R&R

Rest

This past week we took a much-needed vacation, staying with friends in Nairobi Tuesday through Friday. It was a great time of relaxing, buying up things only available in Nairobi and eating lots of good food.

One highlight was a thanksgiving meal on Thursday. In honor of the many Mennonite Canadians (none of whom were available, ironically) in Nairobi we had a Canadian Thanksgiving meal with chicken, stuffing, guava sauce (like apple sauce), beans, and much much more. We started the meal with the traditional, “name one thing you’re thankful for” to which I said, “I’m thankful for popcorn, ice cream and chocolate chip cookies, things that remind me of home.”

The meal was excellent, and truly took me back home. There’s something about the combination of foods, eating with friends, and an attitude of thanks that make thanksgiving meals seem like home to me. Like very few other things, Thursday night made me feel like I was home. Later, after the pumpkin, chocolate, apple, and peanut butter pies, we had a hymn sing. Our family used to always gather around the piano, dragging my brother or me in to play before we finished for the day.

As much as New Tripoli, PA will probably always be home for me, one meal made Nairobi seem not so far away.



Favorite Things of Our Nairobi Vacation:
1. Buying many new things (like a sweet printer for under $100)
2. Eating eating and eating. We had ice cream multiple times, a thanksgiving meal, plus our first experience of Diamond plaza, an Indian food court with excellent selection.
3. Sterns driving us around. Jacob and Alvera pretty much picked us up wherever we were, making numerous logistics easier.
4. Access to unlimited internet
5. Good conversations with friends
6. Crossing off multiple things from our to-do lists, something nearly impossible in Najile.