Another Early Morning Flight

We woke up to the familiar pre-dawn sounds of Isaac getting ready for work, and sadly packed up our mosquito net/mattress/pillow fort for the last time. We hugged Knight goodbye and left the house around 5 a.m. I'm sure it would have been more traumatic for me if we weren't planning on coming back through Nairobi on our way to Europe, so for now I can just tell myself we'll see them in a few weeks.

Isaac got us to the airport in good time, despite being stopped by a ridiculous cop who wanted a bribe, which Isaac refused. He walked us to the security line and gave us detailed instructions on how to check in and pass through immigration, said a quick goodbye, and we were alone. The Nairobi airport was endearingly disfunctional early in the morning. They didn't have the yellow immigration forms we needed to fill out, so they just had us fill out the blue Kenyan-passport-holder forms instead. We went through a basic security screening before entering the airport, and then another security screening at our gate, where they made me throw away the new water bottle I had specifically purchased in the terminal so I could take it with me. They didn't say anything about Danielle's full nalgene, which was tucked away in her backpack. Feeling moderately secure, we sat with passengers headed to Mogadishu until they called the handful of passengers on our flight to Kigali. We walked down the stairs to the tarmac and were shepherded to what we hoped was our tiny little RwandAir plane.

I lucked out and got the window seat, and got to see all of the crazy shapes and contours of the Kenyan landscape from the air. I took a break from looking out the window to eat the surprisingly well-rounded breakfast they gave us, and when I looked back 20 minutes before landing everything was suddenly green and misty. Maybe it was the sleep-deprivation, maybe it was the rare shot of caffeine we had had with breakfast, and maybe it was the excitement over traveling to a new place, but something about this country had us ecstatic. It took no time at all to get through passport control (no visa needed) and collect our bags. Our new friend Isaac was waiting for us and made us immediately feel at home. He's from Loveland, and his sister-in-law, Wendy, is my parents' next-door-neighbor in Fort Collins. As much as we've loved the past 5 months of traveling, it's quite a luxery to be surrounded by Coloradoans. Isaac told us about the past year and a half his family has spent here, and a little about his hobbies including falconing. We stopped in downtown Kigali to exchange some money and then headed to the orphanage in Nkoto.

Serena had some delicious banana bread waiting for us, and after a second breakfast she showed us to the playground. We spent a relaxing half hour pushing kids on the amazing swing set and chatting with Serena and our new Polish roommate Viola, who Danielle and I are both very excited to learn Polish from. Then Isaac gave us a tour of the orphanage. There are cassava, peas, cabbages, bananas, papayas, avocados, mangos, eggplants, carrots, and guava growing on the land surrounding the Children's Home, with chickens, pigs, tilapia ponds, and a pregnant cow for milk. It's going to be a bit of a challenge learning the names of all 60 orphans in the few short weeks we're going to spend here, but we're excited to start helping wtih English, computer, library, and activity times tomorrow.