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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Kakuyuni Puppeteers Strike Again!

They did back to back performances at kakoneni primary and secondary schools. These are the primary students seeing their talent for the first time. I got a Puppeteers t-shirt too! :)

A Peace Corps Story: It would only happen in the Peace Corps....part 1...it's a long one, so keep reading the posts below.

So being in the peace corps brings very different situations in one's
life that may never have occured if they weren't in PC. Thus, last
night: so i went into Malindi to work at a cyber cafe. My two friends
kingston and pastor patrick came with me to set up facebook accounts.
We arrived in the afternoon and would leave on the last matatu home
around 6pm. Plenty of time to get home before dark. So i do my stuff
and the boys get facebook accounts. We run into another PCV and chat
for a bit. Then time to head home. We arrive at the stage and find no
matatu. Hmmm...maybe we're early. The stage is clearing out and people
are packing up to go home. Another two people show up looking for the
matatu. We ask around and no one knows and there isn't another one
coming. Crap...ok so, some taxis pull up and start offering rides.
Since i'm a muzungu (a white person) they expect me to be loaded with
cash. So the first price is 2,000 Shillings. Here's the comparison: a
matatu to Jilore is 80 shillings and a mini bus is 50!

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A Peace Corps Story: part 2....

Umm...no! Luckily i'm with kingston and patrick who speak Giriama so
the negociating began. Next price: 1,500...NOPE! It always seems that
other kenyans randomly appear when negociations happen. So two piki
piki drivers, a guy kingston knew from school, and a random joined in
on the fun to rip off an muzungu. The old schoolmate kept trying to
convince me that 1st: 1,500 was a good price, 2nd: the boys have to
get home, but i could stay in malindi (one place offered was his
house), and 3rd: he felt that calling me baby as many times as he
could in each sentence would convice me to pay that ridiculous price.
I had to walk away several times to stop laughing directly in his face
b/c baby in a "wannabe player" kenyan accent is hilarious. I offered
600 for the 3 of us and refused to pay more. A good 45 mins later, and
many more "baby's", they finally agreed to 700. Sold! By that time i
just wanted to go home and hiding my American behaviors like sarcasim,
smart ass remarks, and cursing where getting difficult.

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A Peace Corps Story: part 3....

We finally leave the stage just to pull into the gas station around
the corner. This is when i let the sarcastic remarks out, but i said
them more to myself and quickly so they didn't understand what i was
saying. 1st one: "i'm glad i could pay for your fuel that costs a
faction of what you are forcing me to pay you." We finish there and
slowly make our way out of town. The one road to Jilore is dirt, has
many bumps, hills and uneven spots. We're in a low to the ground car
with 5 people. When i say slow, it was crazy slow. I'm pretty sure we
never went above 10 MPH. We stop after crawling for 10 mins and the
driver and his sidekick stop and pick up food. 2nd one: "i'm so glad i
could buy you dinner too...live it up." It took about 1.5 hrs to make
a 30 mins drive. At some points there was good music. I showed the
boys my rap skills, so i couldn't complain there. Upon arrival
(finally!), kingston pays him and has a short chat and then the
sidekick gets out and goes into the social club where we were dropped.

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