In America

At the Narok bus rest stop

Our lunch on the road

Zarya's one chance to stretch her legs along the way

We are in America! We arrived on Wednesday, Feb. 26, a day later than planned. What DID go as planned was our bus trip! Who knew that Easy Coach bus line would be more reliable than British Airways?! Since we thought it was our last day in East Africa, we took a few pictures along the way. Ha - we had another day, little did we know. But at this point, we were just happy that we were on our way and were feeling pretty good to finally be off.

It was a little odd to be traveling as "that family." We were the ones who had so much baggage that we held up the bus' departure. We were the ones with the crying baby when it was lights out on the plane. We were the ones who had to have the special taxi (or two taxis) just to get anywhere in Nairobi. We were the ones who had the complicated tickets that couldn't be transferred to another airline. We were the ones who needed extra help boarding the plane in order to carry the stroller up and down the stairs. We were the ones who got pulled out of the customs line and were allowed to cut up to the front. Everywhere we went on our trip, we were "that family with the baby and all that luggage." I've never felt quite so conspicuous on a plane/in an airport/at a hotel. But, fortunately, life as a white person in Musoma has gotten me pretty used to being stared at, so it didn't bother me too much.

We are now enjoying paved roads, street signs, carpet, and fast internet. I couldn't believe how fast the pictures for this blog post loaded! Usually I have time to run to the bathroom and write an e-mail while I wait for three measly pictures to pop up, and today I didn't even have a chance to ponder my post before they were there and waiting for me to start writing.

So if you're wondering how we're doing, and if it's nice to be back, and all that, my answer is that, despite the fact we're freezing cold, sure, it's nice to be here. I feel like it's just a quick visit, though, which it is in this part of the country. What I think we're all looking forward to is being settled and starting our new life in Pennsylvania. We're just kind of curious what it's going to be like and eager to get going. But in the meantime, it's really nice to see friends and family in the Olympia area and have a little time between our international and our cross-country moves. Andrew is off in PA right now looking for a place for us to live, so he doesn't get much break, but Zarya and I are looking forward to a quiet few days with the grandparents before the wild adventure starts again. After a couple of really busy and stressful months, it's kind of nice.

Getting ready to go

Look what I found in the dirty clothes pile! Good thing I didn't just toss all the sheets straight into the washing machine. This picture is not really related to this post, except that the reason I was washing the sheets is because they've been sold and it's nicer to give folks clean sheets than dirty ones if they are paying for them.

We're eight days out from departure, and over five weeks out from arrival, and something like three months out from feeling vaguely settled and at home. We are both feeling like we'd just kind of like to skip the next chunk of our lives and somehow wake up and find ourselves magically transported to May or so, all moved in and feeling adjusted. But, since that isn't too likely to happen, we're doing the work of sorting, selling, distributing, sorting, finding more stuff to sell and distribute, and, of course, packing, and preparing ourselves for the idea that we're going to have to unpack and repack and unpack and repack and move again and again and pack again for around that many times. I mean, moving all by itself is difficult enough, but when it's the kind of move where you have to get rid of 90% of your possessions, figure out how to pack all the rest into airline-limited luggage, travel around the world, and then do a big cross-country move after that, it just gets a little crazy.

A different aspect of getting ready to go is the relational side of things - it's not completely about the stuff. Yesterday we traveled out to a village to have a farewell day with a pastor and his family, and tomorrow we're headed to a different village to have a farewell day with my honorary Tanzanian parents. It's culturally impossible to have a proper good-bye last less than six hours, because you need to eat twice - mid-morning snack and a big, late lunch - and have a little ceremony with speeches. We've gotten quite used to the routine and will feel a little unsettled when things don't work quite that way in the States and people only feed you one meal per visit (just kidding).

So, we're down to only a few meals left in our own home, a few more sleeps, and then this adventure will really begin!

A few thoughts on moving around the world

People have been asking me how I'm feeling about our big upcoming move, what I'm thinking about it all, etc. Since there are bound to be folks out there whom I won't see in person to be able to answer this question face to face, it seemed fitting to write a blog post about it.

For the most part, it just seems kind of strange to even think about. When I think about moving, most of my thoughts right now are on the first few stages of our process - selling our stuff and getting packed, the long trip across the world, our time in the Northwest, and our long trip across the States. It's like I can only hold that much in my mind and haven't moved much past "and then we finally arrive at our home in Indiana, Pennsylvania" (which is about an hour's drive NE of Pittsburgh, FYI).

I spent a full year trying to decide where to go to college. Well, really, I started looking seriously at colleges when Alyssa started the process, so it was more like a four-year process. I visited schools, I talked to swim coaches, I read about the towns they were in - I wanted to make sure I was moving to where I really wanted to live. My choices were fewer for grad schools (meaning, there were only two options), but I still visited and talked to a lot of people about them. When it came to deciding where in the world to serve with Wycliffe, well, don't even get me started on what I did to figure that one out! Trust me when I say I put a lot of effort into that decision.

But for this move, it really came down to that we'd move wherever Andrew got a job. Sure, we made sure that it seemed like a decent location first, but that's about it. Andrew is much more "up" on things there, having spent quite a bit of time since then looking into things. For me, I've been so busy that I haven't had much time to explore it online (slow internet doesn't help matters, either). I like what I've seen, but it's been minimal.

So when it comes to thinking about how I feel about moving there, my answer is that I think a lot more about leaving here than moving there, which is a little strange for me, being someone who is a big planner and forward-thinker. This whole thing still feels a little surreal. I think as soon as we leave here, my brain will have enough space to start thinking about going there. In the meantime, I'm happy to focus on leaving well. I want to have good closure on things here, and also make sure there is a system for continuing the translation work from afar. I probably won't see hardly any of my friends here ever again, so before I start focusing on meeting a lot of new ones, I'm just thinking about saying good-bye to my current ones. It's a sad task, but knowing without a doubt that we're called to this new location makes me feel quite at peace about it - both the leaving and the arriving are a lot easier when you know it's the right adventure for you.

Pumpkins in the tropics

So, it seems that we didn't quite succeed in growing a giant pumpkin.  This little cutie was grown from seeds we specially bought online from a very reputable seed company in the States, which promised us it'd produce a great quantity of large pumpkins.  I'm quite sure there was nothing wrong with the seeds.  However, despite our faithful watering and weeding, our vine came up with this: one lame little pumpkin.  We kept waiting for it to grow more, but it seems that this was all the size it could manage under the circumstances.  Tanzanians grow pumpkins here, so it's not like it can't be done, but we wanted big, orange (local pumpkins are green on the outside) pumpkins.  We've attempted peas, zucchini, pumpkins, and quite a few other things that really should grow here, but nothing really does, with the exception of basil.  Our basil plants are doing well - one success!  I think we've learned our lesson - only local stuff grows locally.  Don't mess with the natural system.  I guess the application of this will have to come in Pennsylvania, where we'll need to figure out what grows there and stick with it.  I have a feeling it's probably not hibiscus flowers, which do amazingly well here.  For example:

One of our many hibiscus bushes around the yard, all of which nearly always have a lot of flowers year-round

Stuff DOES grow here - grass doesn't do well, but check out the foliage elsewhere in our backyard!

This is a lily plant, another one that does well here.  We've got some beautiful, huge lilies!  Zarya loves walking around the yard, going from flower to flower, checking on all of her friends.  This one wasn't in bloom this day, but she wanted to examine the leaves after admiring the red flowers next to it.  We might not be able to grow a basic pumpkin, but we enjoy fresh tropical flowers, so it's a pretty fair trade-off.  We, especially Zarya, will miss the daily backyard flower tour.

The good-bye tour begins

Dancing with the children's choir

Our present

Well, the big good-bye tour started this morning.  I remember watching Cal Ripken have an entire good-bye season and thinking that 162 farewell games was a bit over the top, and I hope that our tour isn't quite as ridiculous.  Due to not having quite as much time as he did to spread all that adieu-ing over, we should be okay.

It's very strange to think that we only have three weeks left in Tanzania.  When we started talking about how we felt God prompting us to leave, we didn't think it'd happen on such a quick timeline.  For most missionaries, the big struggle is having to leave everything in their home country and trusting God to help them as they move around the world to their country of service.  For us, it's the reverse.  It's a little different for Andrew, who had a real job and everything in the States, but for me, I knew I wanted to be a Wycliffe missionary starting when I was in college, so never accumulated much stuff in North America, and I went straight from college to grad school to Tanzania.  But since I planned on living in Tanzania for years and years, I certainly collected a lot here!  But, just as my missionary colleagues bravely put their faith in God's call and gave it all up and got on a plane, so will I - good-bye, Tanzania, hello, USA.

It's not just one good-bye, though - there are some places we really want to visit and some people we really need/want to see before departure.  Today we traveled out to a Zanaki village, Kibubwa, to one of our favorite churches (see blog post from Easter 2012: http://www.amsandeen.blogspot.com/2012/04/easter-snapshots.html).  We had called ahead so they knew we were coming to say good-bye, and they were genuinely happy to see us.  We got to sit in chairs that we played a part in them acquiring, which was exciting.  (Thanks, friends who you know who you are, for making that happen!  These chairs were WAY better than what they had before, and all the kids had space on a bench and the adults got real chairs.)  They gave me a nice cloth, which I'll have made into something that I can wear.

It just so happened that someone (man in the picture above) I met at some Zanaki orthography workshops way back in 2007/2008 happened to be there today!  He was astounded that I was still around Musoma and still working with Zanaki, and had gotten married and had a kid.  It was fun for him to see Zanaki Scripture, which he played a little part in making happen.

And so the tour has now officially begun.  Next week we're off to another church, our other favorite one.  It's not coincidence that it's also Mennonite, also in a Zanaki village, and also a place we've gone to before on Easter.  We're consistent in what we like!

Christmas presents in Musoma

Cows.  What else could you possibly want a picture of, if you're Andrew?

Village life

It's not easy to figure out Christmas presents when you live in Musoma.  I am not even sure what "normal" folks in the States do, but I'm sure it's different than what we do here.  I actually would find it very overwhelming to be somewhere with lots of options and high expectations, so I'm not writing this blog post to complain.  Neither Andrew nor I really expect the other person to come up with anything astounding, and so we work on a low budget and low expectations and are regularly thrilled with the other's creativity in not very gift-friendly circumstances.

I was really proud of what I came up with this year for Andrew - paintings!  I commissioned a young artist who lives near us to do two paintings for Andrew.  It was fun to plan the paintings with him and try to figure out where he could get paints and frames and all that.  I mean, he did most of that work, but since it was all original work made-to-order, I got to advise him however I liked.  How cool is that - I was like a patron of the arts, commissioning someone to do a personal painting!

Andrew was thrilled and would have been shocked if he hadn't sort of known what he was getting...  Yeah, we had a timing accident one day - the artist came over a lot later in the day than I'd asked him to, so Andrew happened to be at home and knew I was concocting something with him.  Oh well.  He was still pleasantly surprised with the final products, even if he wasn't totally blown over.

And if you're wondering what cool creativity Andrew whipped out on his own side, the best present he gave me was a gift certificate titled: 24 hours of Zarya - and you are free.  It has 24 empty boxes on it, each representing one hour during which Andrew will take care of Zarya.  (I clarified that these are above and beyond hours - the regular times during the week when he's already on Zarya duty don't require boxes.)  How fun is that?  I mean, I love my little sweetie, but 24 hours of no-questions-asked, just, "Honey, here's the kid?!"  There were other gifts, too (we specialize in food presents - cashews, cereal, juice, chips), but those were the best ones.

Side note: a few folks asked me what Tanzanians do for Christmas and New Years.  Well, assuming the Tanzanians in question are Christians (non-Christians don't really celebrate Christmas, as it is a religious holiday), they go to church, maybe get new clothes, eat a big meal with family, and watch TV or something afterwards.

For New Years, everyone can celebrate, and there was definitely some noise-making happening in our neighborhood during the evening hours.  I was asleep well before midnight, so I couldn't tell you what went on then.  The next morning, though, I did see burn marks in the road.  It's illegal, but still traditional, to burn stuff in the road on New Years.  Why, I don't know, but I guess it's fun to make a fire and hold up cars trying to pass and do something very out-of-the-ordinary to mark the occasion.

January to January

January 2013

January 2014

What a difference one year can make!  I suppose I don't look different, myself (I'm now minus some prego chub I still had on me last January, but that's about it, unless you want to start tracking the start of little lines around my eyes or something depressing like that), but look at the other little lady!  She went from a little dark-haired blob in my arms to this charming ham, grinning for the camera and running all over the house on her own two feet.

Someone recently asked me, "Could she possibly be any cuter?!"  My answer is, "I'd say 'No,' except that every morning when she gets up, she's even cuter than she was the day before, so experience tells me that tomorrow will be even more adorable than today!"

I guess she'll reach a downhill point someday - the middle school years rarely do anyone any favors when it comes to cuteness.  But we'll enjoy the next 10 years or so until we reach that stage.