Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Sunday, February 28, 2010

Segovia, Spain





Today I toured a town not far out of Madrid. The roman aqueduct was constructed at the end of the 1st century. The Cathedral was built in the gothic style in the mid 1500´s. And the Alcazar castle has been around since the 11th century with updates happening with each successive resident.

Saturday, February 27, 2010

Madrid



My first day out in the town!

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Gatwick and Ryanair

Yet another delay. I guess its to be expected. Especially with cheap Euro airline Ryanair. So I leave at 10:30pm instead of 9pm getting me in at the fresh hour of 1:30am to Madrid.
Gatwick is kind of a weird airport. Out of the way as well. You don't get a gate number until about an hour before you leave. So we're all just in the common area.
Well, I did just get a water and magazine so I at least have that.
Til Madrid!

Eating ugali!

Kisii




Last week Sasha and I stayed the week with missionaries in the town of Kisii,Kenya. Lovely week! Great service (bible studies and I did a presentation or two-ok, just one- with a mixture of english/swahili) and GREAT FOOD! After 2 weeks with Kenyans eating a bit too much carbohydrates for our tastes, we were so happy to have a good variety of food- yummy salads and fruit, pancakes, coffee, carrot cake, stromboli, fried chx with mac and cheese,squash, lasagna. It was a treat.
So we got a taste of what its really like to live here that week. Which was actually quite nice. The people are friendly and are easy to start up Biblical conversations with. The toughest part is that because of the crazies that come out at night, they can't preach (or really be outside at all) after 6pm-ish. The missionaries solution? Watch a lot of movies! Hey, you can only study and read for so long.
Outside of the city (Nairobi, Mombasa) you really don't see women wearing pants at all. They told us that up til 2 years ago in Kisii that a women wearing pants in town would be stripped naked!
Other than the picture with the missionaries in their home, I've included 2 pics of our afternoon in nearby Tabaka. this is where the soapstone items are made. Awesome pieces! If it weren't stone and weigh so much I would have loved to buy more because it was really incredibly cheap.
Shelley, she was truly a pro at bargaining. I've seen a lot of people do it well and I think I'm alright myself. But Shelley is in a league of her own. It was fun just to watch her. She knew what everything was really worth so it helped having her along.
A third missionary couple that lives there are in the circuit work here in Kenya. It was interesting hearing from the wife about the different tribes here and how you can tell which tribe they are from by their name. There are like 42 tribes here in Kenya and it is a big part of life. in fact, they introduce themselves by saying where they are from/their tribe.
Before entering the circuit work, this couple was assigned to Sudan for awhile. The work there is open to preach to the Christians. Because more so are in the south, the branch office is actually moving from the capital of Khartoum to a southern town (i forgot the name of). She explained to me how they preach there. They go up to a home, introduce themselves and ask their name. if the name is a Christian name, they proceed with presentation. If its a Muslim name, they ask if they know of any Christians in the area. And if the householder asks them any questions, they are allowed to answer. But they themselves can't take the initiative in the conversation. Only answer. If they don't ask anything else, they have to move along.