My Hair is Braided!!!

And it looks great!

And it only took FIFTEEN hours! But... I'd say it was worth it. I took a bunch of pictures of the process as well as the finished product, and I'll attempt to post them once they're loaded onto the computer.

The only major downfall is that my head is at least 1-2 pounds heavier than it was before, so I may have to start doing some neck strengthening exercises.

While sitting at IU house all day yesterday, we had a bit of excitement. I'll see if I can describe it accurately. Imagine the IU house compound is basically a large rectangle surrounded by a wall on all sides. On the 2 long sides of the rectangle, surrounding the perimeter, are the houses of the compound. Down the middle of the rectangle, going the long way, the compound is divided into 2 smaller rectangles by a hedge/fence. The fence has 2 gates in it, so we can walk back and forth between the 2 sections of the compound. Between the houses and the hedge is all cement -- driveways for accessing the various houses.

Well, it rained yesterday. (Shocking, I know). It was an absolute downpour for an hour or so. When it rains like this, water starts to collect in the driveways and pool there, as the driveways don't really run downhill and there's no drainage system. Essentially, IU house compound becomes a lake. This has happened a few times before, and not surprisingly it happened again yesterday. But, even after it stopped raining, there was still water pouring into the compound from somewhere. It turned out that the river just down the road had overflowed due to all the rain, and it was backing up into IU house. The water flowing through the gate(s) actually looked like a river, as it was gushing through and splashing all around. The water came all the way up onto the sidewalks and started coming into the houses. Shawn told us if it got worse we'd all have to start moving furniture. I took a bunch of pictures, as it was just unbelievable. It really looked like the houses had been moved into the middle of a river. Robert and Hao had their kids out playing in the water, which was SO cute, especially the baby who was wearing a shirt, teeny galoshes, and no pants. The water came up to his waist! Everyone was wading around, taking pictures. Hatari (one of the dogs) was playing the how fast can I run through the water and splash the other dogs game. Petite and Jack were not amused. It was quite the sight to see. Shawn said that it was the most water he's ever seen at IU house in his decade or so of living here.

I'm getting very excited about Masai Mara this weekend. I hope it will live up to the high expectations I have for it in my mind. The planning is turning out to be a nightmare, as it seems all planning for trips here does, but it will be worked out and we'll still have a great time.