Now way am I getting up at 4am!

So I have been getting a lot of questions about what a week in Kenya looks like for me. Monday thru Friday are my school days so a typical day looks like this.
Monday-Frisday

6:30 - Start to wake up, usually go back to sleep

6:45-7:20 - Wake up, talk on AIM with friends, answer emails, check Facebook.

7:20 - Fill bucket with water and heat. Although I have running water, I do have to heat it every time I use it. I have an electric heater which is like a wand that I stick inside the bucket and it heats it up in 7-10 minutes. If I don’t take a bath, then I spend more time talking with friends.

7:25-7:35- take bath, get dressed. You would be surprised how fast I can take a bucket bath. Unlike western bathrooms, I don’t have an abundance of hot water so it is a race against time. I have to finish with my bath before the water gets cold. I have mastered it to about 5 min.

7: 35- 7:57- Chill, wait for school to start, organize my classes and materials, and maybe eat some breakfast.

7:57-7:59 - Leave my house and say hello to sasa( the dog). We have started having a morning ritual.

8:00-8:20 - Assembly. This happens Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Hoisting of the flag, singing of the national anthem, prayers and announcements.

8:20-3:10 - classes are in session. 8 class periods, 35 minutes each and broken up with tea breaks and lunch. Every day looks a little different for me. On average I have about 5 lessons a day, except 1 day a week, I have only 2 lessons and 2 days a week I have 6.lessons. It’s about 23 lessons per week total

3:10-4:30 - Organized games. At my school, we have boys football(soccer), girls volleyball( they actually can kick the ball here) and netball( kinda like basketball but it doesn’t touch the ground) and boys and girls track. I help with the volleyball and netball. I refuse to get up by 4am to take the kids running.
After games, it’s my free time. I usually will go to the market to get fruit, go for a walk around the compound or sometimes I am so exhausted from school, I will just go home and sleep. If I feel up to it, I will try and actually cook dinner. Otherwise, PB&J sandwich and a mango or a pineapple. I’m usually in bed by 8, looking over lessons, watching one of the movies I have memorized by heart, chatting on face book or reading a book. I usually fall asleep by 10-11.
My weekends are almost as busy as my week days. Saturday, the ladies and I usually have something planned. It’s the mental health day of our week. Sunday, if I don’t go to church, its my time to sleep in, scheme for the next weeks classes and wash my clothes and dishes that have been piling up all week.And then come monday, I start the whole week again.

It’s a hurricane of pineapples, mangos and kids!

Although I have 3 weeks of teaching under my belt, I still can’t tell which kids are in which class. Friday’s schedule has me going to class 6 for PE for 35 min and then class 7 for PE. So, I went to class 6 and played some volleyball. My kids love being outdoors and when I said class was finished, one boy( I know, 3 weeks and I STILL don’t know all their names and sign names. You try mastering 60 students names AND their sign names. And that is JUST for your class, you also have to be familiar with the 150 other students names and sign names. It’s not easy!) So this one boy, kept giving me a hard time by pleading for more time. I had to lay my foot down since I was going into another teachers time. So we all went in, I dropped off my class 6 and headed to class 7. Well, I walked in and who should be sitting at HIS desk? The boy from class 6 who was giving me a hard time about coming in! I must have had a really funny look on my face because the entire class started laughing. The little brat was complaining to me about bringing him in early and he was in PE next block! Hopefully this means we have bonded and there will be no more tricks from here on out. I’m nervous how the kids see me sometimes. I know we get along and they have been so patient with me while I am learning their sign names and everything but I KNOW I am not as “ strict” as the other teachers. At home, I know how to be firm and playful at the same time. I know what works and what doesn’t. But here, a teachers idea of firm is using a stick to spank the kids and sometimes it‘s for big AND little things that really don‘t deserve punishment. I haven’t found a happy medium yet. Right now I am just being myself but sometimes I feel like being myself is too lenient, like it’s closer to being their friend then their teacher. I think I just have to remind myself that I will be the worst teacher during these first 3 months. Then after that, I will have figured out.

Saturday, one of the teachers decided to take me to her home in Kisii. I have the next 2 months planned with visiting different teachers homes. Unlike kericho which is in the rift valley, Kisii is to the west near lake Victoria. It was fun to get out of Litein and travel to a different place. If you stay on the compound for to long, you can get island fever. I got a lot of shopping done for my house and had a blast with the ladies. We stopped for lunch at a really good hotel where the other tables children decided it would be fun to see how close they could get to a muzungu and touch it without getting noticed. I love it( loaded with sarcasm) how mothers bring little babies right in front of your face and laugh when the baby starts crying. I bet you would cry too if so far all you have seen are black faces and then all of a sudden you have this white face in front of you. It would be scary as hell. At times I feel like I am in a zoo and I am the main attraction. Kids want to touch me but they aren't sure if I'll bite. Grown ups can't stop staring and they aren't subtle about it either. Some days I can just laugh it off but others I get a little frustrated. Today was one of those days. I think it was a combination of the heat and not being able to sleep in.  On the way home, I found out, you can still get a lot of shopping done and you don’t even have to get out of the matatu. The minute the matau stops, men and women rush over and circle the matatu selling their produce. If you are sitting by the window, they will open it and push ripe pineapples and mangos in your face. “6 for 100, 6 for 100” they say as they push 6 pineapples inside the window. All of a sudden whether you were going to buy them or not, You have 6 giant pineapples in your lap and all of a sudden you feel like your drowning in pineapples. And of course there are different people selling the same things, so if you say yes to one pineapple lady, the other pineapple ladies flock to you expecting you to buy 12 pineapples, like 6 is still not enough. It’s a hurricane of pineapples, mangos, bananas, and passion fruit inside one very small matatu. By the time we got home, we were all exhausted. I cut up one of my pineapples( yes, I gave in and bought some) and went straight to bed. Plans for tomorrow???? I’m sleeping in, working on my schemes and lesson plans and finishing my wash, I’m wearing my last clean pair of panties.

P.S.
 If you have Facebook, I have posted pictures onto my FB account. I'm still trying to figure out Flickr for the blog. I should have it sorted before my 2 yrs are up. :)

Rolling down hills and arguing with touts

So I now have been in country for almost 3 months with 2 weeks of teaching under my belt. and I am embarking on my 3rd week. I have to admit, the beginning was a little rough but I am starting to feel comfortable in my surroundings and enjoying this experience. Today, some of the teachers and I took a mental health day and escaped from the compound. Living on the school grounds, although convenient, can start to feel like living on an island. So we decided to get away from Litein and go on a picnic. One of the teachers cooked some food for us and we headed to one of the few well kept parks in Kericho.


When people think of Africa, they think of savannahs with hot temperatures and wild animals everywhere. Believe it or not, my site looks more like Ireland. Granted it’s hotter and less rocky than Ireland, but it shares the same rolling green hills, the endless skies and the flowing rivers. Kericho is the tea capitol in Kenya so tea farms are everywhere as far as the eye can see. Sometimes, you can see the little white and black dots of the tea pickers, working hard under the warm sun. The park we decided to go is nestled within a tea field, with a pond covered in white lotus flowers at the base of the hill. As we sat in the cool shade eating our lunch, some monkeys decided to join us, swinging from the tree tops. The sign says they were velvet monkeys although I know there is another name for them. They have beautiful flowing white tails and black bodies. Their coloring reminds me of skunks with longer hair. You could hear them howling from across the pond. I think they smelled Nandai’s amazing chicken and chapti.

Nandai is about 33 yrs old and teaches the lower primary at St Kizitos. She is what an typical African women looks like, big, black, tall and beautiful. She is an amazing cook and a talker just like me. I think that may be why we get on so well. She has a great sense of humor and is an open book. Mary is similar to Nandai except shes a lot shorter. Shes also got a great sense of humor and I feel comfortable talking to her about everything. The last of the 4 musketeers and my counterpart is Sister Nazarine. She is by far the coolest nun I have ever met. She is funny, caring and enjoys my American bluntness. She answers all of my questions honestly and I can go to her whenever I need help.

So the 4 of us and Nandai and mary’s boys spent the day running around the park, rolling down hills and taking many pictures. We had so much fun, by the time the taxi came to pick us up, we were sad to leave. After dropping of Nandai, we hopped on a matatu to head home. The price for the matatu was 50 shillings per person which is fair. Up till now, I have had really good luck with matatu conductors, giving me the right change and fair prices and all that. I was actually starting to feel like a local. This conductor however, thought I needed to be reminded that I was a muzungu and still a tourist. I had decided to be nice and pay for Nazarine and mary so I gave the conductor 200 shillings with the thought that he would give me change. He decided then and there that the price would go up to 70 shillings and that I owed him 10 shillings more. Nazarine immediately refused and reminded him he agreed to 50 per person. I thought, she being a nun would get it sorted out. I was wrong. I found it funny that the Matatu was covered in Jesus stickers, and yet the conductor decided to be a cheat and steal money from us. I guess it was a stupid assumption that most people practice what they preached here. Although we argued with him the entire trip home, we never got our 50 shillings back but he never got his 10 shillings either. It’s so frustrating to cheated out of something just because of the color of your skin. The only reason he upped the price was because I was paying. If I had kept my mouth shut and my wallet, We would have gotten the normal amount. I know I have only been in country for 3 months but sometimes I just want to yell at them that I am not a tourist, I am staying. But, I know I can’t so I’m taking it as a lessoned learned and hope for a more honest conductor the next time.

* Matatu- a small 14 seater van. The most common form of public transportation. However, they don’t have set prices so you have to constantly argue over price with them.

*conductor- the man on the matatu who collects the money and directs people on and off the bus.
 
If you have any questions, fell free to ask them. my email is dmharvey86@hotmail.com

Awesome day!

Today was probably the best day I have had so far at my site. So if you remember, I had been suckered into taking the KSL class 8. It is the class without a work book, that will be tested in the national exams, has never been taught before and has a syllabus that makes no sense what so ever. Well since I got the class, I have been so stressed over what to teach them. Do I follow the syllabus that makes no sense? Do I teach them something even I don’t know? If I decide to just teach them functional skills, what counts as functional skills in sign language? Today, I decided to teach them something I know. I was surprised it was a success. Or least I think it was a success. At least I felt confident that I knew the subject. As class was finishing up, one of the students came up to me and started asking me the signs for a bunch of vocabulary. Some were simple, ones I already knew. Others I had to look up. But I felt like a real breakthrough happened. The students were starting to ask questions, starting to understand me. I felt like a real teacher. I signed the word large and used the facial expressions that go along with the sign. The students started to laugh. I realized they had no idea what facial expressions were. The light bulb came on. I was going to teach them what I knew and maybe have fun doing it. I have always wanted to come to Kenya but wanting something and actually experiencing it totally different. This journey has been hard, frustrating and at times I seriously contemplated going home. But I am really glad I stuck with it. I’m sure there will be bad days ahead of me but at least I know I can expect good days as well. I am starting to fall in love with this country and the people. But what I love most is the not knowing what is still in store for me.
P.S.
I don’t know if I have said it yet, but I wanted to thank those who have supported me through all of this. I could not have done it without any of you.

Things I need/miss

Packages, if you would like to send me something( I wouldn’t mind). Here are something’s I could use

Books! Books are expensive here and the bookstores are few and far between.
            Any novels. I love the Stephanie plum series and the women’s murder club series.
            ASL grammar books
            Teaching books
Pictures of home/people
News happening in the US
Magazines
American candy
And surprises/odds and ends are the most fun
If sending a package. You have to bend the truth on what’s inside. School donations, used clothes, used books etc. Also do not claim over $100. Make a list of what inside the package, that way I’ll know if anything is missing. Place the label on the crease. It’s harder for the post office to open it without us knowing. But most importantly, do not spend a fortune. Letters are also greatly appriciated. Address is posted throughout the blog. hope all is well and miss you all.

Toilet paper, jesus and chickens

More valuable lessons from my site

At my site, you have 2 types of water to choose from. The 1st type tastes like chlorine due to the purification. The 2nd type is brown due to the river.


No matter how normal you think it is or how beautiful the sun is, leaving your door open is an invitation for unexpected guests, like children, neighbors and chickens to just walk in. Yup 1st one racists cow and now a chicken who prefers my house to his.


When seeing a white person,  children think that you are on speaking terms with President Obama. It's really fun to play this one up for the kids.


Due to the lack of book stores at my site and the price for a book, you will find it normal to reread a book 20x and still read it each time as if it was your first time.


When someone comes up to you and asks if you have been saved by Jesus, it would be beneficial to you if you DO NOT lie in this situation. Otherwise you will be stuck in a 2 hour lecture on a subject you know nothing about.


Greetings are very important here in Kenya. That’s why you don’t see Costco size boxes of toilet paper. Why not just buy 1 role at a time, that way you can go back to the store and talk to your friends. I have found this is the only way I can leave my compound and go into the village.

The  more rual parts of Kenya are on a different time than everyone else. It's called kenyan time. You have a meeting at 4pm? Better make it 6:30. You are thinking a quick trip into market to pick up your skirts, better make sure you have 2 hours to spare to talk to the people you meet on the way.

Even though I have tried to correct them and stay far away from the computer, my site thinks all visitors(another word for white people) know how to fix computers, teach english, and eat snakes. I am trying really hard not to break our school computer...and to stay away from snakes.

Rare African disease that makes really weird shit happen

It’s only Tuesday and I am exhausted. I only had 2 classes today and  came home after lunch around 1. I then proceeded to fall asleep till 3. I have a theory it may have something to do with my dreams. I don’t know the cause but I have been having some REALLY weird dreams lately. I thought once I was settled, they would go away but nope. These dreams aren‘t your typical floating in the sky kinda dream, these are your scary eyes are open, moving around the house still dreaming kinda dreams. Luckily I haven’t walked outside yet. But I have taken my mosquito net down and put it back up again because I thought I was moving, but more on that dream later .
My first dream consisted of the children. I dreamt that the students were surrounding my house and hanging out inside my room. But they weren’t there doing just nothing. They were trying to teach me their sign names. I was lying on my back in bed as the children were surrounding me, hanging in my window, sitting on my bed. I was trying to tell them to stop and that it was slightly inappropriate for them to be here ( the ladies were out, plus it was my room!) but they wouldn’t listen. So I just sat there, arms crossed , frustrated, trying to wait them out. They won. I think I fell asleep before they left. I woke up the next morning finding out the kids were a dream but the pimple was not.

My second night ,I dreamt I was in staff meetings all day. Except, there were no lights and I had my sleeping bag with me, which was embarrassing. I was also sitting on my bed while everyone else was sitting at their desk which I found a little odd. Not to mention I had the ladies out. Even in your dreams you are self conscious about the ladies hanging out. It’s not a good feeling. Anyway, every time I would look around, I was in a different room except I had my sleeping bag and no bra still. But then I figured out if I closed my eyes, I could jet myself back to my room. But every time I opened them again, I was in another meeting sitting on my bed with my sleeping bag and no bra still. I wasn’t getting anywhere. I think I finally fell asleep due to frustration.
For my third crazy dream, the school woke me up and told me I was going to move to the south part of the dorms. So, I thought to myself I should start packing, I have a lot of shit. Except I hate packing and never know where to start. So, I sat in my bed contemplating it for awhile. As I was sitting on my bed thinking and looking at all my stuff, 2 things happened. 1st, I had found a pimple, my first pimple by the way since I have been in Kenya and the 2nd was the mosquito net kept getting in my way. Ah ha! I figured out what to pack up first. So, in the dark mind you, I started take down my mosquito net but I couldn’t find the bag to carry it. So frustrated I sat back down on my bed with my mosquito net bunched around me, cursing the world for my pimple and my missing bag. I think that’s when it started to sink in… we don’t have a south part of the dorms. Well, things started to get a little hazy after that. I didn’t understand why they would want me to move in the middle of the night with no lights on. So I decided to go back to sleep and deal with it in the morning.
Now you see why I am so tired?! I am starting to think I may have some rare African disease that causes really weird shit to happen to you at night. What do you think?

Taste of Kenya

Since it's been difficult for me to upload pics, I thought I would share Kenya another way. You may not be able to see kenya but at least you can taste it. Here are 2 main dishes that are a staple in the kenyan's diet. Chapti and Sukuma Wiki( spinach or kale)

So for your first taste of Africa. Chapti. This is a large staple in their diet. Usually they eat with beef or goat and boiled spinach or kale. Hey, if your feeling adventures enough, go for the goat. Personally, I am not a big fan of kenyan meat,  so I have found other ways to eat it. You can dip it in chocolate and peanut butter or peanut butter and jelly. You can add a little cinnamon and sugar to the dough  oreat it with guacamole or salsa. It is  really good as a sandwihch with roasted chicken, mustard and heaps of veggies. However, the kenyans use it as a spoon  when they eat it with sukuma wiki, so you can't use a real spoon or fork to eat it.  You have to use ur hands. :)


First you will need 3 cups of white flour, a dash of salt, oil and water. 1/2 cup of water makes 4 small chaptis.

Mix dry ingredients well. Add 1 Tablespoon of oil to the flour mix. Then ass enough water to form an elastic dough. Divide the dough into 4 equal parts. Roll out 1 ball into a circle and spread 1/4 teaspoon of oil over it. Cut a radius into the circle and roll it up into a cone, tucking in the ends when finished. Do the same for the others. Let the dough sit 20 minutes. Roll out each ball into circles about 10''-12'' diameter. Melt a bit of margarine in a pan and wait till its hot...cook chapti. Fry rapidly on both sides and watch them bubble


Now
I decided I couldn’t let u go without trying Sukuma Wiki( spinach or kale).
So, u'll need 2 onions, 2 tomatoes, 3 Tbsp margarine, 1 bunch of sukuma wiki, 2 cups of water, salt
Optional:garlic, olive oil, chili pepper, rosemary

Chop onions and tomatoes coarsely and saute gently in melted margarine. Cut out central ribs of sukuma( you just want the leafy green part, not the steams) and slice crosswise into strips and 1/8 inch wide. Stir-fry the sukuma with the onions and tomatoes over moderate heat until bright green. Add water and salt and let simmer gently for about 20min.
This is a little bit different from what I've eaten so hopefully its better. Again, enjoy and let me know how it goes.

I survived my first week! and Im ready to kill for american food!!!

Well, I survived my first week of school and I’m exhausted. Although, I’ve taught before and I have never been this tired. I guess not knowing what’s going on can sap ur strength. Anyway, school got off to a slow start. Here, students don’t arrive till about the 2nd week. Since there are few deaf schools in the country many come from far away. Most families focus on their hearing children first and then deal with their deaf children. So, I was lucky enough to not teach. However, I looked at it as a good thing. While the students cleaned the classrooms, teachers caught up with each other. It was good to get to know the teachers first and see how things were run. On the second day, my luck ran out. I thought I was going to observe teaching first….someone forgot. So I was dropped into the fire. I had no time to prepare lesson plans or schemes of work. I was teaching KSL Class 8 where I had to teach things I knew nothing about, English class 4 where I had no idea how to use SEE and PE and Art which were easy but again, not prepared. I have no idea how I survived but I did. Over the next few days I started to get a handle on my schemes and lesson plans. Still didn’t know how I was going to do it but at least I was prepared in theory. It’s better than nothing, right? I think the students were so excited that I was a mzungu, they didn’t care that I was bullshitting their class. As the week went on, I was feeling more and more comfortable with my signing and teaching ability. As my confidence grew, I finally started paying attention to the students work. I was screwed. Half the kids can’t write their names, most of them say they understand and really don’t. I have one girl who writes ALL of her letters backwards and even mixes them up. She’s doing this as she’s copying my work straight from the board. She is in class 4. A this stage they should know how to write their names and are close to writing clearly. How do I help her when most of the class is way above her? Another thing I surprised was reading the class 8 English compositions. They were asked to write about their school. They at least got the title right. Their composition however, included 2 full pages of random words. No sentences, no reason, no comprehension. The best part… their teacher wants me to start a composition club with them because she doesn’t know how to teach them. In short I have A LOT of work ahead of me. Now do u see the reason behind my exhaustion? During training they told us, having high expectations is a good thing. But now Im wondering if I’m having too high of expectations?
Life outside school however, is improving. I’m starting to enjoy myself. I have made friends with the mamas in the market so now they give me the locals price instead of upping it 3x. I have to yet master cooking but have gotten really good at making an amazing Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich. Although I would kill for oreos, Peanut M&M's, mexican food and McDonalds( And I dont even eat McDonalds!)Washing clothes in a bucket and taking a bucket bath has become second nature but  washing my feet has become low on my list of priorities..very low. They are just going to get dirty again so why bother? My house is also coming together. I have lots of visitors, a banana slug, chickens, spiders and large bugs. I have a forest of corn in my front yard but I’m hoping when it’s ready, I’ll be able to pull it out and start my garden. Also Sasa has yet to have her puppies. I can’t wait! Well, I hope this catches everyone up. I’ll try to post more often and I’m still trying to figure out pictures. I want everyone to see them now, that way I don’t have to show everyone a bazillion when I get back. Miss everyone and hope everyone is doing well. If you ever decide to write a letter, please include what’s happening in the US. I’m desperate for news.

What the hell is a Phrasel Verb?

So you want to hear how my first day of school went huh? Well, it started out, me being the only one at assembly at 8, which is the time its supposed to start. Everyone else was on Kenyan time I guess. If I havent told u this before, Kenyan time is about 45 minutes -3 hours behind mzungu time. So If something is supposed to start at 8, it will start at 8:45 or later. I had been told by some of the staff that due to lack of students, there would be a good chance we wouldn’t teach on Monday. I really should stop believing in everything people tell me. My headmaster took role and decided it was time to start class and so with that, the students went to clean the classrooms and the teachers to talking. I was like a chicken without its head( and trust me I’ve seen a lot of chickens with their heads). I had no idea what I was doing or where to go. Now up till this time, I had yet to talk with my headmaster about the schedule, the textbooks, schemes of work, what the children knew or didn’t know, or lesson planning. And yet…Im to teach classes NOW! At about this time, I was starting to imagine the nearest path of escape. But then I thought to myself, no way in hell was I going home. I worked my ass off to get here. However, I knew I was not prepared to teach at this time and sought out the headmaster. T hat man is from the gods. He said the most beautiful 6 words I have ever heard. “ you can observe the first few days”. I could start slow just the way I wanted. A huge weight had been lifted on my shoulders. However, I was naive enough to think it was gone for good. Not wanting to waste anymore time, I decided to work on my schemes of work and lesson planning. I was teaching 5 subjects this term and needed a scheme of work for each one. I started off with KSL class 8. A teacher had recommended class 8 to me, thinking it would help improve my signing and be good for the students as well. It sounded like good intentions at the time…. I found out 5 minutes after sitting down that there is no textbook for the class, that it is a NEW class and has never been taught AND it is one of the main subjects that will be tested on the national exam. Did I mention I am a brand new teacher in a brand new country? No wonder the teacher recommended the class to me. Good intentions indeed. . Half….ok ALL of the stuff I was supposed to teach in KSL 8, I never learned in my own classes in collage. What the hell is a phrasel verb? Ok, so I was back to freaking out. How was I supposed to teach when I don’t even know the topic? That weight was back again and it‘s getting heavier by the minute. What if I blow it an dmy students fail? The other teachers tell me there are no set consequences, just the fact that you will feel guilty for the rest of your life. Oh and how my other classes going? I also just found out I have to teach English in Signed Exact English…I don’t know SEE!…… Well its now 10:40, the night before my dreaded class with the phrasel verbs and I still have no idea what Im going to do. Maybe I’ll just wing it…or u guys may see me sooner then you think? I tell u how it goes and if I need a plane ticket.

Twix, Pringles and burgers

Well I made it! After 2 months of intense training, I finally reached my site. When I first started, I never thought this day would come. But I did it and I still can’t believe Im here. I now live in a beautiful village called litein, with lush green forests all around and a very friendly and welcoming community. But let me backup and tell you how I got to this point. After training was finished, the 25 trainees including myself went to Nairobi where we were to meet our headmasters and get sworn in as true volunteers. However after living two months on ugali, we were desperate to find American food. So we all headed to the mall. There we found heaven. Even the littlest thing that reminded us of America brought us joy. Twix, Pringles, snickers, cheese, Kit Kats, American Brand shampoo and real peanut butter that wouldn’t break the bread when you smeared it. We went crazy. We also found books, not textbooks but real chapter books. The ones people read for pleasure. I know something like a book isn’t worth this much excitement, but since bookstores are few and far between, it had been 2 months since we had seen a real chapter book and we were desperate for the entertainment and the chance to use our minds. However, most of the books were around 500-1000 Kenyan shillings, in Kenya, 500 shillings could feed a family for a week, and for us volunteers who only make 16,000 shillings a month, buying a book for 1000 shillings is a little extravagant. But we had gone a little nuts with all the American stimulation that we bought them anyway. Then at the center of heaven, we found burgers. Real American hamburgers. There were so many to choose from ,we had to try them all and so we spent the next two days at the mall. Some of the burgers would be considered the lowest of the low in America, but we didn’t care, to us it was orgasmic, like an explosion of America in our mouths. Some places even had real Heinz ketchup, not the pink rubbery tomatoes sauce that we had been using for the last 2 months. It was heaven and we were heartbroken when we had to leave but little did we know the best was yet to come. On top of celebrating our swearing in, Peace Corps was also celebrating their 45th year in Kenya. So to mark the occasion, the swearing in was held at the ambassadors residence. The house was beautiful and even had a pool. Although we weren’t able to control ourselves at the mall, we did stop ourselves from jumping into the pool. News stations were there filming and a band was there playing tribal music complete with dancers. Although it was a nice ending to the rigorous training we had gone through, the new volunteers had other ideas. We had heard through one of our trainers that there was a true Mexican restaurant in the city. However, the matatu strike was still going on so the only form of transportation was a taxi and they were expensive. Well, since it was our final night together and the Pringles still were causing havoc with our intelligence, we went for it. Where else would we get really good Mexican food? Oh and it was good. The enchiladas, nachos and fajitas were amazing, We probably spent more than we should have but in the end it was well worth it. The next morning, it was time to say goodbye and head off to our sites. Since there were 6 of us heading to the same area, we decided to share a matatu and travel together. So miraculously, we were able to fit, 13 people and 30+ pieces of luggage in one matatu. Good thing no one was claustrophobic. It was about a 4 hour drive to Bomet and then another hour to Litein. Even with the little leg room we had, it was a beautiful drive. In the southern part of the Rift Valley, it rains a lot so the forests are lush and green. When we reached Bomet, we dropped off the other 5 volunteers and their counterparts and continued on. When we finally reached the school, my headmaster showed me my house and introduced me to some of the teachers. The school itself is pretty big, there are about 210 students with 18 teachers. Primary school starts from Nursery and goes up to class 8. In regular primary schools, the students would graduate around 14. But with schools for the deaf, children tend to start late and so can be 25 in a primary school. After the tour, I went back to my house to unpack. My house includes a kitchen with a sink, a room with shelves to store food, and a cement oven where I can put my stove, a living room with shelves and some furniture left by the last volunteer, 2 bedrooms, and a bathroom with a western toilet and a shower( no I don’t have hot water, thats what the stove is for). By the time I was finished unpacking, I was to tired to eat so I went to bed. The next morning, the teachers had their staff meeting. There, I met all 18 of the teachers and found out which classes I was to teach. We decided I would teach English to class 4, KSL to class 8, Creative Arts to class 8 and P.E.to class 6 and 7. That ended up being a total of 23 lessons per week, which actually is fairly reasonable. After the meeting, my neighbor’s daughter took me on a tour of the town. There I bought some of the essentials for setting up my house. Like a new mattress, a stove, jerry cans for holding my water as well as food. She also introduced me to the chief, Father John, the police and some of the women at the market, as well as some of the crazies. Everyone was very friendly and welcoming and I cant wait get to know my town. Some of the things I couldn’t get in litein and will have to get in Kericho which is about another 45 min to an hour drive northeast of Litein. It sounds like a common practice people do all the time. But the most exciting news is I will get a puppy!!! One of the dogs is pregnant and the school said I could train one and then after my 2 years, I would give it back to the school. So all in all, everything is going great so far. Granted this is only my 3rd day at my site but its off to a good start. So I’ll close for now. Until next post. I miss you all.




P.S.

Like I said before, I love letters. My new address is

Danielle Harvey

St. Kizito, school for the deaf

P.O.Box 79-20210

Litein, Kenya



I look forward to hearing from you.

Saying goodbye...again

Training if officially done and I am headed to Nairobi for swearing in. I’m looking forward to starting the 2nd part of my adventure but sad that I have to say good bye to the 1st one. When I first came here, I was scared as hell. I had spent some time in the hotel due to illness and had to wait a few days to meet my family. I felt uncomfortable and nervous. I had no idea what these people were like. The day I got there I had to call them mama and baba. I cant tell you how awkward that was. These were complete strangers and I had to refer to them as family members. If you told me then that I would eventually care for them as a family, I would not have believed you. They have become my second family in every aspect of the word. Even now, I try to hold back tears as I try to think of words to say to them to express how much they mean to me. I am going to miss my sister, Ruth who has become my mentor, friend and sister. I am going to miss mama with her broken English and appetite for life Even with the language barrier, I learned so much from her. How to light a jeko, a lantern, how to cook on my own and what a strong women looks like. Im going to miss dennis, the neighborhood boy who loved pussy and learning sign language and I think I might even miss the damn cow and the many challenges it made for me. I had to tell my American family goodbye when I got on the plane. But that was a goodbye I’ll see you in 2 years. What about a goodbye, I don’t know if I will ever see you again? What do you say then?