Monday, May 21, 2012

Rounding the Bend


More than 9 months! I’ve already been here 9 months, can you believe it? How much I can now look back upon, seeing growth and discovery in so many ways. This weekend was particularly wonderful, allowing me to reflect on all of the beauty and joy that I have to experience here.

Friday night, my friend Fraser and I went over to my dear friend, Jimmy’s house. His family is so beautiful and they’re always so gracious to have us in their home. He taught us a lesson on how to eat ugali. This is a traditional East African dish made from white maize, eaten by dipping it in a bunch of vegetable or meat dishes. Yum! Thanks for Fraser for the video documentation. Hehe


Immediately after this lovely dinner, however, something significantly less fortunate, though significantly hilarious happened to me. Jimmy told us that he has an avocado tree in his yard, so we all went out to look. His 11 year old boy scurried up the tree to pick one for us. So, he picked one, but another avocado connected to the same twig also fell, plummeted to the ground, hit the plastic water tub sitting under the tree, and ricocheted directly INTO my face. Bulls-eye. It hit the crap out of the top of my nose, immediately causing me to cry. I was actually wanting to laugh, it was so ridiculous to imagine this very large, very hard avocado pummeling into my face. A little sore now, but no broken nose!


Yesterday was Fraser’s birthday and I organized a big hike for us and 6 other friends! It was one of the most wonderful hikes I’ve ever been. We walked through a village on one of the hills of Mt. Meru, into a pasture-like area, and down into the valley of tropical and ancient trees. 


Once we climbed down down down the very slippery muddy slopes (with a huge assistance from our guides and Jimmy!), we walked along a creek for some time.


 Then, around a bend, past some large stones, and there before us was a massive waterfall pouring down from the crest far above us. I climbed up and under the waterfall with Jimmy and the view was simply breathtaking. 
We all had a wonderful lunch together on the rocks. I made my specially-delicious guacamole J 
These friends are some of the most wonderful people I’ve yet met and we mesh together so well! It was a special birthday for Fraser, but an equally special day for everyone else as well. 





1 comment:

  1. What, you can't defend yourself from a simple avocado???
    Wow that's upsetting that you got hurt in the face, seriously. And as I saw on Facebook, the waterfall picnic looked amazing. I'm so happy for you, to have these life-long memories of Africa!
    Love you/Miss you/See you soon!
    Daddio

    ReplyDelete