And we're back! After a harrowing, lovely, grace-filled, ridiculous 2 days in London, we got out of the greatest city that couldn't handle 5 inches of snow. Just a few highlights:
1. On saturday morning we arrived at LHR (heathrow airport) with our friends the Sterns, a couple who works in MCC Kenya.
2. At 9am, all flights from 10am-5pm are cancelled.
3. At 10am the snow starts
4. At 1pm we arrive at Paddington station, having stood in two massive lines to first be allowed into the UK and then to learn that our bags were nowhere to be seen.
5. At 2pm we get in line outside of Paddington for a taxi to the one hotel that had rooms available (at $300 a night).
6. At 3pm, still waiting for a taxi- the snow now ends
7. At 5pm, get into our hotel. We give up on BA flights and re-book with Aer Lingus out of Gatwick for monday morning.
8. Sunday morning Jacob and I decide to head to Heathrow to try and get our bags/fill out a form that at least claims our bags if they're ever found.
9. 10am arrive at Paddington
10. 11:15am, realize the only way to Heathrow was via a train/bus combo since the express train was shut down (thanks to the snow that fell the previous afternoon)
11. 1pm: We arrive at Heathrow
12. 2pm: we get in a line
13. 3pm: still in that line
14. 3:30pm: realize the people servicing the line couldn't get us our bags...we decide to head back to the hotel
15. 6pm: get to our hotel.
16. 10pm: Leave the hotel to take the train to Gatwick
17. Midnight: arrive at Gatwick airport
18. 1am Monday: sleep on the floor of Gatwick airport with about 1000 other people.
19. 4am: wake up, get in line to check-in to our flight
20. 130pm EST: we arrive in New York in JFK.
Basically London was paralyzed by 5 inches of snow and we were blessed to get out monday. The sterns may still be there, and our bags are still lost in the mountain of luggage BA made in its warehouse. Now we're home for 2 weeks, and couldn't be happy that we got out of that crazy city called London.
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Eurorails
For the past few weeks, we've started playing our favorite board game, Eurorails again. Its a game of economics, of supply and demand, and best of all, using crayons to draw train tracks over a map of Europe.
The basic idea is each person has to deliver goods from cities where they are supplied to cities that are demanding them. The scarcity of the good and the distance hauled cause the price to rise, giving you greater returns. At any time, you have three cards which each list 3 possible "routes" and the prices you'll receive if you complete the routes. You need to choose just one route from each card, as soon as one of the routes on a card is completed, you turn in the card and get a new one. The key is to combine routes from multiple cards at once, delivering goods to cities that are close to each other or cities that are already along your track.
The game has provided great entertainment for us over the past weeks, giving us something to do even when the power goes out. Of course the best part is that I (Matt) generally win....
The basic idea is each person has to deliver goods from cities where they are supplied to cities that are demanding them. The scarcity of the good and the distance hauled cause the price to rise, giving you greater returns. At any time, you have three cards which each list 3 possible "routes" and the prices you'll receive if you complete the routes. You need to choose just one route from each card, as soon as one of the routes on a card is completed, you turn in the card and get a new one. The key is to combine routes from multiple cards at once, delivering goods to cities that are close to each other or cities that are already along your track.
The game has provided great entertainment for us over the past weeks, giving us something to do even when the power goes out. Of course the best part is that I (Matt) generally win....
Saturday, December 4, 2010
World AIDS Day
Wednesday, December 1st, was World AIDS day.
The GAR program worked with the Compassion program here in Najile to put on a big event. We had performances by our GAR school peer educator groups (3 groups of 15-20 students each) and Compassion children of songs, poems and dramas about HIV/AIDS. All performers received t-shirts with various mottos and phrases about HIV/AIDS (the yellow and blue shirts) and all staff had new shirts with the AIDS message as well.
We also had various leaders from the community who gave speeches. But the moment that made me most proud, was when one of our program clients came up and shared her story with the audience. Her ability to speak openly about her status and then challenge the community to overcome stigma and recognize how you can live positively with the disease was awesome. She shared how her faith in Christ and the assistance of the program had been crucial in changing her life. This is why we do what we do... We had hoped to do a parade of sorts with everyone lined up singing, carrying the banner, sporting their nice t-shirts, walking through the area, but the rain flooded us out! Who could ask for a greater blessing on the day than the first big rain in months?
Esther, Isaac and I were all a little tired, but happy when the day was done.
Friday, December 3, 2010
Piano Time
So school's out for December, which means hordes of children, mostly boys (since the girls are put to work) are wandering about with nothing to do. The big issue, however, is the piano---actually keyboard.
Most Maasai children think they can play piano. That's not really true. There are 3 chords that are banged sporadically underneath any song to varying degrees of accuracy, but you would think that those same three chords would get old after, you know 12 consecutive hours, but no.
At the same time, Steph and I are preparing some worship sets for our MCC retreat later this month, and have agreed with the owner of the one community keyboard (Compassion), that we could use it when we need. One Tuesday we got the piano and played for a while, but it wasn't long before little boy after little boy came to the house saying, "Give us the piano" (very polite huh?). We usually obliged when we weren't using it ourselves, but it soon became a battle of wills. We'd ask for it back, they'd say they'd return it, and just keep playing long into the night and early in the morning. They knocked on our door while we were sleeping and played long after we went to bed.
On Thursday we talked with the local head of Compassion and asked if we could again use it. He actually was really excited and said, "You should take it, and don't ever give it back to the kids again (this is a Maasai guy)!" It seems like even he can't stand the endless hours of pounding. So we now have the piano at our house and when the kids come demanding the keyboard, we can truthfully say, "the project director told us not to give it to you." Sweet Victory.
Most Maasai children think they can play piano. That's not really true. There are 3 chords that are banged sporadically underneath any song to varying degrees of accuracy, but you would think that those same three chords would get old after, you know 12 consecutive hours, but no.
At the same time, Steph and I are preparing some worship sets for our MCC retreat later this month, and have agreed with the owner of the one community keyboard (Compassion), that we could use it when we need. One Tuesday we got the piano and played for a while, but it wasn't long before little boy after little boy came to the house saying, "Give us the piano" (very polite huh?). We usually obliged when we weren't using it ourselves, but it soon became a battle of wills. We'd ask for it back, they'd say they'd return it, and just keep playing long into the night and early in the morning. They knocked on our door while we were sleeping and played long after we went to bed.
On Thursday we talked with the local head of Compassion and asked if we could again use it. He actually was really excited and said, "You should take it, and don't ever give it back to the kids again (this is a Maasai guy)!" It seems like even he can't stand the endless hours of pounding. So we now have the piano at our house and when the kids come demanding the keyboard, we can truthfully say, "the project director told us not to give it to you." Sweet Victory.
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