I woke up this morning to birds chirping, not quite the same as the birds in the States, just different enough to remind myself – oh yeah, I’m in KENYA! This is my first day at Africa Nazarene University. I had a great flight down yesterday (yester 2 days?) and arrived Saturday night. After a harrowing drive from the airport to the campus here at ANU, I settled into my flat, emailed my family and konked out! I finally met Mary Jane and Randy James (the folks I have been emailing for the past 6 months), they are lovely people who, unfortunately, will be returning to the US on Thursday. So, I will be doing my best to get to know some folk around ANU in the coming days.
The plan for today is to do church at 10 (which is exciting, Randy is preaching) then we are going into the Mount Carmel Missionary Center in Nairobi to gather with returning and departing missionaries. This will be a chance for me to meet some more of the good people who serve in this mission field. There is still no definitive word on what I’ll be doing. Mary Jane said that that might be the most difficult thing for me while I’m here, taking it a day at a time and not always knowing what “the plan” is. “That’s Africa!” she says. I can see that it will be an adjustment!
The campus here is very interesting. I got to bed about 11:50 last night, which means I was fortunate enough to hear the dogs be released at 12. It is a security measure taken on campus that from midnight to 5am there are 40-45 guard dogs that roam the campus. They must have a good time, at least it sounds like it. This one poor dog got beat up by the other dogs or something…I was awakened by his yelps and cries, which differed from the rhythm of barks and snarls I fell asleep to. Needless to say, the staff at ANU doesn’t need to worry about curfew for their undergrads! I met a couple nice ladies named Fiona and Mary at breakfast; they are teachers who study at ANU during their school’s break. They take a 4 week intensive module based course. They taught me some Swahili, which is fun for me and I think for them watching this poor American kid try to learn their language. “Hujambo” is a typical greeting a la “How are you (singular)?” to which one would respond “sijambo” or “I’m fine”. It’s pretty neat; there is also an old ghetto “Teach Yourself Swahili” book in my flat so I can work on it on my own. Good thing I forgot to spend the money on a book for myself!
Speaking of my flat, it’s a small one bedroom affair with a kitchen/living room and bathroom. There is solid used furniture and a really old stove/oven. I can get used to living here, but I will be looking for ways to make it my home. Right now it feels like I’m living at camp or something. I may find something to hang on the walls or even move the furniture around, we’ll see what I come up with. 
Please continue to pray for me as I try to be courageous. Customs was very scary for me, and even getting up for breakfast gave me a similar feeling of “I am totally uncomfortable…” I hope you will pray that I have the courage to be myself in the face of these new and scary experiences because ultimately, when I push through that initial fear of the unknown, I am confident the rewards will be great.
Lastly, there is no sign of acid spitting ants yet. Hurray!
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