Picture-Taking Tourists

That's what we were today! Our cameras were ready at a moments notice...but we don't mind being tourists for awhile, at least until we feel more at home and comfortable in our surroundings! We heard today that the word for white man - "mzungu" - literally means "person who wanders around"! Very fitting, as sometimes we feel so out of place and don't know what we're d0ing yet!! We got to go to the giraffe center today...so cool! It's in Nairobi, in the Karen area, which has been described as the Beverly Hills of Nairobi because of all the rich Kenyans living in that area. There are tons of giraffes living there, and we were able to pet and feed them!! Have you hugged a giraffe today?!?! It was so much fun! We so thoroughly enjoyed ourselves! They also had warthogs..."when i was a young warthog" (just imagine me singing that!), and tortoises. We've also been driven around the city a lot, and are trying to get our directions straight! And man...the potholes! It's pretty crazy!! We also drove by Kibera slum today...you have to see something like that to truly appreciate the horror. About a million people live in these awful conditions, and that's just in this one slum. I'm really praying and hoping that I'll get a chance to work with kids there, and have heard about a few different people who are doing just that.
Before we left Canada, we were told that we would probably get invites to come see different places, and help out in different ministries all over Africa...and it already started!! We weren't expecting to get offers our first day here!! An offer to go to Zambia, an offer to help out with summer camp ministries, hearing about slum ministries, being told to just get our name in with AIM Air, and we'd be able to fly anywhere...and it goes on and on and we've only been here a few days!! It's pretty exciting...even though we won't be doing all of these things, just knowing that the possibilities are endless is so cool!
We also go to go see the Wilson Airport area yesterday when we went out for lunch for Kenyan food (and yes, my gag reflex is still in good working order, how frustrating!). Trevor is really excited about starting work there, and getting to know what his job and expectations are. So many people are so excited when the hear that he is an automotive mechanic.."oh good, we REALLY need those", or "hey, i have this problem with my land rover"!!! It's pretty interesting!!
We've had really good "tour guides" too!! Lesa Brown, who has been coordinating our orientation, has been driving us around, and showing us how to get from place to place. There's 3 main roads we have to know- Ngong Road, Langata Road, and Mbagathi Way, which all connect and have a lot of the main places just on the way, like the Uchumi store and Nakumatt store, the Wilson airport, the Mayfield Guest House, and a lot of AIM staff housing.
But, supper is almost ready, and I don't want to be late for that! I've also been trying to post pictures, and it's not working very well. The internet is too slow and keeps timing out before the pics are loaded! But i hope to find a techie who can help us with this!! Until then, just imagine what i've tried to describe to you!!
~A