First of all, he brought a whole second duffle bag full of things I could not fit in mine when I moved here along with some of my favorite snacks like POTATO CHIPS (ruffles...the good kind), peeps, cadbury cream eggs, crystal light, a 5 lb tub of BBQ sauce, and two huge containers of ranch dressing. All things I cant get here but consider necessary in America :) I was so excited and thankful! Especially since he paid the same amount for 15 cadbury cream eggs in America that I did for 6 in Kenya.
So, Monday was the first full day DB spent in Kenya and I basically just showed him around Limuru and my everyday life. We walked up to Brackenhurst and I showed him some of the beautiful views of the tea fields and then we walked to Uhuru Academy so I could show him where I work. Then, we got some Kenyan coke because its made with sugar cane instead of high fructose corn syrup and showed him around Tigoni Market. He also got to meet Lydiah and Francis, two of our Kenyan Uhuru staff members who were hosting him for the week he was here!
Tuesday, we visited an orphaned elephant sanctuary!! These baby elephants mothers had died and the babies were found alone and taken in by this organization with the intention of eventually releasing them back into the wild when they are of age. So, we got to watch as they bottlefed them and even got to pet some!! They were sooooo precious and their skin is so hard and rough, I was surprised. But luckily the came up to us before they started flailing around in the mud and getting themselves dirty. They were so playful and precious though and we had a great time! Then, we went to the giraffe center where we fed and took pictures with some Rothschild Giraffes. I learned all about the different kinds of giraffe that Kenya has and difference between them. It was awesome! Then we headed over to this really nice new restaurant in Nairobi called Seven and wined and dined ourselves.
Wednesday, Christine and I finally got a car!! Its a purple Mazda Demio and we couldnt be more in love with it! All of the cars here are either SUVs, trucks, or mini SUVs because the roads are so back so our car, also know as Lilly Lavender, is very practical here in Limuru. She is a little hatchback and we ride in style :) Then, after riding around in Lilly all day, we prepared a meal together. We made pizza and drank Fanta blackcurrant (my favorite) and moved the furniture onto our back patio so we could have a romantic candlelit dinner. We even got to shag dance while the rain poured down around us. Luckily, we were covered by our back patio ceiling. All in all, it was a perfect date night :)
Thursday, we went to Jikaze, the IDP camp that our lettuce, tomato, and chicken farms are at and where most of our girls at the school come from, so DB could meet some of these lovely ladies. We only got to see Teresia and Josephine because the other girls were at the far away farm digging. But, he got to drink some Kenayan chai at Teresia's house and her and Josephine showed us the huge rift in the ground from all the water washing away the land! It was like a huge cavern had been carved out. Then, we went to Windsor Country Club where we spent the rest of our day laying out in the sun, eating and drinking by the pool with poolside service, and swimming! It was soooo relaxing :) That evening, Kelvin, a close friend and the one who planned all of our adventures that week, made dinner for DB and I. He has a team house for volunteer teams he hosts on trips and so he set up this candlelit dinner outside on the patio with freshwater fish, roasted potatoes, kales, and chapati to eat! And some South African wine! It was all so delicious and very thoughtful!
We also stopped at the view point of the Great Rift Valley!
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Josephine (left) Teresia (right)
Friday, was our safari day!!! It both of our first safaris so we were really excited about it. We went to this park about two and a half hours from Limuru called Lake Nakuru National Park and it was beautiful! We saw soooo many animals too! Although, some of the roads had gotten covered by water because it has been raining so much so there weren't as many flamingos as normal. But we did see some waterbuck, water buffalo, zebras, giraffes, impala, gazelles, baboons, all kinds of birds, and LIONS! We were told to not be upset if we didnt see lions because they hide very well in Nakuru. But we saw two lionesses, a cub, and a young male all lounging underneath some bushes in the shade during the middle of the day! We were literally ten feet from them and if DB hadnt just barely seen the back of one we would have missed them altogether! It was incredible and the young male even got up and walked around so we got some pictures! We were out in the park for about 5 hours and then headed to the lodge for lunch where we were greeted by some baboons trying to sneak in to get our food. Luckily, they had a Maasai tribesman guarding the restuarant to ward off any hungry baboons. Then, we headed to Lake Naivasha National Park where we went on a boat safari and saw some hippos in and OUT of the water! They were so big! And we saw some African Fish Eagle swoop down and catch some fish, as well as more giraffes, zebras, wildebeests, pelicans, and waterbuck grazing by the watering hole in what seemed to be the perfect African landscape. It was a great capper to our adventure week and we both love wildlife so much that we both enjoyed every second of it!
Lake Nakuru!
The water has basically taken over....
Cape Buffalo
Baboons
Giraffes (twiga)
Zebra (punda milia)
when one of the lionesses showed us she was there!
a young male lion (simba- swahili for lion)
two lionesses
a cub! (the real simba)
waterbuck
warthog (swahili- pumba)
male impala
Lake Naivasha!
Waterbuck
African Fish Eagle swooping for a fish
Giraffe poking its head over the trees
Hippos! Out of the water!
Saturday was the day he left for America and the goodbyes get harder every time. But, we are both thankful to be in each other's lives even if its thousands of miles apart for the time being. We know God does not withhold any good thing from us and if there is anything we have learned in this process it's that God is faithful and we can trust Him to not lead us astray. We are even thankful that DB could even come to visit me because it was not a cheap trip! I am so glad he could come and experience my life here for a week and see the new place I am calling my home for the next two years and even meet some of the girls I have fallen in love with here. I am beyond thankful to have such a supportive boyfriend who is helping me achieve my goals and follow Jesus where ever he calls me. Even if its to another country for the next two years of our relationship! He is a godly man whom I am proud to call my boyfriend and pray that we will see each other a lot more over these next 2 years and for the rest of our lives ;) I couldn't have asked for a better week with him! God is soooooo good!
sweet post jorge!
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