A "little" caffeine to start our first day of travel.
Tiffani and Julia
Getting organized and loading luggage
Paige.
Sam.
In Dallas. Stop number one. L-R: Jesse, Tiffani, Vincent, Derek, Sam
L-R: Sam, Audrey, Meggaen, Leslie
The luggage. It was at this point Tiffani realized she left the bag full of balls in the trunk of her car...
Vincent and Derek. The beginning of a very close friendship.
Leslie and Paige.
"good to go"
Tiffani and Christy Correll-Hughes (one of the trip administrators)
Katie and Chelsea - dinner in Dallas, before boarding for the Chicago flight.
the two Tiffan-ees. Tiffani and Tiffany
The group. Missing Katie Shaw. :(
Paige - nice pillow.
Julia messing with Jessie as she sleeps.
Paige, Sam and Tiffany - still smiling after about 20 hours of travel.
Marquette. We think trying to "make" the train.
Christy, Vincent, Katie, Meggaen
Chelsea, Christine, Leslie, Derek
Gretchen, Audrey, Julia (the lowest)
Marquette and Tiffany
Palace Guards
I love this picture. I think Marquette is doing "Blue Steel"
The group in front of Buckingham Palace.
This is my favorite "jessie face"
Trafalgar Square
Fountains in front ot Trafalgar Square
Big Ben in the distance. Typical Seattle - oops, I mean London, day.
I mean, the phone booth is there, just calling out to you "how many could you fit here?"
This is one of my favorites, because it looks like it is black and white, but really, its just rainy outside - see the red "eye" cars?
Gretchen's comment upon seeing Big Ben, "It should be digital."
Parliament.
Westminster Abbey.
W.A.
A good motto if ever there was one. Lefties of the world... be proud.
"Look kids, Big Ben, Parliament."
He never smiled, not once. But before we left he winked at the girls.
Dirty feet after traipsing around London for just under 3 hours.
At the house of Chrstine's friend in London. It was a beautiful flat, graciously offered and a wonderful haven for rest in a rainy day. AND she bought us Pizza for lunch -saving us all 10 pounds.
Marquette
The crew - trying to stay awake.
Outside the flat.
Near the Tower of London.
Tower Bridge.
Audrey says, "I look Chinese in every picture!"
Again, a great motto to live by.
St. Paul's Cathedral.
"Early each day from the steps of St. Paul's a little old bird woman calls...." Every time I see this picture, I think of Mary Poppins.
The love affair (platonic) continues. I think this is Vincent with the Globe Theater in the background.
The crew, with Globe in the background (little white building).
St. Paul's
Cranes. Audrey's favorite.
The Globe Theater. I think its not the original, but still neat.
St. Paul.
Really steep escalator in the Tube.
Bible Trivia.
First steps in Africa.
Sunrise in Kenya.
At the luggage carousel.
After 2 days of traveling, still smiling!
On the tour bus.
At Gracia House - where we would stay for the two weeks. (at least we'd be there after Safari)
The Great Rift Valley Escarpment. beautiful.
Denis, our first driver (well for half of us).
Lots of road left to cover.
Trust me. The roads were something else. The rocks here were to keep people from driving on the places they had smoothed out for pavement.
These cows thought they had the right of way.
Our first "game trek" - LIONS!
Elephants.
We were so tired that some fell asleep by the end of that first ride.
OK, but not all of us.
Gretchen comments, "How do you think they sleep with those things on their heads" These are Heartbeats - because their horns look like a heart shape.
Our hotel room - a "safari tent" - luxury camping taken to its extreme!
Bright eyed and bushy tailed.
Part of the Truett Team.
Egrets. "We're your friends... we're your friends... we're your friends till the bitter end...." (from The Jungle Book). I think its possible that Vultures sang that song in the movie, but it reminded us of the birds in Dumbo, so we sang this song a lot.
Ostriches.
Elephants in a row.
Giraffe.
How cool is this? We are totally on safari and giraffes and elephants are hanging out.
Monkeys.
Cheetah prints... maybe Leopard?
Half the team... standing in Tanzania, on the Serengeti. (In Kenya its the Masai Mara, in Tanzania the Serengeit - and they border each other)
Here we are with our hands on the border marker.
Feet.
Jessie, Tiffani, Gretchen.
Chelsea, Tiffani, Meggaen.
With Denis. We liked him.
Sam's foot with a Hippo print... they have big feet (the Hippos).
On our way to see Hippos and Crocs. Following a guy with an AK-47 to scare off animals...
Hippos. "Hippos are the most dangerous animals in the wild." - Sam.
Crocs.
I think these may be Ospreys. But whatever they are, they were flying through this small valley that was filled with Hippos and Crocs and it took us back to prehistoric times. pretty neat.
Vincent and Derek asking questions of our guide. Note the gun. Also, Vincent was a champ at question asking.
Marquette: very excited to see Hippos.
The bridge we had to cross to get to the hippos.
Cheetah. Apparently they are pretty friendly and sometimes will jump on top of the safari vans... not so much to be petted, as to look for game - you can see better from on top of the van!
Acacia trees. If you go to Google and type in "Africa" and "Tree" this is the tree that comes up.
It had rained the night before, and one of the vans got stuck on our way back to the hotel.
the bumpy ride (pt. 1)
the bumpy ride (pt. 2)
The pride of lions... stalking a wildebeast. That was pretty cool.
The future food.
Water Buffalo.
Elephants up close. Denis said, "They may decide to run at us, and we'll drive away quickly."
"Chapel Ryan" with the guys.
Masai Tribesman dancing for us.
Baby goats at the Masai village.
At the rest stop at the Great Rift Valley... these were right next to the ladies and gents rooms.
At Amani Ya Juu - one of the sewing rooms. http://www.amaniafrica.org/
Looking down to where they make the fabric.
The Unity Quilt at Amani Ya Juu
The fabric cutting room.
Making Batik.
Dying fabric.
The finished product.
The "together house" at Amani Ya Juu.
In the shop.
The crew. I had said, "We'll take silly pictures until the last few people are done shopping."
All of us, with Maggie in the middle.
The nursery at New Life Home Trust orphanage.
Mae.
Amber.
Vincent helping a little girl wash her hands.
"Potty Time" - this was really funny to watch.
Painting at the "Karen Project" at First Love, Intl property.
partly painted house... and a rooster.
African "Landscaping." Marquette says, "How often can you say you bushwacked an African field?"
Blisters.
The partly finished product.
the room at Gracias Guest House. Mosquito nets - how cool is that?
The suite.
The August 7 Memorial - commemorating when the US Embassy was bombed, I think in 1998.
the Kenyan Parliament building and clock tower.
At City Harvest Church on Monday. Pastor Edward telling us about their ministries.
Wycliffe and Mordecai - singing and dancing for us.
Wycliffe and Mordecai taught us some songs and dances.
Our first overview of Kibera.
New slum houses being built.
Pastor Edward with Kibera in the background.
"Flying toilets"
Chickens and flying toilets.
The river that runs through Mukuru Kayaba slums.
Meeting with the "Mukuru Positive People against AIDS" support group.
Sarah and Joyce.
Christine, Mordecai, Tiffani and Jessie with Joyce.
Some of the support group with our group.
Pastor Edward showing us the Hairdressing Training School (in progress of renovation)
Mordecai's house in Mukuru Kayaba.
Mordecai's house.
at the KTDP pre-unit school. KTDP: Kibera Tranformation Development Project.
My two tables. Front L-R: Michael, Ann Ambasa, Claudia, Raymond.
Julia's table.
Daniel, Hezron Peter and Lonah.
During PE.
Playing crazy games at PE time.
Looking out onto the tops of the slum from the school.
Sukumuwiki - collard greens. It was a Wednesday, so they had beef in it.
Ugali - bread/dough made from cornmeal.
Tiffany
Raymond (center) and his pals.
Presenting our school supplies.
Lonah.
moving like animals.
"Thank you, God, for the Tea" They prayed together before tea and lunch.
Vincent and his favorite, Charles.
Derek and Wycliffe. In Africa in general, its really common to hold hands with your friends.
Raymond and Claudia.
Michael and Esther.
Hezron Peter and Lonah.
Daniel.
Marquette - pretty happy.
Samantha.
Teaching them the"Sic'em"
Peace'in it.
For Art... drawing pictures of "Teacher Tiffani" - yes, me.
Some of my favorites.
Teaching "Father Abraham"
Singing "Mambo Sawa Sawa" ("Its already been done.")
"Jesus Power... Super Power.... Satan's Power... Powerless Power"
"T-Ball" and the guys.
After our time at KTDP, with our "guards" and new friends - Nick, Mordecai, Sergei, Wycliffe, among others. I like this one because of Vincent looking at Tiffany.
Tiffani and Nick.
Ryan and Elijah's daughter, Angela.
No... not a tan line. Thats the dirt on my legs from our day in Kibera.
Painting at the Karen Project again. Crazy saw-horse scaffolding.
Finishing up on a homemade ladder.
Gretch.
1) I love Gretchen's face here. 2) There is a cow right next to where we are painting... pretty funny.
Chelsea and Tiffany. Marquette and Tiffany got into a paint fight earlier in the day...
The finished product. The missionaries who are staying with them for a few months will do the final coat of cream on David's (the caretaker's) house (R).
One the way to the Carnivore - Julia laughing.
Tiffany got a nice tan.
At dinner at the Carnivore.
First course... vegetable soup.
Then salads and sauces.
Meat on skewers - all you can eat....
Surrender. (once the Croc meat came around and we tried it, we were finally able to surrender)
salt and pepper.
Tiffany's blisters from landscaping. She knows the quote for this picture and thats enough to make me smile.
Julia trying to look really full - and cracking me up.
Julia.
Sylvia - one of the VCT counselors and Tiffani
Theresia and her grandchildren.
Our crew - one final group picture, with our driver for the week, Dickson. We loved Dickson!
Paige and Tiffani. She was cheering me up with Starbucks, after I realized that I will never see my little I-pod (and eye mask, and book light and hairbrush...) again. Thanks Paige.
At TGI Friday's in the Heathrow Airport.
Tired?
better.
the next table over.
