Hello friends J
I am sitting here
blasting ‘Stronger’ by Britney Spears for my sister who is taking her first
cold shower in Kenya. It’s cracking us both up but she’s surviving it I think J
It’s so wonderful
and different to have a visitor…my sister…here with me in Kenya!! She arrived
here on Saturday after a long day of traveling. I met her in Nyahururu and we
traveled back to Sipili together. We have been together for 4 days already and
it’s fantastic! She looked up a lot of recipes to try and dinner is always
delicious. Yesterday we went to school together and introduced her to all of my
students. Sarah now has 65+ first names, last names and sign names to learn J They are all super pumped that she is
here and that they have someone new to show all of their tricks and tell all of
their stories to! We went running in the afternoon and I got the highest
attendance in running since it was last made mandatory! Hey, whatever it takes J She also got her whole head in braids and
practiced some of her gymnastics in the afternoon with them! Sarah is picking
up sign language really quickly and they were teaching her new signs all day
yesterday. It was an entertaining day and I know they’re all happy she’ll be
here until the end of term, just like me!
Strike
update: KNUT teachers have now
officially been on strike for 3 full weeks and we’re entering the 4th.
Sunday there was a meeting where everyone thought they would settle the
agreement between KNUT and the government but it was not to be had. The
government said they’d give them the money in 3 segments but KNUT doesn’t think
they’ll follow through so they said no thanks, try again please. So we will
just keep on waiting to see what happens this week-everyone cross your fingers
that they find a happy ending to this all so everyone wins and it can get
settled soon! J
Update on my life
since the 4th, I traveled to Maralal for the first time last weekend
and it was awesome. It took me 5 hours to get there and 6 hours to get back to
Sipili but it was worth it. I saw my first camels in Kenya as well as some
zebras & antelopes. I also tasted the best ice cream I’ve had since
arriving in Kenya!!! That was the first stop we made and I fell in love. It’s a
youth business initiative and the ice cream is homemade and utterly delicious
;) I saw the sunrise, climbed a hill called ‘Big Rock’, hung out with 3 other
PCVs living in the area and had a great 4th of July picnic! Overall
it was a short but fun trip and a great break in the strike.
The other
exciting thing that happened recently was that my students and I finished
painting the first coat of paint for all of the countries on our map!!!! I was
literally jumping up and down and waving my hands around when we got it
completed! Now we have to write all of the names of the countries in, paint a 2nd
coat on all of the countries, make a compass as well as paint ‘Africa’ on top
of it. But at least when people walk past they can see all of the countries and
it has taken shape. My favorite part of the map is that I had each student from
Class 4, 5, 6 & 7 (minus 3 students) as well as 4 of the 6 vocational
students paint at least one country. They looooved painting it and were so
excited to learn which country was theirs to paint. The map is now theirs and
they can take ownership of it. It will be here for a long time and it’s
something they can look at, learn from and remember. I’m incredibly excited
about it all!
Lastly, a sports
update. I don’t know how much running related news you all read or how much
running news has been in the paper recently but the front page of the Sports
section yesterday was all about the World Youth Championships in Ukraine. And
since I’m guessing most of you don’t hear too much news on athletics, here ya
go! Kenya finished second overall at the Championships only to Jamaica! Jamaica
got 8 medals but they won since they got more golds. Kenya scored a gold in the
womens 3000, mens 800, womens steeplechase and mens 1500! Ethiopia was 3rd
with 8 medals and USA scored 5th. Another cool part about the meet
was that Biwott who won the 1500 broke the Championship record by .01 seconds
at 3:36.77. Isaack had the record of 3:36.78 since 2001 when it was in Hungary
and it was finally broken. I was very excited to read about all the track news
in the paper and it always makes my day. Next month in the middle of August are
the World Championships in Russia and so we’ll see what Kenya, Ethiopia and the
USA bring to the table.
I hope you all
are having a fantastic July, a sensational summer and you’re enjoying not going
to school like me, oy.
Many many kisses
from both Sarah and me J
Zabet
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