127 e-mails later...

All I can say is DON’T GET WHAT I GOT…oh wait, you aren’t in Africa, so you probably won’t. :) Thank you all sooooo much for your many well wishes and prayers – your love and support is amazing!

Sorry for the long space in between blogs – as many of you know, Wednesday morning I got sick with some sort of bug that made everything come out everywhere, if you know what I mean (I won’t go into any more details for those of you who’ve already lost your appetite)…between that totally wiping me out and our internet running out (it is topped up now, obviously…), I haven’t quite been able to blog. And really, getting sick here is NOT unique, just annoying. But now I’m here! And doing better. Still pretty exhausted – am taking some antibiotics and was tested for malaria, but that was negative. There is a small chance I could still have malaria and we just tested too early, so if I don’t keep getting better with the antibiotics, I will get tested again, but at this point, am feeling okay, just tired.

And honestly, the past few days have been full of me lying in my bed, or lying on the couch, watching gobs and gobs of Friends episodes. The girls in Kisumu gave me a bunch of DVD’s and seriously, those were lifesavers – just some mindless television to keep my mind off my very upset stomach. So pretty boring and not much to talk about. Life should pick back up again pretty soon.

I spent about an hour on Friday taking out my braids – you should have SEEN my hair afterwards. Can I say afro?? I forgot to tell you that when she did them, she put a “piece” into every one so they wouldn’t unravel – at the end, she burned each end so they’d stay (I maybe kinda freaked out a little when she lit a match and put it to the ends of my hair, even if it was fake!). Which is great, except it makes it pretty difficult to take out. No problem though – it’s fake hair – I just yanked until they ripped apart. It was nice for awhile, but it’s good to have my hair back.

Thanks, also, to all of you awesome people who sent me so many great messages – it made my birthday a very special day. In the morning I got to talk to my sister, then watched a few more Friends episodes. I headed off to the market around 12 and got fitted for a few skirts (yeah!). Bought some food for the week (am going to be a long this week – Soti has exams in Kisumu) and then headed back to rest up before the night…and was locked out. Seriously, never a shortage of adventures. I had left the keys with the neighbor, because Soti said he was getting back on the ferry while I was at the market. Except that he didn’t and when I got back, the neighbors were gone! Grrrr. So I got to sit outside and talk to my mom and sister, which was GREAT. I also got to exchange multiple texts with Soti about the neighbor’s number, which he thought I had. Then when I got back that night, he was gone again and I thought “oh no, I’m locked out again!”, but then the neighbors were home this time and had the keys. Phew. Oh, and we’re kind’ve on a main road, so EVERYONE who passed was staring and laughing…this one car seriously passed like four times.

Last night, I got to go over to some people’s house who run a Christian school for orphans here in Mbita. One of the girls I stayed with in Kisumu had actually lived out here with her family for four months a few years ago and worked with this American couple and another guy named Joe (also American), who run the school. She put me in touch with them and I got to meet them last night, along with four other volunteers from…guess where? Seattle. Crazy, hmmm? It was a good time – had some beans and rice, watched the sunset over the water (they have some really nice property), chatted about Seattle, some mutual acquaintences. I enjoyed myself – it was a good end to the day. Am headed back tonight to have a little worship service with them – am really looking forward to that too.

Okay, off to write in my journal a while. More updates soon when I actually have things to tell you!