About one month in

It's crazy to look back and see that I've been here for about a month already! And I only have a month left in Loitokitok and then we head to Nairobi to swear in and then off to our sites.

A normal day consits of me waking up at the horrible hour of 6am and laying in bed till the latest 6:30am. Then I get up and get ready, eat breakfast which is usually a fried egg, a kenyan pancake, and chai. Sometimes Blue band sandwiches are thrown in there which is just "butter" on bread. It's tasty though. Then I leave and have my 30 min walk to my language class which is at Paige's house....across town. It's small groups. Mine has three people, Paige, Louis and me. Our trainer is Sam. We tend to have a good time during our class. Like last week we learned how to say "If I was a rich girl" in Kiswahili like the Gwen Stefani song. We have language till noon and then lunch. We normally have a cheap lunch at a hoteli or restaurant. I'm a fan of the rice, chapati, and beef with some vegetables (cabbage) on the side. All for about 60 shillings which is less than a US dollar. We then walk around the market and maybe buy some bananas or oranges that aren't orange in color they are actually green and yellow. After lunch, we have cultural and technical training. We were matched with groups in the area to work with and do a small project. Julie and I are working with an HIV/AIDS support group in Kimana.  We are working with them to plant skumawiki which is a vegetable that is eaten a lot here. After those different sessions, we all head to a local bar to watch the World Cup. It's our time to hang out together and relax before going home at our 6:30pm curfew. Then comes dinner with my family and some wonderfully dubbed Spanish soap operas that my mama and I watch together on TV. Yep, TV, and I have electricity and water with a shower. I'm spoiled here and it's not going to help prepare me for my site which has none of these things! So, I'm going to enjoy them while I can!

Today (Saturday) is the main market day and everyone is out selling and buying things. It's a really fun thing to see and experience. Today i got a Leso which is a piece of fabric that you wrap around you. It's a huge thing here and all the ladies wear them.   Weekends are pretty relaxed here. I do my laundry in the morning which is washing my clothes in a bucket. I clean my room and hang out. I did a lot of reading today. The volunteers like to get together and play soccer, football, or frisbee on the weekends too so that gets us out of the house and we are able to see each other more.

We all talk about the food that we miss from home so please, everyone...enjoy taco bell, mexican food, and cheese for me!!!

Much love from Kenya!