Night buses, matatus, and visas, oh, my!

Ladies and gentlemen, it is almost 12 in the morning, and I am still up, trying to avoid both going to bed and packing. I don't like packing, especially when I know I have to travel 8 out of the next 10 days! I'm spending Christmas and New Year's upcountry. Tomorrow night, I'm leaving on a night bus to ride to western Kenya. Ever ride on a Kenyan bus? on Kenyan roads? at night? This is NOT Greyhound. I'll arrive at Kisumu at a fresh 4 am where we'll have to catch another bus to the border town of Busia, where a coworker and I will visit my friend's family scattered around the area. The main mode of transportation will be stuffing ourselves inside a taxi van of sorts, called a "matatu," which is known for crazy driving, blaring music, and packing in their riders. We'll be going to a Christmas service, catching fish (okay, maybe just buying them) from Lake Victoria, touring Busia, and buying up tons of bananas. After that, I'll hop the border to **Uganda** and spend two days there and get my passport stamped with another country's visa (score!). I'll miss New Year's in Uganda by a day, and instead will celebrate on the other side of the border in Busia. After the official start of the new year, it's off to Nairobi again, back home, just in time to celebrate my birthday (January 2nd, tell all your friends). So no chance of hearing from me for a while. Until then, Christmas Njema na Mwaka Mpya Mwema!
Now how am I going to avoid packing?

Things You Can Only Say in Kenya

There are some things I won't be able to take back home with me:
1) "Wanna go to a hotel?" Hotels here are little little restaurants, usually equipped with just a wooden table and wooden benches that serve tea and little foods. People usually go here before work, and frequent them throughout the day. Knowing this, it's still funny when you lean over to your coworker and in a whisper ask, "Wanna go to a hotel?"
2) "I need to buy a rock." Why on earth would anyone buy a rock? To eat it, of course. Yeah, they eat rocks here. Edible rocks, of course. They're so soft, you can break them, but they taste like dirt!
3) "Did we blow up the VCR?" Apparently, you need a transformer and apparently it's not the big box sitting on my floor that everything else is hooked up to.
4) "Wow, you're looking fat!" I will NEVER utter this in the States.
5) "Then the monkeys interrupted my lesson." And it was going to be a good one! We were at the park here, and I had to teach the girls just a 15 minute lesson on their worth, but the monkeys came, after our snacks, and after the third try to get back on track, I called it off. Stupid monkeys!!
6) "As long as I don't see its head." For celebrations, we usually have goat. Freshly slaughtered. So this phrase is often said here, by mzungus and Kenyans alike.
7) "My name is finished." My name, Melissa, sounds like the word meliza, which means "finished." So when I introduce myself, I say, "My name is 'finished.'"
A brief glimpse into the Kenya-restricted sayings of my life.

Winter Heat and Other Christmas Atrocities

What is going on? While you are all cold, and miserable, or maybe not miserable if you're one of those Canadian or Swiss folk, I'm BAKING in the sun. Right now, it's a cool 7 at night, but got the doors and windows open, and in a minute, I'm going to get my clothes from off the line. I have been able to get a tan (working on it for the trip to the coast in January) the past couple of days, so now it actually looks like I've been in Kenya for 6 months! Still, I miss the busy holiday rush, and (imagine!) the traffic. There are a few lights strung here or there, but no constant cycle of Christmas carols. But Christmas is still coming. I feel like I'm in Whoville. Man, you would think that Christmas is more than just about the marketing!

Angels Choir

It's been decided. I have heard the voice of angels. Now, since I've been here, I've heard amazing voices, which lift me to the heights of Heaven. But, yesterday at church, the Nairobi Chambers Choir sung for us. And they were amazing. Literally breath-taking. I could not believe that people could sound so sweet. From the first note till the last song, my mouth was dropped, and I was hooked. I could not stop talking about them all day long! As my friend says, I can't put it into words. So you'll have to trust me that they were beautiful.
It makes me think that if people can sound so good, then what will the angels sound like that fall before the Throne of God, exclaiming, "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God almighty?" Will I ever find it ordinary? Or will the voice of angels always have such a lasting impression? If mere humans can take my breath away by the first note, how will I react to heavenly voices singing to the King?
Then that makes me think that if angels will sound more magnificent than what I heard yesterday, what will the voice of God Himself sound like? It says in Ps 33, "For the word of the Lord is right and true," which generally means the Bible and the Law. But it goes on to say, "By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, their starry hosts by the breath of his mouth....For He spoke and it came to be." This is about God's voice. If people can sound like angels, and angels sound better than that, what does the voice that created and sustains all creation sound like? It says (somewhere) that God will sing over us. Our only response is what Ps 33 tells us to do: Worship the Lord. With our bad voices, or okay voices, or angelic human voices, we, in response to hearing God's voice, will sing back to him praises.
"Mtakatifu, mtakatifu, mtakatifu, Bwana, Mungu Mwenye Nguvu." (Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty.)

World AIDS Day

Not only is it December, but it's the first day of December, and we all know that means World AIDS Day! Today, bow your head in prayer to God and plead with Him on behalf of those who are sick because of this disease, for the orphans, for the widowed, and for the grieving. Also praise Him for those who are alive and strong, who are infected but not yet dead, thanks to ARVs (anti-retroviral drugs), and pray for those who are living in such a way that they put themselves at risk. I read an article on Yahoo about how the rate of young adult infections have increased in America. We need people to know the risks, and take this disease seriously!
AIDS is an equalizer. It strikes if you are good or bad. It strikes if you are young, old, or in between. It strikes if you never put yourself at risk knowingly. It strikes mothers, fathers, children, lovers. It strikes if you are straight or gay, black or white, Indian or Asian. It strikes without discrimination. And if you aren't careful, it could strike you.
Jesus is an equalizer, too. He loves you if you are good or bad. He loves you if you're young, old, or in between. He loves you if you never let yourself know Him. He loves mothers, fathers, children, lovers. He loves you if you are straight or gay, black or white, Indian or Asian. He loves without discrimination. And if you want to, He could love you.
Psalm 27:10 Though my father and mother forsake me, the LORD will recieve me.
Zaburi 27: 10 Hata kama wazazi wangu wakinitupa, Mwenyezi-Mungu atanipokea kwake.

What does Melissa dancing look like?

Bless that little Australian, Elf, the nurse that was working with us for four months, has posted pictures and videos since she's been home. Praise the Lord, because for me to post videos are crazy. I'm still working on it, but in the meantime, you can check out Elf's blog,
www.sister-elf.blogspot.com. Also, if you haven't, check out Shayla's blog, because she's still here and may give some good insight. www.shaylatoafrica.blogspot.com. And yes, we all love Blogger, apparently. Both girls, and another one from Germany, Eva, have worked with me at my project, but are not SIM. They are with a different mission agency, and live on the other side of Kibera. But they are like my sisters, and I wouldn't want to work without them! Keep checking these sites, too, and between three of us, we'll keep you well-informed.
Badai! Later!

Thanksgiving. And Thanksgiving...and Thanksgiving

Have no fear, my American friends. Here on the little Rose Avenue compound, I had Thanksgiving. Three times. On Wednesday was my first American Thanksgiving (which is not my first Thanksgiving here, thanks to my Canadian housemates) and it was simple, just us girls in the house. Only two out of 5 of us are American, but one imparticular (not me) likes to cook. We didn't have turkey, and like the first Thanksgiving here, the power went out and we had dinner by candlelight. A Kenyan Thanksgiving tradition. But what really made it Thanksgiving was the pumpkin pie. Then Thursday, while you at home were slicing your turkey and baking your pies, I had a Kenyan meal that my friend from work came over to cook for us. My feast was pork with ugali and chipati. Not your typical holiday meal, but maybe I'll try the same meal for Thanksgiving 2008. I know you all are worried about if I got any turkey at all...or mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, and cranberry sauce. Well, on Friday, my whole compound had a complete, official Thanksgiving meal. Considering not even half the attendees were American, we had a fine Thanksgiving meal with the biggest turkey I've seen in my life! I stuffed myself like a good American glutton on all the fixin's, including more pumpkin pie. Oh, but no cranberry sauce.
Happy (belated) Thanksgiving, everyone!!