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| After 6 months I decided it was time to brighten up my room with some photos... |
Hello everyone,
Just
a note before I get started, I am writing this at my desk in my room, and
despite the fact that it is 4 pm—AT THE EQUATOR—and I’m indoors with my windows
closed, it is COLD! I just had to
get up to put on a few more layers and wrap a blanket around myself. Rainy season is over (I missed most of
it while I was traveling, thank God), but now we’re in the relatively cold
Kenyan months of June and July. It
still rains maybe three or four evenings a week (like right now), but the roads
are passable—which is not the case during rainy season. The weather during the day is
brilliant—sunny but never too hot.
My first couple months here I would steal away from school some
afternoons to come strip my clothes off in my room and fan myself for a few
minutes; now I go all day long without breaking a sweat, and instead of making
me uncomfortable, holding my 11 o’clock tea in both hands is something I look
forward to. I noticed how
green this region is when I first arrived, but since the rains the scenery is
even more lush and the school’s gardens that the students have planted for
their agriculture classes are starting to show beautiful results. We also have a banana and an avocado
tree out our back door that are starting to bear fruit. You have not seen a real avocado until
you’ve been to Africa—the things are HUGE. The ones we get in US grocery stores have obviously been
bred to withstand traveling long distances; not for size (or nutritional value,
while we’re on the subject).
I
know I have been severely slacking in my updates and I apologize to those of
you who actually care to read them.
The internet connection here in the village seems to have sorted itself
out a little since I got back from traveling, so I should be better in the
future. I have a lot to update you
on!
* * *
One
time, during the early morning hours of the Davidson College student union, a
cockroach scuttled across my path as I tottered from my computer to what was
probably my 8th trip to the bathroom that night—courtesy of the four
Crystal Light Energy drink packets I had put into my body since
dinnertime. Bleary-eyed and (as it
turns out) delusional, I nonetheless did not hesitate to squash the little
twerp. Trembling with adrenaline—and
the massive amounts of caffeine in my system—I looked up at the table a few
feet away from me, where two boys sharing a box of Junior Mints met my exultant
gaze with bewildered, irritated ones.
I lifted my foot to reveal the monster I had just rid the world of (uh,
you’re welcome), only to discover that I had, in actuality, only succeeded in
ridding these boys of a runaway piece of their candy.
Flash
forward to yesterday morning, when I once again stumbled bleary-eyed and
disoriented into the bright Kenyan sunlight on my way to our outdoor
latrine. As I carelessly plodded
through the grass, I made the mistake of stepping on a small, black snake. Shrieking, I made a clumsy attempt at
escaping imminent danger and promptly slipped on the damp ground, skinning a
knee—what, am I TWELVE??—and almost twisting an ankle in the process. Upon closer inspection, of course, the
fiend under my shoe this time around turned out to be a runaway braid from my
roommate’s weave…Welcome home!
I’ve
been back in the village for a little over two weeks now. Returning was quite an adjustment; it’s
not easy to be thrown back into the isolated world of looking and speaking
differently than everyone around you after more than a month of being around
young, like-minded people of cultures comparable to yours. I’d like to tell you that I brushed it
off and threw myself back into village life, but the truth is I sulked in my
room for the better part of a week.
I missed the great friends I had made and my dad (who visited at the end
of May!) pretty terribly. But,
after a short stay back at Sheywe Guest House over the weekend, my mood
improved exponentially. I got to
see my friend Nancy (you might remember she’s the one who showed me around town
and helped me buy cell phone credit on my first day in Kakmega), who I hadn’t
seen in at least two months, and Sheila and all the other staff members who
always make me feel so at home there.
I also got to see Julia and Caro, who both work with Peter at FSD. The organization began hosting fifteen
(!!!) new interns in the last month, and as three of them had just arrived in
Kakamega that day, I was able to have dinner with them at the hotel. FSD has partnerships with Duke
University and University of Portland; Duke sends ten interns to Kakamega every
summer, while UP sends four. Out
of this new batch I have only met three of the girls from UP, but one of the
Duke girls is living nearby and I may be able to go on a trip with all 16 of them
next weekend!
I
started back at school last Monday, but didn’t teach until Thursday. I didn’t miss any class during the week
I spent moping in my room, as it was a fees week and most of the kids were sent
home because they hadn’t paid.
Last week turned out to be the week I had been trying all along to
avoid—exams. Ugh. Usually exams happen the first, middle,
and last weeks of the term, but our copy machine is broken and they have not
been able to get someone to come fix it.
Finally, the principal drove to another school and borrowed theirs. This meant that I spent the majority of
the week slowly dying of boredom in the staff room (there’s only so many ways
you can pretend to be busy without a computer to hide behind).
Once
I began teaching again, though, things picked right up. I taught the kids how to play hangman,
which they LOVE. I enjoyed it as
much as they did—watching 16-year-olds try to fool their classmates with
difficult words is excellent fun.
On Friday afternoon we played hangman for the entire period, as somehow
the cooks had ruined the food and lunch could not be served that day. It’s hard to look 50 hungry kids in the
eye and tell them there’s no lunch; it’s even harder when it was going to be
their only meal that day, as is true for many of our students. So, in an attempt to distract them from
their discomfort, we played quite a bit of hangman (their last-period teacher
never showed up so we carried on), and then the administration let the kids go
home an hour early. Ironically, I stumped the class for the first (and only) time that day. The word? Hungry.
Things
are going well with the other teachers; in an effort to get over my shyness last week I
injected myself into a conversation about alcohol (spirits vs. beer) in the
staff room, and it ended up being the simplest way I’ve ever made friends. All I had to do was say “I like beer,”
and I was instantly accepted into the club (finally!). People literally got up from their desks to come shake my hand. Now, my colleagues start conversations
with me that revolve around topics other than whether or not I like ugali
(bland staple food made from ground corn...which they LOVE, and I would be happy if I never had to even look at it again) or what kind of tea I’m drinking
(apparently, only people with HIV drink the non-milky tea that is, unfortunately, my
favorite). Granted, their favorite topic of discussion is invariably which one of the men I will choose as my boyfriend, but I’ll take
it.
We
also have a new roommate in the house!
When I got back from traveling, I was greeted with a huge plywood box
partitioning off the majority of our living room. As a result of an increase in the number of students this
year and the loss of one teacher to maternity leave, the school has hired three
new teachers. They all just
finished college in Kakamega in April, so are all my age (which is really
nice). The two guys are living
together in the village, but Katherine* moved in with us. I haven’t made up my mind about her
yet…she’s very friendly and good-natured and will at least strike up
conversations with me, but oftentimes those conversations consist of her
lecturing me about my work/shoes/hair/food, etc. She LOVES to get on me about what I eat. I think she means well, but, frankly, I
couldn’t care less if you think I use too much chili powder. And garlic. And onions. And eggs. Apparently, “women should eat no more
than three eggs per week.” How do
you tell someone that the reason she thinks eggs are unhealthy for women is
most likely because the men who run her society want to keep such an expensive
food for themselves? With the
number of babies women around here pop out, they should be eating three eggs a day.
Speaking
of babies, one of my other roommates, Sarah, is pregnant! I noticed her belly had grown
considerably when I got back and my suspicions were confirmed today by
Centrine, our librarian. I think
she’s around 5 months, so I should still be around to meet the baby when it
comes!
Ok,
enough for now. I plan on using Kakamega's faster internet this weekend to post some safari photos from Papa Castle's visit! Miss you all.
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| The new bedroom that magically appeared in our living room while I was away |
*names have been changed
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