Thursday, April 23 only one day to go

Today was extremely busy. After just spending a normal day yesterday, sewing and running around at Amani, today was a very long day. The morning started out with a visit to the bank machine to get out cash to pay off my account here at the guest house. I haven't mentioned much about the money situation here, but the currency is the Kenya shilling. There are 100 shillings to around $.78. So when you go to buy something it may cost 2000 shillings which is like saying 2000 pennies to us. Then you have to divide it by 78! And the bank machine has a limit of 40,000 shillings per day that it will let you take out. The largest bill by the way is a 1,000 note. So I got 40 bills out of the machine today and will have to go get more tomorrow! It was good I thought of it two days ahead of time or I might have had a problem!I spent the morning at Amani finishing up the machine work on my jacket then left at 12:30 with Jackie who had been my staff teaching support person and her little boy, Unni (the ones I spent Easter with). Our driver from Amani, Japeth took us to the Safari Walk at the National Park. It was a 4 mile walk through a section that had been set up as natural habitats for the animals. In spots it was a suspended boardwalk up over the savannah, and in sections we were walking through forest. I got a lot of great pictures. After having lunch there we went into the city to the Kenyatta Market which is an old marketplace full of little stalls like a farmers market. Most of the vendors sold used clothes, beauty products, fabric and sewing services, embroidery services, shoes and many were braiding hair. My friend, Jackie has a tailoring business there and we stopped in to see her shop.I got back just in time for dinner and will start packing after finishing with this note. I leave for the airport tomorrow evening at 7 pm and will be in Germany Saturday morning through Sunday noon local times. I will arrive in Nashville Sunday evening. If I don't get to sign on again, thanks for all your prayers and support! The Amani ladies are praying for you, too!