41., 42., 42.1 April 25, 1968: Letters from Barbara to her folks, and a letter from Diane to Grandma and Grandpa Line
41. April 25, 1968
Dear Mom and Dad, (Line from Barb)
After my last letter you must think I’m really rattle-brained. I sure felt that way. Guess it was the speed with which things happened there for a while. Especially after feeling like things had dragged down almost to a halt. We are back home now. We came home last night in the middle of a pouring rainstorm. It lasted from the city limits of Mombasa to this morning around five Fortunately for us it had been raining only about two hours when we got to the last seven miles from Embu to home. We had put the chains on in Embu, or we never would have made it. As it was, we ended up stuck in the front yard! During our absence, they dug up the old electrical wiring and it made a nice trench right across the yard and carport, and when Frank turned in, he hit it at an angle and there we stayed! They had filled up the trench, but after that much rain, ti was nothing but gook. We unloaded only the necessary things and spread plastic over the car to keep it from leaking any more. In the process of unloading, I stepped in that trench and actually went in clear above my knee! You can see how soft it was!
It was not a very pleasant homecoming. We had no electricity and all the things I had left in the refrigerator (hoping that the mains would be on and they would freeze) spoiled. No one told us that you had to pay a deposit and sign a paper before they would turn on the power…
But today things look better. The man has come and turned on the twenty-four hour power! The fridge is cleaner than it has ever been, and we had toast for breakfast from the toaster, and ice in the water at meals! Vicki used the mixer to make the package cake Amy gave her for her birthday, and it was a perfect shape and delicious.
We spent this morning (Friday) previewing the films Frank will use next week for his science classes at the In-Service Institute. He had some on space that included White’s spacewalk and some on health, which is to be included in science. It was fun to see something new.
Diane goes back this coming Sunday, so we are trying to get her clothes ready. She’s not too anxious about going but thinks it will be okay I’m sure she would be more anxious to go if we had spent more time just being here rather than on a trip. It is easy to forget how quiet things get.
It rained cats and dogs again today. Yes, the long rains have begun! It isn’t too bad, but hard to get the clothes dry. I finally had to iron the nighties dry. Ellis ironed for me as it was too wet to work in the yard. That was very nice! He was real happy to use the electric iron. It was the first time he had used one. When it was time for him to go home, Frank made him a poncho out of a piece of plastic and that really tickled him. He rides his bike almost to Embu where his house is. Every time it started to rain he would say, “too much rain not good.” He sees the grass growing so tall it’s hard to mow!
While we were in Mombasa we decided to see if we could find out what was happening to our sea freight. We had a letter saying it had landed, but nothing else. It turned out that it had been put somewhere but no one knew where. Frank spent two hours hunting through warehouses and had a lot of people helping him. He finally found the crate stuck under a tarp in a warehouse yard in good shape. Someone had just forgotten that it was there. Now it is awaiting a truck to Nairobi. We hope to have word of it in, at most, two weeks. At least we know where it is! I’m glad we thought of hunting it down. No telling how long it would have sat there!
Mother’s Day is coming up soon and spud planting time. We have some pictures that are supposed to get to you by that time. I’m telling you because I haven’t gotten them back from the photo shop yet. He promised them for last week. Thought I’d let you know something was coming. They are for both of you, for Dad’s birthday too. I hope they are as pretty as the transparencies were.
That’s the news. Will you vote for Humphery if he decides to run? Newsweek has lots of good things to say about him and his following.
Lots of Love, Barb
42. April 30
Dear Mom and Dad, (Line from Barb)
Sunday I took Diane back to school. I sure wasn’t crazy about it, but guess it is the best thing. Frank and her talked it over Saturday night, and when they got through adding up the time she spends on each subject during the week, it comes out about one third of the time she would spend on each subject at home (in the U.S.). It seems almost like a waste of her time from that point alone for her to go back. However, this term she has been moved up to form 2B (from 2B parallel). We shall see if anything improves. She won’t have more time in class, but maybe they will move a little faster.
Mrs. Schmid (from Idaho, remember they were here that weekend we had twenty overnight) gave an organ concert in Nairobi on Sunday night, and we went to hear it. Schmids and us both stayed with Mr. Bevan. Mr. Schmid’s (Joe) dad was there too. He and his wife have been in Africa for about a month, but Mrs. stayed in Dar es Salam with Schmid’s little boys. Milt and Frank didn’t go down with us. Frank had to teach starting Monday (the institute) and Milt wanted to stay with him. I had decided to stay overnight. It’s so much easier than doing the trip in one day, and I wanted time to shop.
The concert was wonderful. She is a very good organist and has taken several honors with her playing. She has a college degree in music. She played all kinds of music, from loud and fugue type, to the church type, to the marches, and one especially pretty French song that was as “schmaltzy” and frilly as you could wish. I really enjoyed every piece!
The next morning early, Mrs. Schmid, her daughter, and the baby and Joe’s Dad left on the plane for Greece. Their tour is up and this is the first leg of their journey home. The rest of the family is coming along in about two weeks. Joe has to finish up his private plane pilot’s license. We took them out to the airport and saw them off. Made me a little wishful. It was the first time I had been to the airport since we arrived. I didn’t recognize a bit of it! I guess we were too dazed when we arrived for any of it to register.
We left here for Nairobi around 2 Sunday afternoon. About thirty miles down the road it began to rain, and it just poured all the rest of the way to Nairobi and all night. Sometimes it was so heavy you couldn’t see the road. And all the time there was a part of the sky on the eastern horizon where you could see blue sky and sunlight! Monday morning was bright and clear and we saw both Mt. Kenya and Mt. Kilimanjaro for a few minutes. That is unusual.
We shopped, took some things out to Diane, and left to come back home about 2 o’clock. The clouds were gathering and looking mighty black. We drove along the side of the storm a good share of the way, and finally ran right into it about thirty miles from home. I was really worried. I didn’t like the idea of coming up the hill in the rain. By the time we reached Embu, the road was dry and there was even a little sunshine! It hadn’t rained a drop here since we left. I was sure glad! This evening about 5 the rain finally cut loose, and now about three hours later it is still drizzling with lots of lightning and thunder to cheer Frank up. He likes a good electrical storm.
I made ice cream for supper tonight It turned out good! It is sure a pleasure to have that refrigerator going all the time. However, I don’t have as much sour milk to cook with now. I brought home fish, liver, and bacon, from Nairobi, so we will live high for a while. I think the nicest thing is having nice cold vegetables. There is nothing worse than a limp carrot or warm limp cabbage to make coleslaw from.
I’m going to commit a single sin and leave the back of this blank. I'm getting too sleepy to fill it up. We went back to lessons today. The kids are getting along okay. Milt is doing much better with his reading. Guess I didn’t tell you much about our Melindi trip. We didn’t do much but just soak up the sun. Felt a little guilty for it, seemed like we really hadn’t earned it! Love from us all, Barb
Dear Grandma and Grandpa, (Line from Diane)
Well here I am back at school. I’m in 2B now. There isn’t much difference between 2B and 2B Parallel, but 2B parallel is a little more fun.
I suppose Mom already told you that I got the top grade in the class. It was a 71. Sounds low doesn’t it, but here it’s a high grade. Everyone knocks things off your grade if you get a high grade. It’s the crazy system of grading that they use over here. Jesus Christ himself would get a C.
The school has a guava grove down by the hospital and the guavas are ripe. We go down there every afternoon. It’s fun and helps to spend the time. A guava is a little round fruit about the size of a plum. It has a hard outside skin and a lot of seeds inside. The seeds are surrounded by a pink stuff. You eat the seeds and the pink stuff, and some people even eat the skin. If you stopped to spit out the seeds, there wouldn’t be anything to eat. They are sort of good, but not extremely tasty.
It’s started raining again. I'm beginning to think that it never really stops in this country. I never seem to have my raincoat in the right place at the right time. Right now it’s locked in my locker and my keys are down in the dorm. You’d think I’d learn after a couple of soakings, but I don’t.
The piano is coming along pretty good. I have the festival piece almost ready. The festival is sometime at the end of this month, but I’m not sure of the exact day. It’s going to be held somewhere in Nairobi in a big concert hall. I’m beginning to wonder if I’ll get scared and chicken out at the last moment and flub the whole thing up.
I’m doing pretty well in most of my subjects. Somehow I manage to struggle through Latin. It’s the only subject I find hard and confusing. There is so much to learn and so many rules. I really get mixed up, but somehow I always manage to memorize the right thing.
I took table tennis for the activity this term. It’s lots of fun. None of my ordinary friends took it with me, but I wanted to get to know some other people and it worked! There are some new people that I can get to know better and another American that I already know. That makes it all the more fun.
WE have a new house mistress this term. She messed everything up in the dorm, and we spent half the night trying to do it her way. We’re in such a big mess now that I won’t be able to find my bed once I get out of it.
Well, time for the lights to go out, so I’ll have to sign off.
Love, Diane
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