Muh-ta-two.

Today marks day 6 in Africa, and the first Saturday I've been living with Lucy.

She and I woke up early to clean the house and left before 11 for her brother's (she calls it “bro's”) house. We walked to the post office where a majority of the matatus stop to pick up passengers and, of course, got the most packed matatu with blaring rap that you could hear down the street.

Matatus comfortably fit 7, I think ours had 10 plus the two operators. Matatus are like cabs on steroids basically—and they're in a hurry. I guess they wanna save gas whenever possible because they will do literally anything to arrive to their final destination as fast as possible.

Our matatu today was by far the craziest I've been on: we backed into another matatu, stalled going up a huge hill, drove on the pedestrian sidewalk for at least a mile (that was the best part), and the entire time were CENTIMETERS away from other cars. Matatus are constantly slamming on breaks, swerving dramatically, and cussing out other matatus (well the drivers are..) all while this loud hip hop/african/rap music is playing. It's near impossible to accurately describe what it's like to ride in a matatu besides to just say that the whole time you're holding onto your chair...and your life. I've been told that they're the most dangerous way to get around (which I totally believe) but they're also the way cheapest. One ride is 20 shillings...75 shilings is 1 USD...do the math.

We arrived at her bro's in the afternoon and spent the afternoon cooking African food and watching poorly-made African soap operas with her female relatives. It was enjoyable except that the majority of the time the women were speaking in Swahili..

On our way home, we passed by another slum. It was the really stereotypical slum: walls and ceilings made of scrap metal, wooden boards, cardboard-- I saw a couple even with walls made from rocks held together by mud. Around the slum were hundreds of children digging through mounds of trash as tall as I am—food leftovers, bottles, cans, mud, decaying animals, you name it. It's impossible to fathom what it's like to be those people; I spend a majority of my time these days thinking about how awesome my life is.

Tomorrow's Sunday and I'll be going to church with Lucy. Basically everyone here is Christian and although I may not get much out of the service, I've heard that African-Christian services are not to be missed, so we'll see! Also, I heard there's a UU church somewhere around here that I'm going to find. I'd LOVE to go to a UU church in Africa!

Hope all's well...I finally had a chance to get on the internet today to talk to Mama Hicks and am gonna go more frequently to the internet cafe up the street. 1 shilling/minute = cheap!

Kwa Heri!