Kristiann Fry
c/o St. Angela Mumias Secondary School
P.O Box 235 - 50102
Mumias, Kenya
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Sunday, December 13, 2009
The roller coaster of life
Ok, so it’s been awhile since I last posted. Sorry about that. Things have been insane during training! But I’ll try and update you all as to what has been going on. After arriving in Loiotokitok for one week, the deaf education group went to a town about 4 hours away called Machakos. There is a primary deaf school there so we got to meet a lot of deaf students and practice our signs with them. I found it was actually hard at times to communicate with them because a lot of the kids didn’t actually use KSL and they didn’t know how to spell. So with most of the kids I found out what their names were and that was about it. Sometimes I didn’t even get the name because they are Kenyan names… but it was still great to meet them and be able to play some games. The Kenyan children are very creative as to how they make toys. At the school, they made soccer balls out of plastic bags (which they call paper bags, don’t ask me why) and string. My little brother at my host family made a toy car out of a plastic bottle and lids.
Another weird thing I noticed at the school, they had barbed wire everywhere. At first we thought it was to block the cows from eating the plants, but I think it was actually to block the kids from getting into the plants…. Yeah they don’t treat children here quite the same as in the U.S.
Machokos was a pretty developed town, pretty much the complete opposite of Loitokitok. All the streets were paved, there were a bunch of shops AND there was a supermarket that’s kinda like walmart in america,, just not nearly as big. But we were able to find ice cream (YES ice cream!) chocolate, cookies, and other random assortments. Needless to say a lot of us spent nearly our whole allowance there, haha.
We were all supposed to be in Mackokos for 2 weeks, but Peace Corps though it would be best if Beau and I (we are the two starting the new secondary deaf education program with the Peace Corps) went back to Loitokitok for the second week to take part in the math and science program. So we rode back to Loitokitok in an SUV with the people who would be presenting to us all week. We were in the back row of the car, and let me just say it was probably the most uncomfortable ride ever. Our knees were right up against the seat in front of us, and it was a bumpy ride… so it was painful. Beau had a cramp in his leg within the first 10 minutes of the ride. When I got out of the car it was hard to stand up straight. In the future I will gladly ride in a Matatu rather than the back row of an SUV for 4 hours.
Everyone in our group found out what our future sites will be. I’m going to me in a town called Mumias. I’ve heard that my school is really nice and it was one of the first secondary deaf school built I think. One other guy from my group is going to be in Mumias also, but he will be teaching at the primary school. My house will have electricity and running water! I was surprised to hear that. It’ll be nice, but I kind of wanted to have the experience of living without those amenities. I guess if I really wanted that experience I can just not use them, haha. And who would actually do that? I know I won’t.
Our training group celebrated Thanksgiving, on Friday, in two separate groups since the deaf ed group was still in Machokos (except for myself and Beau). The math and science group celebrated it at our meeting hub called Outward Bound. A couple people from our group helped to organize the whole thing and helped the cooks at outward bound to make all of the food. It was definitely the best meal I have had while here in Kenya! We had chicken, turkey (which didn’t come out until the meal was pretty much finished), mashed potatoes, green beans, stuffing, gravy, and rice and spinach (which no one really ate because we have the pretty much every day here). And to finish the meal off we had brownies and chocolate cake! The brownies were definitely the favorite of the entire meal. When I get to my future site, I’m going to attempt to make them using a jiko (though I doubt it will work since my cooking skills are sub par). After dinner we all sat around a bond fire drinking some nice warm beer : - ) welcome to Kenya, where warm beer is the only beer available.
About 3 days after our Thanksgiving I got really really sick. Medical moved me to the hotel again so I would have my own space and bath room. It was pretty scary at times. I had a temperature of 105 at one point (but I took Tylenol right away and the temperature started to go down) and other times I was shivering so much that my teeth were chattering. Apparently those are symptoms of malaria but I know I didn’t have it because I haven’t missed any of my medications. It turned out to be a gastrointestinal bacteria, and antibiotics wiped it right out.
About a week ago a big group of us went on a long hike with some of the current volunteers. It was absolutely beautiful. I got to see the outskirts of Loitokitok where there are the big farm fields, with the lush green fields and the rolling hills. Then the majority of the hike was in a river bed. At the top of the hill before a couple of us were about the head down into the river bed, a piki piki (motercycle) came through. The guy asked “how are you” which is normal so we all responded saying good. As the guy was driving down the steep, rocky, bumpy, slippery hill, he yelled out “Welcome to Africaaaa….“ It was too funny. At times it felt like were in a rain forest since it was so green, lol. I got to see wild monkeys for the first time! We were walking along the path and then all of a sudden a monkey dropped down from the tree about 20 feet in front of us and went running off into the woods. There were about 5 monkeys total in the tree. We also got to see the border of Tanzania, but we didn’t get to cross into it because we would be kicked out of the Peace Corps if we did (since we don’t have visas or permission to go). It pretty much looked the same as Loitokitok though, lol.
Last week was definitely the hardest week for me during training. It was the secondary model school. Basically they brought some students in and everyone who will be teaching secondary school got to practice teaching. Training for Beau and I has been frustrating because Peace Corps is just pulling us back and forth between the deaf ed group and the science group since we the first to ever do this. So the two of us didn’t find out that we would be working with deaf secondary students and teachers until 2 days before the model school was to begin. Along with that there was a lot of miscommunication. We were told that there would be 2 teachers who would be able to cover all four subjects (math, physics, chemistry, and biology). But once we met the teachers we found out that they taught math and biology between the two of them. So on Monday, Beau and I observed the teachers and how they work with the deaf students. Then on Tuesday we both had to teach our own lessons… in sign language, since we were teaching deaf students. Needless to say, I was stressed out. My first lesson, I was told by the observers went well. But I felt like it went horribly. So I was really upset about how my lesson went. To add to my stress, I found out that day when trying to pay for lunch, that my wallet had been stolen from my purse. Thinking about the past days events, it had to be one of the students that stole it (not necessarily one of the students that I was teaching). So I wasn’t in the best mood that day. BUT when I got back to the dorm I was staying in, I found that I had received a package from my sister!!!! It could not have come at a better time! I had to teach a second lesson on Wednesday. This lesson went much better for me and I felt much more confident. I was able to do a demonstration of how acids react with metals to produce hydrogen. The students really enjoyed it. Also, the credit cards and id’s that were in my wallet were found in one of the classrooms! The money and the wallet itself were still gone, but that was totally ok with me. The cards would have been hard to replace. I’m starting to learn how life here is going to be a roller coaster. One day is so hard and you just want it to end and the next will be the complete opposite lifting your spirits so high. The rest of the my lessons/labs for the week went just fine. The deaf teachers who came to help us and to observe asked one of the volunteers why they were there. They thought that Beau and I were great teachers and are already better than most teachers for the deaf. Hearing that definitely helped to build my confidence.
The last night with the students was Friday. We had a bond fire and made smores! (a volunteer had marshmallows that her brother brought her when he visited) I ended up talking to one of the deaf students for about an hour. After I walked away, I was amazed at the fact that I was able to hold a conversation for an hour in a language that I have only been learning for about a month.
Every single day is interesting here. Especially my walks to and from town. I mentioned before that all of the little kids will ask “howryoo?” But some will also ask the same thing but they will say it with a really nasally voice or they will even pinch their noses to have a nasally voice to try and imitate us. Apparently Americans have nasal voices. It kind of gets annoying at times, especially when adults will do it, not only the kids. A woman that other day after I passed her and she was already behind me asked “how are you” with her nose pinched, lol. But then it was balanced out by a different man who called me madam, which is a sign of respect. I was shocked to hear madam instead of Mzungu.
Ok I think I may have bored you all long enough :-P. I’m going to head outside and enjoy the sun and listen to the different church choirs I can hear from my house.
Much love to everyone! I miss you all!
Another weird thing I noticed at the school, they had barbed wire everywhere. At first we thought it was to block the cows from eating the plants, but I think it was actually to block the kids from getting into the plants…. Yeah they don’t treat children here quite the same as in the U.S.
Machokos was a pretty developed town, pretty much the complete opposite of Loitokitok. All the streets were paved, there were a bunch of shops AND there was a supermarket that’s kinda like walmart in america,, just not nearly as big. But we were able to find ice cream (YES ice cream!) chocolate, cookies, and other random assortments. Needless to say a lot of us spent nearly our whole allowance there, haha.
We were all supposed to be in Mackokos for 2 weeks, but Peace Corps though it would be best if Beau and I (we are the two starting the new secondary deaf education program with the Peace Corps) went back to Loitokitok for the second week to take part in the math and science program. So we rode back to Loitokitok in an SUV with the people who would be presenting to us all week. We were in the back row of the car, and let me just say it was probably the most uncomfortable ride ever. Our knees were right up against the seat in front of us, and it was a bumpy ride… so it was painful. Beau had a cramp in his leg within the first 10 minutes of the ride. When I got out of the car it was hard to stand up straight. In the future I will gladly ride in a Matatu rather than the back row of an SUV for 4 hours.
Everyone in our group found out what our future sites will be. I’m going to me in a town called Mumias. I’ve heard that my school is really nice and it was one of the first secondary deaf school built I think. One other guy from my group is going to be in Mumias also, but he will be teaching at the primary school. My house will have electricity and running water! I was surprised to hear that. It’ll be nice, but I kind of wanted to have the experience of living without those amenities. I guess if I really wanted that experience I can just not use them, haha. And who would actually do that? I know I won’t.
Our training group celebrated Thanksgiving, on Friday, in two separate groups since the deaf ed group was still in Machokos (except for myself and Beau). The math and science group celebrated it at our meeting hub called Outward Bound. A couple people from our group helped to organize the whole thing and helped the cooks at outward bound to make all of the food. It was definitely the best meal I have had while here in Kenya! We had chicken, turkey (which didn’t come out until the meal was pretty much finished), mashed potatoes, green beans, stuffing, gravy, and rice and spinach (which no one really ate because we have the pretty much every day here). And to finish the meal off we had brownies and chocolate cake! The brownies were definitely the favorite of the entire meal. When I get to my future site, I’m going to attempt to make them using a jiko (though I doubt it will work since my cooking skills are sub par). After dinner we all sat around a bond fire drinking some nice warm beer : - ) welcome to Kenya, where warm beer is the only beer available.
About 3 days after our Thanksgiving I got really really sick. Medical moved me to the hotel again so I would have my own space and bath room. It was pretty scary at times. I had a temperature of 105 at one point (but I took Tylenol right away and the temperature started to go down) and other times I was shivering so much that my teeth were chattering. Apparently those are symptoms of malaria but I know I didn’t have it because I haven’t missed any of my medications. It turned out to be a gastrointestinal bacteria, and antibiotics wiped it right out.
About a week ago a big group of us went on a long hike with some of the current volunteers. It was absolutely beautiful. I got to see the outskirts of Loitokitok where there are the big farm fields, with the lush green fields and the rolling hills. Then the majority of the hike was in a river bed. At the top of the hill before a couple of us were about the head down into the river bed, a piki piki (motercycle) came through. The guy asked “how are you” which is normal so we all responded saying good. As the guy was driving down the steep, rocky, bumpy, slippery hill, he yelled out “Welcome to Africaaaa….“ It was too funny. At times it felt like were in a rain forest since it was so green, lol. I got to see wild monkeys for the first time! We were walking along the path and then all of a sudden a monkey dropped down from the tree about 20 feet in front of us and went running off into the woods. There were about 5 monkeys total in the tree. We also got to see the border of Tanzania, but we didn’t get to cross into it because we would be kicked out of the Peace Corps if we did (since we don’t have visas or permission to go). It pretty much looked the same as Loitokitok though, lol.
Last week was definitely the hardest week for me during training. It was the secondary model school. Basically they brought some students in and everyone who will be teaching secondary school got to practice teaching. Training for Beau and I has been frustrating because Peace Corps is just pulling us back and forth between the deaf ed group and the science group since we the first to ever do this. So the two of us didn’t find out that we would be working with deaf secondary students and teachers until 2 days before the model school was to begin. Along with that there was a lot of miscommunication. We were told that there would be 2 teachers who would be able to cover all four subjects (math, physics, chemistry, and biology). But once we met the teachers we found out that they taught math and biology between the two of them. So on Monday, Beau and I observed the teachers and how they work with the deaf students. Then on Tuesday we both had to teach our own lessons… in sign language, since we were teaching deaf students. Needless to say, I was stressed out. My first lesson, I was told by the observers went well. But I felt like it went horribly. So I was really upset about how my lesson went. To add to my stress, I found out that day when trying to pay for lunch, that my wallet had been stolen from my purse. Thinking about the past days events, it had to be one of the students that stole it (not necessarily one of the students that I was teaching). So I wasn’t in the best mood that day. BUT when I got back to the dorm I was staying in, I found that I had received a package from my sister!!!! It could not have come at a better time! I had to teach a second lesson on Wednesday. This lesson went much better for me and I felt much more confident. I was able to do a demonstration of how acids react with metals to produce hydrogen. The students really enjoyed it. Also, the credit cards and id’s that were in my wallet were found in one of the classrooms! The money and the wallet itself were still gone, but that was totally ok with me. The cards would have been hard to replace. I’m starting to learn how life here is going to be a roller coaster. One day is so hard and you just want it to end and the next will be the complete opposite lifting your spirits so high. The rest of the my lessons/labs for the week went just fine. The deaf teachers who came to help us and to observe asked one of the volunteers why they were there. They thought that Beau and I were great teachers and are already better than most teachers for the deaf. Hearing that definitely helped to build my confidence.
The last night with the students was Friday. We had a bond fire and made smores! (a volunteer had marshmallows that her brother brought her when he visited) I ended up talking to one of the deaf students for about an hour. After I walked away, I was amazed at the fact that I was able to hold a conversation for an hour in a language that I have only been learning for about a month.
Every single day is interesting here. Especially my walks to and from town. I mentioned before that all of the little kids will ask “howryoo?” But some will also ask the same thing but they will say it with a really nasally voice or they will even pinch their noses to have a nasally voice to try and imitate us. Apparently Americans have nasal voices. It kind of gets annoying at times, especially when adults will do it, not only the kids. A woman that other day after I passed her and she was already behind me asked “how are you” with her nose pinched, lol. But then it was balanced out by a different man who called me madam, which is a sign of respect. I was shocked to hear madam instead of Mzungu.
Ok I think I may have bored you all long enough :-P. I’m going to head outside and enjoy the sun and listen to the different church choirs I can hear from my house.
Much love to everyone! I miss you all!
Friday, November 13, 2009
Wow, my time here in Kenya has been so packed and overwhelming at times. I woke up yesterday and was like "woah.. I've only been here in Kenya one week! what?!" For some reason it seems like it has been so much longer. Maybe it's because the group of trainees have become so close already, I dunno but it seems like it has been months already.
The 2 flights to Nairobi were ok....VERY long but we made it safely. On the first flight leaving America, I listened to my Mp3 player on shuffle and the first song that it played was "Africa" by Toto! Ironic :) And I forgot to mentiont in the other post that we saw Rhianna walk by in the JFK airport when we were waiting to check our bags! How cool is that!?
I was in Nairobi for 3 nights as part of PST (training). That part of training in Nairobi wasn't too exciting, basically just doing paperwork and getting shots. The hotel that we stayed in was alot nicer than I expected. I had a hot shower and a t.v. (which I never watched). On the second day in Nairobi a group of us went into the city to buy some things and we all had our first expeirence riding on a Matatu. A matatu is basically a small bus/van that can fit like 18 people on. The Matatu I rode had loud music playing and the song I remember was about Obama with a raggae beat, haha. I was sitting closest to the door and when the driver pulls over to the side of the road to pick someone up, another worker slides the door open while the matatu is still moving at full speed! So you could say I was a little nervous sitting where I was.
Nairobi is so busy and full of people. Everyone just walks out in front of the cars, or along side them if the "sidewalk" is too full.
On our last night in Nairobi and group of maybe 10 trainees with 2 current volunteers went into Nairobi to go to a bar and dance. It was alot of fun. All of the music was techno. (And Sarah... I have to tell you I taught everyone your "big fish little fish" dance :)
Then on Saturday we rode a bus to Loitokitok which is the site for our training these next 9 weeks. The drive took about 6 hours. Half of the ride the road was paved but the other half the road was basically just dirt and gravel with some huge potholes. And I was sitting the very back of the bus, so there were multiple times that I went flying up out of my seat, luckily we had seat belts though. On the ride we saw wild giraffe, zebra, ostriches, and antelope! The giraffe that we saw were right next to the road maybe 10 feet away. And then as we got closer and closer to Loitokitok, we could see the base of Kilimanjaro. It was at that point that I knew I was in Kenya. I haven't been able to see the whole mountain yet because there has always been fog lately, but you can see just how massive it is by its base.
My first sign language class was very overwhelming and I ended up breaking down. Our teachers are deaf also, so it was hard for me to interpret everything that was being signed. Aggrey, one of the translators, came over and talked to me and told me that he will be there for me every step of the way. He said that he thinks I will eventually be one of the best signers of the group since I dont know as much ASL as the others. Now, the classes are going great for me! I'm feeling more and more comfortable signing every day. And today Aggrey told me that he's really proud of me and how well I'm doing! yay!
As I walk around town here, all of the children will either blatently stare at you, call you "mzungu mzungu" means "white man, white man" or say "howroo?" which is "how are you?". They are all so cute. I thought it would be hard to get used to everyone staring at you but you get used to it pretty fast since it happens no matter where you go.
My host family is wonderful. It took a couple of days for them to warm up to me so at first I felt like it was a little awkward. But now its great. My Baba (father) is out of town tonight and my Mama talked to me alot more. I told her how amazed I am by the Kenyan women and how much they have to do. They work ALL day and mean while, the men just sit there. My Mama said that men are like children here, haha. And its true. We have been told then even if something happens in the house, the Mama will be the first to respond. The Mama is the one who chops the wood, cooks, washes the dishes, floors, clothes... she does everything!
My family has one cat and one dog. When I first saw them I asked what their names were and they laughed at me. So apparently pets are quite the same here as they are in the U.S. I told my Mama that I have a dog back in America and I let her in the house and that she sleeps with me. My Mama just could not understand why I would do that. I have one little brother in my host family.
The past couple of days I have been sick with some type of flu I think. I caught it from others in my trainging group. I think I am the 6th person to catch it. I had fevers up to 103.1 degrees and was coughing alot. So for a couple of days it was tough to keep going, but I'm much better now (so no need to worry Dad :)
Tomorrow my Mama is going to take me to market with her and help me learn how to bargain. And she is also going to teach me how to wash my clothes, which I hear is pretty hard on the back... So I better get some rest.
Until later....
The 2 flights to Nairobi were ok....VERY long but we made it safely. On the first flight leaving America, I listened to my Mp3 player on shuffle and the first song that it played was "Africa" by Toto! Ironic :) And I forgot to mentiont in the other post that we saw Rhianna walk by in the JFK airport when we were waiting to check our bags! How cool is that!?
I was in Nairobi for 3 nights as part of PST (training). That part of training in Nairobi wasn't too exciting, basically just doing paperwork and getting shots. The hotel that we stayed in was alot nicer than I expected. I had a hot shower and a t.v. (which I never watched). On the second day in Nairobi a group of us went into the city to buy some things and we all had our first expeirence riding on a Matatu. A matatu is basically a small bus/van that can fit like 18 people on. The Matatu I rode had loud music playing and the song I remember was about Obama with a raggae beat, haha. I was sitting closest to the door and when the driver pulls over to the side of the road to pick someone up, another worker slides the door open while the matatu is still moving at full speed! So you could say I was a little nervous sitting where I was.
Nairobi is so busy and full of people. Everyone just walks out in front of the cars, or along side them if the "sidewalk" is too full.
On our last night in Nairobi and group of maybe 10 trainees with 2 current volunteers went into Nairobi to go to a bar and dance. It was alot of fun. All of the music was techno. (And Sarah... I have to tell you I taught everyone your "big fish little fish" dance :)
Then on Saturday we rode a bus to Loitokitok which is the site for our training these next 9 weeks. The drive took about 6 hours. Half of the ride the road was paved but the other half the road was basically just dirt and gravel with some huge potholes. And I was sitting the very back of the bus, so there were multiple times that I went flying up out of my seat, luckily we had seat belts though. On the ride we saw wild giraffe, zebra, ostriches, and antelope! The giraffe that we saw were right next to the road maybe 10 feet away. And then as we got closer and closer to Loitokitok, we could see the base of Kilimanjaro. It was at that point that I knew I was in Kenya. I haven't been able to see the whole mountain yet because there has always been fog lately, but you can see just how massive it is by its base.
My first sign language class was very overwhelming and I ended up breaking down. Our teachers are deaf also, so it was hard for me to interpret everything that was being signed. Aggrey, one of the translators, came over and talked to me and told me that he will be there for me every step of the way. He said that he thinks I will eventually be one of the best signers of the group since I dont know as much ASL as the others. Now, the classes are going great for me! I'm feeling more and more comfortable signing every day. And today Aggrey told me that he's really proud of me and how well I'm doing! yay!
As I walk around town here, all of the children will either blatently stare at you, call you "mzungu mzungu" means "white man, white man" or say "howroo?" which is "how are you?". They are all so cute. I thought it would be hard to get used to everyone staring at you but you get used to it pretty fast since it happens no matter where you go.
My host family is wonderful. It took a couple of days for them to warm up to me so at first I felt like it was a little awkward. But now its great. My Baba (father) is out of town tonight and my Mama talked to me alot more. I told her how amazed I am by the Kenyan women and how much they have to do. They work ALL day and mean while, the men just sit there. My Mama said that men are like children here, haha. And its true. We have been told then even if something happens in the house, the Mama will be the first to respond. The Mama is the one who chops the wood, cooks, washes the dishes, floors, clothes... she does everything!
My family has one cat and one dog. When I first saw them I asked what their names were and they laughed at me. So apparently pets are quite the same here as they are in the U.S. I told my Mama that I have a dog back in America and I let her in the house and that she sleeps with me. My Mama just could not understand why I would do that. I have one little brother in my host family.
The past couple of days I have been sick with some type of flu I think. I caught it from others in my trainging group. I think I am the 6th person to catch it. I had fevers up to 103.1 degrees and was coughing alot. So for a couple of days it was tough to keep going, but I'm much better now (so no need to worry Dad :)
Tomorrow my Mama is going to take me to market with her and help me learn how to bargain. And she is also going to teach me how to wash my clothes, which I hear is pretty hard on the back... So I better get some rest.
Until later....
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
JFK Airport
I'm sitting in the airport waiting to board SwissAir and everything is so unreal. The past 24 hours have been great! I've met the 24 other people that I will be training with for the next 9 weeks and they all are so cool, I can already tell :) Everyone is going to be teaching, I didn't realize that education is the only program that Kenya requests from the Peace Corps. As far as I know I'm the only one who is going to be attempting the secondary science education program that is new. I'm really nervous and started questioning this morning when I was brushing my teeth whether I will be able to do it. Alot of people in the def ed group know American Sign Language really well so it has been intimidating seeing them sign but we all will get to learn the Kenyan Sign together.
After the meetings yesterday we all went out and bombarded Chili's with our group of 25 and had our last good American meal for a while. It was a good time :) We've started the whole bonding process and I know that over the next few weeks we all will become so close.
This will be the last communication that I have for awhile but I will update as soon as I am able to. Thank you for the wonderful good byes and well wishes from everyone. I will miss you all!!
After the meetings yesterday we all went out and bombarded Chili's with our group of 25 and had our last good American meal for a while. It was a good time :) We've started the whole bonding process and I know that over the next few weeks we all will become so close.
This will be the last communication that I have for awhile but I will update as soon as I am able to. Thank you for the wonderful good byes and well wishes from everyone. I will miss you all!!
Thursday, October 22, 2009
10 Days and Counting....
...until I head out for staging in Philidelphia and then onto Kenya!! I got a call from the Peace Corps yesterday asking if I would be willing to consider switching to a new project area. So I am still going to be teaching secondary science, BUT I will now be working with deaf students in Kenya!! I will have to learn 2 new languages now, Swahili and Kenyan Sign Language, but I am so excited. I took a semester of American Sign Language in college and can't wait to learn some Kenyan Sign. The teaching math and science is a new area in the Kenyan Sign Language project so I will be helping to pave a new path kind of, which is really unnerving but VERY exciting at the same time.
I attempted to pack yesterday also, and you would be amazed at how much stuff I was able to cram into my hikers backpack and duffle bag! It will be interesting to see how I am able to manuever all of my luggage around between airports, I'm pretty sure it'll be pretty comical.
My dad had a going away party for me a couple of weeks ago. My little brother made this amazing chocolate cake for the party that he decorated (with the direction of my sister :) to look like Kenya with a bunch of safari animals on it and Mt. Kilimanjaro along the border. I must say, it was probably the best chocolate cake that I have ever had, so thank you Zane! It was so fun and great to be able to see the family and friends that I don't get to see very often. Thank you for coming and spending some time with me! Much love to you all.
In the few remaining days I'm to continue to see my family as much as possible. It's hard to imagine that my little brother will be 14 the next time that I come home to see him, and I dont even want to think about how much bigger he will be by then. And he'll be just about to start high school, Oh my goodness! My sister will be teaching art by then and my two little neices and all my little cousins will have grown up so much also. So many new endevours for everyone to experience, I can't wait to hear about it all in the letters from everyone :)
Oh I can't forget, I get to have one more potato salad party with Tammy and Alysia before I leave :) So excited! Wish you could be there with us Tina. Miss you so much already!
I better go and start to refresh on some sign language, and start to get to used to using my hands like that again!
Good night (Usiku mwema)
I attempted to pack yesterday also, and you would be amazed at how much stuff I was able to cram into my hikers backpack and duffle bag! It will be interesting to see how I am able to manuever all of my luggage around between airports, I'm pretty sure it'll be pretty comical.
My dad had a going away party for me a couple of weeks ago. My little brother made this amazing chocolate cake for the party that he decorated (with the direction of my sister :) to look like Kenya with a bunch of safari animals on it and Mt. Kilimanjaro along the border. I must say, it was probably the best chocolate cake that I have ever had, so thank you Zane! It was so fun and great to be able to see the family and friends that I don't get to see very often. Thank you for coming and spending some time with me! Much love to you all.
In the few remaining days I'm to continue to see my family as much as possible. It's hard to imagine that my little brother will be 14 the next time that I come home to see him, and I dont even want to think about how much bigger he will be by then. And he'll be just about to start high school, Oh my goodness! My sister will be teaching art by then and my two little neices and all my little cousins will have grown up so much also. So many new endevours for everyone to experience, I can't wait to hear about it all in the letters from everyone :)
Oh I can't forget, I get to have one more potato salad party with Tammy and Alysia before I leave :) So excited! Wish you could be there with us Tina. Miss you so much already!
I better go and start to refresh on some sign language, and start to get to used to using my hands like that again!
Good night (Usiku mwema)
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Is this reality?
So I have 5 weeks left before I start this new adventure in life. An adventure that will continue for 27 months... WOW! I'll be heading to Kenya to teach secondary science for the Peace Corps. I still cannot believe that all of this is about to take place. I don't think that it will even seem like reality once I'm on the plane or actually over there at first. But I know it well be amazing! I was so happy when I found out that I'll be in Kenya. It was such a nice surprise to learn that I'll be in a country with so much diversity and so much scenary. I've looked up pictures of where I will be for the first months of training and I will be right next to Mt. Kilimanjaro!! AHH! So awesome!!
I've started to come in contact with others who will be in my training group, and talking to them only makes me more excited. But I am still really nervous about how I will be as a teacher (especially with resources limited) and other small things like if I'll be able to learn the language fast enough. But I know that I will try my hardest to do the best that I can and hopefully it will be good enough.
Talking to the other soon to be volunteers has settled some of my anxieties. Its good to know that I'm not the only one having these feelings. It's also nice to know that I'm not the only one who hasn't done that much to prepare for all of this, heh.
I've started to visit my friends and family, trying to see as many people as possible before leaving. I just got back from Sacramento visiting my best friend and it was wonderful. It was so great to be able to see her new life that she has started! It was hard to say goodbye but its only for a couple of years. I'm looking forward to the other visits that have coming up including Ft. Wayne to visit Anne which I'm sure will entail eating quite a bit of ice cream and hearing about all of her plans for the wedding :) It will be a great time.
-Kwaheri-
I've started to come in contact with others who will be in my training group, and talking to them only makes me more excited. But I am still really nervous about how I will be as a teacher (especially with resources limited) and other small things like if I'll be able to learn the language fast enough. But I know that I will try my hardest to do the best that I can and hopefully it will be good enough.
Talking to the other soon to be volunteers has settled some of my anxieties. Its good to know that I'm not the only one having these feelings. It's also nice to know that I'm not the only one who hasn't done that much to prepare for all of this, heh.
I've started to visit my friends and family, trying to see as many people as possible before leaving. I just got back from Sacramento visiting my best friend and it was wonderful. It was so great to be able to see her new life that she has started! It was hard to say goodbye but its only for a couple of years. I'm looking forward to the other visits that have coming up including Ft. Wayne to visit Anne which I'm sure will entail eating quite a bit of ice cream and hearing about all of her plans for the wedding :) It will be a great time.
-Kwaheri-
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
