You know your a PCV living in Africa when........

You know you're a Peace Corps volunteer in Africa when...

..walking around holding a roll of toilet paper seems like a
completely normal thing to do.
..Sitting under a tree watching goats graze is considered a "productive day"
..you stare when you see a white person you don't know
..the length of time it takes you to walk anywhere is wholy dependent
on how many people happen to be in their yards along the way
..knee length skirts are shocking, but toplessness is not
..two weeks, three countries, and three changes of clothes in a
backpack seems about right
..seeing a movie in a theatre is a good bargain, but buying a book is
an unthinkable expense
..you have come to realize that the monkeys in the park's play pretty
much the same role as squirrels in America but you persist in taking
pictures of them anyway
..there is a rooster you would like to kill, if only he weren't
dangerously close to your size
..you are considered the eminent expert on professional wrestling
dispite being able to count you're WWE viewing sessions on one hand
..you are outraged whenever the fare for a 30 minute taxi ride goes up
30 cents US dollars
..you are not outraged whenever your 30 minute taxi ride takes 2 hours
..you are stuck in an overcrowded bus for 10 hours in 120 degree heat
and no one is willing to open the windows for fear of catching the flu
..you can identify an otherwise unmarked strecth of road by the
pattern of the potholes
..when walking down the street, small children shout "white person"
and point at you but as you walk towards them they run away screaming
in terror
..you find government employees sleeping on the floor of their offices
in the middle of the work day
..when buying clothes you think "how hard would this be to wash in a bucket?"
..the fact that peptobismal turns vomit black is a standard and
essential element of your knowledge base
..showering every day seems like a decotive vacation
..you live in an almost constant state of exestential anxiety about
whether or not you are driving on the wrong side of the road no matter
which side you happen to be on
..you're cognizant of being the worst dressed person in your village
and you don't care
..you double up on words beyond the standard shop shop and now now so
that such phrases as soon soon, past past, long long, and hot hot are
part in parcel with your everyday vocabulary
..if you have to choose between whether you would rather loose your
passport or your adapter you would choose the passport
..30 kilometers is considered a pretty short distance
..you don't think twice about going potty in a plastic bag at night as
a way to avoid leaving your hut
..you have so many random bags that when you travel you look like a gipsy
..you will drink and enjoy anything that is cold
..if you're taking public transport and your lap is empty, there is
always room for more people
..you immediately loose your ability to estimate distances and waving
your hand towards a certain place is considered giving directions
..if a problem arises, your first reaction is a single big long sigh
..you secretly enjoy African pop music including Klito (sp?) and
KwasaKwasa (sp?)
..you enjoy eating maize meal and even order it at restaurants
..you're menstrual cycle coincides with the moon cycle
..basically, you have no shame
..you can never act more crazy than your African counterparts already
think you are
..spiders are no longer the enemy, but your trusted ally in the
constant battle against bugs
..you let complete strangers crash at your place just because they speak English
..you've lost track of how many marriage proposals you've received.
..you know how to make alcohol with local ingredients
..a long work day is six hours
..you distinguish between your Peace Corps family and your American family
..those eggs have been sitting out in the sun all day, sure i'll take two
..you realize that every village must have its token crazy person
..you stare at foriegn tourists as much as the locals
..when you actually realize you miss having a salad
..when you know if someone at your site says "yes" it means
"definitely not", "maybe" means "probably not" and "no" means "no"
..when you have a story for every possible topic in life that starts
with "when i lived in Africa..."

Lowest point of my service

I don’t know if it’s a good idea to post this on my blog. I did promise not to post any more sad posts but I feel I need to get it out. Today, I had a staff meeting. It started out like any other staff meeting, slow and redundant. Then without any knowledge before hand, I found out that a few days ago one of my class 8 boys raped one of the class 2 girls. This is a boy who I thought was a caring, sweet boy. He was always there to help me and I respected him. He always worked hard and even helped me during my girl empowerment class where I taught the girls how to say no to boys when they ( the boys) ask for sex and how to fight off a boy if they ever grabbed her. I even taught his class about rape and how wrong it was. I thought I had made an impact, I thought I was protecting them for what’s out there. I thought it had sunk in and I was actually doing some good. But I was wrong. I also had been working with a local athletic club and the boy was the first person I thought of. He is an amazing runner and hard working. I even had people come out and see him. One of the coaches really was impressed with him and wanted him to join. This was his ticket out of here. He would have gone to meets around the country and then hopefully around the world. But knowing he raped one of the girls we now can not have him in the club. So his future is ruined. I even had to tell the headmaster, he should not be allowed back at the school. These life skills classes, guidance classes I am teaching, I am starting to think they are not doing any good. So why am I even here? What impact am I really having?

1 yr of teaching done!

Well another milestone happened today. I finished my 1st year of teaching. And as my class 8 students leave one by one, I can’t help feeling a little sad. Sad, because my students won’t be here next year with me, sad because I only have one more year here in Kenya and sad I still have another year with the psycho teacher. Since reaching my year mark in Kenyan everyone from family to friends, to random people in the cyber world have asked me what will I do after Kenya. Well, as I sit here wrapped up in a fleece blanket, wool sweater, drinking coffee listening to the rain thundering outside and reading The Sex Lives of Cannibals by T. Maarten Troost, I have sudden passion to do a stint in the south pacific....

A Goodbye Letter

Dear Winny, Irene, Kelvin, Ronald, Julius, Tumanka, Joan, Betty, Vincent K, Jackline, Goffrey, Tonkei, Komoni, Vincent L, and Obadiah,

        As I sit here in my new rocking chair, trying not to tear up, I can’t help thinking that I have you for only one more week. I failed. Tearing up has now moved to full on crying. It was you guys who helped me survive my first year in Kenya and KSL and I owe you everything. I remember my first time as teacher on duty, I was so scared. I had no idea what to do. But when I came to you asking for help, all of you stepped up and assisted me all week. It was you who had the patience to deal with my crazy and sometimes unconventional ways of teaching. I can’t imagine school without you next term. We formed a special bond that I will never forget. I am so happy and proud of all of you but I can’t help being a little sad to see you all go.

      Julius and your caring nature, watching over me and the little ones. Assuring me my signing was not the problem and helping me explain what I was teaching to the kids who were slower. Kelvin and your cheeky, witty humor. I would always have to stop at least 3 times during class to get you to stop day dreaming. I always wondered what you dreamed about. Winny, and your ever present smile and how happy you would get when you answered a question correctly. I hope you realize how smart you are. I got to see your self esteem blossom from when I first met you. Irene, I always looked forward to your hugs on opening day. You were always stealing my phone calling your parents who don’t even speak English. Vincent L, you have a passion for art and playing tricks on me, always trying to get me…you never succeeded. Obadiah always focused on your studies. I was so impressed when the other kids were out playing, you were in the classroom alone studying. Ronald and your endless questions about Obama and America. You always made me laugh. Tumanka, you were always the first person I saw when I walked into class. I loved seeing your face light up when you got something correct. Geoffrey, I’ll miss you always trying to steal my phone to play games until I got it back and it‘s was dead.. Jackline, komoni, betty, Joan, my 4 musketeers. So subdued but I feel privileged to get to be the one to see you guys get silly and animated during our games. Tonkei you always had a smile and a positive attitude. You are one of the sweetest boys I have ever met. Vincent K, you have an amazing talent and passion for art and I hope you never loose it.

          We have learned together and faced challenges together. All of you have brought something to my education here in Kenya.. You all have so many dreams and I hope someday you reach them. My wish for all of you is to realize your full potential and go out and do great things. I am going to miss all you so much and I feel honored and proud that you were my first class.

                                                         Love,

                                                            Danielle

You're in my class?

So I was looking through my blog and spoted this old post from my first term that I actually never posted. Reading it now brings a smile to my face. I hope it will for you as well. Enjoy.

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 bounded 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 wanted 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. 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 my pineapples( yes, I gave in and bought one) and went straight to bed. Plans for tomorrow???? Im sleeping in, working on my schemes and lesson plans and finishing my wash, I’m wearing my last clean pair of panties.
 
* I can now see this is the start of my pineapple obsession. I laugh because I bought one. Now I buy 6 at a time. Also, I still don't know who all is in my class and it's been a yr.

One year Anniversary!

Today is November 4th. For most of you this is a day just like any other day, nothing special about it or important, but for me it marks my one year I have been in Kenya. This year has given me ups and downs…. Ok more downs than ups but it was still a year of learning, trying new things( I can now eat ugali and sukuma wiki and actually enjoy it) and making a difference. However, for most of us PCV’s actually witnessing the change we have set in motion does not happen till 10 sometimes 15 yrs later. But something happened today. Something I couldn’t believe ,something that helped make this one year anniversary memorable. I GOT MARRIED!

Just kidding. Haha But something did happen. I don’t remember if I wrote about it but in the beginning of the year, I went to a town called Kapkatet to visit a school my counter part recommended. The head mistress found out some of her students were recently diagnosed with HIV and asked me if I could do a presentation on it for the teachers. The stigma surrounding HIV is so bad, people fear touching someone who is positive. So I agreed and felt totally out of my element. I mean I had dropped out of my HIV class in college because it was to much science and here I was going to teach a class on it. I don’t know if the words coming out of my mouth were total bullshit or just plain luck but we ended up having a great presentation. I was able to correct some of the myths they had regarding people who are HIV +. However, after the presentation, I got busy with school and the teacher drama and never went back…until today. I went to greet the headmistress again and as we sat down for tea she told me what that simple presentation had done for her school. She had a boy who was positive and he’s always been a fighter. I guess the teachers were too scared to deal with him so he got no discipline. Now because of my presentation, the teachers are no longer scared of him and he has stopped fighting with the other kids. I can’t even describe the joy I felt as she was telling me the story. This whole year has been one full of stress, frustration and anger and at times I was actually asking myself why am I here? But on the one year anniversary I learn I am actually making a difference. Now if only I can get my students to pass KSL. Haha. I couldn’t have asked for a more perfect ending to a crappy year. I am looking forward now with excitement and impatient longing .

                                                                           

My New Month is FINALLY Here!!!!

My new month has finally arrived and so far so good. This has been the best week in a long time. The crazy teacher is out for awhile so things have been relaxed. Im also getting really busy which helps a lot. Some new projects on the horizon....


Athletic club: Some friends have started this club for the youth here in the Litein area. One of the coaches is a famous runner and has traveled all over the world doing what he loves. I introduced him to some of my kids and if they are serious and passionate about running he will train them. So we had a meeting to talk about budget and where we can look for sponsors and yesterday, he came to met the kids. Im so excited to see where it leads.


KSL lessons: Im still teaching KSL at the local VCT and I am having a blast. The students (counselors and doctors) are amazing and really interested in learning sign language. Im looking into picking up a few more places that are interested as well.


Orphanages - There are a few in my area, 2 that I have talked with the owners. Im hoping over time, I will be able to make a few trips out at least once a week to visit and help where I can.
Garden of Hope - This is a school in the next town over. it’s a early education center that only teaches up to grade 3. The headmistress has asked if I can come over and teach life skills to the older ones. Obviously not so graphic as what I would teach the teens but things like good touch, bad touch and friends who are HIV+. HIV+ support groups- My friend is part of one and Im hoping I can be more involved. They have a lot of good ideas for IGA’s ( Income generating activities) and I hope somewhere I can help.



So overall November is looking to be a pretty good month. The best new ever is the KCPE is next week and after that Im stress free….hopefully. And then holiday soon after and helping with the training. So plenty of distractions. So cross your fingers from here on out there will be no more posts complaing about school. But then again I did say that this is a blog about the ups AND downs of peace corps.