home sweet home

After nearly 34 hours of travel, Eleanor, Kean (my brother) and I arrived safely in Boston. It was a remarkably easy series of flights and thanks to the playrooms in both the Nairobi and Amsterdam airports I had a relatively happy child the whole way.

We are now in Western MA, in the Berkshires. I am reminded of why I love New England, especially in the fall. The leaves have shed their uniform green and are displaying the full spectrum of colors that make them who they are. The weather is remarkably warm, and there is no shortage of rocks, plants, seed pods, and blades of grass to entertain Eleanor's imagination. We are staying in a lovely old home with dear friends from college, taking long walks and bike rides, and drinking wine in front of the fire. Today's mission: buy 200 apples for welcome bags. Look out local apple orchards!

If it weren't for Tim's absence, it would be pretty much perfect. 
-kjd

lies, damn lies, and statistics

What does it take to run a research project in the Simanjiro district in Tanzania? Let's see.

To date, 9.5 months in:
$23,000 spent on project-related expenses
10,000+ photos taken
1000+ meals, purchased and prepared
450 bottles of soda purchased and distributed
126 ground-truth points recorded
112 surveys completed, 144 outstanding
20 trips, 67 nights and 87 days spent in the field
58 group interviews
13 meetings with professionals
11 employees, plus a few other one-time hires for camp projects, etc.
5 Maasai ceremonies attended
1 man

Who is this man, you ask. Is he a superhero? Seems like he would have to be, doesn't it. Perhaps. Even if only in his own mind and ours.
-kjd

dads and daughters

Sometimes they are going to be on the same page; their experiences aligned. Sometimes, they are not. But of one thing I am certain- they will always love each other. After all, dad's are awesome.

Case in point:
-kjd

family dinners

Eleanor likes communal eating. Well, perhaps a more realistic statement is that Eleanor likes eating what you're eating- not what mom has spent 30 minutes preparing for her to eat. The staff cook, Yuda, has even taken to preparing a little extra food for her, so that she and Asina can sit and eat lunch with them. This weekend we returned from shopping to find a little to-go container of rice and beans at the bottom of the stairs; for Eleanor, from Yuda.

In an effort to save time, because Tim and I ended up eating so late in the evenings (it wasn't until I had put Eleanor to sleep that I was able to start on dinner, which generally meant we ended up eating sometime between 8 and 9 pm), and because Eleanor seems to prefer dining with friends, I decided it was time to institute family dinners.

Although I haven't managed to pull it together every night of the week (surely that's going to take some practice, right?), the times that I have managed to put a hot meal on the table that's both delicious (for us parents anyway) and kid-friendly have been a relative success- which is to say that even if she doesn't devour the food, Eleanor sits happily at the table long enough for us all to enjoy the dining experience.
-kjd 

On the menu last night: roasted cherry tomato,bell pepper, and leek quiche.

Oh, the anticipation.

First bites.

fort and beans

Our life here often requires adaptability (as I've written about) and creativity (which feels so much like adaptability lately). Without playgrounds, malls, community centers, parks, walking trails, bike trails, or countless other "things" we might find to amuse ourselves on a lazy Saturday afternoon we are often forced to improvise.

Last weekend, tired to visiting the same two (small) playgrounds and having finished all the groery shopping we needed to do (which least gets us out of the house), dad (aka. Tim) came up with two new ideas: fort building and bean tossing.

Both turned out to be great fun.
-kjd
 

beginning construction.

stretching the sheet.

helping.

supervising.

completion.

inside.

sorting and pouring.

tossing and running.

dads are awesome.