Scuba Diving and Thanksgiving and Kenya...Oh My!

For my birthday present to myself, I gave myself the gift of scuba diving. Kenya is known for having some amazing dive sites because the whole coast is a reef. So I found the dive company called Pilli Pipa. They picked me up from Diani Beach and drove me an hour south towards Tanzania. There we reached the a village where the boats are. They take you out on a Dow ship which is an old style sailing boat. There is an island 45 mins out that is in a marine park where they drop you off to do the diving and snorkeling. I did two amazing dives around the reef of this island. The water had great visibility and the colors of the reef and fish were beautiful. I saw huge lobsters, octopus, squid, sting rays, hundreds of different fish, huge starfish, Nemo, sea turtles and the best of all a dolphin!  It swam right by us and it was so cool to see it underwater. Then after the two dives, we headed back to the main land. Across from the main land is a large island where they have a resturant. There, they feed you this elaborate meal that was delicious. Then boated you back across to the main land and then drove us back to Diani. So it was an all day trip and I got to meet some great people and make friends with the manager of the company who invited me back for more diving. It was so much fun and was a really good deal for the price. Even cheaper than the states.

This last weekend I went to Voi to visit DaMon's site. He lives in the Taita Hills.  Picture Costa Rica type landscape with lush, green hills and jungle forest with waterfalls. It was cool, rainy, and beautiful. We made a Kenyan-style Thanksgiving and it was good just to spend time with people I haven't seen since mid September.  Next is Christmas celebrations and New Years partying. We are renting out our own personal island off the coast of Malindi for Christmas and then for New Years there is going to be a 24 hour beach party that we will be attending. It's going to be great to see everyone who will be coming out and it should be a very fun first holiday season in Kenya!

Before....

Here is the last time it was able to be down. It was extremely long considering i haven't cut it since May.

After!

Ah! Lol...of course it's shorter than i wanted, but it will grow out soon. It makes me miss Donna, my stylist at home, because i trust her so much. I got a referral to this lady in malindi from an irish girl i met in diani. She did good work and repeatedly asked me why i would want to cut my beautiful hair. But i had to mix it up a bit! When in Africa, right?! So now, i'll be ten times cooler (temp wise...we all know my coolness status can't be measured...i'm kinda a big deal...) and a child with cancer gets some sweet locks full of love!

The aftermath...

11.5 inches off!

The back

A little wet still. Washing my hair is going to take me no time at all now! I won't have to allot a minimum of 30 mins just for hair washins' Yay!

Market Day!

Here is the pastor buying veggies at the market day. A market is called soko in swahili. It was a good start to having a sucessful soko in Jilore!

Attack of the bird 1

This bird flew into my house two days ago. He landed and stayed in the window in my kitchen. I wasn't sure if he was trying to find a place to die or take a nap since every time he stopped moving, he closed his eyes. I couldn't get him out even tho he was right next to the open door. So he hung out there for about an hour while i showered and got ready. I also looked up the meanings of birds. If it's in your dreams, it means finding home or a message or success is coming. The other is an old wives tale that if a bird flies into your house it means someone is going to die soon....i'm going to go with the first meaning regardless. Once he did finally fly out he landed on a tree outside and creepily stared at my house not moving for another 30 mins. Thank you Clare for being there with me thru texting. These pics are mostly for her... :)

Attack of the bird 2....

He is just chillin'....right next to the open door.

Recreation center project!

My first major project, and first attempt at writing a proposal, is
for the construction of a recreation center in Jilore. It will be on the high school grounds, and it's going to benefit the whole
community. The idea is to construct a meeting hall that offers
activities to the youth, students, and community. The meeting hall
will be able to hold barazas, events, and performances. There will be
sports equipment, a stage for creativity, and a library. Since there
is now electricity, there is the opportunity to have TVs to watch
movies and the news about current events. There will also be
computers, so computer and typing classes can be given. This will be
the first center of it's kind in about 40 km. The activities offered
will reduce youth idleness and improve education and job skills. We
are very excited about this project and it's being supported by the
secondary school, the church, and the community leaders. Stay tuned
for ways that you can help and donate

All work and a lot of play makes Lee Ann a happy girl!

I've been super busy lately and took a weekend off and went down to
Diani beach. It was halloween weekend, so several PCV's came together.
We relaxed on the beach, swam in the ocean, I rode a camel, we went to
a halloween costume party, gambled at a casino (i lost like usual),
met several other travelers from canada, USA, australia, and sweden,
and to top it all off...Clare and I went skydiving! It was the most
terrifying 5 secs of my life right as you leave the plane and then the
most awesome feeling of flying like a bird during a 30 sec freefall.
It was over the ocean, so from 11,000 ft up you could see the whole
reef under the clear, blue water. My tandum instructor took me thru a
cloud and we saw a prefect, circular rainbow. Then we landed on the
beach barefoot. It was a very spur-of-the-moment decision by me and
Clare, and it was so worth it! Now it's back to the grind of meetings,
proposal writing, and market day preparations. I'm loving every minute
of all my work and play here in Kenya!

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