day 1

on this trip, i was allowed to enjoy the coldest showers of my life. in the dark. rain in nairobi = no power. no power = no water heater or lights (duh). awesome. the first & last showers of this trip were very cold & uncomfortably dark.  after shower 1 was when brother president informed me about turning on the water heater for showers, chuckling to himself over a piece of toast. he is loving my first trip to africa a little too much i think. day 1 took us to the campus where our affiliated institutes are housed & were able to meet students, faculty, staff & the excited graduates. karibu! karibu! karibu! karibus everywhere! karibu in swahili is welcome. the people on this campus, especially the graduating students, were so excited that the president came all the way from the united states for their graduation & brought 2 guests to boot! i’m pretty sure they could have cared less about me but i was with him & therefore pulled into pictures. that & being the only person ever with red hair. ok, i’m sure that is an exaggeration but you shouldn’t be surprised by that. the picture session with the graduates & the president was like photos with a celebrity. everyone jockeying for a photo with him. then there was this girl who was with him…might as well take a picture with her too. oh boy was she something to talk about! i don’t actually know this but brother president informed me everyone was talking in swahili about the young white woman with the president. that’s me, in case you were confused.

Day 1 ended with a wonderful dinner at a restaurant where out of Africa was filmed. i know, i haven’t seen it either but apparently i need to now since i have eaten there. anyway it was lovely & i am so amazed by everything I see here.