Pikipiki

Last week I bought myself a pikipiki. It’s a Focin, 125 cc, and seems to work well. I was told it gets 55 kilometers to the liter, which would roughly translate to 125 miles to the gallon. Not bad. As this is Africa, this not just me getting a motorbike, but the whole community, so there have been about 10 to 15 people that have helped me get it started, joked that all their future transportation needs have now been met, offered suggestions on where to park it, checked out the features, and so on. Not to mention the hordes of children that descended also, climbing on it, feeling around, trying on the helmet, even taking the key at one point. It's nice to have other people also invested in your life!

The issue of safety may have occurred to some of you, so rest assured that I am taking things very slowly and am also very terrified of Nairobi traffic. I've been out practicing twice so far, going slow on the dirt roads behind the campus, and getting a feel for everything. It will be a long time before I take passengers or venture into high traffic scenarios. It is frustrating still taking matatus places when I have transport but I want to be careful. Of course, I'd appreciate any prayers for safety!

This is my parking spot, right by my building to discourage theft.

Africa Let's Worship

About a week ago there was a group of us from NEGST that went to an annual event called Africa Let's Worship. Its a worship service that goes from 9:00 pm until 6:00 am. Its big, about 10 to 15 thousand people big. We went 2 hours early to get seats, and by around 9 the church it was held in filled up and no one else could get inside. Thousands more were in tents outside the church.

I really enjoyed it. It was certainly high energy, and had quite a bit of technical trouble, including the power going out and the entire church going pitch dark, but it was a lot of fun. It was also very reverent at times, and we lots of time for prayer. We didn't stay the whole time, but left at 1 am. Next time I think I'd like to stay longer.

Alpheus and John as we were holding down the seats.

Somalia: A Libertarian Paradise

For those in America that feel government is starting to do too much, there is a place where the government does nothing at all. I thought the video was pretty funny.

http://humanitarianrelief.change.org/blog/view/come_to_somalia

Here is an example of an article extolling the benefits of the Somali situation:

http://mises.org/story/2066

(for some reason the link doesn't show up on this one, you have to copy the address)

You want me to bring what?

Coming back to America and then returning to Kenya can be a somewhat stressful experience, I have found. For those of you unfamiliar with such an experience, here is a list of the things I have been asked to buy in America and then bring to Kenya with me (usually with no money down and an unspecified repayment in the general future):

- 7 laptops
- 3 digital cameras
- jeans
- shoes
- weights (the little magnetic ones you add to dumbbells)
- water filter part
- Hebrew textbook
- 1000 CDs
- an entire suitcase of textbooks for the bookstore
- credit cards (but I'm not buying these, just bringing them)

If I were to have brought all of those things back with me, if would have been roughly 200% of my total luggage allotment and would have cost around $3000. I am bringing back 3 laptops, 1 digital camera, the water filter part, the Hebrew textbook, and the credit cards. That's a bit more manageable. I must say, my favorite request was the 1000 CDs. It came less than a week before I leave for Nairobi...