9. September 3, 1967

 Sunday Sept. 3

Dear Mom and Dad,

    Got your letter written August 27 today. We figure it was probably here Friday, but the mailman didn't make it for some reason yesterday. It takes about a week from you to us. This is letter no. three to you. I am hoping you have been getting the ones we write, as we give them to the clerk at the school office here and he gives them to the mailman. I imagine once school starts--next Tuesday--that things will settle to a little more business-like routine! I guess it is pretty certain that I will be hired - for money - to teach half-time Domestic Science. It will not start immediately as this next two weeks is spent by the students in getting ready to go out practice teaching, and then three weeks out practicing, and then they come back for more classes. I haven't been told much yet except that the principal thinks it's a wonderful idea to have me teach Domestic Science. They haven't had it for about four years. The principal is quite westernized. He spent five years in Northern New Hampshire and New York State studying and also trained as a baker. He drives a Volkswagen, speaks excellent English, is an Episcopalian (low, not high, he says) and just got married the Saturday we got to Nairobi. We haven't met his wife yet, she's a bit shy, I guess. We still haven't moved to the big house. The lady that lives there is in Mombassa sick with malaria, so guess it will be another week. So we have shuffled the boxes around and arranged things more comfortably, got out a few more things and are prepared to wait.

    Yesterday I drove the bus for the first time. I guess I haven't told you about getting it yet! Last Tuesday Frank left at 6 am to go to Nairobi in the school Land Rover with a bunch of other people to make final arrangements about our car and get the sea freight hauled out. He finally got home Wednesday evening with a Commer bus, much like our Volkswagen bus, and a refrigerator! I was real tickled with both!

    Wednesday afternoon a big truck had brought our three boxes of sea freight. It took fifteen men to lift one of them, the other one they just rolled because it was too heavy to lift. The third one was a small one! I was glad we hadn't left it all in one box as we tried to do originally. They have a good time kidding about all that stuff, but I was sure glad to see it! We unpacked it from the big boxes, but not out of the little boxes until we get to the other house. Anyway in the mail Wednesday was a notice that our last box of sea freight is in Nairobi, the one that left home when we did. It traveled pretty fast! We didn't have anything damaged, and I guess some of the group weren't that lucky. At least one family lost almost all of their freight as the crate got smashed. Anyway we got out the Yahtzee game to play, and there on the score pad was your game, Dad, it was a welcome sight!

    You mentioned the climate at Nairobi--we are perhaps 2000 feet higher here, but its supposed to be good here too, too high for malaria mosquitoes, fairly low humidity and enough rainfall to keep things green, cool nights, warm days, and even a bit of frost in July which is supposed to be the coldest month. The hot dry season is just beginning. So far the nights are chilly and the days hot unless its cloudy and then its pretty cool. I'm afraid I'll wish I'd brought a lot more warm clothes.

    Had a letter from Bill, he was pleased about the TV program. Glad to hear the grain is done, hope the hay is almost done too. We'll write Rich's friend's friend...that maybe a way to see the Congo. We heard about Idaho's forest fires on a short wave program from Washington, D.C. The radio is such a pleasure, thanks again for your part in it!

    The bus had right hand drive which makes it easier to drive on the left hand side of the road. The passenger in the front is the one who had the hardest time adjusting! Tell all hello from us all...Barb.

Sept. 3

Dear Grandmother,

    This is our third Sunday in Africa and our second in our new house at St. Mark's College. School here starts next Tuesday, so up to now we've just been looking around and trying to get settled. We spent the first five days in Nairobi while the Ministry of Education held some meetings to welcome us and tell the men a bit about the coming two years. They also took us on a tour of the national Park near Nairobi where we saw lions, giraffes, zebras, several kinds of antelope and wart hogs. The  animals don't seem to be afraid of the cars at all. You must not get out of the car and they really enforce that rule! The lions were eating a zebra they had killed and didn't hardly look at us even though the bus drove up very close. The land in that area is much like the sagebrush hills near Caldwell, rather rolling but with tall grass and thorn trees instead of sagebrush.

    On Tuesday, August 22, a Land Rover from St. Mark's came to Nairobi and took us and our 28 boxes and suitcases to our new house. It took a good share of the day to travel the 90 miles and it's uphill most of the way. The road is paved but mighty narrow and rough.

    Embu is a fair sized town but looks rather like the old western towns you see in the movies. Most of it is crowded along the highway on a rather steep hill. The two banks and a filling station are modern nice buildings and the rest are rather ramshackle wooden buildings. 

    Our house sits on the side of a hill a little way from the top and has a wonderful view south down the hills to the plain, probably thirty miles away. It is really a sight and you can see little houses and small fields all over the near hills. There seem to be people living everywhere. Most of them walk, a few ride bikes, and a very few more have cars.

    The college itself is fairly big with probably twelve or more classroom buildings and dormitories, and probably twenty other buildings for living quarters for teachers and the help. There are some twenty acres of farm land where they raise a good deal of their food and the school also has a dairy herd, so we can get fresh milk for forty cents a pint (six cents U.S.). Lots of things are cheap, like fresh pineapple, four for a shilling (14 cents U.S.), but paper napkins cost more than flour! There is a big supermarket in Nairobi where we will buy most of our groceries, they are a bit cheaper!

    Frank finally got a car last week. He had to spend two days in Nairobi getting through all the forms, etc. It is a Commer bus which is like our Volkswagen Bus. I drove it for the first time yesterday. The steering wheel is on the right side of the car and you must drive on the right side of the road. It is not as difficult as I thought it might be, but I haven't been in real traffic yet!

    I didn't tell you about the house! It is concrete block and concrete floors with lots of windows, a living-dining room with a fireplace, and furnished with table and chairs, desk, book case, couch and two chairs, china closet, and coffee table. The kitchen has lots of cupboards and a gas stove. There are three bedrooms with nice closets and a chest of drawers in each. A single bed for each of the kids and double one for us. Then there is a tub room and a toilet room -- that's English style bathroom! There is a little stove outside the house where you build a fire to heat the water, and it gets hot fast. Our water is treated so we don't have to boil it ,and so far we have all stayed well. 

    The weather has been nice too, the hot dry season is supposed to be setting in. We've had two days of showers and the rest sunny. The sun comes up about 6:30 am and sets about 6:30 pm. Then the electricity comes on and about 11 pm it goes off (generated by a diesel generator at the school). They say we will have electricity all the time come January. So till then I iron in the evening.

    The kids seem to like it here. I think it will be better once school starts and we have a routine to follow. Later I may be teaching some Home Ec. Hope this is not too hard to read, I feel like I really need to fill the page full!

        Love from all of us, Barb.