Thrown in the deep end and managing to swim!

I got married last Friday, December 4th, to my Kenyan (now) husband E. Where others might jet off to a tropical paradise honeymoon, or a quaint little private cottage by the sea for some quality together time- we instead, jetted off to Kenya so I could meet the inlaws face to face instead of via Skype and phone, and also to get a bit of a better idea where my husband grew up and how far he has come.

So, Sunday night saw us fly out from Adelaide to Nairobi via Perth and Doha. A power failure in Sydney saw our first flight grounded for an hour and we were told we would probably miss the connecting international flight! We prayed about it and left the details to our Heavenly Father to see our journey through however it panned out. Thankfully the airline waited for us and 6 other passengers but we had to sprint from plane to taxi to international departures, through passports and on board. I was stuffed and I pulled my Achilles' tendon badly running between places, so that wasn't the best start.

Our bags also made it with us on board so finally we got to Kenya, with luggage and the adventure began.

My first observations of Kenya included crazy crazy traffic and lack of road rules! There were people everywhere and lining the grassy spots along the highways were people just snoozing or sitting and chatting to others. As we left the inner suburbs to go to E's parents house in the outer 'burbs, the views outside my passenger side window changed to include goats and chickens, shanty towns, tin roofed makeshift shops and the bumpiest roads I've ever been on! Talk about thrown in the deep end! Funnily enough I felt no nerves or anxiety, I embraced it all in my stride and tried to make the best impression on my new family. I'm not sure I'm fully accepted by them yet- I am the Aussie who married their son, but the younger relatives were very welcoming and chatty. I knew my weight would be an issue, being a big lady AND white was going to make life interesting while I am here and as much as I thought I prepared for the comments and stares, it didn't take too long before it overwhelmed me a bit too much. My inlaws, I'm sure mean well but being told that I need to skip meals and exercise more on a regular basis gets a bit much. Still, I will just take the comments on graciously and hope that my personality and charm somehow trumps appearances in the end. 

I look forward to meeting more of my new extended family and new friends from this part of the world, I'm excited to be heading to Amboseli this weekend to see nature at its best! I'm in Africa!! (Granted, I'm sitting in a westernised "Java House" coffee shop using their free wifi at present)

Until next time!