Snippets

When one is on a safari, reporting on the big events is easy.  But there are also a myriad of little happenings occurring everyday.  Some are noteworthy;  others are memorable, but just to the participants.  Today's blog posting features a variety of events which I hope you will find interesting and in some instances, enlightening as well.

One day Ian came home and excitedly announced that he had been invited over to Levi's house for a sleep-over ...and...a water gun fight had been planned involving other kids for that afternoon.  There was one problem, however, Ian had no water gun.  No problem!  Jeff marched out to his work shed;  rummaged around for some spare materials;  gathered some tools; and in a matter of less than an hour, Ian was demonstrating his new water cannon.  And it worked well, too.  He won the water gun fight!

One advantage living on campus at RVA is the fact that fresh eggs are available.  Some one brings eggs everyday to the Maintenance office where they are sold on a first come, first serve basis.  Because of this sales method, the eggs are often sold out very early in the day.  In that case, one goes down to the duka in Kijabe for fresh eggs.  Are they as fresh as the ones available at Maintenance?  You be the judge.  The duka egg pictured above has a chicken feather attached to it.  Can't get much fresher than that!

Joyellen is involved with the art program.  Therefore, even though school was on break, a couple of station kids who were students of hers came over one day with their art projects to ask a few questions.  Pictured here is a lion that was created through the process of stippling.  Using a photograph, the student recreates the image on paper using individual dots.  This painstaking process results in a work of art shown here.  This picture is destined for the 2015 RVA calendar which showcases for each month a piece of artwork drawn or painted by  RVA students.

This stippling drawing of a giraffe is also scheduled to appear in the 2015 RVA school calendar.  Half the face is completed with the other half an outline ready to be filled in one dot at a time.  Pictured is a stippling pencil used in this procedure.  In addition to artistic talent, a great deal of patience is required to produce this type of artwork.

Just because a youngster is growing up in what some consider to be a third world or developing country, this does not mean that he/she is experiencing a deprived childhood.  What kid in America can go outside and find as a playmate for the day a chameleon?   That is just what Ian did one morning.  He had put the chameleon in a bucket, but the creature decided to find out more about his captor, so he crawled out of the bucket and onto Ian's arm.

Slowly, with determination, the chameleon crawled higher onto Ian's shirt.  Note the tight grip the creature is employing with its right front foot.

With intense concentration the chameleon continues his climb upward toward his goal.  Progress is slow, but steady.  Soon, very soon ...

Boy and chameleon meet.  They stare at each other, both deep in thought.  What are they thinking?  Only they know.  The next day Ian released the chameleon into its environment.  Who knows?  Maybe they will meet another day to play together once again.

Housed in this nondescript building is a government bureaucracy charged with keeping track of any and all aliens (human type) living and working within the borders of Kenya.  Hence, Jeff and Joyellen periodically have to travel to Nairobi and visit this building in which they file their alien registrations.  They did so this week leaving early in the  morning in order to beat the dreaded Nairobi traffic and to arrive at about the time the office opened.  Fortunately, they were able to complete the registration process in two hours which is good by Kenyan standards.

In the US, when one applies for a passport, 2 passport-sized pictures are required.  If one goes to the State Department website, one will find several pages detailing the requirements for the taking of passport photos.  The undertaking seems so daunting that most people have their pictures for the passport done professionally.

Kenya also requires passport-size photos for alien registration.  However, the requirements are not quite as stringent, as pictured here.  A fellow holds up the background as another takes Jeff's picture with a point and shoot.  A short jog to a photo print shop down the street and ... voila!  You have your photos.  And the cost is cheap, too!

Living in Kijabe where the weather is mostly sunny has its advantages.  One of them being the ability to dry the laundry outside, thus saving the expense of operating a dryer after every load.  However, drying clothes outside has it disadvantages, too.  The biggest one is that the type of underwear one owns is no secret.  On any given day, you know who wears boxers and who has whitey-tighteys!

US fast food franchises have been slow coming to Kenya, unlike some other African countries, most notably Egypt.  Subway and, recently, KFC have set up shop and seem to be popular.  However, there exist Kenyan fast food establishments which are quite good and popular as well.  Two are pictured here:  Pizza Inn and Chicken Inn.  Both these eateries share the same location and are about 15-20 minutes away from Kijabe.  So last nite we decided to eat dinner out.

We were joined by the Dubber family.  As the weather was relatively warm sitting in the sun, we chose to eat outside.  All save Todd and Titus, father and son, wore jackets and/or sweaters to be protected from the wind.  The pizza served by the Pizza Inn is good.  Louise and I have had their Hawaiian chicken pizza which is delicious.  But the Chicken Burger and the Chicken Bites of the Chicken Inn have no rivals, even in the US, so we all ordered from Chicken Inn.  What a meal!

And what a view!  Mt. Longonot is at the left in the picture under the setting sun;  the shambas (large gardens) below;  the highway to the far right.  Lake Naivasha is beyond the low hills in the center.  We were near the 8,000 foot elevation on the Rift Valley escarpment.  Truly an evening to remember as our trip to Kenya is nearing its end.

Near the end, but not yet done ... there is more to come.