Trying to settle in...

Twenty-six bags scattered over two floors and five rooms. I can't find anything! I spent 2 hours yesterday morning searching for ink cartridges for the printer...AAAARRRGGGHHH! I still haven't found them.

You see, my "beat the airline" strategy was to pack a little of everything in each bag, so if we lost a bag, we wouldn't have lost all of one item, like my clothes or all the kitchen stuff. I had an inkling it would be a little frustrating on the other end, but it's been more than a little frustrating. Part of the problem, I think is that we don't have enough recepticles to move items from bags to shelves, desks, closets, etc. We did buy some hangers, finally, and I do intend to use them sometime soon...really...once I get the motivation to wade through knee-high piles of clothes lying on the floor that we've dug through for the last week, and that I know has something living at the bottom of the pile because I saw it crawl there a couple days ago and it may have nested and had babies by now.

OK, on a more positive note, Ashley is loving Africa..as long as she isn't dragged along to go shopping. That was, in her words, "really, really boring." What??? This from my daughter who can spend hours just walking around in one Claire's boutique and not buying anything? :) She's got a friend on the compound who's visiting from "up country." She and Josie and brother Josh, all who are pretty close in age, have been inseparable. Little Rehema, Josh and Josie's 3 year old sister, tags along and keeps up pretty well. Here they are on the badminton court, practicing their game. In the background, with the grass roof is a "banda". It's sort of a covered patio that our director had built for his wife. It's a gathering place in the afternoon on weekends for anyone who wants to go hang out.

Shopping in Kenya is interesting. Our trip on Saturday was mainly to Nakumatt...sort of a Kenyan Super Walmart. You can buy anything from appliances to milk here. We bought a bed for Ashley and a foam mattress. We also bought a stove and a bunch of kitchen items. Yesterday, we visited the road-side furniture vendors on Ngong road. It's about a mile long stretch of road filled with side-by-side duka's (stores) that are all of 12 feet wide. The vendors put samples of their wares out on the roadside and you just walk along looking for what you want. They even have upholstered furniture vendors there, though most of their wares are inside under a tin roof. We ordered a seven-seat set (sofa, loveseat and two chairs), in a faux-suede forest green with 12 pillows of alternating forest and camel, and two footrests for about $1,200. Custom made, so I hope they'll turn out good. We also got Ashley a bureau and side table for her room for about $120. It has wrought iron and wood to match the bed we bought. I'm thinking those prices are pretty reasonable, considering just one rocker/recliner we parted with in the States cost us $1200. We also ended up buying a TV..mostly for movies.. and had a couple new friends over to watch Star Trek last night. For dinner? Pizza and ice cream. We're sooo roughing it! ;)

Today we go grocery shopping! Food here is more expensive than in the states. Gas is more expensive, cars are more expensive, and some furniture, like lights and office furniture are also more expensive. I wasn't expecting that.