Waterfall, Rift Valley, and Krueger Farms

So yesturday, I was a bad wife. While Nolan was laying in bed, I went exploring with his friends. He was feeling mostly better, just not up to long car rides and hiking. I was glad he didn't come for his health's sake, but it was lonely being without him. Although those silly things I usually say, I couldn't say, because his pharmacy friends I don't think would understand.
      Ok, so I got up early to check  my email. hahahahah. As if! I did get a lot of things done though. We got to talk with McAfee's which was nice. I think we kept them up to late before church, so if you see Trevor snoozing, its our fault! :)
      We left at 9. I guess the medical students we invited, invited their one people, so it wasn't a relaxed ride, but a uncomfortable excursion with 12 people in a van that should only fit 10. We were joking that we looked like a matatu, but then decided we couldn't be a matatu, as no one had a chicken, and no one was hanging out the side of the van. We did see a matatu later with three guys hanging out going down the road. I will say, Kenyans have the entire carpooling thing down great. If Americans could carpool like that, we would save a ton of money, gas, etc.
     Appreciate these pictures... they took a hour to download.
    This first picture is of the waterfall. Nolan's comment upon seeing it was that Williamsport Falls was bigger. Well, I don't know the feet of either, but it was majestic. Unlike in the states, there was nothing from preventing us from walking all around it, which was quite dangerous. We all got completely muddy, as for one hill, the only way down was to pretty much slide on your bottom. I decided after that we could be called the Muddy Bottom Boys (Soggy Bottom Boys from Oh Brother Where Art Thou), as well all had very muddy bottoms.
   After that we did a little Olympic Training at the high altitude center. :) We did see some athletes and coaches at the restaurant. We thought about being all creepy and taking their pictures so we could have someone to root for in the Olympics. It is much harder to breath/exercise at this altitude and this was even higher than Eldoret.
    This picture doesn't do the scenery justice. We paid 100 shillings to enter, and I was like why do we have to pay about a dollar to park. Well, I soon seen why. The view was amazing!!!! I had heard we were on the edge of the rift valley in Eldoret. Well, this restaurant, Kerio View, was on the cliff on the very edge of the Rift. I'm told you can see the rift from outerspace. We were on the edge of a mountain of the biggest valley I have ever seen. You could see for miles and miles. It was almost more of a giant canyon. It is really hard to describe. I really want to take Nolan back here, because I think it is something you shouldn't miss.
   Last picture, Giraffes! We hiked up a small mountain, that might be small, but was a lot of work. We were all exhausted.  Luckily though, once you got to the top, you could see the giraffes, so you had a reason to go on, and not give up and lay in the grass at the top. There were three giraffes. Mommy, Daddy, and baby. Mommy was even pregnant. They tell me Male giraffes are darker.
So far my wildlife observed...
giraffes
antelope,
goats, lots and lots of goats,
sheep
cows, lots of skinny cows.
birds, they sound a lot funnier here, sort of like children crying
secretary birds
Some kind of wierd "king?" bird with a sort of crown.
lizards, including one in our shower!

Well, I love you all, Cheerio

Here in Eldoret

        So last night, the internet worked for long enough to post something. Today we have able to get on MSN.com, and I could view my blog, but until now, unable to sign in to my own blog. From MSN though we learned there has been some tornadoes in Indiana, the midwest, and South, so we pray you and yours are all safe.
        Ok, not much today. I was outside on the road when this time, a HERD of cattle passed me. Luckily their owners told me what to do, but I was a little scared. Cows here are so skinny though, I probably weigh as much as one. I think I could take a cow!
       So keep praying for Nolan. He feels ok when he stays drugged up (OTC of course), but I want him to feel 100%. He didn't get to go to town with me and his friends today.

     I woke up at 0730 and it was so peaceful on a Saturday morning. Still no internet access, but I got to have a nice breakfast.
    Since Nolan was sicky, He missed out on the trip to town. It seemed busier, but town always seems busy here. Cultural overload. People everywhere,  mostly looking at you, because you are one of the 6 mzungus *white people*. I can count how many other mzungus...3 not in our group. I think I have stated before that other than the many shops, people sell everything on the streets. Shops include chemists(pharmacists), clothing, grocery stores, cell phone minutes, and many other things you would find in a normal city, except smaller, and most everything is cheaper. Nolan and I bought a phone charger for 3$. I thought the man would try to take us, but then again, maybe that is alot for a phone charger. I bought a souvenir for Audrey :) and the other people were telling me their families had requests. Well, I forgot to ask for requests before I left, so if anybody wants anything, please email me, or comment on my blog.
        I took some pictures of our home here...

Internet has been horrible!

Hi everyone, Hello from kenya. I am attempting to blog, as the internet has been horrible lately. Nolan tells me something about an anchor chopping 2 of 3 internet cables in the ocean???? All I know is the internet is horrible. Occasionally my email will load, but I usually can't open the messages, or check facebook, or anything but see my mail. Oh, and the bank alerts pop up. Chase just wants to make sure we are secure :)
Today, I am going to make a list. I cannot begin to detail all of the different experiences we have had, so I will just try to list the BIG things, or funny, or at least things that made an impression.
1. Nolan and I spent our first two days on the medicine wards. Nolan is doing his pharmacy thing, while I am doing a quality improvement project for the one of the IU doctors here.  I am not doing any patient care, just observing, and I am sorry to admit I am happy for that. Conditions here are so bad, and they lack the most basic necessities to provide quality nursing care. Since most of you aren't in healthcare, I won't go into the details, but let me just say that while Americans complain if we have to share a room, Kenyans don't, yes don't, complain that they have to share a BED. I seen someone get bagged and coded on my first day.... she didn't make it. Nolan saw a case of pellagra. He says he saw three of the four D's of pellagra: dermatitis, diarrhea, dementia, but not death. The team started the patient on a B vitamin complex. Nolan says he is unlikely to ever see a case of pellagra in the states. Imagine living in a country where all of the food is not fortified. I wish I could show you pictures for you to understand how bad it is, but they would be hard pictures to see. maybe later...
2. Sally Test: BEST PLACE IN ELDORET
   In the few days we have been here, I have been going to Sally Test. It is an inpatient center for the children in the pediatrics ward, plus a few children who have been abandoned. While the medicine wards directly across the path are sad and full of death, this is the opposite. The children are ill, but there is so much love and caring. One little boy while play and let you carry him, no matter who you are. The caregivers tell me he was almost strangled by a stepmother and abandoned. He doesn't talk, but did clap his hands while we were singing. It was precious. I've seen a girls disfigured from burns, kids with large tumors, and kids with cancer who all smile. We have nothing to complain about.
3. Abby saw cows running on the path on her way to the hospital. Luckily they didn't trample her. Cows here are skinny!
4. We had delicious Indian food on Wednesday night out. We hear we will eat more Indian food than Kenyan. That's ok, it's wonderful!
5. We are thinking of taking a day trip on Sunday with Nolan's pharmacy peeps. ( Abby said this obviously.) We were going to go to Kakamega Forest, but the resort was booked, so we are going to Kruger farms and somewhere else. I am excited to see some of the Kenyan houses. We are in a nicer area at the IU compound and have only ventured to town, so we have seen little of how Kenyans actually live.
6. We were really craving chocolate so we made chocolate chip cookies tonight. No butter, so we just swapped in the Kenyan's favorite spread, Blue Band. Well, Blue Band makes some funny cookies. They sort of looked like pancakes because they spread! Between an odd fat and a nonadjustable gas oven, it's surprising they tasted good - but they did :)
7. We will try to post pictures tomorrow. If we move the computer, it might die, or the internet might die.
8. Mango juice: Fresh every morning... thick, but delicious
9. Scott- have not seen that River Rock restaurant. Will look next week.
10. When I went to Nicaragua, I paid about 10$ to talk to Nolan for 10-15 minutes. Do you know how much it costs here? For a 15 minute call it only cost about 60 cents. SWEET In Kenya, no one has contracts, they  just buy  minutes, similar to the track-phone system, except a much better deal. Everyone in Kenya has a cellphone, even though most are poor. In fact, one doctor said you aren't a true Kenyan unless you have two phones. Funny, but true. They have different phones to call different people. Just like Verizon vs. At&t, you get better rates in network, so they buy the cheap phones. Nolan and I each have a Kenyan phone, which is good for safety. 
11. Pray for Nolan to feel 100%. He felt sort of yucky today, and although is improving, made his wife worry! Luckily though, I feel very secure living with around 30 doctors and 10 pharmacists.

Arrival in Eldoret

 Nolan and Abby outside the main entrance of MTRH.

 Again :)

Nolan with his fanny-pack of stethoscope and BP cuff - immediately after this most embarrassing picture was taken, he decided it would go much better over his shoulder :) Oh, and our room!

         Yesterday at approximately 0930 we arrived in Eldoret.  Having slept less than 5 hours the night before, we were exhausted. All throughout the day we just wanted to lay down and sleep. After a quick tour, we took a nap before lunch, but I don't think that helped any. Later we discovered that part of our tiredness was due to the elevation. Since there are no visible mountains, we didn't think we were that high, but came to discover we are actually at about 7,000 feet!   Everyone kept telling us to make it until at least 9 o'clock before succumbing to our exhaustion, to try to adjust to the schedule. Never before has 9 oclock felt sooooo late. I ended up making it until 2030. Nolan lasted until 9. I didn't even see the beginning of the movie we tried to start. Just like old times...
        We arrived in Eldoret after a short plane ride from Nairobi. It took about 45 minutes, while by car, they say it would take 4-5 hours. We saw Mt. Kenya (we think) from the plane, and arrived to beautiful weather. Everyone here thinks it is cold. It was around 80 yesterday, and we seen a baby in a snow suit.  :) I guess it's just what you get used to.
         Since we arrived earlier than all of Nolan's colleagues, we had the day to do as we wished. We took a short walk to town. It only takes about 15 minutes, and everyone reassured us that during the day it is completely safe. It was safe, and no one tried to pick our pockets. Town was eye-opening. They sell everything from mangoes to used clothing on the street. It is very crowded, dirty, and smells like burning motor oil from all the poorly run vehicles.  We went into a store similar to our Walmart. I saw decorated cakes, hard, in plastic baggies. I will try to take a picture. It might make more sense, but you all will appreciate it if you know how much I like decorated cake.
         Lunch was chapati, beef ?, bean ?, some kind of grain mush, fruit salad. Supper was westernized of spinach lasagna, garlic bread, fruit salad, and kale salad. All good, I am eating better than in the states. Chapati is fried bread. I've heard we will eat a lot of it here in Kenya. (Nolan adds that it reminds him of home-made tortilla shells)
       Well, at supper last night, a very kind lady offered to give us a tour of the hospital. Sarah is a nurse at IU Hospital in downtown Indy, and has been coming for several years (around 9, we think) with her husband who is an anesthesiologist, and has been coming even longer than her (perhaps 13 years?). They come every year, and seem very devoted and kind. They didn't tell us, but for their wedding they asked not for gifts, but for money to be given to build an ICU. I will let Nolan describe the ICU to you. For any medical people out there, well just think of the opposite of what you would want in a proper ICU. Not for lack of effort - the people staffing all seemed very devoted, but "resource constrained" would be a mild description. They didn't have ventilators until 2002, which meant if you had surgery or couldn't breathe on your own, you  just died. Basically, they lack what we would consider the necessities of a hospital, such as EKG monitoring, clean water, oximetry  monitoring, and we could go on and on. Mortality rates are high. Families often do not bring their ill loved-ones until they are extremely sick, because of the high expense of treatment. Also, if a patient is healed, he or she still may not leave the hospital until the bill has been paid in full.
        My favorite part was, of course, the Sally Test center. It is a place for the pediatric patients, and abandoned patients to go during the day. Just walking in the door, kids come hug you, breaking your heart. I carried one little cutie around while we were there. He kept asking you to shake his hand, and then decided touching my face and hair were fun. They have three or 4 little babies, all wrapped up like its January. They kids are just SOOOOOO cute! They said I can come help any time, so I plan on taking lots of pictures when they are comfortable with  me. I'm sure the kids will love to have their pictures taken. When we had to leave Sally Test to continue our tour of the hospital, the cute little guy - who had grown so fond of Abby - nearly cried, and nearly made us cry, because he didn't want us to go. So sad.
  Well, I feel like I have written a book, but feel like this is just the tip of the iceberg. So many experiences, so many thoughts, I can't begin to tell you everything. Just know we are safe, having an amazing experience, and grateful to be here.
Love, Abby

We arrived!

We arrived safely in Nairobi at 8pm their time, which Nolan says is about noon in Indiana. It was a long day of sitting. Who would have thought sitting could make you so tired! Summary of plane rides:
Only
         2 times through security
         1 time through Customs (which was a bit of a joke as when she asked what we had Nolan replied medical supplies, PT/INR cartriges, and she pretty much just let us through because she didn't know what we were talking about)
         4 airline meals, 4 snacks, and probably 10 drinks each. My favorite: caramel waffle cookies; I think Nolan's was onion salad, but he says its a good thing he didn't know where the flight attendants kept the supply of cheese and crackers. "Can anyone say medium-sharp cheddar? Mmmmm" :)
         1 trip to McDonald's in Amsterdam. We are trying to go to a McDonald's in every country we visit. So far, London, France, Germany, Italy, Amsterdam, Switzerland. No McDonald's in Nicaragua or Grand Cayman to visit. We ordered Shrimp, which evidently is "Prawns" in Dutch; a McKroket (look it up... very interesting); and a weird flavored McFlurry... Stroop Wafel, if memory serves. Most will be disgusted by the fact that the McKroket was basically a deep fried patty of mashed potatoes, some unidentifiable meat, and cheese. We liked it :) (Nolan questions whether Abby really liked it...)
       2 movies: The help and In Time. For "In Time", don't waste your time, as I regret not watching something else.
      2 Kenyan Sodas: for Abby: Sparkling Rubicon Lychee; for Nolan: Barr Cherryade; as is typical, we each claim our own as superior - at least we know what we like :)
Nolan adds that it was the Longest day ever. Having worked night shift I would disagree, but I suppose we haven't had any "real" sleep for about 30 hours, as poor uncomfortable neck aching sleep on a plane cannot possible count.
         I suppose the coolest thing we saw today was flying over the Alps, the Mediterranean, and the Sahara Dessert. On the first flight it was cloudy, then night, so we weren't able to see anything, but today thankfully it cleared up. I can say I have seen Eygpt and the Sudan now. very very barren. We might have seen the Nile, but need to do some research.
  Well, I love you all. Thanks for caring!
Love, Abby
       
Addendum from Nolan:
The Story of a Grouchy Customs Lady: or, Who Did You Have in Mind to Carry the Medical Equipment?So... we're going through customs in Nairobi. The lovely lady at the customs booth, upon looking at the approximately 350 lbs of cargo we're laboring beneath, says: "So... what's in the luggage?" I reply, "Medical supplies for USAID, headed to Eldoret." Blank look. "These supplies are for the AMPATH/USAID programs. The program is a cooperation between the IU School of Medicine and Moi Hospital in Eldoret." She says, "Are you a doctor?" Thinking it best not to ask what type of doctor she means, I say "No, I'm a pharmacy student." And then came the tilted head and the eye-roll. "What kind of supplies?" "Mostly PT/INR Cartridges - they're used to perform medical tests." Long pause... "Uh... okay, go ahead." My un-asked question: do only doctors carry medical supplies? :)

3 days !!!

Just three days until we leave. 

 

This is a picture of the Eiffel Tower that Nolan took in March.  

Obviously, not where we are heading to now. 

So, yesterday I started packing. I was all giddy, because it was my last night of work. I decided to make a cake to share with everyone. Well, little did I know, that would just be one of about 20 desserts in my SURPRISE PARTY! 

I was in shock! Everyone snuck behind my back to plan a pitch-in/pizza party. They had cake, desserts, punch! One girl even came in to work when it wasn't her shift. I was happy, embarrassed, excited, and truly honored! No one has ever thrown a surprise party for me! I felt like crying happy tears, but I was too nervous! So in short, it was one of the best shifts ever. I will truly miss all my fellow baby rockers while I am gone. 

So, today we found out fantastic news! I had been worrying about the money.  We have been saving up for a long time, but unforeseen expenses had depleted much of what I would have liked in our emergency fund. It was still ok to go, I had just been stressed. I kept telling myself, and Nolan too, that I needed to have faith, and not worry, as the Bible tells us. Well, we got an email with the invoice, stating that because I was the first pharmacy spouse to go they reduced my fees. It was about 1/3 of what we had been expecting! God is Good! Every time I doubt him, he proves his power. 

So, the short summary... An amazing day! 

Kenya Adventure

Hi, Abby here. I was told by everyone we should start a blog for our trip to Kenya. I will try to send the emails too, but this will be my attempt at blogging.
First of all, Noab comes from Nolan and mine's combined couple name. haha
Secondly, since starting this blog we have been to NYC, Paris, Amsterdam, London, New Orleans, and Florida. Nolan has been to Jacksonville and Fort Worth Texas. sniff sniff, I had to work.
Ok, I will attempt a post. It is 1 week until depature date. I am excited, but nervous. Nolan is too busy with rotations to feel anything I think.
Love you all, and feel very blessed that other's care about our adventures!
Love, Abby