A visit to Sascha's adopted elephant orphan Sonje

Today was the big day: we went to visit Sascha's adopted baby elephant, Sonje. We adopted her in September by donating $50 to the David Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage. You get to choose one elephant and the perk is that you get to come and visit it (and the others) when they come in from the park to sleep in their pens in the evening. For Sascha, Sonje is her elephant and she has been looking forward to meeting here for months. When we got there today, she told me she had butterflies in her stomach because she was so excited to see Sonje.

And, indeed, it was a special experience! We got to spend some time with Sonje and her keeper (who is with her literally 24/7 - they sleep in bunks in the pen. When I asked if he loved his job, he got glassy eyes and said very, very much. How many Kenyans can say that?) Sonje is just over two years old. She will be in the orphanage for another 1-2 years before she is brought to a park where it will take another 5-10 years to get her comfortable with an elephant herd there so she can survive on her own in the wild. This orphanage is amazing and necessary. I receive regular emails from them with stories of rescues, etc. and it is clear that alot of helpless baby elephants would die if the place didn't exist. Sadly, there is much poaching still going on in Africa, even despite the national parks.

Here they come, running to get their bottles of milk.

Sascha and Sonje bonding

Sonje and her keeper

and then Sonje got a bit too comfortable......

Visiting some of the younger orphans. They get chilled at night so they need blankets. Otherwise they can get pneumonia.

The youngest baby - only 1 month old. He was so tired after the day in the park that he went to sleep right away.

Max the genetically blind black rhino. They actually operated on his eyes which didn't help. He will have to live his life in the orphanage (around 35 years).

An update on life in Nairobi

Here are a few pictures that I took in October/November. Our life here has settled into a pleasant routine. Sascha's school goes until 3pm and afternoons are for playdates or activities like swimming lessons, riding lessons and just hanging out at home. I go into the center of Nairobi twice a week for Kiswahili lessons, a total of 4 hours a week. Otherwise work for Goethe from home, spend a good deal of time with German School Board necessities (since I was voted onto the Board a while back) but also enjoy life here. :)

Downtown Nairobi has a very pompous side to it, particularly the government buildings.

And has a few tall buildings, thought they are rare.

Sascha practicing recorder in the garden.

Playing with Mimi, our tortoise, in a Kenyan Kanga material dress.

Knight, our household help, who is a Godsend and who I will miss very much when we have to leave next summer.

Sascha with her friend Lieselotte in the treehaus in the garden. This was before Sascha's encounter with a large male monkey in the house. She is not as happy out there on her own anymore since then.

An amazing flower bouquet I bought. I still don't know exactly what they are. But, the leaves thin out to a long thin stem that winds itself within minutes around anything it touches. Very cool!

Eating out on the patio, before the rainy season started.

Big News! Sascha lost her first tooth (in October). A second is wiggling also.

The personel from Clanson Court exchanging gossip. I bet it's good!

Sascha with the neighborhood clan: Rafik, Kendwa, Naima and Isadora (last two missing from the picture)

Sascha is starting to look good on the horse.

November

November was a busy month for us here in Nairobi. Not only did we finally buy a 'new' old car, but all of us were traveling at different times. At school there was a St. Martins celebration with a bonfire and an appearance of St. Martin on his horse. I had some Goethe business in Munich plus some down time in Berlin afterwards. Gerard and Sascha met me in Berlin for a few days although Gerard was only en-route to New York for some important meetings. Being in Germany for 10 days was actually a nice break, especially in the pre-Christmas season. The commercialism was a bit overwhelming, but it was wonderful to see some first-class theater performances and to see old friends.

Our 'new' car, a 1999 4wd diesel Mitzubishi Pajera

The Summerfest at school, which was postponed from September for obvious reasons.

Sascha with her friend Lieselotte and Lisa at the St. Martins Fest with their lanterns.

If you look closely you can spot St. Martin on his horse riding by......

Sascha and Maria holding their Breadmen

My Program Curator colleagues from North America at a seminar in Munich. Of course, a few Hefeweizens were an important part of the training....

City Hall in Munich

Out friend Reinhold with Gerard in Berlin. A former MIT postdoc, he now has a research job in Rostock with the Frauenhofer Institute

A cold, damp morning walk in Zehlendorf, Berlin with our friend Helga and her daughter Johanna.

What would a walk in Berlin be without a stop at a museum, here the 'Haus am Waldsee'

At the Swedish Weihnachtsmarkt in Kulturbrauerei, Prenzlauerberg, Berlin.

An ice skating outing with our friend Nils' Kindergruppe (preschool class) and Sascha made a new friend

Sascha and Johanna in the U-Bahn

Dornroeschen (Sleeping Beauty) performed with puppets in Prenzlauerberg with the slight variation that the awakened princess decides to marry her real love, the cook.

Alexander Platz is once again a huge construction site. They are reconstructing the original castle (Der Schloss) that was damaged in WW2 and blown up by the DDR to obliterate any reference to past history.

A ride down Unter den Linden with the Double Decker Bus #100 was a must!

At the Holocaust Memorial.

An afternoon with our friend Isa in a cafe reading books and chatting.