Observations | SPECIAL RICH CARLSON EDITION

BOYS’ DEAN’S OFFICE – After 3 months here, I can officially say that it’s nice to see another American.

On Thursday, the time had finally come. Pastor Rich Carlson from Union was going to land in Jomo Kenyatta Airport, carrying X-Mas goodies from home. Valerie and I buzzed all day long, looking forward to seeing our old UC-mate get off the plane. Mr. Thomas, Val, and I were to leave Maxwell at 8:30 to get to the airport on time, so the day was anticipation.

But finally, 8:30 rolled around, and the three members of the MAA Welcoming Committee hopped into the school van and tore down the road for Nairobi. It was strange to ride into town at night as I had a few months earlier; the difference was that this time I went to the airport, fully aware of Africa and how this whole thing worked. Last time, I’d stepped off a plane and was thrown into a whole new world. I thought about this the entire way into the airport, thanking God for how much he’s already done in my life.

We waited for about a half hour until a familiar face came into view – Rich Carlson! It was great to see a face of someone we hadn’t in so long. We delayed the really good welcome for a while, as Rich had to go in and still pick up his luggage. Another hour passed, and some bad news came – only 4 of his 7 boxes of luggage came through. However, this is a common issue in flying to Africa, and Mr. Thomas assured him that the other 3 pieces (Valerie’s Christmas box and one of her two suitcases from her family) would arrive the next day. Back to Maxwell!

The ride back was filled with a game of 20 (thousand) questions from Val and I, asking all about how Union College was surviving without us. We arrived safely at the school and unloaded the boxes into the guesthouse that Rich was staying in. We bid him goodnight and went back to our apartments for the night… with boxes of goodies!

Three wicked cool things with Rich being here:

1. Thanks for all the fish! Ok, so I got no fish… but I did get loads of other stuff! I got back to the apartment and unloaded my box out of the van. I tossed it onto my bed and started ripping through it. Oh, it was so filled with all kinds of goodies: food, notes, little knick-knacks. I was about to really tear into it when I saw a little package that stuck out. I pulled it out and looked inside and was excited to see a small plastic Christmas tree, identical to the ones you can buy in the stores at home, but six inches tall! I knew what had to happen now. I sadly put everything except the tree back into the plastic bin and slipped into my bed to try and get some rest. Tomorrow would be the real Christmas.

After waking up semi-early to do be at staff worship (where I’d share my box of fresh chocolate chip tollhouse cookies – thanks to whoever sent those!), we took Rich on a walk up to see the East-Central Division offices. We came back down to Maxwell to get some pictures taken in our “natural environments,” and when I had my chance, I slipped out to celebrate the holidays my way. I headed to the apartment to shower, put on pajamas, play the $28 worth of Christmas music I “accidentally” bought on iTunes the other day, and put up my little six-inch tree. When everything was all ready, it was time to open presents. I pulled out every item out of my huge blue tub, laughing at the notes from friends and feeling excitement from every gift, from a can of black beans to a new shirt and tie. It was one of the best, most memorable times from my close-to-four-months here in Africa. Again and again, thank you to all who put stuff in my box. From the pack or mini-powdered doughnuts to the instant-horchata (you’re AWESOME Claudia!), you’ve given me the best Christmas ever. Thank you all.

2. Now they wanna come to Union? Valerie and I were under the impression that the moment we stepped on the Maxwell Academy campus, we were recruiting for Union College. Sadly, we’d only gathered mildly interested reactions from 3 or 4 students; it just wasn’t cool enough for them. But then Rich Carlson comes, waving his “Try the International Rescue and Relief program” and the “If you come, we’ll give you a half a trip home ever year you’re here” banners, and now, 30 students are considering Union College as the place they’ll continue their educations.

After talking to the graduating class and bribing them with the chance to visit home, Rich took out the students to some pizza for lunch on Friday, forever securing him in their hearts as “awesome.” He further confirmed the deity-like status among the Maxwell Academy class of 2006 by handing out Union College shirts (along with applications) on Saturday night. In an unprecedented show of “We’re better than all you underclassmen,” the entire class wore their aqua and light blue shirts on Monday. Valerie and I, who’d received the two extra shirts for being the UC representatives on campus, went along with the young ‘uns for the big dress-alike.

But how many do we really have? Well, according to my numbers, I predict that we’ll have 5 Maxwellites at Union next year. While that’s a drop in the bucket compared to the 30 that could come, it’s not bad, considering that there wasn’t an MAA student at Union in the last 2 years. So there.

3. Another “Priceless” moment in Africa. I’ve been so blessed to have had some memories here that’ll always stick with me. I’ve haggled in Nairobi, been kissed by a giraffe, charged at by a rhino, and have in general had the most memorable times in my life. But one that happened on Friday afternoon after the pizza with the Seniors might stick out as far, if not more, than anything else I’ve done: I went into the cage of three live, full grown cheetahs, and pet them. Pet them!

We drove over to the entrance of the Nairobi Game Park, where there’s an animal orphanage that you can see the animals a little closer than in the wild. We walked around, admiring the monkeys, lions, and gazelle-like creatures. (Astute readers might recognize how often I refer to “gazelle-like creatures” in substitution for dik-diks, impalas, elands, bushbucks, antelopes, waterbucks, hartebeests, and gazelles. This is not to imply that all these animals look the same… even though they do. It is in fact proof that I am lazy and don’t care to go through the trouble of identifying the animals. So whatever.) Finally, at the end of the tour, we stopped before the three full-grown cheetahs and watched them stalk around their cage.

Now somehow, I still don’t really understand, if you’re there during feeding time and you have white skin (white skin = money), you can give ‘em a little “encouragement” (100 shillings) to go inside and pet the cats while they’re eating their lumps of raw meat. Somehow, our tour guide and us got to the same idea and , walla, there we were inside a cage with 3 full-grown giant cheetahs, feasting on some beef.

Valerie, who’d been there already, went right up to the cats and began scratching their necks, backs, and even hind areas, just as if they were real, normal housecats. Hesitantly, Rich, Elvin, and I stepped up to the big guys and joined in the fun. As I scratched these big kitties behind their ears, I was just amazed that I was doing this. Here I was, with these giant things that could take me down if they so pleased, and they were as happy as could be eating their food. Wow.

I got my few require pictures (some weren’t very good, so I’ll have to go back, oh darn…) and we headed back to MAA, but overall it was an incredible experience. Now if I can just ride a wild elephant or watch something kill something else in the wild, I think I’ll be set…

Ok, thanks for reading along here. Love you all, miss ya bunches. Again, thanks for the presents! Later!

-cw