Chocolate chip cookies and playground games

Well it's night two here in Ruiru and I am really enjoying it! I'm staying at the BTL and it's really nice! My room is completely self-contained, the food is pretty tasty, and the people are really friendly. Tonight I had dinner with 2 Parisian horticulturalists and 3 BTL managers from Nairobi. Surprisingly enough, one of the BTL women at the table is a HUGE basketball fan and was incredibly happy when she found out I went to UNC. She was pretty excited to here that my dad played approximately 5 minutes of pick-up with the great Michael Jordan before getting "too tired" from playing for 3 hours already. (I still won't let you live that down, Dad ;) ) She was also pretty excited when I told her that I actually ran into Danny Green and saw Tyler Hansbrough from time to time around campus. Charles, one of the BTL managers, challenged the two Frenchmen and me to a game of volleyball to determine which country is superior at athletics. We will see… Today was a bit different than I think the next 2 days will go. Pastor Peter and Ann were busy with a funeral so I spent the morning at the school before heading to their house for most of the afternoon. While at the school, I played with about 50 kids or so during their recess. I think they were fascinated with my paleness because I was definitely stared at the moment I got there (same as yesterday, actually). Anyway, I taught them how to play sharks and minnows, which was a huge hit. Four corners and Simon says were not quite as successful, though. I'll have to dig in to the depths of my childhood memories to remember games I used to play in elementary school! When they promptly scurried back to their classes, I was assigned the task of coloring! If you know me at all, you should know that I was REALLY excited. I am a college student, but I proudly sport colored pens of varying sizes and have markers and every color of the rainbow. I am not ashamed of this fact. Anyway, my job is to color posters of shapes, numbers, fruit, utensils, etc for classroom walls. I actually got about 6 posters done. Peter hailed me as an artist before saying that my fork looked like a tree, which leads me to how wonderful Peter and his wife, Ann, are. They are truly the most hospitable people I've met in Kenya so far. They fed me 3 times today! I'm sad to say that the stomach issues may possibly be resurfacing, but it's rude to not finish your plate as a guest. Anyway, Peter is incredibly sarcastic, so we get along great. We joked about things as random as the superiority of waffles to pancakes. And Ann is so sweet; she's like a grandmother. It's also really fun to talk to them about American foods. They had never heard of chocolate chip cookies! Since Peter knows that I love to cook, he's made me promise to make him some this week. Definitely a win-win-win situation (pardon The Office quote). I'm really excited to get to know them better this week, as they are such a nice couple!  Also I think this might be an easier way to keep up with pictures: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2013016&id=1403340039&l=a1bedabb99 It's the link to my Facebook album. Enjoy! love,  emily Romans 8:28