No longer a Trainee
Wow, seems like these 10 weeks flew by. Now I'm in Nairobi in the extremely overpriced mzungu mall Internet cafe and am officially a Peace Corps Volunteer. I'm overdue on replying to quite a few emails but give me a few days and I'll be onsite where the Internet is less expensive and there will undoubtedly be plenty of time. Hopefully I can post a few pics there too because my camera isn't on me right now.
So much has happened since I was last online. My family in Kitui had a party for me that I wrote about, but last Wednesday there was also a party for our entire cluster of host families from out village and their volunteers (which started as six trainees, but now at the end of training is down to just four). The party wasn't anywhere as fun as the one just for me, mostly because I started coming down with something pretty nasty the night before. Even worse, the group bought a goat to slaughter for the party, and when my family noticed it was healthier then Red they decided to swap it out and put Red on the chopping block instead! So Red is dead at the homestead. The new goat is nice, but not Red. We named her "Stripe", maybe she'll be around to eat next time I come to visit. Tony, one of the volunteers in our cluster, tried to slaughter Red but couldn't go through with it and stopped halfway through. One of the mamas finished Red off. Luckily I stayed at the house and missed the whole ordeal. Red was tough and chewy, so in my opinion it wasn't worth it but the Kenyans seemed to enjoy her, including all of Red's mystery bits and pieces that I did my best to stay away from.
So I started feeling worse and had a fever over 102 but was able to hang in there. My Swahili oral exam results cheered me up a bit since they came back that day. I received "Intermediate Mid", tying me for second highest on language. Another guy Dan scored "Intermediate Advanced" but he doesn't count since he already knew Hebrew and the languages are similar. I was able to carry on a conversation for about thirty minutes, and even though it was choppy and I forgot a few words, it's a great feeling to know I'm really picking up a second language.
Anyway, from that afternoon until yesterday the fever really didn't go down and a nasty stomach bug decided to join in on the fun. I spent plenty of time on the Choo over the last few days while at the same time having to pack all my things and preparing to leave Kitui for Nairobi and our site visit. Luckily, I started felling better yesterday thanks to a visit to the medical facilities in Nairobi and was able to make it through our swearing in ceremony, which was fantastic. Our group was very lucky because we were able to swear in at the U.S. Ambassador's house, which is apparently a rare event. The home was the most beautiful, large, and well-guarded house I've ever seen. The ceremony was great, with many Kenyan political leaders and U.S. foreign service guys around to talk to and congratulate us. Also, the trees were full of monkeys and they kept running across the rooftop. No doubt they were highly trained Secret Service and CIA monkeys. My stomach was still pretty off, but bowls of doritos, kababs, samosas, and real coffee was too much to turn down so I went ahead and enjoyed my self anyway. Thank God for Pepto.
It's pretty incredible to go walking through the slums of Kitui and then through Westlands in Nairobi and the neighborhoods where ambassadors and wealthy Kenyans and foreigners live. The diversity in wealth is incredible. Even though the U.S. is far from exempt, the disparity between the rich and the poor is at a completely different level in Kenya.
After swearing in had we an auction with goods donated from volunteers that are returning to the states now that their service has ended. The money goes towards a women's education program and I was able to get some pretty good things, including an external CD burner for my notebook computer (I can send pics home now!), some American sunscreen (the stuff PC gives is about greasy and useless. The back of the bottle says "reapply at least every hour or after sweating", real helpful in Kenya), and some board games (Yahtzee and Scrabble) to kill time when volunteers stop by. Afterwards, I got my bike finalized, but the shock fork doesn't work, so hopefully the mechanic guy will get it fixed before they send it out to me this week.
Otherwise, if Matt Baron is reading this, he needs to fly out here really soon...bring me a Terry seat, a cone wrench, and some allen wrenches too...thanks!
Yesterday evening we wanted to go to Carnivore to celebrate, which is one of the best restaurants in Kenya. We were told by the trainers, however, that it was "Kikuyu night" (The largest tribe in Kenya) and it would not be any fun. We went to an Indian restaurant instead and went out to a club called the Barcode and really had a great time. I had a chance to meet a lot of the volunteers that are returning to the states and are midway through service, and am looking forward to catching up with everyone again, although it looks like it will be July forth before that happens.
So that's about all. I could think of more to write but not at four shillings a minute. I write more soon.
Woohoo! I'm a Peace Corps Volunteer!!
So much has happened since I was last online. My family in Kitui had a party for me that I wrote about, but last Wednesday there was also a party for our entire cluster of host families from out village and their volunteers (which started as six trainees, but now at the end of training is down to just four). The party wasn't anywhere as fun as the one just for me, mostly because I started coming down with something pretty nasty the night before. Even worse, the group bought a goat to slaughter for the party, and when my family noticed it was healthier then Red they decided to swap it out and put Red on the chopping block instead! So Red is dead at the homestead. The new goat is nice, but not Red. We named her "Stripe", maybe she'll be around to eat next time I come to visit. Tony, one of the volunteers in our cluster, tried to slaughter Red but couldn't go through with it and stopped halfway through. One of the mamas finished Red off. Luckily I stayed at the house and missed the whole ordeal. Red was tough and chewy, so in my opinion it wasn't worth it but the Kenyans seemed to enjoy her, including all of Red's mystery bits and pieces that I did my best to stay away from.
So I started feeling worse and had a fever over 102 but was able to hang in there. My Swahili oral exam results cheered me up a bit since they came back that day. I received "Intermediate Mid", tying me for second highest on language. Another guy Dan scored "Intermediate Advanced" but he doesn't count since he already knew Hebrew and the languages are similar. I was able to carry on a conversation for about thirty minutes, and even though it was choppy and I forgot a few words, it's a great feeling to know I'm really picking up a second language.
Anyway, from that afternoon until yesterday the fever really didn't go down and a nasty stomach bug decided to join in on the fun. I spent plenty of time on the Choo over the last few days while at the same time having to pack all my things and preparing to leave Kitui for Nairobi and our site visit. Luckily, I started felling better yesterday thanks to a visit to the medical facilities in Nairobi and was able to make it through our swearing in ceremony, which was fantastic. Our group was very lucky because we were able to swear in at the U.S. Ambassador's house, which is apparently a rare event. The home was the most beautiful, large, and well-guarded house I've ever seen. The ceremony was great, with many Kenyan political leaders and U.S. foreign service guys around to talk to and congratulate us. Also, the trees were full of monkeys and they kept running across the rooftop. No doubt they were highly trained Secret Service and CIA monkeys. My stomach was still pretty off, but bowls of doritos, kababs, samosas, and real coffee was too much to turn down so I went ahead and enjoyed my self anyway. Thank God for Pepto.
It's pretty incredible to go walking through the slums of Kitui and then through Westlands in Nairobi and the neighborhoods where ambassadors and wealthy Kenyans and foreigners live. The diversity in wealth is incredible. Even though the U.S. is far from exempt, the disparity between the rich and the poor is at a completely different level in Kenya.
After swearing in had we an auction with goods donated from volunteers that are returning to the states now that their service has ended. The money goes towards a women's education program and I was able to get some pretty good things, including an external CD burner for my notebook computer (I can send pics home now!), some American sunscreen (the stuff PC gives is about greasy and useless. The back of the bottle says "reapply at least every hour or after sweating", real helpful in Kenya), and some board games (Yahtzee and Scrabble) to kill time when volunteers stop by. Afterwards, I got my bike finalized, but the shock fork doesn't work, so hopefully the mechanic guy will get it fixed before they send it out to me this week.
Otherwise, if Matt Baron is reading this, he needs to fly out here really soon...bring me a Terry seat, a cone wrench, and some allen wrenches too...thanks!
Yesterday evening we wanted to go to Carnivore to celebrate, which is one of the best restaurants in Kenya. We were told by the trainers, however, that it was "Kikuyu night" (The largest tribe in Kenya) and it would not be any fun. We went to an Indian restaurant instead and went out to a club called the Barcode and really had a great time. I had a chance to meet a lot of the volunteers that are returning to the states and are midway through service, and am looking forward to catching up with everyone again, although it looks like it will be July forth before that happens.
So that's about all. I could think of more to write but not at four shillings a minute. I write more soon.
Woohoo! I'm a Peace Corps Volunteer!!
posted by KenyaJoe at 3:28 AM
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