It has been a little over a month that I’ve been at site now. And man it has been a challenging month… I arrived at site on a Thursday night, and then “started” teaching the next Monday. However, come Monday (after school was supposed to be in session for one week already) the timetable for the classes and who was teaching which classes wasn’t even made. This is about the time that my shock at how the Kenyan schools are run took over me. It’s definitely much more lax than the states. The timetable wasn’t completed until Tuesday, so I started to teach on Wednesday. For the two days that no one was teaching, the students were just sitting in their classrooms reviewing their notes. Pretty amazing that the students are that orderly.


So Wednesday rolls around, and I was one the verge of vomiting and running away because I was so nervous to teach, haha. Even to this day before I go to teach a class, my heart starts to beat to the point where I can hear it in my head. But I’m getting used to it a little more each day. It has definitely been a challenge to try and teach the information so that the students can understand, not only the material, but what I am trying to say. Kinda hard when you’re teaching in a language you’ve only known for 2 months. I’m still trying to find my place in the school, and what benefit I am bringing by being here. Hopefully I will figure that out soon. But I only have 28 more days of teaching before the end of the term : )

I’ve been participating in games (sports) after school just to try and get to know some of the girls. It is amazing how tough the Kenyans are…especially their feet! Most of the students run in cheap plastic flip-flops and then most will end up just running barefoot… in a grass field that has sticks, burs, and rocks randomly throughout the field. And not only are they running barefoot, but they play soccer barefoot also! I tried to kick a soccer ball wearing a decent pair of sandals and I think my foot just about started to bleed. Alright I think you get the point that I am amazed by this, so I will stop talking about it now.

Buying my food at the market has been interesting also. Market days are on Friday and Sunday. I normally go on Sunday since Im in class on Friday. I walk into town, and a bunch of mama’s are spread out with their produce in front of them sitting underneath an umbrella to have shade from the intense sun. Since I am Mzungu (white) I of course am told initially the Mzungu price. I have to haggle with them to try and get a lower price, which typically isn’t the Kenyan price, but it isn’t as high as the Mzungu price either.

On that note, it’s pretty funny that it has taken me living in Kenya to start cooking. I have a small little gas stove that I use typically to make either some sort or rice or potato meal. But I do still have many nights when I just make a PB&J because I am too lazy to cook something. I have also taken up baking. Now you might wonder how I can bake when I don’t have an oven… Little do you know, you can make an oven using a jiko (charcoal stove thing) So I have made a chocolate cake and granola and this weekend I plan to make cinnamon rolls which I am quite excited about.

My house is wonderful. I have come to the conclusion that they gave me the best house on the school grounds. I have nothing to complain about here, except for the 5 roosters (at least it sounds like 5) that start to make noise at about 4 every morning…. Yeah…

This past weekend, I traveled to a town called Kakamega that is about an hour from my site. The only rainforest in Kenya is located there. It still amazes me how many kenyans can fit into a matatu. I think at one point I counted 25 includint the driver. There are litterally sometimes 3 people or more standing at the sliding door with their butts hanging out holding onto the seats. I serisouly cannot express just how crazy it truly is. But it is very entertaining at the same time (at least it is when you are not one of the people being crammed in there). But don't worry because I always make sure to have a safe seat. I traveled with a Canadian woman who is here for a month volunteering with a local AIDS organization. We stayed in a small little thatch roofed hut in the forest. It was wonderful! I thought that it would have been hot and humid but to my surprise it was really chilly. I could’ve used another blanket at night! It was a great nights sleep except for the black and white monkeys that started to make calls at 3 am, and let me tell you…they are loud. We went on 2 walks through forest in the 1.5 days we were there. The second one was awesome. We got up at 4:40 in the morning to go on a walk to the top of a hill in the forest and watch the sun rise. And just if you were wondering, a rainforest really does sound like the tapes they play in the zoo : )

I must say thanks to those who are sending me letters/emails/comments, they definitely brighten my days.