Safari

I posted more on the other site. and i will tell you if you mail something and it arrives. Just let me know if you post something....then i'll have Leah on the look out for it. And I'll try to see if I can use Cynthia's Machakos address as well...

It is still amazing to me that it's only been 2 1/2 weeks since i got here!!! it feels like so much longer, I feel completely out of touch with time and news in the US.

i'm still loving the comments that you all write on this site.

LeighAnn wanted to hear more about the place and people and my thoughts/feelings/expectations...I didn't really know what to expect, but I now know it wasn't what i found in Nairobi. It is just a big city, not pretty, fairly grey, and at first i was very fearful. Now that i've been back in Nairobi several times, I find it still grey, less scary, but another volunteer said it best when she said, "whenever I'm here, I feel like I'm fighting the whole time." So, I'm considering lessening my time in Nairobi, perhaps just doing two weeks here after 10 weeks in Machakos.

People...again I didn't know what to expect. What i have found for the most part is that people are very friendly (apparently even more so in Tanzania). And, they appreciate it if you try to speak with them. So, I am trying to learn some Kiswahili phrases. In Nairobi, like any city, there are a lot of scammers and men who begin a conversation with, "hello my friend" and then blah, blah, blah. So, I avoid and walk on and say no thanks...no matter what I and all of the other mzungus (non-Africans) stand out like crazy around here. We, the volunteers, have even commented to each other when we see one. Kathryn and I saw three the other day in the supermarket in Machakos, and we were like, "what are they doing here?"

I'm feeling like I'm hooked! Last night David asked, "you're coming to my school tomorrow?" and i said no that I was going on safari and would be back on Tuesday. He did a fake cry and said, "no, why are you going, don't leave me" Then at the party he was on my lap most of the evening, when he wasn't leading a dance or skit!! So, I'm trying to figure out when I will be back here...