tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32652239149240574102024-03-05T07:02:34.140-08:00Kisses From KenyaElizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16655071052087226865noreply@blogger.comBlogger53125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3265223914924057410.post-47975296534286116102014-10-02T07:56:00.000-07:002014-10-02T07:58:06.973-07:00Long Distance Relationship Ideas-Joint Blog Post with Nate<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="color: purple; font-family: "Century Gothic";"><o:p> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">Hey Hey,</span></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";"> So
this blog post isn’t about my time now in India but instead Nate and I have
written a joint blog post about our long distance relationship. We decided to
create a list of the things we can remember doing over the course of, mainly
the time that I was in Kenya, but also kinda over the course of our
relationship until now. They are
things-mostly little things that we believe helped keep the magic in our
relationship alive. We were together in a long distance relationship (3-5 hours
apart for the first 11 months that we dated and then we were 7-8 hours time
difference apart for the following 22 months. Now we are finally not only on
the same continent-but also in the same country/county/town/compound! And it’s
AWESOME!!!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Ideas for A Long
Distance Relationship…That Worked for Nathu + Zabet<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<ul style="margin-top: 0in;" type="disc">
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">NEVER underestimate
snail mail- everyone loves getting mail no matter if it’s a postcard or a
package-everything is good!<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Going along with the
snail mail idea, we found that it was a good idea to number each envelope
we sent to each other and then we would know a) how long letters would
take to arrive b) if one was missing c) how many we’d sent over the course
of our time apart<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Take pictures before
you leave on 2 disposable cameras (1 for each of you) but then when you
get them developed (if you do before you leave, don’t show the other
person) and then send them with letters or postcards as a fun surprise/reminder
of past memories made<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Cut out interesting newspaper
clippings (comics, stories of interest, sweet pictures & funny
misprints) to send each other which can be fun to read but also good
reminders of current happenings to reread later<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Rarely, if ever, say
‘I miss you’- and we realize this one might seem weird. You can say I miss
you to friends and family but don’t say/write it to your one and only
homeslice cause you know it’s always implied and saying it sometimes makes
seem more real and harder to be apart-not that it isn’t hard being away
from family and friends too but you know what I mean<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Create a scenario with
the two of you doing fun things that you’d like to do together in the
future (places you want to visit/restaurants to try/parks to explore) and
tell each other these through thrilling letters, phone calls or emails <o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Send little packages
of…fun things they might miss/never have seen (food & candy can be
great!) if you’re in a new place/funny things they might have no use for
except to get a good laugh<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Create an album on
FB where you can share pictures<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Make surprises for
each other and give little hints for suspense-from things as little as a
special postcard idea to a package in the mail to a flash drive<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Create a list of
things you want to do/movies you want to see/places you want to travel
when you’re together again so neither of you forget; and because crossing
things off of the list later is really fun!<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Write down your love
story thus far so you can reread it whenever you want –get the key moments
like first kiss, first ‘I love you’, first hangout, trips taken together
and any really memorable times together<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Send mix tapes! That
might sound really 90s but a) the 90s were awesome and b) getting new
music is always good especially when it’s suggested by someone you love<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">You can go a step
farther than just the mix tape and send a list of hints/reasons for each
song on the CD that they can look at the first time they listen to it and
then send the list of actual artist/song names that they can check out
after a full listening<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Copy little phrases
or text messages sent that were especially cute or special in someway onto
a word document to reread later<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Send a list of Top
10 things you’re excited for when you see them<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Send dried flowers,
leaves or other things to give them the flavor of the season they might be
missing<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Create ridiculously
over-the-top cute/punny/ridiculous cards<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<ul style="margin-top: 0in;" type="circle">
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">‘Owl’ always love
you<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">I love ‘ewe’<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">I’m longing for
you (pic of giraffe or swan)<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">“There is always
some madness in love but there is also always some reason in
madness”-Freidrich Nietzche<o:p></o:p></span></li>
</ul>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Come up with fun
exchanges to do when you’re together – like if you do something then
they’ll do something in exchange like a dance, song or crazy dare – make
‘em as foolish as you want! Or you can create exchanges for you to do
apart and then you have to document them for each other and it’ll bring
some great laughs<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Send a journal back
and forth or two journals so that you can read/write in both and almost
always have one to continue writing in<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Send each other a
flash drive back and forth with short videos you take, pictures, little
stories or whatever you want. And my advice is if you are only sending the
USB in a regular envelope-tape it to something else like a pencil or
whatever so to disguise it a bit and then people won’t want to open it and
take it.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Calculate time
differences and make sure the times of phone calls are convenient for both
people, and don’t over think it if one isn’t able to make a pre-decided
time. <o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Explore websites to
find the cheapest rates for calling, if free Skype isn’t a possibility.
Also, buying Skype minutes is usually on the more expensive end—ex of a
cheap calling rates website: telephonekenya.com<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Exchange a couple
T-shirts or something before you depart—it helps you feel close even when
far away (take your time washing them for the first time, cause the scent
goes away). <o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">For the time
difference: Ironman Triathlon watches have a two-time setting—if you’re
bad at simple math, it helps. <o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Send each other
stuffed animals of your sprit animal….<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Don’t be afraid to
write venting letters (about things happening in your life, but not
relationship related, just if you had a rough day) if phone calls aren’t a
possibility at the moment. It helps to get thoughts out on paper, and
maybe it can help you partner better understand the situation or even
learn something about you. <o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Difficult conversion
topics can be brought up in letters initially so each person has time to
evaluate their thoughts/opinions before discussing it on the phone<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">If you’re able to
send text messages, make little funny random ones/jokes/cheesy pick up
lines-to let your partner know they’re on your mind (think the scene from
Enchanted </span><span style="font-family: Wingdings;">J</span><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";"> ‘That’s How You Know’)<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Calculate when
special holidays/birthdays are coming up and how long it usually takes for
the mail to deliver and send packages filled with special items for those
days like balloons, funky party glasses, streamers, cards and confetti! <o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Check out the
website: <a href="http://www.lovingfromadistance.com/thingsforldrcouplestodo.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">http://www.lovingfromadistance.com/thingsforldrcouplestodo.html</span></a>
which has some more good ideas for long distance relationships<o:p></o:p></span></li>
</ul>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Hope
this list gave you some ideas if you’re in a long distance relationship-no
matter the distance! Believe in your relationship, communicate and if it is
meant to last, then it will stand against all odds. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Good
luck!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Kisses
from India,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Zabet
& Nathu<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16655071052087226865noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3265223914924057410.post-43006164686174124582014-09-11T04:49:00.000-07:002014-09-11T04:49:02.757-07:00Bus Project Update!!!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Hey Hey Hey!</div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is a short
blog post with an update on the bus project!! </div>
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So as you probably know, I’ve been working with my Kenyan
counterparts on raising money for a bus for the school. I was evacuated a
little over a month ago but the idea is still strong and actions are being made
to keep the dream alive! </div>
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My school has been doing their part and raising money since
the walk by talking churches in the area as well as visiting schools. Their
goal is not only to raise money but also to raise awareness of our school and
the Deaf community. Now it’s our turn to raise the money that would’ve been
raised through the grant had I been able to complete my service there. </div>
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A website has been created with information about my school
and the bus project and a place to donate on the top of the webpage. </div>
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The website link if you’re interested in learning
more/donating: <a href="http://webdbyj.com/sipili/">http://webdbyj.com/sipili/</a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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If you have any questions about the school or the project,
please leave a comment underneath and I would be happy to answer them for you!</div>
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Lastly, For more information on the actual walk, there was
an article written about it by a local Kenyan from Sipili: <a href="http://laikipiaruralvoices.blogspot.in/2014/06/sipili-school-for-deaf-walk-for-bus.html">http://laikipiaruralvoices.blogspot.in/2014/06/sipili-school-for-deaf-walk-for-bus.html</a></div>
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Also, I had written a blog post on it back in June: </div>
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<a href="http://kissesfromkenya.blogspot.in/2014_06_01_archive.html">http://kissesfromkenya.blogspot.in/2014_06_01_archive.html</a></div>
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Thank you for your generosity, well wishes and prayers!!</div>
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Love, Zabet</div>
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Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16655071052087226865noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3265223914924057410.post-90077758720656659012014-08-28T23:51:00.002-07:002014-08-28T23:51:26.839-07:00Kenya-Ethiopia-USA-India & Words of Wisdom from Sipili<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Hello friends! </div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It has been way
too long since I’ve written a blog post and so now I have a few for you to
catch up on! As many of you know, my life has been pretty crazy this past month
with many transitions. The last time I wrote a blog post I was in Kenya but
since then I have been evacuated from Kenya, been a tourist in Ethiopia for 9
days, visited with family and friends in America while slurping up milkshakes
and flown to India. All within about 5-6 weeks. It’s been kinda crazy to say
the least. </div>
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It all started in early July when we found we were being
evacuated from Kenya for security reasons. We officially left the country about
3 weeks later after a few consolidations, transition meeting and packing/saying
goodbye to our communities. Saying goodbye to my kiddos was one of the hardest
things I’ve ever done in my life. I don’t know how many of them I’ll ever see
again and that is the hardest part of it all. Leaving America to initially go
to Kenya was tough but nothing compared to waving to my kids and not knowing
when/if I’ll ever see them again. They don’t know how to use the internet and
all of the students I taught will graduate from Sipili School for the Deaf
within a few years since the youngest kids I taught were in 4<sup>th</sup>
grade. It’s really hard to think about and I am crossing my fingers I can go
back within 4-5 years when it’s possible for me to return to visit. </div>
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I am still in contact with my school and there is still hope
for the bus project!!!! Many of you know that I have been actively working with
the teachers to raise money for a school bus and this is still in the works.
Originally I was going to do a Peace Corps Grant but now that I am a Returned
Peace Corps Volunteer (RPCV), I am no longer eligible for the grant. I am now
currently working with my family to try and figure out a new plan involving
PayPal so that I can still raise the $10,000 that my school was counting on
with the grant. I will keep you all updated on that news and hopefully very
soon I will have more information on the progress but I am very excited for it
and hope it all goes well! </div>
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After Kenya, I visited Ethiopia and had a blast! And I wrote
separate blog post on that which will be either right before or right after
this one. </div>
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Following Ethiopia I flew back to ‘Merica and it was crazy.
It was so good to be back and see people but it was also just strange. I hadn’t
really fully processed that I had left Kenya and wasn’t going back and then
being back surrounded by people was a lot but mostly great! I ate a lot of good
food including a milkshake almost every single day I was back, Chinese and
sushi and salads-delicacies! And caught up with people who I hadn’t seen for a
while too! In addition to all of that, I also had officially decided to travel
with the University of Pittsburgh to India.</div>
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The brings me to the last country, the one I am currently
in. I am now in India as the Resident Assistant to 17 University of Pittsburgh
students from now until the middle of December. I am so excited about this new
adventure! We arrived in Delhi last Monday and drove the 7 hours up to Mussoorie
on Tuesday. Delhi was pretty toasty which makes living in the mountains that
much better! Mussoorie is a beautiful town tucked away in the foothills of the
Himalayan Mountains and I am already falling in love with everything. The other
bonus about being on this trip is the company. Not only do the students seem
pretty cool as well as the staff here at the Center but I am also here with
Nate’s Dad who is the main professor and leader of the trip and Nate too! After
being in a relationship living on separate continents for 22 months and only
seeing each other for about one of those months, we now get the chance to
experience what living in the same community is like and I couldn’t be more
exited! </div>
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This week has mostly been figuring out the system, meeting
the staff & students, figuring out what my job will entail and orienting
myself with everything and everyone. I am living at the Hanifl Center which is
connected with Woodstock School (an international school about a 10-15 minute
walk away). The students live in a dorm directly next to the building I’m
living in and will have class in the building that I’m in as well as meals.
They have a pretty sweet schedule which is half made of classes pertaining to this
area and half made of excursions, whether they’re day trips or 10 day treks. I
will be going on some of the excursions, most likely the large 10 day treks and
exploring northern India with them. Also while I am here during the day I will
mostly likely start to help out at the Woodstock School doing whatever they
need me to a few days a week or if I can find a senior activity center, then I
hope to help out there but so far I haven’t had any luck finding one. My days
will be working at the school/running/self-teaching myself ASL/reading/attending
the occasional lecture and whatever else until 5pm when I am on duty so I hope
to find something cool to do a few times a week while the students are in
class. </div>
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I also must mention the food here and town. Nate and I
walked to town yesterday (about 45-60 min walk away) and explored everything.
For him, it was remembering stores he loved and reminiscing about ones that had
left from when he was here last about 4-5 years ago. For me, it was exciting to
see food being sold that I remembered from when I studied abroad my junior year
in southern India as well as clothing but also just exciting to take in
everything using all of my senses. We had lunch at this little dosa place that
Nate loved and I had some of the best masala chai I’ve had in a really long
time. We also bought some juice on the side of the road that we watched being
made with pomegranate, oranges and apples and it was like I was back in
Ethiopia with all the fresh amazing juice, made me so happy! I also bought a
brightly colored hanging chair (blue, purple & pink) which is gonna be soo
sweet when I have my own place in America to set it up…assuming I can get it
back to America somehow hahaha it may be slightly larger than I thought and
doesn’t fit into my suitcase exactly… We also were able to buy a few books at a
bookstore that Nate knew and it will be perfect and I can see myself returning
many times. The last main place we stopped was this super cute café that has
some American things in it and is run only by Indian women. It had a good vibe,
cool decorations and delicious masala chai and crepes-you can’t go wrong with
that! The last thing I gotta say is about the food here at the Hanifl Center
and how amazing it has been. I’d heard the food might get old after a while and
not be as interesting to eat often and I know I’ve only been here a week but I
gotta say, I don’t see myself getting bored with the food. After living in
Kenya and eating only maize with beans & kales every.single.day. for lunch
and porridge 95% of the time for breakfast, this food is glorious! We had
cereal-3-4 types on daily rotation, some sort of egg (scrambled or hard
boiled), a type of different bread (bun, chapatti, toast) and a fruit with
juice and PB/jelly/cheese to put on our bread. Sooo goood!! And let me just
throw it out there that we had chocolate mousse with lunch 2 days ago that had
actual chocolate chips!!!!! On the top of it! sayyyy whattt?! My mind was
blown! So overall, yeah, things are good here <span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span>
I’ll probably update you all again in a few weeks once things get into a
routine here. </div>
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And I leave you all with words of wisdom/thoughts on the
world from my headmaster from Sipili, a slightly ridiculous man.</div>
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<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>“Don’t walk alone because it could kill you.
How? From stress. It’s twice as tiring psychologically to do that compared to
walking with other people”</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>“It’s hard to find a hearing impaired teacher
who is fat because it takes a lot of energy to teach”</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>“Medium heavy rain could kill you-it’ll just
soak into you and kill you”</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>“If you take Viagra without a partner-in fact,
you could die”</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>“Americans don’t like white hair”</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>“All short men are hot tempered”</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Everyone </i>has
sex before marriage. Anyone who says they haven’t/didn’t are lying and probably
want to keep it private and that’s why they won’t tell you”</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>“When it’s cold, all the girls are moody”</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>“Everyone who has a green card is definitely a
slave”</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>“Two wives are better than one”</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>“The most wise people are very sexy”</div>
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Have a great start of school/start of September!</div>
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Love to you,</div>
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Linde-Whose-Back-In-Indi</div>
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Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16655071052087226865noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3265223914924057410.post-1580344421159597582014-08-28T23:50:00.001-07:002014-08-28T23:50:18.824-07:00Ethiopia Trip!!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Hey guys, this is a late blog post about the 9 or so days
after Kenya and before America. It was an amazing trip that I did with a bunch
of other volunteers from my group and we had a great time.</div>
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Our journey began on Tuesday as I flew out of Kenya at 10am
with 2 other PCVs. The crazy thing was that we met an RPCV on our flight over.
She was a Health PCV for the first 8 months of my service until her service was
over and then she went back to the USA to go to grad school. She was working in
Ethiopia for 2 months and had just gone to visit Kenya for a long weekend when
we were flying back with her. She was really helpful as she helped us find a
cab, our hotel and a place a stay at the end of our stay. </div>
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On our first day we didn’t do much except explore the
capital and eat a delicious lunch with tej (honey wine). Eran, Jocelyn and I
all walked around together to try and find sim cards for our phones…much harder
than it should’ve been. We walked all around looking for phone stores but many
of them didn’t sell the sim cards-only phones. At long last we found one and he
told us he needed a passport picture of us and to see a copy of our passports.
So then we had to go on another adventure to find a copier and a picture place.
Eventually we did but we were running by the end of it since the guy at the
phone store said he might close shop soon. We made it but something weird was
going on with my phone so even after all that trouble, my phone could only
receive texts and calls but never could successfully make them. Oh well, we got
to see a good bit of the city throughout the whole ordeal. That night we were
able to meet up with the 4 other PCVs that had flown over earlier in the day
and we all slept very well that night. </div>
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We woke up at 6am so that we could try to catch a bus to
Bah-hee-a-dar (spelling is phonetic). Wrong choice. We discovered that
transportation is different than in Kenya. We had to preorder a ticket the day
before. It took us 2 hours of our morning to figure out a new plan, buy tickets
as well as in country flight tickets and decide on our plans for the day since
we weren’t leaving the country until the next day. </div>
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Side note on transportation- It is very different than Kenya
in a lot of ways. Long bus trips need preordered tickets; which is sometimes
true in Kenya but usually only during holidays. Also, people wait in long
lines-lines!-for the matatus! It was crazy! In Kenya if you wanted on a matatu,
it was often a free-for-all but in Ethiopia, people actually stood in lines to
wait. The roads we traveled on were actually nicely paved as well. Granted,
take all of these comparisons about Kenya and Ethiopia (and ones I make in the
future), with a grain of salt, because I got to know Kenya pretty well over the
course of 22 months whereas I only spent 9 days in Ethiopia. And in Ethiopia, I
was in more touristy places and we flew a few times. That was the other big
difference in transportation-that some of the roads are so bad/it takes
for-ev-er to travel on some of them, that in-country flights are fairly common
there. </div>
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Back to day 2. Since we couldn’t travel very far we decided
to take a day trip to Wenchi Crater. It took about 3-4 hours one-way to get
there and since there were 6 of us, we just hired a vehicle for the day. It was
a beautifully scenic trip. When we arrived at the crater we paid not only to
get in the park but also to ride on horseback the 4 km down to the crater and
back up. We hopped on our horses which were being led by Ethiopians and within
2 minutes, the rain started and got heavier and heavier. Our horses were
quickly led to a ladies house nearby so that we wouldn’t get completely wet. The
sweet older lady invited us inside the little wooden house where she instantly
started making a fire in the middle of it. We sat around on the edge of the bed
and a bench while she got the fire roaring. We were at 3000meters, in their
winter season, soaking wet and fire was the perfect cure. All 6 of us plus all
6 horse guides as well as the lady and her grandson were packed into her house
and it was perfectly cozy. We sat there warming up, not saying much as there
was a large language barrier, for about an hour while the rain continued. They
asked if we wanted coffee and knowing how big it was in Ethiopia in addition to
how cold we were, we instantly jumped at the chance. The mama went through the
whole coffee ceremony. She started by bringing out coffee beans; much lighter
in color than we expected, and we realized the reason in color difference was
because the beans still had to be roasted. She got a large pan and roasted the
beans on it, flipping them constantly until they were black. Next she took out
a small goblet and started to grind the beans using a large heavy stick to
pound them in the goblet. She made it look so easy, smiling the whole time. She
then started to boil a large pot of water in a coffee pot and eventually added
the ground coffee to it. She mixed it by pouring a little into a cup and then
back into the pot shortly after. It was a long process but then it was made and
she poured some into all the cups for us to drink. She also had a little bit of
salt-big grains-which she added to our cups to add a little something extra.
Now I normally don’t like coffee, let along black coffee, but it was pretty
awesome to be drinking coffee after watching the whole process in some random
lady’s house in the middle of Ethiopia. We ended up spending about 2 hours in
her house while the rain raged on until we finally had to head back to the
capital. We never did get that ride down to the bottom of the crater but we saw
it from the top and I enjoyed our random coffee experience much more. On our
drive home, we got stuck for about 30min and ate a large platter of enjera with
various sauces and vegetables on top with our first taste of Ethiopian beer. </div>
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We didn’t get much sleep that night since we woke up at
3:30am to drive to the bus station. After 45min of wandering around the bus
station, staring at signs written only in Amharic, we found our bus. That was
another unusual difference between Ethiopia and Kenya that we noticed. In Kenya
whenever you walk into a matatu or bus stage to find the right vehicle going to
your destination, you can barely walk one foot without someone coming up to you
to ask where you want to go. Sometimes when you travel through the same towns
often enough and always know where you’re going, it can be annoying, but if
you’re in a new town, then it can have its advantages. Ethiopians, however,
always just let us wander around knowing/hoping/trusting we’d find the right
bus. The bus itself was also quite different. The buses that you take for long
distances in Kenya are fine but the seats aren’t too comfortable and the
windows are tinted weird colors so it can be strange to look out them. The
buses in Ethiopia that took us to Gondar in northern Ethiopia were very nice! We
got 2 bottles of water, a piece of cake, nice seats and they had 2 TVs hanging
in the aisles which actually played Ethiopian music videos the whole time! It
was spectacular to say the least. The view was also amazing. We passed so much
flat farmland that was as green as a cucumber! There weren’t many towns along
the way, just lush green land. We finally got off of the bus around 10:30pm
after about 17 hours sitting on the bus with only a few toilet stops and one
stop for lunch. Thankfully we’d been able to contact an Ethiopian to meet us at
the stage and take us to a hotel. Robel was amazing! We got his contacts from
an Ethiopian PCV who knew he’d be willing to help us out. He had recently
married a PCV who had just left after her close-of-service and was waiting on
his marriage visa to go through. He hung out with us for the full day we were
in Gondar and showed us around from a local perspective. </div>
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The next morning we met Robel for breakfast and
juice-delicious!!! And then headed off in a taxi for 45min to the Simean
Mountains. We’d decided to do the half-day hike and walked around the mountains
with a tour guide for about 3.5 hours. It was incredibly beautiful! We saw the
tree with branches that some people use as toothbrushes and some bleeding heart
baboons. We got much closer than I’d expected us to! Overall the mountains were
beautiful and so green! It was unbelievable! We spent our afternoon at the
market and walking around town which was also really cool since we were with
Robel, a born and raised Gondar man. That evening after a short nap, we all got
ready for a night on the town. We met up with Robel again and he took us to
find dinner. We wandered around but a lot of places had closed since it was
8:30 or 9pm until eventually we found a place that we were initially just going
inside of to use their restrooms but then after Robel talked to the guy for a
little bit, the manager agreed to stay open for 30 more minutes and give us
food! We ate an unusual but so good combo meal of enjera with sauce and lasagna.
The next stop was a little hole-in-the-wall bar where Robel took us to get a
drink and teach us to dance. It was our starter course. We all attempted it for
a while but none of us really succeeded, though it was hilarious the whole
time! Then we went to the next level and he took to the ‘House of Camelot’
where we saw traditional dancing and participation was highly recommended so
naturally, we all jumped in and made complete fools of ourselves <span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The last place he took us to that night
was a slightly underground night club which played popular American songs
intermixed with popular Ethiopian songs and the whole crowd danced with a
mixture of styles which was so cool to watch and try to attempt! </div>
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On Saturday morning we woke up early, again, to fly to
Lailibela. We made it there in the morning after a 25min flight and found our
hotel. We walked to market about a 30min walk away since it was actually market
day and it was in full swing. We ended up meeting two high school boys, Abraham
and Antonio, who helped to show us around and showed us the juice place. The
afternoon was cool because we went shopping in our town and we met a really
sweet athletic lady who is Deaf! I could only understand about half of what she
was signing but I was with 2 other Deaf Ed volunteers and between the 3 of us,
we had a good short conversation. We found out she had competed in Athletics in
Addis Abba recently and was a pretty decent runner and now she is a great
business woman who has her own shop in Lailibela! It was really uplifting to
hear about her success and think back to my students and hope they can have the
same success! We ended our day by relaxing outside with a few cups of coffee
and a delicious large Ethiopian meal. </div>
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On Sunday we woke up at 4am trying to meet up with 3 other
PCVs from Kenya who had taken the bus up from Nairobi instead of flying like we
did, because we were going to go to a monastery to hear the monks chanting and
singing. However, luck was not on our side and we didn’t know we had to buy
tickets for it beforehand so we said hellos and went back to our hotel to pass
out. I spent the morning with some of them walking around town and we ended up
running into Antonio and Abraham again who showed us a shelter for the homeless
who now make and sell scarves! Pretty neat. And our afternoon ended with the
church tour. That is the main attraction of Lalibela, the sweet super old stone
churches. There are 11 total, split into 3 groups of monolithic,
semi-monolithic and cave church I believe. They have been around for ages and
the coolest part is that at least some of them are still in use sometimes. That
evening we went to a bar where we saw more traditional dancing, and it’s always
astounding how they’re able to move their shoulders like that. </div>
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The next morning we woke up early again and hung outside one
of them to listen to the chanting and drumming as they started the celebration
for one of the holidays, St. Marys Day I believe. Then everyone headed out of
Lalibela either to travel around the north a bit more or to fly back to Addis
to fly home the following day. Jocelyn and I were the only ones to hang around
for one more day and we took it pretty easy. We were exhausted from the little
sleep we’d been getting and were looking forward to a pretty relaxing day
filled with Ethiopian food, movies and wandering the town.</div>
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On Tuesday we flew back to Addis in the morning and met some
cool people on our flight. One couple had gotten married in January and were
now taking their honeymoon of 14 countries in 40 days-and the guy had actually
grown up in Hempfield (Lancaster, PA!). We met the other PCVs in the hotel to
grab our stuff and say farewell as they flew off that afternoon. We ended up
staying at Joe’s house (the RPCV’s workmate that we met when we flew into
Ethiopia). He took us on a tour of the biggest open air market of either East
Africa or Africa, called Mercado. It was super muddy but awesome. On the way
back and the way there actually, we stopped for coffee at a place called Tamoca
which is known for having the best coffee in Ethiopia. Then on the way home I
had between 15 and 20 people tell me that my leg were dirty/offer to wipe them
off/chuckle and point at my legs…even in Ethiopia people thought I had dirtbag
tendencies hahaha. It was all because I had a skirt on but had rolled it up
when we walked through the market because of how incredibly muddy it was and
then on the walk back to Joe’s house, the mud had caked on and I had a
beautiful splatter paint thing going on. That evening was fun as Joe took us
out to a Sudanese restaurant with 4 of his friends who work there but were
originally from various parts of Europe and Australia. The next morning was my
last day in Ethiopia and so I decided to go get my hair done. The first two
places wouldn’t do it-one because they were booked until after lunch and the
second just looked at me and shook their head-but the third time was a charm. They
put small cornrow braids in my hair. It took an hour, we (Eran and Jocelyn came
with me) got served coffee and bread and the whole thing only cost $5! I ended
my stay there by eating lunch with Eran, Jocelyn and Joe. We ate enjera with
raw meat! It was actually really good and apparently a lot of Ethiopians eat
raw meat often. Overall I’d say the sort of spontaneous trip there to
transition between Kenya and America was awesome!</div>
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Love,</div>
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Zabet</div>
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Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16655071052087226865noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3265223914924057410.post-34981753563402978382014-06-02T11:43:00.003-07:002014-06-02T11:43:52.461-07:00A Walk through ‘A Walk for a Bus’: Part 1<!--StartFragment-->
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Hello Everyone! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, WE DID IT!! We completed the walk to the best of our
ability and I think we’re halfway there money-wise!! It was an adventure of all
sorts. I’d co-planned it and yet I still went in unsure of a lot of things but
they all worked themselves out in the end. It was quite a week. The people: 10
learners (2 from class 7 & and 8 from class 8), Wairia & Thairo
(teachers), Gishoki (our cook), our driver and me. The week: 26-30<sup>th</sup>
May 2014. The what? Our ‘Walk for a Bus’. The How? Read on…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The craziness began last Saturday. We still hadn’t
decided if we were going to leave on Saturday or Sunday and there was a lot
that I was stressing out about. On Friday afternoon, Wairia, my co-teacher, was
in Nyahururu, and he was supposed to be confirming our vehicle for the week. I
was here in Sipili and was supposed to be talking to someone to confirm our
place to stay on Sunday and see if we could extend the invitation to Saturday. Neither
of us had the conversations we wanted nor neither could get in contact with the
people we were trying to reach. It was rough. Saturday rolls around and by the
afternoon I’d assumed we would leave Sunday because as far as I knew we didn’t
have a vehicle or place to sleep. Nope, that wasn’t in the cards. Wairia called
me at 3:15pm and said to pack everything because a matatu was coming to pick us
up from the school. The kids were scattered everywhere because they were off
collecting funds from the market in town but we got them all in one place,
packed and ready to go. We pulled out of Sipili around 4:30 with 10 learners, Thairo,
another teacher and myself as well as Gishoki our cook. We had our book bags, 6
mattresses, some buckets and our banner and that was it. We met Wairia in
Nyahururu where we hopped onto another matatu and rode off into the sunset to
Nanyuki although it didn’t feel like a fairytale. I still wasn’t sure what we’d
gotten ourselves into but I was glad we were on our way and it was actually
happening! We pulled up to the Likii Special School for the Mentally Challenged
around 9:30pm where Wairia had called and they said it was fine to come. Our
school had stayed there for a week during Games a few months ago and so our
kids and their kids knew each other and it was fine. The special schools here
really look out for one another and are always willing to lend a helping hand
to other special schools, it’s really neat. We got fed ugali and kales and
slept in 2 separate classrooms. Side note about the classrooms, they were
recently built and had a lot of new devices like a trampoline, toy shelf and
were painted with tons of visual aids however, the classes had no lights or
electricity. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Sunday came bright and early and after drinking
our porridge we left for the same Catholic Church that the students had
attended during Games last term. We attended the first service and were allowed
to say a little blurb about ourselves but not pass the donation plate around.
We stood outside the gate afterwards and got quite a few donations though. Then
we went back for round 2 and the second service was much better. Waria talked
for a bit longer and then had two of the students come and say their thanks.
And then the kids signed a song while the church sang along and it was such a
cool experience!! Next they had the donation baskets in front so people could
come and give and we were so blessed by donations in that service! It was
incredible! Other things about church I noticed was that there was a music conductor,
which I don’t think, I’ve seen since arriving here. The church was humungous
and had a small choir in front with the conductor and she was really enthusiastic.
The artwork at this church was also probably the coolest I’ve ever seen in a
church. In the front the wall was extremely tall and they had this crazy
awesome painting. There was a pale yellow sun swirling around on the top and
the earth on the bottom in a semi-circle. The earth was textured and colored
with the prefect mix of green, blue and white. And then in the middle was a
copper (maybe?) statue of Jesus elongated so that his feet were in Africa and
his arms outstretched overhead to the sky. I took a picture which I’ll post on
Facebook next week, but basically, really cool. The last thing was something I
learned during the sermon. Now the whole service-both services-were in
Kiswahili-2.5hours times 2 services-a long time-but the priest said a handful
of sentences in English and this was one of them, my take-home: “Don’t kill
your brother, that doesn’t make sense. If you feel the need to kill, come here
and we’ll take you to Somalia and you can kill Al-Shabaab”. Yep, that was all I
got out of the sermon. Hahahaha oh man. After church we relaxed all afternoon
getting ready to begin the walk the next morning.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Monday. Fun day. Walk Day!! We woke up early,
ate, packed our bags and waited for the a-ok from Gikunda, our headmaster, to
head over to the Education Offices to get officially flagged off. We walked
over around 10 and by 11 we were starting with a few speeches and a prayer.
There was maybe 5-6 high up Education people there as well as someone from KBC
News. It was pretty exciting! We walked out of the Education offices with our
banners held high, ready to make some money towards our bus! Our system was receipt
tickets. Our students each carried a bunch of cards that said ‘I supported
Sipili School for the Deaf to buy a school bus’ and then we had for 50Ksh,
100Ksh, 200Ksh, 500Ksh and 1,000Ksh. The students would take their cards and
show people them and then if they wanted to donate they could choose how much.
Soon after walking around together in a large group, we split into smaller
groups to cover more ground. I had 3 students with me and I would walk around
holding one of the smaller posters while the students went up to everyone and
then if the person had a question, the students could call me over. I will say
that system only worked if they knew English and could understand me with my
scratchy voice but it worked well enough. That was the other thing of Monday, I
woke up with a pretty sore throat and walked around all day with a fever,
splendid way to start the week. So while walking around I met an older Italian
man who studied US History in university and loves America. He has lived in
Kenya for 3 years but it planning to go back to Italy soon because business is
tough. He says he hopes to visit the US soon too because he really misses it.
We reminisced. He told me he has crossed the continental US 4 total times using
Greyhound twice, a car and a train and I found out that not only had he heard
of Lancaster PA-he’s visited there because he finds Amish culture fascinating.
I did not expect to find someone who has been to Lancaster while I was in
Nanyuki that’s for sure! The other interesting person of the day was meeting a
lady at a coffee shop who knew Sign Language because she learned it in college
and now hopes to come and visit our school at some point! Cool beans! Lunchtime
rolled around and we got a free lunch from the high up Education people and
realized we’d made a good amount just in the morning from Nanyuki town! We sold
tickets from 11-4:30 before hopping into the matatu to head to our next school
to sleep. We’d planned to walk on the road a bit on that first day but we
walked around town so long and knew we were going to have to cook dinner at the
next school so our time was limited. We arrived at Talent Academy, a hearing
primary school for Classes 1-5, about 5km off the main road. It felt very
remote. We slept in the classrooms with us girls sharing 2 mattresses between
the 5 of us. The students cooked dinner of ugali, cabbage and meat and it
turned out very well. This was the only place we had to cook because it wasn’t
a boarding school and it all worked out. That night was the worst of my
fever/cold but I knew that if I could make it through a night sharing a 3in
thick mattress with 2 other girls in the cold higher elevation of Nanyuki, I
could make it through the walk while feeling sick.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Tuesday morning we had an assembly with all of
our students combined. We talked about our students and how they were just as
capable as the hearing students at this school, just that they communicated
differently and we sang some songs for each other as well as prayed together.
They walked us to their gate, wished us well and we were off. We went to Naro
Moru town first and then we walked on the road for about 2 hours before
reaching our next town, Chaka. In Chaka town it was cool because we met a Deaf
carpenter there. He even remembered one of our girls when she was a Class 1-2
girl at her old school. The kids loved being able to talk to him and story with
him about things happening in town and his carpentry work. That night we went
to Mary Immaculate All Girls Primary School to sleep. It’s a primary school for
classes 4-8 only and it was a big school. They had 276 girls, all-boarding and
it was so different. Their compound was beautiful and everything was so nice.
The girls also were so excited to meet our 4 girls and show them everything.
They were all very eager to learn sign language and were so helpful in showing
them where to eat, bathe, hang out and sleep. I slept with our girls in one of
the dorms. It was a dorm for all of the class 4 & 5 girls-had about 40-and
was the smaller dorm. The other 2 held around 150 I think. I did get a warm
water bucket bath that night in my own room, which was the highlight of my
evening. Twas a bit funny because I was given these 2 small beach pails with
warm water and had to kneel on the ground at an awkward angle to get all of my
hair wet (something they don’t have to worry about) to wash it but it worked
out and the warm water was so wonderful. I found out I had a 101.12 temperature
that night and so after eating more ugali and kales for dinner, I went to sleep
before all of the girls had gotten back from their nightly study session. Such
a night owl I am </span><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 12.5pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16655071052087226865noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3265223914924057410.post-8201467044479678642014-06-02T11:37:00.005-07:002014-06-02T11:39:01.242-07:00A Walk through ‘A Walk for a Bus’: Part 2<!--StartFragment-->
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Wednesday morning was full of rain and clouds.
Thankfully this was the day we were planning on starting a bit later because
the students had washed their clothes and they needed to dry. We had an hour-long
assembly with all of the students and it was really great. Everyone learned
something including a lot of new signs! We left around 10:30 and went to sell
tickets in Mweiga town. We walked for about 2 hours afterwards towards Kiaware
town. The walking in-between towns was my favorite part-so relaxing and
enjoyable to hang out with the students. I had two interesting experiences in
Kiwara town when we reached. We split into group again, as usual, and I ended
up making a small child scream bloody murder. He saw me coming and immediately
wanted his dad to pick him up and then when I was a little bit closer, I’m talking
about 20feet away, he starts screaming his head off! He was terrified!!! I walk
past him and am about 5 feet past him and he’s calmed down until he lifts his
head a little bit to look at me and screams again-he repeats this cycle about 3
times before his Dad walks away. We are now back to being 30 feet apart and at
one point he couldn’t see me which was great until I was in his line of vision
and he loses it again. Hahaha I couldn’t win, first white person he’s seen
somehow and he wasn’t a fan. I was more surprised because this town is right on
the tarmac and I would’ve though they would have more exposure that way. The
other interesting person I came across was an older man, probably 65 or 70, who
started asking me a one or two questions about the ‘Walk for a Bus’ like why
couldn’t I just buy the bus myself? This was right before asking if I was
married or not. I told him I was and he asked why my husband couldn’t just buy
us a bus. He also said if my husband wasn’t with me in Kenya, I should just
marry him. Man, he really knew how to charm me ;) I said no thanks and we had a
repeat of the same convo once or twice before he left. Then 20 minutes later we’re
walking down a street when he passes by. He tells me point blank that I should
really just come and live with him. I tell him I’m working and will be for a
while and that his plan won’t work, he asks why not, it’s easy. I just have to
stop working and live with him. That I can easily move-in. Wow, well, as hard
as that was to resist, I did and as he walked away, I told Jane, the student
who was watching the whole interaction go down, what he was asking/my reaction
and she burst out laughing hahaha. Oh my. We finished the town, walked for a
bit before hopping into the matatu to go to our next school. We slept at
Mugunda Secondary School for Girls. We ended up having a pretty late assembly
with them that lasted from 9-10:30pm but they all really enjoyed it. The girls
became fast friends with our students and it was a great time. After the
assembly Wairia wanted all of the girls to get leg massages so I was in charge
of that which I did but the girls thankfully weren’t too enthusiastic about
getting them. They, like me, wanted sleep more. I’d had a temperature that
morning and I could tell it had gone down but it was still there a little bit
so after some quick massages, it was lights out.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Thursday came and after breakfast and a photo, we
were on our way around 9am. We started in Nairuita town quickly followed by Jikazi
then Mario4 with some walking in between each. It was a good start to the day.
And it was also good because my fever was basically gone give or take! Around
noon we arrived in Nyahururu and met up with our reinforcements! The students
were so excited because 5 more learners from our school were there and 2 more
teachers! There were so many stories to tell! So we quickly ate lunch and
started around on the town. Splitting into groups worked well again although 2
of the 4 learners were from Nyahururu and so as excited as they were, sometimes
they’d get carried away and forget to keep me in eyesight but overall, it was a
great afternoon. It was nice for me and the students to finally be back in a
town that we all knew. The students also were able to see some friends and
story a little. That evening we took public transportation to the Muthengara
Special School where we’ve been before and it about halfway between Nyahururu
and Sipili. We traveled with the 5 learners although Madam Beth went back to
her house in Kinamba and Nelly stayed in Nyahururu so I was the only female
teacher again. It was totally fine though, we all ate ugali and kales and
started to watch the movie ‘Knowing’ in their dining hall but it was too
suspenseful and scary for me and I soon went to bed with some of the other
girls who felt the same way.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Friday morning we got a call from our driver who
had stayed with us up to Nyahururu and was going to help us again, saying he
had vehicle problems. We weren’t sure what we wanted to do so we stayed and had
a short assembly with the hearing school next door. The special school used to
be a unit until they broke away and have their own school but they still share
a fence like we do with the primary school next door to us in Sipili. We taught
them some new signs, introduced ourselves and showed them how similar they are
to the kids there before we were on our way. Right after the assembly was
finished and we got back to school, the vehicle showed up and all was well in
the world. One group went to Karandi town while my group did Muthengera and
then Tandare town with a bit of walking before we all met up in Kinamba town.
We met up with Madam Beth at this point and we took on the town with force. We
ate a quick lunch since people from Sipili kept calling us wanting to know
where we were and to hurry up. The closing ceremony was to start around 2pm…which
is when we left Kinamba via the matatu that we had. We drove 3/4ths of the way
before getting out to walk. After about 10 min of walking we met up with
Gikunda (headmaster) and Kirumba (Senior teacher). Around the next curve we met
up with all of the learners from class 4-8 who weren’t able to go on the walk
with us. It was soo cool! There was so much excitement in the air and so many
greetings and story telling going on everywhere! Then in addition to all of our
kids greeting us and starting to walk with us towards town, there were a lot of
hearing kids lined up with them and they started walking with us too! We had
started to accumulate quite the large mass of people. Around the next curve 5
or 6 motorcycles were waiting for us and a few learners got to hop on the back.
Also Gishoki and our night groundsman got on the back of the first two
motorcycles to hold the banner and we took a loop around town following the
motorcycles while they beeped their horns the whole way. There were so many
people and so much noise; it was just so so amazing!! Sipili School for the
Deaf was the popular school for the day, it was nuts! </span><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 12.5pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> We ended our
Sipili tour at the main little intersection in town opposite the matatu stage. Awaiting
us was Wainina, the last teacher in our staff who had been putting the ceremony
together, and maybe 5-6 other main important people. There was a short hour-long
ceremony in which the main people spoke including the MP, one of the education
officers, a few principals from nearby schools and our headmaster. A lot of
kids were standing around listening as well as a lot of people in town who had
come out of their shops to listen. At the end they asked for donations and we
ended up raising 7,800ksh from the ceremony alone! And thus, the walk was over.
I went back home for the first time in 7 days, cooked myself a dinner that didn’t
include ugali or kales, looked in a mirror for the first time in 7 days and saw
how tan my face had gotten. I also checked my email/FB for the first time in a
week and it felt so good to see the support of my friends and family! Thanks
everyone for rooting for my school and me on through this crazy time! We ended
up earning roughly 100k so we’re around halfway there which seems a bit nuts
but, to quote the song ‘Burn’ by Ellie Goulding “We don’t have to worry bout
nothing cause we got the fire and we burning one hell of a something…”. At
times since then I’ve started to freak out about how we’re going to get the rest
of the money but I have faith and I think it can happen. We started the fire
burning and we’re going to keep going until we’ve got a bus on the compound
that we can call our own! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Please keep your prayers coming as my school
figures out a way to get the rest of the money for the 25% of the grant. I wish
you all a happy Madaraka Day (todays holiday) and I hope your new month is off
to a great start! Personally I can’t believe it’s already June-I have nooo idea
how that happened. I was reminded on FB that today I’ve officially been in
Peace Corps for 20 months and have 6-7 left before my service is over! Say
whatttt?! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Happpppy June!!!!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Xoxoxoxox<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Zabet<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16655071052087226865noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3265223914924057410.post-47402418003195066932014-05-23T02:40:00.003-07:002014-05-23T02:40:51.958-07:00Walk for a Bus Week!<!--StartFragment-->
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Hello Hello Hello
</span><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This blog is an update on the latest
biggest project happening at Sipili School for the Deaf!!! As some of you know,
back in March, my school was planning a ‘Walk for a Bus’ to raise money for a
school bus. However, 3 days before the event was to take off, some unforeseen
issues popped up and we had to postpone it. But now we’re back in business
baby!!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Some information
on our school and the walk…we became an officially registered school in 2006.
We are the only school for the Deaf in all of Laikipia County, which ranges
from Nanyuki to Sipili, 240 km, about 4-6hours in length. We are a public
boarding school with 80 students registered from infant class to Class 8 with
an additional vocational class. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Every year we aim
to attend Games, Music festival, Drama festival and field trips however, the
transportation is difficult to arrange. Our students are such visual learners
but sometimes they cannot attend festivals or trips because we don’t have the
means to get them there and back. We are hoping to purchase a school bus so our
students have an opportunity to see more of Kenya and learn about various
topics while seeing them in person.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">We realize
raising money is difficult but we are hoping to apply for a Peace Corps Grant
after the walk. The PCPP (Peace Corps Partnership Grant) is a grant that can
reach $10,000 as the maximum and that is what we’re aiming for. The community
must raise 25% of the total in order to receive the grant and that is why we’re
doing the walk, as our community contribution. The grant is not like most
grants as it gets the money from donations. My school has to apply for the
grant with a variety of papers and budget lists. Then it will go through a
review process done by other PC volunteers in the Grants Commitee. After it has
passed the test, it gets sent to PC headquarters in Washington DC and if it is
fine, then it will be put up on the PC website. Once on the website, it is up
to any supporters in America to donate. I will have a short paragraph about our
school and the project and how much money I am hoping to raise for the school.
Anyone can support us. If you search ‘Peace Corps Partnership Grant’ the
website will pop up and you can check out every PCV around the world who has a
grant up. I will tell you all more about that once the walk is completed, we
know how much we’ve raised and how the grant application is going but that’s
the direction we’re hoping for.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">The walk is now
taking place from 26<sup>th</sup>-30<sup>th</sup> May. We will leave tomorrow
afternoon for Nanyuki so that we are able to attend church the following
morning. The learners and teachers that went to county Games in April had gone
to one church while there, 2 months ago, and received a lot of positive
response about our school. We hope to go back to the same church on Sunday and
receive some donations to help our cause. We will sleep in Nanyuki again on
Sunday before the walk begins on Monday morning. We hope to start the walk off
and then walk around Nanyuki trying to get donations first before walking
onwards. We are going to walk about 8km past Naro Moru where we will be
spending the night at a school. We hope to do lots of walking and lots of
collecting donations </span><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";"> The rest
of our schedule goes as such, for those of you with a Kenyan Map who may be
interested. Day 2 we leave from Naro Moru and go to Mwaiga to sleep at another
school. Day 3 we’ll leave Mwaiga in the morning and go to Nairutia to sleep at
our 4<sup>th</sup> school. Then on Day 4 we’ll walk to Nyahururu, my banking
town where we have informed a lot of businesses, banks and higher up people to
let them know we’ll be arriving and we’re hoping to receive a lot of support in
town. On Day 5, our last day, we’ll walk to Sipili past Kinamba. We are aiming
to reach Sipili between 3 and 5pm and receive a big welcome from our town and
school! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">There will be 10
learners participating alongside myself, another teacher- Wairia, one of our
cooks and a B.O.G. (Board of Governors) lady who wants to walk with us the
whole way. Our principal will be there for the flagging off in Nanyuki and our
deputy may meet us for a day on day 3 or 4. We have informed all of the high up
people in Laikipia County, the police, the education officers and Peace Corps
people.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">While we are all
on the walk, the learners and other teachers here will be doing their part to
continue raising awareness and collecting any money from the community. Two
teachers will be taking some learners to market on Saturday, since it is our
market day which means there are tons of people in town, and telling people
about what we’re doing. Then on Sunday a few teachers and all of the learners
will attend the big Catholic Church they go to every Sunday and will make an
announcement and try to raise more money. It is a continuous process.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">I can tell you
this has not been the easiest thing to plan with my counterpart. We’ve had our
share of hiccups along the way and I will be glad when it’s over but I also am
excited for the adventure. It will be a week of strictly Kenyan food-no pasta for
my dinners, talking to as many Kenyans as possible while on the road, hanging
out with the same 13 people every day and hopefully walking a lot of
kilometers!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">We are ready this
time! The banner & posters are ready, the packing list is made, we have places
to sleep every night, the learners are informed, Sipili town has posters
everywhere and the schools/churches have had announcements made. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Lastly, I ask
that you please send us your thoughts and well wishes that we may finish the
walk, receive donations, stay safe, remain healthy and have a great time
learning and walking together!!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Thanks and many
kisses,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Zabet<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16655071052087226865noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3265223914924057410.post-20815426964333900522014-05-06T10:23:00.001-07:002014-05-06T10:23:09.346-07:00Zany Zanzibar Trip: Part 1<!--StartFragment-->
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Hey Hey Hey </span><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 12.5pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Recently I went on a short vacation over land and ferry to
the magical island of Zanzibar with 3 other volunteers: Caitlin, Eva and
Deirdre and we had quite the adventure.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">We all arrived in Nairobi the day before, slept
at a nice hostel and our day began at 4am.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We hopped in the taxi, drove 30ish minutes to the bus stop
and waited for our bus to leave at 6:15. The bus left and within 2 hours we
came to the border crossing. We got our visas ($100 but it’s good for one full
year multiple-entry) and headed on our way after about 1 and a half hours. We
rode on that bus for the whole day; stopping here and there for bathroom breaks
and saw the beautiful Tanzanian countryside. We were surprised because we
rarely saw any towns or people, just a lot of open land and animals grazing. We
arrived late in Dar around 10:45 and hopped in cab to take us to our hotel. We
drove to a place right outside of center city that I had found online. After
getting out of the cab and tried to pay the man 5000Tsh thinking that was
enough; he quickly became very upset because it was supposed to be 5000/person.
We were confused and very tired from traveling and the currency in Tanzania is
in much higher numbers so it was harder to do conversions in our heads. (Really
rough estimates for conversion: 2000Tsh=100Ksh=$1.20ish)We finally paid him the
correct amount and his parting words to us were ‘you will fail’. Thank you kind
sir. In fact, we think there is a possibility that he cursed our vacation.
Witchcraft is much more prevalent in the coastal areas of Kenya and presumably
Tanzania but we’re just speculating because we didn’t have great luck the rest
of our trip hahaha twas quite humorous. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The next morning we took a taxi into center city
to exchange our money and passed two exciting restaurants we knew we had to go
to. Our first stop after the bank was SUBWAY! Yes, Subway. There is only one
Subway in Kenya and it was built a few months ago but it is in a mall that
Peace Corps Volunteers are now advised not to go to anymore. You can’t really
find sub bread anywhere here and lettuce and cold cut meat are only available
in large cities, expensive and I don’t have a refrigerator to keep them in.
Therefore, we were all hardcore craving it and dove into our delicious subs for
breakfast. We followed it up with a stop at Smooch, a frozen yogurt place-yum!!
At last we were filled and headed to the port to hop on a ferry. We paid but
the man took a while to bring us our tickets and so we ended up in this mad
rush to get on the ferry before it pulled away but thankfully, we made it. We
rode first class, I think that was my first time ever riding first class for
anything, and made it to the island 3 hours later. We knew it would take longer
because the cost was slightly less since we opted for the ‘slow’ ferry. We
called our hostel on the ferry ride over and they offered to pick us up for
free, we were ecstatic. So we get off the ferry and see a cute little old man
holding a sign above his head with our name and the hotel name! Another first I
believe! We started following him and after 5-6minutes thought he must’ve
parked far away when he walks right to our hotel after only 10 minutes of
walking, hence them being able to do it for free </span><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 12.5pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> We set our stuff down and went to explore
Stone town. It’s a beautiful town on a beautiful island. We walked around for
around 2 hours but we didn’t see what other people had been talking about. We
didn’t see many door carvings, things to buy except the same stuff we could buy
in Kenya and we didn’t see any super old buildings. We ended up eating at the
little local place with delicious food including meat sticks, chapatti, fish,
samosas and classic ugali. We went back to the hotel so some of the girls could
shower since it was sweltering outside. It made me so happy that I live in
Sipili at elevation, where it can get hot but never like that. The coast was
hot like the kind that makes you sweat while just laying there and sticky all
the time…and we went during the beginning of their ‘winter’! While back at the
hotel we said hello to one of the guys staying there and we all heard an
American accent. He left by the time we tried to knock on his door and see what
he was up to that evening and so we asked management to tell him where we were
hahaha. Perhaps a bit stalkerish but the possibility that he was a PC volunteer
was high since we were there on the low season and staying at the most common
place for backpackers and volunteers to sleep at. We also asked management if
there were any bars or places to dance in town and they said they were all
really far away except one. They led us past some winding roads and up to the
top of a hotel where a bar did not await us, but a fridge with some beer in it
did. It was cold though and the night was warm so we hung out there for a long
time. And the guy from our hotel showed up with his friend and it turned out
they were in fact both PC volunteers from Rwanda! It was so neat! I learned
that Rwanda has the best roads in all of Africa, it is land of 1000 hills, it’s
beautiful and they have about the same amount of PC volunteers as Kenya. The
only other 2 main things I remember are that gorillas are their main attraction
but it can cost over $500 to see them and that they don’t hear too much about
the genocide in their villages although they don’t try to bring it up either.
Oh and at the end they said they were leaving the island early to get a head
start on their journey back but the main reason for getting a head start was so
that they had time to stop at the Subway as they passed through Dar. Volunteers
think alike </span><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 12.5pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The following morning, Easter Sunday, Caitlin and
I got up at 6:15am to go on a run. We both put on tank tops and American
running shorts, thinking that we would be ok in these outfits since we were in
a more touristy place. No no no no. I’ve never felt more underdressed and
scandalous during a run in my life. Suffice to say, if ever you go to a place
that is populated by about 98% Muslims and you aren’t at a resort-it doesn’t
matter how touristy it sounds in the books-you should cover at least your knees
and don’t try to run early in the morning thinking you’ll skip the crowds
because they get up very early to pray. It also helps if you know your way
around and the language. The morning started out great. We turned left and
suddenly found a few bars and a sweet park and old buildings that we’d been
looking for! We ran through winding roads, past cool carved roads and so many
gift shops that we couldn’t find the day before. Caitlin and I ran for 50 min
and then tried to find our way back to our hotel. No dice. Thankfully Caitlin
knows Kiswahili because surprisingly, my Kenyan Sign Language doesn’t do any
good in Tanzania-especially when you don’t meet anyone who is Deaf. We kept
asking people where the port was and we kept getting directions…to a different
port we didn’t know existed until we showed up across from it. So there we were
in a totally different part of town-very dehydrated-and at a total loss.
Thankfully the people were very trusting and we managed to get a ride on their
version of a matatu for about 20 minutes back to a place closer to town even though
we had no money on us. We had no money and no cell phone. We hopped onto the
open bed truck type vehicle (their version of a matatu) with a long connected
bench along the perimeter and a roof on top and no windows, just the open air.
Picture two Caucasian girls with very white skin from the knee up wearing
running shorts and tank tops, sweating, and sitting in this open truck as
children continue to pile in the back wearing head to toe garments as they go
to school. These kids are the cutest things and they all kind of just stared at
us with a bit of confusion on their faces as they check out our outfits and us
in general. We finally reach the end point and realize we still don’t know
exactly where we are but we manage to make it back to the hotel, a total of 3
hours after we had left! Quite the way to start our morning. The rest of the
day we sat on the beach after traveling to North Coast, only an hour matatu
ride. The beach was lovely but everyone’s health was not. One girl got sick in
the morning but was feeling better and then the other two girls felt sicker
than they had the day before. Giardia had hit and chosen its victims. We still
managed to relax and just hang out which was the best option for everyone in
their state of health anyway.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16655071052087226865noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3265223914924057410.post-48068935851815046362014-05-06T10:21:00.003-07:002014-05-06T10:21:53.699-07:00Zany Zanzibar Trip: Part 2<!--StartFragment-->
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Monday was a fully relaxing day on the beach. We
took a walk and collected shells and just soaked in the sun. We also talked to
guy about snorkeling the following day. And fun fact, that Monday was my 2.5
year anniversary with Nathaniel </span><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 12.5pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">
Can’t hardly believe it!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Tuesday we met up with some other people at the
beach at 8:30 ready to snorkel and relax on a boat all day. We had booked a day
on the water, 8:30-3:30, boating out to an island to snorkel, eating lunch and
returning to the beach. It was beautiful out and after a few stops along the
coastline at other beaches; we had 20 tourists on the boat ready to roll. At
9:30 our luck ended that day. It started to rain and only let up for about 45
minutes the whole day until 5pm. And 2 of our girls were still pretty sick. As
I said, luck was not on our side. We spent the first 2ish hours of rain on the
top of the boat with only 2 tarps to cover us and the couple sitting near us.
It was us against the elements hahaha. It rained pretty hard for maybe 30-45
min at one point and we were all convinced it was going to start hailing and we
were only wearing bikinis, light tank tops and short shorts. Oy. We arrived
near the island and everyone jumped off with our goggles and breathing
thingies. It was my first time ever snorkeling and my experience only added to
the laughter. I am blind as a bat without my glasses and I don’t have contacts
with me here in Kenya so as I put the goggles on, I was fully relying on my
friends to watch out for me. They were nice and did keep an eye on me but guess
how many fish I saw in the one hour of snorkeling? Now before I tell you, I did
hit a PR (personal record) since it was my first time and maybe I could
convince you that I tried to see that many so that the next time I go, I’ll
also get a PR…but the number I saw? A whopping TWO. Hahahaha oh the
ridiculousness of sitting on a boat in the pouring rain all day to see two fish
was not lost on us and we laughed about it the whole way home as we continued
to get wet. We did enjoy a lovely lunch prepared by two of the Tanzanian men,
of a large fresh fish, a vegetable salad type thing, oranges and rice-quite
good! The night ended with a big game of Farkle that Deirdre had brought and
cold showers since the hot water was out haha. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Wednesday Caitlin and I got up early to run on
the beach and it was fun and good since we didn’t feel scandalous this time. However,
beach running is still one of those things that always seems cool at first and
then it fastly loses the appeal in my opinion….and I am definitely getting
worse at English since arriving here. It took me about 5 minutes and a few
rereads of that last sentence to figure out what was wrong and realize that the
word ‘fastly’ does not exist haha. We hung around Stone town, got some
souvenirs and ate ice cream. I also learned while roaming around town that
Freddy Mercury once lived in Zanibar and now there is a restaurant named after
him and plaque on the door of the house he used to live in. The ferry left at
3:30 and guess what movie they played-the fact that one was playing at all was
crazy already-but they played ‘The Italian Job’! My brother loves that movie so
much and because of his love for it, I have seen it a million times and love it
as well. I was the only one who had seen it and so since the volume was turned
completely down, I became the narrarator for my friends. Normally I try to only
do that for my students but since the ferry felt like it was flying (we took
the fast one back that only takes 1.5 hours instead of 3) and we were all sort
of feeling a little bit seasick, it actually took our minds off of the ferry
ride and we enjoyed the first half of the movie. That evening we had bad luck
again. We had seen a discount thing in a magazine for the city on our way
through town a few days before and all of us were excited for the deal. It said
if you came in as a table of 4 ladies on a Wednesday night, you would each get
a free glass of wine and 20% off if you got an entrée. We were hooked. It ended
up being about 15 minutes outside of the city but we sat down at our table and
asked our waiter about the deal. He asked the manager and it was a no-go. He
claimed it should’ve been taken away from the magazine a few years ago and that
it was originally made for their restaurant but they moved a few months ago and
the deal doesn’t exist anymore. Same restaurant-just a different location-and
it was in the most recent magazine and yet, nothing. We ate there anyways since
we had gotten a taxi there and there weren’t really any other restaurants around.
After paying we decided it didn’t matter, we were going to dance in a club or
bar and have fun. We walked across the street a club that PC/Tanzania had
suggested and there was only a large screen playing futbol. No dancing. No
music. No nothing. We weren’t going to give up just yet. We found a taxi and
asked him to take us to the best club in the city and after talking it through
with a few of his taxi friends, they all suggested the same place. We arrive
and the person at the door says there is an 8000Tsh cover charge (about
400Kenyan shillings or a little less than $5) but it was only <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wednesday night and after we looked in
we saw maybe 10 people in there…with slow chill music playing! No dancing to be
had. So we went back to our hotel and passed out.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Thursday was my day to get sick. Thankfully no
giardia but similar symptoms. We walked around the city for an hour as we
waited for the Subway to open at 9am hahaha. We had our priorities. With Subway
bags in our hands we climbed aboard yet another bus. It was 10:30am and we
didn’t leave until 12:30…and didn’t stop for a restroom until 6:45pm. All I
have to say is thank goodness for Pepto Bismol. We didn’t arrive in Arusha
until midnight but our hotel reception was very thankfully awake and could let
us in which was all we wanted and were worried about. We got a little less than
6 hours of sleep before waking up to get ready to ride another bus. This was
the point where we split up. Deirdre and I went on a bus to Nairobi while
Caitlin and Eva were going to Eastern Kenya so they opted for a different
route. Smart move. Our bus left at 8 and was smooth sailing until we reached
Nairobi. Even the border crossing was fine. We also rode the bus with a English
guy who was in the midst of traveling from South Africa all the way up to
Kenya/Uganda/Rwanda, pretty cool. Then we hit Nairobi. Freakin’ Nairobi. We sat
in traffic for maybe an hour and a half-at 2pm-partly because there is ALWAYS
traffic and partly because they are cracking down on foreigners and were doing random
passport stops with everyone on certain roads. Nairobi is getting worse and the
police are trying to crack down on things there. We got off the bus around
2:30ish, hopped in a taxi to take us to a matatu stage going towards Nakuru. We
just couldn’t get enough of transportation this vacation ;) We hit traffic
again going out to Nakuru which rarely happens and it ended up taking an hour
longer to get there than usual. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Saturday was the last day of our travels. We got
breakfast at one chain coffee house they have there and I treated myself for my
Birthday that was in two days. I got a slice of warm apple pie, a mocha
milkshake and a bagel with CREAM CHEESE! I don’t even think I ate cream cheese
when I visited the USA last year for 2 weeks, which means it’s been over 1.5
years since I’ve eaten a bagel or cream cheese and it was amazing. Our waitress
gave me a bit of a funny look bringing me pie and a milkshake at 9am but it was
sooo worth it! We hit up the clothing piles next and Deirdre and I got some good
deals/finds! She ended up with a bunch of cute dresses she can wear at school
and I found a pair of hot pink corduroy trousers for only 500Bob ($5ish) as
well as dark red trousers with black polka dots on them for the same price-whabam!
And I’m not sure if my sisters know yet but recently I found one of my best
finds yet-a pair of hot pink heels that are actually my size and were only
900Bob!! I’ve been on a search for these heels for years and I always think
I’ve found them to bring them home and realize they are too small and I have to
give them to my sisters. Well worry no more, they’ve been found </span><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 12.5pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> After shopping
I left Nakuru and made it home at last. It felt so so so good to be back in
Sipili.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">That was one thing Deirdre and I talked about-how
good it felt to back in Kenya. Yes, Tanzania and Kenya are neighboring
countries and yes, they have many of the same tribes and speak Kiswahili, but
they’re different and Kenya feels like home. It felt right.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">That’s the end of my traveling story and here we
are at the end of break. School officially starts on Wednesday, tomorrow, and
the students will start slowly rolling back in. It is also the rainy season
though it doesn’t feel like it as we are in deep need of rain. W have gotten
two itsy bitsy sprinkles in the past 2 and a half weeks and we would really
appreciate it if you guys would spread some of the rain love since according to
Facebook pictures, it appears there is plenty on the east coast, USA right now.
Thanks guys. The last thing is that this weekend I get to go to Nakuru where I
will meet up with all of the Deaf Education volunteers and a counterpart from
every school to start planning for Camp Uwezo. This will be my first year
attending and I’m very excited to hear what it’s all about. All I know is that
it is a Camp strictly for the Deaf and we will each bring 1-4 of our students
to attend the Camp later in Term 2. It’s going to be great!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I’m sorry for this post being so long and I hope
you are all off to a great start in May!!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Many kisses from Kenya,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Zabet<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Ps.
For any volunteers reading this past, present, future or if you want a glimpse
in our lives, here is a funny link that is being spread around right now: </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/26/signs-you-served-peace-corps_n_5023578.html<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #943634;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
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Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16655071052087226865noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3265223914924057410.post-14870976641189538822014-04-15T12:01:00.007-07:002014-04-15T12:01:38.902-07:00Mail Day<!--StartFragment-->
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Today I got the mail. I know you all might be
thinking, oh, hey, me too, but getting the mail is a bit different here. It’s
an adventure in itself. During the school year the deputy principal checks the
mailbox most Mondays and Thursdays. She’ll bring me the mail since she lives in
Kinamba and it’s easy for her to check. However, during breaks, it’s up to me
to go to Kinamba if I want mail during the month long break.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I woke up, checked my email, drank my 2 cups of
hot delcious porridge and decided that I would check my mail today. It had been
15 days so I was hopeful there would be some to collect. At 9:30 in the morning
I left my house and went to the matatu stage. Loud Kikuyu music was blasting
from the matatu as I climbed in and sat next to an elderly lady on my right. I
sat and waited on that matatu for one hour before we started to head out of
town. We were already full but as we left town we kept stopping to pack more
people in. I ended up with a 4 year little boy on my lap whose mother was 2
women to the left of me with her daughter on her lap. That is one thing I love
about matatu rides here. If you have more than one child, you automatically
just put them on whatever stranger has an available lap, no questions asked. We
ride in bumpy silence for maybe two thirds of the way before the lady directly
to my left looks at me and starts laughing. She apparently can’t hold it in any
longer. She begins telling the mother that her boy is sitting on a mizungus lap
and the mother starts laughing and tells her son. Her son we realized at that
point, also hadn’t noticed he was on my lap yet because he had on one of those
winter caps that has a pom pom on top, covers your ears and ties under your
chin, thereby hindering his peripheral vision. He comically turns around very
slowly and his eyes got very wide. He smiled with only his mouth and then
slowly turned back around, unsure of what he wanted to do. He kept half turning
back for the next 5 minutes to ever so slyly glance at me before he decided he
was ok with sitting on my lap and went back to enjoying the ride. We arrive at
Kinamba, only 8 kilometers away from Sipili, but 30 minutes later and tumble
out like clowns stuffed in a Volkswagen. I walk to the Posta, only a 5-7min
walk, and hear at least 15 ‘Hey mizungu!’s along the way. Thankfully when I got
there postmaster Ann was able to retrieve my mail for me and hit me up with
some stamps. She’s great; we’re on a name-to-name basis and she helps me out
since I lost my mail key. So I’m happy with my mail and I head back to wait for
another matatu. I am suddenly surrounded my men offering me a ride on their
motorcycle (piki piki). I turn them all down, one because Peace Corps doesn’t
allow us to ride them and two, because the boy who asked me the most looked to
be only about 15 years old. Not someone I was willing to trust my life with
just yet. Thankfully, I did’t have to wait too long at the stage. I had just
finished telling them all my name and that I was from America as a matatu pulls
up. Once again we are shoved in like sardines. It’s odd to think how normal
this has become for me to have half my body squashed underneath the person
sitting on either side of me like we’re pringles while someone else has their
legs pushed in my back because I was stuck in the seat where there is no seat
(aka the small open space that is where people walk to get to the back two rows
but when the matatu is moving has a small wooden plank to sit on). I think one
person got out at the Kinamba stop but 4 of us got in, including a man carrying
a live chicken in a biscuit box. Yes, you read that right. Normally when people
here carry chickens, they just have their legs tied together and then hold them
on their laps or put them under the seat…which can cause much shock in a person
when they move their legs and feel a flutter of feathers and a loud squawk in
the middle of a journey. Nope, not this guy. He had this box that was a bit
thinner and maybe an inch longer than your average shoebox, with twine tied
around like a Christmas present and a little hole in the front where the
chickens head poked out. Entertaining yet effective. We rode home with at least
5-6 people (1-2 kids were piled on top) in every row (of a normal, supposed to
have 3 people in each row) van. We finally make it back to Sipili and after
picking up some bananas, I was on my walk back home. I turn the corner where
there is maybe 300 meters before I reach my school when this guy catches up
with me. I thought he was one of the workers working on building the
kitchen/dining hall when he started a conversation with me. He looked to be in
high school but maybe he had just entered college and was on break? He asked my
name, if I was American and if I worked at the school. Then he was out of
questions. We make it to the school when he stops and I find out he isn’t a
worker. He wants my contact info. I told him I didn’t have a phone. He says he
wants us to be together. I tell him sorry, I’m married. He says he needs me. He
wants me. Literally all I know about him is his first name. I tell him sorry.
He looks at me and tells me that if I find any other white Americans who are
looking for a husband to find him and he’ll be their guy. I nod and say ok. It’s
now noon, I left my house 2.5 hours earlier and now one thing can be checked
off for my day: get mail. </span><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 12.5pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">
What a morning.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">It’s weird to think about how easy it is to get
mail or even stamps in the U.S. If I want my mail here, I either have to travel
to Kinamba or wait for my deputy to bring it. If I want to mail something, I
have to remember to buy my stamps when I go to Nyahururu. I can give mail to my
deputy to send but only if they’re pre-stamped because by the time she makes it
back to Kinamba at night, the post is closed. The Kinamba Posta is open only
Mondays-Fridays, 9-5 with a lunch break of an hour or hour and a half. So going
during the school year is pretty much impossible. Then in Nyahururu I can buy
stamps but the Posta is closed on Sundays as usual and on Saturdays they are
only open from 9-12. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I’m not writing this for sympathy or to make you
feel bad for having your mailbox so close or whatever, I just wanted to tell
you about my mail day. I find it interesting how different little things can be
sometimes between here and in America. The big things are easy to notice and
hear about like the food, or transportation or the weather but it’s the little
things and way of living that I find intriguing. If you would’ve told me before
I came to Kenya that it would take me a good part of my morning to get the
mail, I’d have told you, you’re crazy. And yeah, sometimes the ways things take
time can feel bothersome but it’s what needs to happen and it’s the way things
go so you just gotta roll with it </span><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 12.5pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">
I wish you all a happy Tuesday and mail day! I’d also like to wish you a Happy
(almost) Easter, a Happy (almost) Earth Day next Tuesday and a Happy (almost)
World Malaria Awareness Day on the 25<sup>th</sup> of April!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Many Kisses from Kenya,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Elizabeth<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16655071052087226865noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3265223914924057410.post-88651478530922244862014-04-08T13:13:00.000-07:002014-04-08T13:23:39.104-07:00A Sheep, a Rat and an Umbrella<!--StartFragment-->
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Hello Hello
Everyone!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s high time I filled you
all in on the latest happenings here in Sipili and I hope that you are all
doing fabulously this fine April day. Ok, so first off, I wanted to tell you
all that the walk has been postponed. There were many things that came into
making the decision but it was decided that it would be best to postpone it and
now we are hoping to do it in May. And it really has to be done in May if I’m
going to have enough time to fill out the grant so fingers crossed it all works
out!! It’s good that we have the majority of the leg work done and we mainly
just need to work on raising more awareness and fine tuning some details.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>School has officially ended for
Term 1 and I am on break! On our last day, Wednesday, our headmaster bought a
sheep to celebrate a great term. He brought in a little basket on the back of
his motorcycle, how most animals here are carried long distances, and we ate it
and it was great! He, along with a few of the students and the cook, did all of
the slaughtering while all of the students watched. It was really neat at one
point when all of the innards were out and he did a science lesson. I mean it
was a bit more ‘practical’ than most anatomy lessons I’ve heard/seen but
overall good. At one point he was blowing into the ventricle of the heart so
the students could watch it rise and fall and then one of the students got a
chance to do it too. It was still bloody, veryyyy fresh and not cleaned at all
but they all seemed to be enjoying themselves. They cooked it and we ate it
with ugali for lunch. Then later that evening the boys housemother knocked on
my door with some more sheep for me to try. I looked under the plate and
basically saw the skull and then dropped my jaw. Hahaha nah but it was not what
I was expecting when she asked if I wanted some more meat to eat. She then cut
me off a piece of the tongue which was a fetching color of recent death but was
surprisingly sweet. Then she cut me off a piece of the head which was pretty
good considering I was eating it while staring at the head of an animal I’d
just heard baa-ing a few hours earlier hahaha oh man. It was an interesting but
tasty day.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Here’s a short
story for you all: So a few days ago I woke up and went into my kitchen and found
things strewn about. My spice bottles were knocked over, a cup was on the
ground, the plastic bags I buy my eggs in were everywhere-basically, it was not
the way I left it the night before. I didn’t want to admit it but I knew it was
one of three things: a lizard/gecko, an unusually giant bug or a mouse/rat.
Seeing as I’ve only seen super sized bugs on the coast, I figured it probably
wasn’t one of those (thankfully!) and it had been colder that day and I hadn’t
seen many lizards so I’m doubting it was one of those. I start questioning where
this mouse is…is it in my bed? Is it on my head? Is it on the chair? Did he
come in as a dare? Oh man, I didn’t know. I knew how it had gotten in because
there is a water pipe leading from the outside to my bathroom to my kitchen and
then through my wall to the boys dormitory bathroom and they made the hole for
the pipe a bit larger than it needed to be….big enough for a small mouse/rat to
easily climb through. I needed a plan. I knew I wasn’t going to get a cat like
some volunteers do when they have rat problems, because, well, then I’d have a
cat problem seeing as I don’t like cats at all. So I scratched that idea. Then
I decided to attempt to nail 3 pieces of cardboard to the wall. Well, my
nailing skills are pretty awful and every time I’d think I had a piece up and
start on the next one, the first one would fall down. I decided to just cram
the cardboard into the hole. I’m pleased with myself at this point with my
genius idea. I go sit down at my computer and start watching Friends when after
an episode or two, I hear the sound of gnawing and cardboard being eaten. I
look up and see the bug spray and start spraying the cardboard like it’s
nobodys business. I feel like that’ll do it but I’m not as sure anymore since
my first plan was such a bust. That’s when I came up with my last and final
plan. I made maybe 8 trips out my door to find rocks and started piling them up
in the corner to block the water pipe hole. I felt like a really bad architect
because I ended up redoing the pile at least 4 or 5 times cause it kept falling
down or it wouldn’t go high enough to actually serve a purpose. But I won in
the end because the tower is built, the bug sprayed cardboard is still intact
and there are rocks on either side so no little mouse can get into my house…at
least through that entrance. Whabam! Peace Corped!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Speaking of
buildings and how they’re built, kind of at least, there is a new being built
on our school compound. The nice Italian man who sponsors our school in various
ways with his church from back in Italy has sponsored our school to have a new
kitchen and dining hall built. We don’t have a dining hall now and our kitchen
is pretty old so this is fantastic. It’s also pretty cool for me to watch. I’ve
seen plenty of buildings being built, but only when passing by. This is the
first time I’m seeing a building start from scratch and I get to see the
progress every single day. I just find it interesting to watch.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">This break I’m
very excited for my little vacation I’m taking with 2 friends. In a few weeks I’m
heading down to Zanzibar with 2 girls from my group for the week. Well we’ll be
on a bus for 16hours on two of those days plus an hour and a half long ferry
ride to get there but I’m crossing my fingers for beautiful scenery along the way.
I’m not really sure what we’re doing/where we’re going on the island but
exploring and beach-going at the two main things. It’s going to be fabulous </span><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";"> While I’m not in traveling, I’ll be
hanging around my town just doing whatever. I hope to do some arts and crafts,
puzzles, hang out with MC and his family and read a lot. And speaking of arts
and crafts, the other day I started and completed my first project. I bought an
umbrella in Nyahururu and made a skirt! I cut off all of the fabric from the
wiring. Then I spent maybe a half hour attempting to follow the direction I
found on wikiHow on how to make an umbrella skirt but I couldn’t figure it out
so I just cut up all the pieces and sewed them back together. There is a
drawstring and a tiny button at the top and it goes to my knees. I’m excited
because I’ve wanted to make one for a while now but never got around to it
until now. And the cool part is that it doesn’t look like it used to be an
umbrella, you can really only tell when you feel the fabric or hear it swish
when I walk. I love it and I would suggest anyone of you trying it if you are
looking for a fun pretty easy project or if you just want a new skirt. And the
best part is that I only paid 300shillings for the umbrella and 25shillings for
the thread, which equals about 4ish dollars for a skirt!! I got an umbrella-ella-ella-ey-ey-ey!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Lastly, I would
like to give a HUGE shout out to Angie and the 8<sup>th</sup> graders at Swift
Middle School!!! In case any of you were unable to make it last Friday evening,
there was a big poetry blow-out! I missed it sadly, but I heard there was
poetry you could look at and walk by to read as well as a poetry concert where
poetry was made into songs and read aloud. They raised money through donations
and all of the money is going to help our school raise money for a bus!!!!!
Once the grant is on the Peace Corps website then the money will go onto it as
the grants money is raised strictly from overseas donations and so now we are a
good chunk along the way! Thank you to everyone who was able to attend and
donate and give their blessings!!!! Thank you thank you thank you!!!!!!!!!!!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Well that’s about
all I can think of right now but I think you should all write me an update with
what’s going on in your lives! I’ll even give you my address again in case some
of you forgot </span><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Elizabeth Linde<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Sipili School for
the Deaf<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Box 199<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Kinamba-20320<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">KENYA babyyyyy!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Kisses from
Kenya,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Zabet<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16655071052087226865noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3265223914924057410.post-21623879521035781842014-03-15T14:24:00.001-07:002014-03-15T14:24:26.082-07:00Walk for a Bus Intro
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<!--StartFragment-->
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 13.0pt;">Hello
Friends and Family!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 13.0pt;">It’s
been a while since I’ve written and I wanted to update you all on my latest
project! For the past term a counterpart and I have been working on a
fundraising idea for our school. We want to raise money to purchase a vehicle,
yow-zah!!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 13.0pt;">We
are planning to do a walk across the county to raise awareness of our school
and raise money from individuals and companies across the way for a vehicle.
Sipili School for the Deaf is the only school for the Deaf in Laikipia County
and we want people to know who we are. We will be walking from the town of
Nanyuki, 240 km, along the main highway to Sipili town. There will be 16
learners, 2-3 co-teachers and a few volunteers as well as myself. We will be
walking between 35 and 40 km a day and sleeping at various schools along the
way. It will be the experience of a lifetime to say the least! We are hoping to
raise a fair amount of money locally so that we can apply for a Peace Corps
Grant soon after the walk using the money we raised as our 25% community
contribution. It is a large undertaking and I’m hoping it works out. I will definitely let you all know how the walk goes in a few weeks when we've completed it and gotten the contributions!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 13.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 13.0pt;">Our
students are such visual learners but it can be so tough to take them places
and see parts of Kenya. They have heard about lots of places and things but have hardly seen them. They often only see the school compound and their homes but rarely get the chance to see things outside of those two places. We are lucky to be heading to Games this April that
will be taking place at Muranga School for the Deaf. The students have been
working hard at practice and I think they are much better prepared for Games
this year than last year. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 13.0pt;">We
have one full week of school left although we will be busy getting things ready
for the walk and Games. I can’t believe how fast time has been flying by. We
have a week of school; a week for the walk and then on the 2<sup>nd</sup> of
April, school officially closes. The students who will proceed to Games will
stay at school and then head to Nanyuki for counties before Regionals in
Muranga. And then before we know it, it’ll be mid-April and break will be in
full swing! Bring on relaxing summer days in the rainy season </span><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 13.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 13.0pt;">Hope
everything is going well for all of you in the States!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 13.0pt;">Kisses
from Kenya,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 13.0pt;">Zabet<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16655071052087226865noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3265223914924057410.post-82521706114470184472014-02-13T12:02:00.001-08:002014-02-13T12:02:02.584-08:00A Field Trip and More!<!--StartFragment-->
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Happy Valentines
Day Eve to All my Friends and Family </span><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">I hope everyone
is doing well and chowing down on chocolate and sweets for me! A fair amount
has happened in the past little bit since I last blogged<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>that I wanted to share but it is all
pretty random so get ready. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Let me start with
the field trip I went on two Thursdays ago. In one word it was: surreal. I was
lucky and got to go on the trip with all of Classes 7 & 8 as well as 2
other teachers because of a last minute change with another teacher who
couldn’t make it. I was told at 7:15 that morning…they had told me they were
hoping to leave at 7 when I’d talked to them the day before. I changed in a
hurry and we left an hour and half later. </span><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We arrived at
Mugie Ranch in the bus that had picked us up and started seeing animals! We
started our morning seeing a herd of impalas, graceful animals! We also saw a
few giraffes far off in the distance and then we saw an animal that made me
ecstatic! We drove pretty close to maybe 10 elephants including a baby!! It was
fantastic! I can now say I saw elephants-plural! Whoop whoop! We kept traveling
on and lucked out hardcore. Our guide tracked the lions to a dead buffalo,
which we learned the lions had killed the night before. We drove around the
area for maybe 20 min since they knew the lions would be close and we were
lucky because we got to see lions!!! Before that I had only seen a lions ears
at the Maasi Mara but on the field trip, the kiddos and I got to see a mama and
papa lion. It felt so crazy to be so close, not be in a zoo, just checking out
the king of the jungle! The guide told us there were actually 14 lions (2
males, 6 females & 6 cubs). They killed the buffalo the night before and
were relaxing-they rest and don’t eat for 20 hours before going back for
seconds. My mom told me this is the newest diet fad in the USA-I don’t know how
people or lions do it. After that we saw some buffalos that were alive, a
zebra, more impalas, some cool birds and waterbuck. After seeing the animals,
we sat down for our packed lunch before moving on to visit the tracking dogs.
They have quite a few dogs at the Ranch who have been trained to track poachers
and they’re really good at it. They showed us how the dogs do it and had one of
our girls hide somewhere a bit off the beaten road and pretty quickly, the dog
found her. The students were very impressed and had a great time there. Lastly,
we visited the farm on the ranch where they grow miraa. It’s a large debate
right now whether miraa is a drug or a medicine but they let our students taste
a little bit. Yep, this was definitely not an American field trip. It was a fun
day and the kids had a great time and learned a lot. They were looking out the
windows the entire time and practicing the signs of all the animals, it was
fabulous! </span><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">So funny story,
the next day we got rain for the first time in probably a month or so. It was a
bit cooler-perfect running weather-I’d venture to guess high 60s or maybe low
70s. I was out on my run, turned the bend and saw a 7 year old decked out in
a…wait for it…snow suit!!! Hahahaha it cracked me up. He had the zipper pulled
up and boots on and everything. I instantly thought of you all in ‘Merica
living in below 30 degree weather all winter and constant snow-especially this
year-and yet, Kenyans and Americans alike are dressed in snow suits…even with
the 50-60-70 degree difference </span><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">And speaking of
the crazy weather in America, I saw a lot of people’s statuses on FB about
power outages recently. I am sorry to hear about them-particularly for those
with who it affects their heat-that just sounds awful! I cant fathom the snow
and cold right now and not having heat during it does sound pretty bad-hats off
to those who survived without the heat. But it was interesting hearing about it
on my computer while my electricity flickered on and off and had been
completely off the night before. I am one of the lucky ones here who has
electricity but even with it, it still goes out at least once/week-sometimes
more. And there are volunteers living along with many Kenyans without any
electricity at all or running water. I don’t know, before I came here I very
easily could’ve posted the same status but after living here with random
electricity, running water that sometimes doesn’t run and no refrigerator or
any other kitchen appliances except a gas stove, it makes me rethink things. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Ok another note,
happy Olympics to everyone! So far in the Kenyan paper, there has been 2
articles about it. One was about the conditions in Sochi without any mention
about the actual athletic events. The second one appeared today about Shaun
White getting 4<sup>th</sup> and it being a big shock. Funny. Usually all I
read about in the Sports section is about futbol, rugby, maybe golf and
athletics. Kenyans are getting ready for the big XC meet in Kampala, Uganda
next month and it has been all the talk. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Last
Monday-Wednesday I was in Nairobi for a routine medical check up that we all
have to get halfway through service-all is good, no worries. And it was fun
because I got to hang out with 2 other Deaf Ed girls and I will get to see them
as well as the rest of the Deaf Education people this weekend! We haven’t all
been together since last April for training. There are only 7 of us left in
Deaf Ed but I’m very excited! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">It was crazy when
I came back to school on Wednesday afternoon and found out there were 2 new
changes. We had gained a new little girl and a new teacher! Say what?! I had
met her 1 week ago but it sounded like she wouldn’t be back to start for a
month, alas, she started teaching today. She is going to teach the littlest
munchkins because there are now probably around 15 in the one class so now
they’ll be able to split it into two classes -much more manageable since all of
those kids are at such different levels! I think it will be a good thing for
our school to add another teachers. We are now more balanced with female/male
teachers at 4 and 5 respectively and she taught at a school for the Deaf
somewhere else in Kenya for a while before coming here. I’m excited to get to
know her. It makes me laugh at the speed of things here. I think they go at one
of two speeds. Things happen at either the leisurely speed that Kenyans
walk-a.k.a.-‘Kenyan Time’ or they happen at the speed of Kenyan athletes a.k.a.
‘World Record Pace’. Developments in town like a new building or a new teacher
can happen so fast but then sometimes just opening an account or mailing a
letter can take days upon days. It’s peculiar. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Today we had
exciting news. We had visitors from the Kenya Power branch in Nyahururu (1
hr&30 min away) come to our school today. They talked to our headmaster for
a while and then the older students performed a song then dance for them. The
cool part was that they donated quite a few new mattresses, maybe between 60 and
75 I’d guess, as well as mosquito nets and some blankets! It was like Christmas
come early for our kids. They were very excited!!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">And two short
things that you may have read before if you have FB and saw my statuses but I
find them funny and wanted to share them again </span><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">A week or two
ago, after much giggling, I found out that the question some of my Class 6
& 7 girls were wondering was if my poop is yellow or white cause theirs is
brown. Tis a good question. I love living and working with primary school kids </span><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Today I was told
I pronounce Pennsylvania wrong. By a Kenyan counterpart…who has never been to
the United States of America. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Hope you enjoyed
the post and I hope you feel extra loved tomorrow </span><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Sending lots of
pink kisses from Kenya!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Elizabeth<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<!--EndFragment-->
Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16655071052087226865noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3265223914924057410.post-78452519676689777722014-01-22T10:02:00.002-08:002014-01-22T10:02:18.382-08:00Start of Term 1: 2014<!--StartFragment-->
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 13.0pt;">Hey
Hey Hey </span><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 13.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 13.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It’s
the middle of January and it’s as warm as a beautiful spring-almost summer day
in Pennsylvania. A little odd perhaps but I’ve acclimated well and it is
perfect weather in my book. School has begun and we are now halfway through
week 3 already-I can’t believe it! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 13.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
am teaching the same subjects that I taught last year but moving up with them
to the next grade level. So that makes my classes as follows:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.0pt;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 13.0pt;">KSL:
Class 4/5<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.0pt;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 13.0pt;">Science:
Class 4/5<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.0pt;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 13.0pt;">English:
Class 6<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.0pt;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 13.0pt;">Maths:
Class 7<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.0pt;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 13.0pt;">PE:
Class 8<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 13.0pt;">I’m
glad we decided to do it that way because I am happy with the classes I have.
Also, I say ‘Class 4/5’ because we don’t have enough classrooms to have all of
our classes individualized and so we combined Class 4 & 5 this year. We
also had a committee decide which kids moved up to the next grade level and
which had to repeat a year. Now the classes are pretty evened out and I think
for the most part, students are in the classes they should be, give or take. We
now have most of the students as around 6-7 arrived within the past few days.
We had begun teaching after 5 days of school opening but we were only at about
60% with students. Then as of last week (week 2) we had all but about 10
students (keep in mind that we only have about 65-70 students each term) and
now today we only have 3-4 left to come I think. We also gained 3 new little
ones who are about 5-6 years old and one girl in Class 4. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 13.0pt;">Sadly,
we also had a quite unfortunate occurrence happen to one of our students who
passed away over the holiday break. She was only in Class 5 and a really
bright, sweet girl. It was hard and the students asked a lot of questions but
we made it through the week and now things are settling back to normal. Please
keep our students and her family in your prayers and thoughts </span><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 13.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 13.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In
other news, I ran a race 2 weekends ago and it was something else. I had only
heard about less than 24 hours before it began from my fellow teachers. The day
before I only knew a few things: it was to start at 9, anyone could join, it
would happen directly next door and it would cost 100Ksh. I was nervous but
knew I couldn’t pass up such a great opportunity. I mean, the race was at the
primary school next to ours with whom we share a fence, it cost about 85 cents
and I had absolutely nothing else planned for the day-perfect conditions. So I
went and brought one of my Class 7 girls to run who is very athletic (along
with most of the kids who were at school-about 30-so they could watch). I ate
my breakfast at 7am with a stomach already full of butterflies and headed over
to the school with Evelyn at about 8:30. I assumed it would start a bit late
and Evelyn was still eating her porridge at 8:20 but we left around 8:30 and
when we showed up we were a bit surprised when we saw a total of 4 other
runners. Oh goodness gracious. There were 2 men carrying up the registration
table at about 8:50 with 6 of us there to register-at the exact time the race
was supposed to start. So we moseyed on over, signed up, received our cotton
bib numbers and went to sit and wait under a nearby tree. I kept hoping other
runners would show up soon because we looked like absolute misfits compared to
these professional type runners. We found out they had come from Nyahururu
(1.5hrs away) for the race and they dressed the part (as well as ran the part
we later watched). The girls had on the same kind of uniform I wore in my XC
races back in the day with warm-ups on over top under right before the race
started…even though we were sweating in our short sleeves and Capri
spandex/shorts. At about 9:30 they started to do a warm up lap so Evelyn and I
decided, what the heck, we wanna look legit too, so we ran for maybe 10 min
before sitting back under the tree. We waited some more. Finally around
10:15ish, other runners started ambling their way across the course to the
registration table. By the time the races began there were 50 runners
competing. We were split into 4 categories: 1. Womens junior race (6km) 2.
Womens senior race (8km) 3. Mens junior race (8km) 4. Mens senior race (12km).
They decided to run the women’s junior race (12<sup>th</sup> grade and under)
at 11am. Evelyn was in this race and she was the only primary age girl there.
We found out listening to the race start up speech that it was basically a try
out race. They were trying out for the top 6 positions/category in the XC race
for all of Laikipia. We are in Laikipia West county but there is also a north
and east Laikipia and that race takes place in a week or so and it continues to
build up to Nationals. There was no money or prizes to win at this race-only a
chance to further your racing chances. So we knew going into it, neither Evelyn
or I could advance at all but we both had fun. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 13.0pt;">The
race began with Evelyn, 14 HS aged girls and the one HS aged girl from Nyahururu.
That girl was so far ahead of everyone else she was in her own league. Now
picture this: a group of ladies all dressed in solid color t-shirts (it’s the
HS gym uniform), decently tall, hair pulled back, most of them had shoes on-all
running kinda fast-at least the first lap. Then in that group picture little
Evelyn with her play clothes on of a pink patterned dress, purple biker spandex
beneath, and a different patterned pajama long sleeved shirt on under her
dress, shaved head and bare feet. It was great to watch. She even ended up
surprisingly the official there. 8 of the 16 girls dropped out before 3km was
even over but Evelyn persevered. She made it 4.5-almost 5km-before falling down
with a cut on her foot-but she was in 4<sup>th</sup> place when she fell! The
official talked to me at the end of the race saying she had a lot of potential
and he might sponsor her for a pair of sneakers! It was very exciting news!!
(And no worries, the cut was small and we cleaned her up and she was good as
new soon after). The next 3 categories were combined so that it wouldn’t take
all day. That meant it was junior and senior men with us senior women. I ended
up finishing the race in second place and was very pleased. My only goal was to
finish since so many other girls couldn’t and I did! Oh, let me describe this
very cross-country course to you. It was a one kilometer loop that zigzagged
back and forth maybe 4 times and then once at the bottom, you ran up to the top
to start it all over again-in other words-not really cross country except for
the long grass and rocky ground and not a very fun course either. And for any
of you interested in times, I attempted to clock the top runners in the race I
ran (basically I got all but the 6k girl). Remember, this was at elevation and
a hot day. The top 8k junior man ran a 25:30 (5:08min/mi), the top 8k girl ran
a 28:45 (5:47min/mi) and the top 12k guy ran a 38:25 (5:09min/mi). Pretty
impressive I say!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 13.0pt;">That’s
about all that I can think of at the moment. I’m halfway through my first ever
James Bond movie and I’m intrigued to see what will happen next. Hope you are
all enjoying the snowy weather I’ve heard so much about back in the States and
you’re drinking lots of hot chocolate for me! </span><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 13.0pt;"> And a Happy belated
Birthday to my favorite brother and a happy early birthday to my favorite
oldest of the younger three, BekBekBekBek!! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 13.0pt;">Lots
of Kisses from Kenya!!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 13.0pt;">Lizbeth<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16655071052087226865noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3265223914924057410.post-80805270778033349682014-01-07T10:19:00.003-08:002014-01-07T10:19:38.215-08:00The Holidays (Part 1: Zambia)<!--StartFragment-->
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Hello
Hello Hello Friends and Family!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">I
know it’s been for-ev-er since I’ve written but so much has been going on and I
haven’t stopped to write to you all. Since the last time I’ve update my blog I
have traveled to Zambia, America and then back here to Kenya with my boyfriend
so I’m going to break this up into 3 sections.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in; tab-stops: 163.2pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Zambia: I was lucky enough to have the
chance to visit Zambia where my cousin Clarissa was a teacher (and will be
again next year I just found out) at the Village of Hope. I love that my family
loves to travel and we have become a bit international. I originally thought
Clarissa would only be there for one year and so I wanted to make sure I
visited her before the year was up since we are in almost neighboring
countries. She visited me in August when my sister Sarah was here and now it
was my turn. I left a week after my school ended and flew down to be with her
for about 4 days. She lives in the Western province in a town called Mongu. I
caught a ride with one of the missionaries who happened to be in the capital
and we made it to Mongu around 9pm (I left my hotel for the airport at about
5am that day). We had about an 8 hour car ride together, lots of bonding haha
and we ended up seeing a large pack of wild dogs! I had no idea that they were
so rare to see-especially in bigger packs-but there they were-not even that
skittish-sooo cool! I went to school with Clarissa the next day, Friday, and
met all of the kids. They were practicing for the Christmas play and listening
to their lines and songs was adorable! Their school is still in the building
process, they add another grade every year and currently they have up to the 5<sup>th</sup>
grade. It’s a wonderful school. In the afternoon we visited an agricultural
place that hosted a field day that morning. When we arrived they decided to
give us our own personal field day tour! It was great. We walked around and
checked out cabbages, tomatoes, potatoes and lots of other vegetables along
with variety demonstrations they planted to show different ways to increase
quality and quantity of things. The tour ended with a ride on a New Holland
tractor to check out the rice fields. I didn’t see that one coming! It was
crazy to be on a tractor that was made so close to my home in PA! Over the
weekend we relaxed, walked around town, checked out the market and went to
church. It was very interesting and awesome to go to a church where I
recognized one of the songs and the whole thing was in English. Mind blown. My
last full day on Monday I went to school again and sat in on Clarissas class
and then went back to bake and do laundry before leaving while she had some
errands to run. It was a short trip but a good one for sure! It was soo cool to
see her school and listen to her experiences. For sure there are differences
between Kenya and Zambia but there are more similarities than Kenya and the US.
It was nice to be able to talk to each other about cultural differences and
understand what the other was talking about pretty completely. It also proved a
good transition for me to America. She has an oven, a hot shower, a stove top
and microwave, it was crazy! Her two roommates and her kept chuckling, as I
would notice something else that I didn’t have in my house or hadn’t seen in a
while and was surprised. It was a lot of fun. She lives in a beautiful place
where the view is endless and the kids are endlessly cute.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16655071052087226865noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3265223914924057410.post-11260918973072450452014-01-07T10:18:00.001-08:002014-01-07T10:18:18.553-08:00The Holidays (Part 2: America)<!--StartFragment-->
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">America: So after a good bit of traveling
I finally made it the good ol’ US of A! Nate picked me up at the airport with
about 5 layers to bundle myself with and a milkshake to go-talk about a good
way to be picked up </span><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">
I got home on Wednesday night, the night before Thanksgiving and was very
warmly greeted by my awesome family! It was soooo good to see them!
Thanksgiving morning came early and we headed out with the sun to make it to
the York Turkey Trot for a Linde tradition of running with all of cousins
before we eat. It was a solid-and very cold-race with maybe 20+ runners who
were Lindes or came with a Linde! We ate the day away after that and it was D
to the E to the LICIOUS! Of course, football was played as well and a game of
tug-o-war of Lindes vs non-Lindes. Hahaha I couldn’t tell you who won either
one but I watched with about 5 layers on from the sidelines. I came out with
one jacket on but within 20 min as relatives kept looking at me shivering, they
would bring me another winter jacket to put on, guess I was more acclimated to
Kenyan weather than I thought. The rest of the familys Thanksgiving break was
filled with family and food-a most excellent combination! I also got to see
BekBek hand over her Miss Solanco crown and perform one last time, which was
pretty awesome since I missed last year when she was crowned. I spend the next
few days seeing a few friends, running and just hanging out with the family.
From Thursday to Sunday I went on a college tour with Sarah. We started off
seeing BekBekBek at Messiah and went to a cool church singing thing, Power
House, after eating at the cafeteria and we ran in the morning when she was at
class. It’s a solid college and seems like the perfect fit for little Beks even
if it still a bit weird to think that she’s now starting her 2<sup>nd</sup>
semester already! I was really happy I got to see her there and meet a few of
her friends. We left in the morning, the 3 of us, for PSU to see Stephen. He
lives in a house with a few other Navigator guys who all see pretty darn cool.
We hung out in his house and cooked lunch and dinner together while also
playing a few board games. I also got to witness some of their talents as the
practiced for the talent show that evening. Beks and Stephen did a ring toss
type thing, Sarah played her violin and Stephen along with 2 of his roomies
saying a trio mashup including Davey Jones and Amazing Gace. It was hilarious!!
Nate came to pick me up that night to travel back to JC so I could be there for
Madrigal the next day. I was able to run with 3 JCXC girls in the morning and
then go on a date with Nate for the first time in over 14 months! We ate some
super delish Standing Stone sandwiches and then headed out in the cold to
explore town. We walked to my old church and saw the nativity scene walk around
display and then afterwards we found something else awesome in town. We
wandered around ready to head back to watch a Christmas movie before getting
ready for the evening when we realized that Huntingdon was having a Christmas
parade! Say what?! We had no idea that existed but it lasted between 20 and 30
min and we saw 2 HS bands, some police cars, floats with various Christmas
themes and someone dressed as a moose with no explanation. It was pretty random
and pretty great. Our day ended with Madrigal as we ate with 3 other couples
and a JCXC freshman at Mimis, the classiest place in Huntingdon before hanging
out at the dance and the off campus where Nate lives with 2 other guys. It was
fun night to dress up and be fashionable in a way I hadn’t been in a looong
time! I had gotten a dress made in Kenya with a tie made from the bottom of my
dress so we matched perfectly-I loved it. The college tour ended with us
driving back to PSU with our friend Kate to see Beka and a JCXC guy, Park, run
a half marathon. It was a lot of fun because we ended up having 5 people to
cheer for (Bek, her 2 friends, Park and Lugg (both JCXC). We drove back to good
ol’ Solanco after the race and it was good we left right away because it ended
up snowing a good bit-so much that Solanco had a snow day the next day! My last
few days in America was great since my family had a snow day and delay so I got
more time to spend with them. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Overall, I ate lots of delish food, saw
lots of family and friends and although I was in shock at times with parts
overwhelming-it was a grrrreat trip! The most shocking part for me was being in
Walmart. There is one store here called ‘Nakumatt’ which is bigger and has a
fair amount of stuff in it-but it is not really comparable to Walmart. The
grocery store was also a bit overwhelming so I only went once with a list in my
hand. The differences in food color, freshness, size and price is crazy! The
other thing that blew me away was how I’d forgotten how many different
varieties of one food type there are. For example, in Walmart I saw 10
different types of Oreos-how and why?! Or how can there be an entire looong
aisle of cereal? I cant even buy cereal in Sipili. I have to travel 1.5 hours
to my banking town and then I have 3 options-all expensive though so I never
buy it. Another thing I noticed was transportation. I was surprised at how many
cars travel with one or two people in them and how much I appreciate the public
transportation available in Kenya. Some days I don’t but most I do. The matatus
(14-16 passenger vans) wait to fill up before they leave so that they are
always traveling with the maximum capacity (even if that means when I travel to
Sipili-25+ people in the van). It’s also nice that I can get public
transportation to anywhere in the country-even small towns like mine have it
available. Lastly, it was crazy how many things had changed in the past 14
months. My family redid the floors, added a walk-in freezer and my sisters grew
a foot each it seemed. I saw new buildings when we traveled places and there
seemed to be new technology everywhere. It made me think about when I come back
to America for good and how many things I’ll have to readjust to. I try not to
think about all of the things that are going to be on my ‘to-do list’ for
moving back but in a few months I suppose I will have to start. Oy. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16655071052087226865noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3265223914924057410.post-14194297279409083792014-01-07T10:16:00.005-08:002014-01-07T10:24:07.691-08:00The Holidays (Part 3: Kenya with Nate)<!--StartFragment-->
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">I left America on the 11<sup>th</sup> and
it would’ve been a lot harder but I lucked out because I was traveling back
with my wonderful boyfriend and we had lots of exciting plans ahead of us. It was tough leaving my family all over again but I keep thinking about how I will be home by next Christmas to see them all once more! Nate & I left Dullas and had a 12 hour layover in Amsterdam and were
able to walk around, ride the train for a few hours (we couldn’t figure the
system out), eat lots of sample cheese, see the flower market & a punch bug
and check out the public library for a free view of the city. It was the best
layover. We arrived early on the 13<sup>th</sup> in Nairobi and traveled pretty
easily back to Sipili. We hung out and caught up on sleep before we had to
leave for Naivasha 2 days later for my Peace Corps training. I had mandatory
training with my group for 3 full days. We basically talked about what we
learned from our last year, what we wanted to work on and getting excited for
the upcoming year. This was the first time PC had this training for volunteers
but I think he decided to because after year one is when volunteers are more
likely to early terminate (the other times are right when you arrive at site
and 6 months into service). It was alright though I wasn’t a fan of being in
sessions from 8-5 every day when Nate was so close and I still couldn’t see
him. He ran, read, napped and watched a few movies and got to see some cool
animals! We were at the Kenya Wildlife Training Service Training Institute so
there were animals everywhere. We saw warthogs out the window, zebras, impalas
and gazelle and Nate got to see 3 giraffes one morning. It was really good to
see the other volunteers in my group too! It had been a long time and hanging
out with them afterwards was lots of fun. After Naivasha we went back to Sipili
to relax before my school field trip 2 days after training. Nate got to
experience a day in the life at my school with the field trip. The morning
started off like most during the year where I had no idea what was going on or
what to expect and no one I was asking seemed to know either. We were supposed
to be ready at 8 to leave at 9…we left at 11:30ish and headed with 30 kids to
Land of Hope, a Laikipia Conservancy. We were supposed to arrive early enough
to see some animals but we missed that being as we run on Kenyan time and the
Dutch don’t hahaha. Our kids were fitted-or rather inventory was taken-for
hearing aids that the group from Holland had brought. They handed out balloons
and bubbles afterwards, that were a huge hit!! It was hilarious to watch the
little ones try and pick up the balloons or throw them in the air-they loved
it. That was pretty much the field trip though only lasted about 1.5 hours. We
hopped back on the lorry (basically a truck) and headed the 2 hours back to
Sipili on a very dusty and bumpy road-sitting on mattresses in the back of this
truck. The kids who lived in Nyahururu left right after getting back to Sipili
and so it was very long day for them with little food. The day was an adventure
for sure! The next day Nate & I left for Fishermans Camp, Naivasha. We
arrived and got a little tent set up for us and we waited. Nothing. An hour and
a half of waiting later, we decided to eat our picnic dinner and that’s when it
happened. We looked across the fence and we saw our first hippopotamus! And it
was HUGE!! On Christmas Eve we left Camp and biked to Hells Gate-a beautiful
park filled with lots of wildlife. We biked for about 7 hours and saw the
obsidian caves as well as giraffes, zebras, gazelles, impalas, warthogs,
antelope and African buffalo. The African buffalo were the scariest because
they were in a humongous herd with the biggest ones in the front staring at us.
There was a car that we’d passed maybe 15 min before and so we decided to wait
for them to pass the buffalo and scare them away. The car arrived and they
stopped to ask what we were doing and they laughed but told us it was a good
idea because they can be really dangerous animals. Oh snap. We were on bikes
and after the car scared them a little bit, we rode past as fast as we could
and the people in the car were nice enough to wait a little way ahead to see if
we made it okay. We got back to the camp and after a warm shower (the only one
Nate was lucky enough to have) we decided to splurge and eat at the one
restaurant on the grounds. It was sooo good and it ended with the best treat-we
saw 6 hippos that night! That was one Christmas Eve experience I’ve never had
before. On Christmas Day we left for Nakuru and walked around, ate some Nyama
Choma (fried meat) with ugali and then finished off the night skyping Nate’s
family in Pittsburgh. The next morning Nate went running and ended up running
25 min with 3 fast Kenyans out on their morning run-he was so happy! The rest
of the morning, we hiked up to Menengai Crater. It’s the 2<sup>nd</sup> largest
caldera in the world I believe. It took us 2.5 hours to hike up and 2 to hike
down-we definitely got our workout in for the day. We relaxed and ate lots of
good fruit the rest of the day and ended that night by skyping my family! It
was soo good to hear their voices and catch up! We left Nakuru for Sipili the
next morning to hang out there for a few days before our New Years adventure.
We left for Iten on the 30<sup>th</sup> and it was a long travel day. It took
us 4 matatus and 8 hours to get there but that was faster than we’d
anticipated. When we arrived we weren’t sure where the key would be since we
were staying at my friends house but she was in America. We got to the school
and ended up going to the graduation party that was held at the school that
evening (for people not from the deaf school) and getting a free meal and chai
while the principal searched for the spare key. It was eventually found and we
were able to sleep at Mackenzies house like we’d planned. Her neighbor at the
school we found out is an athlete training there and he offered to take Nate
with him on the easy run the next morning-jack pot! At 5:30 the next day Nate
& Robert left to meet up with maybe 50 other Kenyans. Nate said they
started out at a slower (its all relative) pace but by the end of it some of
them were going pretty fast. He estimated they ran around 12ish miles that
morning. Robert was impressed Nate stayed with them the whole time. He said he
checked his watch at 30 min then 40 then 50 min and was happy to see Nate still
holding on. Nate was ecstatic when he got back. Robert invited us over for chai
and bread and we chatted a little while we watched some New Years celebrations
on TV. Robert ran a 64, I wanna say, half marathon but aspires to run a
marathon some day. The rest of the day we spent by relaxing, eating mandazi
& more chai, walking around in search of the Olympic Stadium (we found out
in mid-afternoon that the stadium is actually in Eldoret-45 min away) and then
searching for the one track in Iten though we never found that either. It’s a
little town filled to the brim with runners and it was really neat to be there
again. The following day before we left Nate went running one more time. This
time was a workout. They left around 8:30 and ran a one-hour workout of one min
fast then one min easy. Nate kept the top group in eyesight for the first 56
min before he said he fell back a little bit and although when he got back he
was tired, he still looked on top of the world. All of the Kenyans kept telling
him he only needed to be there for 1-3 months and he’d be so much faster. Maybe
one day we’ll go back so we can both train </span><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";"> We got home late that night and then had
2 days of relaxing in Sipili before Nate would fly out. He helped paint the map
of Africa. I hate the ladder and so he climbed up and did the 2<sup>nd</sup>
coat on the word ‘Africa’ and repainted the blue around it and now it looks
much better up top and is officially done done done!! We also visited MCs house
and he gave us the full tour. He was so excited to hear that Nate is an
environmental major and told him a lot of cool stuff about his farm and the
plants in it. We left for Naivasha on the 5<sup>th</sup> so that on the 6<sup>th</sup>
Nate could leave in a taxi for the airport at 3:30 am. And just like that, 3
weeks were over, time sure flies when you’re having fun!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Overall the time with Nate here was
amazing!!! We had so much fun exploring and seeing new things together. I’m so
happy he got to see Sipili, meet my kids briefly and just see beautiful Kenya.
Sadly he is arriving back in America today-on the coldest day I hear-but school
starts soon for both of us and then time will continue to fly. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Speaking of school tomorrow is the
official opening day for Sipili School for the Deaf! I can’t believe my second
school year is about to begin! I have no idea when we’ll have our staff meeting
and we’ll pick classes or when classes will begin but so it goes. I wish all of
you the best with work and school and hope you all survive the cold winter! I
can’t believe it’s possible to now say that I will see you all this year since
I will be home before next Christmas but I wish you all the happiest 2014 and
hope it goes well for us all! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Wishing you all the best and lots of
kisses from Kenya,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Love Zabet</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16655071052087226865noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3265223914924057410.post-31304913710926083782013-11-17T09:26:00.005-08:002013-11-17T09:26:49.035-08:00Favorite Things of 2013<!--StartFragment-->
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Howdy Ya’ll </span><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have now officially completed my first
school year of teaching. Ever. It was challenging, tough, interesting,
hilarious and chock full of crazy experiences! In thinking back on this year,
it’s crazy how much happened in Kenya! It has been filled with so much action
and I’m hoping things calm down in 2014. We started off the school year with
the elections and all us PCVs were consolidated for 2ish weeks. In term 2 there
was the 3ish weeklong teacher strike across the country and the Nairobi airport
had a fire due to electrical issues. Then in Term 3 there was the awful
terrorist attack at Westgate Mall. And now as the term ends, there have been a
build-up of riots/unrest on the caost and in Maralal and PC is moving all of
those volunteers! Whew! Now here we are in November with the holidays quickly
approaching! This school year has taught me a lot and although it has had its
fill of rough and tough times, it has also been incredible and awesome too. I
want to share with you what I loved this past year-in the spirit of the
upcoming holidays-I’m going Oprah on all of you minus the absurd gifts but plus
bullet points with fun things hahaha </span><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">So with
“raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens…wild geese that fly with the moon
on their wings, these are a few of my favorite things…”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";"><b>Zabet’s Favorite Things from 2013<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<ul style="margin-top: 0in;" type="disc">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Running every day with my kiddos and
having one or both of my hands held by the little ones<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Kicking around the futbol with the
older boys and seeing all their moves<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Occasionally hearing Elizabeth or
mwalimu (teacher) called our while walking in town or getting a run in,
instead of mizungu (while running 2 Sundays ago I had, for the 1<sup>st</sup>
time, 2 separate people call out ‘Hello Elizabeth’!! Dude, that rarely
even happened to me in the States)<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Being able to go to market and eat
fresh fruit and veggies every day<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Receiving snail mail! Thanks
everyone, you guys are the best!!!!<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Treating myself to mac and cheese
with hot chocolate for dinner<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Hanging out with MC and his family in
Sipili on Sunday afternoons<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Chai twice/day and meat most
Thursdays at school<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Experimenting with variations to the
classic choco-chip recipe since I haven’t seen a choco-chip since leaving
the States haha I add different fruits, oatmeal, spices and cocoa
powder-yummm!<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Having Magdaline and the girls play
with my hair endlessly and come up with new styles and ‘dos for me while
constantly telling me how excited they are at how fast it is growing (I’m
equally excited!)<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Seeing the kids play in front of the
Africa Map and point out things to their friends that they know about the
different places, usually it’s the country name &/or futbol team
status<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Making fresh banana bread about
once/week after the kids help me successfully light the jiko oven<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">The awesome view I can get from
almost anywhere in Sipili-makes my runs so amazing!<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Watching my kids dance and getting
their groove on-I recently taught some of them the moves for the Macarena-
so. so. so. great!<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">The kindness in Kenyans. One small
example, recently I bought potatoes and a lemon from the lady I go to once
or twice a week on average and before I left she handed me a bag of 4-5
tomatoes and a large mango, just ‘cause </span><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";"> Made me smile so big!<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Being able to read a lot &
successfully complete 2 puzzles on my own for the first time in my life<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Running with the little 4-6 yr old
boys and then having them show me their muscles after maybe 3-5 min to
show me how tough and strong they are and how impressed with themselves
that they’ve already run so far </span><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";"><o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Hearing my fellow teachers stick up
for the students when they go on an outing anywhere to make sure they have
an interpreter and that they can all see the interpreter fully<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Experiencing Sipili (as well as other
parts of Kenya) in all it’s glory with my sister Sarah and cousin
Clarissa!<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Having all of the matatu guys in
Sipili and most in Nyahururu know me <o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">My kids signing or spelling Batman
and then asking me if I love him which then ends in fits of giggles<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Being asked if I or Americans in
general eat snakes<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Hot bucket baths after making banana
bread on my jiko ‘oven’- it’s a double win<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Catching up on enough sleep to hold
me over til I’m retired and can get the same amount as I’m getting now!
…pretty sure I go to bed earlier than my entire family back in the
States….including my sisters who are in elementary school and my all of my
grandparents! I’m talking between 8 & 9 is totally normal for me now!
Hahahahaha yep.</span><o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Drinking 2 mugs of baby porridge
every morning with a fresh banana and making lots of homemade French fries
for dinner </span><o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Hearing laughter all the time!! My
favorite is at night when the kids have finished dinner and are hanging
out outside my kitchen window and the boys laughter floats through and
fills my house.</span><o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">The support I have from all of my
family & friends! I was able to rewatch the video some of you made for
me right before I left a few days ago and I still love it! All the
letters, packages, FB msgs, emails and little notes that I receive make me
feel so blessed and thankful to have you all in my life!!!</span><o:p></o:p></li>
</ul>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">To say this year
was easy and always fun-filled with my favorite things would not be true. It
has been tough and at times really hard to be so far away from family &
friends and Americans in general. The things on this list helped me to see the
sunny side of things when I was having a rough day. If all your days are great,
well that’s awesome, but it makes it much harder to appreciate the little
things-even things like a hot shower, a cube of cheap cheese or electricity so
you don’t have to take a bucket bath with only a few candles-those things feel
ahhhh-mazing when you get them! When I go to a big town once a month where I
can meet up with some PCVs, eat cheese or bacon and take one hot shower it’s
soo good. I am so incredibly thankful to have this opportunity of a lifetime
and as hard as it can be, overall so far, it’s been an amazing experience and
I’m head over heels for Sipili and all my students!!!!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Kisses Galore
from Kenya,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Elizabeth</span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->
Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16655071052087226865noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3265223914924057410.post-74024566972932446622013-11-09T23:22:00.001-08:002013-11-09T23:22:00.310-08:00My Kenya by the Numbers<!--StartFragment-->
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">I’ve been
thinking about this past year and I love stats and wanted to share some that
I’ve thought of with you all…my Peace Corps Kenya experience thus far in
numbers:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";"><b>Number of…<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<ul style="margin-top: 0in;" type="disc">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Names I’ve accumulated since
arriving: 4 (Zabet, Mwende-my Kikamba name that my host family in Machakos
gave me, Nwera-my Kikukyu name that my co-teachers game me and ‘color’ is
my KSL name)<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Lindes who have visited Sipili: 2<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Different classes/subjects I’ve
taught: 5<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Elephants I’ve seen: 1<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Longest time without using a
restroom: 18 hours<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Times I’ve mopped: 3<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Longest amount of days I’ve gone
without bathing: 8<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Letters I’ve sent: 223<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Average hours of sleep each night: 9<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Milkshakes I’ve tried: probably
around 10 ….milkshakes that have tasted like the ones I grew up with: 0<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Times I’ve known what was happening
at school before it happened: Very few<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Marriage proposals: Between 5 and 7 I
think<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Most crickets caught within my little
house: 5 in 90 min…now I don’t even bother, we’re friendly to each other
now<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Pineapples carved like pumpkins: 2<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Cups of chai/day: 2-3 on average<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Longest ceremony attended: 4.5 hours<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Consecutive days that potatoes were
my main meal: 7<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Days without seeing an American in
person (and only skyping once): 45<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Most letters I’ve received on 1 day:
8<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Days I’ve shaved my legs: 0<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">‘Wedding’ rings I’ve bought to show
that Nate & I are ‘truly’ married & I’m taken: 3…total cost? $8 <o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Weeks school was missed: 3.5 (strike)
+ 2 (elections/consolidation)<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Hot showers: less than I can count on
my fingers and toes<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Choco-chip cookie variations I’ve
made up: 14<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Terms of teaching I’ve completed: 3<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Kids I’ve had knock on my door
between 6 & 6:30am to return a magazine, get triple antibiotic
ointment for a cut I can barely see or to just say hi: countless!<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Students who’ve stolen my heart: 78 :)</span></li>
</ul>
<!--EndFragment-->
Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16655071052087226865noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3265223914924057410.post-31936645906801341882013-10-23T11:13:00.003-07:002013-10-23T11:13:28.321-07:00Governor & Education Tidbits<!--StartFragment-->
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Hello Friends and
Family </span><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">It’s nearing the
end of October and I thought I ought to update you all. The biggest news at my
school was the governor’s visit 2 weekends ago. It was all the teachers could
talk about it seemed-about getting ready, doing the planning and what exactly would
happen when he came. The kids had to help in the school beautification. This
meant they moved a lot of rocks, and when I say a lot I mean more than a Kenyan
elephant load worth of rocks. They outlined every path, and then the teachers
thought the rocks weren’t big enough so bigger rocks were found to substitute.
Though that wasn’t the end of it. They then had to rearrange the rocks and move
them out to dig a narrow ditch so that the rocks were more in place. After this
was all done and a few more paths were added, the rocks were good to go. It did
look pretty good at the end and we got a nice ramp/stair set built leading to
the staff room for visitors so it was good even if it seemed a bit ridiculous
to me at the time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">The First
Governor of Laikpia County (Kenya only recently decided to have governors and
such since the newest constitution came out in 2010) came on Sunday with an
entourage of people and our school was nicely packed. He told us he’d arrive at
2 p.m after church but since this is Kenya and time is much more fluid, he
arrived at 4. They got a tour of the school, officially opened the boys
dormitory and planted an indigenous tree in front of it to begin the afternoon.
After the tree planting, everyone moved to the big tent and our students
provided the entertainment. 5 of the lower primary students signed ‘Head,
Shoulders, Knees and Toes’, our Class 6 & 7 preformed a dance and song and
the scouts did a march sort of performance. They did really well and it was fun
to watch them in center stage! We received some money from the event and raised
awareness of our school so I’d say overall, the event was great. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">The event also
helped us raise some money to improve the student’s meals and yesterday they
saw the beginning of that with a special meal. It was decided we’d give them
one special meal and then improve upon their lunches the rest of the term with
a change of foods some days. They will now be eating lentils, rice and more
cabbage I think to substitute with their beans, rice and ugali. Their special
lunch was very exciting for them all. They ate potatoes, rice, goat, chapatti
and I think cabbage and loved it! That was all they could focus on in the
morning as the smells came into the classrooms and they knew it was coming! It
was quite funny and so my KSL and English lessons that morning revolved around
spelling food names and telling stories using food vocabulary </span><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Next, I want to
share an article that was in the Daily Nation newspaper last Thursday. It sheds
some light on education in Kenya. I think it’s pretty interesting and if you
want to know more about the history of education in Kenya, it is a good place
to start. You can read the article for the full story but here are just a few
points that stood out to me:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<ul style="margin-top: 0in;" type="disc">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Kenya has the largest education
system in East Africa with 28,000 primary schools, 7,000 secondary schools
& 60 universities/colleges<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Enrolment in 1963 had 892,000 pupils
in primary schools-now there are 9.5 million & in ’63 there were
30,000 pupils in secondary schools but now there are 1.8 million<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Free Primary Education (FPE) came
into action in 2003<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">There are still almost 2 million
school-age students not in school and who can’t access basic education</span><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 13.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">The quality of basic and even higher
education is very low compared to other countries with the same or lower
GDP per capita as Kenya. <o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">The teacher-pupil ratio at primary
school is about 1:80 instead of the required 1:40 in a developing country
like Kenya<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Most teachers are demotivated and
remain in the classrooms just because there is no better alternative<o:p></o:p></span></li>
</ul>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">http://www.nation.co.ke/kenya50/education/-/2032870/2035180/-/cmnrnp/-/index.html<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Speaking of
school, I had a crazy realization this week as my kids asked about when they
get to go home and realized that we only have a few more weeks of Term 3 left!
As of today we have 3 weeks left because we end on 13<sup>th</sup> December
(Wednesday)! I can’t believe how fast time is flying by!!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">And a fun fact to
leave you all with…I recently learned that Kenya only had one radio station up
until 2002! They could only tune into KBC (Kenya Broadcasting). Now they have
stations galore!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">I wish you all a
very merry Halloween and hope to see some pictures of super awesome costumes!
If any of you have punny/clever/outrageous costume ideas, please do tell </span><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";"> Hope you all get some delicious candy and
are having a happy autumn! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Lots of kisses,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Lizabeth<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->
Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16655071052087226865noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3265223914924057410.post-34839269816467239802013-09-29T08:37:00.005-07:002013-09-29T08:37:41.508-07:00Hodgepodge of News from September<!--StartFragment-->
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Hello Friends </span><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I realized it’s been about a month since
I last wrote a blog and wanna fill you all in on the happenings of Sipili. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">The biggest news
in Kenya right now is the terrorist attack at the Westgate Mall. Thankfully no
PCVs were there that day and all are safe. It’s a true tragedy what happened
and the police are still investigating though some suspects have been caught
and some died in the attack. I don’t want to comment on the actual attack
because I wasn’t there and don’t want to give false information. However, if
you want more details on it there are plenty of articles online. If you want a
Kenyan perspective you can check out the Daily Nation Paper website
(nation.co.ke) which I prefer. The part I do want to comment on is to say how
incredible it is hearing and seeing Kenyans have come together. They’ve been
showing pictures on the news of Kenyans lined up in super long lines to donate
blood all over in Nairobi particularly but also across Kenya. The Red Cross
made a plea for blood with so many people injured and Kenyans reacted right
away. More acts of kindness were shown with people who came out to offer free
chai, lunch or snacks for the volunteers in the rescue missions. It really
brought the people together. You can see ‘#WeAreOne’ just about everywhere and
the Kenyan colors on everything. Everyone is and has helped out in whatever way
they could. The President announced a 3 day mourning period after the attack
stopped and the healing process has begun. We live in a crazy world where
horrible things can happen but seeing what people do afterwards and during is
the intriguing part. It is so cool to see all the Kenyans coming together,
wearing their national colors and helping each other. Kenyans are one!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Speaking of
coming together, school is back in session! I finished the Africa painting with
a second coat on everything except for the title. I don’t particularly like
ladders to begin with but being on the one at my school without the kids was
not on my list of things I’d like to do. Thankfully I have a sweet boyfriend
who is willing to do the second coat when he comes to visit and than it will
officially be complete! Term 3 is maybe 3 weeks in by now and things are
rocking and rolling. We lost 5 students to transferring but we gained 5 new
students I believe. All of the new students are in the Classes 1 or 2 so I
don’t have any of them but they’re all super cute! Only one of the little boys
knows a little sign whereas the others mostly just mimic what you sign to them
or nod and smile at whatever you say. They’re adorable and most are missing a
few teeth which only adds more to their cuteness </span><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">The most exciting
thing so far for me this term actually happened with running. There is a boy
named Moses but his nickname is Bean and he’s in Class 4. He is hearing but has
other mental disabilities. He doesn’t write or sign much though he will respond
to Kiswahili. He is always running around and has a fascination with doors and
locks and has many a time locked me into my house. Thankfully there is a window
by my door that I can stick my hand out of and open the door </span><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";"> He has an immense amount of energy and I
wasn’t sure how I could best help him. Every day I run with the kids though now
it’s a main group of about 5-8 girls from Class 2,4 & 5. Last Wednesday the
girls took off and Bean started running off too. He’s done this before but
normally we turn him around and he goes back but not Wednesday. He’d gotten
about a minute into the run and we decided what the heck, let him come along
and we’ll see how long he lasts. 3 of the girls in Class 5 ran with us and held
is hand around turns to make sure he went the right way. It was awesome. The
loop usually takes us 15-20 minutes to do and Bean ran the whole time! The
girls wanted to do 2 loops so I took Bean back to school and told the other
teacher there what he had done and after a high five he told me to take him
again if I was going to do two loops anyways and see if he could do it. So we
left the school again and went for lap two. Bean blew me away! He walked maybe
a minute the whole two laps!! And he kept a pretty even pace, which is more
than the girls I run with every day can say. I mean they’re all elementary
school age so even pace is rarely found but he just laughed the whole way and
kept on truckin’ </span><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";"> It was
sooo amazing, made my day!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">The big news from
today is baptism! I went to church with my students, three of the other
teachers as well as the two housemothers around 9:30 this morning. The service
itself was long (10-1:30) but I was happy to see my headmaster and the sister
interpreting this Sunday. We have a sister who comes every Tuesday to teach a
class called PPI, which is basically teaching them about Catholicism since we
are a Catholic-sponsored school even though we’re still a public school.
Anyways, we had all but 5 students from Classes 5,6 & 7 as well as a
vocational student and the our Deaf mother/workers baby get baptized. It was by
far the largest group I’d ever seen and my first time seeing a Catholic
baptism. It was really neat! 30 of my students got baptized in front of the
church they go to every weekend while at school and it was awesome to witness.
They had water poured on their heads, a necklace put on; oil anointed on their
foreheads and the candle they were holding was lit. A cool experience and I’m
so happy for my students!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">On a
totally different and not happy note, I wanted to share this article from the
Daily Nation that I read this week about Uganda. It’s utterly outrageous. The
gist of it is comments made while talking to youth from the Ugandan Youth
Affairs Minister Ronald Kibule on rape. “Addressing youth in Kajara County,
Ntungamo District on Saturday, Mr Kibule said the police should instead charge
the victims with inviting the crime. The minister said the police must
scrutinize each rape case reported to them to establish the dress code of the
victim. He added once it is established that the victim was indecently dressed,
the suspect should be set free.” Gah!! Don’t worry; he continues with his
thought, it gets better. “When journalists called him Tuesday evening to verify
these reports, the minister reiterated his position, noting that indecent
dressing was “an open invite to rapists”. Say whatttt?! C’mon now! He stuck by
his answer! I mean props I guess for sticking with what you said but of all the
things to stick with, jeez louise!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He goes on to say that “Most women currently dress poorly especially the
youth. If she is dressed poorly and is raped, no one should be arrested. Asked
to define what amounted to indecent dressing, the minister listed mini-skirts,
bikinis and tight jeans.” Well there’s the dress code for basically all the
youth in America and what I’m imagining is quite a few youth in Uganda.
Thankfully a female Prime Minister stepped up and said “I don’t support wearing
of miniskirts but on the other hand a man who is normal cannot go and rape a
woman because she is putting on a miniskirt. He should have self-control,” said
Mbarara Woman MP Emma Boona. And another lady was quoted, Ms Rita Aciro, the
executive director at Uganda Women’s Network who said “It is unfortunate that
we have such leaders in this country. Does he know that there are laws in this
country against rape?” she said. “He is obviously misleading many men by saying
that it is okay for them to go ahead and rape women who put on short skirts. “Mr
Kibule should come out and issue an apology to the people of this country. We
live in a civil society that respects people’s rights”. You go girls! It’s hard
for me to fathom someone-especially the Youth Minister-telling youth that if
they’re raped and wearing clothes that might seem scandalous; the rape is their
fault! What kind message is that?! I don’t understand one bit and I hope he
makes a statement clearing things up in the very near future. That cannot be
what the youth need to hear and I can’t see it helping anyone except the people
getting away with rape. And if you want to read the whole article (though I’ll
tell you I ended up copying most of it) it’s here:
(http://www.nation.co.ke/news/africa/-/1066/2006934/-/90jek4z/-/index.html)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Lastly, to end
this blog on a happier note, I wanted to give a shout out to Lindenhof Farm!
Dad recently got a call from a chef at LiveNation who said that Jack was doing
a ‘greening tour’ and wanted only locally-sourced, sustainably-raised meats for
dinner before his show in Philly. They talked and bought 25lbs of our chicken
to make dinner for Jack freakin’ Johnson and his entourage! Just wanna throw it
out there that you can enjoy the same kind of meat that Jack Johnson ate this
Thanksgiving or any day you want, with a delicious turkey from Lindenhof
Farm…just sayin’ </span><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";"> I mean I
might be a little bias towards it but it’s pretty tasty stuff and after only
cooking tofu at my house and occasionally eating meat that’s been hung without
refrigeration, it’ll probably taste even better when I get back to the states!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Happy Almost
October to everyone! Wanna know something nuts? In 4 days I will have been in
Kenya for exactly one year-how crazy is that?!!!! SO COOL AND CRAZY!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Lots and lots of
kisses from Kenya,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Zabet<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16655071052087226865noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3265223914924057410.post-50657422369153454372013-08-24T08:17:00.001-07:002013-08-24T08:17:14.841-07:00Punch Bug Theory<!--StartFragment-->
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">I’ve figured it
out! Took me a while but I finally cracked the code! I figured out whom I feel
like a lot of times when I’m wandering around Sipili or other smaller towns in
Kenya. Guess who? Punch bugs! Didja get the light bulb action like I did? If
not, let me explain a little.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Punch bugs in
small towns in America are like mizungus in small towns in Kenya for the
following reasons:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Children get excited to see you and
hit whoever is next to them to point you out while simultaneously yelling
out ‘mizungu/punch bug’.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">They both get stared at often by
whomever they happen to be passing at the time<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">There are usually only a few in each
town-if they have them at all-so though people know you’re there and have
seen you many times- they still stare a little when you pass<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Parents also can get excited and
point/yell them out to their children so the children-if they were about
to miss the opportunity-can yell at the moving punch bug/mizungu and then
follow that up with hitting/punching their friend/sibling yelling out what
they saw<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Parents also sometimes get into the
game of seeing them first and it can become a competition between parent
and child as well. They both come in multiple colors, different shapes and
sizes, and may have been around for a while but they’ll always be part of
the punch bug/mizungu game to the majority of people living there.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Some people dream of owning them or
marrying them even if they don’t know how to drive stick or if the only
conversation they’ve had is ‘Hi, my name is ______. Will you marry me?’
because they look cool/different.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">The name ‘mizungu or punch bug’ is
always called out to identify said thing to all surrounding people to let
them know there has been a spotting<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">If you go on vacation or travel a
little bit and people don’t see you for a while-when you do come back-the
excitement rises substantially. Same thing when children are on school
break and playing outside and they see one-it becomes the most exciting
thing in the world for a short while and that much more attention is
thrown onto said thing.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Lastly, and I’m only hypothesizing
here since I cant read a VW Bugs mind, but I bet they also kinda play the
game when they see foreign punch bugs in town the same way mizungus hit
their friend to point out the new mizungu in town if they don’t recognize
them and are intrigued </span><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";"><o:p></o:p></span></li>
</ul>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">That’s
all I got but I think it’s a pretty substantial list and I’m sticking to my
theory </span><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hahaha just think about this next time
you see a VW Bug driving around your town. Now you know how they might be
feeling.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16655071052087226865noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3265223914924057410.post-88255304701361946692013-08-21T13:01:00.005-07:002013-08-21T13:01:19.200-07:00Linde Adventures<!--StartFragment-->
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Hey Hey Hey </span><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">I feel like a lot
has happened since I last blogged but my memory is pretty awful and so I’m
gonna give you the highlights in no particular order </span><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>As
some of you probably know, I recently had 2 wonderful visitors in Sipili, my
sister Sarah and cousin Clarissa! It was amazing and I’m so thankful they were
both able to come to Kenya and explore things with me as well as see what my
life is like here. When the 3 of us were in Kenya we traveled a good bit and got
to see some more of Central/Rift Valley Kenya. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>During
the last week of school when all of my kiddos were taking their exams Sarah and
I wanted to make it a little bit more fun. One morning she cooked for 3+ hours
making 2 mandaazi for every child and some for the staff members as well.
Mandaazi are pastries that you fry and are kinda sweet and super delicious!
They are often served as a breakfast food or snack at restaurants. The kids
loooooved them! They were very impressed with her mad cooking skills. The other
day before they left we painted all of the girls toenails with a bright pink.
It was a lot of fun but Sarah and I both agreed afterwards we’re glad we don’t
work at nail salons. They were happy to look so fancy and smart before going
home to see their families. The only strange part was when a few of the male
teachers came up to us afterwards and asked if he had painted the boys toes. We
replied no and thought they were joking. They said it wasn’t fair to the boys
if we didn’t paint their nails and we couldn’t get the point across to them
that we didn’t think their families would like if they came home with pink
nails along with the fact that life isn’t always fair. The boys got to play
futbol with Sarah a few different days and only some of the girls played
because it’s mostly seen as a boys sport at our school. The girls play netball
and the boys futbol. It was an interesting conversation and I don’t think any
of the boys really minded-they watched the whole time and kept laughing as they’d
try to pose as a girl and fake us out. An entertaining afternoon for sure.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">A
few days after school ended Clarissa flew in after getting delayed for 2 days
because of the fire at the airport. We met her in Nakuru with the whoopie pies
I’d made in hand. I had to substitute a few things and I grilled them like I
make my cookies instead of baking them. Now I may be a bit bias and it has been
a long time since I’ve had one of my Aunt Millies wonderful whoopie pies but I
think they tasted pretty good! Flatter and more moist but very chocolately and
sweet! </span><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";"> It was
sooo good to see C and have 3 Lindes all in Kenya together! Made me so happy!
That weekend we saw the Menegai Crater-pretty neat-and Hyrax Hill. Both were
pretty cool with amazing views!!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">A
few days after Clarissa had gotten here we decided to go visit the Maasi Mara,
which if you’ve ever looked up any touristy-park-trip-great hot air balloon
site in Kenya then you’ve probably heard about the Maasi Mara. It’s a very
large park chock full of wildlife and mizungus! Clarissa and Sarah had been in
Nakuru that weekend (4ish hours from Sipili where I was) when the decision was
made. They called with the suggestion and 2 hours later I was on the matatu
moving slowly out of town to Nakuru to meet up with them. They had made an arrangement
with a taxi driver they’d met to leave at 3am the following morning. Oy. Sarah
of course, bursting with energy didn’t go to sleep until 1am unlike Clarissa
and I who passed out around 10:30 or 11 and then once in the car at 3 we passed
out again while Sarah was in and out talking to the driver a little bit. We
arrived at the park around 8 after seeing giraffes & gazelles before even
entering the gate. I tell you-seeing a few giraffes with the sun rising is a
beautiful way to start a day. At the gate we got bombarded with vendors trying
to sell us any sort of trinket or jewelry while we waited to pay what ended up
being more than we’d anticipated but we made it in by 8:30! He drove us around
until 12:30ish and we saw so many awesome animals-most of which I’d only ever
seen at a zoo. We saw hundreds upon hundreds upon hundreds of wildebeest, a
fair amount of zebras, gazelles and antelopes. My top 3 favorite animal
sightings of the day were all ones that I had not ever seen in Kenya. In 3<sup>rd</sup>
place was seeing 2 warthogs cause I instantly thought of Pumbaa and it made me
smile </span><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";"> Thank you
Disney. In 2<sup>nd</sup> place was seeing the ears and eyes of 2 lions laying
the tall golden grass. Incredible! I did not think we’d be seeing any lions but
lo and behold, there they were chilling in the sun. Now they were easier to see
since there were at least 7-8 safari vans on the surrounding paths full of
cameras, fanny packs and safari hats and so we knew something good was around.
In 1<sup>st</sup> place was the lone elephant!!! My first elephant! It was also
Clarissa’s first elephant! Hahaha but not Sarahs…the one who’d been here for 6
weeks and not 10 months like me or 8 like Clarissa. We also got to see a lone
ostrich, kudu, baboons, impalas, water buffalo, a cougar and a few waterbuck! A
very solid morning! We left the park and got to the first major town of Narok
and were in desperate need of gas. But after driving to at least 6-7 of the gas
stations we still didn’t have any. They all kept telling us they were out….though
our driver said they probably were just telling people that so they’d get more
desperate and then the prices could be jacked. Our driver had to stay the night
and he put us on a matatu headed to Nairobi so we could get to Machakos since I
had my VAC meeting the next day. We finally arrived at my host family’s house
and it was so so good to see them! She served us a wonderful super tasty dinner
of chapatti and green grams with cabbage before we headed to bed. We calculated
a total of 17 hours in some form of transportation that day. Now that’s a PR I
think and not one I’d like to beat anytime soon.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">We
left Sarah in Machakos on the morning of the 15<sup>th</sup> so she could hang
out there for a while before heading to Nairobi to catch her flight and we
headed back so we’d make it before dark in Sipili. The next 3 days with
Clarissa in Sipili, we did a lot of relaxing which was awesome. We’d been
traveling so much before that it was nice to rest a little especially for her
since she had to travel back to Zambia on the 19<sup>th</sup>/20<sup>th</sup>. We
saw Thompson Falls, visited MC and saw his garden and she helped me with my
Africa painting! I started on the 2<sup>nd</sup> coat of the countries doing
purple and red and she painted the title on top ‘Africa’. It looks a lot better
now and hopefully I can finish the 2<sup>nd</sup> coat of everything within the
next 2 weeks before the kids return for Term 3. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">The
other thing I wanted to blog briefly about was the exams every child in Kenya
must take at the end of every term. The big one at the end of Term 3 for the 8<sup>th</sup>
graders and the 12<sup>th</sup> graders is the one that everything comes down
to but that’s a whole other blog post. I just wanted you to see a handful of
the questions that all Class 5 students had on their English exam this past
term. I am the class teacher for Class 5 and so I give them all of their exams
and therefore miss seeing the exams for other classes but this is Standard 5
stuff. See how you would do on the exam </span><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Standard 5: Term
2: Year 2013: English Exam<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Fill in the black
spaces using the best choices given. (I’m putting the first half of the story
only)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">The idea of __1__
food made the dog salivate. He pleaded __2___ sheep to ___3__ him to the party.
The sheep said he was not __4___ position to help ___5___. The dog begged and
begged and sheep was __6___ to take to the party. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">1. a. dericious<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>b.
delicious<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>c.
delicios<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>d.
delicious <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">2. a. to<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>b.
at<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>c.
with<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>d.
in<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">3. a. take<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>b.
took<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>c.
taken<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>d.
taking<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">4. a. with<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>b.
in<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>c.
at<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>d.
to<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">5. a. her<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>b.
himself<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>c.
herself<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>d.
themselves<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">6. a. interested<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>b.
discouraged<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>
c. commanded d. forced </span><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">à</span></span><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">
these answers make sense but the last sentence is missing a word so it still
might be confusing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Fill in the gaps
using the best choice: (these were my favorite 3 from this section)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">16. The boy
jumped ____ the river<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">a. into<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>b.
in<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>c.
by<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>d.
on<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">17. The teacher
has ____ the naughty girl<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">a. beat<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>b.
beaten<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>c.
bitten<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>d.
bit<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">24. Herd is to
cattle as ____ is to eggs.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">a. bunch<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>b.
pack<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>c.
tuft<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>d.
clutch<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Read the story
below and answer questions 26-38. (I found this story an interesting pick)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">After
a time I saw a little old man making signs to me to carry him on my back over
the brook. Having pity on his age I did so, but when I would have put him down
on the other side he twisted his legs so tightly round my neck that I fell to
the ground half chocked.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Although
he saw how weak I was he refused to get off me. He opened his legs a little to
let me breathe better. He put his legs into my stomach to make me rise and
carry him further. Day after day, and night after night he clung to me. By good
luck I threw him away and ran as fast as a hare.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">36. By good luck
means ______.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">a. the old man
was lucky<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">b. the writer
fell down<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">c. the old man
fell down<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">d. the writer was
lucky<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">And for any of
you who took the test and want to see if you’re smarter than a 5<sup>th</sup>
grader, here are the answers to the questions I pulled:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">1. D </span><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">à</span></span><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";"> I realize B & D are both spelled
correctly but if the teacher didn’t look at the exam and the child marked
B-then they’re wrong<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">2. C<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">3, A<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">4. B<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">5. A<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">6. D<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">16. B<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">17, A<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">24. D<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">36. D<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">The English
composition prompt? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">‘Write an
interesting story about market day’.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">There ya have it.
I will be on break until 4 September when Term 3 will begin and go until mid
November. It’s nice to relax in my house and experience life without having
door knocked on every 10-15 min with some child needing a
bandaid/magazine/wanting to chat/asking for whatever they can smell coming from
my kitchen </span><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";"> Ohhh I
love ‘em but a few weeks break is not bad. I’m getting lots of reading in and
painting a lot as well. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Hope you all had
a glorious summer full of fun and are ready for school to start or for those of
you not in Education, hope you got some sunshine somehow </span><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Sending lots of
kisses from Kenya,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Bissy</span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->
Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16655071052087226865noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3265223914924057410.post-30473410218247773742013-08-06T03:39:00.003-07:002013-08-06T03:39:17.812-07:00Iten Adventures (part 1)<!--StartFragment-->
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">These past 6
weeks have been pretty incredible—the first 3 were spent in Kwale, living with
some incredibly passionate and generous Kenyans who have hearts of gold,
serving their community well, and spending the past 3 with Elizabeth Marie, my
darling and hard-working younger sister who is volunteering with the Peace
Corps at a Deaf School in Sipili, Kenya. She’s allowing me to be her first “guest
blogger” – so here goes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Visiting Kenya is
JUST like Disney World, but a million times better. Take a look:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<ol start="1" style="margin-top: 0in;" type="1">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">It’s kind of like living the Lion
King. Simba means “lion” in Swahili, Rafiki means “friend” and the
sunrises are 1000 times more gorgeous than the movie portrays. Everytime
someone says “Asante!” (thank you), I start singing “asanta sana squash
banana” </span><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";"> Sometimes it’s in my head…sometimes not.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">They have these sweet minibuses you
can ride—and on dirt roads after a heavy rain they can totally feel like a
rollercoaster! <o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Instead of just 7 dwarfs, we have 20
little boys who share a wall with us, giggling the whole night through.
Also, they love to take out our compost. They actually fight over this
chore. <o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Luckily, we don’t have any “Mickey’s”
hiding in our house—just a few bats and birds staked out in the roof. They
love to sing to us in code as we fall asleep at night, although we have
yet to find creatures who like to clean the house! <o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">A spoonful of sugar does help the
medicine go down. Literally…that’s how Bis takes her malaria pills.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">We eat porridge every day-just like
Beauty and the Beast! Ours is made with sugar, and any combination of the
following milled grains: millet, amaranth, sorghum and wheat. Oh, and
sugar.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">They don’t have spaghetti, so eating
Lady and the Tramp style is difficult, BUT they do have kale and it is
grown in every single garden. Therefore, everyone has a love affair with
it – it’s basically served at every single meal. I’m not complaining </span><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";"> <o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Elizabeth is a bit like Gus, the
mouse from Cinderella, because she loves cheese. We went to a cheese
factory this weekend—now she’s satisfied! <o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">My sign language “name” ( a sign
given to everyone in the community so one doesn’t have to spell out every
single letter every single time) is the sign language symbol for “princess”
and Elizabeth’s sign name is the one for “color!”<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We have crazed tea parties every day in the teachers
lounge. Sometimes they get super crazy and we get a banana. <o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We have “<i>Nights in Shining Armor!”</i></span><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";"> Each night we fall asleep snuggled
up next to him, he protects us from the bad guys, and is always there to
comfort us. Thank you, oh mosquito net!<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">We live on the Bare Necessities </span><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";"><o:p></o:p></span></li>
</ol>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">This weekend was
probably the most exciting weekend we’ve had together in Kenya. It started with
us planning a simple weekend to Iten, the running capital of the world, to see
a 10K race. Little did we know how exciting it would get…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">We left Friday
afternoon with the headmaster’s blessing, as he let us leave at 10, since it
would take until 7ish to get to Eldoret, the last stop before Iten. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Leg 1:
uneventful, although we had to wait 1 hour before the matatu left Sipili. We
had to wait for it to fill up. “fill up” means 16 people in an 11 passenger
van. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Leg 2: We rode
the matatu alongside a VERY drunk man. Mind you, it was 1:00 pm. He had to get
out 2 times to pee, fell over while doing so, and probably apologized “pole,
pole” a gazillion times. He had a great sense of humor, so it was pretty
entertaining matatu ride.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Leg 3: Our matatu
broke down about 45 minutes in. Luckily it was in a town, so we were able to
find some French fries and Peptang, Bis’s favorite ketchup. Two hours later, we
were on the road again.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Leg 4: We got
into Eldoret around 8, met E’s fellow Deaf Ed Peace Corps member, Jennifer, and
we headed to stay at her place in Iten…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 13.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">We got up
super early Saturday morning to watch the 10k race…because there wasn’t a time
advertised anywhere. Shocker. There were about 1500 men and women participating
in the race—all Kenyan, we were told. E and I were sitting on a hill prior to
the race near the finish line, when a man named Robert Kiptanui approached us
and took us down the hill to take a picture with him. We talked with him for a
long time and he introduced us to anyone he knew (which was about 75% of the
people there!) Olympians, marathoner and trainer Gilbert Koech, (check out http://www.examiner.com/article/koech-pushkareva-win-the-rock-n-roll-san-antonio-marathon)
who also happens to be Edna Kiplagat’s husband. She’s kind of a good runner…you
know, ran in the London Olympics, 3<sup>rd</sup> in the London Marathon…) I
talked to him for a very long time—he watched the race with me and told me who
was who as the racers were finishing. He told me about his training and it
turns out he trained in Valley Forge for 2 or 3 years and now trains in Iten
and Magnolia, Colorado. He’s coming to Philly in September to run the Rock’N’Roll
half marathon! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 13.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 13.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">p.s. The
top time for a 10K at 2,500 meters altitude? 29:39. It was a “hard course” say
the locals.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->
Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16655071052087226865noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3265223914924057410.post-81211157338810284522013-08-06T03:38:00.001-07:002013-08-06T03:38:28.107-07:00Iten Adventures (part 2)<!--StartFragment-->
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 13.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Throughout
our time in Iten, many runners approached us to chat...simply wanting to know
why we were visiting and wish us well on our travels. They smiled, joked with
us, and wanted to know about America. It was so incredible to witness their
modesty and genuine character. I mean, we were in the city where almost every
runner runs a sub 2:15 marathon, and they weren’t the least bit interested in
broadcasting their accomplishments. So refreshing! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 13.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 13.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">p.s. We
met and chatted extensively with Henry Sugat, a 2:06:58 marathoner and winner
of the Vienna Marathon—twice. He didn’t mention any of that while in
conversation…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 13.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 13.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Back to
Robert:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">I asked him what
his marathon time is, and he exclaimed “it’s SO slow!!!....2:17!! His
half-marathon time? 62 minutes. That’s 13.1 miles at roughly a 5:10/mile pace.
So naturally, my next question was: “Hey, want to take us for a run in the
morning?!”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">We met Robert at
6:50am and ran a good 56 minutes with him. He told us “I’ll go your pace.”
Thanks, Robert. If you want us to go more than 100 feet, you’d better go our
pace </span><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";"> He’s a 28 year old who has been running
competitively since 10<sup>th</sup> grade. Such a sweetheart. He took us back
to his “training center” after his run. A one room house with a bed, 3 or 4
outfits, a charcoal jiko stove, a few pots, dishes, & a gorgeous garden out
back. He wanted to make us tea as a recovery from the run, so he ran to his
Guernsey cow and fetched some fresh milk. It took about 45 minutes until the
tea was ready, because the jiko took forever to catch fire. He has a degree to
be a chaplain, but is focusing on professional running at the moment. He’s been
at it for 3 years, and his days consist of eating, sleeping, and running.
REPEAT. After he walked us back to where we were staying, he was off to run
another 30K with his friends. No big deal.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Yesterday we
joined 14 of E’s students at the National Music Competition, held in Nakuru. It’s
similar to our national music competitions, in that you have to go to counties,
districts and regionals before you can go to nationals, but unlike the US
system, the students go in groups from their schools. It is a 10-day event,
where each school performs in many different categories. You can sit in some of
the sessions, so E and I saw many deaf schools performing local tribal dances.
It was super impressive to see how well they were choreographed, considering
their hearing is impaired. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">We took a matatu
home with 20 people crammed into the matatu, including a large man who pretty
much sat on E’s lap. We arrived home after dark with no power, so unlocking the
room was a challenge…especially since the kiddos had stuck a stick into our
lock, making it impossible to unlock. Thank goodness for safety pins—after
about 20 minutes, we were safely inside.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Clarissa comes to
visit from Zambia on Thursday! We’re taking 7 days to travel around Kenya,
since E is sort of on break. She won’t be with C and I for the whole trip, but
she’ll join us when she can. It works out beautifully that she has to be back
in Machakos for her VAC meeting so we can meet and stay with her host family
from PC training!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Tonight is dinner
with MC and his family---MC has the most impressive garden collection of fruits
and vegetables I’ve ever seen. No wonder---their growing season is 12 months
long! Dad, don’t worry—I took lots of pictures </span><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";"> Dinner is always collected from his
organic and sustainable garden, so I’m beyond excited. Plus, his wife, Mama
Reidy, is teaching me how to make Green Grams and ugali tonight. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">A funny sign on
the road to Eldoret: “Clean toilets make life fun.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic";">Love you – see
you soon! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16655071052087226865noreply@blogger.com2