Tenwek Letter 2

TENWEK LETTER 2
26 November 2008

(I began this as a reply to one of my mom's emails.)
I hope you all are doing well and looking forward to Thanksgiving celebrations!!


Mom,

Glad work is going well. What are you and Dad doing for Thanksgiving? Our celebration is, if I haven't told you, Sat. at 3pm in the atrium of the surgery bldg. I still don't know what I'm going to take, if anything, besides the jellied cranberry sauce. No pressure, only over 60 people there. Some things never change.

Well, here was yesterday, Tuesday. I gave Wil his first bath. He did well, except that I didn't think to get the bar of soap out of the holder and he rubbed it in his eyes. That wasn't pleasant. He smelled and looked SO much better! As for figuring out how do clean his cups, etc., I'm heating filtered rain water on the stove, putting it in a bowl. then rinsing w/filtered rain water in a separate bowl. Works fine.:)

Wil fell asleep at 10 am yesterday and slept until about noon. We went to play and watch the kids outside and who came in the compound but Maryline! She looks WONDERFUL! She's not swollen one bit. She said the doc. thinks the baby will come next week. I gave her the bottles, nipples, bottle brush, and pants/onesies I brought. She was excited and appreciative. Update on her daughter Sharon. She was not able to have surgery on her leg. Maryline said they took her to Kijabe. The doc said that she was born with this problem and so he couldn't do surgery. He did, however, put something on it so she's pain free and not swollen. Maryline was so happy about that.:)

I will be having Milka, Hannah's daughter, come work for us. She's beginning today. I am planning on her washing dishes, cleaning, and maybe making some pizza dough. I've asked her to come Fri and Mon also, but I might ask her to come every day, mainly to take care of the trash and dishes.

Well, we had lunch at the Stanfields' yesterday with Sammie, a Kenyan who works w/Michael and Kay Johnson in Nbi, and Sonya, GH occupant. We had my favorite, Christine's Tahitian Chicken! We got the updates on Lizz and Chris. It was wonderful to see them again. Christine said the nursing school building is all fixed and no foundation-type problems now.

After lunch, as I was heading to the GH for salt (!), we ran into the Frises. They had a fine trip, but the girls got car sick. Beth was welcoming them, so Wil and I played with Emma (White's Dog). All of a sudden, I heard my name, it was Vera (Steury)! Oh, I have missed Vera and her friendship! She shared with me that their daughter, Bethany, who's at Asbury, is getting married next year (post graduation). She and Jon like her fiancee, just still a bit shocked. Vera was wonderful, as usual. I asked her how Jon was and what was happening in community health. If I understood her correctly, she said Jon is now field director, so they're traveling like crazy!

Wil fell asleep for almost two hours when we returned home, and I made tortillas. I never remember to double the batch, so I only came out with 6 five ince ones. I had to make them smaller because I don't have a big skillet, just an omelet-sized one. Do what you have to do.:)

I went over to check on the Frises and made sure they had water/added water to their filter. They're a little overwhelmed about unpacking, but are doing just fine. Malin commented how beautiful it was here. That was nice to hear. They had dinner w/the Whites--I know it was wonderful! (They're staying at Mike & Julie's).

How's Bryan? Well, he came home while I was at the Frises. He had done five surgeries w/ interns and they went well, he said. He wasn't on call last night, so that was wonderful. Did I tell you they have a pager system now? Who got that into place, but Carol Spears. YOU SHOULD SEE {her} HOUSE! IT'LL TAKE YOUR BREATH AWAY! Far cry from the Myers' days, I'll tell you!

Agneta came to dinner last night. Luckily she's like family because we had a detour for our menu. I had planned on having chicken alfredo over noodles and green beans with cashews.... I got the chicken (not from Giliani's but Nakumatt) out and it smelled horrible! Bryan said we should cook it, so he did. Agneta tasted it and said it was definitely bad, so we resorted to the "always plan B"--taco-type dinner. I had purchased two cans of Old El Paso refried beans, so we had my 6 tortillas, tomatoes, cheese, and the green beans about an hour later. Only Angeta would've still thanked us for dinner. :) The sad thing, that was the only meat I bought. i'm planning on having Milka get some beef this week. If not, we'll just eat veg. pizza and omelets (eggs from Agneta).

Wil went to sleep earlier than previous, 9:30. He's stirred twice, barely, but has slept the whole night. I heard him, tired to go back to sleep, and thus far (obviously) have not been successful.

Bryan wants to go to Bomet this week to get (MAINLY) ice cream. Are you surprised? We do need to go by the atm. I'm looking forward to visiting radiant supermarket again. That man (owner) is so nice. I keep asking Bryan how he plans to get there since we don't have current licenses plus the Jarretts' car. I never seem to get a response. I'm not walking.:)

So, I still need to take Wil to community health. Bryan saw Gladys yesterday and she wondered why he hasn't made his CH debut yet.:) I cannot wait to see her, Jonathan, Monica, Andrew, and the others again. Also, I"m looking forward to seeing what the community ladies have made to sale there.

I guess that's about it for this update. I'm going to TRY to go back to sleep. Who knows. I hope you all are well. Have a blessed day!

Love,
Jane for sleeping Bryan & Wil :)