Two weeks of Training remaining
So this week has been pretty good, but I'm really excited about moving to Kakamega and am having a hard time staying focused. It feel like I have already received all the training I will need and being back in Kitui again feels like I'm back peddling a bit. Then again it has been really good to be back with my host family and I feel fairly comfortable in Kitui now.
Some things about Kenya are frustrating to me. There are some days when I get tired of people shaking my hand and pretending to be friendly only to immediately ask for money, and the children always stare and yell "Mzungu!" and "How are you?" everywhere I go, but looking back I'm really suprised at how well I have adapted here. My host family is going to be really sad to see me go and I'm going to miss them as well. I really lucked out with them and it will be a different experience living by myself. Right now they are planning a going away party for me and have told me it is going to be a big event, with family members coming from Nairobi and several of my friends invited to come along as well. I don't have many details yet but will let everyone know more when it happens.
The training this past week has been a lot of fun. I ran into one training group going to a Muslim family's house for lunch and invited myself along for the free food, and it was there that I realized there is a culture here in Kenya that actually uses spices and puts flavor in their food. The house we went to was amazing too. It was very plain on the outside but the inside was full of designer furniture, plush carpet, and all the modern appliances. It was a surprising thing to see in Kitui. The next day we attended a cooking class with another Muslim family, which had an equally plain house that was extremely nice on the inside. We had lunch as part of our cultural training and again the food was fantastic. We made Pilau, which is a rice dish that was heavily seasoned with all kinds of spices I didn't even realize could be purchased here. There is definitely a big Indian influence in their cooking and it was fantastic. We made about a 30 gallon drum of the stuff and the spoon we used to stir it looked like a Canoe paddle. The Muslims use Henna as well and I now have a Henna tatoo on my hand and arm now that I took a picture of and will post in Nairobi. They put Henna on all the guys in our group and when the country director (who came to eat with us that day because we had the best food) saw it he commented it's the first time he has seen Henna on guys before. To make mine look tougher I had them draw barbed wire around my bicep. Once of the volunteers joked that you can take the redneck out of Alabama but you can't take the Alabama out of the redneck. I think it's funny. The problem is I thought the stuff was temporary but apparently it doesn't wash off, and I've been told it will go away in a few months, which is a long time to go with floral patters on your palms. At least I can cover up the arm.
So there's good food in Kitui and bad food, and I had a taste of both this week. There's millions of flying bugs around at night now that the rainy season is here and I had a chance to eat some fried insects last night, which really weren't bad except that I knew they were bugs. Feeling pretty comfortable for having survived that I went home for dinner and my host mom was making stewed cow intestines. To her credit she made some things I could eat as well, but I took one bite and officially found the first food in Kenya I couldn't take down. It tasted like warmed up cow patty and therefore I have finished my first and only bite.
Yesterday we had the Center for Disease Control come talk to use about AIDS in Africa and we all found the presentation very interesting. There are billions of dollars coming in for AIDS relief and as volunteers for the Peace Corps we have access to some of these funds for training stations, counseling centers, and testing facilities assuming one is not in place in our region and we can write an acceptable grant. I am planning on taking on HIV education as a secondary project time permitting.
So I need to go now, the Posta (Kenyan Post Office) closes at noon on Saturday. I'll write more soon.
Some things about Kenya are frustrating to me. There are some days when I get tired of people shaking my hand and pretending to be friendly only to immediately ask for money, and the children always stare and yell "Mzungu!" and "How are you?" everywhere I go, but looking back I'm really suprised at how well I have adapted here. My host family is going to be really sad to see me go and I'm going to miss them as well. I really lucked out with them and it will be a different experience living by myself. Right now they are planning a going away party for me and have told me it is going to be a big event, with family members coming from Nairobi and several of my friends invited to come along as well. I don't have many details yet but will let everyone know more when it happens.
The training this past week has been a lot of fun. I ran into one training group going to a Muslim family's house for lunch and invited myself along for the free food, and it was there that I realized there is a culture here in Kenya that actually uses spices and puts flavor in their food. The house we went to was amazing too. It was very plain on the outside but the inside was full of designer furniture, plush carpet, and all the modern appliances. It was a surprising thing to see in Kitui. The next day we attended a cooking class with another Muslim family, which had an equally plain house that was extremely nice on the inside. We had lunch as part of our cultural training and again the food was fantastic. We made Pilau, which is a rice dish that was heavily seasoned with all kinds of spices I didn't even realize could be purchased here. There is definitely a big Indian influence in their cooking and it was fantastic. We made about a 30 gallon drum of the stuff and the spoon we used to stir it looked like a Canoe paddle. The Muslims use Henna as well and I now have a Henna tatoo on my hand and arm now that I took a picture of and will post in Nairobi. They put Henna on all the guys in our group and when the country director (who came to eat with us that day because we had the best food) saw it he commented it's the first time he has seen Henna on guys before. To make mine look tougher I had them draw barbed wire around my bicep. Once of the volunteers joked that you can take the redneck out of Alabama but you can't take the Alabama out of the redneck. I think it's funny. The problem is I thought the stuff was temporary but apparently it doesn't wash off, and I've been told it will go away in a few months, which is a long time to go with floral patters on your palms. At least I can cover up the arm.
So there's good food in Kitui and bad food, and I had a taste of both this week. There's millions of flying bugs around at night now that the rainy season is here and I had a chance to eat some fried insects last night, which really weren't bad except that I knew they were bugs. Feeling pretty comfortable for having survived that I went home for dinner and my host mom was making stewed cow intestines. To her credit she made some things I could eat as well, but I took one bite and officially found the first food in Kenya I couldn't take down. It tasted like warmed up cow patty and therefore I have finished my first and only bite.
Yesterday we had the Center for Disease Control come talk to use about AIDS in Africa and we all found the presentation very interesting. There are billions of dollars coming in for AIDS relief and as volunteers for the Peace Corps we have access to some of these funds for training stations, counseling centers, and testing facilities assuming one is not in place in our region and we can write an acceptable grant. I am planning on taking on HIV education as a secondary project time permitting.
So I need to go now, the Posta (Kenyan Post Office) closes at noon on Saturday. I'll write more soon.
posted by KenyaJoe at 12:34 AM
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