Downtown Nairobi, Kenya

Things have been so busy lately! Since I haven't had time to write, I figured I'd give a quick list of things that have been going on:

• The countdown to Africa is on! We leave in a little over two weeks, and I can't believe it's almost here! I have been spending a lot of time getting things ready to go.
  
• I got new contacts and glasses. This is noteworthy mainly because I have a huge irrational fear of optometrists. However, I found some glasses that I absolutely love, so that made it worth it...almost. :)
• I received my last vaccination this week. I didn't even keep count of all the shots I received, but I'm hoping they'll prevent me from coming home diseased.
• The YWCA had a ground-breaking and a 5K this week. That has kept me ridiculously busy at work this month, in addition to trying to get everything done for the 5 weeks I will be gone.
• I saved a life by donating blood. While there, I discovered that the blood in my right finger shows a very low iron level, indicating anemia, but the blood in my left finger shows a very high iron level. Apparently, this is not something to be concerned about...
  
• I've been thinking about continuing education options and trying to figure out if I really want to go back to school, what program I want to do, etc.
• I've been spending a lot of time reading. It seems like my list of books to read keeps growing at an amazingly fast pace.
  
• I've discovered some great things lately: The book The Middle of Everywhere (about refugees who are relocated to the US, more specifically Lincoln, Nebraska), the movie Seven Pounds (saddest movie I've seen in a long time, but very good), the movie Haunting in Connecticut (SCARY, and based on a true story, although I would like to research how much of it actually happened), and K'Naan's CD Troubador (he's a Somali refugee poet/rapper...very talented).
  

Well, those are some of the things that have been eating up my time lately. I am hoping to keep up on posting while we're in Africa, at least so people know we're still alive. :)