Small Towners in the Big City

Before we left Musoma, and in the middle of a heat wave without power, I commented, "If Nairobi is this hot and having electricity issues I will be SERIOUSLY disappointed." Apparently I said that so strongly that Tessa timidly asked, "what does 'seriously' mean?"

Fortunately, I have not been disappointed - it is cooler here, and we've barely lost electricity at all - just blinks here and there. We're not having an ant problem, milk is easy to buy, the kids and I love the bathtub, we've been to a couple of restaurants, and we have a grocery store nearby. On the health front, we've visited the OBGYN and hospital twice, met with a doula/midwife, and found out that partial epidurals are available. So the list of things to which I was looking forward has been met. Yea!

Traffic is just as atrocious as I remembered, and the apartment is quite "cozy" (read: small), but we're managing fine. Home schooling is going surprisingly well, and Dusty's able to walk down the hill to the office to do his work on the computer and with colleagues. The kids have made a few friends at the tiny playground next door, and we're settling in well.

Having said these things though, it's clear that we're small town folks in the big city. We find ourselves readily speaking Swahili to Kenyans, who speak perfect English but enjoy Swahili too. Dusty's managing parking fine, but I have still resisted parallel parking our truck on the hill of our apartment complex. We're experiencing sticker shock at the prices of medical care - in Musoma it costs less than $5 to visit the doctor at the clinic - here it's about $40. Granted: the care is a bit different too!

The kids thought that a car alarm was a bird singing. They are fascinated by the traffic and ceaselessly comment on all the large trucks and buses. They referred to traffic yesterday as "the parade." They continue to talk and pray about malaria, which really isn't an issue, so we don't have to use our nets. They're thrilled by having ice cream in the freezer (well, we all are), grapes in the fridge, and store-bought cookies. The milk from the carton/bag tastes different to them, so Tessa decided it must come from a "different cow" than the one from which we get milk in Musoma.

But with all the big city has to offer, we still are focused on the main reason for our being here - waiting for this baby to come into the world, and into the Hill family. I'm getting a bit of stage fright, Dusty's trying to figure out how to navigate Nairobi and the American Embassy to make the baby an American, and the kids continue to pray that "the baby has fun in Mama's tummy."

Surely the next time I post, we'll have the Little One out, named, videoed, and photographed to our hearts' content. Till then, thank you for all your encouragement and prayers!