Counting Down the Days

Can you believe we only have 3 more weeks in Mombasa? Crazy right!?

We are kicking into high gear trying to get everything figured out and dealt with before we leave. Its not an easy process. We will be SO ready to get to Canada once these few weeks are over. Kelvin and I often look at each other and just wish that we could leave tomorrow and not have to deal with selling our stuff, looking after the business and the project, and saying our goodbyes. As each day passes, our hearts are more and more excited to start a life in Canada.

We are also just trying to ENJOY kenya while we can. I was in nairobi this past week. We had some troubles on the bus and what was suppose to be a 7 hour ride took 11 hours. The plus side was that I got to drive through the african plains as the sun was rising and it was completely majestic. Africa is truly majestic. 

Last weekend we decided to check out Haller Park. I can actually see Haller Park from my kitchen but I have never been in it. I was surprised as to how many beautiful animals and wildlife are in my back yard!

 Giraffes will always be so gracefully goofy. 

 These monkeys (and their reproductive organs) always crack me up. Yes, his testicles are bright blue and his 'manhood' is bright red. Maybe it makes it easier for the woman to spot it?

Baby monkey!

I think someone was trying to hide.

 But this someone liked being in the middle of the road.

 Not sure what this animal is called.

They have a few hippos in the park too. Unfortunately, they weren't hungry enough to get out of the water and come eat their food. I was so looking forward to seeing their big bodies as I have only ever seen them in water. Its hard to believe they are the most dangerous creatures in Africa.

 And then it was time to feed the crocodiles. This was the big kahuna.

 For show, they like to tease the little guys and make them all jump for the meat.

These things were just wandering around in the open. They kind of look like something you might find in the mountains near my hometown.

 The greenery was so gorgeous and luscious.

 This tree was so bizarre with its neat roots system.

I used to dream of living in a place with palm trees. Now I have them right outside my window. 

We are trading in the tropics for the snow....

Our First Anniversary

It was our one year anniversary last Friday (December 21st). I had planned to write some lengthy, insightful, inspiring post about marriage and love and Kelvin and Jesus and other stuff but our day was hijacked by a slew of visitors and a long to-do list for our Christmas banquet. 

I spent a good part of our anniversary here....

...at the largest crocodile farm in Africa. 

With these great people....

 ...the Rono kids. 

Swido, Virginia, and Emmanuel were in town with a friend, boyfriend, and husband. We planned to all get together on Friday but once we were together, we couldn't figure out what to do so we split up. I took the girls and their men to the Mamba Village Crocodile farm and Kelvin took Emmanuel and his buddy Ryan to the beach. We all had a great time. I always love being with these great peeps. Swido has been gone for almost two years studying abroad so catching up with her was wonderful. The crocodile farm was interesting with a strong flare of cheesiness. It was kind of cool seeing over 10,000 crocodiles.

We eventually said goodbye to them and Kelvin and I went on a coffee date at Java House just to hang out together. We were completely wiped though and were starting to get sicko so it wasn't the most romantic date. 

 A friend asked me how our first year of marriage has been. I told her that it was kind of like a roller coaster ride. There were a lot of highs and lows and sharp twists and turns but at the end you get out and say, "that was awesome! lets do it again!".  I adore you Kelvin. Let's spend forever together. 

Lucy

I got an email from my dad this morning telling me to call him right when I wake up. My stomach got a little nervous. It's the kind of email that you know something bad has happened or else they would have told you in the email. 

So I called dad right away and he broke the news to me that our beloved pup of around 15 years (I forget how old exactly) passed away. It wasn't a big surprise as she was quite old and ailing. She was blind and deaf and had constant seizures. She was also waking everyone up at night to go pee causing a severe lack of sleep for my parents. Anyways, I guess she had a major seizure and once she snapped out of it, she just wasn't the same. Dad took her to the vet and they had to put her down. 

We loved her. She was such a big part of our family for the past 15 years. Amazing how animals can grab a hold of a special part of your life, eh? We will miss you Lucy lu. 

In the meantime, Neema returned from the vet this morning where she got spayed or, as I like to say, snippered. As you can tell from this photo, she is not the happiest cat alive. I started noticing last week that she was acting really strange. I mentioned it to Kelvin and he told me that she is in heat. I have never experienced a cat in heat. It was wild! We decided it was time to make sure miss Neema doesn't have any mini-neemas.  We bought this tiny basket and picked her up this morning. Since then, she has been trying to bite her stitches (no head cone here) and then she gets scared of them and tries to run away from them. Obviously, they follow her everywhere she goes so it has been a bit tormenting for her.

Kelvin could probably care less about my animal stories. Animals are only really good for food around here so naturally my husband doesn't have the compassion I do for my animals. Thank God that he still loves me! 

Some new things

Do you ever get a 'new thing'? Something you obsess over, tell everyone about, use too much, and then eventually get tired of? 

Right now, my new thing is homemade pizza dough. 

I have always been hesitant to make my own pizza dough. I have passed the yeast in the grocery store so many times debating whether to buy it or not. I guess I have never been the greatest of cooks and anything that seems to flop easily is kind of out of my reach. I tried pizza dough the first time I moved to Kenya (in 2008) and it was awful. It turned out to be this like hard, flat, paper type thing. I still wonder how I got through that year. I don't remember making anything good.

Anyways, I finally took the plunge, was suggested a good recipe and tried it out. 

I will never go back to store bought. Fresh pizza dough is divine. 

We have had pizza more in the past 3 weeks than we have the whole year. Today I finally got the hunch that its getting a little bit old. Time to get a 'new thing'. 

 It's actually really cheap to make if you make the dough yourself. The cheese is the most expensive part but every thing else is cheap, cheap, cheap. 

And it looks like Neema has a new thing too. This plastic bag. She has spent the whole day inside of it. Not sure what the attraction is. Maybe its like her own little bedroom that no one can come in. Who knows, but it seems to be  her new thing. 

Proud Parents

I fear we have become like those families who post endless photos of their kids doing pretty much the same thing all the time. But we are so proud of our Neema girl and want to show her off. In all honesty, I feel like I have a family now. Last night, we sat on the couch, all three of us together. I was fixing some of Kelvin's pants and he was on the computer. Neema was squished between the two of us while the nightly news was on the tv. Not to mention our awesome christmas lights were twinkling creating a warm atmosphere. Ah..the Opiyos...

So I have had quite a few people ask me to post more photos of the cat. Go figure, I live in Africa and see awesome things everyday yet people just wanna check out the kitten. 

 Kelvin has warmed up to her. And she adores him too. 

 I had this box for her kitty litter for the last couple days until I bought a real bucket. She loved playing peek-a-boo under the boxes flaps.

 She hangs out under the glass table and still can't figure out that it is glass and she can't get through it.

She is a little terror as most kittens are. Yesterday she latched onto the fan that was oscillating and she went back and forth with it. 

We love our baby. 

Looking for a home

Yesterday we had a sweet visitor come into our office to hang out. This tiny little kitten came in and wouldn't leave. We fed it some milk and loved on it. I had been begging Kelvin for a cat after I fell in love with the cats my brother recently got. Kelvin declared that this was the cat we were going to take. We kept her in the office all day. I locked her in there as we went for lunch expecting that she would be scratching at the door to get out by the time we got back. To our surprise, she had made herself at home and was fast asleep on our chair. She came in looking for a home, like most people who come into our office, so we decided to give her one. 

Of course I took her to the vet first because she is a street cat in Kongowea. Who knows what kind of yucky things she could be carrying. The vet was impressed how clean she was for being a slum cat. She's about 2 months old and we called her Neema. Kelvin has warmed up to her already (as cats for pets is not something many Kenyans consider). He refuses to let her sleep with us; that's too much for him. But so far she has been easy peasy. No noise, no mess, no fuss. She is not super needy and seems pretty content. Perfect cat for the Opiyos. 

She is definitely a mixture of many colours. 

Kelvin told some kids he would pay them to fill a bucket of sand for her kitty litter. Once they were done he turned into a drill Sargent and told them all to line up nicely from shortest to tallest. They were very obedient. He then handed them each 5 shillings (about 7cents) and they ran away with big smiles. 

So Neema and I have been hanging out today. She's been chillaxin' as I have cleaned the house. We had a little nap together. And she even watched Joyce Meyer's sermon with me this morning! Good kitty!

Morning Thoughts

I was up at 6am this morning. Lately I have been getting up this early, or earlier, after sinking into sleep around 9:30pm and getting a solid eight and a half hours of sleep. On weekdays, I usually find my parents sipping coffee and watching the news at this time. However, today is a Sunday which means that my parents try to sleep in just a wee bit more than the rest of the week.

 I quickly grabbed my computer to check what was happening in my life, my friend's lives, and the rest of the world. Yesterday, I had got news that a large ferry sank between Zanzibar and Pemba Island.

You are probably wondering why I would even know that or care about it.

Well, good friends of mine live on Pemba Island. And I have a couple other acquaintances on Zanzibar too. The two islands are less than an hour flight from Mombasa. They also have a similar people group as the people in Mombasa, who I mingle amongst everyday. Recently, the Zanzibar ferry had been coming up in a lot of my conversations (mostly because I heard that is one of the roughest ferry rides and that they actually give people puke bags before they board the ferry) so I was appalled when I saw the news that it had capsized. The boat was heading to Pemba after large Eid celebrations. The boat was 300-400 people over capacity and hit some shaking waters in the middle of the night. The boat is now at the bottom of the ocean, possibly trapping hundreds of lost lives.

I looked at pictures of the tragedy this morning. My heart hurt watching people line the shores waiting to see if their loved ones were the ones jumping off the boats or the ones being carried off wrapped up in fabric, ready to be buried. UGH.

I noticed that the dead bodies were wrapped up in a local fabric called a khanga. It's a common fabric that is used all along the coast of east africa. I have many of them myself. I use them for curtains, towels, bed sheets, etc. I am acutally going to wear one today. Ironic? crazy.

On to today....

Today is my bridal shower! Yes, and I  made a beautiful dress from the khanga material before I left Mombasa (Kelvin was delighted when he saw me in it - his african queen). I am just thrilled to have so many close friends and family come to see me today and celebrate with me. I have been overwhelmed with everyone's generosity. I forgot how giving we can be over here. People's main questions are, "where is your gift registry? what should we give that you can take home? Should I give the wedding and bridal shower gift together?" I guess I didn't realize there was so much giving involved with weddings. I honestly just wanted ya'll to come hang out with me for a couple hours, eat good food, chat, laugh, play some games. The gift giving has blown my mind. I am grateful though.

My mom has gone all out for the party. I think that's a mom thing; something she dreams of for her daughter. Yesterday we picked up two dozen baby yellow gerbra daisies for the party plus a bouquet and a corsage. My dad spent the day getting the yard in order. I cleaned the inside of the house. I am looking forward to an amazing day celebrating me getting married!

Speaking of getting married...I am so excited! I miss the kelvinator....big time. We chatted this morning on the phone, like we always do, and I realized how much I miss him and my life in Africa. I will definitely be ready to go back in a couple weeks. Ah dreamy....

Finally my parents woke up. I went to join them on the couch with a cup of coffee. We got a call from an auntie who couldn't make it. I welled-up listening to her beautiful words to me. Family is so good.

Then we turned on the morning news just in time to hear an amazing ending to a heartbreaking story that has been on everyone's mind in our province for the last few days. A  young 3 year old boy went missing about a week ago. The police sent out an amber alert for the whole province and hundreds (possibly thousands) of people searched for him day and night for the last week. This morning he was found and reunited with his family. I can only imagine the relief.

Now it is 8:45 and my precious, loving kitty cat is walking all over my computer trying to get my attention (so if there is any spelling mistakes, blame the cat).  I am grateful for her affection.

Hope you all have a blessed Sunday! I know I am going to.

Departure Day

In only a few short hours I will be backing out of my drive way in Castlegar and on my way back to Kenya. I am so ready to go but I am terribly sad to be leaving my parents behind. My mother and I will be driving to Vancouver together over the next two days but this will be goodbye for my dad this morning. The tears haven't hit hard yet but the anticipation is killing us. Why does it have to be so hard? I guess I am blessed that my parents actually care and are extremely sad that I am leaving. Better than having parents who don't care what you are doing. I am so blessed. 

My bags are pretty much packed and ready to go. I keep finding new things to stuff in them trying to reach my weight capacity. I am given 50lbs per bag and I want to use all the 50lbs if I can. I think I have done a pretty good job so far. I am getting pretty good at fitting my life into a suitcase. 

This week has been wonderful. It hasn't been too stressful. I have been had to chance to say goodbye to most of my friends. I have had some precious time with my parents and some wonderful quiet time with God. I am just ready to go!

I got to have supper with my dear friend Amber. She used to babysit my brother and I and teach us piano when I was in elementary school. Then when I moved to vancouver to go to college, she moved in with me for a year. She made the transition to college life away from home so much easier. She taught me to eat well and keep the house clean and manage money. Now she has a new little apartment and a great new job. I am so grateful for her friendship. 

We had a 6 week memorial for my Deda on Saturday. Doukhobors believe that 6 weeks after a person's death, their soul still remains on earth and then transitions into heaven. This belief comes from the timeline of when Jesus died on the cross and finally ascended into heaven. They have worked it out to be about 6 weeks. 

The day of the memorial, we usually head to the gravesite for a small service of singing russian hymns and prayers and saying a few nice words about the deceased. Then we all join together and have a big lunch. We held the big lunch at our place and so my Baba and my mom were cooking all the food the night before. My Baba is so short, we put her on a stool.

A small gathering of friends and family at Deda's grave. 

The graveyard hadn't been ploughed so we all had to hold onto each other as we trudged through the deep snow. Deda, the outdoors man that he was, would have been proud.  

I came home after the service only to find my precious pup digging in all my clothes. I had washed, ironed and nicely folded them in preparation for packing but I guess she decided to wreck all my nice piles. Maybe she is just tell me how much she doesn't want me to go. 

"I'm not moving!"

Snuggles with Lucy

Our dog Lucy has been such an important part of our lives for the past 13 years. Recently she has been having some health problems (crazy seizure/vertigo/stroke-like attacks) which has left her a little broken. We really don't know what we would do without her. She brings so much joy and love to our family. We are not big animal lovers but we sure do love our dog. This morning she did something that I have never seen her do. She crawled up on my chest, dug her nose into my shoulder, and fell asleep. She usually doesn't like having her face close to ours but I am not sure why this morning was different. I laid for an hour on the couch, snuggling with my precious pup. 

She fell asleep on the armrest of our chair the other day which is also something that we have never seen her do before. Isn't she just adorable?

Crispy cool

I think the question I have been asked the most since I got back is, "How are you adjusting to the cold snow?" To be honest, I have adjusted just fine. It was quite cold right when I left Kenya so maybe that prepared me a little bit but I haven't really suffered more than everyone else. I definitely don't enjoy the cold or the snow. There have been a few days that I stayed inside all day which I am quite happy with. 

However, over the past few days, the sun (and my dog) have dragged me out of the house for a few walks.

This is the view from my brother's driveway in Kelowna. The mountains are absolutely gorgeous.

I really love living next to a large river. I think I take it for granted too much. It is truly incredible.

This is my dog Lucy. SHe is getting old and doesn't get out much so she takes every opportunity she gets to sniff everything. She is often the one who forces me out of the house for a walk. She just looks at you and this wave of guilt overcomes you and you just have to do it. 

She is adorable. 

I have  seen a lot of beautiful places all around the world but there is a world of beauty in my back yard. I am blessed to live here, thats for sure! 

Peeping Monkey

I was sitting in my office this afternoon doing some work and all of a sudden this little monkey head pops out from behind the curtains. At first, I though it was cute but then it hit me that there is now a monkey in my room. All I could think of is, "what if this monkey got tangled in my hair?" Ha, I know, it's a bit extreme but it could happen knowing how wired and hyper these monkeys are. I shooed the little guy away and he disappeared behind the curtain again. I moved the curtain to the side only to find that there was a small hole in the mosquito netting that the monkey was getting through. So I set up my webcam and waited for him to return. Being the peeping monkey that he is, he came back several times and tried to stick his little head in the hole.

Baboons

Lately, there has been this big pack of baboons strolling around our compound and they like hanging out right on the path to my room. Yesterday, I came home only to find them right in my way. I started trying to reason with them asking them to please move. Then I tried waving my hands and shooing them away. I ended up resorting to throwing things at them.

But they wouldn't budge. Not even a little flinch. 

They are scary creatures. I know they can be quite vicious. So I sat and I waited till they moved.

I think this is the mama or at least one of the mamas. I saw many lady baboons and only one male so I am thinking that he is a polygamist. 

This is the papa baboon. He's freaky. I had images of him attacking me and scratching my face off if I came to close to him. So I kept my distance and respected his personal body bubble. Eventually they did move and I was able to get back to my room.