So PST is coming to an end (thanks goodness) and I thought i'd recap with a collection of some short stories that you may not have heart yet. I'm not holding anything back this time, so enjoy!
"No one will catch you"
Piki pikis are motorcycle taxis, you've never heard me mention them before because they are against Peace Corps law. My sister was harassing me that I was too scared to ride one and I quickly explained, "if Peace Corps catches me on one, i'll get kicked out, no questions asked." So the next morning i'm walking to town with her and she gets a piki piki and tells me, "get on, the PC won't catch you." Now for those of you who don't know, I live the furthest out of town and I pass about 5 PC houses on the way in... and oh yea there's only 10 white people here, and oh yea i'm one of only 2 blondes. I think i'd get caught. I politely declined.
"Tuk tuks"
Since i'm on the topic of transportation, i'll tell you about tuk tuks. They're taxis. They look like little tilt a whirls with a driver. You drive it like a jet ski. They're quite ridiculous.
"Compromising the bucket"
Due to various digestive issues several people keep buckets in their room just in case it's the middle of the night and they don't have time to unlock 1,000 doors, walk across the yard and get to the choo. I have one bucket, it's for water purification, so it would have to be the most urgent of emergencies for me to use it because I refuse to compromise it's cleanliness. Well, remember the new bakery i told you about? I made one too many stops there Saturday maybe. So i'm talking to Mom on the phone, "no i'll never shit in my bucket, I use it to purify water." At midnight that very night i'm proud to announce I did not shit in my water purification bucket... I did however throw up into it. At least it made it to week 8.
"Close call"
Since i'm on the topic of bodily functions... let me tell you about the time I almost crapped myself. Yea, about ten minutes into my 3 mile walk home I felt the urge. By the time I actually reached the choo I was shuffling and trying to remind myself I was an adult, adults don't crap themselves. I did make it, just barely, and I was overwhelmed with pride in myself.
"The insanity factor"
My family thinks i'm nuts... and rightfully so. Because of the communication barrier almost everything I say turns into a game of scherades. I also sing along to the Safaricom commercial and have told them numerous times I should have been chose as the lead singer for it.
"The hunger factor"
I'm always hungry here. The food normally lacks nutritional value and therefore doesn't stick with me. It's quite annoying and makes me mad, so people tend to stay away if they know i'm hungry. I turn into the Hulk. This is not an exaggeration.
"So you wanna know about the cow"
So I kind of told you in passing but I got chased by a cow. It was Thanksgiving day and I'm walking down the street with another trainee, Karl, and also flashing someone in America. So i'm counting the rings and Karl is all, "there's a cow on the loose, there's a cow on the loose." He was so calm, so I just ignored him and then hung up the phone. The minute I look up I see several Kenyan children and adults running and flailing their arms in the air, as we cross to the other side of the street I see it. There is a cow on the loose! It's running full speed towards anything it thinks it can trample. Luckily Karl found us a spot on the other side of a drainage ditch that the cow couldn't cross over, but it did head towards us anyway until it saw the ditch, then it went on chasing some kid that probably instigated being chased by a cow. Anyway, once everything was settled, about 3 minutes later the cow owner comes running down the street, full speed, "where's my cow?!!" Now you know the cow story.
"The new crab chip"
Mom sent Old Bay (Thanks Mom) and people have started trying it and i've been carrying it around with me and putting it on french fries which in africa are called chips. Crab chips.
Old Bay tastes like home.
"Mzungu monologues"
So I renamed my blog. Mzungu is the word used here to describe you or get your attention if you're rich and/or white. We hear it all day long. Most days i'll hear it in the distance, the high pitched yell "MZUUUUNGUUUUU" usually it's some kid halfway up a mountain looking down at me and waving.
"Activities for boredom"
If you're bored and would like a taste of life in Kenya, may I suggest the following activities..
Try to wash your clothes in a bucket
Try to go #2 while hovering over a toilet seat, it's harder than you think, but my legs are getting pretty strong.
Try to hover over a toilet seat, hold and umbrella, hold your skirt up, and not touch anything around you, and oh yea, close your eyes, there's no light in the choo, silly!
"Standards of cleanliness"
So it was evident almost the moment I arrived that things being clean would matter to me less and less. Most of us are happy if our clothes touch a bucket with soap. Once I flipped my sheets over and deemed it clean sheet day. I've also almost completely given up on ever getting my feet clean again.
Thanks for reading!
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Down in Africa
Hello to all! I finally finished model school yesterday! I think in all I taught 13 lessons this week. It was exhausting but really beneficial, I think all of us are more comfortable with teaching now. So tomorrow begins week 8 of our training. I'm guessing its going to be a variety of information they just forgot to tell us in the last 7 weeks. wow, 7 weeks i've been here... doesn't feel like it at all.
In other news, we just got a new grocery store in Machakos town! It's beautiful! I've been trying to get there all week but I wasn't able to make my first trip until this morning. It's I think 4 floors but right now only the first 2 are open. It also had a bakery!!! When I walked in I could smell it, it smelled just like Mom's kitchen when she makes chocolate chip cookies. I literally almost cried right there in the market. It's like a little slice of America. I got a chocolate muffin, it was warm... still tasted like it was made in Africa unfortunately but it was one of the better pastries i've eaten here.
Before I forget i'm going to add to my list of interesting things about Kenya list:
They name buses and matatus the way Americans name boats, but weird stuff like Speedbird, and Mac Master
Apparently weddings here last 8 hours. There's no dancing or alcohol so I don't know what they do but when I find out i'll be sure to let you know.
The food/drinks here have far less ingredients than in America. No lie, the ingredients listed on my peanut butter jar are as follows: peanuts, salt. the end.
If you drink beer from the bottle, you're a prostitute
if you wear jeans, you're a prostitute.
i might be a prostitute.
Okay, I also started learning Kiswahili. It's going well so far and it's really helping me communicate with my grandmother at home. That's all I have to say about that.
The plan is to move out of home stay next Saturday and stay the night in a hotel that night and then head to Nairobi Sunday sometime. We'll train there for a few days and then we officially swear in next Wednesday! Thursday we leave with our Kenyan counterparts and travel to our sites!
P.S.- We got our PC cookbooks recently and i've been torturing myself by reading it pretty much everyday, I can't wait to cook my own non kenyan food.
I'm so excited to get to site but at the same time, every time I go home and walk in my room all I can think is "look at all this crap you have to pack up Cindy"
Well that's all for now. Oh! Wait, I forgot to tell you I was chased by a cow, yep, a cow, on Thanksgivng day. Never a dull moment. Hope all is well in America!
Happy Birthday Chuck!
Oh and I titled this blog this because I heard "bless the rains" on the radio in Africa...priceless (Ashley please relay this information to Phyllis, i'm sure she'll think it's funny)
In other news, we just got a new grocery store in Machakos town! It's beautiful! I've been trying to get there all week but I wasn't able to make my first trip until this morning. It's I think 4 floors but right now only the first 2 are open. It also had a bakery!!! When I walked in I could smell it, it smelled just like Mom's kitchen when she makes chocolate chip cookies. I literally almost cried right there in the market. It's like a little slice of America. I got a chocolate muffin, it was warm... still tasted like it was made in Africa unfortunately but it was one of the better pastries i've eaten here.
Before I forget i'm going to add to my list of interesting things about Kenya list:
They name buses and matatus the way Americans name boats, but weird stuff like Speedbird, and Mac Master
Apparently weddings here last 8 hours. There's no dancing or alcohol so I don't know what they do but when I find out i'll be sure to let you know.
The food/drinks here have far less ingredients than in America. No lie, the ingredients listed on my peanut butter jar are as follows: peanuts, salt. the end.
If you drink beer from the bottle, you're a prostitute
if you wear jeans, you're a prostitute.
i might be a prostitute.
Okay, I also started learning Kiswahili. It's going well so far and it's really helping me communicate with my grandmother at home. That's all I have to say about that.
The plan is to move out of home stay next Saturday and stay the night in a hotel that night and then head to Nairobi Sunday sometime. We'll train there for a few days and then we officially swear in next Wednesday! Thursday we leave with our Kenyan counterparts and travel to our sites!
P.S.- We got our PC cookbooks recently and i've been torturing myself by reading it pretty much everyday, I can't wait to cook my own non kenyan food.
I'm so excited to get to site but at the same time, every time I go home and walk in my room all I can think is "look at all this crap you have to pack up Cindy"
Well that's all for now. Oh! Wait, I forgot to tell you I was chased by a cow, yep, a cow, on Thanksgivng day. Never a dull moment. Hope all is well in America!
Happy Birthday Chuck!
Oh and I titled this blog this because I heard "bless the rains" on the radio in Africa...priceless (Ashley please relay this information to Phyllis, i'm sure she'll think it's funny)
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
A quick update!
Hello all! It's been over a week since I posted I know! I'm sorry. I'm probably just going to list out how things are going since I'm limited on time today, but I really want to let people know what's going on!
So Thanksgiving was great, we went to Loitokitok and saw the other part of our group which was great! We camped there at their hub location and it poured rain so all my stuff got wet including my camera.... which now is pretty much not functional which is a bummer but hopefully I can buy a new one in Nairobi at swear in. We'll see. We lucked out and got a ride with the pc vehicle on the way there so we only had to pay for the camping and return trip!!!
We started mock school this week. The kids are on break but some of them volunteered to stay behind so we could pretend to be real teachers and actually teach stuff so everyday we've been teaching 2 lessons a day to different levels of classes on different topics. So far i'm finding English to be the hardest to teach and the books here are almost impossible to lesson plan out of, but i'm really enjoying myself and I feel like the kids are really learning something. I challenge myself every class to make sure I have something interactive and something visual. Tomorrow i'm teaching a lesson on personal finance and am thinking about setting up stations where they will spend money and figure out how to budget. we'll see how that goes. Today I did a lesson on Tourism and it's effect on Kenya's economy and they seemed to grasp everything. We also have current volunteers here observing and they've been giving really helpful feedback.
Last night we did taco night at myhouse. I would call it a successful disaster.... tacos were eaten, they didn't taste that great but they weren't awful either. I made baked pineapple, it didn't set properly but it was delicous anyway.
Sorry the typing is awful, this keyboard is ridiculous.
Anyway, all is well here, we have exactly 2 weeks until swear in and i'm going strong, if I can make it through taco night, I can make it through anything.
If you\re still sending mail, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU, there is alot I think that isn't making it here so... what we get is already limited sometimes. And to the group that I just found out sent a box THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! It is MUCH appreciated.
And to the people that are still reading this ridiculous blog, THANK YOU for your continued support, the blogs will get better when I have more time to write them before hand, I promise! Happy December everyone!
Thanks for reading! Stay warm!
So Thanksgiving was great, we went to Loitokitok and saw the other part of our group which was great! We camped there at their hub location and it poured rain so all my stuff got wet including my camera.... which now is pretty much not functional which is a bummer but hopefully I can buy a new one in Nairobi at swear in. We'll see. We lucked out and got a ride with the pc vehicle on the way there so we only had to pay for the camping and return trip!!!
We started mock school this week. The kids are on break but some of them volunteered to stay behind so we could pretend to be real teachers and actually teach stuff so everyday we've been teaching 2 lessons a day to different levels of classes on different topics. So far i'm finding English to be the hardest to teach and the books here are almost impossible to lesson plan out of, but i'm really enjoying myself and I feel like the kids are really learning something. I challenge myself every class to make sure I have something interactive and something visual. Tomorrow i'm teaching a lesson on personal finance and am thinking about setting up stations where they will spend money and figure out how to budget. we'll see how that goes. Today I did a lesson on Tourism and it's effect on Kenya's economy and they seemed to grasp everything. We also have current volunteers here observing and they've been giving really helpful feedback.
Last night we did taco night at myhouse. I would call it a successful disaster.... tacos were eaten, they didn't taste that great but they weren't awful either. I made baked pineapple, it didn't set properly but it was delicous anyway.
Sorry the typing is awful, this keyboard is ridiculous.
Anyway, all is well here, we have exactly 2 weeks until swear in and i'm going strong, if I can make it through taco night, I can make it through anything.
If you\re still sending mail, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU, there is alot I think that isn't making it here so... what we get is already limited sometimes. And to the group that I just found out sent a box THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! It is MUCH appreciated.
And to the people that are still reading this ridiculous blog, THANK YOU for your continued support, the blogs will get better when I have more time to write them before hand, I promise! Happy December everyone!
Thanks for reading! Stay warm!
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
The real deal
Hello to all! I took my first real LPI today... we won't get the scores until tomorrow or possibly the day after or possibly (knowing PC) the day after that. Hopefully I passed, but I know I used more ASL than I should have. yikes!
Beyond that, all is still going well here! This week is Thanksgiving but before that we have several other tests on basic life skills like lighting lanterns and jikos and washing clothes and such, should be easy... but I don't want to jinx myself! Once I come back from Loitokitok after Thanksgiving we'll have only 2 weeks left before we go to Nairobi to swear in!!!!!! I think everyone here is counting down the days just to be alone in our own place if only to eat whatever we want, whenever we want.
Sorry, I pre-wrote a blog in a notebook that I forgot to bring with me, but the topic was weird stuff that happens in Kenya so through the course of sitting at this internet cafe hopefully I can remember most of it. Here's the list, it will be added to over the next 2 years i'm sure!
Kenyans will drive on through or over almost anything
We bring toilet paper with us everywhere, no matter what. It's the first thing I pack in the morning
When flip flops break they're like blown out tires, just left, broken, on the side of the road.
Sorry, I could only remember those 3. I'll try to bring the whole list next time! Have a Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks for reading!
Beyond that, all is still going well here! This week is Thanksgiving but before that we have several other tests on basic life skills like lighting lanterns and jikos and washing clothes and such, should be easy... but I don't want to jinx myself! Once I come back from Loitokitok after Thanksgiving we'll have only 2 weeks left before we go to Nairobi to swear in!!!!!! I think everyone here is counting down the days just to be alone in our own place if only to eat whatever we want, whenever we want.
Sorry, I pre-wrote a blog in a notebook that I forgot to bring with me, but the topic was weird stuff that happens in Kenya so through the course of sitting at this internet cafe hopefully I can remember most of it. Here's the list, it will be added to over the next 2 years i'm sure!
Kenyans will drive on through or over almost anything
We bring toilet paper with us everywhere, no matter what. It's the first thing I pack in the morning
When flip flops break they're like blown out tires, just left, broken, on the side of the road.
Sorry, I could only remember those 3. I'll try to bring the whole list next time! Have a Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks for reading!
Friday, November 19, 2010
A light at the end of the tunnel
So, it's Friday here... lunch time. It's the end of week 5 for us in training and I just took my practice language proficiency interview... they haven't told me yet how I did, but I take the real one on Tuesday. If I pass i'll move into a Kiswahili class next week, so cross your fingers!
Next week is Thanksgiving, which is hard to believe because it's so hot here, you'd never guess it's November. Anyway, a few of us from Deaf Ed are headed to Loitokitok to join the rest of our training group for the holiday. We're celebrating on Friday, so we'll spend the night there (we're camping!) and then head back on Saturday. After that, we only have about 2 weeks of training left!!!! We're all ready to swear in and get to our sites and start the real work.
So, things are still going well here, not too much to report. I GOT A BOX YESTERDAY!!! THANKS MOM!!!! I seriously almost peed myself when I saw the Old Bay! We had another mail call today and I got quite a bit which was really really exciting so keep it coming!!! It's what we all look forward to. I guess this entry isn't too terribly exciting but just wanted to update and let everyone know i'm alive and doing well!
Love to all!! Thanks for reading!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Next week is Thanksgiving, which is hard to believe because it's so hot here, you'd never guess it's November. Anyway, a few of us from Deaf Ed are headed to Loitokitok to join the rest of our training group for the holiday. We're celebrating on Friday, so we'll spend the night there (we're camping!) and then head back on Saturday. After that, we only have about 2 weeks of training left!!!! We're all ready to swear in and get to our sites and start the real work.
So, things are still going well here, not too much to report. I GOT A BOX YESTERDAY!!! THANKS MOM!!!! I seriously almost peed myself when I saw the Old Bay! We had another mail call today and I got quite a bit which was really really exciting so keep it coming!!! It's what we all look forward to. I guess this entry isn't too terribly exciting but just wanted to update and let everyone know i'm alive and doing well!
Love to all!! Thanks for reading!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
A Day in the life
I'm writing this blog in advance in hopes that it will be more informative and less scatter brained. Sorry in advance for any repeated information; i'm also keeping a personal journal and forget sometimes what i've put in it vs. my blog. Since I think this is going to be really long i'm going to divide it into categories that way you can pick and choose the stuff you're most interested in. Enjoy!
Daily Routine
I normally get up at 6 and pick out my clothes for the day. Usually by the time I get to the kitchen my sister has already heated the water for my bath so I retrieve a bucket and pour it in. It takes me about 10-15 minutes to take a bucket bath. If you're interested here's my process: Dunk whole head in, shampoo and condition hair, wash face, rinse hair, wash body and then lastly I wash my feet because they are always the dirtiest. I proceed getting ready as I would in America.
Before I leave for the day we have tea and Breakfast which so far has ranged from butter and jelly sandwiches to butter sandwiches to just plain bread and at the moment we are having honey sandwiches.
We have language all morning and then walk to town for lunch followed by a few hours of technical training. When I get home at night I try my best to help with dinner which is usually served around 8. By the end of dinner i'm struggling to stay awake so I normally turn in for the night around 9.
Home Stay
I live with an older couple whom I call Shu Shu and Omau which means Grandma and Grandpa here and their granddaughter who I refer to as my sister. There is a definite language and cultural barrier that's a constant struggle but day by day we make it work. We have electricity but not indoor plumbing. The bathroom here is outside, it's called a Choo, there are several different types but basically its a hole in the ground or a toilet-like situation that leads to, you guessed it, a hole in the ground. :-)
My room is a nice size. I have a bedside table and then another table to keep my clothing on. My bed is twin size with a very fancy mosquito net. At first I loved the net, I felt like a princess... now it's just turned out to be a gigantic pain in the butt more times than not.
A special thanks to KatieBug and LizBit for the artwork they sent me with, it makes my room beautiful!!!
The Deaf Side
It's probably just the area i'm in but deafness just seems more prevalent here. Pretty much all the Deaf kids here go to Deaf schools and this year they're pushing to do the national testing in KSL for the first time which is awesome, I look forward to seeing it happen. The structure of KSL is very similar to ASL bu the signs are very different so that makes it somewhat challenging.
Interpreting is kind of in the baby stages as a profession so there are lots of little things that need to be tweaked so they have a more cohesive idea of qualifications and expectations for the profession. For now I just sit back and observe the differences.
Education
Obviously I can't speak to what goes on in hearing schools but the Deaf schools i've been in in Kenya are so different from America. Roughly the schedule is as follows: 8-11 Classes 11-11:30 tea break, 11:30- 12:30 classes 12:30-2 lunch and then 2-3 classes.
When a teacher walks in the room all the students stand which blew my mind the first few times. In general, the kids here are super respectful especially towards Teachers.
While in Kilifi we stayed on the school compound and when the kids saw us coming, they come running so they could carry our bags for us to the teacher's room... adorable.
Money
The money here is Kenyan Shillings /= The exchange rate is about 78/= to 1 USD. I've stopped converting in my head since I get paid in /= that's how my brain works now. To give you and idea, here is a price list:
Blow pop 10/=
Mini jar of PB 108/=
Chipati 60/=
a letter to the U.S. 98 /=
Adopting a Kenyan accent
It's the only way they can understand what i'm saying. I sound ridiculous.
The other trainees
Even though our group is small i'm lucky to have ended up with some pretty cool people. Since digestion is a full time job here our #1 topic of conversation is pooping. Not sure I could tell you what everyone's major in college was but I can probably tell you the consistency and frequency of their bowel movements fairly accurately. We'll be with the other 26 of our group next week for 2 days and we're all really looking forward to that. in the meantime, i've made some wonderful friends here.
Food and water
Maybe this is something people are interested in... i'm not sure. Most of our food comes from the market, the local farmers grow it and sell it, fruits and veggies that is. Everything else can be found in the supermarket. Most things are made so they don't need to be refrigerated such as butter and jelly. The main snack foods are chips and "cookies" which includes actual cookies, tea biscuits, digestive biscuits, etc.
I drink more tea than the Queen of England.
I purify my own water seperate from my family. Basically I put water in a bucket, pour in the magic powder and stir it till all the gunk settles on the bottome, then I filter it into a larger can with a lid and it's just that simple. It tastes disgusting but beggars can't be choosers so I hold my nose. :-)
Things i'm glad I brought
Laundry line
Intuition razors
Soccer world cup blanket Christie gave me when she was still in Germany
Pictures of all you beautiful people
Comforts of home
Things I miss:
Mom- that's a given. I was spoiled rotten.
Friends- obviously
walking into the kitchen and eating whatever I want whenever I want it
making dinner in less than 2 hours
carpet
cheese
English's
Safety
It's amazing how much this place feels like home after being gone for a week. For the most part I feel safe here. I try to be friendly to the people that live between my house and town so they look out for me, yes it really works that way. I think the locals have warmed up to the daily invasion of white people so I think we all feel welcome at this point.
Conclusion
Hight five if you read all of that!! Overall, it's going well, i'm happy and healthy. Thanks to everyone who has been commenting on my blogs, it always makes my day to know people are reading!!!!
Thanks to Mom, Aunt Janice, Kels and the Grandparents for the mail i've received so far! It's a big thrill here for sure!
Love to all from Kenya!!!
Daily Routine
I normally get up at 6 and pick out my clothes for the day. Usually by the time I get to the kitchen my sister has already heated the water for my bath so I retrieve a bucket and pour it in. It takes me about 10-15 minutes to take a bucket bath. If you're interested here's my process: Dunk whole head in, shampoo and condition hair, wash face, rinse hair, wash body and then lastly I wash my feet because they are always the dirtiest. I proceed getting ready as I would in America.
Before I leave for the day we have tea and Breakfast which so far has ranged from butter and jelly sandwiches to butter sandwiches to just plain bread and at the moment we are having honey sandwiches.
We have language all morning and then walk to town for lunch followed by a few hours of technical training. When I get home at night I try my best to help with dinner which is usually served around 8. By the end of dinner i'm struggling to stay awake so I normally turn in for the night around 9.
Home Stay
I live with an older couple whom I call Shu Shu and Omau which means Grandma and Grandpa here and their granddaughter who I refer to as my sister. There is a definite language and cultural barrier that's a constant struggle but day by day we make it work. We have electricity but not indoor plumbing. The bathroom here is outside, it's called a Choo, there are several different types but basically its a hole in the ground or a toilet-like situation that leads to, you guessed it, a hole in the ground. :-)
My room is a nice size. I have a bedside table and then another table to keep my clothing on. My bed is twin size with a very fancy mosquito net. At first I loved the net, I felt like a princess... now it's just turned out to be a gigantic pain in the butt more times than not.
A special thanks to KatieBug and LizBit for the artwork they sent me with, it makes my room beautiful!!!
The Deaf Side
It's probably just the area i'm in but deafness just seems more prevalent here. Pretty much all the Deaf kids here go to Deaf schools and this year they're pushing to do the national testing in KSL for the first time which is awesome, I look forward to seeing it happen. The structure of KSL is very similar to ASL bu the signs are very different so that makes it somewhat challenging.
Interpreting is kind of in the baby stages as a profession so there are lots of little things that need to be tweaked so they have a more cohesive idea of qualifications and expectations for the profession. For now I just sit back and observe the differences.
Education
Obviously I can't speak to what goes on in hearing schools but the Deaf schools i've been in in Kenya are so different from America. Roughly the schedule is as follows: 8-11 Classes 11-11:30 tea break, 11:30- 12:30 classes 12:30-2 lunch and then 2-3 classes.
When a teacher walks in the room all the students stand which blew my mind the first few times. In general, the kids here are super respectful especially towards Teachers.
While in Kilifi we stayed on the school compound and when the kids saw us coming, they come running so they could carry our bags for us to the teacher's room... adorable.
Money
The money here is Kenyan Shillings /= The exchange rate is about 78/= to 1 USD. I've stopped converting in my head since I get paid in /= that's how my brain works now. To give you and idea, here is a price list:
Blow pop 10/=
Mini jar of PB 108/=
Chipati 60/=
a letter to the U.S. 98 /=
Adopting a Kenyan accent
It's the only way they can understand what i'm saying. I sound ridiculous.
The other trainees
Even though our group is small i'm lucky to have ended up with some pretty cool people. Since digestion is a full time job here our #1 topic of conversation is pooping. Not sure I could tell you what everyone's major in college was but I can probably tell you the consistency and frequency of their bowel movements fairly accurately. We'll be with the other 26 of our group next week for 2 days and we're all really looking forward to that. in the meantime, i've made some wonderful friends here.
Food and water
Maybe this is something people are interested in... i'm not sure. Most of our food comes from the market, the local farmers grow it and sell it, fruits and veggies that is. Everything else can be found in the supermarket. Most things are made so they don't need to be refrigerated such as butter and jelly. The main snack foods are chips and "cookies" which includes actual cookies, tea biscuits, digestive biscuits, etc.
I drink more tea than the Queen of England.
I purify my own water seperate from my family. Basically I put water in a bucket, pour in the magic powder and stir it till all the gunk settles on the bottome, then I filter it into a larger can with a lid and it's just that simple. It tastes disgusting but beggars can't be choosers so I hold my nose. :-)
Things i'm glad I brought
Laundry line
Intuition razors
Soccer world cup blanket Christie gave me when she was still in Germany
Pictures of all you beautiful people
Comforts of home
Things I miss:
Mom- that's a given. I was spoiled rotten.
Friends- obviously
walking into the kitchen and eating whatever I want whenever I want it
making dinner in less than 2 hours
carpet
cheese
English's
Safety
It's amazing how much this place feels like home after being gone for a week. For the most part I feel safe here. I try to be friendly to the people that live between my house and town so they look out for me, yes it really works that way. I think the locals have warmed up to the daily invasion of white people so I think we all feel welcome at this point.
Conclusion
Hight five if you read all of that!! Overall, it's going well, i'm happy and healthy. Thanks to everyone who has been commenting on my blogs, it always makes my day to know people are reading!!!!
Thanks to Mom, Aunt Janice, Kels and the Grandparents for the mail i've received so far! It's a big thrill here for sure!
Love to all from Kenya!!!
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Found an internet cafe
Hello All!!!
I found an internet cafe and I thought what better to do than update my blog.
So I just returned from shadowing last week. It was an excellent experience, I stayed on the coast in Kilifi and got to see several different classes taught by several different teachers. We also had some excellent food and learned how to cook American in Kenya!! Yayy!! Big thrill of the week was having dinner on the Indian Ocean. What a view!!! As soon as I get to my site and figure out the internet situation I promise you will see loads of pictures from training these past few weeks.
Since I haven't talked about my site yet, i'll do that. It's a Unit within a hearing school with about 25ish Deaf kids. It's located in a small town called Sega that's located near Busia right next to Lake Victoria. I'll have a house with "running water and electricity" and it's on a Catholic school compound, and i'm pretty sure i'll have quite a bit of stuff within walking distance.
Not too much else going on, just excited to finish training and get to my site! Thanks to everyone who has sent/ been sending mail. I didn't get any the first time around but some was delivered while we were away so hopefully there'll be something tomorrow... that's a big thrill here. Hope all is going well in America and I hope everyone had a great Halloween!
Happy belated Birthday Ashley!
Love to all
I found an internet cafe and I thought what better to do than update my blog.
So I just returned from shadowing last week. It was an excellent experience, I stayed on the coast in Kilifi and got to see several different classes taught by several different teachers. We also had some excellent food and learned how to cook American in Kenya!! Yayy!! Big thrill of the week was having dinner on the Indian Ocean. What a view!!! As soon as I get to my site and figure out the internet situation I promise you will see loads of pictures from training these past few weeks.
Since I haven't talked about my site yet, i'll do that. It's a Unit within a hearing school with about 25ish Deaf kids. It's located in a small town called Sega that's located near Busia right next to Lake Victoria. I'll have a house with "running water and electricity" and it's on a Catholic school compound, and i'm pretty sure i'll have quite a bit of stuff within walking distance.
Not too much else going on, just excited to finish training and get to my site! Thanks to everyone who has sent/ been sending mail. I didn't get any the first time around but some was delivered while we were away so hopefully there'll be something tomorrow... that's a big thrill here. Hope all is going well in America and I hope everyone had a great Halloween!
Happy belated Birthday Ashley!
Love to all
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