JournalEnd0418-1

So, it was all rainy and dark and we were in the middle of the woods with a broken down car. We were kinda worried, as the hordes of people stepped out of the darkness and pressed their faces against the windows and the drunk man started yellin. At this point I asked Joseph, our 46 year old, 6-4 traveling companion/elder. Where are we? No response. I tapped him on the shoulder and he turned around. Joseph, do you know where we are? He stared at me for a second, then slowly...Yes. We are here.

Thus is perhaps the teaser for one of the wildest days I've had in a long while, so wild a day it could easily be referred to as a wild weekend later. We've had a rather boring week just chillin at the house here on the nearly empty school grounds. Watched several bootleg DVD's (one of them even flashed a message every 15 minutes with a hotline to call if we know anything about illegal use or sale of the movie...hmm), perfected many card tricks (not me though), read the Lord of the Rings books, and slept plenty. My way-high quality mattress doesn't allow me to use the whole bed, for it has a huge ravine on the side nearest the wall, which is good since I'm on the top bunk. Anyhow, we knew for a long time that this weekend we had a youth rally, but I spent most of my time looking past it to our trip to Nairobi and Mombasa, which we may or may not make it to tomorrow- more on that later.

So Friday we were supposed to go the Epke, which means nothing to you, but it is the name of the area or maybe town/village we were to go to about 30 kilometers away. However, our elder friend that gives us the appearance of maturity or something was gone. Sadly, I was kinda not sad about this, thinking that we'd leave early for our vacation. But word came to us that he was at a wedding ceremony and would be here Saturday morning. I still didn't prepare a lesson. I was hoping that maybe something crazy would happen and Joseph, who reminds me of an African Gandalf, minus the beard, would be detained (maybe dancing at the wedding, so he'd be stricken with guilt and have to go to confession). But at 7:15 in the AM the knock came and there he was, smilin' and sporting a trench coat and a winter cap (with the dangly ear warmer things), 'cause it must've been 68 degrees outside for cryin' out loud. Like a friend of mine in Ohio, I didn't say a word of neither cheer nor grief until at least 9:00 I think. When Big Joe rides with us we have to sit four to the back seat, so I needed an attitude adjustment every time another elbow jabbed my ribs as the car took the bump and he grinned back at us; it wasn't on purpose, he just can't speak English much so he grins instead.

We didn't know where we were going, though 4 different people gave us directions. They were all very different: a student told us it was 12 kilometers away, a neighbor said 2 hours, a preacher said 2 hours driving and then 2 more walking. Joseph grinned. We went with directions from our neighbor and got to a place where we were instructed to ask the people questions about how to get there. Joseph did all the asking, and he told us we were close. The third time he told us we were close he told us to take a right. We were now on the top of a mountain range (think Appalachian, not Rockies) and going right meant going down. We were hesitant, and I was sending telepathic messages forewarning impending doom, but I must not have ESPN over here. We went down. And around, and down, and up, and finally came to stop in a little plateau (I guess) and found the church. They expected about 150, so there were 40 kids. One of the reasons I was having a bad attitude is 'cause many times we don't find people that we can communicate with, so we speak or teach and get blank stares throughout the weekend. But with the neato people of Epke this was not entirely so. There were several men helping and they were great, they went to a bible college in Nairobi, so they spoke English very well. We had a great time, loved the scenery of a beautiful mountain side and The Great Rift Valley below. We spoke to some very receptive kids and then played outside with them. We played frisbee (which at first was seemingly cruel 'cause they weren't so good at the catching part yet), leg wrestled, duck-duck-goosed, sang and danced, and chased baby goats- who could ask for anything more? We also looked for baboons a little, to no avail. I only made one kid cry this time; there was a pack of little kids following me, so I followed them back. They ran to their hut-house and I peeked through the bushes...then they freaked and ran inside, but one kid just stood there and screamed. I wasn't going for that reaction. Later one of the youth workers explained that my white skin and hair like a baboon was probably what did it. I'm now all the more eager to see a baboon with curly, bushy blond hair. Later on the same kids came back when all the youth rally kids were out playin with us. They crawled over where I was loungin in the grass and proceeded to pet my arms and rub the hair, and then the 13 or so hands mussed up my hair too and all was forgiven in this act. Meanwhile, Chris and Nathan amazed the older folk with card trick devilry, and Ben leg wrestled Joseph while Mark wowed them with gymnasticals. We took lunch and I think I had a tick in mine, Ben found a grub in his (but Mark found it after Ben put it in his plate). Good thing I brought hot sauce (I don't mean salsa, as some strange Texans take that.)

So, it started getting cloudy, and we realized that our very weak car (I mean go cart power) might have trouble making it out of the valley before it was time to go home (I mean to America, in December) if we didn't beat the rains. The men of the church offered to help us push it up the mountain if we indeed got stuck, but we declined. On dry ground we get passed uphill by women and children carrying bundles of sticks or beans on their backs. So we took off and Mark and I decided to ride on the back bumper, so as to be able to quickly jump down and push. This worked out to be un-fun about 5 minutes into the ride as darn cold rain poured down. We made it about a third of the way up before we got stuck. I started pushing and realized as I fell in the mud that my Birkenstock's weren't too good for this sort of work. I pushed some more when the car started going and got nice and splattered by the mud flinging off the tires- I slipped and panicked as the car started to slide back, so I rolled on the ground out of the way, thus ensuring full muddiness. A little village boy helped us pick a good route, and we made it up to the next turn. I was happy. Then we got stuck again on the next turn. Now the little boy and some friends came, along with a very vocal little man in a neon-mesh muscle shirt. His breath smelled heavily of Tusker Our Country, Our Beer as it goes. He decided to help us and give instructions, though only in Kalenjin. We were stopped for about 30 minutes this time, and a large crowd came. The 10-12 year olds decided to make fun of us and our situation, and many people looked and laughed, though many came to help too. We were kinda getting frustrated and I was kinda cold, wet, hungry, and tired. Mr. Tusker became increasingly loud in his suggestions, to which we politely ignored after they failed the first three times. The car almost went off the cliff, as the guardrails had been taken in to get cleaned; don't worry, I wasn't driving at the time. On another try I almost got squished between the car and the other side of the road, and by side I mean mountain wall of rock. I was kinda sorta horizontal with my hands on the car's side and feet against the wall. Mighta looked neat, but I didn't enjoy it much. Finally we got it going and made it about 30 feet up the hill, all the while Mr. Tusker and Co. were yelling. The driver was quite alarmed, and I'm not sure if it was the engine that stopped or the driver, as the noisy screaming sounded like someone was about to be run over. But we soon realized it was just sort of a rally cry to get the locals excited for one another to push our car. We finally made it up to the next flat area. Here Mr. Tusker was adamant about getting some money for his service. Earlier he spoke about Jesus, among other things, but now he wanted some money. I wasn't doing good with patience. Finally he seemed to stop bothering us, and we went on our way up the next hill...except now Mr. T takes a leap after sprinting to catch up and joins me on the bumper. I told him to get down and he looked at me defiantly. I don't know why I did, maybe blame it on watching American Gladiators as a kid, but I proceeded to push him off the car, or at least try too. With one hand on the luggage rack and the other free we kinda tried to maintain position, and I eventually won, but he still dangled for a while on the side of the car (not in any danger of getting run over, since we were in the back, and he wasn't near the cliff or anything) but now he started laughing and it amused all the crowd of kids that were still running behind our car (told you it was slow). He finally dropped down and I was so glad to be rid of the crazy folk. Then our car died. No longer was the mud a problem, but the car as well. I was willing to push dead weight if need be, just to avoid the crowd, in whose view we were still in from afar. They started coming. Then some new village kids came and another drunk man came. This one was older and more calm; he just helped push and breathed al in my face so as to inspire me with his breath I suppose. We made it to the main road (of dirt) after much pushing and mud everywhere.

Here our car again refused to start, despite the flat ground. We push started it and went on our way, only about 25 kilometers to go, and it was now getting dark (7:00-ish). 50 yards later the car died, and it didn't smell so good. We push started it again, but another 50 yards or so and it gave it up. The battery seemed to be completely dead, as all things electric shut off, including lights. The streetlights weren't working I guess, so it was pretty dark. However, it seems that many of the people in this region don't have much to do on a Saturday night, so about 20 kids and a few adults came to fix our problem. We don't know much about cars, but we checked a lot of stuff. We called our mechanic on speaker phone, and I think he was at a dance club. He couldn't make it out (we were very far away) but said he'd send someone. It was then that our phone ran out of minutes. We needed to make a few calls yet, and went to use our second phone, but it had been in Mark's pocket and only a few of the buttons were waterproof, as about 3 of them still worked. We finally dried it out and stuff, but when we talked to our mechanic again he said he was sending a guy out to arrive in an hour. So we waited in the dark with all our new friends. I was a bit cold and retreated to the car to read. That's when I heard Mike. Mike is the third drunk man in the story, and by far the drunkest and funniest. Funny only 'cause we weren't working hard to push a car up the mountain anymore, and just had to wait in the dark. He told many a funny joke, though not in the punch line but just his speech. I heard him from afar, but went back to my book (he was out in front of the car with the other guys). Next thing I know he was at my window and talking to me about Jesus. He asked me if I was reading the Bible, and I said no. He said, Oh, a story book. Let me read! So Ben and I proceeded to listen to the drunk man Mike read in Kenyan English about Frodo and Sam and the One Ring. It was fun for a while, and then he got bored. He entertained us for a while longer, then went back up to the now open hood to try and fix our car or something. About an hour after we last heard from the mechanic we got a call from him saying that the guy he sent out to pick us up couldn't anymore, his car broke down. There weren't any mechanics around, as we made up all the auto population (save tractors) so we pushed the car about 200 yards in the dark (we had a headlamp for the driver/steerer) to this house and kept our car there. The mechanic would come in the morning. By now the men from the Epke church were there to help, but all they did was but us some tea. They wanted us to go back down with them, but an hour down a mountain in the dark with packs and a tent (an hour if we use their steep shortcut) and an hour in the early morning back up didn't sound good. Plus, our help would arrive early the next day.

We hastily set up our tent as we bid them goodbye, and later we realized our haste. I slept with my head and pillow over a hole and Nathan slept on rocks We all slept 5 across and it was not too pleasant. It rained, so the fellas on the outside got kinda wet. About 6:30 in the morning, after about 6 hours of sleep people gathered outside our tent, it seemed, to talk (not quietly whisper) about the latest news in Kalenjin. So we woke up. We called the mechanic and he let us know that he had a family emergency and wouldn't be coming. We asked the lady we stayed with, via Joseph, if she knew any people that could help. She said she knew some folks that could be there by 3 or 4 that afternoon. That wasn't the best of ideas, so we had a guy sent out to go get some help he knew of. In the meantime, we had some more tea (it is what you offer guests here), bringing my total to three meals of tea (and some bread with one of them) since the day before. She had us watch some music video of a choir or something, with some cool effects straight from the days when VH1 played the coolest videos. But she liked it and I was happy she let us stay there. We then had breakfast down the road, which was tea and bread.

Finally we went back to our car and thought about maybe borrowing a battery from someone, somehow. But then this older fella came and jiggled a wire or something and fixed our car. We were pretty happy and took off before it died again. And we made it about 2 miles before it quit again. We messed with some more stuff, and made it to the next town where upon we stopped in the middle of the road. We got some oil, and the man that sold it to us tried to charge us double price, but we knew the regular cost and weren't too happy to be cheated, so he realized this and kinda agreed and walked away embarrassed. Kinda not cool when people take advantage of those in trouble, but we did have a lot more helpers than not. After that we stopped only once more, to find we had no engine coolant. So when we poured some water in there we made it home. There were many problems along the way, and I think had it not been dark we might've found the cord or at least filled the water up- Nathan did check, but couldn't tell in the dark.

So, that was a ridiculously long story, sorry. It was kinda exciting at the time. We made it home and we have recovered and packed today. If our car cooperates and not hills get in the way, we will go to Nairobi tomorrow, then to Mombasa. I will tell ya'll all about it when I get back, so you have about 13 days or so to get a new email address. And I thought after a week of nothing I just wouldn't email til later.