"Jambo, Bwana!"

I leave WHEN!?!?!?!?!?!?!

2010-04-24T21:06:00.002+11:00

WHAT!! Where have the past months gone?!?! I have such little time left and SO MUCH to do!!

I guess I'll see Rwanda another time...it began to cost a little too much, and is now taking up too much time in my plans!

Today is Friday, April 23rd and my flight is Saturday, May 8th – that's 2 weeks left. 2 WEEKS?!?

I'll spend this weekend in Nakuru with the family and friends here, Monday here, Tuesday here helping during the opening of the new school on camp, Wednesday maybe one more day, and then thursday back to Nairobi to Lucy!!!! Man I've missed her!

That leaves one more weekend when Grace and I can go to Uganda, but then there's still Tanzania! The more I read about the caves, the more I'm dying to see them!! So I can either go there by myself during the week for 2 days, or Grace could come but she'd have to miss some of her week on camp...maybe there are other volunteers who would like to come, too??

Then after the trips, I'd like to spend Thursday and Friday chilling around Nairobi buying souvenirs and saying goodbye to Nairobi friends and Lucy, maybe coming back to Nakuru for one day, and going for a day safari in Nairobi. I can't believe this is all coming to an end!! I still need to figure out my jewelery project on camp, and write a speech and make a slideshow for when I get home...I think I'm giving a presentation at school a day or so after I get back! I guess I should figure that out, too. NEED MORE TIME. AHHH!!

Hah, and can you believe that 3 and a half months ago I was ready to get on a plane to go home?! I would have been kicking myself the whole way back!

change of plans.....MOMBASSA!!!

2010-04-24T21:03:00.001+11:00

The plan was to go to Uganda for the rafting this past weekend, but another volunteer who wanted to come with us, Manal from the US, had forgotten her passport so we couldn't leave the country. SO instead we headed to Mombassa!!! Ahhh it was paradise...we took the long bus to get there, then a series of matatus, finally arriving at our resort/hotel late at night. The weather was beautiful, the beaches were soft, and the rooms were huge! Hey we also went wind surfing!!

It was the perfect weekend to follow that horrible Thursday and Friday—and no sunburn this time!!

When Manal and I got back to Nairobi (Grace stayed for an extra day at the beach) at 6am after taking the overnight 8 hour bus from Mombassa to Nairobi, we went straight to Ngong Town and climbed Ngong Hills to see the grave of the guy in Out of Africa. I've never seen the movie, but she promised that once I watch it I'll really appreciate having gone...and the scenery was fantastic!

We parted in Nairobi, Manal went to the airport for home, and I took a matatu home to Nakuru. It wasn't the weekend we had in mind, but it was fantastic!!

2010-04-24T20:56:00.002+11:00

CAMP IS SO DISORGANIZED AND CORRUPT!!!

Before Grace and I took the 5 orphans to the orphanage in Nairobi, the camp officials assured us that all forms were completed and that taking the kids was approved—no problems! A lady from a local NGO came on Wednesday, though, and squawked at us about how irresponsible we were, we had no right to move those children, the Nakuru Children Department would come after us for taking the kids without informing them. Without informing them?? The camp officials told us that everything was arranged!!

Ugh, well this is certainly a problem, isn't it?

The next morning Grace and I went (yet again) back to Nairobi to pick up the kids, take them to the Nakuru office to finish whatever paperwork, and then take them back to Nairobi. When we arrived at the orphanage, though, the staff wouldn't release the kids. ...........

There're a million little details: people lying, phone calls silenced, screaming and cursing....bah!!! If only people here would trade shoes--the government on camp is stealing from people who literally have nothing to steal!! I mean, when people charge the mzungu double price because i'm a tourist SURE I get annoyed-- if they would simply charge me a fair price, i'd tip them or say "keep the change", but these are poor Kenyans stealing from poor Kenyans...I can't begin to understand. Grace and I were just puppets for some game....ugh corruption....SO anyway this weekend we are DEFINITELY getting out of here!! Uganda here we come!!

IM IN AFRICA!!!!!

2010-04-24T20:55:00.000+11:00

In my last couple weeks in Africa I'm so excited to do some TRAVELING!

I would LOVE to go to Rwanda—it's one of the few French speaking countries in Africa, and I've been looking through my Lonely Planet and came up with an entire itinerary for what I would do there!!!!! The only problem really is money...I'd have to buy a plane ticket, all of my hotels, and then I'd REALLY love to go silverback gorilla trekking but it's nearly 400USD/day. But Everyone who's done it says that it was the most exciting experience ever!

Also on my list are Uganda for white water rafting on the Nile, and Tanzania for a 3 hour hike to a cave to see the oldest caveman carvings and paintings in Africa.
AHHHH!!!! I hope it all works out!!!

The travel bug bit me while I was in Cambodia, and I can't wait to add a couple more countries to the list!! And of course (this is especially to mom...and Hammad...) I'll let you guys know exactly what I'm doing when I do it—I can't wait!!!!!!!!!!! :D

My first wedding!

2010-04-24T20:53:00.001+11:00

Last weekend I went back to Nairobi (I've been back to Nairobi nearly every weekend since I came to Nakuru....I've just had things to do!) to be Lucy's date to the wedding!

The party that we had gone to a few weeks ago was the pre-wedding party, so this last weekend was the actual wedding! Both sides of the family are Kikuyu and Catholic, so the ceremony was held in a really huge, beautiful Catholic church...and it was entirely in Kikuyu so I couldn't understand any of it. Then we piled in personal cars and drove 20 minutes down the road to a field where there were tents and tables and chairs and cakes and traditional foods for the “after party”...which was entirely in Kikuyu. The whole day was really nice...but you can only sit in silent, ignorance for so long, ya know? People around me were laughing, though, so apparently it was fun! My first wedding ever was in Africa—cool!

When Lucy and I finally arrived back home, the Canadians were there! We stayed up most of the night playing one of my new favorite card games, Cadie. --mom and popo, we're having some serious tournaments this summer-- They needed a place to stay for their last 2 nights before heading back to Canada! I know that my last few weeks here will fly by...but a part of me envies them, of course!

"rabbits don't even have hands"

2010-04-24T20:51:00.001+11:00

The past week has been fine but ssslllooowww---seems like everything in Kenya works that way---and frustrating! If the small group of “government” on camp gave half of a care about its people SO much more could be accomplished!! But no, the government sells the special-needs food supply and distributes the money among themselves, or gives jobs at the new school to family members even though there are other more qualified applicants.....OR RUNS AWAY WITH DONATED MONEY THAT SHOULD BE COMPLETING A CHICKEN COOP ON CAMP!!! So, anyway, this week has caused more stress than...what's the opposite of stress, cheer? More stress than cheer, but this weekend is Easter so Grace and I are going into Nakuru town to use a hotel's pool and hot showers for some serious R&R after the longest week ever.
Happy Easter!

Birthday!!! :D

2010-04-24T20:47:00.001+11:00

This past weekend was my BIRTHDAY!!!! Happy last-year-of-being-a-teenager! (oh god....)

Despite a little wishing I could've spent it in the States with you guys, it was still very fun!

Not only was it my birthday, but it was also Lucy's last weekend in Kenya before flying back to the US. She and I went back to Nairobi together to stay with Lucy (my Kenyan Lucy in Nairoi...yeah it was complicated having 2 Lucys in the same small house!) We arrived on Friday evening, got all dressed up, had a bite to eat, then headed out dancing for a girls night out! Nairobi has a great dancing scene, and the best part is that people here actually dance!!

Things were going perfectly until the next morning (my actual birthday) when I started to feel rrreeeeaaaaalllllllllllyyyyyyy sick...like, SICK. I became very familiar with Lucy's bathroom floor and didn't do much moving around for the day...so the Lucys and I ordered a pizza (which I ate none of) and sat around the house watching Nigerian soap operas. Eh, it wasn't the BEST in the world but it was still enjoyable despite feeling nauseated for an entire 24 hours. I'm nearly positive what made me so sick: I've been drinking the regular water at the house in Nakuru (there's really no other water available) which I have (on a couple different occasions) fished out some small water worms or filtered out bizarre moving shapes. I'll be much more careful, but since the people here drink the water, I'd like to also!

The following day, I said goodbye to Lucy as she took a bus to the airport headed home (things at camp are going to be MUCH quieter without her around...) and then hung out with Wycliffe who wanted to introduce me to his family...I didn't know, though, that he lives in the middle of Kibera through some of the poorest sections. We did eventually get there and his family was absolutely beautiful and showered me with homemade birthday bracelets, earrings, and food. I'll have to figure out some way to repay them before I leave!

I'll head back to Nakuru tomorrow (Monday) to begin some more orphan projects. Thank you for all of the birthday texts to my cell and messages on facebook!! When you're feeling really gross AND it's your birthday it's easy to think about home a little too much....but your messages got me through it! Happy Birthday, Maryclaire!!! (I'm still older than you are! =]

AIDS

2010-04-15T03:15:00.001+11:00

I know how serious a problem HIV/AIDS is on camp...but it's one thing to know that “it's a problem”, and it's another to find out that someone close to you actually has AIDS. It doesn't make me uncomfortable or awkward when we're together, I just know that my friend isn't getting medical treatment because it's too expensive. My friend's attended all of the seminars and support groups and “knows how do deal with things”, but I can't help but worry in the back of my mind. I don't really know much about the disease itself..I just know that it kills people before they should die, and causes
a lot of pain, mentally and physically. It makes me love my friend even more, really, knowing that there's a lot more than the tip of the iceberg. My friend doesn't know that I know, although I don't think it'd be a big problem, so I'm gonna let him tell me in her own time. Until then, I'm gonna learn as much about AIDS as possible.

Sidai Children Rehabilitation Center

2010-04-15T02:49:00.002+11:00

At IDP the volunteers are basically in charge of community development.

I've been really enjoying the projects I'm in charge of – besides the chicken coop and finding the orphans new homes, I've been helping in the clinic every Tuesday and Thursday. After the volunteer nurse sees each patient, they're sent to me where I fill their prescriptions and hand out stickers to kids with booboos. Then last week I was in charge of the distribution of several bags of kids shoes, and helped give rice, beans, and corn to families when the food trucks arrived. The hospital is crazy enough on clinic days with desperate mamas pushing into the door crying and screaming, positive that they've been waiting longer than all the other crying, screaming mamas. Then when I walked out with a huge bag of shoes it was utter chaos. Naomy and Njoroge helped me pass the shoes out (god bless them) but it was still insanity. Mamas were snatching the shoes out of my hands, kids yelling “mzungu give me shoes!”, all while they created a mass around me that almost knocked me over a few times. Eventually, though, all of the shoes were given away.

Then later that day I heard cheering and applause as the food trucks pulled up carrying tons of rice, beans, and maize. Everyone on camp divides into sections and forms a “line” (a big groping mass) with plastic bags to collect 2 bucket fills of rice, 1 of beans, and 3 of maize per household. I was in charge of the maize and rice for one of the sections, a job that was thrown onto me as I was walking around taking pictures. If a bucket of rice wasn't filled to the rim, mamas were clawing into the bag to collect fistfuls. If 5 pieces of rice fell on the ground, kids were running to collect each grain from the dirt.

This Tuesday was one of the most stressful, heart wrenching of my life...while it felt great to put a new pair of shoes on a baby, or give a shosho medicine for her stomach cramps, my stomach cramped when I looked at the mass of mamas who hadn't been seen by the nurse, or the kids who were still walking around barefoot. What a day.

I took my group of 5 orphans to Nairobi to their new home. It's not a home, rather an orphanage in Nairobi, but at night they sleep in a bed, are dry, and have 3 meals a day..compared to camp, it's a palace. Finding the orphans on camp was a struggle. There's an existing list of “Orphans on Pipeline IDP Camp” but it's a couple years old, and half of the kids on the list had either been relocated or had died. So, I went from tent to tent visiting the remaining orphans on the list, and adding new ones as I met them. Sidai Childrens Rehabilitation Center in Ngong Town, Nairobi asked for 5 children ages 2-10. On the list, there were some 50 orphans, but only around 20 within the age requirement.

I “interviewed” each of the families, asked about the child's parents, took a picture, and picked the most “needy” 5...not that every family on camp isn't needy. I was really looking forward to taking a 1 year old, Victor, (Sidai said they could make an exception) to the orphanage, and I had him packed and ready to go when some random aunt called the grandmother and insisted that he stay with the family. Victor's mom had been run over by a matatu when she was drunk wandering around the highway next to camp.

Victor is the most malnourished child on camp because the mom would sell all the food given on food distribution day for alcohol and drugs. So there I am about to take him to a new, fantastic home when some random relative calls off the whole operation. If she really planned to take care of Victor, she would have already been DOING it! I realize the mom didn't know what she was doing, but apparently neither does Victor's grandma or any other relative on camp cause otherwise he wouldn't look the way he does! I was really worked up about this for several days until I finally got to meet the aunt, Sally. She's pretty young and speaks extremely limited English, but she's not stupid. She understood everything I was saying about the orphanage but was still really shaken by her sister's death...and then the more I watched her holding Victor, and the way his grandma looked at him...

I dunno, maybe that is better than 3 meals a day...

And I found out that he was born a couple months premature, so that's why he's SO small...he's still malnourished, but at least that explains his size. I still check on him every couple days and if the family ever changes their minds then Victor will be on my lap to Nairobi in an instant, but I support their decision I think. They really love him.

So, Solomon, Michael, Gladys, Samson, and Ralphael went to Sidai last week. We piled in a matatu (THAT was stressful trying to keep track of 5 kids) to Nairobi then took a bus to Ngong Town. Samson sat on my lap to Nairobi, and once we had sufficiently explored outside the window, played with the sliding glass, sung the alphabet, and tickled each other, he fell into a deep sleep...I wanted him to sleep all day because it was so precious. I had him on my lap, holding him with my arms, and he had nestled his face into my neck. He's 3ish, and beautiful. We finally arrived to the orphanage after 5 plates of french fries and 5 orange Fantas...and the place is absolutely magical. It's not squeaky clean and clothes aren't sparkling white, but there is laughing, singing, dancing, learning, and family. The 5 kids joined the existing 40 at Sidai and seemed to jump right into things. Ralphie had some trouble because his grandma told him that he was just going on a trip and would be back that night, so when we headed toward the door he flipped. Njoroge came with though, and was able to calm him down. Gladys, too, started to tear up when we were having dinner, but just as her little chin started to wrinkle 2 other girls took her hands and led her upstairs to play. We left the orphanage feeling like the lives of those kids were definitely changed for the better.

I was able to visit Sidai this past weekend when I was in Nairobi to give my 5 toothbrushes, 10 shilling each, and to make sure they were 1) being fed, 2) not being beaten, 3) making friends, 4) going to school, 5) happy...and while Samson, Ralphie, and Gladys are too young to understand most of what I said (when I asked Samson who his best friend was he put on a huge grin and said “YES!!!!”), I got all positive feedback from Solomon and Michael. Halleluiah!! :D

"NOW you're African!"

2010-03-28T03:55:00.003+11:00

had my hair done today!!

It took about 5 hours total and is giving me a major headache, but it looks so crazy! There's my hair and fake hair, brown and black—and there must be over 100 braids! The whole time the ladies commented "so white!" (talking about my scalp haha) But they also kept saying “smart sana” which means “looks very smart”, and one even said “NOW you're an African!”

Also, today I introduced Pipeline IDP Camp to Sudoku. I brought my book so that I'd have something to do while my hair was being braided, and after explaining it to a couple guys I basically had a line of men asking for a page from my Sudoku book—and then later on, I heard some men yelling across camp to each other. I asked Naomy what they were talking about, and she said “they're frustrated with your new game” lol! 3 hours later they were still working on the puzzles! Anyway, it was fun to see these grown men so invested in Sudoku :)

Otherwise today was pretty tame..it's been rainy all day so most people kept in their tents. I visited friends around camp then headed back to the house where I hung out with Emma and Tabs (they live in camp....but are always hanging around the house). Tomorrow I'm going to town for the afternoon to send e-mails and start fundraising for the house I'm trying to build. I want to leave Africa having given a family a new, better home. Rather, having given 2 families new better homes. In a perfect world, I'd have the funds to tear down a really run down tent on camp to replace it with a metal-sheet house. Then, I'd have a family who lives in a nice tent move into the house, and the family with the run down tent would move into the nice house—that way everyone gets an upgrade. I'm gonna e-mail all the people I can, and try to figure out how much, for example, 5USD or 10 USD will buy. Like, I know that 20USD can buy wood for the frame of the house. I'm gonna figure out some other figures...there's just no way to describe the standard of living here. And it's even harder to describe how comfortable I've become around it.

I'm also calling a local dentist whose number a past volunteer left to see if he'll come to the camp to give out free dental exams that he promised last year. People here don't have yellow teeth, they have brown teeth with black spots on them..that is, if they have teeth at all. There's so much to do that it makes my head spin!...or maybe it's just the braids..

Love you all!

Girls Weekend!

2010-03-28T03:34:00.004+11:00

This weekend really was a ton of fun – Grace (40ish), Lucy (24), and I went to Lake Baringo, about a 2 hour journey from Nakuru. Lake Baringo's known specifically for its crocodiles and hippos, and let me tell you it did not disappoint!

The three of us stayed in a tent RIGHT next to the water's edge, and as soon as night fell we heard the hippos emerge from the water and wander onto the land munching (so loudly!) on grass RIGHT next to our tent! Had our tent been open, we could've touched them! Hippos are rumored for being really aggressive and dangerous, and while I won't argue with that, they're really only dangerous if you get in between them and the water. If you frighten them, they won't munch you to death or eat your arm, they'll just run like hell into the water and bulldoze you over if you're in the way!

Saturday we lounged around the whole day and watched the hippos in the water (they stayed in the water during the day just off of the banks so you could watch them play and swim around), ate some delicious food, went on walks, and enjoyed showers that weren't out of buckets! We came home to Nakuru this afternoon (Sunday) and I've spent the evening playing with Rachel and Tabitha...and tomorrow I'm getting my hair done!! It's probably gonna take around 6 hours...gah...a lady in the camp, Mary, is doing it. Having things like that done on site are difficult because say she tries to charge me a really high price, it's hard to bargain because 1) you see what her tent looks like, 2) she'd probably say “sister, please help me” and 3) I have to see her every day for the next month so it's not like I can simply refuse her price. I'll have Naomy come with me to make sure I get a good price, and also to take a picture :)

On a different note, I've been drinking some kinda fishy water lately...everyone says it's okay though! At Lake Baringo all three of us drank water out of some random tap that connected to the shower water...the guy at the counter said it was okay to drink, but he also would have to be the one to go through the hassle of boiling water for us. It tasted fine, though...a little metal-y. I asked Elizabeth earlier about the water out of the huge, black container behind the house, too. She said it was treated with chlorine, and that Shamarie used to drink it straight. That, combined with Lucy's drinking the water here straight, was enough to convince me that I didn't need to be so paranoid. Plus, I've been here for approaching 3 months...I think that if I were going to get seriously ill, it would've happened by now! I'm more worried about the milkshake that I mistakenly drank on our last night at Lake Baringo—it's hard to remember not to take dairy! If I didn't put it on here, which I'm assuming that I didn't, I developed lactose intolerance while in Cambodia...good thing I hated milk anyway! (...)

I'm finally in Nakuru having some of the most memorable experiences of my life, I've been thinking a lot lately about all the people who liked to think (or say) that this trip was a dumb idea, that I would benefit more from going to college, or even that it wouldn't happen at all! Sometimes I imagine myself switching eyeballs with someone, so that that person could see some of the things I see every day here, and I'm positive that you'd never guess that those images belong to MY eyes! This is such a once in a lifetime type opportunity—I'm so fortunate to be here and am learning more than I ever will learn in a classroom. There's no education like experience!

I've also been thinking a lot about practical ways to “change the world” because I really think that deep down that's basically what everyone dreams of—being able to cure some illness or hunger and thirst or saving all the animals—whatever your passion is. The world is so, so, so incredibly enormous and in need that thinking about it too much makes my eyes water and head spin, but this whole trip is the spark that I needed to get going. It's easy to watch the news and think, “wow, that's horrible” and then flip to cartoons—but we don't HAVE to sit back and wait for someone else to do something! We can get up off of our couches and take action! Or hell, at least try...if we're supposed to be the generation to “heal the world”, why does it seem like we're the laziest yet?! I mean, more people vote for American Idol than our own presidential elections!! WOW. And I'm gonna make sure that this isn't a phase that I'm going through, cause I know we all feel save-the-world-motivated at times...this is gonna be IT.

YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE, and once every day's over...it's never coming back. This may have something to do with the fact that my birthday's coming up, too, and I'm feeling really old (lol.....no, but really...)

Anyway, that's my word for the night—thinking of you all, and having the time of a lifetime. I wish you were here to share it with me.

AND I'm getting excited for camp!! :] hope YOU are, too!!

2010-03-24T21:35:00.002+11:00

My first three days in Nakuru have been everything I hoped.

Last time I came here, within 2 minutes of stepping into camp, I was holding a baby and being kissed on the cheeks by old mamas. This time was no different: I've met at least a hundred people on camp, all of whom have kissed me on each cheek with a firm “Habari yako! Karibu!” = “How are you! Welcome!”

Naomy is the lady on camp who's responsible for the volunteers, and let me tell you, she's sent directly from heaven! She's gotta be the most loving woman I've ever met, and she's so involved! I see her every day and she wants to know what I'm doing, what I've done during the day, if I need any help, if I want her to come anywhere with me—she's an absolute angel! The other volunteers here are great, too. Two of the girls are nurses from Canada who work in the small clinic on camp, another girl, two others, Lucy and Grace, are both from the US, and one male Kiwi lives down the block. We all went out last night for dinner with a few other young Kenyans who live around here—it was good, good fun!

This house is unlike anywhere else I've ever lived in my life. Going to Thailand and peeing in a hole in the ground for a week is nothing like having that hole in the ground as your only option! There are two toilets, one outside for during the day, and one inside for at night. Both are holes in the ground. If you want to take a shower, you boil some water and mix the hot with some cold until it's warm...splash it on your body, dump it on your head, and you're done! If you want to have some cold juice, well too bad.....there's no refrigerator! Laundry is done outside in a big basin of rain water and hung on a line, and if you're hungry for a snack, just ask Auntie and she'll make it for you!

HAH communicating with Auntie is an experience, too. I know more Swahili than she knows English lol but it's really helping me with my kiswahili! I always have my little pocket dictionary (thank you, Popo) on me and am thumbing through pages every time I want to say something to her. I can tell that my Swahili's gonna be pretty sharp by the time I go back to Nairobi!

Elizabeth, the mama of the house, is fantastic—she works during the day and usually is home by 7. Until she gets home, Rachel, Tabitha, and I play around. Rachel's 7 and Tabitha's 12...they're both really fascinated with my hair, especially when it's wet. Last night they were my hair dressers and I put mascara on them. It's so fun to be a big sister! Having siblings does take away a lot of privacy, though. I was lying down in my room about a half hour ago for 10 minutes max, and Rachel must've peeked in at least 20 times, just to make sure mzungu didn't need anything :) And when we're all in my room together (which is basically every time I go, they follow) they go through my jewelry and socks and play games on my cell phone. I've never been told that I'm beautiful as much as Rachel says it. Actually, she's lying next to me in bed right now reading over my shoulder :)
“Rachel, what do you want to say to my friends in the USA?”
“Hi to your parents! She's a good friend for you! Have a beautiful day! My sister loves you; she is beautiful”
It's so different from in Nairobi when it was just Lucy and me, but I love it just as much here! (I miss you, Lucy!!!)

Each morning I wake up, take tea and bread with Auntie, get dressed, brush my teeth with a bucket, and head to camp. Right now we're working on building a chicken coup, but work has been rreeeeeeaaaallllyyyyy slow because, like I've said before, everyone here operates on “Kenya Time.” Then on top of that, the kind of wood that they have is too hard for the nails, so it's been tricky trying to assemble the coup. It's 12x20, so pretty big! I hope it's done before some serious rain comes, which according to the thunder outside will be pretty soon!

Tuesday, Naomy introduced me to Josephine, the lady on camp who makes jewelry (well, I'm sure everyone makes jewelry, but hers is fantastic) that I'm gonna bring back to the US to sell. I compromised with her a price that she'd sell them to me for, but I think she's under the impression that mzungu just wants a lot of her jewelry really cheap...so I spent a while trying to convince her that SHE will make money! She's an older lady who speaks 0 English, like Auntie. Also, her husband just had to have emergency heart surgery so on top of their not having money for food, they have to pay these ridiculous medical bills. So, selling her jewelry for her seems like the best way to help! When I left, she kissed my cheeks and hugged me to tight I thought I'd be smushed! Then, Naomy took me to a neighboring tent where I met Jecinta. Jecinta's a 15 year old who should've been in school, but her school had upped her school fees and had sent home students who couldn't pay. Her family was obviously stressing, but I was never asked for any money. They made me tea (as is custom...good thing I like the tea! I drink about 5 cups a day! The porridge is a whole different story, though...bleh..) and ugali, and we chatted about Obama and their family. They have an 18 year old son they want to introduce me to haha oh here we go....anyway, I talked with Jecinta a bit about school, I asked her if she makes good marks (which she does), and we talked about her favorite subjects, etc.. When we got up to leave, Naomy promised the family that she'd do everything she can to find some money to help pay the 2,500 in school fees (that's about 25USD). Jecinta and I agreed to meet the following morning for my first Swahili lesson! I had already decided that I would pay 100 bob to whoever agreed to teach me, and I was so glad it was Jecinta. When Naomy and I were walking home, I said to her, “I'm going to pay Jecinta's school fees.”
The lesson the next morning was SO helpful! She was really a great teacher—high schoolers are the best Swahili teachers cause in school they take both languages. We sat together for a couple hours in her family's tent, and after afternoon tea, I handed her the small, homemade envelope (Rachel helped me make it the night before) that had the 2,500 shilling inside. She and her mom opened the envelope after I had left, but I heard them both shreik and yell and start to cry. Hah and then I cried the whole walk home.. Such a small gift meant so much. I'm positive that this is where I'm supposed to be.
Today's Thursday, and I spent the entire morning with Jecinta's mama. We went to see Jecinta at school (I gave them the money yesterday and the NEXT day she was there again! I feel on top of the world!) to make copies of some receipts for her school fees. I ate three lunches today..2 with mamas on camp who insisted “Jen! Kuja hapa kukula na mimi!” = “Jen! Come here to eat with me!”, and one with Auntie when I got back to the house...I can't say no to these mamas! Or at least, they won't let me say no! :) Lucy, Grace, and I are going on a little trip this weekend, so I'm about to head over to their house with my Lonely Planet book so we can decide where. Happy late birthday also to Brittany and Chelsea! I hope everyone's great back in the States, and I think of you all often!
Rachel says, “Lucy's a good girl, I like to write, and have a beautiful day! Bye to US!”

NAKURU

2010-03-24T21:32:00.001+11:00

John and I finally arrived in Nakuru around 3 on Monday – it was so good to finally GET here!! bI'd been literally dreaming about working at the IDP camps and now I'm doing it!! Getting to Nakuru was the easy part: John and I grabbed a matatu from Nairobi, waited for 2 hours (are you getting that Kenyans do a lot of waiting?) for it to fill with passengers, and then began our 3 hour drive to Nakuru. Instead of going all the way into down, though, just to take another matatu from town to the IDP camp (20 minutes outside of town), John had the matatu drop me off at a place called East Gate, where he assured me a moto bike would meet me. So, there I sat, the only mzungu in site, next to a highway with 2 duffel bags of stuff. Each matatu that passed (maybe 50) stopped to ask mzungu if she wanted a ride, and every time I'd respond, “sitaki, moto anakuja hapa, asante!” = “don't need it, a motobike's coming, thanks!” Finally another mzungu walked by and looked at me funny saying, “hey mzungu, are you waiting on something? Cause, uh, you're sitting in the middle of nowhere by yourself...” When I clued her in, she said “Oh! You're Jen!!”This mzungu's name is Lucy, another volunteer at the camp through a different organization—there may not be any other Waltz volunteers, but there are 4 (soon to be 5) other volunteers!! AH what a great surprise it was! We went to my new home for the next month and a half and dropped my bags in my new bedroom. At Elizabeth's, I have my own room (there are two beds, though, which means that if another volunteer comes I'll be bunking with someone else), there's a huge living room, electricity, tons of chickens, and delicious food—I'm good. A year ago, or even 8 months ago, I would've walked into the house and thought, “This cannot be where I'm living. Oh my god, there are bugs everywhere, it's blazing hot, there are spiders in my bedroom, there are no bathrooms—this cannot be real.” But it's amazing now how all my standards have changed. Instead, the house is beautifully decorated, I have my own bedroom, and the family is absolutely incredible. Not to mention, it's only a 20 minute walk to camp. THAT might be the best part! It'll be a big change from Nairobi, but it's exactly what I've been wanting. It feels so good to be here. I can tell already that my time here is going to be the most impacting yet. Happy Birthday, Mama Hicks!! I love you and couldn't have done any of this without you! See you in May!!

Goodbye Nairobi!

2010-03-24T21:26:00.003+11:00

Well as nice as last weekend was, I was bound to have a bad one sooner or later.

It started out nice enough, though! The Canadians came into Nairobi for the weekend, and Friday was Martine's 22nd bday, so after school on Friday I met them in Nairobi for dinner. There was a ton of traffic so getting to town took about an hour in one of the local buses. Btw, I really like all this public transport—i wish augusta had more! What a good way to save gas and money! People like to say that public transportation is difficult to get the hang of, but not if you just talk to people and figure out how to get where you need to go! Anyway, so I finally got downtown in the evening and met them at dinner. And what really gets me is that the place was NICE! Really nice! We stayed there for a long time, then finally when I reached for my purse (which had been hanging on my chair), it was a whole lot lighter than it had been. I looked inside and there was my wallet—no phone, no ipod. I spent the rest of the night looking for it (or for a sketchy guy listening to a new, shiny ipod) but these people are professionals, there was nothing I could do.

I don't know what I was thinking bringing my ipod...i've been listening to my Swahili recordings so much, and I knew that I would have about an hour long bus ride to downtown...bahhhh. Lesson seriously learned. I'm not gonna write a whole lot about it, but just.....ugh.
This past week was my last week teaching..I said goodbye in all of my classes, took a ton of pictures, and replaced phone numbers of friends from school. Friday, Wycliffe (the french teacher) and I walked through Kibera Market to the building (rather, metal sheets held in a square with barbed wire) where he volunteers after teaching every day—he volunteers with people with HIV and AIDS-- counseling them, passing out supplies, and being really awesome. I think that when I get back from Nakuru I'll volunteer there in Kibera for a couple weeks! Plus, Wycliffe has become a great friend who I want to keep in touch with from Nakuru and from the US.

On Saturday I went with Lucy to a traditional Kikuyu wedding celebration! It was probably the most disorganized thing I've ever been to, though. We left the house around 10, got to Nairobi at 11, waited until 1 for people to arrive at the meeting point, piled into 2 little sedan cars (there were 7 in each car), then drove to Limuru, a neighboring town. When we got to Limuru (which, I found out, wasn't even where the party was), all of the women walked 10 minutes down the road to some lady's cousin's shop where we stood awkwardly for a half hour...rather, where I stood awkwardly as the only mzungu for kilometers being stared at by a group of at least 20. I'll hand it to Africans—they have absolutely no problem just standing and STARING at someone shamelessly. Anyway, once we'd finished standing around, we walked back up the road and got into the cars again (I'm not even sure why we stopped there?). We drove about 10 minutes up another road into the mountains when the other car's tire blew, so we pulled over at a rest stop (which had the most spectacular view i've ever seen) and waited for somewhere around an hour and a half for the men to repair the tire. After the tire was fixed, we were on our way again to...somewhere. We stopped at a gas station finally where the women decided that they were sick of waiting around to go, so we all piled into one car and drove the last half hour to the groom's family's house—everyone here has their house and then they have their home, where they grew up with their parents. Usually their homes are in the country, have big living rooms with tons of couches, no flush toilets, no showers, no refrigerators, and no sinks. Imagine how much more work everything is!

Big parties like that always have incredible food—i ate until I thought I would explode, and then was served even more. It was delicious, though—every single bite! (all except the fermented porridge...i had to dump mine into Lucy's cup...ew.) After we ate, there was a long ceremony (all in Kikuyu) introducing both sides of the family, having each person stand up give his blessings to the to-be married couple. I was playing with a baby (because there was really no sense in my pretending to understand Kikuyu) when all of a sudden I heard a man say in English, “Mzungu! Stand up and introduce yourself!” I was the only mzungu, so obviously it was me...haha I tried my best Kiswahili which made the whole crowd roar laughing. Lucy and I rode home with a car full of women from the party. On the way back to Nairobi, though, we were stopped at a routine police check. (ugh) They had us pull over and open the boot. They asked for the driver's license, asked where we were going, asked where we were coming from—it was as if we were guilty of some crime.

Then, he saw mzungu in the back seat, shined his light in my face, and asked to see my identification (ugh) so, I pulled out my Georgia drivers license and handed it to the guard. But apparently that wasn't good enough (although it always had been at past checks) because they demanded that I hand over my passport and visa...which obviously I don't have with me all the time. Imagine if my wallet had been stolen the weekend before with my passport inside!! What a pain! So, the fact that I didn't have my passport obviously meant that I was an illegal alien from Somalia.. “Do I look like I'm from Somalia?!!” They insisted that I get out of the car and go to the police station while Lucy goes to the house, gets my passport, and brings it to the police station. But the big lady driving stepped in and she said, “AW HEEELLLLL NAW! IF YOU THINK I'M GONNA LET A YOUNG LADY GO ANYWHERE WITH YOU, YOU MUST BE CRAZY!” (looking back, it's hilarious!) Finally with light bantering and giggling at the guard's stupid jokes, we were allowed to leave. While not having a copy of my entire passsport on me may not be a good idea, it is definitely not illegal! But, making photo copies will be the first thing I do when I get to Nakuru. UGH! Everything is so corrupt here!! These police checks are done by security guards holding big bats, who prod through your car hoping to find some tiny little thing out of line, then insisting that you should pay them 2 thousand bob or else they'll take you to the police station. It's all so, so, so corrupt and ridiculous.

****************************
I spent the entire day on Sunday saying goodbye to friends—said goodbye to Emelda and her grandma next door, hung out with Keylion, Wyclife, & Nayaragi, and bought a couple CDs from the little boys down the street. When I met up with Wyclife, he gave me a going away present, a published book of journals of 7 kids who grew up in Kibera...as I was thumbing through it thinking “alright, cool book,” I flipped to a random page that started, “Hi, my name is Wyclife.” It was HIM! He'd been involved in the project to make this book, and had written one of the journals! AH WHAT a cool present!!!!! I was so thankful, and he told me to read it on the way to Nakuru and bring it back whenever I'm back in the city.

I will miss it here so much, but I know that bigger things are waiting in Nakuru! Can't wait!

I also found out that there aren't any other volunteers in Nakuru, which is a good thing and a bad thing: Good because, of course, being by yourself makes you a lot more approachable, and the majority of the friends I've made I met when I was walking around Nairobi by myself. It helps to not be in a little mzungu posse everywhere you go. Bad because there are times when you need a little western break...be it the need to talk about music, politics, whatever that they don't have in Kenya, or the need to speak fluent, fluid English with a native English speaker (except Lucy, her English is flawless). It'll be good and bad, but I have a feeling mostly good! I'll be living with Elizabeth (the mama), her two daughters, and their Auntie.

John and I leave Monday at 9--talk to you from Nakuru!! =D

On the road again!

2010-03-24T21:26:00.001+11:00

This weekend was so fun!

I'd forgotten how much I LOVE traveling—especially by myself! From Nairobi to Kiserian (where the Canadians are) is about a 2 hour trip which, in the States, would involve getting in the car, driving myself to Atlanta, and driving home. But in Kenya, you take a bus downtown, bargain with matatu drivers for a good, local price, connect to another matatu in Rongai, until you finally reach Kiserian. And if you're hungry on the way, you don't stop at a gas station to buy Mentos and a Coke, you stop at market where you bargain over ndizi (bananas) and chai (tea). I studied Swahili in the matatus and several times was offered help by other passengers. And, have I talked about matatus before? I would've taken a picture but I was the only mzungu for miles and didn't wanna be extra foreign—matatus generally have 15 passenger seats in them, 1 seat for the driver, and 1 seat for the conductor (the guy who constantly opens and closes the door yelling the price, shoveling passengers inside, collecting money, etc...but our matatu had at LEAST 25 people in it!

Anyway, it was an incredible weekend and it was good to get out of the house!
This week will be one of my last teaching—i gave notice to Morris (the principal) the other day telling him that i'll hopefully be in Nakuru in 2 weeks. I'm really going to miss the friends I've made in Nairobi...but I need to go to Nakuru. I've been talking about it for so long, and I know it's the right place for me.

And I think spring break's coming up for everyone—have fun!!

I've swum in the Indian Ocean from 2 different continents!

2010-02-26T13:05:00.001+11:00

Our beach trip wasn't exactly what I expected but it really was nice!! We stayed at TOP END hotels...countless pools, our own rooms, AIR CONDITIONING (that was the first time I had felt AC since I got to Kenya), and beautiful beaches!

Our night in Mombassa we went dancing at a local disco--but the majority of the women were dancing for work as opposed to dancing for fun. We left Mombassa the next morning (only spend 1 night there) for Malindi, a really Italian-inspired city further down the coast. Malindi was Incredible!! Not only was the city itself really pretty and well-maintained, we stayed at the NICEST resort I've ever been to/been inside/seen!!

this was my private little house. not room, HOUSE!

Brenden chillin by our pool...OUR pool!

While the hotel was incredible and the beaches were beautiful, the most amazing part of the trip (for me, at least) came Wednesday night when a local Massai tribe put on a dance show for us. They reinacted what a Massai hunt is like (it involves a lot of jumping up and down really high and stomping your feet as a way to seem bigger and more threatening to your prey) and did a few traditional dances (when they dance, they roll their bodies like a snake standing upright...kinda and jump up and down..its magical..sounds stupid but really that's the perfect word) and all the while are chanting and grunting and shreiking and whistling--it was AWESOME!!!

Then, to top it off, as if the night weren't fascinating enough, half of the Massai came into the audience and picked people to dance with them!! I held hands with the guy who picked me and he led me around showing me how to do the snake-like dance, teaching me the chants. Brenden has a picture of it somewhere in his camera...but it was just incredible. It's all I could think of for the rest of the night!!

I still keep in touch with the guy who picked me, too :) Saitoti speaks really good english so we're able to talk on the phone most days. Since Malindi is so Italian (and the majority of the mzungus vacationing there are Italian) all the workers at the resort and the majority of the Massai speak Massai, Kiswahili, English, AND Italian!

This man has killed 5 lions, and has the scars to prove it. I talked with him after the show--he showed me his scars, told me a couple stories, and painted a picture of what it's like to sneak up on a lion with nothing but a wooden club for protection. AHHH!!! AWESOME!!!

It was just absolutely awesome. awesome awesome awesome awesome. one of the coolest things that's ever happened to me. and i'm so glad that I still talk with Saitoti--if I could do anything in the world right now, I'd go back to Malindi and live with his tribe for a couple weeks...learn some skills to become an "honorary" Massai, something like that. It was just too incredible to write about. and apparently i'm still obsessing over it!!!! haha

So, Martine, Brenden (the two Canadians) and I arrived back in Nairobi late Friday night, went to Adam's Market (this huge second hand market...good prices and GOOD products! lots of clothes, accessories, shoes, bootleg DVDS, etc) on Saturday and relaxed on Sunday. Monday morning the Canadians took a matatu to a neighboring town where they're volunteering (although they're soon to relocate to Nakuru like I am) and I went to school--which I had missed!

I planned an awesome project for this week (since it might be one of my last working at school..it's been the time of my life but I can't WAIT to go to Nakuru's IDP camps): paper mache! I bought balloons, tons of flour, and one of my friends was able to get me a ton of free newspaper--it was so messy and fun!!! And to top it off, Monday and Tuesday were exams and there's no school today (Friday, feb. 26th) or monday and so it was a pretty abnormal week--Wednesday and Thursday were basically just fun, hanging out days! And after art, each class had huge water fights!!! and of course, who doesn't like to dump a bucket of water on the teacher? I came home from work covered in flour-y glue and newspaper strips.......soaking wet. I meant to take pictures but kept forgetting my camera! I have one more class, Class 7, doing the project next week and i will make SURE to take pictures!

But it really was fun, and next week we're painting the balloons! It's a big, fun project to possibly end my teaching on. :) I will miss them, though........a lot.

As far as the actual SAFARI part of our safari, we're leaving March 5th for either Massai Mara or another huge national park--they're basically the same. Both have the Big 5, beautiful sunrises, and local tribes scattered throughout the hundreds of square miles of land.

That's about it -- I was pretty sunburned after the beach and look like a snake shedding its skin. I've never had my ENTIRE BODY peel...gross. hey! I saw a monkey crossing the street on my walk walking to the internet today! And since nobody around knew how to cut mzungu hair, I skipped the haircut and am getting my hair plated soon! Tomorrow (Saturday) I think I'll go visit the Canadians..they're about an hour and a half drive away..I think the matatu should cost around 200 bob, not bad at all! I've been studying Kiswahili like mad and am geting the hang of it! I hope everyone's well..and oh, btw,......GO USA! I've missed being able to watch the Olympics--there's no coverage of it here!!!!!

Love to everyone and talk to you again soon! Kwa heri!

PS - CONGRATULATIONS JOZLYN!! IM SO PROUD OF YOU!!! =D

(pps, the post below this one was written RIGHT after the Massai show!)

MASSAI!!!!

2010-02-26T13:04:00.000+11:00

Tonight was incredible—I'm on my safari week with the other volunteers in Malindi tonight, and at the hotel (resort) where we're staying, a group of Massai came to do a dance and sell jewelry for all the mzungus. It was possibly the most incredible show I've ever seen!! Traditional Massai are so beautiful—they wear the red fabric wrapped around themselves, are adorned with TONS of homemade beads, jewelry, and have their ears stretched into huge hoops. Massai are also generally really tall so they stick out in a crowd. There was a dance where they came into the audience to pick people to dance with them, and I was picked!! I DANCED WITH MASSAI!! Then there was a photo opp at the end and I sat in the middle of them for some pictures---the dance was the best part, though. Traditional Massai dance involves a lot of jumping up and down really high and shaking your body like a fish out of water....it looks really weird when its not done right, as you can imagine. But they were all so incredible...and the best part is, that they're REAL people! Just because they're traditional in their dress and language and homes doesn't mean that they're dumb or unsophisticated! They were funny and charming and talkative (most speak Massai, Kiswahili, and English)! I HAVE A MASSAI'S CELL PHONE NUMBER IN MY CELL PHONE!!! It was just really incredible to be talking with and hugging and shaking hands with people who are talked about so widely. IT WAS INCREDIBLE!!!

pictures, pictures, pictures!!!

2010-02-14T01:17:00.005+11:00

see facebook for more pics!

GIRAFFE CENTER!!

IDP CAMP IN NAKURU

KIBERA SLUM

LUCY AND ME :)

Gettin' into the swing of things

2010-02-13T03:17:00.003+11:00

If you're one of the lucky few who got to talk to me 3 weeks ago (or, rather, if you got to listen to me sob), you wouldn't recognize me today.

It's so easy to be miserable-- for things to be dull or far or difficult or different than you expected. I was so overwhelmed when I first arrived that I could barely think straight—haha I read back to some of my blog posts and am embarrassed at how mopey and emotional they are!! I don't know what it was about Africa that was so horrible at first. I'm asked, “What exactly was wrong?” and ya know, nothing really. I was just horribly homesick, unimpressed with my teaching, and feeling really stupid.
A month later, though, staying in Africa was definitely the right choice. I'm teaching, studying, reading, cooking, but most of all, learning.

While teaching admittedly isn't the most needed service I can give to Kenya, it is fun as hell!!! I don't plan on doing it for more than another month or so, but I'm going to ENJOY it while it lasts! I mean c'mon—what's more fun than playing with a hundred kids all day?! I've begun making friends with the other teachers (whom I realize I had seriously neglected), eating lunch at school, and having students over to the house after class for a glass of water, a game of cards (usually War), and some music listening. I like to think that I'm balancing “Madam Jennifer” and “Jen” well.

While class can sometimes get out of hands (I apologize to every teacher in my life whose class I talked during), my students have learned that I like fun.......but there's a clear line. When a problem arises in classes with other teachers, the answer is simple: the teacher takes a stick and smacks the student's hand, arm, leg, or back. And I would love to be able to do that—it makes discipline really easy. But there's simply no way I could ever do that without busting into tears and apologizing! Use words first...that's my motto! So, school's going well and is way more fun than before!

Also, another little story that I forgot to mention from my last post was some random man's attempt at stealing my ipod. I was sitting in the matatu on the way to Nakuru (where the IDP camp is) with the window open about 1 foot next to me. We were driving through town and had slowed for traffic when for some reason I felt like I should grip onto my ipod in my lap...then 5 seconds later a hand slipped in the window, hit me in the face, fiercely tried to yank it from my grasp, and then ran away. Things like that happen in books where people warn you about “Nairobbery” and I'd become waaay too comfortable in town, forgetting that I'm in a huge city. It was by chance/luck/whatever that I was holding on to the ipod so tightly...it shook me up, but the day could've been a lot worse. Everything is an experience—and I'm glad to have had that one.

Speaking more about the IDP (Internally Displaced People) Camp, I have never felt so needed or wanted at one place. Within 1 minute of entering the camp, I was holding a sleeping baby and being kissed on the cheeks by a line of women elders. I gave them my best Swahili which they entertained by responding in Swahili....even though I lost them after “How are you? I'm fine.”

The story behind the camp is mind numbing. In the last presidential election in February of 2008, the President elected was from the Kikuyu tribe. (In Africa, everyone knows what tribe he comes from) All the non-Kikyuys in Kenya were convinced that the Kikuyus cheated. So, all of the other tribes basically ganged up on the Kikuyu, thus beginning one of the bloodiest wars in Kenyan history. For months after the election, Kikuyu markets were burned, houses razed, and people mugged and murdered. And, of course, without markets nobody could get food! People from all tribes starved.
After the election, violent Massai, Luo, Kamba, etc. planned a raid on a Kikuyu village, but the villagers were able to escape just before the attack. All the villagers piled in 3 sixteen wheelers and made a new “temporary” home in a valley miles away from their village. 2 years later, that village is the IDP camp that I visited and where I hope to work in around a couple months.

The camp itself is enormous, hot, dirty, and brown—but it is not sad. The people there were some of the happiest, most life-loving group I've ever met. And they so appreciated my being there! I can't wait to work there...and like I said before, it's up to the volunteers to talk to the people and figure out what they need. If I'm able to work there, I'd like to continue Julie's hygiene courses, teach women how to weave mats from straw to use as “carpets” in their tents, and I'd like to do a Spring Cleaning of the entire camp. The tents smell and are infested with bugs—no kids can be healthy in those conditions. I've written letters to various companies asking for donations of soap, toothbrushes, bug spray, trash cans, etc. I'll be ecstatic if I get 1 response, though.

So, that's on the agenda hopefully sometime soon. I feel so strongly drawn to it.

Another observation I've made about Kenya was inspired by the Bob Marley tribute concert. Shamari and I were walking in, showing our hand stamps to the security, and I walked in easily but he was stopped by a guard and briefly interrogated. He walked outside once, and it happened again when he was trying to come back in, and it happened several times downtown the weekend before.

The only way I could think to describe his situation is that because of my light skin, I'm obviously a tourist and people here want me to have a good impression of their country. Because he's black, Shamari blends in with the Africans here who don't get special treatment. That seems so backwards though: locals being shoved around and pushed aside. Also, I imagine it would create self-loathing like “God, why do I have to be African? Why can't I be a European?”

That's something I've noticed in talking to my co-teachers at school, too. I usually spend my afternoons talking with Jared and Maurice, both of whom are looking for “a nice mzungu lady.” Being with an African lady would be Jared's “last option” and Maurice “isn't looking for African ladies.” Tuesday, Jared and I were talking about “the 1 thing you would change about the world if you could” and I said that I'd have Pangaea come back so that people could visit other countries more easily. He said that he'd have everyone have the same color skin.....white. I was with him for the same color skin part! but then....white? So I said, what about all black? Or green or blue or purple? He said those would be fine, too, but white skin is the nicest. I really think his mindset is a product of great treatment towards whites and hostile treatment towards Africans. He's said several times that he wishes he were white...I thought that prejudice about race wouldn't exist in Africa where basically everyone looks the same. But nah, it exists just as much as it does in the States.

Another observation I've made, which I expected, is that everyone (kids and adults alike) all associate money with light skin. Children begging for money single me out in a crowd...but I tell them “no, really, I don't have any money to give you! i'm sorry!” They're just programmed that way. White = rich, when in fact, when I was walking around downtown the other day, I saw local ladies with Coach purses, designer jeans, their hair all done up fancy, painted nails—looking MUCH nicer than I was!

But then on the reverse, I guess I came here with a certain mindset, too. I figured that because I'm going to Africa that everyone would live in grass huts, earlobes stretched out with long sticks through their noses. Definitely not. Nairobi is a city just like ANY American city!! Sure, those grass huts exist but they're way out in the country sides. And if those people had a choice, they'd move to the city! There's a big hype about African tribes, tribal jewelry, weapons, etc. but those people don't want to live like that—it's just how it is for them and they make the most of it.

Anyway, this week is almost over—Tuesday we leave for the Safari!!!! Sarah, I'm gonna record the sunrise on Mount Kenya (how awesome is that!!) and I'll take about a million pictures (I'm buying another memory card...THATS how many!!) Tomorrow I think I'm gonna get a haircut at a local salon next door (the lady said she's never cut mzungu hair before so we'll see how that goes!!) and I found this really amazing CD/DVD stand down the street. Let's just say, I own Avatar on DVD. That's wussup.
This weekend, I'm going to a local music festival with Jared and Maurice and going out to lunch with a new friend, James, from the Bob Marley concert. It's so nice to have local friends! And I've also become pretty handy in the kitchen with local food—I'm in charge of dinners this week 'cause Lucy's working late—and cooking is fun! The microwave isn't the answer to everything!

I've also begun bringing my laptop to the cyber cafe which is really convenient and now I can get on Skype! Talk to you all soon, I think about home every day-- love and miss you!

PS – Jenay, congrats on your speech!!!!!
PPS -- pictures are coming tomorrow when I can spend time at Nakumatt (basically Kenya's Walmart) using its free internet!

Mzungu!! Mzungu!!

2010-02-10T03:32:00.005+11:00

Wow it's been a long time since I was able to write—it's nice to be busy!

The past 2 weeks or so have been average, but nice. School is going well: I'm starting to make friends with the faculty and I have a group of ladies I eat lunch with most days—and we do some serious laughing!

Last Monday and Tuesday I (last minute) took leave from school to go to Nakuru with John to see the IDP (Internally Displaced People) camps. Nearly 1,000 people live at the camp we visited. An average house is a tent, but not a triangular tent like the ones that come to mind—the tents are tarps, pieces of plastic, towels, anything that they can find, all suspended by cables in the shape of a box. It's hard to explain without pictures...it was unreal.

Volunteers who work at the IDP camps stay with host families and walk to the camp every day. During the day, the volunteers make their own work—they talk to the people to see what problems there are and decide how to best fix them. One girl I met, Julie, works at the hospital (she's a nurse) and is arranging hygiene classes to teach women how to keep their babies healthy (they're constantly sick). Another volunteer is building a fish pond so that the camp'll have a reliable source of food and income. To make your ideas come to life, you have to give a presentation to some board, have your idea approved, get money from them, hire your people, manage the site, and everything else you can think of. Sounds stressful, but sounds great.

Another volunteer based there, Shamarie, has come to Nairobi the past couple weekends. He's 22, from NY, and fun to be around. Last weekend we went dancing downtown and walked around Kibera slum next to my house (I have a million things to say about that btw), and this Saturday went to a Bob Marley concert to celebrate what would have been his 65th birthday. God it was fun, too...everybody was jammin' out, didn't matter what kind of dance you were doing or how you looked doing it. Whatever it was, it was cool. I was the only female and mzungu there for a while until others eventually showed. It's kinda cool to be one of a kind in a crowd though! Reggae is amazing.

Earlier on Saturday, also, was probably the coolest thing that's ever happened to me. Shamarie and I went to the Giraffe Center 30 minutes outside of Nairobi. We got to pet the giraffes, feed them, and make out with them! After getting enough pictures, we went across the street to the Bird Sanctuary thinking “alright, we'll see some birds, it'll be cool.”

We were walking around taking pictures of plants and things, when we see a sign that says Please Stay At Least 15m Away From Giraffes...and we're like....giraffes?!? We thought this was birds!!! After seeing that sign, we decided that we were not leaving until we saw one!

So we're walking around for around a half hour following footprints and droppings and all that, when OMG!! WE FOUND ONE!!!!! #%^&&#%&*@@#@#@^!! We were on her turf...no protective fences, no park professionals watching out for us, no idea how to act around a giraffe in the wild! We were able to get pretty close....moving veerrrryyyy ssssllllooooowwwwllllyyyy when all of a sudden this dude walked by holding a bundle of sticks (we think he lived back in the forest on the park) and the giraffe TORE away!! My god if it had run towards us, I don't even know what woulda happened!!! My heart jumped out of my chest, that's for sure. I mean, they're huge!! and they're high up—they aren't lookin at the ground to make sure they're not steppin on any tourists!

So basically, we almost died.

It was amazing, though. And later, we found out that there are 9 giraffes in the whole park. There's a 100 acre space where the giraffes sleep, and there're 40 acres where they spend time during the day with the tourists. There's 1 giraffe, though, who's camera shy and doesn't like making out with tourists, so she stays in the 100 acres by herself during the day while the rest go to the touristy 40 acres. AND WE FOUND HER.

On Feb. 16th John, Shamarie, the two Canadians, 3 other Americans (18,19 and 20), and I leave for our Safari!! We haven't decided where exactly we're gonna go---either to Massai Mara or Mt. Kenya---but I'm positive that it's going to be absolutely fantastic. If I thought seeing a giraffe in the wild was crazy, I can't wait to see a LION!!

I'll be updating more--sorry for the drop off. When I first got here, my blog was someone to cry to (yeah, sad but true) but now things have been looking up and I haven't needed such a constant outlet. I will update more though. Cross my heart! and tomorrow I'll upload a ton of pictures!! Until then, here are a few to appease your appetite :)

Jamuhuri National Road/Kibera Post Road = the street I live on.....see that blue gate? i live (when you're looking at the gate) just to the left of it

4 of my favorites

Lucy :)

Muh-ta-two.

2010-01-16T23:04:00.000+11:00

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!

2010-01-15T22:56:00.000+11:00

Every moment I'm by myself all I can think about is home.

I don't want to be a quitter...people come to Africa every day and have the time of their lives. Lucy is really such a sweet lady..I really enjoy my evenings with her cooking dinner, watching Kenyan soap operas, and chatting about anything.

--Lol oh, last night I made dinner. Good lord. I figured that you can't mess up Ramen, right? So, two packs of Ramen, 1 egg, 2 carrots all chopped up, some African spices...it was more like noodle mush haha don't ask how it happened, but she tried her best to eat it lol so I think we've decided that she'll cook and I'll clean up haha--

It's not that I miss anything specific....it's hard to explain. I think I just miss America in general...which is bizarre because although I've always been proud to be an American, i've never been overly patriotic. Like, i'll sing the national anthem or whatever but I avoid tshirts with red, white, and blue tie dye (lol...yes, you know who you are! :] ) but every time I see a girl with USA earrings or a dude wearing a shirt that says US ARMY (which is surprisingly common) my heart skips a beat. It's different to miss your family or your house than it is to miss your country...and I miss it. It's draining being surrounded by strangers, and unfamaliar foods, and dirty places, and strange languages. I can nap all I want but I wake up exhausted.

I'm ready for college, too. In Cambodia I tried to convince myself that I'd much rather be traveling the world and doing huge things than going to college, but as far as I can tell from friends, college rocks. And going to college doesn't bring the end of “changing the world”.....there's so much to do in the States. There is poverty everywhere.

Cambodia and Africa were half to give my all to help others, and half to displace myself and learn about another culture. I've learned and going back to America isn't the end of helping others. Maybe in 2 weeks everything will be different and I'll never leave Kenya...but right now, even if I were really really enjoying every minute, I think I'd be ready to go anyway. Man, I wish it weren't like that though...I didn't expect to feel this way and it's so disappointing...I was talking to Maura about this the other day: there is no way to describe how hard this trip is unless you're explaining it to someone who's done it already. ---It is just so, so hard. Like a big, fat punch to the face with no one around to hand you some ice.

Yesterday was nice, though. I spent a long time in the afternoon walking around by myself....I admit that I was lost for a while, but I had a general sense of where I was...ish. I walked through the “rich” neighborhoods and passed the slum near my house. It was sunny and nice, and now I know my way around the district pretty well. Or, at least I know my way from the supermarket and Waltz offices to my house. It was nice to spend my afternoon doing something else than reading or studying Swahili or sleeping. And, when Lucy came home from work she gave me a Kenyan cooking lesson: Kenyan stew = delicious.

And today is my first day of work! I went to school at 8 this morning and was figured into their pre-existing schedule. I am officially the Creative Arts teacher, Miss Jen. I teach music and art...there's a book that I can look to for guidance but its so...ridiculous. The first exercises are of drawing scenes like “Draw a picture of a teacher caning a student for failing a test. The student should have tears in his eyes and blood on his hands” and i'm like...uhhhhhh what?! So, I'm gonna come up with my own stuff. I mean, there's no exam for music and art so whatever...but I'm not having them draw pictures of me beating them.......no.

I was a bit surprised that I wasn't teaching English or Math like the principal had said on Wednesday. And, because I'm only teaching those subjects, I have a really light schedule. Mondays I only have one 40 minute class, tuesdays and fridays are from 11:30 to 3:10, then wednesdays and thursdays are pretty mild, too.

I asked the principal if I could teach anything else, but they already have teachers...paid professional ones. There are 2 math teachers, 3 english teachers, 2 science teachers, at least 1 social studies teacher, and a couple Swahili teachers. That's the downside of working at a private school---they don't really need help. Help is always nice but they'd be good with or without me.

But....I didn't come to Africa to have free time until a forty minute class in the afternoon...then more free time. There's a gym across the street that I'll join to hopefully meet some people. But I am not going to let my time in Africa be spent sitting around the house. I could see myself doing this for a month or two, but after that I'm either going to change project locations or to go home and get a job. I could do tons of volunteer stuff around Augusta...I saw a commercial on tv for Habitat for Humanity that reminded me of our snr project and how it was one of the most fun things I've ever done...so I could get a job during the week and do Habitat on the weekends....there're so many ways to spend time.

On a different note, though, I've had a blast hanging out with Lucy in the evenings. I'm not sure what we're gonna do tomorrow (Saturday) but she sounded like she wanted to hang out.....which would be awesome :) I asked her about the Giraffe Sanctuary in Nairobi, whether or not it's worth going to, and she said, “oh sure we'll go check it out some weekend soon” which was really sweet. We're friends...not just people forced to live together. And, last night another American volunteer came in really late so he stayed at Lucy's with us for the night. It was fun having company even for one evening.

The other dude volunteer who's gonna be staying at our house for like 3 weeks arrives next week sometime. John had said that he was young and chill, but then I found out he's a doctor so he can't be that young. And because he's a doctor, he'll be working at a different project...not that I would need help with my art classes. So, we'll do different things during the days then spend evenings together with Lucy, and hopefully do some cool things on the weekend. AND the couple from Canada arrived yesterday to volunteer for 2 months. They seem really cool so hopefully I'll be able to spend time with them on weekends, too. I'd love to go to Uganda and Tanzania safari-ing around East Africa. The trip takes less than a week and is pretty cheap (which is always nice).

I'm going to make the absolute most of my time here and I know teaching art is going to be SO fun, but not as rewarding as teaching an actual subject would be. Like I said, time is so valuable and I need to feel like I'm making a difference...or at least doing something useful. Plus, the kids don't need 5 months of art lessons from someone who isn't that good at drawing haha

Time to make a sandwich to take to school for lunch. Kenyan specialty: peanut butter, honey, and sugar.....mmmmmmm!

PS – Tara, expect a message soon needing fun art class ideas--it's been a while since Intro to Art! I'm giving them Friday Sketches for homework! =)

Ms. Jen

2010-01-13T22:51:00.000+11:00

Today has been such a breath of fresh air.

John, Nicholas, and Nora came over at 9 again and showed me to the school. It's the most bizarre walk to school...I walk through some really poor areas, past all the “waiting women”, and through a construction site. The school itself reminds me a lot of Khmer Help Khmer, only more organized, private, and African. I start teaching on Friday and I'm really excited.

Hopefully I'll develop a daily routine: teaching from 8am – 4pm, home by 4:30, relax and read, Lucy gets home around 6, eat dinner, watch Storm over Paradise, then go to bed. Weekends hopefully I can meet up with the other volunteers at least one night. I hope that all works out!

Nicholas and Nora have been with me at Lucy's for a couple hours today...don't know where John is. That's pretty much how things work in Kenya-- “I'll be back soon” actually means I'll be back before tomorrow sometime.

I'll make lunch soon then have the rest of the day to relax and read...and probably sleep. Naps have become a regular part of life, too. I have had a really good time talking with Nicholas and Nora..they're so fun. As good as today was, the thought of doing it for 5 months still makes my eyes water. I could stay here for a couple months, then come home and get a job. I'm 18 and I've never been employed before!

There are a lot of ways to spend time, and I have a feeling that after a couple months I'll feel like my time here is finished, like I did when I left Cambodia. I could have stayed there longer, but there was nothing more that I would have learned, ya know? I think that that will come at about the same time in Kenya. Don't assume that I've already deserted my plans and given up—I haven't. I'm just realizing that there is good everywhere, and my being a volunteer here isn't binding. If there's a point at which I feel complete, there's nothing keeping me here. Especially if I keep missing home as much as I am. It is remarkable how such a miserable morning can be flipped around so quickly like today was, though.

Adjusting. Slowly.

PS- Obama's tribe = Luo Tribe. A lot of the tribes have music-video style commercials for their tribe which usually consist of dancing and singing in a field on a sunny day. And the Luo Tribe are the most hilarious dancers. Youtube if you can find anything.

I need some friends...

2010-01-11T15:56:00.000+11:00

Today's been nice. John, Nicholas, and Nora came to the house at 9. John and Nicholas split to go to work, and Nora and I went around Nairobi all day. We checked out the area where the “whites” are (nothing like Siem Reap!!) and then took a bus to downtown to buy a cellphone, exchange my US dollars, and walk around to check things out.

We took some local transportation, too. Matatus are basically really cheap group taxis. They stop at specific stops like buses do, and if someone flags one down from the side of the road it'll stop to pick him up. The vehicles themselves resemble old VW vans and have graffiti all over them. It cost 30 shillings to go about 10 minutes worth of driving—that's less than 50 cents. It was really nice to go around with someone—had I been by myself, I would have been completely and utterly lost. Not only do I not know Swahili at all, but i'm not used to big cities!

That's another thing I noticed today: Nairobi has everything. It looks a little different from Atlanta, for example, but it has urban clothing stores, Coach purses, fast food, huge banks, huge hotels, city buses, cars, millions of people talking on cell phones or listening to ipods or playing on gameboys, and everyone (besides a couple Massai tribe people walking around) was basically modernly dressed—girls wearing tight jeans, heels, pretty tops, hair elaborately done; guys fly sneakers, baggy jeans, shirts with Obama or 50 Cent, bling watches. I guess I'm confused why Kenya needs all the help. Everyone I saw today seemed pretty well off. But then at the same time I realize that there's a huge jump from city people and slum people...it's just hard to be motivated when most people around you look like they could live in LA.

Today was nice and I have a much better bearing for my area and the areas around. And it was sunny today, which made a world of difference. I also learned a few funny facts about Kenyans:

Kenyans eat ketchup on everything
Kenyans can't act or sing, apparently
Kenyans speak a mixture of swahili and english. Lucy will say, “Jambo, John. I'm going swahiliswahiliswahiliswahili at 7. Could you swahiliswahiliswahili before you go?”
Kenans and Cambodians both call me Jenny, even though I never introduce myself that way
Kenyans have no problem telling a shop owner that their shop sucks
And my favorite, Kenyans call cross-walks “zebra stripes”

With Waltz, it's a tradition that current volunteers go to the airport to pick up new ones, so on Thursday I'll be going with John to the airport to pick up a couple from Canada who won't be teaching or living with me, but still they're potential friends to spend time with this weekend as opposed to sitting around alone. Then next week sometime there's a guy from NY who'll be living at Lucy's, too. So, I imagine he'll be like Val (not that anyone can match up to her!) in that we'll go to school together and hang out on the weekends with Lucy and other friends/volunteers.

I'm still feeling like 5 months is a long time. Maybe some places really do only really need financial support—it's great to visit the place to which you're donating a large sum of money, but living there and being there every day for nearly half a year....might be overkill. I hope not though..I think. As nice as today was,...I dunno.

PS- the internet is kinda tricky in Kenya and very unpredictable, so I often find myself writing these blogs on MSWord and then I'll just batch upload them, so scroll down to see others that I might have uploaded on the same day. Make sense?

Time to study some Swahili
I miss you all so much

I'm in Africa.

2010-01-10T15:53:00.000+11:00

Whenever I blog, it's generally after something really great!
“hey guys this really awesome thing happened and i'm so happy about it!!”

There have been low points before, but they were always canceled out by the high ones. There have been only low points in Kenya. I think maybe I would feel more comfortable if I had known anything about what I'd be doing or where I'd be staying or the layout of the city...I can think of a million “if only”s:

if only I had known where I would be staying,
if only I had chosen a city with a big tourist draw so it would have a touristy area,
if only I had known that the biggest slum in Kenya would be in my backyard,
if only I had known that there is a guesthouse but no schools nearby so I won't be staying there,
if only I had known that where I'm staying there will be nearly no other volunteers.
And the list goes on...

There are other ways to see the world and to mature that don't involve 1500 dollar plane tickets and 8-12 hour time differences from your family. I think I've decided that going home for Christmas was the best thing ever, but also the worst. I never thought I'd be the homesick type. Cambodia—no problem ever. But this trip is just so different. I'm closer to the US than Cambodia, but I feel a million miles farther. I can't sit around and think about this all day, though, otherwise I go crazy—so, here's how I ended up here finally:

After an 8 hour layover in London, finally boarded a plane straight into Nairobi and conveniently had an unoccupied seat next to me so I had a bit of extra room. When I arrived, Tom picked me up. I think he's the airport pick-er-up-er for Waltz organization. He took me to Lucy's house, the lady who i'll be living with for the next who knows how long. She's really generous and pleasant to be around---and fluent in English. When Tom and I arrived at her house, she was at work but John was there to greet me. He and a friend finished setting up a bed in my room, meanwhile I took an 8 hour nap in Lucy's room and balled my eyes out trying to be as quiet as possible. Crying so isn't worth it when you can't make noise...kinda defeats the whole purpose of it. It's like suppressing a sneeze. When I woke up, she had come home from work and was chatting with John. We did brief introductions and then he headed home.

Lucy and I spent the evening together, made dinner, watched some Oprah and her favorite soap opera, and went to sleep relatively early. It was nice spending time with her, eating local food, literally living the life of a local Kenyan. And see nothing's wrong here: I have good food, my own bed, friendly people to chat with. But then I imagine myself doing it for 5 months...I have to shake off whatever's putting a gloom over this trip. Just because it's not Cambodia, doesn't mean that it can't be equally as fantastic.

Airport Bloggin'

2010-01-09T15:52:00.000+11:00

1) Oh here we go, here we go, here we go, oh here we go again...

Well, here now at my gate in the Atlanta airport for 3 hours waiting for my flight to Chicago. There was basically no line at security and my gate is so close to security that I can still see where my mom was waving bye to me. My flight schedule is Atl to Chi, Chi to Brussels, Brussels to Bujumbura, Bujumbura to Nairobi. The trip totals a modest 28 hours, 5 hours longer than the trip to Cambodia (which is farther away than Kenya is......? oh well) I'll be picked up in Nairobi at midnight tomorrow by John Pertet, the Kenyan project coordinator (same type of job as Meng in Cambodia) and taken to Lucy Mjili's house. I'll be living with her (and any potential family who she lives with?) until February when I move to the volunteer guesthouse. I've heard such fun awesome things about the guesthouse: that lots of people are in and out of there, that it's easy to make friends, that you generally work together. So, that'll be exciting whenever I get there. Also, Pertet told me that my school is about 300 meters away from where I'll be living! (not sure if he's talking about Lucy's house or the guesthouse) That's a really fantastic thing because (like Maura in India) I hope that the kids will feel comfortable coming over to the guesthouse to hang out and coming over for dinner and inviting us to dinner at their homes. In Cambodia, teaching was the main goal of my being there. In Kenya, I think it's going to be a lot more about the students and my relationships with them. In Cambodia, the kids were too poor to take time off from working to hang out and their English was so poor that (except for few exceptions) communication would be severely limited. In Kenya, though, I'll be teaching at a private school (meaning they have more money), which at first I was bummed about, but in second thought that means that the kids will have more free time!
Cambodia was so organized that I knew what I was doing every hour of every day from the MOMENT I arrived. In Kenya, I'm just gonna roll with the punches and figure it out: find an internet cafe, visit my school, meet other volunteers if there are any, find a good restaurant, buy groceries, and make a routine. I've done it once, I can do it again.
Apart from excitement and nerves about my trip, this morning has been shockingly awful for many people I know. I wish it didn't take something horrible happening for me to realize how precious life is. Each day could be your last, or could be your last with someone...so love your loved ones, and make sure that they know that you love them. I guess that's all I have to say about that.
I have over an hour more before my flight for Chicago, and once I arrive there I have a 4 hour layover (woo.) There should be some killer weather there! Talk to you all again soon.

PS – Still thinking of you. You're incredible.

2) HAH you call THAT snow?!

Well, just arrived in Chicago...I haven't gone crazy with the camera taking pictures except on the plane looking outside the window. It was literally white...everywhere! The flight was uneventful...slept, had some OJ, took pictures of snow, and studied Swahili...........which is very difficult. Atlanta snow has nothing on Chicago snow.

3) Broke sweat running in the Brussels airport

Flight out of Chicago to Brussels was around an hour late, which, in turn, made my arrival into Belgium late. So late, in fact, that my flight to Bujumbura and Nairobi had already left. So, after lots of running, stairs, and moving sidewalks, I've rescheduled the flight. Instead of leaving Brussels to Bujumbura at 10:40, I am now leaving Brussels to London at 1, then from London to Nairobi at 7pm to arrive in Nairobi at 6:30am. I've been running around with an American guy I met in the security line who was in the same boat as I, and earlier the two of us linked up with a group of 4 American women who were also trying to get to Africa. So, my second red eye flight in 24 hours...lol yay time changes. This whole situation merely echoes my motto of this trip: Go With The Flow.

America The Beautiful!

2009-12-16T10:04:00.010+11:00

I guess I've done my last two posts a bit out of order--to clarify, Thailand came first and then my last week in Cambodia. I was running out of free time when I could blog from Cambodia, so I wrote about my second to last day, and then since being home I've written about Thailand. Get it? So, this one will be about my last day in Cambodia: My last morning, afternoon, and the ride to the airport for my flight around 11pm.

I arrived back in Cambodia from Thailand with one week left of my trip--and it was the fastest week of my life.

At the beginning of my trip I would think fo myself "God I have 3 months here..." but by the end all I wanted was more time.

That last week, I went out for dinner most nights..I miss my 62 cent dinners and the to-go Ramen noodle stands. I came up with some extra fun CLFCA lesson plans that involved sports, music, and LOTS of picture-taking!

When it finally came down to second to last day, I was super busy running around saying goodbye to friends, coworkers, teachers, students--everyone. (I think I wrote a little about this in a previous post). I had bit a not-tearful farewell to CLFCA, and as I was leaving they asked if we could have class one more time the next day. It was kinda inconvenient to spend 2 hours of my last day at school when I needed to pack and run errands (to buy stuff for you guys who're reading this!!) But, how could I say no!? and of course, I wanted to go!

So, my very last day:

It was all very surreal. A place that had been such a huge part of my life..my home..where I met millions of new friends and had been completely immersed in a culture that's nothing like anything else I've experienced. Wow now I have to remember back...what did I do?? I woke up in the morning and ate my last dinner with Ta and Sa...and we had a photoshoot :)

After packing a bit in the morning and writing a letter for Bunleap, Thea, Ta, Kanara, and burning a CD for Sophannara, I went to an early lunch with Mr Pali at a delicious traditional resturaunt. yummm. After lunch we went back to KHK so I could write something on the front wall that the students are decorating. AND luckily Thea was around on his moto so I got to say a final goodbye to him. We still e-mail almost every day :)

Then, bicycled over to CLFCA for a final goodbye..the day before had been stressful and rushed. We had ice cream and I gave them all my books and studying materials, but it wasn't very emotional. WELL. this time was different. We sang "You Are Not Alone" without any music, several students gave me sweets and presents, and took more pictures together (I even took one with the always camera shy Heng! The whole afternoon....man... it was sad, trust me. So, teary eyed, I rushed home to pick up my toys and left over reading books to take to the orphanage (rushing because I had stayed WAAYYY later at CLFCA than I had planned).

Thank you for teaching me as much (if not more) than I taught you. I can never express how much you've given me. I think about you all every day and please keep e-mailing! I love each of you.

As always, the orphanage was incredible...they colored pictures for me and wrote me goodbye notes. I have no idea how they all know english so well...but they do! Better than most of my students who've been going to school for years!!

I miss and love you all. Good luck to all of you and remember that you can do anything your heart wants!

I stayed at the orphanage until about 8.......and Meng was picking me up for the airport at 9.............and I hadn't packed. but I made the most of my day and god to say goodbye to everyone important to me. I packed for a little while, cleaned out my closet, folded clothes, did all your basic packing stuff...until I suddenly felt really nostalgic and miserable about leaving. SO with 30 minutes to spare I got on my bike and went searching desperately for one last roadside noodle dinner. and wouldn't you know I couldn't find one of those stupid stands (when you're not hungry they're everywhere and as soon as you want them they all disappear..of course) until I had biked all the way back to Pub Street. But, the ride was enjoyable..it was well dark by then and while I had already said goodbye to my friends, I hadn't yet said goodbye to Siem Reap. That all sounds really cheesy but...I felt really connected with my home. It was so safe..I can't remember one situation where I felt even in the slightest bit of danger. I mean, there were probably times when I should have been more on my guard, but what can I say? I never ever felt like I needed to. Everyone and everything in Siem Reap was perfect, and I needed that last bike ride to complete my trip.

Noodles in hand, I hurried back to the hotel and relinquished my bicycle lock keys (hah but i kept one key as a keepsake!!!), smooshed everything into my suitcases, zipped and locked them, ate my delicious noodle dinner, said teary goodbyes to Ta, Soda, and Mr Eeing, and took my last tuktuk ride to the airport with Meng. He talked pretty much the whole 30 minute tuktuk to the airport...none of which I remember...I stared at the hotels and home shops, at the people in cars and the people pushing seafood carts saying mental goodbyes to everything we passed.

The airport was no problem..it's about the size of Augusta's airport, so really easy to navigate and basically no lines. After I hugged I checked my bags, paid my departure fee, went through security, spoke khmer in the giftshop with one of the sales clerks, sat in a seat at my gate, and cried until my plane came.

I must have looked like a basket case to everyone around. But ya know, you can think something's getting old after you've had it for a while, but once you realize that it's gone -- WOAH. Emotions hit you like a train. I spent the next 24ish hours waiting in airports, riding on airplanes, and eating delicious airplane food. When I finally set food on American ground, I was beaming ear to ear. lol and I was also being really stupid and ridiculous...I hadn't slept well on the flights and had had time to add up that I'd been awake for about 36 hours.
Disheveled, I walked up to the first American airline worker I could find to ask where baggage claim was. I walked up to her and asked, "Excuse me, do you speak English?" and lol she said "Baby! Of course I speak English! You're in America now!" and later when I stopped in the bathroom to wash my face, I took a sip of water and said to the lady mopping the floors, "Excuse me, I just drank water out of a tap." She was like "ummmmm....cooooooolllll" haha it was really funny. I smiled at everyone and struck up a million awkward smalltalk type conversations 1) because I was so enthralled to be back and 2) because that's how I had been in Asia. Everyone I passed wanted to speak English with me, and I spoke back! One night a guy on a motobike (his basket was full of diapers and milk formula so I figured it was safe lol) stopped to ask about me and why I was in Cambodia. We sat on the curb outside my hotel for a half hour speaking English.
It sounds all so surreal...Americans are really friendly...but I can't imagine doing that IN America. In Bangkok, I stayed out my last night sitting in the middle of the downtown road until 7AM talking with expats and other travelers, sharing stories, speaking different languages! It was all so magical...weird, though, i know...but incredible. I think Americans are really obsessed with my stuff and my space and my feelings. We didn't set off fireworks on January 2nd because it would annoy neighbors....wtf? They're fireworks....they make noise for about half a second. Is that really such an inconvenience? And we care a lot about what people think about us..I'm not saying that I don't cause I still do...but the way we feel about ourselves seems so completely dependent on what everyone else is thinking. What about how YOU feel about YOURSELF? Isn't that the most important?

It's nearly 1:30 AM now as I'm finishing up this post...lol I can tell because I'm starting to ramble on about nothing inparticular. Cambodia was the best decision I've ever made. I feel like such a new person. People say that you're changed but "same at heart"..but I feel different at heart, too. I can barely remember things before...of course I do stuff the same, talk the same, blahblah and all that. But the important things. Opinions about the world, opinions about people in the world, opinions about me in the world--they're all different. And I like my new ones much better. Thanks, Mama Hicks, for allowing this all to happen.

Now it's early morning on January 6th. On the 9th, I'll wake up early in the morning, drive to the airport with mom, and board a plane just like I did 4 months ago except that this time I'm headed for Nairobi, Kenya. I have a 28 hour flight to Nairobi (..........) and lots to say. So much, in fact, that I'll save it all for another post. I'm gonna Swahili-ify my blog soon...if you didn't catch on, Suo Sudei means hello in Khmer and I think in Swahili it's something like Huijambo (luckily Swahili has English letters---YAY!! WAAAY easier than Khmer!) so i'll be changing the title soon. Thanks for reading for the past few months...Africa here I come!

4 days until my next adventure.

Thailand 09!!

2009-12-11T10:06:00.008+11:00

Thailand was INCREDIBLE. It was the best vacation I've ever had!

I was the only "Yank" (American) in the group--everyone was from England except for two from Columbia (who spoke mainly Spanish to each other), one from Scotland, and two from Canada who were the oldest in the group. I spent the first day and a half of the trip learning how to understand all their accents haha! The first night, I had a half hour conversation with Ian (from Scotland) and I have absolutely noooo idea what we talked about!! I would just respond, "Oh yeah!" "uh huh?" "Cool!" lol!

What was weird, too was that I kinda found myself speaking with a slight British accent by the end of the week.....I felt like they'd think I was just trying to fake my accent which, maybe I subconsciously was lol..but something about being surrounded by them for nearly a week really rubbed off on me! Also started to pick up on their sense of humor...it's pretty subtle but hilarious. It was just a great, great time being around them all! AND everyone added to the group...there were 14 of us total ranging age 18 to age 50 something. I'd say average age was around 27. IT WAS SO FUN!

So, I landed in Bangkok (one of my favorite cities in the world) and found myself a cab and took myself to Marcia's hotel. How random!?? We were both in Bangkok at the same time! So, she and I got to spend the day together (I made sure my flight arrived in the morning so we'd have all day together). We ate a delicious lunch and took a local boat ride (people in Bangkok take boats around like we take subways) to Wat Arun ("arun" in Khmer means morning, and Wat Arun was known for its great sunrise). Then we went back to her hotel, picked up my things, and I took another cab to my hotel where I met my Gap Tour group. :)

I guess I don't need to tell you that much about my trip. Basically it was just the best. Some noteable parts were:

Skipping out on more temple visiting with Pav and Rob to go BUNGY JUMPING!!! 150 feet, byiatch. Woooo!!

Our two day trek into the hilltribe villages and getting to spend time with the locals. That was fantastic.

Rafting on our homemade bamboo rafts!

Ian dropping the puppy (HAHA)

Getting my ear pierced!....and watching Leah get her neck pierced. Lord.

Good music at the Rooftop.

Delicious Thai food.

Disgusting Thai moonshine.

"This is the best train ever."

Bangkok pingpong show...not my favorite part.

Squat pots...surprisingly not bad!

The Reclining Buddha, huge and awesome.

Our pouring boat ride.

Waterfall.

That elephant song when we danced around in a circle.

Watching Johnny hit on Leah!

Elephant ride and drinking through our noses like the elephants.

Overnight trains to and from Bangkok and Chiang Mai.

Bubbles.

Frog Ladies.

I usually try to organize my pictures to match my text, but there was just SO much that we did (and it's been about 3 weeks ago now...) so here are just a bunch of pictures from it! GAP was a great organization, AND oh duh! our TOUR GUIDE! He was awesome..his name was complicated so he had us call him Thai. Thai was a really nice guy..he could talk your ear off about Thailand and its history, but especially a couple days into the tour he really loosened up and came out with us! He was lots of fun!!

These are only about 1/1000 of my Thailand pictures--it was fantastic and I miss my new friends but facebook and e-mail help! :) It's really great having friends all over the world!!

Yeah, I've been home for over a week...but I don't wanna get into that before I tell you all about my last day in Cambodia and my flights back and culture shock, etc...(it is great to be back, though)

Hope everyone's well! I've begun planning Kenya. My flight leaves January 9th...crazy. Happy holidays and I'll keep updating this over the next weeks!

I LEAVE WHEN!?!?!?

2009-11-28T02:01:00.003+11:00

Well, surprise of my life today: I had for 3 months been under the impression that I leave Sunday November 29th when in fact I leave the 28th---TOMORROW.

Now, I had thought I was leaving on the morning of the 29th so leaving the 28th at 11pm really isnt that big of a difference. But it did change one thing: I leave tomorrow. And when tomorrow is here, I leave today.

Tomorrow will probably be one of my busiest days in Cambodia--even busier than at the VERY beginning when I was all over the place for a week. I'm going to lunch with friends, going to the orphanage, saying goodbye to students, goodbye dinner, I promised 248 people I'd "swing by" to say bye to them. But I ride a bicycle. And they don't live close to each other. So I imagine I'll be doing a lot of running around all over Siem Reap.

Saying goodbye to CLFCA today was surprisingly okay. I had thought that they would be the ones who would be really hard to say bye to. I brought my ipod with a music player I bought a couple days ago, along with a huge bag of flashcards, paper, pens, books, games, some cups, spoons, ice cream, and sprinkles the day was perfect. I got a few adorable presents--a couple new bracelets, some earrings, a basket, and some paper trinkets--but the coolest present came from Heng: he made me a statue of Buddha. I was so, so so in shock! They take forever to make. hah I was so in shock, in fact, that I lunged at him with a hug. Mid-lunge I remembered that that's totally not okay in Khmer culture but it was too late. After an awkward kinda hug/handshake/awkwardness I thanked him and we talked for a half hour about education and Cambodia and life in the United States.

Tonight after school at KHK I went to get sweets after school with Bunleap, Thea, and one of Bunleap's friends. It was, as always, very nice, but the sweet that they ordered me literally was beans, coconut milk, and ice. I had forgotten to ask for no ice. Like a good guest, I sucked it up and ate it--ice and all. So, we'll see if my stomach makes it through the night. Cross your fingers!

Bunleap insisted on paying because "You help my country, I buy you sweets." After CLFCA, before my class at KHK, Thea and I went on his moto to the nearest internet cafe where we made him an e-mail address and skype account. I gave my e-mail to a million people--Sreyneath (one of my brightest students at KHK) promise me that she'd e-mail me soon......even though she doesn't have internet or an e-mail account. She's adorable. It was really hard leaving Kanara. She and I've been teaching together for about 2 months. My first impression of her was off of her knowing very basic english..thinking to myself "why in the hell is this lady teaching these kids?" But knowing her now, she's one of the most beautiful ladies I've ever met. We became really close and were even a little teary leaving..I bought her a new eraser, some markers, and gave her the rest of my number and alphabet flash cards. Also, I ran into Sophannara (who I had sucessfully avoided since I stopped teaching with him). We awkwardly talked for a little while and set up a time to meet tomorrow. I'm gonna burn him a CD of some good songs that our kids can sing along to. I'm also gonna try to record my voice as one track saying goodbye to the class. I think they'd REALLY love that.

After going out with the guys (and awkwardly running into Li at school. haha), I went downtown to say bye to my tuktuk driver friends I play cards with every weekend and 4 or 5 friends. Gave them all my e-mail address. Stopped by the Warehouse to say bye to Sony and T..unfortunately Sony had taken the night off so I just wrote him a letter. Was super bummed he wasn't there. He's on my "I'll try to stop by tomorrow if I have time" list. On my way home I grabbed some of my favorite 62 cent noodles and a carton of "Tropical Juices". And, here I sit in my room still in shock that I'm leaving tomorrow. I don't have any "one more day"s left!!!

"Kgnom awt chong douv tror lop Amerique...chong muoy ah tet teit!"

The Countdown Begins

2009-11-13T15:06:00.003+11:00

Well, today is Friday the 13th. I leave the 15th for Thailand. I return to Cambodia the 22nd. I leave for the USA the 29th. After today, I have 5 more days of teaching. !??!?!?!?

I can't believe that my trip is coming to an end!! I know that Thailand is gonna be a blast......but I can't believe I'm missing one of the LAST weeks I have here!!

About Thailand, I've been actually pretty nervous! It'll be the most rustic trip I've ever been on. Laos was pretty glamerous, Cambodia has been comfortable, Thailand is going to be straight up hard. Check this out:

Itinerary
Day 1-2 Bangkok
As congested, polluted and hectic as it is, Bangkok has plenty of appeal. With towering skyscrapers pressed up against Chinese shop-houses and brand-new Mercedes squeezing past vendors with pushcarts, this is a city of distinct contrasts. Culture fiends will delight in the dazzling Grand Palace and the city’s countless pagodas, while shoppers could spend weeks sifting through Bangkok’s malls and open-air markets. Entertainment ranges from highbrow (classical Thai music concerts) to low (transvestite revues) with everything in between. Dining options are equally varied. Whether you’re eating French cuisine in a plush hotel restaurant or sampling fried crickets on the side of the road, prepare to have all of your senses engaged. This is the place to eat, drink and be merry. Travellers will be arriving at all times today so there are no activities arranged. Please try to arrive by 6pm for an important group meeting where you can meet the tour leader and the other group members. You have the day free to relax and adjust to the frenetic pace and humid heat of Bangkok.

On Day 2 we can have an optional visit to Wat Po, home of the giant reclining Buddha or your tour leader can arrange a longtail boat to explore the canals of Bangkok. You have free time after until we head off to the railway station in the evening to board our sleeper train to Chiang Mai. This train journey is 13.5 hours

Day 3 Chiang Mai
We arrive in the early morning and have free time to explore for the rest of the day. In the early evening, we can arrange an optional visit to the famous temple complex of Doi Suthep, about a 45 minute drive from the center of the city. Surrounded by rolling hills, Chiang Mai offers both pretty surroundings and old style architecture. Enclosed by a moat and crumbling walls, the old city features great cafes, shops and accommodations. An important Buddhist centre since the 14th century, Chiang Mai is home to more than 300 temples. Many visitors come here to attend meditation retreats, massage classes or yoga lessons. It is also a centre of handicraft production, with a long history of silverwork, woodcarving, pottery-making and weaving. Not to be missed is the Night Bazaar, a series of covered markets, shops and stalls that offer the best selection of handicrafts in Thailand.

Day 4-6 Hilltribe Trek
From Chiang Mai, we start a 3 day hilltribe trek where we visit various hilltribe minority groups, each with their own language, clothing and religion. We will get the opportunity to ride an elephant (approx 2 hours) and test our rafting skills while bamboo rafting.We walk approximately 4-5 hours each day along sloping hills and valleys. We leave our big packs in storage and take an overnight bag. Each person is required to be able to carry their own pack as our porters will be carrying food and water supplies. Accommodation is group share, where you will be sleeping on the floor of the village huts. Toilet and washing facilities are very basic in most of the villages so be prepared to rough it for a few days. During the trek simple food is provided for breakfast, lunch and dinner. It can be cold during the evenings so make sure you have some lightweight warm clothes with you. It is possible to rent trekking gear in Chiang Mai before the trek in case you have forgotten to pack something vital. We return back to Chiang Mai in the late afternoon of Day 6.

Day 7 Chiang Mai
Free time in Chiang Mai to do any last minute shopping or sightseeing before boarding an overnight train back to Bangkok. This train journey is approximately 13.5 hours.

Day 8 Bangkok
Arrive back into Bangkok at about 8am where the trip finishes and everyone is free to depart from the train station.

"be prepared to rough it for a few days"...

But, this really is gonna be a great adventure! AND my first day in Bangkok I arrive in the morning so that Marcia and I can spend the day together visiting the sites! She'll be there just for about two days on her way back home to Saipan from Siem Reap. That's gonna be too fun!

So, I guess I am pretty stoked for the trip. And everyone who goes on these trips speaks English so I ancicipate meeting some pretty awesome people. It'll still be weirdly hard to leave Cambodia even for the week, though. But, another volunteer whose name I don't know yet arrives on the 15th (the day I leave) so my kids won't ever have a day without a teacher there..which gives me peace of mind.

My students and orphans have begun giving me extra hugs and little presents. So far, I have 3 letters, 2 little things where you fold paper and cut shapes out, then unfold it and it's a pretty pattern, 1 head covering scarf, 1 Christmas ornament, 1 pair of earrings, 1 bracelet, 2 origami hearts, and countless hearts and flowers made out of pipe cleaners. I've taped most of them up on a wall in my room--I think I'll make a bulletin board that I can take to UGA. :)

All these presents have me thinking about what I want to give them before I go. I think for CLFCA I'll print out pictures of either me and them or them with their friends. I don't think they really have pictures of themselves--I'm sure they don't have cameras. I've gotten to know each of the students well enough, too, to write them each a short letter to go along with the picture. I also hope to see something cool in Thailand that I can buy in bulk for cheap for them.

I haven't gotten to know my students at KHK as well...I've moved around classes a couple times and students are in and out constantly. So, instead of something personal, I thought I'd get them all something goofy...don't know what yet. And for the ones who I have gotten to know, maybe try to write them a message in Khmer (hah) and give them my e-mail address. Most of the kids at KHK have access to a computer with internet.

As hard as it will be to leave Cambodia, I think I will be ready. I'd love to come back sometime in the future, but for the time being I feel like I've done my part. Of course, I'm sure all this will change on my last two or three days. It will be really weird to be home.

School time!

"Kgnom douv bong reein kong kmeng robuk kgnom! Kgnom meein pram t'nigh teit bong reein!"

Beatocello

2009-11-08T16:49:00.007+11:00

Well, back down to just one now.
Val left Saturday morning for Vietnam--good luck, Val!! Cambodia misses you!

Earlier, though, as I was on my way to breakfast Friday morning, I met an American couple, Anthony and Theresa Chang, who had just arrived to the hotel. They had been to Vietnam before during the Vietnam War, and they're back to see how SE Asia has changed and become more peaceful. They seemed super interested in my teaching so I told them that they're more than welcome at Khmer Help Khmer, and that there would even be a couple classes that they could jump in on!

We ate breakfast together the next morning (so that's Saturday morning) and these two are so inspiring!! They asked me questions about my work, Cambodia, homesickness, whether or not I think my generation is lazy, what it means to be an American--everything!

In our talking, too, I mentioned how I would give anything to bring a student home to the US with me to show him/her around the country; we'd go to DC, see some natural wonders, go to a baseball game! I would literally pay for the plane ticket, drive to any airport anywhere, spend a month with him/her! I would love soo much to show my country!

And this is where it gets crazy: Theresa and Anthony were like, "Well, let's do it! First we'd need to have someone represent the student at the US Embassy in Phnom Penh. We can write some letters..we know some influential people in the US who could contact the embassy, too. Do you have a student in mind?" and I mean, I was completly speechless--I guess I'm just a dreamer and I hadn't ever thought about this really happening!!

The student who comes to mind is, of course, Sa Vin, one of the smartest students I have at CLFCA. But it's so hard for non westerners to come to the United States. Sophannara used to tell me about the dozens of trips he's made to the Embassy trying to get a visa, but every time they just laugh at him because he's completely dirt poor. But, if you have Americans who are pushing for someone to get a visa, I think it's a whole different story.

So, Anthony, Teresa, and I are going to keep in touch about this. I really have no idea exactly how this would happen: but nothing's impossible!

After my morning conversation about Sa Vin and all of this, I was completely inspired for the rest of the day. I looked up a bunch of information about Visa requirements, fees we'd have to raise money for, there's an endless to do list!

The three of us also went to a concert in the evening. I got in the tuk tuk thinking we were going to some free concert like the one Val, Ta, and I went to. But I got there and realized---it was a classical cello concert!!

It was actually really great, though. This is the man, Beat Richner, who opened 4 Children's Hospitals in Cambodia, 3 in Phnom Penh, 1 in Siem Reap (I bicycle past it twice every day). The hospitals are completely free for children 12 and under--and they save 85,000 lives every year. Beat would play a song then talk, play then talk, and I learned some really sombering facts:

65% of Cambodians (all ages) have tuberculosis

85% of Cambodians make 50 cents a day

JEV (Japanese Encephalitus Virus) Vaccinations aren't allowed in Cambodia

Until 1992 most modern vaccines weren't brought to Cambodia because it was thought that because the people are so uneducated, they wouldn't understand how to administer medications

Beat said something, too, that I really liked: "The high mortality rate of the poor is not caused because of poverty. The mortality rate is caused by discrimination against the poor."

The hospital is not only free for all children 12 and under, but families who have to travel very far to get to the hospital are also compensated money for gasoline. The hospital delivers about 50 babies a day, performs 60 surgeries, and has lowered its mortality rate from 6% to 0.5% in just 17 years. And, no child is rejected.

Basically, I have an entirely new appreciation for the hospital. There are lines a mile long every day--families with sick children waiting for their number to be called. What an incredible thing Beat is doing.

The free cello concert is something that he started years ago in order to raise money for the hospital. 2 million dollars are donated every year by Cambodian government, 3 million by swiss government (Beat is from Switzerland), and the rest is private donations. It costs around 80 million every year. His cello concerts, alone, raise 8 million each year. I just thought his story was very incredible. And I bought his classical cello CD to study to in college. :)

It's now Monday morning. Also, my mom's cousin (making her my second cousin?), Marcia, came to Cambodia yesterday. It was so nice to spend the afternoon with family!! We went to the artisan center and hopefully the orphanage soon once the kids are back from a their Phnom Penh field trip. She's gonna join me at school one day during her stay--all the visitors I've brought to school always love it!

So, I guess one isn't the loneliest number afterall!

I have one week left before Thailand, then I'll be there from Sunday to Sunday, and then my last week in Cambodia--which totals to only 10 more days of teaching. Just crazy.

Time for lesson plans--we've been concentrating on a lot of grammar and I think today will be preposition day, describing scenes.

I can't wait to see friends and family in December!
"Lehigh!"

Good Luck To You

2009-11-06T02:44:00.024+11:00

So, it's been a while since I've written but not because I haven't wanted to---I just haven't had time!

Last I left you, Val and I were excited for the arrival of our newest volunteer, Karly.

Karly's a 19 year olf photographer from NYC who had spent a couple weeks in Vietnam before coming to Siem Reap.

Unfortunately, though, our new posse only lasted for what, 2 nights? Karly's parents were in a bad car accident so she hurried home to be with the family. That was 2 weeks ago, I think.

The night Karly arrived, Ta, Val, and I went to a free cambodian concert! Some popular Khmer artists performed and one female artist did a cover of "I wanna make love right now na na" (or whatever that song is). Ta freaked when I knew some of the lyrics! I can totally appreciate that the concert was TONS of fun for locals........but, it was all in Khmer...which is a problem. Everyone was laughing at the skits they were doing on stage, though, so i guess it was hilarious. Makes me wish I knew Khmer better. But, I picked up some good local food, got some pictures, and it was my first time having someone ride on the back of my bicycle! I really throws off your balance trying to steer, not to mention there's twice the person to move. And theres no seat! I've since tried to ride on the back of one but yeah..noooooo way. Very uncomfortable and bumpy.

Another ritual Val and I had that definitely didn't suck was our Meridian trips. Two Saturdays in a row we paid a small amount to use the Meridian's (the biggest hotel around's) pool for the day. Those Saturdays were DEFINITELY the most glamerous I've had in 2 and a half months. We justified those days with the fact that we barely wear any makeup, never wear our hair down, bicycle everywhere in 120 degrees, and are generally covered in sweat and dirt every single day. Like you would expect from a huge, huge hotel, the pool was awesome--and sooooo relaxing!

We also went with Ratana to a local school. Not an english school, though. It's a dance school/music school teaching kids how to dance like Apsara and how to play some of the traditional instruments. It was soooo adorable. And we got to try out the instruments for a bit :)

Two Sundays ago, we also had a great day of excursions. Started the morning with the Artisan Center and the Silk Farm. Let me first say that in Cambodia, nearly EVERYTHING is made by hand. And it's hard to appreciate hand made things until you're watching people make them! The Artisan Center was great. They employ deaf kids to make silk paintings, and have a few other sections (carving, drawing, sewing, etc..) for people with other disabilities.
The Silk Farm was really cool cause we got to see the whole process---from worms to scarves! Silk worms are really rather cute and their entire purpose in life is to have babies--lots of babies. We saw them feeding the worms, collecting their silk, dividing the silk into "raw" and "fine", spinning the silk, dying the silk, all the way to weaving scarves to sell in stores all over the country. We even got to try weaving a bit! It. Is. So. Hard. Those ladies (and one guy) rock.

After picking up a few presents we took a long ride to the floating village. I had been there once before with Elderhostle, but not for sunset. And lemme tell ya, it was beautiful.

Life has gone on as normal for the past couple weeks. School has been especially fantastic, though. I did change classes, and I'm glad I did. I still talk to my kids from Sophannara's class every day, but now I get to know even more students. I now work with Bunleap (bun-lee-up) who is much more pleasant, too.

Last weekend we celebrated Halloween at the orphanage!! It was hilarious trying to explain the holiday to them....they were like "so you just dress up and get candy?" It was possibly the most fun I've ever had! ..btw caroline, they LOVE the song i got a feeling :) !! we sang it and danced constantly!

"Trick or Treat!!"

(please note the awesome Kung Fu Panda shorts)

We also did halloween masks at CLFCA...the kids were less into it (which was disappointing) but they seemed to enjoy themselves decently. For CLFCA we had some awesome prizes for scariest mask, prettiest mask, funniest mask, most creative mask, and best overall. The prizes were body jewel sticker things, a watch, fake jordan wrist bands, a miniature globe, and an english khmer dictionary. (Not bad if I do say so myself!) And then, of course, for those who didn't win a prize: candy!!

Another really incredible place that Val and I went last week was the Land Mine Museum:

A sign at the museum said that there were still somewhere between 3 and 6 million land mines hidden in Cambodia, along with "tons" of bombs dropped during the Vietnam War. The museum wasn't fun, but I was really glad we went. It was also really different from the Khmer Rouge museum. That one was actually really eerie. The land mine museum felt much more peaceful--it's in a really green area and the back half of the school has been transformed into a school/dorm room type space for children and teens who have been injured by land mines. There was a big board that had each kid's story on it. I'd never stopped to appreciate that I have hands before.

On a different note, the really big awesomely fun thing that Val and I did this past weekend was go to Laos! Experienced a different culture (although pretty similar to Cambodia) and added another country to my list.

In order to explain how cool it was, lemme just tell you what each day was like:

Woke up at 8 and took a lao tuktuk to an elephant rescue sanctuary. Maynam (our elephant), Val, Cook (our mahout), and I walked through a river, up steep hills, through a little village, down some steep hills, and all around the mountains for about an hour.

After our elephant ride, took a lao speed boat (definitely different than western speed boats...more like just, a fastboat) to a nearby waterfall (the most beautiful waterfall I've ever seen)

After climbing the rocks and playing around for a while, we fastboated back to the elephants, ate a delicious traditional lunch, and then got in our kayaks for the 3 hour trip home--I love kayaking! We went over "rapids" (like level 2 max) and it was so relaxing to kick back in my kayak and float down the Mekong, looking at the clouds. It was so perfect!

And that was just day one! The second day was relax day--got a massage, ate some delicious Lao food, climbed a mountain to watch sunset (and to see the fullest, biggest moon ever), and did a ridiculous amount of shopping.

Day 3 was hiking day. We set off around 9 AM to trek through a small village about an hour outside of Luang Prabang. We trekked for 3 hours through valleys and some jungle, constantly keeping an eye out for monkeys and tigers, until we reached another waterfall and the bear sanctuary-----and we still made it back home in time for a massage :)

(We climbed a boulder; those huts are scattered around the mountain sides for farmers to sleep in or to wait in if there's bad weather; waterfall #2 = awesome)

Also, we had the pleasure our first night in Luang Prabang to meet Tatyana who, for Halloween, was female. (It reminded me a lot of camp haha!!) He was a cute girl, though! Hanging out with these guys for the night (Tatyana was from Iowa, his buddy was from Cali) made me miss Americans quite a bit. But also, they really didn't help our stereotype: loud and obnoxious. Tatyana went up to every male who walked by and asked for a hug. Laos culture is a lot different, remember, and that sort of behavior is really looked down upon.
So, I was torn between laughing hysterically and being embarrassed for my Americanism. Either we were obnoxious or everyone else is stuck up. I think I'll go with the second!

So, we got back from Luang Prabang on Wednesday around 1 and still made it to school by 2. This was Val's last week in Cambodia, so most of our days were spent at the orphanage and saying goodbye at schools. It's kindof a mini-culture shock not having her all of a sudden. I mean, I lived here alone for a month and a half before she got here--i can do it. It's just different..less fun. Also, with her going I realized that I only have 3 weeks left!!

I remember when I first got here thinking to myself, "god i'm gonna be here for 3 MONTHS?!" and now, all i want is more time. I'll be going on one more trip outside of Cambodia, too. I signed up for a gap trip to Thailand for a week that I think is gonna be really awesome. We travel a lot, backpacking, overnight trains, staying with a mountain tribe for two nights, but I think it's gonna be tons of fun! (not to mention, everyone on the trip will speak English so I might make some cool friends) And half of me is SO excited to see another country and eat the food and live how they live......but the other half can't believe I'm leaving my kids. So, I'm gonna buy them some cool present(s)--don't know what yet. Val left CLFCA with some Red Sox stuff and a Boston calendar that they really like. They love looking at pictures of all the snow! To them, snow is magical and mysterious.

Time for bed here--and don't forget, if you were an hour ahead of me, we're now exactly 12 hours apart. If we were the same time, I'm now an hour ahead. Way to go daylight savings...

"Goodnight! Good luck to you! Happy Dreams! Safe Home! Goodbye!"
(typical parting words in Cambodia....no, really.)

"Rea Trey Suo Sudei! Chou'up kuh knee uh t'nigh s'eye!"

p.s. - stay fett, sister!

GO RED SOX!!

2009-10-11T19:50:00.010+11:00

Yana and Srey Um & Val and me at the orphanage last week

This Week At A Glance (plus a couple more little things I left out from the past few weeks):

Flooding has been bad lately..Val and I had to push our tuk tuk out of a bit rut in the road when it got stuck on our way to lunch. girl power!

We gave our first quiz/test on body parts! Some of the students are pros, and others...

...had some problems. lol This is Tida, god bless her she tries so hard but just can't get the hang of it. She'll be sitting in the front row from now on.

CLFCA (school 1) is totally loving the batmitten set and soccer ball that Dave left here!! Thank you, Dave!!

At KHK (school 2), I've decided that Monday is gonna be my last day teaching with my translator/helper guy, Sophannara.

To get his attention for one of the students a couple weeks ago, I tapped him..no response, and so I nudged his leg with my foot. Apparently a woman's touching a man with her foot is one of the most offensive gestures she can make. Since then , things have been difficult between us. We used to teach together so well! Since "the incident" though, he's been unfriendly and rude..and he likes to make comments to the class (which is just awkward cause they like me) in Khmer..and I think he's under the impression that I can never understand him. Sorry, dude, sometimes I can. And I can always understand rolling eyes and body language. So, I've already apologized to you, Sophannara, but again I'm sorry for touching you with my foot. I hope you get over it eventually. Until then, have fun teaching english without me.

Sucks though because I do love that class, that was my music class..but, I'll get a new one!! Plus I get to teach more of the kids if I change classes a few times. So, it's all for the better.

So, we got through the rest of the week in one piece...and now that I have some fun company, this is the first time I've really gotten to enjoy a WEEKEND!

Friday night Val and I hit up downtown for some Mexican (in Cambodia!!), American hip hop, some really funny hats, and a huge serving of tourism. I've decided that being a tourist really isn't all that bad! Most of my time here I've been trying to convince all the locals that I'm this new breed of white Cambodian roaming around the streets of Siem Reap, spending less than a dollar a day on food and speaking Khmer to everyone (even westerners) ..but really, local or not, everyone's just happy to have you! Got back to the hotel around 10:30 and slept in till 8..it felt great!

Saturday was completely dedicated to nothingness. I had nothing to do besides.. to do nothing! Lounged around, did some yoga!, helped Soda (guy working downstairs) start a blog for a tour guide business he's trying to get started **we had a photoshoot, too lol**

---because I have a facebook, skype, and blog I'm like the queen of technology..I uploaded skype onto the hotel computer and made Ratana a skype account (she leaves me messages almost every day lol)---and bicycled to market in the evening to buy some fruit.

It's always so fun going to market!! They never expect you to know a word of Khmer, and then when you walk up not only saying "Suo Sudei!", but also explaining that you'd like to buy a half kilo of bananas and some bottled water they're COMPLETELY blown away!

The ladies working in the fruit section insisted that I try this little green fruit, too. I broke it open, took a bite of the inside, and it was SO SOUR that I thought I would be sick lol it was just...so, so sour. Then they offered me a dip in this bowl of red sugary looking stuff, and I had eaten ice a couple days earlier so I was feeling invincible--dipped my little sour fruit in, took another bite, and it was the SALTIEST, HOTTEST taste I had ever experienced haha.

I asked Ta what it was when I got back to the hotel; apparently they smash up a few blazing hot peppers in a bowl of salt. And it tasted just like you'd expect salt and peppers to taste: salty and peppery. The ladies gave me four free green fruits and put some peppery salt in a little to go bag. Also bought two white pomegranites before I left. They're one of my new favorite fruit!

Also went to another section and bought the juciest, most delicious apples I've ever had--everything is better home grown! There were a few boys there who couldn't have been older than I am (then again, everyone here looks so young you really cant tell!) who I spoke English with for about a half hour. It's always fun seeing how excited people get when they realize you're an English speaker.

Val's been touring Angkor Wat this weekend. It would have been great to go with her, but I was happy to have gone with Elderhostle, too. They were awesome company. That night after she got home from temple-ing all day, she walked over and said, "hey jen, wanna order a pizza?" lol! So we had delivered to the hotel what was supposed to be a vegi pizza with mushrooms on half...but when it came it had magically become half pineapple and half ham. lol oh well, hawaiian's good, too!

TODAY is where the title of this post comes into play--literally! Val's a HUGE Red Sox fan..Popo, she's worse than you are about the Cubs!! So, she brought with her to Cambodia a whole bag of Red Sox Tshirts, some plastic balls, and a plastic bat. what a freakin great idea! When she came back from temples around noon, we bicycled to grab some lunch and some delicious smoothies, and headed to the orphanage for the afternoon--I love teaching so much, I love the classes, and I LOVE the students, but the orphanage is really where all the "fun" is!! Wrestling, playing airplane, stickers, drawing, sports--and we've only been there twice!!

So, because the Red Sox have a huge game tonight, today was baseball day!! We all put on our new Red Sox Tshirts, each got some baseball cards, and headed into the yard to play! 4 medium size rocks were the bases and if your bat touched the ball, you ran! the kids LOVED it!

I can't wait to go back. We go every Sunday, but I hope to stop by during the weeks a few times before school. As far as orphanages go, this one is fantastic! The kids seem happy (although some require a little more nudging to participate), they know English fairly well, and the two men and one woman who run it seem to really care about them. Although though the place itself is absolutely tiny and dirty, they make the most of it. It really makes me appreciate everything I have..most of the things that I take for granted, even like driving a car, these kids may never know. I also wonder a lot what happened to their parents. An older girl there, 15, has only been at the orphanage for a year..so what happened? It just makes me feel incredibly, incredibly lucky to have been born in the US.

AND that brings you to right at this moment. I was going to bicycle down the road about a mile to get a delicious to-go noodle dinner, but it was pouring out (go figure..it never rains in cambodia...) so I made some ramen-like noodles (except that in cambodia, ramen noodles come with 3 packets inside: one of spicey sauce, one of diced herbs, and one of powder flavoring), had some hot chocolate, and more Shark Week. Tomorrow morning at 9 I'm going with Val and Ratana to watch a traditional Khmer dance recital for little kids. I'm pretty sure it's gonna be adorable. I hope all's well in the 706 and about 30 other area codes!

"Kgnom nuck neak! Chou-up kuhneea chap chap! hi nung Douv Red Sox!!!"

2 is DEFINITELY better than 1!!!!!

2009-10-09T01:29:00.003+11:00

This is gonna be a short post--I just HAD to tell about the great day I had!!!

woke up around 8:15 (which is laaattee for Cambodia!)
ate some breakfast with Ta
chatted with Val about her day yesterday and bought fruit at market
then planned our lessons for school went to a delicious Thai lunch together that cost 1.50 and had awesome conversation =)
we also found a new, shorter way to get to CLFCA!
gave our first quiz at CLFCA that was about body parts--everyone did exceptionally well!
played a new game we call Word Grow that they all seemed to like, too
(((example of Word Grow: cowindaughtereadyeshore--can ya figure it out??)))
biked to KHK, tought two classes there (my usual music class and another one) until about 6:30...

...and THEN:

the sky had been pretty dark all day, so we were expecting rain at some point---and it definitely arrived at about 6. it freakin poured while we were teaching!! it was so loud that we had to pause class cause wecouldn't hear over the noise on the tin roof! but as val and I got our bicycles to go, it seemed to let up! so we're thinking "hey! we lucked out!"
We biked to a "Fast Khmer Food" place on the way home to get some groceries and whatever, and while we're in there we hear just like GOOOOOSH!! RAIN!! feeling rebelious (lol), we decided to go for it--so we both ordered smoothes (that have ICE in them!! haha so we'll see how that goes! val didn't get sick last time she had one! haha we're dangerous like that) and headed out into literally rain so hard you couldn't see in front of you! She was in her thin raincoat and I, of course, had thought "oh, it won't rain today!" so I had nothing!!

We rode on our bicycles 2km home--me and val, the only two western women living in siem reap, completely drenched, slushies in hand, baskets full of groceries, screaming and laughing and yelling "SUO SUDEI!!" to everyone we saw!!!-----It was really just great, great, great fun!!

Haven't had fun like that in about a month and a half~!

So, we got home looking as if we'd gone swimming in our clothes (i wish i had thought to take a picture!), made our way upstairs, and took hot showers. Val's getting a massage tonight, think i'll do the same tomorrow---rephrase, I'm doing the same tomorrow.

Time for some Shark Week! dinner of a scrambled egg, bananas, apples, some random bread, and my last orange.

Basically, today rocked. =)

"Kgnom joul jet Campucheea!! Rea trey suo sudei!!"

"Kgnom Awt Sroul Clooin' Te" =(

2009-10-07T18:29:00.003+11:00

Stuck at the hotel feeling under the weather today. I've been trying to soak up the culture here as much as possible...even if that means eating or drinking something that's a bit questionable. Eh, oh well! So, while I'm lyin' around, I thought I'd tell you all about my past month!

On Saturday, September 5th, mom and I drove to Atlanta to put me on a plane from Georgia to Soeul, Koreal. Yeah, 15 hours on a plane. But it wasn't all that bad! I ate 3 meals, had my own personal tv on the back of the seat in front of me that had movies, tv series, and CDs uploaded onto it (and also had a setting where you could see a map of our flight route), was given a toothbrush with toothpaste, was offered wine, and slept for at least 6 hours. It

was weird, though, that as we were moving backward over timelines and we all were getting tired at about midnight our time, it was still light out over the Pacific ocean into Asia. AND the luckiest part was magically waking up as we were passing over a mountain range in Alaska!!

Finally, I got to Korea. I think it was about 3 or 4 AM in Georgia time but I wasn't tired at ALL. Being in a different country by myself was so crazy feeling! That was the most liberated-feeling 2 hours of layover I've ever had.
After buying a subway sandwich, leaving my passport on a phone booth, freaking because I couldn't find my passport, running back to the phone booth, breathing for the first time in 10 minutes, and buying a couple packs of gum, I boarded my plane from Soeul to Siem Reap, Cambodia. I was not only the only white person on that flight, but I was the only native English speaker, too. The plane was small and all of the announcements were in Korean and Khmer (Cambodian). No English. That's when it hit me that I was literally on the other side of the world.

The flight was about 5 hours long, most of which I either slept, ate yet another airplane meal, or tried to learn "hello" in Khmer. When we got to Siem Reap Sunday night (remember I left Saturday mid-morning), the weather was so bad that we circled around for about 45 minutes before landing. I got in line to show my VISA, picked up my bags, met by Meng, my project coordinator and basically bff in Cambodia, and went to my hotel.

My first day living in Cambodia was so busy that it's basically a blur to me. What I did:

Woke up at 6:30 for breakfast

7:30-8:30 My first Khmer Language Lesson

8:30-9:30 Orientation

9:30-10:30 Brought presents to a pagoda and was blessed by the oldest Monk I've ever seen

10:30-1:00 Went to lunch with Meng and bought myself a bicycle

1:30-2:30 Visited the Orphanage

3:00-4:00 Visited my first school (CLFCA)

4:30-6:00 Visited my second school (Khmer Help Khmer)

6:30-7:30 Saw a traditional Cambodian dance

8:00-9:30 Went to dinner with Meng

Passed out by 10 in my room

YEAH. and the way we got around everywhere was either by TukTuk (Cambodian equivalent of a taxi) or by Meng's motobike. I also took about 150 pictures on that first day, all of which are on Facebook. Jennifer Hicks if we're not already friends.

Although that was one of the most hectic days of my life, it was also the most exciting. I couldn't WAIT for the days to come.

My first week was perfect:

I woke up early every day for breakfast,

had my Khmer lessons,

had from around 10-12 to plan my lessons for the day,

bicycled 3 km to CLFCA where I'm literally THE teacher (there's no assistant at that school; there is Heng who can translate when I need him. Heng rocks.),

bicycled 4km to Khmer Help Khmer where I'm the music teacher for one class, then the teacherteacher for two others (we're doing Imagine by John Lennon right now! I'm slowly converting them all to UUism haha..),

then biked home at about 7:30, skyped with mom and popo,

and was asleep by 9:30.

(Notice, that there's no lunch or dinner in there. For the first 4 or 5 days breakfast was my only meal because I couldn't muster up the courage to go biking around a strange, Cambodian city looking for some grub. I've since gotten over that. The first lunch I did go out to buy I found at this funny little Fast Food resturaunt. It was noodles, chicken broth, bones, something that looked like a heart, and a spinal chord I think.)

Also, during this first week in Cambodia is when the Fountain Incident and the Frog-Ka-Bobs happened. If you don't know about those, lol ask.

My first weekEND in Cambodia, Meng and I went to Phenom Penh (the capital) and Sihanouk Ville (the beach). When I agreed to go to Phenom Penh, I didn't know that it's not just Augusta to Atlanta, it's like Augusta to DC! We were on a Cambodian equivalent of a Greyhound for 8 HOURS. First thing we did when we finally arrived was go to the Khmer Rouge Museum. It was actually really interesting..I didn't know much about the history of Cambodia, so I was glad I went. Then, Meng and I split for a little, he went to visit with his relatives and I walked around downtown near my hotel for a bit. That night I went out to eat with Meng and 3 of his Cambodian friends.

That night has been really the only time I've been miserably homesick. And let me tell ya, I hope it doesn't happen again. It really sucked. Phenom Penh is kinda gross..it's just a big, noisy, Cambodian city..not to mention, I didn't have my laptop so I couldn't skype or facebook with anyone. Come to think of it, that's probably why I was extra miserable.

The next morning Meng and I headed to the bus station for another 5 hour ride to the beach! The beach was actually quite nice, the room was nicer than the one in Phenom Penh, and I ate some awesome foods including squid, octopus, lobster, crickets, and jackfruit. (and there was a HUUUUGE storm while we were there, you can see it pouring in the background of the pic) The next morning we rode back to Phenom Penh, tourned around the city for a couple hours, then rode the long trip back home to Siem Reap. And god was I glad to be there.

The next few weeks were pretty tame. I had bought groceries for lunches so I didn't have to go out for every meal, I was learning the names of most of my kids, visiting pagodas, finally getting a hang of Khmer, and really falling in love with my new life here. Then came my first sign of American civilization: Elderhostle.

Elderhostle is a group of spunky older people who go on trips around the world to learn about different cultures. The group in Siem Reap was 11 50somethin'-80somethin' year olds who were really some of the coolest old people I've ever met. They were here for a week which not only gave me a break to speak some English to people, but gave me a break from lesson plans every day! They brought arts and crafts, new great ideas, and entertainment for the kids that took a load off of my shoulders for the week...and gave the kids a break from EnglishEnglishEnglish, too. Also, while they were here, we went to Angkor Wat. :)

(that's our tour guide, Li. lol he's a goofball..likes to call me a lot hah)

When you're looking at ruins of anything, you have to keep reminding yourself (or at least I did) that all this what now seems like a bunch of crap USED to be freakin awesome. Imagine all the people who've walked right where you're walking: their lives were soooooo different from ours...AND imagine how long it took to do every single carving by hand!! Angkor Wat and all the temples (including Tah Prohm, the one where all the trees are growing out of the ruins) are really, truly breathtaking. But either I'm a teenager or the temples all look the same because after 2 days of touring, I was templed out. Majorly. Some highlights of our Angkor Wat weekend include that temple, the elephant ride!, and getting lost for 2 hours by myself at Tah Prohm.

So, that was two weekends ago. Angkor Wat Temples. I kinda can't believe I've actually been there! There're about 34,729 pictures on facebook, too. =)

3 days later, Elderhostle and I took an awesome morning trip to the Floating Village, a community where some of the poorest people I've ever met (mainly Vietnamese who can't legally own land in Cambodia) live in an enormous lake on boats. they technically can't "own" water. It was FINALLY a beautiful morning and we got a bunch of fantastic pictures!

Elderhostle left last Saturday. Like I said, it was really great having them here. (I miss them!!!)They came at the perfect time, too. I'd been here for just over a month and they were here to help break up the "same old same old" that can happen from doing the same thing every day. I like what I do, I love it, but...it is the same...every day. I hope to stay in touch with them via internet somehow--one even has facebook!! (like I said..awesome.) Also right around the weekend that Elderhostle left, Cambodia felt what was that huge hurricane/storm in the Phillipines.

We didn't have school on Wednesday or Thursday because of heavy flooding. CLFCA is surrounded by puddles but the school managed to stay dry because it's covered and slightly elevated, but KHK is more or less completely under water a foot deep in some places.

So, the rain is what's been causing problems lately.

ALSO on Saturday, Val Mulhern, an executive level business woman from Boston who's been to nearly 50 countries, came to Cambodia to teach for 5 weeks! It's SOO nice having some company here!! I had never thought of myself as lonely in Cambodia without anyone, but having her around to talk to and plan lessons with and go out to eat with really is a great refresher.
AND in a couple weeks another woman from the US gets here. We don't have a confirmed name, age, or duration of stay, but still! The timing couldn't be more perfect! I went from having nobody to having not one but two friends here! Oh life's been good lately.

I think you're pretty much up to date now. I realize I may have left out a thing or two, or five hundred. I've been living here for a month, getting a routine down, and really enjoying every second of it. I know not much of this was about how I'm feeling or deep inspirational realizations I've had--those are coming. I actually have made a bunch of decisions about my life lately. This has been the most life-changing thing I've ever done...I'm just blogged out for now. =) Also, hundreds of pictures on facebook. Facebook is for pictures, Blogger is for journal.

"Awkun chiran! Jooup k'nee-uh chapchap!"

P.S. - Happy Moon Cake Day!!!

well, hey!!

2009-10-07T02:22:00.001+11:00

Well, I wish I hadn't procrastinated so much in starting a blog of my trip. I've officially been living in Cambodia for over a month now--feels like just a couple days!! Sometime soon I'll write all about my past month and the week leading up to the trip. So, blog number one: done!
"Rea Trea Suo Sudei!"