Kenyan Kaleidoscope

 Hello my beloved family,     As you can see, it has been a while since I have written here! My apologies, life turned upside down for a while and now I finally have time to unpack what happened the past 2-3 weeks. I hope you all are doing well and enjoying the beginning of springtime in Montana (or elsewhere). It is still nice and toasty here, sun never leaves, and the "cooler" temperatures mean it is 80 degrees and humid instead of 90.     So, the tea! My roommate and I had to move houses recently because it was no longer safe to stay at the place we were. We thought originally we were getting a whole house to rent to ourselves. We find out after we move in that our German landlady (in her 60s, retired) will be living in there with us, as will her significant person (in his late 20s). We find out later this is actually a security breach according to the embassy.     We decided to see what happens and stick it out, because we do not know where else to...

 Dear beloved family, I hope this finds you warmly snuggled next to a heat source enjoying a cold February, or alternatively snuggled next to your significant other--Valentine's Day is coming! I'm still sweating like a pig in the hot heat of Kenya, but I also know that being in the cold would no longer suit me well, since I'm slowly adapting to this climate. For now, keep the cold for me. So this last Saturday we were asked to pause class because there was some parents outside our classroom waiting to surprise their daughter for her birthday. Brandi and I wrapped up the lesson to a good stopping point, and then shifted to get out of the way and see what would happen next. Once we got out of the way, the family came in and started singing, and several things happened at once. Students started to sing and clap a fast paced Happy Birthday, with some Swahili mixed in ("Kata Keke tule" aka cut the cake for us) and our birthday girl stood up and began to race towards th...

 Hello friends and family, How are you all doing back home? I've been hearing lots of news about babies and new beginnings! That is exciting to hear about and feel a part of even at this distance. Thank you to everyone who has sent me pictures of family, pets, or their children to brighten my day. I have been dealing with some homesickness lately, but it honestly has made me appreciate how good we have it in America, a humbling experience for being on the other side of the world. (This photo was from Nairobi, when we were in training last week. I thought it was good to show a city view.) I'm sure most of you have been wondering about my work with students, since that is what I came here to do in Kenya. The unsatisfactory answer at this point is this: I'm still figuring it out. Let me explain a bit more. It seems like all involved parties here in Kenya were told a different story about our arrival and service. We are teaching assistants, working up to twenty hours a week for...

 Dear family, Yesterday was a visit to the beach, and what a wild west show that was! I am going to give some simple do's and don'ts for a visit to a public beach in Kenya, along the Diani coast. Do bring a towel or blanket of some kind, because the sand is a very fine grain and will get stuck on everything: your phone, snacks, the pages of your book, among other things. Don't speak to the beach hawkers, or "wabunifu" in Kiswahili. They will 1. Think you are their new best friend and 2. Definitely their next customer for whatever they happen to be selling. I learned this the hard way, it took me about 45 minutes to get away from the throng and sit down, and another 20 minutes when we are trying to leave the beach. Do take the opportunity to ride the beach camels that come through on a daily basis! Because when are you going to get to do that again? Don't come to the beach having to go to the bathroom. The bathrooms are private to hotel guests only, and the s...

 Dear Family, Do you want to know something incredible? Here in Kenya, there is not a whole lot of signs about speed limits, especially in the cities. I found this rather curious as we were being driven around by our drivers to get to and from the training center... How does one control traffic in Nairobi? Answer: So throughout the cities, on major highways AND side roads, there are a series of speed bumps scattered about. In the daylight, it is easy to see them coming, and you slow down accordingly as to not "hit air". There will be instances where you are not paying attention, and will hit one of those too fast--this happened to me last night in a tuk-tuk vehicle, which is essentially a motorized small vehicle on three wheels. The driver is up front, and one to three passengers sit behind him in an open air vehicle that can move fairly quickly considering its small size. Our driver hit that bump so quickly that my entire upper body slammed into the roof before I realized wh...