Meg Has a Sister!

Andy and Chelsea and Meg welcomed Katherine Claire Morse at 4:22PM on July 10! She weighed in at 8lb 7oz and is 20 1/4 inches long. Not surprisingly she is already into nursing. The picture doesn't show her black hair and lots of it....just like her big sister. Dick is in Dallas to be Mama's helper with Meg. I am sure Chels was more happy than anyone to have Kate delivered as she has been carrying her in the Texas heat. Now all are well and doing fine with the newest little Morse.

6 Meals I Didn't Cook

In March I visited the Kakamega Forest with some anxiety. I had googled "KAKAMEGA" before I left home and found the description featured the mambas and adders that filled the forest. But the forest is well-known and also the only rainforest in Kenya. So when our Salvation Army friend Justin was about to return to the US, we decided to take him to visit the only hotspot in Kakamega. I planned a day that included a 20 km taxi ride, a 3 hour hike with a visit to the bat cave (ohboy), lunch at Rondo, and a ride home (once a travel agent.....). It was a beautiful day with no snake sightings , but Rondo was a little gem. Carved out of the forest is a respite with overstuffed chintz furnishings that fill clapboard cottages with generous porches. The cottages have bedrooms with adjoining baths and a shared living room with a fireplace. I vowed to myself that I would return.

To celebrate the mid-term, I ran away from home. My driver friend Patrick took me to Rondo! I spent two nights there, meeting lots of nice people. It had a colonial feeling as most of the guests were white and the staff is black. I met a girl from Tennessee who with her family supports a children's home in town and stays at Rondo for a month each year. I was in a 5-bedroom cottage with seven young people who are doing internships for NGOs. The staff were wonderfully warm and friendly.

I took a walk to check out the birds first thing Saturday morning (for me 8:30am); being a novice bird-watcher I decided I would have had more success with tired birds later in the day. Against the very dense rain forest canopy, I mostly enjoyed the morning walk, complete with ants in my pants. I returned to a day of reading, prowling the gardens, and watching the pounding rain. Just before tea in the cottage at 4:30pm, someone came to build a roaring fire-very welcome as the rain was cold and there was no heat. Sunday there was a short service of hymns and preaching by a member of the staff. Rondo is featured as a retreat center and has a small chapel set in the garden with a view of the forest.

One of the highlights for me was 6 meals that I ate in the intimate dining room. You might not think that is such a big deal, but since there is a dearth of any food worth walking to town to eat, we have been reduced to eating at home. We do an OK job, but let's face it: eating at home exclusively is a drag. So I maxxed out my eating experience with 6 meals at Rondo and was a very happy camper!

check it out: www.rondoretreat.com

BUSTED !!

I arrived on Monday June 7th to feverish activity in my classroom-the older girls had washed it down; Timothy (head of the Special Unit) had remodeled: all the rectangular tables that are stored in my room had been arranged as if I was teaching a dozen kids in a theater configuration (I have 3 kids grouped around an oval table). From a secret stash, Timothy brought out a clock, a puzzle, an abacus, a north-south-east-west vane, a doll, and a wheelchair. I asked "What's up?"

"We are having a visitor from the District!" The bed in my room which is used for sick kids had a new mattress, a new rubber sheet, and a new floral sheet atop it. The room never looked so good.

So I put my best teaching foot forward, but by day's end, we had no visitor.

I spruced myself up for Tuesday only to find out that the visitor came on Monday, but only to the Headmaster's Office. The District found out that I was the only teacher in the Special Unit. The Township School teachers that are trained for teaching in the Special Unit had in fact never come to my room during Term 1. Here it is, almost halfway through Term 2,and no Township Special Unit staff on the horizon. The District came to deliver a message: Unacceptable.

So on Tuesday Timothy frantically put together a timetable for 3 Special Unit teachers to come to my classroom to do Adaptive P.E., Communication Skills, Numbers, and Social Skills. I was designated to 2 Reading lessons/day, or about 1 hour and 10 minutes of teaching daily. I was desolee-not only had I taught from 8:20am until 12:40pm every day since I came in January, but I was afraid those teachers would punt and my kids would suffer.

By Wednesday I saw the timetable posted in the Staff Room, so jotted down my assigned times. I decided I couldn't depend on the new timetable as there has been a similar timetable in my room since January that no one has honored. I came on Thursday and you guessed it: I taught from 8:20am to 12:40pm! The Adaptive P.E. teacher had assured me she would be in my room First Period on Thursday, but apparently she had other plans.

I will continue to go to the Special Unit because it is what I was assigned and otherwise there would be nothing for my 3 kids. I refer to Bery, Lilian, and Paul as my kids-and that is why I am here. They are learning, they are full of life and there are few options for 3 kids who are not ready to go into classes of 40-50++ students. At the end of Term 1,I had asked for help with Kiswahili in my room; I was turned down due to a shortage of teachers. The doll and the puzzle, the clock and the wheelchair are back in Timothy's office; I will continue to speak up for these kids as I may be the only one who can or will.......

amazon.rox

Since many of you know how much I like to read, many ask what have I read since I have been here? So thinking I will just give you a quick round-up of the books I have finished with a short 'aye' or 'nay'...keep in mind, my missionary lifestyle and lack of social life gives me a rather jaundiced view of literature, but you asked...

The Weight of Silence (Gudenkauf) is a well constructed and suspenseful book about the power of innuendo and mistrust in relationships.

Sputnik Sweetheart (Murakami) is a short book about 2 people who have a weird mutual attraction; if it hadn't been short, it would have been abandoned.

The Buccaneers (Wharton) is a classic about late 19th century manners and society in England and the United States. It is so far removed from rural Kenya that I had a bit of a time relating to manners and society, but the characters were engaging and the prose was gorgeous.

Under Orders (Dick Francis) and Silks (Dick Francis and son) are 2 mysteries by a great story teller against a background of horseracing. Always a good read and fun to zip thru.

Plum Spooky (Evanovich) will be my last Janet Evanovich book. It lacks her original flare for the ridiculous and funny side of life in Trenton NJ, and her best characters have been sidelined in favor of less interesting ones.

Infidel (Ali) is a great memoir about a Muslim woman growing up in Muslim Africa and struggling with her faith. It has many twists based on her life story, and she is now in the US living and speaking publicly about her faith journey, a world away from where she started.

The Reliable Wife (Goolrick) is a novel of 'roiling lust', and some characters that keep you guessing the entire time. Roiling lust is not my preferred genre these days, but the book kept me interested.

The Vagrants (Li) is set in Mao's China amidst the usual background of one neighbor ratting on another neighbor, on the bottom end of the Chinese economic ladder, so a bit of a downer, as the title implies.

Plain Truth (Picoult) is a window into the Amish people and their lifestyle. Murder is not part of their life, and the book went on much too long about the trial, but the setting made for an interesting read.

The Shack (Young) is an upbeat and magical picture of God, set against real life tragedy. The mystical and the human characters are well cut; wish I could have participated in a discussion about it!

Cutting To Stone (Verghese) is an engaging read, giving new meaning to family and all its inherited nuances, both good and bad.

Sarah's Key (de Rosnay) is set in Nazi and 21st century France. It unwinds a family's secret tragedy during the occupation, which kept me spellbound.

Little Bee (Cleave) is set in the US against a backdrop of a trip to Africa that went bad. It is written from the perspective of the African girl who is trying to make sense of a culture so unlike her own.

The Piano Teacher (Lee) had possibilities. Set in Hong Kong, the secrets of the '40s lost ground as the characters were mushy and their lives superficial.

City of Thieves (Beniott) is set in the 900 days of Leningrad, so depressing. It vacillated between funny and horrific, but always bleak.

Friday Night Knitting Club (Jacobs) is just what the title implies: a girlie book with lots of plot twists, loveable women, and got me knitting again!

The Various Haunts of Men (Hill) is a stemwinder. Mystery aside, the people are good, the plot thickens and when you know whodunit.......

All Creatures Great and Small

God may have created them all, but I do not have to like the ones I've met in Kenya. In some categories, i.e., flying insects, we're making headway--but I am getting ahead of myself....

A female mosquito carries malaria; malaria is a disease I really do not want to get. So I left the US with a year's supply of Malarone, the better malaria drug, taken daily.The caveat was I had to have my liver and kidney functions checked 3 months after starting Malarone. I was at the Norfolk Hotel and the house doctor obliged, bringing a lab tech. The good news is my functions are fine; the doctor's news was scathing. He in effect told me I was poisoning myself and doctors in the US prescribe Malarone much too freely...omg, that gave me a start and also a finish to taking the malaria meds. So I am now unprotected from getting malaria. The Nairobi doctor (my new best friend) did give me a pill to keep on hand in case I get malaria, so I do feel I am ready, just in case malaria strikes.

Yes, the flying insects in our living room are on the decline. In the first term, we would interrupt our Gin game many nights, each armed with a slipper; we swatted at the flying beasts (like over sized wasps, but not bees) and nearly did each other damage. I was responsible for cleaning up the carcasses. But someone told us we should keep our heavy curtains closed at night, emitting no light. Alas, it works....our Gin game has only been interrupted once in the last 3 weeks (see P.S. for update on Gin game).

The real creature low point was the rat. One Tuesday night at 10pm, Shanon yelled: "Come here, I see a mouse....No IT'S A RAT!" With that advance story, you can imagine my lack of enthusiasm to get up and see if I could see a rat. There was tension in the air. We did not see the rat again that night. We did not sleep well. I really did not want to get up in the morning. I banged my way into the kitchen; I observed that the gap under the back door (filled with newspaper and cardboard) had been chewed away from the inside. I could only hope that the rat had found his way out. We found rat evidence and we were especially skittish for a few days. But the rat seems to be on the run--I live with the fear he will return. Rat disposal will certainly not be my strong suit.

I also saw a green snake while walking to school the week before and was non-plussed. I simply veered around the snake and kept walking. I was amazingly brave, I figured; the snake was not on the move, so I talked myself into believing it might be dead. Otherwise it should have gotten out of my way. And not living with that creature in my home makes a big difference.

Maybe our encounter with creatures has peaked. I am more careful, more attentive, and still bang my way into the kitchen each morning. Please God, keep the creatures in their own backyards!

P.S. Gin Rummy
Since January, we have played Gin many times a week, in the evening. On February 28, I was 1945 points behind. On May 12 I was 355 points down....I was on my way to a comeback. But alas, on May 21 I find myself 1740 points down--FYI, the score is 42,025 to 40,285. The year is not over yet....

School's Out!

It is the end of our 5 week sojourn across half the world,and it was a ‘trip’ in the truest sense of the word. Living out of a suitcase is not my idea of fun, but the fun we were having along the way made it all OK. And I will continue to chip away at my 50 lbs of laundry as I get back into the swing of teaching….

The trip to the USA was a bonus and so worth the thrill of seeing all the kids, holding new Teddy, and seeing Meghan in her new self, something only a child can re-create in 3 months. We visited both Cairo and Nairobi as starting places for our travels in each country, and I did not much care about either city: crowded, dusty, paralyzing traffic. But good hotels in both cities made each stop an oasis in the midst of urban chaos. The Uniworld riverboat on the Nile was a huge surprise: huge cabins with fabulous baths. The visit to pleasant Luxor offered many temples and tombs that really gave us the Egyptian flavor. On to both Aswan dams and lots of current history were a good contrast to tombs and temples which were all before Christ by some measure. Finishing in Abu Simbel nearly finished us off, as it was 108 degrees. I applauded the planning of the Egypt trip as we were up very early and home to our ship before it got too hot. We had the benefit of a great guide and only 8 very simpatico people in our group. The spewing volcano left one of the couples in Cairo for an additional 9 days before they could return to London…we were off to Nairobi as planned.

It was a nostalgic trip as we stayed at the Norfolk Hotel, Nairobi, where my parents always enjoyed staying, though I had never been. It is still wonderful. Our safari guide and Micato Safaris made sure that we were greeted at 4am at the Nairobi airport and whisked off to our hotel and in bed by 5am…..that is service in a city like Nairobi. We flew between a tent camp in Amboseli, Tortilis; a lodge in Laikipia, Loisaba; and a tent camp in Maasai Mara, Fairmont Mara Tent Camp. Game drives, walks in the wild (I doubted my sanity but with an armed man and a tracker we made it), service that never quit, fine food, and good weather made the time in Kenya quite extraordinary. Our guide was not only knowledgeable but charming and a joy to travel with. Returning to rural Kenya was an adjustment, as we stopped in the nearest big city, Kisumu, before coming back to Kakamega. We ‘did’ the town by introducing Dick to the box store Nakumatt, the best hotel in town, the Golf Hotel, and seeing my abode and roommate Shanon. Dick came to school 2 days before he left from Kisumu for the USA…..we both will be taking the vapors for the week. It was the way to spend the school holiday and see lots of Africa…..ask Dick for his impressions as well!

Africa Interrupted

My April trip to see more of Africa was all planned: I was off to Egypt the week after Easter. Then I got wind of a rumor at school: no school the week before Easter. Once confirmed I made plans to spend my extra 10 days visiting the kids and seeing our new grandson born....

I arrived in New York City Monday March 28 to the welcoming arms of Tyler and Rebecca who masterminded the air arrangements on 72 hours notice...3 great days in NYC was a treat once I got my US legs back. With no sign of Baby Morse arriving in San Francisco,I moved on to Dallas to see Andy, Chelsea, and Meghan, a re-invented little girl from January. How much and how quickly a 2 year old changes! We dyed Easter eggs and filled plastic eggs with candy together; Chels provided a fabulous Easter brunch with Dallas pals and lots of Chels' family, too. By Easter night I arrived in nasty rain in the Bay Area where Blaire was still holding her own. The doctor stepped up the inducing so on Tuesday April 6 at 1133am Theodore John was born (7 lbs 13 oz and 21 inches long). What a joy to see Teddy as he arrived-Mikey beamed and Blaire was radiant. There was lots of good time to hold and ogle Teddy before I returned to New York on April 7.

Today April 8 I will jump the non-stop flight to Cairo where Dick will join me to do some Africa exploring. I will be back in Kakamega about the first of May so will update you when I return.