Mbita Visits Kisumu

Paul and I just returned from a two-night visit with Morgan in Kisumu.  Joe, our neighbor and fellow mzungu (he has worked at CGA for 7 years) decided to drive his vehicle to Kisumu to watch some football matches and we asked if we could hitch a ride.  It was so nice compared to public transportation.  We left on the 11am ferry, on Thursday, and were so happy to see Morgan again.  She actually had a bed available for us (she has opened her apartment to many people, on and off) so we stayed with her for two nights.  There is such a huge difference in our quiet life in Mbita compared to Kisumu.  Kisumu is a busy, noisy town full of people and Mbita is quiet and small.  I have decided that I like the life in Mbita better.  I guess God knows where we need to be, and also where Morgan needs to be!  It is a great break to go to Kisumu, but as we drove down our bumpy, dirt road to our house it felt good to be home again. 

We had a nice afternoon and evening at Morgan’s place.  Kelsey made a great meal for us.  We had “mexican night”, but sadly, no margaritas.  The food was good and it was nice to catch up with Kelsey and Abbey and Morgan.  Morgan’s apartment is just adorable!  No wonder she wants to stay in Kenya for another year.  We did buy her ROUND trip airline ticket last week to come home at Christmas-time.  She will be home the 28th of November and back to Kenya on January 12th…a good long time!

I was so excited to be able to go to Kisumu on Thursday because that meant that I could go with Morgan, and her baby classes, on their “tour” (field trip) on Friday.  It took two loads in a matatu to get all of the kids and teachers to The impala Park, but all you have to do is throw 20 kids and 4 adults into the van and off you go!  The Impala park was a 15 minute drive across town but then we had to wait for the same driver to go back to get the second load. Don’t ask me why we didn’t just hire 2 matutus….oh, life in Kenya.  The 3 hour tour consisted of walking around a fairly nice park and looking at some animals in cages.  We did see cheetahs, lions, hyenas and a few other animals but the best part was when Morgan and I got to feed the “blue-balled” monkeys.  I don’t know what their actual name is, but yes….they had florescent blue balls!  There were about 10 monkeys just running around waiting for people to feed them bisquits (yes, “BISQUITS…that is how you say it).  Morgan was doing her job organizing the bisquits and jewiss (yes, jew-iss)  while the teachers were letting the kids look at the boats that were being loaded up with, way too many, bigger kids when she called the teacher to tell her that the monkeys were going to steal all of the bisquits if we did not come soon.  I knew that she was feeding monkeys so I told the teacher I would go and help Morgan.  We had our own feeding session before the kids came and scared them all away.  See the picture page to see what I mean!  Anyway, the kids were adorable but making them stay in a line, and “march, march marching like a “solja” was sometimes a lost cause.  Passing out the jew-iss and bisquits in any kind of an orderly fashion was also quite a challenge.  Morgan was awesome trying to keep the kids in order.  She knows quite a bit of kiswahili and Luo but I did come to realize that she was using the same phrases over and over.  “Sit down, make a line, don’t hit…” were some of her common words.  The kids and teachers do love her though and she is really at home in that place.  After the tour we were back at school for a lunch of rice and cooked veggies and then the kids went home.  Well, at least I assume they did.  Kids just wander around and people pick them up when they want to.  The teachers don’t leave until the kids are gone, but Morgan can leave when she wants to so we decided to go home.  Spent the afternoon reading while Paul was at football (soccer) with Joe and another guy, also named Paul.  We all went to The Simba Club for an Indian dinner buffet and had a nice evening.  All you can eat for 500 ks (about $6.50).  The place was filled with a bunch of mzungus and Indians.  Not too many Kenyans, but it is kind of a Friday night get-a-way. 

Paul and Morgan and I went into town to get some errands done on Saturday morning…got a photo printed, more malaria medication, bought a new Kenyan flag for CGA (we will give it to the school when we leave as theirs is in tatters), and sat and had a nice cup of coffee.  I actually had my first COLD Stoney Tangawizi.  I have tried 3 other times for a “stoney” but this was my first success.  Stoney Tangawizi is a ginger soda made by Coca-cola (nothing like ginger ale) and is DELICIOUS.  You either love it or hate it.  Anyway, then we said goodbye to Morgan and were off to Mbita. 

There are no kids at our house today because I told them we would be gone so we can just hear kids in the area playing and the sound of waves hitting the shores of Lake Victoria.  The house is quite, oh wait…I do hear the coo of a ringed-neck dove…no babies crying or donkeys making their obnoxious noises right now.  A breeze always comes to the lake in the afternoons and you almost think you are at the ocean.  I plan to go and get Byron and bring him to the house tomorrow.  I have not seen him in awhile because the kids told me his shoes were lost in the toilet.  I had a neighbor buy him a pair of shoes when she went to the market a few days ago, and Junior delivered them for me.  He said that they fit fine (who knows???) so I hope to see him tomorrow. 

Life is pretty simple here and there is really not a lot to do, but it is really nice.  I will write again soon and tell you about our life in Mbita. Hey, I am not even sweating right now!!!