Family reunion excitement

In two weeks time, my American mother, brother, Japanese mom and Japanese dad will be in Kenya. I am beyond excited. I am from a very close-knit family of four and also remain close to the Japanese family I lived with on numerous occassions between the age of 15 and 27. My mother has been to Kenya once before, whereas my brother and host parents have never been to Africa, let alone Kenya. My host mother is particularly excited about the trip. When I asked her months ago what was on her Bucket List, she confessed that she has always wanted to visit Africa and see the Great Migration (one of the world's so-called 7 wonders). Needless to say, I am thrilled to be able to facilitate the realization of that dream...

My brother and host parents will be in Kenya for a week, while Mom will be in town for two. We'll be going on on a 3-day safari in the famous Masai Mara national park staying in one of those fancy tented camps. I am going to also try to fit in a visit to the Bomas of Kenya, the Kazuri Bead Factory, the Animal Orphanage in Karen, Luo dancing at Ronalo's, custom made dresses for my host mom, American mother and I, a visit to either Aromatics Spa or Wild Earth, as well as Open Hand's Orphanage. Got more ideas for me? Send 'em my way! This reunion needs to be the best ever! :) 

Internet frenzy in Addis Ababa

Am on a work trip in Ethiopia at one of my favorite hotels - The Jupiter - going absolutely NUTS with pleasure because of my soft bed with fluffy pillows and because of the unlimited, high-speed INTERNET!

Let me explain why this brings me so much blissful happiness :p 

INTERNETTTTT

In my home country, high-speed internet is a given. Everybody has access to it, be it at home, at the local Starbucks, at school, etc. In Africa we consider it more of a luxury, especially UNLIMITED internet. In the States, access to high-speed unlimited wireless demands only the purchase of a coffee or a visit to the school library. At our homes, we pay one of the countless internet companies a monthy fee of about $39 bucks for unlimited, FAST internet (or maybe it's a lot cheaper these days...It's been a while since I've lived outside of Asia or Africa...<blush>). Here in Africa, we pay by the bundle. I didn't know what that meant when I first moved here, so let me explain to those readers in a similar boat. Here, the more you surf and download, the more you pay. Internet, like talk time is generally PRE-PAID as opposed to POST-PAID. This is nice because you only end up spending what you've actually budgeted for, but it also means that once you've used your allotment, you have to either accept that you're cut off from the world, OR you have to muster up the energy to visit the local store or street kiosk to purchase more internet/talk time. So downloading, unless it's really necessary, is avoided. We don't video chat unless we're at an internet cafe because video chatting (as opposed to voice chatting) eats up more of your bundle meaning you use more money. This kind of LIMITED internet life-style explains why every time  I return to the States, I spend countless, sleepless nights grinning insanely at Mom's computer screen as I download for hours just because I CAN and video chat with everybody under the sun. And then there's TED videos and YouTube videos...I turn into a complete computer geek when I go home and it's hard to even convince myself to leave the house. Dad gets so annoyed with me for never leaving the computer desk, but if somebody's denied internet freedom for months on end, it's understandable for her to go a little overboard (and, OK, I admit, a little nutso) when provided access to it again,... right? :p