The rain in Spain falls Mainly on the Plain.

cute child just drank his first cup of rooibos, made with extra milk. he loves it. or maybe he is enjoying the straw more then the tea? :)

we were doing a load or 2 of laundry at a friends house and when we came home got caught in a rain storm. the 3 feet from the car to the overhang drenched us. 3 feet. africa knows how to rain! it comes down in gushing torrents, traffic goes to a standstill, and everyone walks in the street because the side of the road turns to mud and mush.

i'm not as homesick as i was- miriam- kiwi friend, reckons that it is most likely because i don't really have my own home yet, and none of our stuff is here. once she brought that up, i started to realize that it does still feel like we are living our of our suitcases. 6 weeks of this so far! i can't believe we're almost half way to going back for Bro-in laws wedding/Christmas.

we've decided to put off hiring a cleaner, or nanny/babysitter till we get back here in January. i've heard so many frustrating stories about contracts, and making sure you get the right person, that i really don't want to jump into anything.

this top of picture of me hiking (above) is in South Africa a few years ago. it was winter, and super super dry. when we got here in nairobi, everything was that color, and it felt quite appropriate. with all the rain here though- it's now green. lush. vibrant. everything is blooming, and when the sun comes out, i realize how incredibly beautiful it is. even normal looking trees have these huge flowers in brilliant yellows, reds, fuschia's, purples...

i've been mulling a lot of things over lately. one of them being the death penalty. south africa does not have the death penalty, and in fact none of their police are allowed to carry any weapon of any kind. would changing this help the horrific crimes that are a constant part of daily life there? or would the huge amounts of corruption just mean that it would only worsen it?

living in a corrupt country, where bribes are a part of many peoples daily life is incredibly difficult. i am a moral person. i stick to the rules, and i abide by the law. but what do you do if you know that justice is not served. so even if you don't pay a bribe to the traffic policeman who pulled you over- for no apparent reason, and you go to court for it... you know you will see a judge who will give you a sentence that may have nothing to do with traffic- he will make the crime up, or you can pay a bribe to him. am i making sense? there is no justice here. so how do i, a law abiding citizen, make sense of all this?

for instance, hot husband is a big stickler for obeying copyright laws. he does not take part in anything having to do with pirating. until now. we paid almost 35 USD to have an account at the local (in a mall, looked totally legit) video store. we rented 2 dvds, for 200sh each. (about 3.50USD)... and when we got them home, they were excellent versions of the originals- pirated. the whole store is pirated. the frustrating thing, is that i can buy my own pirated, to keep, for 200sh on the corner of our street. we've looked everywhere, there seems to be no option at all for buying anything original. they don't exist here. pirated is our only option. that or not watching anything at all.

isn't there something about 'when in rome...' ??

i feel so conflicted about all this! and this is barely skimming the surface when it comes to things like this here! oh America. how much you take for granted!!1