Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

Hello All! I'd like to start by wishing my Mom a Happy Birthday! Sorry I'm gonna miss this one.

I'm sure you're all just on the edge of your seats to hear about my vacation. Buckle up! This will probably be one of the longest blogs yet!

So in a very serious attempt to save limited vacation days I chose to fly from my side of the country out to the coast to meet my visitors from America. It was a very nerve-wracking trip as I've never really had to navigate any Kenyan airports. I survived though. I arrived way before I needed to at the Kisumu airport which is approximately the size of my gynecologist's office and waited patiently before it was time to walk out about the distance of a football field to board the aircraft. I will say, the Kenyan flight attendants give the most accurate demonstration of flotation devices and such, so I appreciated that.

In true Kenyan style, we left late which means we arrived late. Originally I had a 40 minute layover in Nairobi before my flight to the coast to pick up my checked backpack because the airport staff in Kisumu didn't think the bag would make it on to my next flight in time. When we landed I was 15 minutes into the boarding of my next flight. I anxiously tapped my foot on the floor to will my backpack to show up on the carousel and once it finally did I grabbed it and ran like a maniac and immediately boarded my next flight.

Once I arrived in Mombasa I had about an hour before the other flight got in so I sat down and had a sandwich and admittedly went to the bathroom and primped so people wouldn't know I came straight out of the village (not sure it worked, but the effort was there).

Their flight was delayed. Big surprise.

After about 2 hours their flight landed and I was the first person lined up outside the international arrivals door as people flooded past one by one reuniting with family and friends. I continued to wait as the flow of people came to a slow trickle, convinced every person coming through the door was there to see me, but none of them were. The airline staff came and closed the arrivals door. I literally had no words,I just stared at the door in enough shock that it made the man ask me if there was a problem. I looked up at him and asked “Is that everyone off the plane?”

“Yes, ma'am”

“Everyone? Like, there is no one left?”

“Yes, is there a problem?”

“Yea, my friends were supposed to be on that flight”

“From Ehtiopia?”

“Yes from Ethiopia.”

“Sorry.”

AND THE MAN WALKS AWAY!

So I sat for a hot minute thinking of what to do since I have no contact information for anyone and just as I give up hope they came walking through the door. Apparently, one of them had left duty free alcohol on the aircraft and needed to go back and get it. I won't mention names.

Anyway, I brought them to one of the fancy (and by fancy I mean a total dump that is affordable to volunteers) hotels in Mombasa for the night and we toured Ft. Jesus which was pretty interesting.

The next day they got their first taste of Kenya, we ventured out with all our luggage to find a matatu to bring us to the resort they had reserved which none of us had a clue to it's actual location. Turns out there are about 80 roads that lead to this place and 2 different signs. We learned fast from our mistakes.

The resort was beautiful, but we spent most of our time out and about so they could get a feel for what Kenya is really like. We did snorkeling in Watamu and took a trip to a local town so they could try Ugali and Sukuma. We were also able to take a quick trip and visit a friend of mine in Kilifi and have dinner on the Indian Ocean. Overall, that week went by waaaay too fast. I probably could have just lived at the resort. It had a bathtub! And two bathrooms! It was wonderful and I was not too thrilled to leave.

When we did leave, we took a luxurious (and by luxurious I mean crappy) bus to Nairobi. I think in total it took us about 10 hours and a ton of music to get there. On the bright side, I haven't heard much new music from America, so Steets was nice enough to let me listen together with him on his fancy whatchamacallit that's a phone and a music player and I'm not sure what else, but I asked and it does not make belgian waffles which was a pretty big disappointment.

That night we ate a famous restaurant called Carnivore which is a lot like that brazilian place where they basically just walk around with meat on sticks and plop it on your plate. YUM! We had tons of different kinds of meat including camel, crocodile, lamb, pork, chicken, ostrich etc. Regrettably we all ate way too much but it really took it's toll on the two of us girls since neither of us were hungry when we showed up. We paid for it later. Actually, in the middle of the night Lindsay got in bed and said, “I just threw up 3 times.” In the morning we were trying to decide if she had thrown up or if she had dreamt it. Apparently, it did in fact happen because Steets checked the door and all the locks were locked by the door wasn't shut all the way.

We started the next day bright and early... earlier than planned actually. The safari was due to pick us up at our hotel at 7:30 and they called at 7:00 to tell us they were waiting outside. Lindsay and I were still moaning and groaning in bed. After shoving everything in our bags and shuffling outside we headed off for our safari!

When we arrived at Masaii Mara we had an hour to settle in to our tents and meet back for our night safari. The tents were very spacious and by very spacious I mean not spacious at all but surprisingly no one in our group complained... including me! It was basically I small army looking tent but they set up real beds in it which really cut down the space, but we were able to throw stuff under the beds.

Luckily we were teamed up with 4 real cool Canadian kids who have been volunteering here for about 6 weeks and were about to go home. By the time we left for our safari it was raining which made it really difficult for picture taking, but we did see a myriad of animals including lions! Yea, we practically stalked them.

We started our full day safari the next day and saw tons of other animals. The weather was absolutely beautiful and in total we saw all the big 5 except for the leopard. Also, since it's August we're in the midst of the Wildebeast migration so there were MILLIONS of wildebeast just hangin around all the time. We also came right up on a cheetah that was just chillin in the sun. We were about 10 feet away from it in our vehicle, apparently though, the animals are so used to the safari vehicles coming through that they just act like giant house cats... though none of us ventured out to pet it or give it kibble.

After a morning safari the next day we headed with a different group of people for a short excursion to Lake Nakuru which was absolutely beautiful. The views were just beautiful and there were monkeys all over the place. We actually witnessed a woman get bit by one which was probably the highlight of the day. Do not feed the animals. Monkeys are cute, but i'll be honest, they scare the ever loving shit out of me. They are bold, and carry rabies ya'll. I'm not taking any chances thank you, I'll keep my distance and use the zoom on my camera.

And so we started our travel back to Nairobi and before they could even leave I missed them. I begged them to stay. They declined, but did offer me a space in their giant yellow suitcase in case I wanted to escape, I declined. They also both vowed they wouldn't eat Chipotle until I got home which I thought was a very sweet gesture because misery loves company :-). Maybe it will be even harder for them since they actually have access to them? We'll see.

Anyway, we ran into a few volunteer friends of mine in Nairobi and went out for Ethiopian which turned out to be a bigger hit than I expected... thankfully.

The following day their flight went out in the afternoon, so before they left we squeezed in breakfast and a trip to the giraffe center. I got a kiss from a giraffe! I was told that was a possibility but I kind of just thought they loved humans so much they'd just lean over and kiss me, but there's actually quite a bit of bribing involved and you have to hold a pellet of their food between your lips and they grab it out with their enormous sandpaper tongues. They were soft and looked just like the one from toys r us. It was wonderful.

I left the two of them at the airport after several more failed attempts at getting them to stay and headed to the train station for my ride home.

Now. I've never taken the train before and new forms of transportation make me anxious (which won't be an issue anymore now that i've traveled by every means possible in this country) and therefore didn't really know what to expect or how long it would take. The bus takes about 9 hours so I figured the train left at 6:30 pm and we'd be there pretty early in the morning. I was wrong.

I decided to travel first class which is something I never do, but I figured it'd be a nice way to end my vacation. It took me about 20 minutes to get myself on the right part of the train in the right compartment and it's not like there's anything to do so I just kind of sat there... with the door like half open. I don't know the protocal, obviously. Anyway, the train manager came in to inform me it would be 15 hours of travel and dinner would be served at 8. Thanks. I did everything I possibly could to keep myself awake until 8 which turned into 9 which turned into me almost smacking my face into a plate of food out of exhaustion. After I made it back to my compartment and got the door locked I slept pretty well except I kept dreaming the door kept sliding open and shut because the lock didn't work (which was not true, it was pure paranoia). We also stopped at every single station between Nairobi and Kisumu which made sleeping slightly difficult but I did feel somewhat refreshed when I woke up. I was able to walk from the train to the bus station and catch the next ride to my site.

Finally, i'm home and I haven't done hardly anything. I thought I was kidding when I told my friends I was going to sleep for a week after I got back. It took me almost twice as long to get about half of my laundry done because there was so much of it. Beyond that I haven't done much that I would categorize as “productive.” Oh well.

The running water here is still non existent which is confusing considering how much it's been raining, but those 2 months of running water were wonderful while I had them. I have just about 2 weeks before school starts again and I'll be spending another week out of site for a language immersion that I'm actually pretty excited about, except for having to be away from my site... again.

Alright well if you made it through that whole thing without sleeping, congratulations and as always thanks for reading!!!

Also, thanks again to Steets and Lindsay for coming to visit, I had a great time and I'll see you at Chipotle in a year and a half!

Yep, I'm still in Kenya

Um, hey! So I am still alive! Again, i've been collecting blogs like smashed pennies and here they are, most of them are short. I've got another coast vacation coming up so stay tuned, i'll try to document this one better, I promise! Hope everyone at home is enjoying your long awaited beach time!

Bathus Interruptus

Since Viper technically belongs to the Catholic Church, the cook on the compound normally brings dinner for her between 8 and 9. I either bath before or after this hour so I can be ready when the cook comes to open the garden gate. The other day I chose to bathe early around 7:15 because we lost electricity and I didn't think we'd get it back. Once my hair was fully shampooed and my face was fully face washed, I hear Viper making her usual ruckous because the cook had arrived with her food. I threw a robe on and proudly walked out covered in soap so the dog could have his dinner. I went back to bathing in the dark and about 20 minutes later the electricity came back on.

Land ho

So our little Unit was able to buy the land we wanted! On the last day of school we took the kids on a field trip to check out their future home. It was so exciting for everyone, it was like watching dreams come true. This is such a huge step for the Deaf community in this district and I can't wait for further progress! To finally have a place to call our own I think changes everyone's attitude about things. They've told me they're going to name a dorm after me... I hope that's not true. I've heard tell of one girl who had her whole face painted on the side of a building. I'd rather not deal with either of those things.

Grey Goose

The goose and I are still not seeing eye to eye. That's all I'll say. I'm the bigger person.

African Sunset

So I have the pleasure of seeing the sunset in Africa everyday, because, let's face it... I cannot drag my butt out of bed early enough for a sunrise. Normally in the evening I take Viper out for a jog and once I get about 2 kilometers out of town we take a turn onto the path that goes around the airfield. In the distance are the most beautiful mountains being lit by the most beautiful sunset.

It's tough to be here, but everyday that something bad happens i experience at least one beautiful or awesome thing that turns it around again... just like anywhere I suppose.

Another compromised bucket

Normally after bathing I bring my bucket inside, but for whatever reason last week I left it in the bathroom. I was extremely grateful for this laziness on Thursday because it was the first time in a very long time that i've needed a toilet and a bucket at the same time. Yet another bucket compromised. P.S. i use the previously compromised bucket as a trash can now.

Shout outs!

To Aunt Janice: Thank you so much for all the cards and pictures! I love them! Some of the pictures in the last batch I was thankful for the commentary on the back because they kids have gotten so big I didn't even recognize them. Anyway, it always puts a grin on my face to open my mailbox and see a few letters from you! Thanks for still writing and keeping me updated!

To Niki: I LOVE the postcards! i think I'm going to hand the MD one in my classroom so everyone can see it. I appreciate your constant and truly entertaining letter writing. I thought my life was ridiculous. I have nothing on you.

To Bev: Thanks for all the reader's digest pages. I cut out the quotes I like and cover my bookshelf with them! Also? I've already started using the things you sent me, the tote and notepad and such!

To Mom: I miss broccoli salad, and chocolate chip cookies and hot taco dip.... and YOU of course. Thanks for all the good stuff that you can send!

To Steets: Thanks for spending a probably absurd amount of money on calling cards to listen to me talk about how insane my life is.

To my church at home: Thank you again for everything you've done for my students! Everyone here, including me is overwhelmed by your generosity. You made a difference that will last long after i'm gone.

To all my readers: Thanks, as always for still reading!!!

Chicken is what's for dinner

Why did the chicken cross the road?

The age old question, has more answers than you might thing. Having the opportunity to observe free range chickens in their natural habitat i've come up with the following reasons:

because there's corn over there

to escape an african mama with a knife and a hunger pang

to have relations with the chicken on the other side

because the dirt is always browner on the other side

because its chicks have wondered off and need to be rounded up

in short, chickens cross the road for pretty much the same reasons humans do.

Matatu Slalom

Someone once told me kenyan roads are shoddy. No one has ever been more right. Just since I arrived on this side of the country the condition of the roads has gone downhill fast. Now, matatus feel more like roller coasters since they're forced to swerve around potholes and giant pieces of road that are just inexplicably missing. I think we officially spend more time on the “shoulder” than the actual road.

While i'm talking about transportation, my favorite bus company got a new bus which is exciting until you realize: shocks not included. Speed bumps are kind of fun, but potholes are terrifying.

In other news:

This term is already almost over! We're working on making and printing exams this week and then testing next week. The following week we'll be there for about 3 days and then we're done! I can't believe how fast this one went by and I'm sure the next one will go by even faster!

Tis the season for visitors. I have someone coming in August and December which covers my next two breaks from school which is really exciting and gives me something to look forward to.

For the fourth of July i met up with some other PCVs in Kisumu and we took a boat ride on Lake Victoria and were lucky enough to spot a ton of hippos!!! Pictures to come on facebook!

Other than that, all is well here. Everyone is excited at the prospect of a new school and so am I!

Thanks for reading!

Chicken Bouncer

Due to extenuating circumstances I am staying with my new Peace Corps neighbor for a few days and have had a pretty nice stay so I thought I'd update my blog!

I arrived here Friday afternoon and had the pleasure of teaching a Deaf Awareness class to her Form 3 (Juniors) kids which went over really well. I think the kids learned a lot because at the beginning of the lesson I asked what they knew about Deaf people and there were A LOT of misconceptions that I was able to clear up.

Friday night we made soy tacos! Thanks Mom and Niki for sending seasoning packets!! They were delicious! Saturday we went to the local village's market and just browsed around. I picked up a few pencils for my kids because they almost never have them and I'm excited to return to site and hand them out! The walk to and from the village is about a twenty minute trek down a really beautiful path but is, no lie, pretty exhausting since I walk about ten minutes on flat land to get to my market. For dinner we made Indian food and ate it real proper on banana leaves and sat on the floor, the whole 9 yards! The food was beyond delicious, one of the best meals I've had here, hands down!

I've had the opportunity to see how another volunteer lives which is fantastic! She lives on a family compound where the chickens roam free and quite often into the house and we've had to shoo them out several times. She is very lucky to have me around so that while she did dishes outside I could fulfill my life long fantasy of being a bouncer by waving a mop at the chickens to keep them away. I'm very confident in my chicken bouncing abilities and have already added this newly discovered skill to my resume. Her neighbors here on the compound is a wonderful family, a mother and father with their young son who has come in to visit several times, and only peed on the floor once. The mom is also getting ready to give birth to another cutie and I'm excited to come 5008back and visit the baby!

Today we went to our banking town to find a hospital for one of the other volunteer's students and then headed back and tried to get some relaxing done.

Good News!!! My church at home has decided to sponsor my school and pledged all the money needed to buy the land. Don't worry! You can still make donations! We still need dorms and a kitchen and beds and such so whatever you send will definitely be put to good use!

Thanks for all the support from home it is much appreciated!!!!!!!

As always, thanks for reading!

Ah real children!

So the Unit has a new addition. She's tiny and adorable and i'm glad she's not mine. Today she graced us with the wonderful talents of her tonsils, almost all day long after her mother dropped her off. I had to laugh to myself because both mine and my supervisor's class continued completely ignoring this screaming child and her crocodile tears. When she finally stopped I literally thought I went deaf.
I got indoor plumbing yesterday... so basically I can flush my toilet without dumping a bucket of water in the toilet tank. My sink is bathroom size and is doing just above a dribble, however the Germans' house has a faucet that can fit a bucket and i'll be able to get water from there so I won't have to pump water anymore and I won't have to carry it nearly as far. i expect to gain about 15 pounds with this lack of exercise.
Not too terribly much going on here, we unfortunately lost a really fantastic Volunteer this week to America which was a disappointment to all. Beyond that it's pretty much the same ole same ole in Sega with the exception of a giant upcoming project. We're gonna give turning our Unit into a school a good ole college try. We'll need to fundraise money to buy the land and then after that we can hopefully find Kenyan organizations to build and find people willing to donate their time and skills. Hopefully once we get the land bought it'll all be downhill from there. It's gonna be a big project but i'm really excited about it. Currently most of our students walk at least an hour to get to school and home which cuts down their learning time. None of their parents/guardians are able to sign with them so they don't get education or language from home at this point. I've also learned recently we have at least 12 deaf kids in surrounding villages that live just too far to come to school at all. With a boarding deaf school in our area we'd increase our population tremendously and the education would just be better in general.
More to come on that.
Thanks for reading!

Another exciting compilation!

Hello world! We haven't spoken in a while, I hope all is well with you! So back in training I did a blog that was a clump of short stories and I think that is the best way to manage my blog negligence. Sorry about that, but it was an exciting month! Lucky for you I'm typing this blog in advance so you'll get the best of the best stories of sports, vacation, training, and the beginning of term 1 (you deserve it for having to wait so long)!

Is it over yet?

Unfortunately, I found myself asking this question several times during sports week. I started out so very optimistic but after a stressful and crowded travel to the the host school it seemed like the whole week was engulfed in a dark cloud. Upon arrival we learned their school had a water shortage (who doesn't?), so for the week we bathed in river water which was fine. The following day we learned the host school didn't have their own field and that we would need to be bussed 10 km down a “road” to another school's field. The bust drivers were unaware of this arrangement and went on strike Monday morning. Tuesday morning the bus drivers went on strike … again which pushed sports back from 8 am to about 1 pm. They had gusto those bus drivers.

After rooming with Kenyan women in a dorm for the week I learned the following inexplicable things: if there is electricity, they will sleep with the lights on, and nothing can stop them from waking at 3 am and in the process waking everyone else.

Although our kids didn't break any speed records in any races I was really proud of them just for participating.

A reunion

I headed to Nairobi to meet Ryan for our “fly by the seat of our pants vacation” and ended up meeting up with several other PCVs and was able to catch up over dinner and drinks two nights in a row! It's always great to see people that you don't expect to see.

Let's rewind

On Wednesday of sports week my body started rejecting the change in food and I struggled with diarrhea which continued through Nairobi (this is important for the next stories).

Ryan

I feel I should talk about this individual before I continue to describe our ridiculous and exciting vacation. She is one of the coolest people I've ever had the pleasure of meeting. Actually, she was the very first Peace Corps person I met, we messaged on facebook and made a plan to meet at the Philly Airport and share a cab to the hotel (we hit it off instantly). Anyway, she teaches secondary school science so she's ridiculously smart and used to work in a Vet Hospital so she knows an absurd amount about animals. She also language trained with Kiswahili which is a vital part of our tag team bargaining schemes. I think everything she says is hilarious and she thinks everything I say is hilarious, in short, we get along great but come from pretty much completely different worlds.

The wheels on the bus

Bravely Ryan and I ventured out into Nairobi to grab a bus going to Mombasa (easier said than done). After having several different bus representatives battling for our money (it was slightly violent, someone got pushed... anything for a commission) we chose our bus and boarded, finding our seats directly on top of the back wheel well. Although the ride was bumpy and hot and we were both exhausted from our failed attempt at pulling an all-nighter the night prior, we kept our spirits high.... until we got far enough in this bus ride that crapping my pants seemed inevitable. For the rest of the 7 hour trip I spent 100% of my energy NOT thinking about my bowels.

Kilifi

One of the PCVs we ran into in Nairobi gave us the key to her house in Kilifi so we crashed there for the whole week. We went snorkeling on the first day with a group of completely belligerent Germans that were pissed that we bummed their “private tour” even after the Captain told them several times that it was a public boat and he would take whoever he wanted. That's besides the point. We went to a desert island and enjoyed fresh lobster, tuna and coconut rice before throwing on some embarrassing masks and heading under water. The view was beautiful and a crazy dark purple fish with neon blue spots swam right up to my mask like he wanted fight.

Another great thing to enjoy in Kilifi is dinner at a restaurant with great food right on the Indian Ocean, we went there more than once, mostly for the view.

There are also several stores in town so we got to cook for ourselves stuff that we wouldn't get normally at our sites including the ever so fancy macaroni and cheese with cut up hot dogs.

Malindi

Malindi is a town about an hour north of Kilifi that has tons of cool historical stuff to see so we commuted there a few times. We saw the Vasco De Gamma pillar as well as the Gede Ruins. Most noteworthy (surprisingly) was the Malindi Falconry. Ryan and I scored our own private tour and saw loads of not very exciting snakes until we moved on to the owls of every make and model. It was unbelievable to see so many owls up close up and shove my camera in their faces! We also got to pet one which was pretty much the highlight of my vacation.

Abuko Sakoke Forest

In an effort to continue our completely unplanned vacation we looked at the map and found a national forest to visit one day. Upon arrival we met a great couple from Colorado who acted as our parents for the day (at the end of it they advised us not to put our drinks down in bars... they didn't wanna see our faces in the newspapers). We spent the entire morning touring the forest and seeing endangered species and weird trees that look like they came right out of a Seuss book.

The people on the bus go “ow”

Unfortunately the bus ride back to Nairobi was no better than the one that had brought us to Mombasa.

Boarding this bus without assigned seats we ended up in the last row in the middle. About an hour into the bus ride the driver (possibly related to the Captain of the Titanic) didn't even see the speed bump that he went flying over at about 85 kph. Everyone on the bus came flying out of their seats and back down. About halfway through the bus ride we gained a few extra passengers which forced our row to hold more people than it should. Ryan and I moved over to the seats next to the window but due to lack of space I scooted up on the seat to allow more space. Suddenly the bus swerves to the side of the road... there is no crash or bang sound but all traffic stops and drivers get out. Our driver knocked the mirror off an oncoming vehicle because he was too far over the center line. After everyone settles down... KERPLUNK!!!! Speed bump... again at about 90 kph this time. Due to my new position in the seat, my head crashed into the overhead compartment and came back down and smashed my nose onto the seat in front of me. After confirming with Ryan that my nose was not bleeding I continued to complain for the remaining hour or so of the ride, which for whatever reason was highly amusing to the passengers around us which is adding fuel to the fire for me.

Upon our early departure the other passengers asked us why couldn't we go with them the rest of the way? We explained to them that we like living, but that we would pray for their safe travel. They agreed they needed this prayer and waved politely as we deboarded.

Watch it.

So as some of you know, I came to Kenya with a watch which was unfortunately stolen with several of my other items. This event forced me to purchase another watch in Kisumu. Apparently, I wore that in one too many bucket baths and successfully blew out the motor of the thing. On vacation in Malindi Ryan spotted a man peddling watches and I bought the coolest of cool yellow levi's slap watch that lasted about 22 hours before I lost it in the great Indian Ocean.

Training

Nothing especially noteworthy here other than WOW the food in Nairobi knocks my socks off and I miss it on a daily basis. Leaving Nairobi was almost like leaving America all over again. Tragic.

It was great however to see everyone and get to spent two entire weeks together hearing about their sites and ridiculous people and things they have encountered over that time. I learned a lot and was bored a lot.

23

Luckily my golden birthday landed on the first Saturday of training and everyone was more than willing to celebrate it with me. Admittedly, I started celebrating before everyone else (guilty). The plan was to leave at 8 for Ethiopian food and then out dancing. During a call to my Mom I was rudely interrupted and told that we were leaving a half an hour earlier which forced me to kick my preparations into high gear. At 7:30 Ryan and a few others and myself started heading out to the main road... the rest of the group had left us behind to go wait for the taxis (how rude, but I wasn't too bothered due to my lack of sobriety). Ryan wanted to stop into the dining hall before leaving to get her water bottle and wanted me to come with her even though I resisted. Once we got up to the hall I saw all the lights go off and then come back on when I came in. All of my fellow Volunteers were crowded around to sing Happy Birthday and share an ice cream cake that was actually just straight up delicious ice cream! As far as the rest of the night, we ate till we popped and partied till we dropped!

Home sweet home

After all that traveling I'd never been more happy to see my site... for like two days until I realized how long it'll be before I have pizza or Ethiopian food again. However, term 2 has started off really well. The kids and I set up a picture oriented rules sheet and now they are sure of the rules and the consequences. It doesn't even feel like I'm teaching the same 5 kids. I've got a lot in store for them this term and am pretty excited about it.

Rain, Rain, stick around

Most people here are annoyed by the amount of rain we get. Like clockwork everyday between 4:30 and 5:00 it starts raining and I love it. It cools everything off and I can flush my toilet like 5 times a day if I want! The mud situation is truly not that bad.. yet, not sure if it will get worse because it has been wicked hot during the day which dries all the rain from the night before before the new rains come. Fun fact, I did yoga with one of the Germans the other day and since we picked such a convenient time of day we were able to just walk outside and cool off under the African rains.

National Geographic Cindy Style

I have battled more critters than I'd like to admit. Beyond the obnoxious and ever present fruit flies that I have now I've got bigger things on my plate. One night it was Cindy vs. Giant Bee. After about a half an hour of scheming and screaming I came out victorious. The following night I battled a giant moth, I also won that battle after standing on a chair and capturing it in a bowl that I had used to crush tomatoes in for dinner. Classy. Recently I was engaged in a full on war against about 10 flies. Took me about an hour of crashing around my house, knocking things over trying to kill the buzzing menaces. I felt so good about myself until about 5 more showed up to mourn the loss of their friends. I gave up.

Cindy vs. Goose

Yes, the fight continues. It very literally chased me the other day... for no reason I might add, I don't provoke it and I give it plenty of space. Last night I dreamed that it finally bit me. It didn't hurt that bad but I was certainly shook up about it! Stupid, evil goose.

Rats or Bats?

There's something in my rafters. Every night it scratches and bangs at my ceiling as if on a serious mission to come right through and attack. Without actually seeing the creatures it's hard to tell which it is since they both make ridiculous high pitch squealing noises and their poop likes pretty much the same. Oh yea, even though they live in the rafters they manage to leave little presents all over my floor by the window.

That's it for me. That sums up the best of what went on in the month of April, I hope it was somewhat entertaining. I'm toying with the idea of voice recording stories and then typing them because I'm 100 times less amusing through the written word. I'm workin on it for you guys!!!

As always, thank you for reading!!!!

Things that go bump/squawk/bark/drip in the night

I've been meaning to get this blog written for a while now and since I find myself with internet and not much to talk about since I just updated i'll let you in on my night time frights.
I have bats. Loads and loads of bats. I don't know how many of you have ever lived with bats as roommates but they are not quiet at night. They live in my rafters and i'm terrified they'll fly out and into my window and I can honestly say my net is used more for fear of bats than it is prevention of malaria at this point.
I also have lizards. They don't bother me so much except I have cards hanging on rope at the top of my walls and if they run behind them it makes the cards bang against the walls and usually wakes me up. They're these weird little nude colored lizards and they normally run on the walls or the ceiling. I've never seen one of the floor. Anyway, a few weeks ago I saw one eat a moth so I like them a little bit more than I used to if they're going to eat other critters in my house.
As you know I also live with a dog. This dog is normally totally quiet all day but after he's eaten dinner this is his time to stretch his little vocal cords and bark at everything and nothing all through the night. It's wonderful.
I've lived with all these critters for a long time so i'm pretty much used to them at this point.... but the things that go drip i'm still not used to.
The Germans returned home last week and out of the kindness of their hearts helped me pull down the fabric from the square that was leaking and patch it up with some super inefficient tape so I wouldn't have to sleep with a bowl next to me in bed anymore.... I still got wet.
Makes life interesting.
This morning I was woken up by one of my students who was standing at my garden gate and got the cook to yell my name out until I got up. I guess he just wanted the key to the classroom but he never said that so I got dressed real fast and went with him about 45 minutes earlier than I would have gone to the school. It was a good start.
Exams finished today for my kids and we'll hand out report cards on Friday. Overall I was surprised by some of their performance and disappointed by others. Either way this will make planning for next term easier... thank goodness.
This Sunday we leave with the Class 2 kids and 2 of my class 1 kids. Homa Bay or bust. All the Deaf schools and units in the Nyanza province are meeting there for a week of sports, fun and nonsense and i'm actually really excited about it. I'm gonna try my darndest to replace my camera and catch my kids looking ridiculous so you can all see them!
till next time...
thanks for reading!!!!