February 1984

Dear friends and relatives,

As can be seen by the date, our 1983 Christmas newsletter is a bit late.  Well, happy Valentine's Day to you all.

This past year has been another good one for us, filled with adventures and gratifying experiences.  We are still in Africa, we are still working at ISK, and we are about to sign on for another 2 year tour, so those of you who have not taken the opportunity to visit -- well, there's still time.

Speaking of visitors, a year ago Ken's parents finally made the journey to Kenya after many years of coaxing and cajoling.  They were not disappointed as we took them on a month long safari all over the country, from the cold mountain scenery of the Aberdares, to the arid desert plains of the Northern Frontier District, to the tropical beaches of the Indian Ocean.  We all had such an exhilarating experience that they will be returning for another month this March!

Last April, we embarked on our most ambitious adventure yet -- a safari to the great Jade Sea (Lake Turkana), far in the north of Kenya.  To get there we assembled a caravan of 3 vehicles:  a Suzuki jeep, a Toyota Landcruiser, and our VW camper.  Together we traversed some of the most beautiful and forbidding terrain on earth, from the Colorado-like, fir covered Cherangany Hills, to the empty wastelands of the Great Rift Valley.  The road was as varied as the scenery, sometimes paved, other times consisting of neglected murram as corrugated as a washboard.  When we finally reached our destination, after 2 days of hard driving, we encountered the beautiful unspoiled lake and SAND -- endless oceans of soft, white, sink-up-to-your-wheel rims SAND.  And we got stuck!  Out of nowhere came the natives.  Hordes of gawking Turkana children, gaggles of old men with walking sticks and bones in their ears, scores of giggling, bare-breasted women -- all of them to watch the strange "wazungu" (whites) stuck in the sand, and to offer advice in a language that, needless to say, was totally incomprehensible to us.

Well, we made it, thanks to the Suzuki which pulled us out and onto a better path that was strewn with palm fronds.  When we reached the palms, we gunned the VW and kept the accelerator pressed to the floor until we arrived at the lake's shore and a more substantial surface.  Great fun -- especially since the temperature was only about 110 in the shade!

Space does not permit us to detail all the wonders we saw there, but suffice it to say that we encountered an entirely new world, peopled by a race of hardy nomads, eking out an existence in the most primitive, desolate, God-forsaken, desiccated piece of land one could imagine.  We feel privileged to have experienced such a thing -- before the McDonald's and condos are built overlooking the lake.

Ah, summertime.  One of the great benefits of teaching is the length of the summer break -- a time to get away, an opportunity to renew the old grey cells.  Last summer was no exception for us, but instead of attending school in Greece, we went to Mallorca for a program of study and relaxation -- with an emphasis on the latter.  We spent 6 glorious weeks on that Mediterranean island of contrasts and another week in mainland Spain, driving from Madrid to Toledo, Avila, and Segovia.  Mallorca certainly was a worthwhile experience.  We met many new friends, picked up 9 credits of education, and had ample time to tour the entire island.  The highlight of our stay was a weekend sail to Ibiza, another island in the Balearics.  We chartered a 48 ft. yacht, captained by an extremely competent and likeable Briton who treated us to a wonderful voyage.  At sea, we relaxed in the cockpit, listened to classical music over the stereo, and drank good Spanish wine with our sausages and cheese.  At night we gazed at the stars in the perfectly clear, unpolluted skies, then turned in to be awakened the next morning by the sound of the anchor chain being lowered in the harbor.  A tour on foot of the winding roads of Ibiza town, a gourmet lunch at a café, a sail to a secluded bay for swimming and snorkeling -- all these for a third of what it would have cost in the U.S.

Returning to Kenya in August, we made 2 changes in our situation.  We purchased a Suzuki jeep (the trip to Turkana convinced us!) to give us more scope to our adventuring, and we moved into a modern, 4 bedroom, rather luxurious house on 1/2 acre of landscaped gardens.  We then purchased an entire household of handcrafted Meru oak furnishings and appliances to meet our basic needs and hired a staff of three to take care of the place:  a houseman-cook, who is simply marvelous and keeps us in better shape than we could ourselves; a gardener, who grows us fresh veggies as well as maintaining the extensive shrubs and flowers that are planted all about; and a night watchman, to open our gate and give us a false sense of security!  So now we lead a life of comfort and decadence (?) usually reserved for the rich in America.  And we like it!!  Oh, what a shock to have to give it all up someday!

This past Christmas, we had our usual month off from school and took advantage of it to meet our great friends, the Graf's, for a skiing vacation in Utah.  We rented a condo on the slopes of Park City, skiing right out the door to the first lift, and spent a marvelous week with 45-50 degree temperatures and sunny, clear days.  After a hard day of gliding on the well groomed slopes, we would dash over to the Hot Tub Club for a leisurely soak while drinking wine and listening to music.  Then out to dinner and return for a relaxing evening of watching the fire burn in the fireplace.  Leaving Utah, we stopped in Vail, Colorado, to see Ken's brother who was spending a month there skiing (!), and then finished off our journey with a trip to Florida to relax with Ken's parents.  Almost forgot to mention that we began the trip with a week in New Jersey with Sharon's father, where we froze our tails off and which reminded us why we left NJ in the first place!

And that's the way it's been, folks.  We remain very contented, much in love with each other and life, and ready for another year of work, fun and adventure.  We intend to visit the U.S. again this summer and laze about in New Jersey from June to August. We are also thinking about a possible  trip to India next Christmas (?) and have quite a few other adventures lined up in subsequent years.

We miss you all and thank you for keeping in touch.  And we still like visitors so y'all come see us now, hear?