Another quickie!

We are in Nairobi right now, and tonight we take the train to Mombasa. YEAH TRAIN!!! I am so excited about it.

We got on the bus to Nairobi at 8 am yesterday, and arrived here at 6:30 pm. It's just under 400 km. It was a horrible time, especially as the roads here are so bad. As in, a lot of the time cars drive on the scrub next to the road, since it's less potholed.

I'm not sure when we'll get back online, as we'll be in Mombasa for two days, then we'll fly to Dar es Salaam, stay there for a couple days, ferry to Zanzibar, stay in Stone Town for two days, then up north on the beaches for a couple days, then ferry back to Dar. We will then bus to Arushu on the border, spend a day there, then travel to Nairobi, sight seeing here until our plane leaves on the 15th.

Or something like that. You know what they say about the best laid plans.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!!

Lots of love,
Courtney

Quick Note

We are alive, I promise.


We recently realized that our time in Kakamega ends this coming Wednesday, so we have been busier than ever this last little while. Its been insane.

We have decided to travel for over two weeks at the end of the vacation, so I am uber-psyched. We're going to do Mombasa and Zanzibar for sure, and we're still figuring out what else.

We realized this at the point that we had less than two weeks of work left! We were freaking out because almost NOTHING was finished, from business cards to the website. However, as always happens, we've been able to get through most of it.

We are both sun BURNT yesterday. We went swimming with the kids again and since we had no trouble last week we figured sunscreen wouldn't be necessary. WRONG. We had to talk aspirin just to sleep, and now, for the first time ever, we are wearing our hats. We look ridiculous, but this has got to go away before we travel, since it's 8 hours on a bus to Nairobi, and then 12 hours on a train to Mombasa.

Got to run, I will try to write again when we know what our actual plans are!
Lots of love,
Courtney

Zoom in on his face... see how happy he is?!?!

This weekend we spent the coldest two hours I can remember in a pool teaching Ephy’s three kids to swim. Now, if Neil and I were cold, just imagine how bad it was for these guys. Their whole bodies were shaking and shivering. Not conducive to floating, that’s for sure.

It went as well as I expected, seeing as none of them have ever even been in the water before. First we taught blowing bubbles, which was not too successful at first, and I think they were convinced that we were just trying to make them choke. We must learn how to say “blow out, not in!” in Kiswahili before the next lesson.

Next time I’m going to drag them all to the deeper part, where they can’t put their hands down and touch the bottom to stop them from sinking while I’m trying to get them to float. They are, understandably, wary of the deeper bit. And wary of me, as I let them drop down a couple of times by mistake. I have to give it to them though; they’re troopers, keeping at it.

It was so cold. So, so, so, so cold. That’s probably what they’re going to remember the most. But they told Ephy that they had a great time, so I’m hoping we go again. When it’s sunny.

The best part was when I did a couple of laps to warm up, and came back to the three kids imitating me, kind of kick and swinging one arm around, while pulling themselves along the bottom with the other. It was really amusing.

I spent Sunday kinda ill, just vaguely nauseous and sleepy. I only have myself to blame though, as I went off chicken this past week, having seen one fall asleep in someone’s arms. How cute is that?!? Too cute to eat, I said. Anyway, after a week of not much protein, and having forgotten my multivitamins at work on Wednesday, I assume my unhappiness resulted from that. So I ate chicken last night, and I feel a different kind of unhappy. So much for Kenya resolving my not eating meat!

Other than that, Friday was spent with Neil happily going through papers and reports at KAMADEP, another NGO here, finding information for his research project. I tried to help at first, and then realized I was mostly just in the way, and read a book. He was able to bust out some facts and figures when one of out American friends here asked about birth rates and such. It was cool.

And speaking of him busting out stuff, his Kiswahili is coming along. He can have whole little conversations with pleasantries, and is able to translate an astounding number of words. He amused people by counting things in Kiswahili the other day. I am most proud.

Well, we’re at work again, and Neil has gone of to KAMADEP to transfer files from a hard drive, since CABDA’s one and only monitor has blown something, and is dead. I should go do something useful too!

Talk to you later, and I hope that all is well back home!

Lots of love,
Courtney

p.s.: More photos of the cutest kid ever to tide you over! (And by that I mean the little guy in blue, not Neil.)

Hiccups and haircuts

I don’t know about you guys, but I cannot believe that it’s July already. Time has flown by, and I’m not sure where it’s gone. I can only imagine that the second half of this trip will go even faster than the first.



We had another lazy and relaxed weekend, which was lovely. After 5 days of work, being able to sit for hours on a veranda playing checkers and reading, feeling the warm breeze flowing towards us from the trees, it was a most welcome break.



Florence, the Nairobi University student, has a new girl with her, just a young thing fresh out of high school, and they came and sat with us for a while, and we had a nice chat about eating vegetarian here. Florence also gave Neil a Kiswahili lesson, which was fun to listen to.



The only thing that spoiled the lovely day was a very large rat or mouse that climbed up the wall beside us, freaking me right out.



Speaking if the guest house, we were shown a lovely bunch of open air huts in a garden behind a building. Some people take supper there, but I would feel guilty getting the staff to carry my supper down the hill. It would be a lovely place for drinks though… maybe next weekend.



Health wise, we’re both fine and healthy, although I’m bruising like a peach (ie: very easily), making the bumpy rides out to the field work quite problematic. Neil’s only complaint was a case of hiccups that lasted, on and off, from Sunday noon to Monday morning. I’ve never seen hiccups wake anyone up before, but Neil managed it.



We also cut Neil’s hair, which was interesting, as there are no electrical plugs in the bathroom, and he had to trust me not to bald him. Luckily, it all worked out, and he looks very handsome, if I do say so myself.





Monday was good, work and then home, trying to get there before the rainstorm started, which we managed. Although, Neil had to go beg our neighbour for some onions, as we were out, and he really wanted latkes (yes, we make them here!), and as he walked back he was slowly followed by the rain, which was moving in, and getting harder. How neat is that?





And this morning there were 20 kids in the breakfast room, from all over the US, part of a group called "Global Roots". Not sure what they were about. Neil mentioned that he hadn't felt this awkward in a room full of white people for a while, but I asked when the last time he was in a room with 20 9th graders. He conceded it was in 9th grade. Anyway, hopefully they won't be to noisy or annoying!

Sorry we haven't been able to get more photos up. Honestly, the internet here is pretty off and on. I'll keep adding one to each blog though!!! Here's Neil with a really cute kid during one of the interviews he's doing.

Well, more later! Have a great week!
Lots of love,


Courtney