Urchins in my foot, floating in the indian ocean and seashells

So I finally took a vacation. This month has been pretty busy for me. My first week, I had to stay in Nairobi for the voting of the constitution which thankfully went peacefully. Last election went not so good and Peace Corps had to evacuate everyone. I then went back to my site for a few days only to turn around and head to Kisumu for a training. After training, a few friends came back to my site, stayed for a few days and then we all left my house, they headed back to their sites and me to Mombasa!!!!!!

August 27th

So I am on the train heading to Mombasa, the 2nd largest city in Kenya. Some of the volunteers are turning 30, 40 and 50 so we are going to throw them a huge birthday fiesta. I cant wait. The train has been interesting. From my site to Mombasa its about a days trip so you either travel by night or the entire day. We picked the train. We got on around 7pm and should be arriving around 10am...but its already 9:12 and I think we are following Kenyan time so….probably more like12. We stopped about 6 times out in the middle of no where. I woke up every time we stopped or went faster dreading the train was going to derail…it has a tendency to do that. As we were eating breakfast, we finally got to see 3 large herds of elephants from the train, including babies…sooo cute! The terrain is so different from my site. Where my site looks like the rolling green hills of Scotland, as we get closer to Mombasa, the terrain gets drier and drier, although more and more palm trees and aloe Vera plants can be seen.



August 28th

We get to Mombasa around noon and meet up with friends. Mombasa is usually as hot as hell during the year except August when it’s a little cooler. We get to the hotel and immediately took a cold shower. We then walk around looking for food. Mombasa has a middle eastern look to it and has tons of delicious food. However, its Ramadan right now so things are closed throughout the day. Its not till the call to prayer that we get to eat and things start opening up. We walk to an old protégées fort called fort Jesus which overlooks the Indian ocean. Surprisingly, Mombasa beaches are not the best. Since Mombasa is an island, you have to go off the island to get to the better beaches. Tomorrow we will go to Mtwapa to visit another volunteer and there we will get to see the beaches the coast is known for and maybe even some snorkeling. Later that night we get food called shawarma. Its heavenly! Its chicken they cook on a spit, shred it, and put it in sort of a soft tortilla/pita bread with some dressing and salad. Sooooo good! Most of us can’t just have 1. Since Mombasa is so hot, there are TONS of ice cream parlors. You can end up having ice cream for each meal. After we finished eating, we headed to a dance club and dance the night away till 4am.



August 29th

We are heading to Mtwapa today which is about a 20min matatu ride from the city. One of our fellow volunteers lives there. Shes had some house issues so she has been staying in a tent for 9 months. it’s a beautiful tent but a tent none the less. Her tent is about a 10 min walk from the Indian Ocean. Its BEAUTIFUL! White sand beaches with sea shells galore, an ocean with about 4 different shades of blue and sea urchins. That was the only bad thing about the beach. I now have two thorns stuck in my foot. But it was so worth it. Later that day we found out our friend may might be getting a real apartment instead of her tent. So we go out to a really nice seafood restaurant. The food was phenomenal! We fell in love with the beach, that day that we spent another day there. Collecting seashells and floating in the ocean. It was the best way to spend our last day in Mombasa. But the time to go came upon us fast. No one wanted to leave but we knew it must be done. We caught the train later that night and started our journey home.
 
 

Sunsets,mamas and weekly highlights

Weekly Highlights

There have been days when I get so swamped with school, frustrated with the immature boys, and more focused on the teachers drama that I forget to appreciate the beauty of Kenya. But then I have a day where Kenaya reminds me. As I sit in my hotel room, watching the sunset over Lake Victoria, a must see for anyone who visits Kenya, and listening to the monkeys make wild love making calls, I am reminded that whatever negative happens in my day, there is always a positive that follows.



I got to meet a youth organization that uses participatory theater and puppet shows to teach their community about HIV/Aids, reproductive health, condom use, child abuse, student- teacher relations and other community issues.



Im working on an essay about living with epilepsy and joining the peace corps. If I feel its good enough to submit, Ill send it to the magazine.



I found a friend who will play the part of my boyfriend while he is visiting my site. Goodbye marriage proposals…hopefully.


Bought a new shirt, jewelry, new material for yet another skirt and birthday goodies for my sisters. The highlight was I bargained my ass off for them and got a good price.



Learned a lot of Kiswahili…problem is I don’t remember any of it. However, I feel confident as time goes on, I’ll become fluent by the time I leave.



Whenever volunteers come together, we swap movies, books and any other entertainment. I have 4 new books to read and a ton of new movies that will last me till the next time we all come together.

Alone in the Nakumatt

Well as lock downs go, this one aint half bad. Since the referendum is a holiday, a group of people were allowed to head to Nakumatt for some shopping( we are not allowed out of our hotel tomorrow and Thursday). Well, you can imagine the chaos that ensued. What did u expect, take 17 people who have been out in the bush for three months, put them in a city with k-mart size supermarkets and people are going to get a little nuts. Well, heres my shopping list.
4 types chocolate bars

2 bags of candy

2 bags of chips( kenyas make of cheetos and Doritos)

3 liters of white wine…BOX wine( when you are living off of $200/month you have to lower ur standards)

300ml of kingfisher fruit wine…hey hey hey before you judge it has 8% alcohol so take that u girly beer drinkers

3 liters of water

3 sodas

300ml of woodpecker cider

Cream Cheese, Gouda, Chedder( which ended up having a hard boiled egg aftertaste) and classy European cheese spread that has a laughing cow on it. Yeah, we sort of went nuts on the cheese

And with the cheese comes crackers

A packet of chocolate chip cookies

Milk to go along with our European version of cinnamon toast crunch

And mom if ur flipping out about your daughters health, this next bit is for you.
A bag of lettuce

Spanish olives

Bell pepper

Cauliflower

A succulent grapefruit that didn’t last through the night.

Broccoli ( to make sure we were eating some what healthy)

And ranch dressing

…oh yeah and a small bottle of herbal essence shampoo.( I spent 15 min smelling all of them trying to decide which one I wanted.)

Resiliency in the Peace Corps

As school closes and kids go home, I finally have some time to reflect on this term and I have to admit, it was not my favorite. I found myself encountering more challenges and frustrations then when I first started. Most volunteers find their first term the worse and then find it getting better. However, my site had to do things backwards. I had an amazing first term. The teachers were supportive, the students and I were getting along, and I was loving teaching. But the minute 2nd term started things started to change. I witnessed a teacher beating a student( to this day I still don’t know why) while the other teachers were sitting around actually encouraging the teacher to beat the child harder. I had witnessed teachers beating students before but this was the first time when the teachers almost seemed animalistic. They seemed to find enjoyment, a sense of power when they beat the student and that I couldn’t handle. As I sat there, trying not to cry, I felt my support system I had come to rely upon disintegrate. For two weeks after the incident, I cried myself to sleep. I couldn’t interact with the teachers the same way. I even started thinking of a site change. But Peace Corps is all about resiliency and if I had changed, I would be back at square one, so after a few more days of being depressed and feeling alone, I came out of the funk and decided to change my surroundings. I was here for the students not to get pulled into the teacher drama. For those who work in a school, you’ll be happy to here that gossip, back stabbing and petty issues are not just found in America. Yes, the teachers I was close with were no longer the right teachers for me to follow, but there was a whole school of teachers who loved me and were ready to help. So I created a new support group, allowing myself to be more open to the other teachers. I also made a promise to myself that I would be more honest with the teachers. If there was something I didn’t like, I would tell the truth instead of keeping my mouth shut in fear of how it would be interpreted. Over time, my mood got back to normal. Soon it came time for final exams, a time I usually dread. This is where the truth comes out about my teaching capabilities. I gave out an HIV exam as well as a KSL. The HIV exam was more for my benefit, unlike KSL. Which in 3 months time, my students would be taking the national exam which would decide if they would go on to secondary school or not…so no pressure or anything. I was nervous but tried to remember these exams will tell me what to work on for next term. HIV test result: out of 45 students, three students got a score above 60 and one of them got an 84( last term only 2 students got a score about 60). KSL test results. Out of 15 students, 6 students got a score above 80. I was proud beyond belief. It really helped that the students who have low self esteem were among the few who got a good score. One of them even placed 3rd in her class. So in terms of relationships with the teachers, this was not a good term. However, when I ignore that and focus on the students, I guess this wasn’t such a bad term after all. Just writing this makes me excited for next term. I can’t wait to make it better.

SIDE NOTE.
If any of you have been following the news in Kenya, you will know next week on the 4th is elections for the constitution. People are a little nervous particularly because of past experiences when it comes to elections in this country. But I just wanted people to know that Peace Corps has learned from the past and although they don’t expect it to be as bad as 2007, they are being proactive. I will be in Nairobi for this week. I have been talking to my village and they say they are seeing people learn from their mistakes and are hoping people keep their cool. So by the 10th, I expect to be back in Litein. But non the less, I don’t want to leave so whatever you do, pray, hope, wish, send good thoughts that Kenya will get through its first peaceful election and I will be able to see my students again. I have attached a link to the local paper here in Kenya if you would like to follow whats happening. I will also hopefully have free internet in Nairobi so if anyone wants a chat date, give me a shout. I might be able to even pull a video chat.

weekly highlights

Weekly high lights




I went to Kisumu for a meeting and met up with some friends. We went to a bar with awesome food and continued bar hoping Kenyan style, taking over someone else’s tuk tuk( 3 wheeled motorcycle) and pilling 10 people in this 3 passenger vehicle. If you ever go bar hopping in Kenya, always go to the bathroom. The beauty of Kenya is not all the toilets are the same. Some have a hole in the ground, others a flush toilet and some even have their own version. This bar decided to have the western style toilet but cemented down into the ground….all the way to the seat. So it was a western flush hole in the ground. After taking pictures with the toilet, we ended up at a dutch bar to watch the Germany vs. Urugray match. My friend and I were a little tipsy since we had already gone to 2 other bars before this. Although she was way more tipsy than me. It was fun hanging out with fellow mzungus even if they were making fun of Peace Corps volunteers. My friend and I sat through the match not paying much attention to the playing but to the HOT players on the two teams. Thanks to the Octopus oracle, we already knew who would win. After a few drinks, we needed to relieve ourselves, so we went in search of the bathroom. How many PCV’S does it take to find the restroom? A lot more than 2 I guess. We searched and searched and couldn’t find it. We ended up finding a bathroom only to discover some ass locked the womens room. So what do you do in this situation? Yup go in the mens. Don’t worry we didn’t use the troff, we left that for the men folk.



Had a great HIV lesson with my vocational students. We talked about what to do instead of sex, what encourages sex. I was surprised how well it went. They want the same lesson next week.

Got my hair done….well half done. I just couldn’t sit for 4 more hours to get my whole head done and it was PAINFUL!


My best friend who lives next door came visiting for the week. We have been enjoying girl nights all week.

My cat now understands when I yell at him in Swahili, he’s in trouble.

Have been cooking and actually using my veggies in my garden. I made a green gram stew over rice and then vegetable rice the next day. I made the stew backwards and the rice the second day came out a little crunchy but it was still good. Even my cat ate it and he never eats any of the food I cook.


Im getting used to tea. As long as Im freezing, I can now drink a cup and ½ each day.

Got sick on Wednesday but was felt the need to clean so I cleaned my kitchen and living room. This included washing the floor. Now if only I had washed some clothes. Oh well guess Im going to school naked tomorrow.


Term 2 is coming to a close. I have only 4 more days of teaching and then it's exams.

Urban Dictionary definition of Peace Corps

Just something to make you laugh. Granteed if you are not in the Peace corps, some fo these may fly over your head but I enjoyed reading them.

1. an ambiguous government agency designed to quash the idealism of recent American college graduates over a two year process.

2. an international American government organization with continual rotating foreign staff and a fleet of white Landcruisers aimed at catching volunteers out of site.

3. two years of one’s life determined in a brief 20 minute interview after 15+ hour international flight.

4. committees, sub-committees and exploratory committees for both.

5. the automatic and immediate forfeiture of four of the first ten Amendments.

6. a mechanism for those who cannot get laid stateside to remedy their situation and for those who could to forget how.

7. groups, flipcharts and markers.

8. commonly preceded by “Oh shit! I just graduated with a degree in international relations”

9. A whole lot of seriale (often dubbed over)

10. where CD, PTO, AO, PM, LCC, SSC, TM, PCMO, FA, GSM, and GSA speak to PCVs and PCTs about SPA, PCPP, MSs, WWS, ICE, IRC, and RA as well as EAP, ET, MS, and COS in acronyms.

When I joined the Peace Corps, I had no idea.

3 weeks without internet

Week’s highlights( well more like the last 3 weeks)

Im starting to teach sessions about HIV/Aids out in the community to schools and church groups

Had the best cappuccino…although it came out of a packet and was sent from america. Thanks mom keep them coming.

I have lost 35 pounds since coming to Kenya

I have also lost my desire to shave my legs and armpits. I have to force myself to shave at least once a week. You try shaving during a bucket bath, its not easy

Finally posted a letter to the grandparents, friends and family…cost me 380ksh. Best 380 ksh ever spent

I haven’t killed my garden yet. I have beautiful flowers now. Even my carrots, green peppers and coriander are starting to grow although I cant tell which is which.

Spent an hour watching puma try to climb around on my couch...he had just devoured a whole cup of milk so he wasn’t as agile as normal.

I’m trying to get one of the student teachers certified in being an HIV/AIDS councellor( this is how the Kenyans spell it. I SWEAR to god!)

I havent had internet for the past 3 weeks and Ive honestly been ok. I think my face book addiction has finally died. Hey, it made me write 4 letters. So something good came out of it.

I devoured… yes devoured 7 pineapples in 3 days. I need to go to PA( pineapples anonymous)

I have memorized 3 songs so far

Got a standing ovation from my class 6, 7, 8, for me life skills review.

The carpentry class made me a pointer for my class since Im so short I cant reach the board.

Made a Ideal man list

My gift for cooking rice has been taken away. No matter what I do it always turns out with a little crunch.

Got a new phone that holds the charge for 1 whole week!!!!! My old phone held charge for ½ of a day.

Took class 7,8 to the tea factory in Kapkatet. I interpreted the whole thing. Learned that they don’t waste anything and will send the waste either back to the farm to replant or send it to make shoe polish. While we were in town waiting for the other teachers to finish their sodas in the restaurant, a weird man came up to where the students and I were sitting outside and tried to approach me. Before I could even say or do anything 3 of my students came up to me, blocking the man from me and made him go away. I love my students.

Its winter here in Kenya and even though Im freezing my ass off and theres no snow on the ground, I feel closer to home. I even started to sing Christmas carols.

Was teacher on duty this past weeks which means for one whole week I’m in charge. I have to supervise meal times as well as deal with anything that happens during the day. The primary students thought nothing of it since they were used to my discipline methods but the Vocational students decided to revolt. After I got mad at them for pushing past the primary students, they decided to ignore me for assembly when I asked for someone to do the raising of the flag. It was tough going for the first part, making the kids line up and take turns for meals, not acting like animals fighting over the watering hole, but in the end the students thanked me for doing such a good job, apologized for their mini revolt earlier in the week and begged me to continue with duty. I feel like I now have a stronger relationship with my students.

The boy who kept saying I was his wife to his friends AND family finally go the message. He texted back apologizing and repeatedly stated we were only friends.

Good thing about not having internet, it forced my mom to call. It was short but it was nice surprise
to talk to her before classes.

I think I need to change pumas name. Its gotten into his head that he really is a puma and is now attacking and pouncing on everything that moves. His favorite toy, my arm when Im typing