the movie before and knew it was at the base of the Ngong hills, but 1. I didn’t know where the Ngong hills were and 2. didn’t realize that the expanse of wild land she lived on is in Nairobi! one of the biggest and busiest capitals on the continent. The mom took us to Karen Blixen’s house and we took a tour of it, then we went to the Giraffe center, but it was already closed. I was so excited to play with giraffes, so I was super disappointed. Ya’ll know how much I love animals. Then we went back to the house and had a nice big dinner and then went back into his old roommate’s part of Nai and met up with other friends for the night.

We left on Monday to Dar Es Salaam and when we got off of the plane we got hit with a wet, stifling heat. We had to endure this heat the entire week. Every morning we would wake up early, sticky and disgusting and never could just lay in bed and relax, had to jump up and shower and get out of the house! Did a lot of visiting family; dad, sisters, and brothers. One day we went to the beach and it was great! The only time I wasn’t constantly covered in a layer of sweat. Went swimming and then lay in lounge chairs with an umbrella and a nice cool breeze. The beaches are beautiful, the water is nice, but if you want to spend time in the city or pretty much anywhere else, it’s HOT! Went to a shopping center so we could walk in the air conditioning, sat at an outdoor restaurant with a breeze and fans and even choose our lunch location one day based on the fact that they had AC. It was nice to meet the other side of the family and see Adam’s old house and school and stomping grounds AND they have a Subway restaurant! We ate there twice and it was wonderful. Didn’t have any Subway when I was home, but I got some in Tanzania! One evening, Adam’s sister and sister-in-law took me to a kitchen party, a party they have with only women before the wedding. I’m not going to go into details, but it’s a party to teach the bride things she needs to know to be a good wife. I was there for a different night, but one night it is all about cooking. It was a very interesting experience and I was glad they brought me and that was the night I got home and finished watching the movie I had started on the flight from San Fran to Amsterdam. Adam was out with some of his brothers when I was with some of the sisters. When he got home, we went out and met up with one of his friends at the fancy bar we went to the night before, only the night before it was a lot less crowded and a bit more fun. And that night, a girl said hi to Adam and then came over to him later in the night and asked if he was from Kigali. She recognized him! Haha

Overall, the vacation was really nice. Had some fun and good food, met some of Adam’s friends from middle school all the way up to college and got to meet the other side of the family. But we were both glad to be back in Rwanda with the wonderful climate and be able to use a blanket again!