Hopscotch

Here you can see my braids - me with Nashesha and a few neighbor kids after an intense game of hopscotch!


Nashesha can fly!

The Weekend

Saturday I biked with Uncle Erik from his house to Erik Mdogo's house, almost 70 km round trip! He asked if I wanted to ride tandem or my own bike, and without much hesitation I picked the tandem so he couldn't leave me in the dust!! We got a lot of comments as we rode along, partly because we are white, but mostly because it is the only tandem bike in TZ. It was a lot of fun and I was only moderately sore the next day :) Erik Mdogo built a "cob house" made from mud and rice husks, pounded down so hard it's like cement. The second story was reached by a ladder and he had recently installed solar electricty and had a solar water tank outside. It was very cool.

Sunday morning before the wedding I had my hair braided at a local "saloon". Bernice assured me it wouldn't take long, but over 3 hours later it was finally done! I'll try to add a picture later :) The wedding lasted the whole day and into the night. I left early since the reception (at least the first reception) was in walking distance of the house so I went home and enjoyed my book.


Bernice, Nashesha, and Erik at the wedding reception

Pictures!

Bovey Castle, where we stayed in England


Helicopter ride from Bovey Castle back to London


Clayton playing a game with kids from the African Children's Choir, Kampala, Uganda


As a service project we "mudded" this hut for a widow and her family, north of Kampala


Cousin Nashesha holding her Webkinz, "Fluffy"


Erik and Bernice built this beautiful patio with lots of incredible plants on the back of their house

Send Off

Last night we went to Richard's future wife's "Send Off". The Send Off is sort of a mini wedding that the groom does not participate in as the family sends off their daughter. The future bride shows her sadness at leaving her family by not smiling the whole night. The send off often costs as much as the wedding itself! Major decorations, live band, DJ, MC, buffet meal, matching dresses for all the female members of the family, dancing, speeches, traditional and western wedding cakes etc. It started at 6 (officially), we arrived at 7:30-ish, meal was served at 11 pm and we left around midnight, just as the dancing got started. The highlight for me was when one of the bride's uncles grabbed Uncle Erik and started dancing with him. We Rowbergs are not typically known as wonderful dancers :)


The future bride Anna and her Maid of Honor. Behind them are two chairs up on the stage where they sat most of the night. Behind the chairs were flashing twinkle lights.


Traditional wedding "cake" - a whole roasted goat. Slices of cucumber and carrots are stuck in it.

Tanzania

Ok, so I haven't done very well at updating this, but we had limited electricity most of the time in Uganda. I'll try to write more about Uganda when I have time. Now I'm in Arusha with my uncle Erik, aunt Bernice and cousin Nashesha. She is 10 and I cannot believe how much that girl has grown in the last 1 1/2 years! She looks like a string bean, with the longest legs you've ever seen! (Mom, the flipflops are too small!) It is great to be here although it is quite cold and I'm wearing all the clothes I brought...at the same time. Sunday Shesha's cousin Richard (Bogoo) is getting married, so today we're going into town to pick up some dresses Bernice ordered. I brought Nashesha a Webkinz since that is the favorite toy of all the American 10-year olds in my life. So far it's a hit with her too :)

Uganda

"Ki kati" from Uganda! We left Bovey Castle on Tuesday and travelled to London via helicopter! It was my first helicopter ride, so that was very cool. We poked around London briefly, eating gelatto at Harrod's before heading to the airport. When we arrived, Marybeth (nanny mom) was refused entry into Uganda because her passport expires in two months, and Ugandan law only permits entry if your passport expires in six months or more! She she wasn't able to board the plane, and instead had to stay in London while we headed to Uganda :( Fortunately, she was able to get an expidited passport and was able to get a flight the next day. So she should be joining us shortly, but we sure missed her yesterday - as you all know moms are the glue that holds a family together, not to mention that she has been heavily involved in the planning of this trip and knows best what is going on! Two of the Johnstons' former au pairs from Austria have joined us for the Uganda portion of the trip, so Clayton is well taken care of!

Uganda looks just like Tanzania although everyone here speaks English (at least here in Kampala). We have a great driver/tourguide named Ivan who knows a number of people from my church, so that is a fun connection. We are staying in the gorgeous Serena Hotel in Kampala for two nights, resting up and visiting various ministries. Yesterday we were supposed to visit the Baby Watato orphanage, but they had just set up a new rule of no visitors who haven't been in Uganda for at least one week - in order to avoid Swine Flu. There hasn't been a case of SF in Africa yet, but they are understandably concerned about it with so many babies with weakened immune systems. I hope we'll be able to go before we leave, but our schedule is rather full. Instead we visited a local primary school to play with the kids and then ate dinner at the home of a Ugandan man who works for a local ministry. We enjoyed hearing about the ministry, meeting his family, and eating a delicious Ugandan feast (the food here is SO much better than in England!) But we were also glad to get back to the hotel because most of us couldn't sleep on the overnight plane ride so hadn't slept in 48 hours!

Bovey Castle

So even though we're just in England the internet connection is not steady and every time I try to blog it goes out! Anyway, we are staying here at beautiful Bovey Castle in Devon. The grounds here are amazing and we've been playing tennis and croquet, fishing and shooting bows & arrows and driving the golf cart like maniacs (not me)! I love vacationing with the Johnstons because we stay up until past midnight playing Scrabble and making prank calls (sorry if you received a call from Sushi World!) and then sleep in late. Clayton's rash is all but gone but please pray it doesn't come back! He's still kind of sleep deprived but we've been having fun. For some reason he decided my last name is "Shanen" and keeps calling me "Kari Shanen". I think it's really cute :)

We're Really Leaving!

I guess Clayton is doing ok (see entry below) because we are leaving! See you all later this summer!

Another Safari

In October I started nannying for an amazing family who take me on amazing vacations :) In April we went to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico for an incredible week playing on the beach. Now we are headed to England and Uganda! I extended for an extra week so I can go to Tanzania to visit family and friends.


Clayton and I in Mexico

We leave tomorrow but Clayton has a virus which is causing a fever and head to toe rash! So it remains to be seen if we will leave tomorrow or not...

Since I'll be in Uganda over my birthday, my sweet roommate Sarah surprised me with a cake at our small group Bible study tonight! Moments after this picture was taken I proceded to light my hair on fire while blowing out the candles! Ok, so that sounds a bit extreme but I did singe the ends of my hair pretty good...you know that hideous smell of burnt hair??