In Nairobi

I arrived safely last night... suitcase, sanity, and all : ) Between being stressed about traveling alone and getting things to fit into my suitcase, I wasn't quite sure I'd survive, but everything worked out just fine. My suitcase was exactly 20.0 kg, which was the maximum weight allowance, and I was picked up directly from the airport by a car full of five very friendly and welcoming missionaries from Kenya, Germany, and America.

I am staying in the midst of a cluster of missionary houses with a German/Sudanese family. Brigitte is the only one home at the moment as her kids are all on a class trip and her husband is away teaching at a university, so last night the two of us stayed up til nearly 1 A.M. chatting away in German (which made me discover just how rusty my German has become!). She told me stories of living alone in the bush in northern Kenya for a few years as a nurse and getting attacked and shot at by bands of raiders and showed me pictures of her time there, which I could never, ever imagine being brave enough to do! This morning she is going to take me around downtown Nairobi to see the city, and then later I get to babysit their six year old daughter while the parents go into town for a meeting. I'm kindof excited about it : )

And just as a fun sidenote... when I got off the plane last night, I literally gasped as I felt the temperature of the air outside (while eyeing my coat I'd carried and wondering if I should put it on) - it couldn't have been more than 70 degrees and wasn't humid at all. Nairobi is at a much higher elevation than Mombasa, which is why it's so much colder, but I definitely have jeans on and slept under a comforter for the first time in three weeks. It feels a little bit strange to be chilly and to not be sweaty all the time! Am I still in Africa?