Meritzburg, South Africa

Yesterday morning, May 30th, we took Baz Bus from Joburg to Maritzburg. We thought it would be a better option than the greyhound since they pick you up from your hostel and it has less stops. We were told the bus would pick us up between 630 and 730. So, we were ready to go at 630 and thats when the bus came. We picked up some other people though and didn't end up actually leaving until 9:30. The bus ride wasn't too bad though because it was only people around our age who were traveling on it and it wasn't full at all. We arrived in PMB around 4:30. We immediately went and stated a load of laundry at a launder mat and then went to see if the hotel had any rooms available. Luckily, it had 1 room available, but only for 1 night because there is a big marathon this weekend that we didn't know about. So we checked into that room and then went to rotate our laundry and get dinner. We got something called Bunny Chow which was Indian food in a bread bowl. It was only 75 cents and really good. We then picked up our laundry and headed back to the hotel. After not having a washer/dryer or fabric softener for months, my clothes smelt so clean and felt so soft. It was amazing! Sarah's friend, Likando, came and met us at our room and luckily he said we could actually start staying with him earlier so not to worry about the hotel being booked. We ended up going to sleep pretty early since we were tired from the long day on the bus. So far, South Africa is a lot different than Tanzania and Kenya. There are a lot more white people and it is more developed. People are also a lot less friendly. Not everybody you pass on the street says hi to you. Although different, so fat I am really liking it. Being in PMB, I am seeing just how different of a study abroad experience Sarah and I had.

Diani Beach, Kenya

On Monday, May 26th we decided to spend our last 2 nights on the south coast of Mombasa at Diani Beach. Getting there however, turned out to be quite the trek. We first took a tuk-tuk to the ferry. The ferry was actually pretty cool. You just walk on and it's free. It's also literally just a 2 minute journey across the bay. Once there, we had to get on a Matatu to a city called Ukunda and then get on another Matatu that would take us to the street that the hostel was on. The hostel we stayed at was called South Coast Backpackers. It was actually a really nice place! They had an awesome pool that was zebra striped. There were also some fun people staying there. Although we only had 2 days there, we were able to pack in some fun adventures.

One thing we did while we were there was snorkel. We just paid some random guys at the beach to take us out. It was really cheap and they just took us out on their dhow made out of a mango tree and we went snorkeling. The snorkeling was alright. I think after scuba diving in Pemba though it's going to be hard to pass that up because Sarah said it was some of the best snorkeling she's ever done and she was very amazed by it.

Although I said I'd never do it, we also rode on a pikipiki (motorcycle.) We needed to go to the ATM and that was the cheapest way to do it. So, we both piled onto the back of one. It ended up breaking down before we got to the ATM, but we walked to find one. Our driver was supposed to come back and get us, but we couldn't find him so we got on another one to go back and that was really scary. But, on the way back I rode in the middle and that wasn't nearly as bad.

Another thing we did while we were there was go to a monkey rehabilitation place. Sarah had read that there were 6 different kinds of monkeys around Diani. We had seen 3 of them in the short amount of time that we were there. The rehabilitation place was pretty cool. We went there with 2 other girls that stayed at our our hostel, Heather and Sophie, and got a tour.

We also briefly got to go to this really cool bar called 40 Thieves. It was right on the beach and the floor inside was even all sand. We were the only people there though so we ended up just ordering pizza, eating, and then left.

Overall, Kenya was a really awesome country. Although similar to Tanzania in terms of culture, it was also very different. The English skills in Kenya were much better than in Tanzania and people didn't expect you to really know Swahili. In Tanzania, people will start of speaking to you in Swahili, expecting you to know it, whereas in Kenya they would speak to you in English and be shocked if you knew Swahili. In Kenya, they also used more of the stereotypical "Jambo" greeting as where in Tanzania people actually used to grammatically correct form of "Hujambo."

Johannesburg, South Africa

On Wednesday, May 28th, we made the journey to South Africa! We got a taxi from Diani to the airport since it'd be the easiest thing. From there, we caught a flight to Nairobi. We had a 4 hour layover in Nairobi, which sucked. I managed to fall asleep for a few minutes and then a whole extended family of Asians had to come and sit literally in the seat next to me and start talking extremely loud when there were a ton of other seats to choose from. I was so mad. The time passed pretty quickly though and before I knew it, it was time to get on the plane. The plane ride was 4 hours to Joburg. We were seated in the first row behind 1st class. We kept peeking through the curtains and the guy next to us and the steward in 1st class were laughing at us. There was no one in the seats in front of us, so we also stole their pillows since only 1st class got some. I thought sitting there was going to suck, but it was actually pretty nice because we had a lot of leg room and were able to put our feet up. We arrived in Joburg at about 7 p.m. and found a taxi to our hostel. We stayed at this really cute place called Bob's Bunk House. It's a hostel run by this cute little old guy named Bob and his wife. We pretty much just went on the internet for a little while and then headed off to bed. In the morning, Bob made some toast for us and even brought out 1 apple for each of us. It was really cute. We ended up leaving this hostel though to stay in a hostel in Melville closer to where Sarah's friend YumYum lived and the bus station. Our next hostel was just called Melville International Backpackers. Our room there was the most full room we've stayed in yet. It was almost completely full. We met up around 12 with YumYum and her boyfriend's brother Pegul. We went and ate lunch at a place called Nando's and then went to the mall. After that, we split up from Pegul and we went to YumYum's dorm for a little and then to a bigger mall. We then went back to the hostel to eat dinner. Since that hostel had a kitchen, we were able to cook. We had some soup and grilled cheese. Even though it took forever because the stove sucked, it was delicious. Later that night we went out with YumYum, her boyfriend, and his brother. We went to this place and had huge beers for really cheap. We were having a really good time, but unfortunately the place closed pretty early. They dropped us off back at our hostel where we said our goodbyes.

Mt. Kilimanjaro from the airplane!

Nyali, Kenya

Our hotel in Dar was sort of down a sketch alley so luckily there was a taxi outside when we went out to catch a ride to the airport. We ended up being extremely early to the airport. You always have to be careful when traveling around Dar because if you leave during traffic time, it could take hours to get somewhere. So we left early just in case. We sat outside for a while before proceeding to go inside and check-in. Once we did that, we got some breakfast. I still wasn't feeling that well so I only got a muffin and struggled to eat it. The sun was just beginning to rise when we got on our plane. Our first flight was from Dar to Nairobi. It was a pretty quick flight and we got fed a breakfast of fruit, a croissant, a roll, and tea. It was pretty good for airplane food. When we arrived in Nairobi, we first had to purchase our Visa's. After that, we had to walk over to the domestic flights terminal which was a lot more complicated than it should have been. Luckily, our layover wasn't too long and we were soon on our next flight from Nairobi to Mombasa. Even though this was only a 45 minute flight, we were again fed a croissant and tea. When we arrived in Mombasa, we first had to get some money out of the ATM, which also turned out being more complicated than it should have been because the first one didn't work. It was exciting though to be in Kenya! The 4th country that I have ever been to. As I get older, I'm hoping that maybe every year that number will increase by at least 1. We found our taxi driver after getting money out. It was sprinkling outside so we asked the driver where the sun was. He said he had the sun's phone number and would call it for us and tell it to come out. Sure enough, when we arrived at our hostel the sun was coming out and he said it was because he called it. He was very funny. We spent the next 5 nights (May 21st, 22nd, 23rd, 24th, and 25th) at Mombasa Backpackers in Nyali. The place was pretty nice, but also pretty empty. With all the recent bombings in Kenya and the travel warnings not to go there, it seemed like we were some of the only tourists there. For the most part while we were there, we were just hanging out and relaxing. I think Sarah was still getting over her jet-lag and I was getting over being sick. Aside from going to the beach and swimming in the pool, we did do some pretty fun things.

One thing we did was go to Haller Park. It was pretty much just like a zoo. We got to feed giraffes though which was quite an experience! We also saw a ginormous tortoise that was over 100 years old and native to Seychelles. Some other animals we saw there were zebras, antelope, hippos, snakes, and crocodiles.

We were also lucky enough to have the chance to explore Old Town Mombasa. We got to see Fort Jesus along with a lot of other old mosques and buildings. I actually really loved Old Town. It was absolutely beautiful. It reminded me a lot of what some old European towns might look like. The streets were really narrow with brick-like streets. It was really cool to see and I'm glad we did.

A Day in Dar

On Tuesday, May 20th, Sarah and I had the whole day to spend in Dar. We woke up around 8 a.m. and ate breakfast at the hotel. Then we got ready for the day and headed off to what was supposed to be a botanical garden. It ended up really just being some grass and some trees. Nothing really even had the names on it explaining what it was and where it was from. On the way there, Sarah had asked me where the monkeys were, and I told her that I didn't really think there were any wild monkeys in Dar since it was a city and all. I hadn't seen any monkeys all the nights I spent in Dar. When we got to the botanical garden though, there were a bunch of monkeys hanging around! After that, we walked to KFC and had an ice cream cone. We then just walked around for a little. We were trying to just stay out until the place we wanted to eat lunch opened at 12:30. We ended up having a lot of time left so we walked to the Grand Casino and had a drink while we waited. Finally, it was lunchtime so we walked to the Hyatt for their lunch buffet. It ended up being so expensive and we had no idea! It cost us about $75 for lunch! So crazy. We were so tired after that so we ended up taking a nap. We slept almost all day because we knew we weren't going to get much sleep that night because of our flight. We woke up and decided to go to the supermarket for some snacks. After that, we went back to the hotel where we read for a little bit and then proceeded to go back to sleep at around 10:30. We had to wake up at 2 a.m. to go to the airport to catch our flight to Kenya!

A Day of Lasts

On Saturday, May 17th, we spent our last full day in Iringa. Our research papers were also due this day. So, I woke up and immediately got started on that. I had finished it the night before, but wanted to read through and revise it a little before turning it in. After I finished, I just watched Monsters Inc. in my room while I waited for Julia and Renee to finish. Once we were done, we headed off to spend our last day in town. As much as I hated those daladala rides into town, it was very bittersweet to take our last one. Our first stop was one of our favorite restaurants, Neema's, for lunch. After that, we went to a little craft store so that Renee could finish buying some gifts. Justin then picked us up along with his son, Juma, to go play volleyball. A lot of the people that we play rugby with were there and it turned out to be a lot of fun. After volleyball, we headed off to our goodbye dinner at Mama Iringa (a really good italian restaurant. Justing told us we could order whatever we wanted because we had some money leftover in the budget. So we all got pasta and some pizzas for the table. We also ordered a bottle of wine and a bottle of champagne. We all toasted to "The Pioneer Group of CIEE Iringa." Juma decided to be depressing though and toast to "The End." All day I was trying hard not to think about it being our last day, but it was hard not to. We all ordered some delicious dessert and then headed back to school to pack (none of us had even started.) Packing went quicker than expected. I was thinking I'd be able to leave with only one suitcase and my backpack, but I definitely need both of my suitcases.

On Sunday, we had to wake up early to get the rest of our stuff together and leave. It felt good to be leaving the dorms, but sad to be leaving Iringa. We brought all our stuff down to the car where we also said our goodbyes to Justin. That was hard. Even though he was only our director for 6 short weeks, he was awesome and we all really grew to love him. He did welcome us to his house if we're ever in Iringa again so I will probably take him up on that offer one day! The car ride to Dar started off fine, however after about 1 and a half hours it took a turn for the worse. It turns out that I was extremely sick. Luckily we had a bag in the car because I started throwing up. I sadly could barely even lift my head to look out the window for our last mini safari through Mikumi. It would come in waves where I would feel completely horrible and then better. When I was feeling sick though, it was absolutely horrible. I've never felt so sick before. At one point, we stopped because everyone else wanted to buy some food and the guys on the side of the road were just sticking mean in my face. It was awful. Also, this one guy just kept blowing kisses at me and saying he wanted to make me his wife. I was so over it and I was so glad when we left. I continued to throw up the rest of the car ride. I couldn't even keep down water so I was really afraid I was going to have to go to the hospital. Luckily, I didn't have to when we got into town we went to Paulo's house to drop off our suitcases. I drank a small amount of fresh mango juice there which I thought I was for sure going to throw up. As soon as I drank it I felt like I was once again going to puke. When we got to the hotel, it felt so good to lay down. I felt perfectly fine as long as I was laying still. My juice was still staying down and I was even able to keep some sprite down! I was glad I was feeling a little better because the next morning I needed to pick Sarah up from the airport. I was starting to think that I might have to send Julia. I was really sad that I was sick on our last night together though. We had been planning a sushi dinner and froyo night for weeks. As much as I wanted to go, I just couldn't. There's no way I could've sat in a restaurant. So unfortunately, I had to stay behind.

On Monday morning, I woke up feeling a lot better at 4:45 a.m. to catch a cab to go get Sarah from the airport. She was the first one to come out. Oh yeah, and before I left the hotel, I also had to say goodbye to Renee because she would be gone by the time I got back. We just gave a quick hug goodbye since we had both just woken up and were tired. When Sarah and I got back to the hotel, we woke up Julia (unintentionally) and the 3 of us went and had breakfast at a place called the Tea Room. Since I was feeling better, I ate one chapati pancake. Afterwards, we returned to the hotel where we all took naps and then looked up some places to eat lunch. We decided on some Indian food places. We got a little lost on the way there and had to ask for directions. By the time we got there, I was not feeling well at all. I ordered some juice and masala chips though. I drank the juice, but by the time my chips came I thought I was going to throw up again. After we paid, we walked back to the hotel where we took yet another nap. When I woke up, I was feeling better so Julia and I went to this ice-cream place called "Creme-Stone." It was basically Coldstone and it was so good. I was able to finish it all and I felt fine afterwards. We walked back to the hotel and it was time for Julia to catch a cab to the airport. I walked her out to the cab and gave her a hug goodbye and started crying. It was really weird to say goodbye to someone who you've spent every day of the past 4 months with. The 3 of us did everything together and were never apart for more than a few hours. Now, I don't even know when I'll see either of them again. Those were some hard goodbyes. That night, Sarah and I walked to a South African chain pizza place called Debonairs. It was good and I was also able to keep that down. Yay!

Goodbyes Are Never Easy

How do you say goodbye to kids that you’ve grown to love over the last 4 weeks? You don’t. There is no easy way to even begin to go about doing so. Looking into their smiling faces as they were giving me hugs yesterday just made it that much harder. I didn’t tell them I was leaving forever. I couldn’t do it. I said goodbye to them like I did everyday. Except for one small detail. I didn’t say “Tutaonana kesho” which means “We will see each other tomorrow”. I said this everyday to them, except for yesterday. I didn’t want to lie to them, but I couldn’t bear to tell them the truth either. They’re used to people coming in and out anyways. I didn’t give them any last hugs before leaving. I just cherished every single one that they gave me that day, knowing it would be our last.

I knew it would be hard to leave, but I didn’t really know it would be this hard. Mufindi changed my life. It changed my whole perspective on life. It’s one thing to read about and know about orphans. It’s another completely different thing to work with them in person. To see their smiling faces everyday and know that they have no parents to take care of them. To see them crying and know that they will never be able to cry for their mother again. It’s life changing. These kids are so inspiring with how they are able to seem so happy. If you just met any of them without knowing, you would never guess. They seem just like any other happy kids. Some of the kids living there are only there temporarily. They were removed from their home because of abuse and the NGO hopes to place them back with their families eventually. Do you know what it’s like to look at a kid and know that they were so badly abused that they had to be removed from their homes? Its absolutely heartbreaking. I don’t see how anybody could hurt a child. How could someone abuse that happy little boy that just ran up and gave me a huge hug? How is that even possible? It’s unbelievable. The other kids living there have lost both their parents, mostly to HIV, and are true orphans. I learned some of their stories while I was there, and became touched by them…

…One young boy named Mussa, just one look at him and your heart will melt. He’s quite the troublemaker though. He’s always doing something to get in trouble, but one look at his little face and it’s hard to get angry with him. Mussa is one of the original kids from the NGO. He has no family left. He has been living there for just about his whole life.

…Another young boy named James. He is always smiling. He loves the camera. Every time you see him he asks “Piga picha!” (Take a picture). It can get annoying, but all he wants is to see the picture of himself after you take it. He has some sort of back deformity. Although he can still walk, he is starting to become in more and more pain. They’re not sure what exactly is wrong with him, but they want to keep him as mobile as possible and not confine him to a wheelchair. No one picks on him though. All the kids actually seem to help him. I learned later on that he is actually Eliza’s brother, the little girl that Julia was taking care of.

…Boni was another little boy I learned about. He too is always happy, just as all the kids are. Boni always seemed a little off though. A little slow in his learning and his behavior a little off as well. I learned that they had somebody come look at Boni, and they think he has Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. This too is just unbelievable to me. I don’t know how anybody could knowingly drink while they are pregnant. Maybe in a rural area like Mufindi, they don’t know about FAS as much, but I bet they do. I don’t know how someone could knowingly put their child into harms way like that. How they could possibly ruin their child’s life by giving them a disorder that is completely preventable.

It was definitely hard to leave the kids. As we were driving away this morning, I did start crying a little bit. I just couldn’t get their little smiling faces out of my head. If I could, I would take them all home with me. I’m glad they are where they are though. They are getting a good life there with a good education and a good family support system. As much as I have come to dislike NGOs overall since I’ve been here and learned more about them, some of these kids owe their life to this NGO, and how could you not be thankful that they are there?

Leaving the kids was the hardest part of the day yesterday, but last night Jenny, Geoff, Amari, and Justin came over for a final game night/hangout before we take off. We ended up playing the game with no name. I had never played before, but it turned out to be really fun. They left a little early so that we could start packing up since we were leaving early in the morning. This morning, we stopped by one last time at their house to drop off a few things with them and say our final goodbyes. I’m definitely going to miss Mufindi. It really was a life changing experience and I am so glad that I had the opportunity to go there.

Boni

William

Melania

Musa

Godi

James

Rahabu, Me, Farahini

Tuke

Tom, James, Melania, Anotonia

James

Dotto, Upendo, James

Dotto, Kulwa

Tito, Nache, Wiston

Our last morning in Mufindi.

Horseback Riding

The whole time we were in Mufindi, we were trying to go horseback riding. However, we were so busy that there just wasn’t any time. Finally, we were going to go on Thursday, but then it rained so we couldn’t. After that, I really didn’t think we were going to be able to go at all. When we woke up on Friday, it actually looked like a nice day though. There was a little bit of blue skies and everything. So, we decided to ask if we could do it that day. By around 9, we still hadn’t heard anything and we thought if we would go it would be in the morning, and then it started raining. Once the rain came, I thought for sure there was no way we were going now. But around 1:15 Paulo came over and told us we would be leaving at 2:15 to go.

I don’t know why I go horseback riding. Every time I go, it sounds like a good idea beforehand. I get to thinking that maybe I have gotten over my fears of horses, but as soon as I’m getting on the horse, I realize my fear is still there. It was an interesting experience. I’m sure I’ll go again and be just as afraid as I was this time. Right before we started to go, I think my horse was trying to get me off because it was kicking up its leg and turning its head around and nudging my leg. As soon as I went to say something though, our guide took off! So I just had to hope that my horse was okay with me being on there. Oh, and my horses name was Kusuku. At one point, we were walking on a path that had a cliff wall on one side and Kusuku decided he wanted to walk right next to the wall. I’m surprised I didn’t fall off or get my leg crushed. The toe of my boot was actually crushed in. I was leaning away trying to get my leg up, and almost fell off in the process, it was actually very scary. And then, without warning our guide started us trotting! I had never trotted on a horse before and didn’t plan on doing it so it was definitely scary. Kusuku decided too that he wanted to gallop instead of trot! That was even scarier. At one point, Renee’s horse got a little bit behind and took off running to catch up. She couldn’t hold on so she just laid down and grabbed onto the horses neck! It was hilarious. However, if I were here I know I probably would’ve fallen off.

Homestays

Day 1: Friday April 25, 2014

            Today was a day that I was both dreading and excited for. We started our homestays today. I was dreading this because I knew that it would be a little awkward. However, I was excited for it because I knew it would be a very unique experience. Our homestay families came to pick us up around 3:45. It was weird to say goodbye to Renee and Julia because we have experienced everything together so far and we are never apart for more than a few hours. Its going to be a really weird 48 hours without them!

            When I arrived at my homestay house, my Baba (dad) gave me a tour of the house. I have my own room (which our director made sure of beforehand). Afterwards, we sat on the couch for a moment while he asked me questions like “What food do you like to eat?”. We then walked together to the store to get sodas and cookies. When we came back Mama was home. I asked her if she needed any help with cooking or anything and we ended up walking to another house. I’m still not completely sure why we went there. We sat there for a little and had another soda. I was so full that I did not want to drink it, but they made me. We walked back after and I ended up helping wash the dishes with my sister Uzia. I have 5 sisters and 1 brother. In order they are Emma, Abia, Uzia, Faraja, Shamila, and John. While I was washing the dishes, people kept walking by and staring at me. It really can be annoying sometimes to always be stared at. Also, while doing dishes, Uzia was washing the dishes with dirt. It was very interesting for me to see this. She was using the dirt as something that would be able to scrape off the food. I thought it was a good idea, but at the same time I was taken back by it because that is not something we would ever even think of doing in the United States. Also while I was outside, I saw Kulwa (one of the students we did a day in the life with) outside his house, which was right across the street. He waved and this made me feel more comfortable. I also saw Harry (a Form V student who is staying there during his break and working at the Montessori school with me) outside and he came over and talked to me a little bit.

            After doing the dishes, I moved into the kitchen to help Mama and my 5 sisters cook dinner. They were all singing songs while we were cooking which I thought was really cool. I got to help cut some vegetables and even got a turn at stirring the ugali, which is a lot tougher than you would think! We had ugali, beans, vegetables, and meat for dinner. It was very good. This was only the second time I’ve had meat in Mufindi (Easter was the first). After dinner, I was so tired, but I didn’t want to be the first one to go to bed so I stayed up. We ended up watching some Tinkerbell movie on Emma’s laptop. I was a little disappointed when we started it because I was so tired and didn’t think I could make it through a whole movie. However, luckily we ended up watching only around 15 minutes of it. Once we turned off the movie, Mama brought out a container of like Vaseline and all the kids dug right in and started rubbing it all over their bodies. It was quite interesting to see. Right after, that, I headed straight to bed.

Day 2: April 26, 2014

            I slept horrible the first night. I kept waking up because there was a rooster that would not stop making noise. I also kept waking up because I knew we had to go to church that day and I had forgotten to ask what time I needed to be up. I was secretly hoping that church would have been really early and they would have already left without waking me up. However, this was not the case. I ended up getting out of bed and getting ready at around 7:15. So early for a Saturday in America! However, they are up early everyday here! For breakfast, we had mandazi, chapatti, and chai. Once again, I was very full, but there was one chapatti left and Baba said “Kula chapatti”, which is the command for “eat the chapatti”. So, I ended up eating it although I was already full.

            We left at 9:15 for church. I hadn’t realized that some of my sisters had already left. I walked to church with my brother, John though. The walk sucked. Although it was only about 15 minutes, it was all straight uphill! I was so tired by the time we got here. My asthma really does not do me good in the high elevation here. Church was horrible. I’m only glad that I at least couldn’t understand what they were saying, because if I could have understood then it would have been even worse. It was super boring, super uncomfortable, and unnecessarily long. In the beginning, after singing a few songs all the children left to go to their own church. So, when the children came back in, I thought that church was almost over. This was not the case though. I kept thinking it was almost over and it just kept going on and on. It ended around 12:30 and we walked back to the house for lunch. For lunch we had rice, beans, and vegetables. I was thinking that we would just get to rest for the rest of the day, but not long after eating I was asked if I would be going to church again with them. They told me it was very far, but I said I would go because I didn’t want to be the only one sitting at home. At around 2:30, we began the walk to church. We ended up walking so far that we passed Renee and Julia’s houses. I yelled at Renee’s house from outside and then I heard Julia laugh and realized they were together! This made me a little sad because I was all-alone at my house and they had each other. We ended up dragging them along to church with us again. This church was even more boring than the first one. I did end up falling asleep for a little but I was too tired to even care at that point.

            We arrived back home at around 6:30 and I again helped with cooking dinner. All my sisters were singing songs again and they asked if I liked to sing. When I told them yes they asked if I would want to learn the song. So I said yes and they taught me it. They were all very happy when I was able to sing it by myself. I learned the Swahili part of the song before learning the English part. If I knew the English part, I would never have agreed to learn the song. It was about jesus and some stupid stuff about being happy because you were with jesus and he was taking away your sins. Yuck. I was no longer happy to be singing it. For dinner that night, we had potatoes, beans and vegetables. I swear I am not eating any beans for a very long time when I get home!

            On a side note, while walking to and from church I got asked some strange questions from Emma and Abia. Some of the questions were:

-       Which church do you pray to?

-       In your country do you dig?

-       In your country is there tea?

-       In your country is there electricity like this? (Pointing to telephone wires)

-       Do you like alcohol?

-       Have you tried the bamboo alcohol?

-       In your country do people grow beans?

-       In your country does it look like this? (Pointing out to the scenery)

-       In your country do people farm?

-       What types of people pick the plants? White or black?

-       If a black man and a white women reproduce, what will the child be?

Some of these questions were just hilarious. I told them that I don’t pray to any church and they were completely shocked. They had no idea what to think about that. They kept asking me if I really didn’t pray to any church and why not and all this stuff. I thought it was funny. Everyone is so religious here. When we went to Madisi Secondary School, one of the kids asked us all what our religions were. I hesitated for a minute, but I said that I was an atheist and they had no idea what that was so their teacher, who was a lady from America, told them to look it up in the dictionary. The next time I saw Justin after that, he walked into our house and gave me a high five and I asked what for and he said that it was for saying that I was an atheist at the school. He thought it was the funniest thing ever and gave me major props for doing it.

            I ended up showering that night because my family kept asking me when I was going to shower, so I just decided to do it that one night. Right after my shower though, I went to bed because I was so tired even though it was only 9.

Day 3: April 27, 2014

            When I woke up this morning I felt pretty good because I was feeling much more comfortable with my family. I did let myself sleep in a little later though and didn’t end up coming out until around 8. By then, breakfast was almost ready. For breakfast we had bread, a boiled egg, and chai. It was once again really good. I wasn’t sure what we were going to do for the rest of the day, but I soon learned that we would be going to the field. It was quite a long hike to the field. When we got there, they had already dug holes in the ground and we were going to be planting beans. I had to throw 2 beans into each hole with some of my siblings while Baba sprinkled fertilizer in all the holes. After completing all of that, we had to go through with our hoes and cover up all the holes; this was a lot of work. I was definitely ready to go by the time we ended up leaving.

            When we got back we began cooking lunch, which consisted of ugali, beans, and vegetables. I was glad it was my last meal there. After lunch it was around 2:30 so we only had a little bit of time to kill before going to dinner at Jenny and Geoff’s. I sat in the front of my house with some of my sisters. Emma ended up braiding my ponytail and they all stood around watching. At around 3:15, all my siblings began to shower and get ready to leave. We left at around 3:40 to walk to Jenny and Geoff’s house. When we got there, we started off by playing charades. It was really fun. All the words were in Swahili so it was like a test for us as well. After that, we all introduced our families and said what we liked most about the weekend. We ate dinner all together when we were finished with the introductions and then it was time for everyone to leave. The homestay was definitely a unique and interesting experience, but I was definitely glad to be back at protea.

My homestay family.

(Emma, Abia, Shamila, Faraja, Uzia, Mama, Baba, John)

My homestay family's house.

My homestay family's house.

My homestay family's kitchen.

The view from my room during my homestay.

My homestay family's living room.

Easter

          We got to sleep in on Easter! It was such a nice feeling to be able to wake up whenever. We did have to be up by 10 though, which is definitely sleeping in to me! I have noticed that over the past few months, even when I was back at home, I just haven’t been able to sleep in. I woke up around 9:30, went online for a little while I was waiting for water for my shower to boil. I took a shower and got dressed around 10 so that Julia could braid my hair. I was planning on wearing a dress and looking nice, but it was pouring rain outside. I was going to just wear jeans and a sweatshirt so that I would be warm, but I just decided to go ahead and wear my dress. At around 11, we headed over to the Tree House for a volunteer Easter brunch. It was a potluck so everybody brought something to share. Since we haven’t really been able to cook ourselves and figure out how to use the wood stove and everything, we just made cookies since we already knew how to make those in the wood stove. Some other things that were there were French toast, bagels, coffee cake, eggs Benedict, pasta salad, and ham. Everything was so good. There was also wine, coffee with baileys, and mimosas to drink. It was really fun and nice to eat such amazing food. Even though we have been getting a little spoiled by our house mama, Upendo, at our volunteer house. She makes us some pretty good food. Its going to suck to go back to school and eat rice and beans again.

            At around 1 Renee, Julia, Brett, Amari, Molly, and I walked over to Fox Farms so that we could start hiding Easter eggs for the egg hunt and filling up water balloons. I started by filling water balloons with Renee. We didn’t have any special thing for the faucet like you normally would so it was a little difficult. Renee was really struggling at first. She was getting more water on me then in the balloons! We finished those and shortly after all the kids arrived. There were about 60 kids there from the children’s village and some from the neighboring village. At Fox Farm, the whole Fox family was there visiting for Easter. They’re a British family so there was all these little kids running around with British accents. It was cute, but when the kids arrived, they all starting yelling “The orphans are here!” It was really sad to hear that even though I know it’s important for those kids to know what orphans are and how they are lucky for having both their parents. All the kids looked so nice and were really excited to begin the Easter egg hunt. I have to admit I teared up a little. Its really sad how many kids are orphans here. It made me really happy though that the NGO puts this on every year for the kids. It was really cute to watch them all do the egg hunt. They were very excited and were running all over the place. Right after the egg hunt, we headed down to another area where we had a water balloon fight. It started a little unexpectedly and I got nailed in the face by one right when it started. After that, the kids lined up so that all the candy could be distributed equally. I think that by the time the people passing out the candy got back to the first person that they had already eaten the candy that they were just given! After getting all there candy, as if they didn’t already have enough sugar, the kids then got in line to receive a soda and a sugar cookie. The all drank the soda so fast including the young ones! One little boy Musa, maybe around 2 years old, threw up from all the candy! The funniest part was that once he threw up (all over himself I might say) the other kids just handed him a soda to wash it down with! Poor kid. He looked miserable. He came over and sat right next to me. He had a cookie in one hand, a piece of candy stuck to his sleeve on the other arm, and throw up all down the front of him. He then proceeded to fall asleep while sitting up. I’m sure he felt miserable, but it was sure cute to watch.

            After the festivities, we walked back home where we just relaxed. We were told that we would have brunch leftovers brought to our house in about 1 hour for dinner. 3 hours went by and we still had no food. We were all very hungry and Paulo was over so he made Brett go walk to see where our food was. Brett came back with the food and Amari and Molly. However, as we pulled the food out we were realizing that it was not going to be enough for the 6 of us to eat. So we headed into the kitchen where we started throwing some stuff together. We ended up making some really good sauce out of tomatoes, onions, eggplant, cabbage, pineapple, green pepper, and a bunch of spices. It turned out to be so good! We heated up some coconut rice that we already had to go with it, the ham from brunch, and we made some toast. I was so tired afterwards that I really just wanted to go to bed, but everyone else really wanted to watch a movie. So we decided to watch Monster’s University. I ended up falling asleep not long into it though. When it was over, I went straight to bed.