My Site!

Since I’ve gotten so many requests for a new post…here it is! :)
The past month has definitely been an interesting one. I took my LPI (language test) towards the middle of the month and I passed with an intermediate level! That was exciting. It makes you really anxious though because they have a camera recording your sign and that just always makes me nervous. But it was a huge relief to know that I passed and I could focus on other things during training.

About 3 days before Christmas the entire training group traveled to a town called Makindu to talk with AIDs Support groups. Traveling to Makindu definitely made me appreciate Loitokitok for its weather and beauty! Makindu is mostly dust and hotness. Not a whole lot of greenery. But still the visit was very nice. 2 groups came and danced for us and a lot of the trainees joined in. It was a lot of fun. I noticed that the men use their hips much more than the women, which is completely opposite of what you would think. One of the groups was a bunch of old Mamas. They all had so much character in their faces, and they just made you smile. I don’t know how old they all were but they sure can put a lot into dancing. I didn’t understand any of the songs they sang but they were all about AIDs and they present them to the community to spread awareness. We also heard from a support group for people living with AIDs. It was great to hear their stories and see hoe they can still have a positive outlook on life, it really puts things in perspective on how lucky we all are.

My Christmas was the weirdest Christmas I have ever had. It definitely did not seem like Christmas. It was probably about 75 outside, the only snow I could see was the bit at the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro. Kenyans Christmas feast is typically goat. So my family bought a goat about a week before and my Baba was going to slaughter it the morning of. So I purposely woke up late (about 8:30) in hopes of missing the slaughtering. But as I went to the toilet….I could the goat crying… which means I heard the goat being slaughtered. Great….. I went back to my room for a bit and opened my present that Zane had given me before I left, so that cheered my up :) So I went out in the living room after a bit and had breakfast by myself which has been usual in my homestay. Then I just sat in the living room reading and Baba would call me outside occasionally to show me how the goat was being roasted. Then my Mama brought me a little bit of meat out, which I found out was goat liver right after I bit into a piece. It was so hard to swallow the tiny piece I had in my mouth. I took the rest of the piece to the toilet with me…. Then my mama brought a plate of food out for me and set it on the table for me to eat. I was so confused because I knew that they had company coming over to eat lunch so I didn’t understand why they were having me eat by myself. But it turned out to be ok that I ate by myself because I was able to eat the food at my own pace and could make faces if needed, lol. Then about an hour after I ate about 10 relatives to the family came over. So I awkwardly sat in the living room and watched everyone else eat since I already had eaten. Everyone was speaking Kiswahili the entire time also. A couple of the women kept commenting on how quiet I was, I guess they didn’t make the connection that I don’t know Swahili and therefore would not be able to take part in the conversations. But still fun even though I had no idea what was going on. People watching is always interesting, but it definitely was not Christmas for me.

The day after I went for my first run in Kenya. It was too funny because you could tell how the Kenyans were surprised to see a mzungu running and one man kept imitating me and how I was running….so I don’t know if he was making fun of me, but it was still funny. When I got back from my run, some of the relatives were back at the house visiting again. My Mama brought some soup out to give everyone. I took a little to be respectful. Let me just state the fact that the soup looked like dirty water…and it tasted like it also. I gagged every time I took a sip of it. I would have taken it with me to the toilet if it wouldn’t have been noticed. But I just suffered through the gagging and drank it very slowly. I found out later that the soup is made with the head and hooves of the goat….

Then the Sunday after Christmas, I went to Jon’s house. On the walk to his house I walked by 2 little kids who were yelling the typical “howroo” and “mzungu” But I noticed that once of the kids was only waving with one of his hands…yeah he was just peeing right there, lol. That’s typical for the men here. They’ll just peel off to the side of the path and pee right there. But anyways Jon’s family slaughtered another goat for some more celebration. So I had to endure some more goat meat. I will say that I fed the cat a bit while I was there, haha. After Jon’s all of the trainees met up at Mary’s house to have our own Christmas party. That definitely was more of a Christmas for me. We all brought a snack to share. Whitney made some “fudge” which never hardened and it was perfect for dipping all of goodies in. New Years Eve was a fun night also. All of the trainees met up at the training hub that is outside of Loitokitok’s town center. We ended up just watching a movie and then sitting around a bond fire drinking a couple of beers. It was nice. I will say that that is the first time I have ever been able to have a bond fire on New Years Eve.

One of the days towards the end of training, there was some massive rain. The road became a raging river…and I am not exaggerating at all. This was also the day that I decided to wear my rain coat (at least that’s what I though it was) and not use my umbrella. Yeah, I discovered that my rain coat is not actually a rain coat. Maybe its just a drizzle coat. But my shirt was soaked entirely underneath. But its amazing how it can rain so hard and the road becomes a river, but 2 hours after the rain stops, it looks like it was just a small rain that happened. The ground just soaks it all up so fast.

The last day in Loitokitok there was a host family appreciation party. It was funny because at one point my Mama told me that my little sister and brother will miss my computer…. Lol. Its funny how Kenyans try to express their emotions here. But my Mama did say that she wants me to come back and visit. My family was nice but I’m ready to have my own place.

Our travel to Nairobi for swearing in was interesting. Since it had rained pretty good the night before leaving a lot of the road was muddy and hard to pass through. I actually saw two cars that were stuck in mud that was as high as half the height of the car. I took a picture, so once I am able to I will post pictures to face book for everyone.

Our swearing in ceremony was surreal. It was at the American Ambassadors residence since this is the 45th year of PC in Kenya. It felt like we had been transported to Hilton head in the U.S. or something. The place was so nice. The event was televised and most of us were shown on Kenyan National TV! That was exciting. So now we are all officially Peace Corps Volunteers, no longer just trainees.

I traveled with the principal of my school to Mumias (my site). It took 10 hours to go about 400 miles I think. So it was a long travel, but it was so exciting to arrive in Mumias. It’s a lot bigger than what I expected. And there are so many people. My house is really nice! It has running water (meaning a flush toilet!) a shower that has a water heater!! And bed’s (there is a spare bedroom), a table and some chairs. So I was very nicely surprised with where I will be living these next two years. I ate dinner with my Principal last night since I have no means of cooking food right now. She has 6 children and 1 grandson. So I’m excited that there will be some young kids around my house. There is also room behind my house to start a garden! I don’t know when that will actually start, but I’m excited. I also discovered last night that I have a couple of roommates living with me… some geckos :)

Well that’s all that I have for now. I do start teaching very soon, so keep me in your thoughts and send good vibes my way because I am very nervous for this!