Catching up

I know.

It’s been a really long time. My first reason (excuse, you say?) is that my laptop went to the big Dell playground in the sky a couple weeks ago. A few months ago this wouldn’t have been a big problem, and I would have just blogged on lunch breaks. But now lunch breaks are becoming a little shorter and a little more devoted to relaxing after a busy morning and gearing up for a busy afternoon, read: eating.

Now that I am done legitimizing my absence from cyberspace, here’s what’s happening in my life: Assembly. We are full on preparations with less than a month to go. In just over two weeks I will be heading to Maputo. In other news Obama’s win was felt in Kenya, and felt ecstatically – in the Kenyan-president-made-Thursday-a-national-holiday kind of way. It was really fun to sleep in and horde newspapers on Obama Day. But more seriously, watching election proceedings on TV at 5 am and hearing Obama’s first words as president-elect alongside Kenyans so proud of their American son was tremendous.

I would like to take a moment to blog about shoes in Kenya.

It is currently what I hope to be the end of the short rain season in Kenya. In fact, the rains, usually considered a blessing, are now causing flooding across the country. But one thing I noticed this rainy season for the first time was people washing their shoes in rain puddles. Actually, this is a pretty great idea – why show up to work with muddy loafers when you can shine them for free? Especially in a culture that can boast the cleanest shoes I have ever seen. For all the rain, puddles, and resulting mud, I always have the grossest looking footwear of anyone I know. Even the women in stilettos who share with me the muddy slope on the side of the road to work will reach their jobs with pristine feet. I do not understand how this is possible, but I am in awe.

To conclude, things are going. I will try to blog once more before the Assembly if I can make myself stare at a computer screen in my extracurricular moments. Thanks as always for your continued prayers and support.