My mom and I are off to visit my grandpa (her dad) and grandad (my Dad's dad) in Portland, Texas! I'm SO excited to be reunited with my precious grandpas! :)
Today, I am grateful for many things. The first being the smoothly paved roads of south Texas. I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but the roads in Kenya are terrible. Absolutely terrible. Almost all the roads in and around Kitale are unpaved and extremely eroded and the ones that are paved have massive craters covering every inch. I've heard car rides in Kenya described as a bull ride. In my opinion, this is a very accurate depiction of the the shaking, bumping, jerking and jolting that takes place. It's literally painful. Okay, so all of this to say that the highways to Portland had no pot holes nor speed bumps (yes highways in Kenya have speed bumps on them) and our journey south was pleasant, comfortable and unlike any car ride I've experienced in the last 5 months.
I should probably also mention that since we drive on the left side of the road in Kenya, I have panicked several times as I've tried to readjust to watching people drive on the right side.
Bathrooms. That's another thing our drive to Portland has made me thankful for. Neither time we stopped to use the bathroom did I have to supply my own toilet paper. Believe it or not, toilet paper is something you have to carry with you in Kenya if you're expecting to use it. It's not that they ran out or forgot to restock. It's just simply not part of the bathroom.
While I'm grateful for toilet paper, I am even more grateful for toilets! No more stinky holes in the ground- hooray! No more mud huts where I have to aim and balance myself while trying not to hit myself with my own urine or stand in anyone else's urine (or other waste) that is covering the ground around the hole. One of the funny joys of living in a country where plumbing isn't normal. And I've bet you guessed by now that where there is no plumbing there are no sinks. Yuck!
I can tell you this much- I'm so blessed to come from a developed country where nearly every place I go has a toilet complete with toilet paper and a sink!
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