Time is Short

I can hardly believe that my three months here are almost over. I leave in 10 days. I have real mixed feelings. I miss my friends from home and I miss just being at home. I miss washing machines. I miss my car. I miss smooth roads. I miss my cat. I miss watching movies. I miss TV. I miss my bed. I miss having adult beverages. For all these reasons I'm feeling ready to go home.

I am going to miss all the friends I've made here. I'm going to miss chai. I'm going to miss matatus. I'm going to miss walking everywhere. I'm going to miss dinners like rice and cabbages or minced meat and chips. I'm going to miss trying to figure out if the people around me are talking in Kiswahili or in Kikuyu. I'm going to miss the youth speaking to me in Kikuyu and expecting me to respond. I'm going to miss seeing guards standing at gates. I'm going to miss either walking people to the gate to say goodbye or being walked to my own gate to make sure I get home safely. I'm going to miss people enjoying the idea that I come from a village in Kenya called California and not some place in the US. I'm going to miss complaining about the roads around here. I'm going to miss the stares I get from children who aren't too sure what to think about a real white person. I'm going to miss saying "good morning" to people and having them respond "fine." At that's just the list I can come up with now. I'm sure there will be other strange things I'll miss once I'm home.

I do honestly want to come back here. Kenya has gotten under my skin. I'm telling people here to start looking for me around May of 2010. So many people around here think I'll marry a Kenyan. Marriage is very important to people here so when I try to tell them I'm not worried about getting married I get all kinds of crazy looks. Then they ask how will I have children. Children are also very important to people around here so I get even stranger looks when I say I'm not worried about having children. I haven't become too Kenyan yet. Yesterday I preached my last sermon here. It went well by the way. In my sermon I mentioned that I leave in 2 weeks so after the service a few people came up to me and said they couldn't believe I was actually leaving. I said that had always been the plan. They responded, each a little differently but basically saying, I thought you would meet someone, get married and stay. I was given so many offers of places to stay when I come back. I have so many good friends here. I had no idea that would happen.

People here are starting to tease me that I have developed some Kenyan habits. I'm not totally sure what all of them are but I am aware of some. I'm not going to say what new things I do now. I want to see your reaction to them once I'm back. I have become a little Kenyan even if I haven't jumped on their marriage and children bandwagon. You know that the first questions I'm asked by children here is how old am I, am I married, and do I have any children. Talk about getting personal fast. I have gotten used to it though. That doesn't mean than when I get back you all get to ask me how old I am, am I married and do I have any kids. Those questions are still a bit forward in the American culture unless things have changed a whole lot since I've been gone.