Day 3 in Nairobi!
After breakfast and chatting with friends who are also staying here at Mayfield, we headed over to Yaya Center (a mall not far from where we used to live). I was surprised to see that many of the stores are the same but, of course, many are different – I suppose over half are the same. One surprise was to find a beautiful new huge Woolworths on the second floor!
After checking out all three floors of the mall, we made our way back down to the first floor to the new Java House there. (Java House is the Starbucks of Nairobi and is found in several locations now. It is better than Starbucks, though!) We met Emily’s dorm mom there and enjoyed an hour or so visiting with her and asking questions while sipping our Java House drinks – Mark had Coffee Mocha which came with a beautiful design on top drawn with chocolate syrup, I had a pot of Masala tea which was REALLY strong masala but OHH so good! And Emily had a chocolate chip milk shake which she said was wonderful. Abigail had an iced blende
d coffee mocha of which came with a little pitcher of syrup to add as sweetener (since we all know that sugar doesn’t dissolve well in iced drinks). However, she said it was plenty sweet without the syrup.
Abigail is very sweet and will be a great dorm mom for Emily. She plays piano and teaches the 7th grade music class as well as accompanies the High School choir. She was really excited that Emily brought her guitar and is hoping she’ll play for devotions. The 10th grade girls dorm is full starting in January with 18 girls. It should be fun.
After our visit with Abigail, Mark and Emily went off to buy a flashlight for Emily and find a place to exchange money. They went back to Mayfield. I was picked up by a couple of friends who drove me out to the AIM ladies’ Christmas luncheon. Besides getting to see several of the ladies we used to work with, a special treat was walking into our hostess’ house and seeing her worker, Josephine. She had been a faithful attendee of the Bible study I used to have for the workers and she is a very sweet Christian lady. She and I recognized each other right away. It was a great reunion.
The lunch was a potluck with lots of good food. After lunch we went inside and had a Christmas Carol sing and those who had come prepared shared in a cookie exchange. It was fun for me to be there particularly because this was a tradition that I had help start many years ago and had hosted it several times.
In the afternoon Mark, Emily and I rested at Mayfield and reorganized our suitcases. Later on, we had another sweet reunion with our good friends: Mary, Judith, Julia, and Susan. Judith was our worker for many years. Mary is her wonderful mother and Julia and Susan are her sisters. Judith’s brother Simon is the one whose wedding Emily was the flower girl for many years ago. (He and his wife are now living in Texas). It was really, really good to see them and they, of course, loved the pictures.
Well, that was our third day in Kenya. Tomorrow we head off to the airport for Kigali!
Bye for now from Kenya!
Love,
Lisa
After breakfast and chatting with friends who are also staying here at Mayfield, we headed over to Yaya Center (a mall not far from where we used to live). I was surprised to see that many of the stores are the same but, of course, many are different – I suppose over half are the same. One surprise was to find a beautiful new huge Woolworths on the second floor!
After checking out all three floors of the mall, we made our way back down to the first floor to the new Java House there. (Java House is the Starbucks of Nairobi and is found in several locations now. It is better than Starbucks, though!) We met Emily’s dorm mom there and enjoyed an hour or so visiting with her and asking questions while sipping our Java House drinks – Mark had Coffee Mocha which came with a beautiful design on top drawn with chocolate syrup, I had a pot of Masala tea which was REALLY strong masala but OHH so good! And Emily had a chocolate chip milk shake which she said was wonderful. Abigail had an iced blende
d coffee mocha of which came with a little pitcher of syrup to add as sweetener (since we all know that sugar doesn’t dissolve well in iced drinks). However, she said it was plenty sweet without the syrup.Abigail is very sweet and will be a great dorm mom for Emily. She plays piano and teaches the 7th grade music class as well as accompanies the High School choir. She was really excited that Emily brought her guitar and is hoping she’ll play for devotions. The 10th grade girls dorm is full starting in January with 18 girls. It should be fun.
After our visit with Abigail, Mark and Emily went off to buy a flashlight for Emily and find a place to exchange money. They went back to Mayfield. I was picked up by a couple of friends who drove me out to the AIM ladies’ Christmas luncheon. Besides getting to see several of the ladies we used to work with, a special treat was walking into our hostess’ house and seeing her worker, Josephine. She had been a faithful attendee of the Bible study I used to have for the workers and she is a very sweet Christian lady. She and I recognized each other right away. It was a great reunion.
The lunch was a potluck with lots of good food. After lunch we went inside and had a Christmas Carol sing and those who had come prepared shared in a cookie exchange. It was fun for me to be there particularly because this was a tradition that I had help start many years ago and had hosted it several times.
In the afternoon Mark, Emily and I rested at Mayfield and reorganized our suitcases. Later on, we had another sweet reunion with our good friends: Mary, Judith, Julia, and Susan. Judith was our worker for many years. Mary is her wonderful mother and Julia and Susan are her sisters. Judith’s brother Simon is the one whose wedding Emily was the flower girl for many years ago. (He and his wife are now living in Texas). It was really, really good to see them and they, of course, loved the pictures.
Well, that was our third day in Kenya. Tomorrow we head off to the airport for Kigali!
Bye for now from Kenya!
Love,
Lisa
