Getting chased by psycho geese isn't funny until it happens to somebody else.

Since I haven't written for a few days, I guess I'll start from where I stopped.

Monday: We drove from Kijabe to Nakuru, and went to the game park. It was a really nice day, and there were a lot of animals out. I quite enjoyed it. Well, I enjoyed it until we went into town, the former small, sleepy town of Nakuru, which has recently turned into the bustling, crowded, chaotic city of Nakuru. Mom was just about to lose it as we looked for a parking spot on the slightly sketchy street our hotel was on. However, some guy got us a parking spot(he was obviously expecting a little bit of money...) and we got into the hotel, all of us and our luggage intact. The hotel was quite basic, and the toilet leaked slightly when it was flushed. There were balconies that at first glace we thought were covered with dust, but under further inspection was diesel grime. Gotta love Kenyan cities, right?

Tuesday: We woke up, packed, and went for our free breakfast at the Chinese restaurant that was in the hotel. I can say that it was kind of odd eating breakfast in a Chinese restaurant. It was a few hours drive to Thompson Falls, and we had lunch there. The little lodge was directly beside the falls, and it was a kind of place that seemed that it was once a nice, relevant place, but now just seems kind of cheesy. Lunch was greasy chicken with rice that was extremely bland, even after the sauce, which was pretty much all oil, was added to the food. We had to pay to actually go look at the falls. It kind of wasn't worth it because as soon as we got over the fence we were constantly pestered by a bunch of vendors and people dressed in 'traditional' costumes that, like the lodge, were once relevant but now are cheesy. After that we drove the two hours to Nanyuki. I don't know how the road crews manage it, but 75% of that stretch of road seems to be under construction. When we got Nanyuki we headed to Nakkumatt, the best department store around, to get food for the week. Then we came back to the cottage, which I believe belongs to Elsen, and it's right by the Trout Tree Restaurant, which he owns/co-owns. We didn't do much in the evening other than eat hot dogs and sit by the fire.

Wednesday: We didn't do much on Wednesday. We ate lunch at the Trout Tree(good restaurant... I highly suggest it to anybody whose heading Nanuyuki/ Mount Kenya way). I did a bunch of codewords in the afternoon.

Thurday: We went to another game park/reserve place, Ol Pejita. It wasn't as nice as Nakuru, weather wise and there was very little game out. We stopped at the lodge for lunch and so that Dad could fix their webcam. Lunch was a very formal occasion, which made me feel slightly uncomfortable, especially when Evan was sitting by me with his atrocious table manners. We had to stop him from (a) picking at his teeth quite excessively, (b) spearing his entire piece of fish with his fork and taking bites off it, (c) licking his plate, (d) whistling with his soda bottle, (e) eating his entire piece of cake off his fork. Man, Evan doesn't have any enthusiasm until he's doing something disgusting/annoying in public. After lunch, while Dad fixed the webcam, Mom and I sat by the pool while Evan went for a swim. I got pretty toasty, but not quite burned, by the end of that. We then headed out to see some rhinos that they take care of and were given a tour by a ranger in camouflage and who was carrying a large gun(Dad later pointed out that the gun wasn't even loaded...) The rhino we saw was in sad condition. He only had one eye, and the one he had was infected, so he couldn't use it, either.

Friday: We didn't do much in the morning. I personally watched Doctor Who. In the afternoon, we drove to the gate to Mount Kenya National Park. It would have been cool, if we (a) didn't have to drive on about 10km of terrible dirt road with kids all over the place hollering,"SWEETS!" at us and if (b) we could actually see the mountain. The mountain was almost completely clouded over, when we first got there, we were thinking it was behind the trees, but it was right in front of us.

Today we ate lunch at the Trout Tree again and I wrote some emails to people. And that brings me to now. I don't feel up to much, Dad isn't up to much, Evan is never up to much, and I think Mom is tired. Exciting day, right?

Oh, and note worthy youtube note! Apparently, a few days ago back at home, there was a woman in the paper, a museum curator, who was wearing a fake mustache in her picture. Katie sent her an email and a link to our mustache video, and she liked it. She wrote back about how she used to keep the fake mustache on her curator sign, and how for her birthday she got all the staff to wear fake mustaches at her party. I thought that was funny. I now I have a goal to find this woman and befriend her.

My battery looks like it's going to run out soon. I write back soon about the crazy wildlife around the cottage. And, for the first time in an eternity, the title is kind of relevant to something in the post.
-J-

My annual marshmello induced injury strikes again. Foolish snackfood.

Today started with driving back towards Kijabe to go to a church service. A church service that ran from 11am to 2:30pm. It was... lengthy. Especially when I didn't know what they were saying, because it was in Kikuyu. About the first hour and a half held my attention, but after that I just kind of drifted off into outer space.

After the service we drove one of my dad's friends back to around where he lives, then stopped to see another one of his friends for about ten minutes. We got back to the Motel(yipee... my favorite place) and promptly left to pick up our luggage that we left at the Gaudaur's. We were invited to have a bonfire with hot dogs and such at the Dubber's for supper.

And that sums up my day.

Tomorrow we're going to Nakuru and going the game park there.
Love,
-J-

In rental vehicle: Dad: "The controls are reversed here, so if the windshield wipers turn on, it means I'm going to turn."

Today was a pretty cool day, so far. Later we might be going to Village Market, we were going to earlier, but Evan suddenly got sick with no warning, again. I'm beginning to think he gets sick at will, especially when we don't want him to be.

So, this morning we were planning to go to the elephant orphanage, but we got stuck in traffic. Apparently there was an accident(from what we gathered...) and there was a line of a few hundred cars that didn't move at all for at least 20 minutes. After getting fed up with the traffic jam and the fact that three buses attempted to jump in front of us, my dad did a u-turn and we headed the the giraffe center. I was keener on that than the elephants anyway, so I didn't mind. On the way there, the truck in front of us ran over a monkey. That was a bit much for me and it sent back my state of Jane Eyre depression. Another truck then pulled in front of us filled to the top with gravel, making it so that it belched diesel smoke and could go about 20km per hour. Finally we reached the giraffe place, and after dragging my mom out of the gift shop, I got to feed giraffes little food pellets from the balcony thing. I've been there before, but it was still pretty epic. It was especially fun trying to get the slimy giraffe spit off my hands(*sarcasm*). By then, it was around 12:30, and we tried to find our way to the Karen Junction, basically a big shopping center in the rich part of town. There was a Mexican place and I ordered tacos that barely resembled the tacos I know. The shells looked sightly similar.

Interesting sites of the day: a police officer directing traffic while holding an AK-47, funeral homes named 'Farewell Funeral Services' and 'Last Resort', and a matatu with a coat-of-arms looking thing on the back window with unicorns and 'Sizzla' written where the latin phrase is suppose to go.

Staying at this guesthouse, I'm getting into the habit of starting conversations with random people here. At tea time this morning, Mom and I were sitting on the deck reviewing how all of my great grandparents died and how we think we're going to die(most likely cancer or heart attack while we're in our 70's or 80's.) This girl came to get tea and sat at the table next to us, so I thought I may as well start talking to her instead of just scarring her with our slightly morbid conversation.
Peace,
-J-

Personal favorite matatu name so far: Crunk University.

I read the first few chapters of Jane Eyre today. Now I fear I'm extremely depressed, as that is an extremely depressing book. I don't suggest it for someone who gets depressed easily or someone on the brink of suicide.

We drove to Nairobi today. I figured out that driving from point A to point B here doesn't involve avoiding potholes, it involves avoiding people, livestock, vehicles attempting to pass other vehicles, and the potholes that won't take your wheel off. Terrible, isn't it? Thankfully we made it fully intact, though, and even after lunch at the Sarit Center.

I sat in the gazebo thingy most of the afternoon reading Daddy-Long-Legs and Dear Enemy... far less depressing books than Jane Eyre. I also managed to do a code word, which is quite a feat for me, considering how terrible I am at puzzles in general.

I'm going to go... do something cheerful, perhaps, so I can sleep eventually.
Love,
-J-