weekendi

i'm starting to get worried i just may not come home (not completely true, mom and dad) but this small town of eldoret and all the people in it have wiggled their way into my heart and i am having too much fun. pole sana.

on thursday, the group of us, successfully pulled our first all-nighter in order to finish a quantitative data collection project on hand washing. we had the run of the dining hall, i made eggs (i'm eating them over-easy exclusively now) and toast and insane amounts of coffee. meghan and i had a heart-to-heart about love and settling down and how beautiful africa is (ultimately a procrastination technique, but wonderful nonetheless). i opted to take a "nap" for two hours, but woke up panicked 4 minutes before class at 9:30am. classy. george washington university flew an economics professor out here from d.c. so she is teaching us for the next 4 days. we have a lot of reading. but she took us all out for a nice dinner on friday night. then we went dancing. we are becoming quite the friday-night-regulars and this place called (....) "places"! when you walk in da club there is an arch way that is covered in multi colored lights, and you have to go through TWO! metal doors that the security guard opens for you from the darkness at the exact moment you reach the door. and when you get inside, this song is usually bumpin'.

saturday i woke up "late" at 9am and sat by the pool because it is closing for the season and i wanted to get as many last-minute freckles as i could. then i went and played with babies (surprisingly). apparently, my teenage angst was just a phase and i do, in fact, have a maternal instinct. i could sit for hours in the rocking chair cradling babies. they don't judge you when you have a bad singing voice and their deep brown eyes and smiles could turn your frown upside down. a new girl, abigail, was abandoned two days ago. her mother just left her in the hospital. she is extremely stunted and at 11 months old looks and weighs like a 4 month old. her tummy is bloated and her little legs are toothpicks. it's only possible to tell she's older because she has four little teeth and ALL she does is giggle. truthfully. she just laughs and grabs your finger and dances when you play music. ahh, it broke my heart. so, to remind myself the world is beautiful, i went on a bike ride and raced some 12 year old kid down the hill and beat him! 'cause my bike is fast like lightening.

then, the real fun started. dun dun dun. the mr. africa body building competition. wow. these men are SERIOUS. and flex their muscles to celine dion in tiny-weeny-polka-dot bikinis. we cheered them on (especially our dear lady friends who were emceeing. wink wink), drank a lot in the bar and loved all 6 hours (!) of it. i'm pretty sure the drinking was a prerequisite. then a handful of us piled into the car to head out to the farm with our mzungu kenyan friends. beer pong happened with one ping pong ball and smaller-than-regulation-size cups, good music was played and we enjoyed heaven.

wambui and i with IU's own body builder

this was no joke

the game of flip cup was no joke either

this morning we all woke up. mark and megan made us all breakfast (pancakes with fresh mango syrup and eggs. it was damn good.) which we ate in the garden. then took turns riding around on the dirt bike and bid our farewell to jani (the farm owner's son), who is off to botswana to take a "scouts course" for the next month. his father, a pilot, was due to fly him to nairobi. this doesn't seem like real life. then we drove back to town in andrew's truck (which is missing a muffler) listening to (bad?) techno music and watching kenya go by.

and at that moment, i swear we were infinite

then we played soccer, where i got hosed by a kenyan man playing without shoes. ghana and egypt are playing now, and i think i'll go watch some of that game. but, really, you should probably come visit. i'll make you a pancake.

boys with a dirt bike

jani, dan and i after pancakes

us ladies (and the little dog, too!) happily full after brunch--thank goodness i have such good posture!

the latest from my digital camera. blast!

[and there's this about sudan]

wonk wonk

usually in the late afternoon i get to go on a bike ride. it's pretty great, 'cause i've found this longer route that includes a couple of quiet dirt roads. and it's so fun to cruise down the road, dodging bumps and rocks and the bike is sturdy enough that it can handle it. it's like a video game. and i get to yell "harbari?" to everyone i pass. which usually catches them off guard, and they stop staring.

nothing else to report. tuesday was a lot of class. we have a new professor for qualitative data collection and she's awesome. this outgoing, SUPER smart, kenyan woman who has done research on commercial sex workers and men who have sex with men; which is relatively unheard of here. then we all went out to kenyan karaoke for the evening.

and yesterday i woke up with a nasty bug that was going around. therefore, i threw up all morning, had a little fever, and other un-ladylike symptoms and just slept and felt bad for myself. i also watched a few movies. wonk wonk.

this is interesting. it's nice when you log into the nytimes from an international IP address, you immediately get the "international edition." this basically means more information about the world's fastest texter (she's from korea) and cricket scores as opposed to the NFL.

darfur and sleeping babies

this is my monday:
hmmm (check it)

baby jolene

the days keep turning into night

life here is hard. today i woke up on a farm with giraffes, came back to the compound and made some eggs, took a nap, played soccer (pulled my quad--wonk wonk), had sundowners by the pool and went out to chinese food for dinner. then got in a taxi that got us lost:
us: "we are going to elgon view drive"
taxi driver: "oh yes, i know this place"
us: (passing the street) "oh! that was it"
taxi: (still driving) "yes, i know the place"
us: "sawa sawa" (still driving away from the place, thinking he knew a short cut) "umm, it's not up here it's behind us"
taxi: "ohh!! you know the place? you will tell me how to get there?!"
us: "yes, we will give you directions."

in about an hour we will go watch the football playoffs. more so as a procrastination technique than my actual interest in american football.

recently we have befriended a mzungu kenyan pair of guys that work on a nearby farm. (<-- click that, you won't regret it) its a huge piece of property and they breed giraffes for the sake of conservation and also raise your standard farm animals. the place is beautiful. friday night we all went out dancing until quite late. we pushed ourselves and were out until about 4am, but a kenyan will tell you "that's when the fun starts!" and we have been ridiculed in the past for leaving "early." saturday morning we woke up and piled into the van to go to the farm, for a little hike and giraffe tracking. the pictures will suffice and depict how wonderful it is. then we went to lunch at a restaurant that overlooks the Great Rift Valley. take note though, if you are going to a restaurant because you are hungry, this is not the place for you. the views are stunning, there is a keyboard to jam on, but you will wait for a sandwich for about 2 hours.

meghan and i, the explorers

we found them! the twigas!

my dirty feet and a view of the great rift valley

then a few of us went back out to the farm to socialize with american games, dancing and rabbit-chasing. the rabbits were the highlight of the night. whereas we have cow tipping in america, mzungu kenyans drive out to their landing strip, leave the headlights on and jump out of the car to chase rabbits at full speed. it's near impossible, obviously, and no one successfully caught a rabbit. chasing after birds and gazelle-like animals is also socially acceptable in the game. all-in-all it was a wonderful weekend in our understanding of paradise; i hope you had a great weekend too.

what it looks like when someone sprints ahead in hot pursuit of a rabbit

necessary rabbit-chasing costumes

i had a dream i stood beneath an orange sky

my salvation lies in your love

life here is beginning to ebb and flow. it's starting to feel natural and more comfortable. however, i have not been able to get over the fact that kenyans CUT IN LINE. everyday we go to the university cafeteria and wait in three lines. the first line at the kiosk for our coke kubua baridi (big, cold coke) then we wait in line to order our lunch then we wait in line to get the food. and without fail everyday, in at least one line, a student will cut. they are not malicious about it, just passive aggressive and nonchalant. i asked our kenyan friend about it, convinced it was because we were wazungus, but, in fact it is just a cultural thing and we need to be more assertive. noted.

kayla in our quantitative data collection classroom

yesterday in swahili class we went over "foodstuffs." we had to pretend we were at a restaurant. kayla was the "waita" and i was the "kustoma" (both words spelled correctly here). perfect. we are increasing our swahili classes to twice a week. and our teacher told us here they have TGII 'cause friday = ijumaa. the jokes never stop.

also prominent in my life has been my frequent consumption of cucumbers. they are delicious and fun to peel with this nifty little knife i have. i have been eating at least one a day, which is good 'cause they have quite a few nutritional qualities:

• Fresh cucumber juice can provide relief from heartburn, acid stomach, gastritis and even ulcer.
• Placing a cucumber slice over the eyes not only soothes them, but also reduces swelling.
• Daily consumption of cucumber juice helps control cases of eczema, arthritis and gout.
• Cucumber has been found to be beneficial for those suffering from lung, stomach and chest problems.
• The potassium in cucumber makes it useful for the problem of high and low blood pressure.
• Cucumber contains Erepsin, the enzyme that helps in protein digestion.
• Cucumber juice is said to promote hair growth, especially when it is added to the juice of carrot, lettuce and spinach.
• Cucumber juice, when mixed with carrot juice, is said to be good for rheumatic conditions caused by excessive uric acid in the body.
• Cucumber can prove to be beneficial for those suffering from diseases of the teeth and gums, especially in cases of pyorrhea.
• Being rich in minerals, cucumber helps prevent splitting of nails of the fingers and toes.
• Cucumber has been associated with healing properties in relation to diseases of the kidney, urinary bladder, liver and pancreas.

the other day i heard a R&B/hip-hop song while printing my assignment where the chorus was "shake your booty in the name of jesus." that alone explains a lot about kenyan culture.

last night we heard from a man that works for AMPATH about the post-election violence two years ago. his personal story was gripping. he told us about transporting vulnerable people around town and the road blocks and the unemployed young men with machetes that were getting paid by government officials to continue fighting. the IU compound became a Hotel Rwanda, the hospital was a mess, all shops completely closed down and bodies could be found in the street. he is also a body builder and will be competing in the Mr. Africa competition next weekend here in town. i already bought my ticket.

this morning we went to the Imani workshop, to shop and take a tour, where HIV/AIDS patients can work making clothes, paper goods, jewelry and pottery to generate an income. i bought some gifts :)

kanjani with men and women making paper behind her

in other news, i am stark raving mad at the supreme court, and i bet you are too.

taxi tunes

"I never knew of a morning in Africa when I woke that I was not happy."
- Ernest Hemingway

it should be known that every night when we drive the 6 minutes from the IU house to our hostel the music that is playing in the taxi is downright wonderful. it's typically a love ballad from the mid-90s. last night it was "from this moment" by shania twaine. followed by whitney. i couldn't make this stuff up if i tried. the only thing better than taxi tunes is the karaoke song list.

this morning we went to tumaini (meaning "hope" in swahili) which is an AMPATH funded place for street kids to come on Monday and Wednesdays and play games, eat some food and just be children. a vast majority of the street children here are addicted to huffing glue. you can get half a bottle for less than 10 cents and it gets you high, "makes you brave," and curbs appetite. truthfully, i was dreading going. this is a collection of children that harass you in the street asking for food and money and will follow you for blocks until you get a. pissed and forcefully tell them to leave you alone or b. cave and give them something (read: the latter option is DEFINITELY frowned upon). We learned some slag words (Niaje = what's up?; poa = cool; freshi = fresh) and i perfected the fist pound before meeting up with very poor, sexually active, drug-addicted young teenagers. anyway, they are AWESOME. they giggled at us and talked about us in swahili, but mostly they just played. we played volleyball and soccer and ran around for a few hours. i talked with a street girl who was the toughest chick i have ever met. she was 20, had a 5-year old son, and had already lost a baby. she was turkana from the north (turkana people take out their two bottom center teeth) and came to eldoret to "survive" in the "base." she didn't speak english but i learned that street men and women call themselves survivors and town is referred to as base. they sleep in rolled up carpets at night and men and women sleep separately. they use the nearby river for their washing, bathing, etc. she was shocked by my tattoo and ear piercings, and kept asking if it caused me pain, which i explained it didn't, but maybe it got me some street cred.

in class, we broke into small groups to go over a project and i was talking to another student (also a turkana!) about the bracelet i haphazardly wrapped around my wrist again before i left. the turkana people wear the bracelet too and she offered to re-wrap it for me after class. so we go to the hospital (she works in the lab) and proceed to hide in a backroom for 2 hours (!!) it was the biggest ordeal ever. so sweet she wanted it to be perfect ("it's my first time doing it. i only used to see my grandmother do it.") we had to unwrap the whole thing, straighten it out by pulling it back and forth on the faucet (this obviously required the help of two men), the first time it was too loose, second time is was WAY too tight and my hand turned deep purple and i couldn't feel it and i had a mzungu freak-out moment for sure, the 5th time we GOT IT! then she took me for a mango and a soda at the little kiosk outside of the hospital.

on the walk home i saw one of the younger boys from tumaini. he didn't ask me for money. just gave me a high five and kept walking.

birthdays are fun

how i spent my birthday:
1. bicycle ride (not pictured)
2. played with baby Barack and baby Lydia at the Sally Test Center


3. eating lunch in the "VIP lounge" in the cafeteria (VIP 'cause it has red, velvet-like seats)



4. got (pleasantly) surprised by water being dumped on my head and birthday decorations!


5. took a nap by the pool


6. had homemade cookies and coffee in class


7. went to wander around town (not pictured)
8. drank delicious wine with the ladies and went to karaoke (!!)


9. danced until 2am (sadly, not pictured)

aside for massachusetts failing all of us horribly, it was a great day. thank you for all of your birthday wishes, they made me really happy.