03.07.2011 Day of Rest, Laundry, and Internet Café.

07.03.2011 Day of Rest, Laundry, and Internet Café.

*As I lay in bed under my mosquito net, writing right now, ready to go to sleep, Nicole is just packing up from the St. John Market.  I talked to her and she said everyone is asking about me but nobody is buying honey. J  I’m doing very well everyone!*

           

            I slept in today until 1030!  It felt so good!  I am not too sore at all, but Ashlee says she feels horrid.  She’s walking funny too. Haha.

            Today for lunch we had spaghetti noodles and a meat sauce.  It almost tasted American!  Very mm mm mm.  After lunch, Ashlee, Emmy, Angela, and I took a dala dala to the internet café.  The dala dala was full of Maasai villagers.  They were laughing at us, but in a good spirited way.  I couldn’t understand anything they were saying because they were not speaking Swahili.  I knew they were Maasai because they all had the Maasai branding burnt into their cheeks. 

            I talked to Mom, Dad, Kahlo, and Baxter today on Skype.  I got to see them! I loved it!  I called Kahlo’s name and she was looking around for me.  She is way cuter than all the wild dogs around here.  I went on facebook too.  Thanks for all the well-wishes!  I also updated my blog, so I hope you’ve all enjoyed reading it and I hope for a comment or two!  Mom had left me a comment earlier.  I read it out loud to everyone and they laughed.  I loved it Mom!  I wish I had been able to talk longer but I had to get home before dark.  Being out in the dark isn’t safe for us volunteers because everyone here thinks we have a lot of money.  The dala dala drivers will take you to remote areas and steal from you.  Most of my free time to blog is during the night, so I am very happy I brought my computer with me. 

            While I was walking home, more children ran up to us and grabbed our hands.  One girl grabbed my hand, but didn’t speak any English.  I said mambo, she said poa, and then we walked mostly in silence.  Every few seconds, she would look up at me and smile and I would smile back.  I let go of her hand to give her a high five, because the children here get an absolute kick out of that.  Some of them even know the fist pump. She just looked at my hand, looked at me, and then wiped my hand off because it got sweaty from holding her hand.  I said, “hapana, hapana, That’s our jambo.” To show her, Ashlee and I did a high five and said, “Jambo” while doing it.  She smiled, laughed, and looked at us like we were crazy.  She grabbed my hand again, so I swung it.  A younger girl was with her, and walking slightly behind and very near me.  When ever I looked back, she had her eyes on my backpack, so I asked Ashlee to walk behind me and kind of watch.  I don’t have any negative feelings towards the girl though.  How can I think less of a girl who wants money to eat?  How could I hold it against her, even if she did steal money from me?  I wish I had food to give them all.  I can’t do everything that needs to be done for the people in this country, and that is breaking my heart.  I can’t hand out food or money to every little girl or boy who is starving.  I am going to need to find one seemingly small good thing to focus on while here, or I won’t be able to handle it.  As we were walking home, there was garbage burning on the street. The creeks are riddled with filth also. There are no dumps with food for people to savage through because every bit of food is eaten.

            Those two children kept going straight as we turned a corner.  As soon as we turned though, more children came running up to us, arms open. They all wanted to hold our hands and hug us.  The first one to reach us was very short, with braids in her hair.  She was wearing a striped shirt-dress that was ripped in several spots.  She was very dirty.  She skipped with me back to the placement.  When we got home, she gave me one of the tightest hugs I have ever gotten.  Then the rest of the children got in line to hug us. No hug is better than those hugs given to us by them.  It makes my entire body feel warm, starting from the core.  Every time I see those children running up so happy to see us, my heart flutters.  

            After I got home, I decided to do laundry.  After that muddy hike yesterday, I needed to. We filled a five gallon bucket with water and added soap.  We washed our clothes here, and then rinsed them out in a big bucket.  We hung all of them on the clothes line, except the panties.  Those we had to hang those in our room. Mine are drying on top of my mosquito net now.  Kaka, the security guard, whom I adore, was hanging out with us, teaching us more Swahili phrases.  I’m going to get a grasp on it, I will!  Kaka invited me to church again today.  I can’t wait to go with him and meet his family!  He has four children.  All of them have wild names. One’s name is Love Song, but I forget the rest.

            After laundry, I went into the common room and ate dinner while watching the O.C.  A volunteer had brought the DVDs.  I loved the O.C. growing up in high school!  Watching it now is still enjoyable, but after being here for just a couple days, I’m totally judging those rich O.C.ers. The TV drained the back up generator so we are without any power right now.  That’s okay though, because I wasn’t planning in taking a shower tonight anyways.  I think those will be taken by me far less often now.  Even washing limb by limb, it’s hard to get used to the cold water.  When we move to home stay, we’ll be without a shower.  We’ll have to wash out of buckets, but at least we can warm the water there though.

            Tomorrow I start my placement at the volunteer house. I can’t wait.  The excitement is killing me.  These children are why I came and now I finally get to meet them, play with them, and teach them!

            On my last note of the day, men avert your eyes.  Women, if you think periods suck, try being on one while in Africa.