Time flies, cars, and: What is going on?

Hello, friends. I haven't updated the blog lately for a lot of reasons, but certainly not because there hasn't been a lot happening. We have been here nearly three months, and that seems like a long time and no time at all, somehow.

Every week is flying by, especially now that the kids are in school and our time is more structured. Our weekly schedule is now:

• Mon/Wed - 8am school drop for both kids, 1pm Silas pickup, 3:30pm Cora pickup (that's three round trips a day)
• Tues/Thurs - 8am school drop for Cora only, Silas home with me all day, 3:30pm Cora pickup
• Fri - 8am school drop for both kids, 1pm pickup for both kids

Since we don't have a car, our taxi driver David does the round trip driving for us every school day, and I ride along. That also means putting car seats in and out of the car, which we are quite good at now. We are learning about Nairobi traffic, although we really don't experience the real thing that they get down in the Central Business District and Westlands. But eastbound traffic on Waiyaki Way in the mornings can make a 15-minute trip into a 45-minute one on unpredictable occasions.

We are searching for a used 4x4, 7-seater car. It is an exhausting and expensive and uncertain exercise in which we are told we cannot trust the mileage on used cars in Kenya, cannot trust that car parts have not been swapped out, cannot trust the word of the mechanics who are assisting us. We are told we should just import some ungodly expensive shiny beast from Japan or the UK, buying a car we've never seen and sending our money to someone we've never met and hoping a Nissan or Toyota or Mitsubishi rolls off the boat in Mombasa that somewhat resembles what we think we paid for. No matter what, it really seems like we are going to get ripped off. Thus we haven't actually bought anything. Someday we will have a car, I suppose, but geeze. I am really appreciating consumer protection laws that I took for granted in the U.S.

And speaking of the U.S. What on earth is going on over there? Is my home nation closing its doors to the rest of the world? Because I can assure you that the rest of the world is still here, and is either bewildered or emboldened by the words and actions of our new president and his advisors (and the ones who are emboldened are NOT the ones we generally want to feel empowered). I feel very confused about the news I hear from the States -- are NPR and the Times are getting the story right (because they were sure WRONG about their election coverage)? I can hardly open Facebook without having an anxiety attack right now. While life here in Nairobi is incredibly and joyfully social, I am feeling very isolated in terms of understanding what is happening politically at home. I would really appreciate hearing some of your perspectives on what is happening (or not happening) - anyone want to make a Google Hangout or WhatsApp or Skype date to talk politics?

Anyway, here is an example of the delights of socializing in Kenya -- a party of Nate's coworkers and families on January 8th. It was wonderful.

In the photo: At left is Sarah, wife of Nate's office mate Nobu, and their daughter Imani on her lap. Then in the back left is Andrew Mude, the boss of all these folks including Nate. Sarah's daughter Hope is smiling in the pink shirt in front of Andrew and his son Jamal who is mostly hidden. Next is Andrew's wife Brenda with Cora on her lap, then Silas on Nate's lap, then Anne with Andrew and Brenda's daughter Lalo on her lap. Standing at right is Brian, the son of Sam who works with Nate and hosted the party at his house. There were lots more people and kids there but they are not pictured.