Short day

Well, today was more testing at the school. I took 3 tests to obtain the answer keys and graded a good 20 tests. One of the tests was a science test for 5th graders. I had no idea what the answers of half these questions were. This was a combination of me forgetting all that stuff and the fact that the questions were specific to the area of Kenya.

One of the English essays I graded gave me some props. I was reading it and it said something like, "I go to Waskam school. I like all my teachers here. There is a new teacher from a different country. He teaches better than the rest..." haha. I felt bad for the other teachers but it gave me a little boost of energy to see that. Sometimes it gets exhausting trying to teach kids that hardly speak your language and therefore do not understand much of what you are trying to tell them.

Today Tommy stayed home from work because he was not feeling well and I left at noon because I too felt run down. I do not think I have any sickness so do not worry, I think I am just exhausted and dehydrated. The days here are pretty long, involving a lot of walking and matatu rides. The biggest problem I think though is that water is not readily available. We drink from bottled water and most of the day we do not have access to any. After thinking about it, in the past 3 days I hardly had any water and on Saturday we biked 15 miles.

We just grabbed a good meal and we plan on going back and drinking plenty of water. I think this will definitely make me feel better.

This blog is sort of going to just be filled with a bunch of random things if you all do not mind.

On the way back from Lake Naivasha on Sunday Tommy and I both bought goatskin bongos. When I first saw the bongos the man offered me one for 3500 shillings (50 bucksor so). I said no thanks. Later on Tommy and I were able to bargain the price down to two for 3000. So, Tommy and I payed only 19 bucks for a bongo made out of goatskin. Pretty sweet.

Last night we played the bongos for a while. We had Faith singing along with us. Then, I played a few kikuyu beats that Carolyn taught me. She sang and danced along to them. It was really fun.

When Tommy and I got to Maziwa on Monday we went grocery shopping with Steven and bought Chili sauce. Since then in just 7 days worth of meals we have finished that bottle. Everything we eat tastes so good with it. The family thinks we are nuts.

Today when I came home from work I was in a matatu by a village waiting for more passengers. All of the sudden their was water drippin through the floor and steam coming from the front. The matatu started making a bunch of noise and everyone ran out. I am guessing it just overheated but it was still pretty scary/hilarious. When it first happened it was scary. But when everyone got out we were all just laughing. We got into a different matatu and went on our way.

Since being in Kenya I have been called the following names:
Jim
Bob
Jimbob
John
James
Mizungu

I can't really blame them for trying those names to get my attention. It works and it probably does cover 10% or more of the males in America.

There are a decent amount of drunks that are in the towns and villages of Kenya. There is one in mine that is drunk 24/7. From what I can tell he is harmless, but he is really annoying. They always want to talk to you forever because you are white and since I am at school I never really have time for this (nor would I want to talk to him if I had the time). He always just says "Hi John. How are you John?" "I am fine John." "You are fine John." Alrightttt buddy.

So apparently both Danielle and I have interesting things going on in our lives. I am over here in the amazing country of Kenya, and she is greeting MLB all stars and hall of famers. Last night she apparently escourted Hank Aaron to his limo. No big deal.



This is a matatu. There is NO exaggeration here. Most of the them have some kind of a name on the back that tells you about the people inside of the matatu. Matatus also may have, as shown above, bright paint jobs. Matatus have designated routes that they follow, similar to CTA buses, but they will stop anywhere and everywehere along the way to get more passengers and drop people off. The law required that each passenger have a seat, therefore limiting the passengers to 14. However, as you have noticed, this actually never happens and you will end up finding people pretty much sitting on your lap. Matatus are my love/hate relationship of Kenya. They are fun and exciting. The drivers and side workers are young cool guys. However, going from point A to point B could literally take anywhere from 10 minutes to 2 and a half hours. This gets frustrating especially after a long day of working when you just want to get home and blog for everyone!

So I have 3 days left in Waskam school and then Tommy and I head out of Maziwa to do a little bit of traveling. I love it here but I am pretty excited to see other parts of the country.

That is all for today.

-Kevin