last week in the hangar and Kenyan infusion

This is my last week working in the hangar. Wow, my trip has gone so fast. I knew it would. But it is still hard to believe. On Monday, most of the staff found out that this is my last week. The chai schedule for Friday reads: kwaheri for Liz Vande Walle. (for those of you who don't know swahili, that means goodbye) Upon reading that, several of the Kenyans I work with in the hangar dedicated a song to me with a chorus that says something along the lines of "I wish there was some way I could convince you to stay another day."

Tuesday, Beth treated several of us to pizza inn. Tuesday is buy one get one free, and we went last week with Grace buying. I felt very honored to go with them, for pizza is not cheap for them. When Beth ordered pizzas, she got the biggest size possible. I have been sharing the calories of cinnamon rolls with them the past few weeks, so she wanted a little payback. As we were leaving, Linda, the other missionary, leaned over to me and said, "I hope you realize how loved you are." Its true. These people love me so much. I really don't deserve it.

Yesterday I got to go on a flight. Unfortunately the plane has the controls removed from the right side so I did not actually get to fly, but I still got off the ground. It was only a 45 minute flight, but it was an incredible breath of fresh air. I walked through the hangar right after chai with 4 bars on my shoulders, head held high. Several Kenyans saluted me, and others were just proud to call me captain. Again, I felt very loved by these people.

As much as they hate it, most of them have accepted the fact that I am leaving. But the only way they are ok with it is that they are convinced I am coming back. They tell me to come back as a pilot, which is my main plan! I dont want to be a mechanic the rest of my life... Even the missionaries are trying to figure out how long it will take me to come back. I am leaving it to the Lord's leading, but I get the feeling that it may be back here.

The hangar has been super busy this week. All three caravans were in, about 4 206s, the 210, and the DC-3 were down for maintenance. I would say they were all in the hangar, but they didn't all fit. The DC-3 takes half the hangar, and the caravans took most of the rest of the space. So I worked outside a bit this week, which was nice. Sunshine is always a little bit of a bonus.

on the non-work side of things...

Kate (roommate) and I have had an awesome week. On Saturday, we walked to Nakumatt, the Kenyan version of Walmart. After grocery shopping and picking out paint for the dining room, we hit up the mosaii market for some fun African stuff. Over the weekend we got the dining room and the living room painted, and it looks awesome. We have had a lot of fun cooking and enjoying our house this week. I am really going to miss her when I leave.

Ok, should PROBABLY go back to work now... A week and a half till I head home. I say goodbye to everyone at the hangar tomorrow, but I will say goodbye to the AIM AIR people next week on Thursday. Saturday through Wednesday I will be in Mombasa (read: beach!!!) Then Easter weekend, then back to the states. I can't believe its over already, but I am looking forward to coming back someday.