Dowry party!

Hi all! Sorry it has been so long since my last post! I hope everyone is doing fine at home! I went to my first dowry party on Saturday! It was the best time I have had in Kenya so far! I have fallen in love with this adorable family next door. They live on the most amazing little farm. Nanjala invited us to be apart of her big day!! We went over when we woke up to just tell her we were awake! We helped prepare the food, serve her family members and she even made me pray (and those of you in my family know that we don't pray out loud in front of big crowds)! Mom, please tell Gama and Granddad, I know we will get an "ayyy" out of that one! ALSO...tell Gama that I killed a chicken! It was crazy and the whole time I was just thinking, "Your grandma will be proud, Your grandma will be proud!" It was really gross, but definitely made the experience more meaningful! It was really cool how we could eat completely off the land. We decided to make her a cake to celebrate. Because we don't have ovens, we cooked it in a bowl of sand. Beat that Brad! You may be good in the kitchen but can you bake a cake with sand? We watched as the men discussed the dowry (not an easy task). It was a really nice way to get to know the family and learn a load about their culture! Jarson (the brother of the couple) is really good about showing us around Kenya and informing us of the reasons behind all of their cultures! We are so incredibly fortunate to have him.

We took him along to Kisumu yesterday so that we did not get the mzungu price. Because we did this, we were also able to take a matatu. We would have never found out way to the market without him. We saved over half the price because we took a matatu! I can't even begin to count how much money he saved us on souvenirs. It was a really long day. We decided that we are going to take a matatu to Kakamega next weekend to volunteer at a street children school. Hopefully we can check out the rain forest while we are there! Other than that nothing major is going on. I have been eaten alive by mosquitos (or maybe bed bugs). Luckily, non of us have gotten Malaria yet! Tomorrow is Madaraka Day, a national holiday! I am getting very different meanings on what this holiday is for. I have come to a very uncertain conclusion that it is their real independence day from Great Britain. They do not call it their independence day. The day they call their independence day is the day they were named a republic government. Still very confused. I will do more research when I have time! So anywho....we are making pizza (because Nanjala has requested it) and we are decorating it with tomatoes, green pepper and black olive to make the Kenyan flag! We are very excited about it, I hope it turns out well. I will write again when I have more time. We are off to do more errands around Bungoma town.

Lots of love!

Lady's Health

Hi all! I know it hasn't been very long since I wrote last! Life has been pretty typical since.. I am going to try to put up some pictures on here! Today we went with the women's health clinic. It was amazing! Most women around here do not have the slightest clue about their bodies. They listen to what the doctors say without understanding much, which leads to a lot of misconceptions. Today's topic was domestic violence, nutrition while pregnant and menopause. It was very interesting. Domestic violence is a LARGE problem among men and women in this country. It was life changing to hear them tell their stories! I had the weirdest feeling while I was there. Although I love everything about teaching and can not wait to have my own classroom of children, I still have an intense desire to learn about the human body and do some work in the health care field. Maybe I will have to marry rich so I can become a doctor after I teach for twenty or thirty years! I loved being able to tell women about the nutrients they were not getting because they do not eat the correct foods. Maybe I will have to take health classes in the summers! Who knows where life might lead!

Please comment with things going on in America. I am feeling like life is passing me by in the states and I am completely uninformed on things going on at home! I would loooove to hear about all of the things going on with you all. It would make me feel a little bit more normal! Trying to put pictures up.. Will put up my password and such if it works! Love and miss you all!

IM ALIVE!!!

HI ALL!! I miss everyone soo much! I am having a blast! Uganda was the most amazing thing I have ever done. It was absolutely beautiful. Monkeys running above us constantly! All sorts of animals and fun plants! Rafting was so much fun! I fell in on a class two rapid (way to go clumsy girl!) We were able to float down the river and play around in the water for a while. We rafted for 7 HOURS!! :D I applied 80 SPF sunscreen five times that day and STILL got a sun blister on my hand! The last rapid was OUTRAGEOUS! We had to walk around half of it because they say it is "unraftable." We flipped ten seconds into the part we were supposed to raft. I was knocked unconscious and woke up in someone elses boat. He was a very nice man from New Zealand. My eardrum was not punctured, but forced too far into my ear! It was horrid for about a day but now it is much better! Tri says that it will heal itself. I am just taking pain killers and so far it is just a little muffled.

I milked my first cow yesterday and tried my first bit of sugarcane! Both were amazing! The neighbor Jarson is going to take us to a sugarcane factory where they make rock sugar! I made the Kenyan natives open the sugarcane for me. Then I tore off the inside. You chew on it until all of the juice is gone then you spit out the fibers! The flavor is wonderful! I held baby bunnies that Jarson is raising for his family, and they were adorable!

I'm sorry my writing is so quick and messy, we are running off to Mzungu Night (White person specials)! We are running late,but fortunately every African I have met runs late. They call Mzungu time "proper time." So if they tell you it will be 20 minutes they mean an hour unless they say "20 minutes Mzungu time."

Okay, I must be leaving. Hope to get back on sometime soon! I miss you all so very much and can not wait to come home for hugs and kisses!! We have built some major bonds here and I get my daily hugs and kisses although they are nothing like the hugs and kisses from home! Hope all is well!!

All my love!

Slight Speed Bump

Thanks all for your comments! I am having a blast! Homesickness and culture shock have passed and I wish I could bring you all here. I am much more comfortable going into town now and I now know some prices of things so we don't have to pay the Muzungu (white person in swahilli) price. :D I will be putting up pictures as soon as we can get power again (our generator needs oil!) Life is very different taking showers every four days! The food is very carb based and so I am dying!! I did some crunches and things today laying out in the sun which I hope will help.

We went out for the first time last night with all of the volunteers and the farm boys. It was a blast, although it ended early because as we were walking in the dark Fed fell in a ditch (very small bridges here) and sliced her foot. She has a flap now and luckily we had a medic, pharmacist and two nurses with us! We did not suture it, we are waiting to see if it will heal on its own for a day or two and then go from there! They take very good care of us with free medicine. Canceled our trip to Kisumu today but will go tomorrow to see the hippos!

This Thursday we are off to Uganda to white water raft the Nile River, and stay for the night! Hopefully I will get pictures up before then. I will try to stay current with them, although this IS Kenya and breakdowns of all sorts are highly expected!

Hope all is well with everyone at home! I can't wait to share more stories!

All my love!

Jambo, from Kabula!!

Hello all! I have arrived safely in Kabula after an extremely long trip. The flights were intense and we met many very interesting and inspiring people. Nairobi was a bit scary at first. Luckily Fed's uncle was there to help us with taxi fair prices. Fed and I both thoughrouly enjoyed the shower at Mary's house (the owner of primetime). Although we slept in a room with three other vollunteers our age, Fed and I got no sleep what-so-ever that night. She has slept in my bed the past two nights (hopefully tonight will be different!) Culture shock has defininately set in and we are unable to sleep. We will be taking Nyquil tonight!

The bus ride to Bungoma was extremely long and I started off being extremely nervous! As I found my seat I realized that there was a little girl sitting next to me in a school uniform. I smiled and sat down as she waved to a man out the window. I asked her if it was her father and it turns out she has no parents, her brother and sister work in Nairobi to make enough money to send her to a boarding school in Bungoma. I immediately opened some of my snacks and offered her some. She held on to the bag of dried fruit for what seems like an eternity! She was very shy, but go figure sitting her next to me changed things. She LOVED the beef jerky that my mom packed for me. She didn't take a liking to the sea salt almonds although she washed each one down seperately with fanta, I am guessing to be polite. She was my tour guide for the ten hour bus ride, showing me all of the animals and telling me about the mountains along the way. At our first stop I had to use the restroom. Much to my surprise, it was a "long drop" or a hole in the ground that you have to squat over. I failed my first attempt. The second stop I had Fed stand outside the stall making waterfall noises. Eventually I was sucessful although the bus was waiting only for me for quite some time!

When we arrived in Bungoma Momma Joyce picked us up with a driver. She is wonderful, hugging and holding all of our hands. Kenyans have this way of shaking your hand and never letting go. The longer it has been since they have seen you, the longer they hold your hand. She called us her children and her little flowers and told us how lucky she was to have such beautiful flowers (female children). She took us to the store to get water and Malaria nets. The people in the stores are AMAZING. Their smiles are as big as the Montana sky. Every person says, "Welcome, you are welcome in Bungoma!" "Welcome" and "Thank you." They look at us as if we are Ghandi. We had two unfortunate run ins in town. A young street boy came up to us wanting money. He was homeless and sniffing glue. On our ride to the farm we past an accident where a semi-truck hit a pedestrian. (Traveling in the towns is extremely dangerous!) This was quite a welcome to come home to. Momma Betty is wonderful as well. They always say that we should not worry because they will make it so that no one messes with them. The compound is wonderful, cows and goats roaming aimlessly. Our first meal was great and meeting all of the volunteers are wonderful. The first nights sleep was not so great. I am extremely homesick and have intense culture shock. The girls say this will last two to three days.

Today we went through orientation where we learned about all of the programs going on (AIDS awareness, AIDS Empowerment, Womens health clinic, travel health clinic and a buisness education group) We met ever primary class and every class stood upon our arrival and sang us a song. Something to the effect of "Hello visiting teacher, and how are you? We are wonderful and so thankful to have you here" It was absolutely adorable.

Im sorry this is so long, there have been so many things going on since I have been able to talk to you all. We tried to go to the internet cafe tonight and it was broken. I am on a volunteers computer currently. We will be taking a Matatu into town tomorrow to get a cell phone and hopefully I will be able to call home soon. They say it is best to buy a calling card in the US and call me for 8 cents a minute. YIKES, I know but it seems to be the cheapest way. I will post the brand name of that card when I remember it! Turns out we will not be taking a boda boda or a tiki tiki (moped) anytime soon, some girls here got in an accident and we are all a little shook up from it! It has been quite an experience so far, I can't wait to post pictures.

I hope all is well back in the states. I miss all of you horribly. I try to think about it when I get scared at night and then it just makes me homesick. Maybe not the best idea. Can't wait to talk to everyone again!

All my love!

It's finally here!

In about twenty minutes we will be jumping in the car to drive to Chicago. At 5:20 we are hopping on our plane and beginning the journey! I will not get into Kenya until tomorrow and after that I have to spend the night and take a ten hour bus ride to our village. I will hopefully run into an internet cafe when we arrive. Will write as soon as possible!

All my love.