Well, it has been a week and I thought it was time to update my blog. I don't usually update unless I have something interesting to post. Thanks again for all of your encouraging words and love sent to me over many miles.
My first article with
The Standard was published today, so of course, I am famous!!
Today I had an appointment with the embassy at 2 p.m. to get my work visa, exchange money, obtain a badge, and talk with my Public Affairs Section. Because I work for the state department, I should already have a badge to enter the embassy, but the machine has been broken for several weeks, so I just got my badge today. Apparently the badge is like gold. I am not supposed to take a picture of it, but trust me, it is like gold. When you do not have a badge, you have to give up all of your electronics and it takes about 20-30 minutes to actually get into the embassy. You go through multiple checkpoints. Actually, today the security was much more intense, which I guess is in response to the shootings in Kenya. When you have a badge, you just flash it and go through the detectors.
After taking care all of my necessities, I headed to the cafeteria to find some food before starting my journey back home. I have never been to the cafeteria and I was blown away by all of the American food when I walked in. First of all, they made a pepperoni pizza for me, which was divine! I wish I would've taken a picture of it before I ate some, but I was too overwhelmed to think of pictures. It was the best thing I have had in about two months! The food here is delicious, but sometimes I just want to eat things I recognize that make me think of home. I love pizza and it is really rare to find it where I live.
I also bought a cinnamon roll and a HOMEMADE peanut butter cup. The
owner was from New York and she shared all of her secret squirrel places
to get supplies to bake sweets. Then, she gave me two doughnuts, one
for me and one for my driver, Moses. She was absolutely fabulous! I
rarely get sweets here because most people eat fruit for dessert, if
there is any dessert at all. So my stomach is so happy.
It takes me about an hour to get to the embassy from UCU and I always see a lot of interesting things in the traffic. Today was no exception. I have seen many things on a boda boda (motorcycle) including furniture, an entire family, animals, even a lawn mover. Today I saw a sheep, chicken+driver+mom+baby, and a door.
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| Can you see the sheep on the motorcycle under the guy's arm? |
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| The guy in the black jacket is carrying a full size door on the back of his motorcycle. |
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| The boda driver is tying a chicken in a black bag onto his motorcycle while the woman loads her child and gets on. |
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| This is a closer view of the rooster (red thing) sticking out of the bag. I can't remember the name of that part of the chicken. |
This is a common site on my way the embassy. The contrast between concrete, shacks, and developed malls is hard for me to understand. Obviously you can see it is the rainy season and that nasty, red mud is EVERYWHERE!
I am looking forward to a day off this week. Wednesday is a public holiday (Independence Day) and I look forward to catching up on some TV shows and relaxing that day! Happy Monday!
