An UPDATE!

Hello All!
I am alive! It's been ages since i've been able to update. My netbook went dead and at this stage I have no way to charge it... so probably for a while you'll just have to deal with word of mouth updates since I probably won't see the internet for several more weeks.

This is officially week 3 "shadowing week" so I traveled with a current volunteer and another trainee to the Coast so i can see her life for a week. It's especially exciting to be away from training for a week and just hang out with Volunteers and see what life will ACTUALLY be like once training is finally over. At this point, I feel like we've put a pretty big dent in it.

We got our assignments last week and i'll be in a small town in west Kenya close to Busia, there are several other Volunteers posted there so.... that's that.

Training is pretty ho hum at this point, we do a few hours of language in the morning and then do technical training in the afternoon. Lunch is always my favorite part of the day because I can order whatever I want and eat however much of it I want :-)

Food Here:
Ugali- Unlike anything i've ever had, I personally dislike it and so does everyone I know.
Samosa- A good reason to come to Kenya, it's basically a pastry situation with meat inside it.
Chipati- They're basically giant Tortillas and although they don't sound that great, they're to die for.
Lollipops- At this point, if Coffee is the major export, I'm convinced lollipops are the major import. They are EVERYWHERE

Anyway, I'm keeping this short since i'm using someone else's laptop and internet but just wanted to post and let everyone know that I am doing well. My Mom gets pretty frequent updates so if you have a serious desire to know what i'm up to or if you want to send anything and don't know what, i'm sure she'd be more than willing to fill you in... cuz she's awesome!!

Love to all! Eat some cheese for me, it's nonexistent here!

oh yea p.s.

As of right now, this blog is the best way to keep track of and get in touch with me EXCEPT of course sending letters!!!!!  Also, my ADDRESS CHANGED so please make a note of it from now on, sorry for all who had beautiful pre-printed address labels:

Cindy Weaver/PCT
PO Box 698-00621
Village Market
Nairobi, Kenya

Sorry for the change, Caribou Kenya!

Day 3... I think

Hello All!
Hope everyone is well. Im finally starting to adjust to the time difference here.  Today we had a fun filled day of paperwork and training, so as opposed to yesterday's physical exhaustion today I'm mentally exhausted. No complaints though, the people here are great, the trainees and the trainers. Tomorrow we will be leaving Nairobi for our training sites. Mine will be in Machakos, and the other non deaf-ed volunteers will be in Loitokitok. Luckily we get to meet up at some point in training because splitting up from them is a completely depressing. Scott, if you're reading this, there is a guy here who is basically an older more hyper version of you here that i'll be going to training with which is nice, keeps things upbeat. Everything is going well and i'm excited to get to Machakos and meet my host family and be able to settle in.
Love to all!

Shorty short

 Hello All!

Quick update. Both flights went well, they were both very very long. The plan was to sleep on the first flight and stay awake for the second to trick my jet lag. It didn't work, I slept 20 minutes on flight one and about 2 hours on flight 2. It's midnight here and 5:00 in MD, so i'm exhausted and just wanted to let everyone know that I arrived safely and will be sleeping under a super luxurious mosquito net tonight. Sqeaks is doing well also!
All my love from Kenya!!

Day one.

Hello All,
I made it to staging in Philly just fine, found another Trainee to go to staging with and we got here mad early so we had plenty of time to get to know each other. We went downstairs to head for lunch and found about 15 other PC people. Everyone here is really great, I've made loads of new friends and already shared lots of laughs.

The actual staging itself wasn't so bad, but it was exhausting, it's draining to spend the morning in airports and then soak up information all day, but we did it, and most of us did it with smiles on our faces. Lots of team building and get to know you activities, but they were fun because I introduced myself to pretty much everyone before staging even started :-)

Anyway, all is well here... i'm exhausted and need to get some rest before our early and very very very long day tomorrow.
Thanks for reading! It might be a long while before I can post something again, but i'll do my best!

Snow pants in October

Well, less than 12 hours until I board my first flight towards the "hardest job i'll ever love." I'm surprisingly calm and haven't cried hardly at all which is shocking to me and pretty much everyone that knows me. It does feel good to be ready finally. I made 1 million trips to the surrounding bargain stores, several of the associates know me by name... or not but they know i'm the girl going to Kenya. I finished packing up my bedroom today, it's weird to see any empty room... and even weirder because I now have nothing to wear, so i'm chillin in my snow pants. :-)

I'm really excited to finally meet the other volunteers tomorrow, and not nervous at all anymore (or yet... i'll let you know)

So, i'm headed out at 7:15 tomorrow morning and meeting another PCT at the Philly airport to head to the hotel together. It'll be nice to know someone before I get to the hotel.

I'll do my best to update tomorrow. I'll try even harder to update while i'm in training but I make no promises.

Watching House and eating Oreos for the last time for 27 months.
Stay tuned..

The kitchen sink

Packing complete!! Syke. I packed stuff but did not include any toiletries any makeup or any under garments... so it's kind of done, but not really. Anyway here are the pictures of the crap spread all over our living room.

Turn computer or head sideways for better viewing

Alright so, just a few more days before I leave and we'll be staying in hotels and such until next Sunday when we stay with our host families for the first time. I don't know anything about them yet, but i'm sure they'll be fantastic.
Thanks for reading!

"I've got the power"

Ladies and Gentleman, buckle your seat belts, find a comfy chair and maybe a snack, this is gonna be a long one.

I haven't updated in ages, mostly because I just couldn't find the words for the insane and amazing and emotional things that have been happening in my life in preparation for my departure so I'll start from the less recent and move to the most recent... prepare your life accordingly.

The New York Weekend:
I went to New York, I'm fairly certain that I mentioned I was going to do that. It was a long drive, but it gave me plenty of time to work on my Long Island accent and annoy my Mom. Overall, it was great to see everyone. Every time I go there I'm reminded how big a bummer it is that I don't get to see that part of my family as often because they really are fun people. We pretty much hung out and caught up which is exactly what I wanted to do since the rest of my life seems so rushed. The kiddo made me a card that i'm taking with me and can put on my wall upon my arrival to wherever i'm going. Goodbye was difficult, the most difficult one so far to be honest, but I'm so glad that I got to see them before I leave!

The Baltimore Weekend:
So a friend of mine convinced me to extend my weekend a bit so we could tour around Philadelphia, I thought it was a good idea since all i've seen is the airport and thought it might help to land in a city that I have good memories in. Here's the abridged version: We went to Philly, had cheesesteak, saw the liberty bell, had an amazing dinner during restaurant week, found a random concert in a really awesome found art labyrinth built by a former PCV (freakin cool), ended up in Atlantic City, went to Ocean City, NJ, learned to surf, drove back to Baltimore. I met my college ladies for some fun and had a great time with them, as I always do. Hopefully that all makes sense, if I went into detail you'd be reading a novel, trust me. We also went bowling, I did terrible, it was fun. Another group of people i'm glad I got to see before leaving.

Safari Njema Weekend:
This past weekend I went to a crab feast with some of my family at a nearby fire hall. I ate a ridiculous amount of crabs and consumed a fair amount of alcohol but I had fun and it was nice to get quality time in with the family!
Sunday was my going away party and it rained all day long which forced us to move everything inside which was a real drag since so many wonderful people showed up! For awhile you couldn't hardly move around in our house. I felt bad that people were cramped but I didn't hear anyone complain. Loads of people came, which was great because I know the majority of them I really won't see again until I return to the U.S. You'll all be proud to know I didn't cry at all. I got choked up several times but never did shed a tear which shocked the heck outta me.

This was a "Go, Diego, Go" cake but it looked the most like Africa. Do what you can with what you've got, we threw Diego out and plopped an elephant on top.

Last Day of Work:
Finally, we're up to present day. Hopefully the pictures broke it up a little bit for you all. Today was my last day of work. On my way in I heard "I've got the power" on the radio, I thought it was fitting. All in all, it was a good day, there was drama and competition and cake! It was sad to say goodbye to co-workers as i've grown close with them over the last year and a half or so. Okay, I admit, I cried a little. Overall, i'm glad to be done, I feel like I will really need the week ahead of me to prepare myself as much as possible.

I'm going to stop the torture for now, I think i've written enough. Expect blogs more frequently over the next week... probably tomorrow, maybe tonight if I get real energetic!

If you made it this far, thanks for reading!!!!