on the ground (Kenya Day 1 + video)

JAMBO! we are here. Crystal and I together in Africa (Kenya) for the 1st time ever. we are pumped.

the last 48 (or however many) hours have been a blur.
stayed up til around 1:30am Wednesday night/Thurs. morning (knocking out the whole to-do list) then left for the airport about 4:15am (Thanks Carl & Diana!)

crazy long flight to Ethiopia. i read a couple books and popped a couple ambien. yeah, the 1st one didn't take me down (1st time ever it didn't knock me out within an hour), so i took a 2nd. then i went down like a little girl.
unfortunately, Crystal was in the bathroom puking while i was sleeping. that's a really sensitive husband, eh. HOPEFULLY that gets all the sickness out of the way for the next month!

we stopped in Rome, Italy & in Ethiopia for a bit - where Crystal wanted to play with the baby cheetah.

The rest of the Ridge team is doing awesome. we sat behind Tiffany & Amy on big flight, so got to talk a lot. + i got up to walk laps around the plane several times so my meniscus-less knees didn't lock up, so each time i stopped by Keith's seat each time as he was reading is super boring 13th century history book (which he claims is fascinating) on his Kindle. 5 left from Ridge & 5 of us still together.

& then finally... KENYA!
Tonight, Crystal and I ate with Andrew who is the Kenya Director for 410 Bridge (the org. we're working with these 1st 10 days).
Andrew is pretty awesome. he has 4 kids and 1 of them, a girl who is now 15? - just showed up at his house 1 day when she was 7. he said "she was just looking for some food." i think that's pretty awesome & the way that Jesus followers SHOULD respond... but that's for another post.
We talked with Andrew's wife, Catherine, on the bus from the airport - i think she liked me right off because i was trying to speak Swahili to everyone & she said "Where did you learn such good Swahili" & i said "you've only heard me say a few phrases... i'm def. still learning."

She told me she teaches in the Secondary School (high school) & said "I'm a teacher, i'll teach Swahili to you."

We also hung out with Jane (pictured to the right), who grew up in Karima. she is getting married soon and works for 410 Bridge now - serving the village she grew up in. that's pretty cool. She volunteered & i guess Andrew appointed her to be my official Swahili teacher. + she's a Yankees fan (notice the sweatshirt here)... could have gone a lot different if she were a Red Sox fan.

& here is the 1st video update from Kenya. Listen for the COWBELL! [1st time i've ever thought about Will Ferrell while in Africa.]

(In case you can't watch the video below, just click HERE to watch it on YouTube.)

so, things really get cranking tomorrow. we go to Karima early in the morning. That's the village we'll be serving the next 10 days with the Ridge team.

I'm excited to meet the people and experience life in this tiny, rural Kenyan village.

(Catch up on some of my thoughts about Africa before we left HERE.) bed time & it's only 4pm for you!