Happy New Year!

Yesterday, I got some amazing noodles at Canton Snacks. (They open as early as 8am in the morning so you can eat noodles all day!)

Today I hit up Two Rivers Mall for their Lunar New Year event. It was delightfully cheesy and reminded me a lot of the cultural festivals in the Midwestern United States! They had stations for learning calligraphy, learning chopsticks, trying on historical costumes, etc. Everyone looked like they had a great time.

At the Chinese knot station, I had trouble assembling the knots and a friendly Kenyan helped me out. I was really impressed ’cause he spoke amazing Chinese!

I didn’t expect Nairobi to host any kind of Lunar New Year events so this was a charming surprise my first weekend back in Kenya.

I went on a discovery flight. It was neat sitting in the pilot seat.

Way less tense than flight simulation.

Michael Kremer, friend and ex-manager of our CEO, won the Nobel in Economics last week.

He was a big early supporter of our org and helped start a number of different non-profits in Kenya.

Check him out on NPR:

https://www.npr.org/2019/10/15/770455768/of-diet-coke-and-nobel-prizes

Harry, Brian, and I just finished our trip to the Great Barrier Reef. We went on a fantastic liveaboard with Mike Ball Expeditions.

While Harry wrote a wonderful post (with amazing underwater photography by Laurence), I captured the moments through doodles.

For the dives, the entry to the ocean was jumping from a rather high deck. It was quite alarming at first.

I also had trouble with buoyancy control and nearly fell on a potato cod.

Over time, my dives went a lot smoother. I saw lots of marine life and even caught a glimpse of the last of the minke whale migration!

Towards the end of the liveaboard I did my first ever night dive. It was very surreal using a flashlight to uncover animals in the dark.

I’d highly recommend Mike Ball Expeditions if you’re considering diving in the GBR. Since I was newer to diving than Harry or Brian, a dive instructor generously accompanied me on almost every dive. Everyone was super friendly and helpful and I definitely improved my diving skills.

Brian recorded a lot of underwater videos. I’ll link to them when he uploads them.

We go to Clarice for dinner pretty often.

There are always a ton of lizards on the ceiling.

They’re totally gossiping about us.

Kike (“KEE-kay”, Swahili) likes to lounge in the sunny spots of our yard.

Recently I learned she can hop the fence.

Now I imagine her off to all sorts of adventures in the neighborhood.

A couple of months ago, I visited Karura Forest.

The air was refreshingly eucalyptic.

All cities should have urban forests!

Vinay, Eric, and I went to the Mara last weekend. We got up close to lots of animals. No epic Mara River crossing though, ’cause we’re a little early in the season.

I’m channeling Sir Rice in these doodles.