Greetings From Kijabe!

Yes, we are both still alive! I know some of you thought we fell off the face, of the earth, but we are in fact still here. The small things that become common place and we take for granted, such as American outlets, internet hook up, constant phone and electric service, are not as common here it seems. It took IT a bit to give us a hook up and password to get into the internet, and spotty phone service made things difficult. Also, I have an extension cord running from the transformer next to the refrigerator (the only thing that runs on 120 volt power) across the living room to the phone line. I hope I don't trip over the cord! Everything over here runs on the European power system. It's the weird looking outlet that looks too big to actually plug anything into. Fortunately, many of the short term housing apartments are equipped with 120 volt outlets since many Americans come to stay. Unfortunately, we are not in one of these apartments! We have one outlet which is next to the refrigerator that we can use and when we used it we have to unplug the fridge. Until our great neighbor came by and lent us a power strip! Now I can use the computer and keep my food cold!
I will give a brief outline of our time in Kijabe so far.
First, we were picked up on Monday afternoon by the Kijabe ambulance driver. In the Kijabe ambulance! He took us to the grocery store in Nairobi and then we made to hour drive to Kijabe. On the way we stopped at the lookout over the Rift Valley. We were at 8,000 feet high. We could see for miles. It was so beautiful! It was like in the Lion King movie when it pans across the valley at the beginning or the end and it seems to go on forever and ever. We took some pictures but I doubt it will do it justice. We got to Kijabe at about 5:30 in the evening and got settled into our apartment. It has a kitchen, living room, bedroom and bathroom. Everything we need. We were invited to the next door neighbors apartment for dinner. They have been here about two years. On Tuesday, Mike started his rotations at the hospital bright and early at 7 AM. I slept until about 11:00 since I had taken and Ambien the night before. God bless sleeping pills! I had not had a nights sleep since we arrived. Once I got up our hostess, and next door neighbor Carolyn showed me around. She took me to the Duka (the small grocery/convenience store) and we went to see the vegetable ladies. Dinner was an interesting experience. We did not have anyone's house to go to so we cooked. Except I am not the best cook and we don't have a whole lot of options since our shopping was rushed and we didn't really know what to expect when we got here. So, we came up with fried potatoes and onions( really good), and a chicken and rice soup stew thing (not so good, although mike seemed to enjoy it). Oh well, I'll get better! Last night was not so fun when we went to bed, as I did not take and Ambien and did not get to sleep until 5 AM.
Today, I cleaned, walked around the hospital and chatted with our neighbor. Mike worked most of the day and is now on call tonight. We went to dinner at the Byrds tonight. A missionary family from Australia! It was really good. I need to practice my cooking!
I will probably start working at the hospital next week once I have been able to adjust and get some sleep as well as get over my cold/allergies. I would love to be able to breath again! We are getting settled and are hoping to get a safari scheduled for a weekend when Mike is not on call. I will keep you posted. Hopefully I will be able to do this daily now that we have Internet, but no promises. Also, I'll work on being able to post pictures, but it doesn't look good. So, in the mean time, use your imaginations! We love and miss you all. And happy late birthday to miss Laney, and happy late anniversary to Mom and Dad.