Patrick & Katie in Kenya: Morogoro

We arrived in Morogoro at 11:30pm and had a quick/late dinner. The place was amazing and like a resort, when we pulled up all we wanted to do was pass out in beds and recover from the many hours on the bus. After dinner they showed everyone their rooms, but then told Pat and me that we were staying in a house "over there". We didn't know what that meant, but we knew it wasn't where everyone else was staying. Well, some of the pre-novices from Sri Lanka ended up showing us the way to our rooms. We ended up walking outside of the gated community on a dirt path (which was starting to scare us a little) and proceeded for about 2 blocks length. We showed up at this tiny house completely separate from the center, we were staying in the community outside. There were two rooms with nothing but these shanty twin beds (my bed actually broke when I sat on it the day we were leaving, thank goodness!), sinks, and lots of bugs. That night we saw the biggest cockroach both of us had ever seen before. But again, this all ended up being part of this amazing experience and eventually we were able to appreciate it for what it was.

We stayed in Morogoro for two nights and got to see the town center and market, which was so much fun! The last day we were there happened to be my birthday as well. Pat got me in the morning and gave me some cards/gifts from my family back home and we had a mini birthday celebration. But one thing we talked about was that this would be the first year I didn't eat crepes on my birthday. Every year, as tradition goes, my family makes crepes for whoever's birthday it is. Pat apologized that I wasn't able to have this on my birthday but promised it would be the only birthday I didn't eat crepes. Well, when we showed up to the breakfast hall I found on the serving table crepes! Pat, nor myself, said anything about this tradition OR that it was my birthday. It was a birthday miracle!

The local market in Morogoro.