Facebook Status Updates

Well, I’ve gone and done it again….I’ve neglected my blog once again. I’ve been pretty busy the past 3 weeks with Sports and IST (In-Service Training)…..more on that later. In the meantime, these statuses pretty much summarizes everything I’ve been up to.

Kenya’s definition of running water. During the dry season it’s hard to wash clothes because of limited water but during the wet season it’s hard to dry washed clothes because it’s rainy outside! During the dry season, food variety and quality isn’t great (isn’t awful either) but during the wet season it’s hard to get a ride on muddy roads to the large market to buy a variety of food. One may have access to electricity but not water during the dry season but one may not have access to electricity but have access to water during the wet season. It’s always something so why do we always feel the need to find something to complain about…why can’t we remind ourselves of what we do have and make challenges an adventure? We can’t have everything all at once…that would make life too easy and boring.

I haven’t seen my banking town touts for a few weeks…apparently they had a slow day today because this is what I had to put up with for 2 hours while waiting for my bus to leave.
Tout #1: Hey, you’re back! Let me move your luggage from this matatu to this bus.
Tout #2: Come on and sit up in the front.
Tout #3: Tout #4 loves you and wants to marry you.
Tout #5: Seriously, come and sit in the front seat please….oh never mind, it’s already full in the front.
Tout #6: Buy me a soda, please. I’m so thirsty and hungry.
Tout #7: I love you (he wrote this on his hand).
Tout #8: Where have you been? Kisii or Kisumu?
Tout #9: Are you heading back to the village now?
*sighs* I’m just glad the creepy-handshake (PCVs, you know what I’m talking about) tout wasn’t working today.

What do matatu drivers do when they’re warned about a police checkpoint up ahead? Why of course sneak around the police stop by putting the matatu into reverse, turning around, taking the scenic route through villages on dirt roads, and getting lost in the middle of nowhere…..

Nairobi was great but now it’s back to the village life…..

Being surrounded by hearing people who either know sign language or want to learn sign language is such a beautiful thing…..

Why are my socks, shoes, and jeans soaking wet? Oh…right…just helped push a bus out of thigh-deep water…..*sighs* I love the Peace Corps…. 😀

I never thought 55 degrees F would feel so COLD! I feel like I’m at top of Vail during a snowstorm….brrr!!!

Listening to presentations all day long day after day….yeah…..definitively not how I learn….

Fed some giraffes and got headbutted by one. Beautiful creatures and fun to watch.

I failed to mention that yesterday (or I guess it’s still today in the States….April 20th) was National DNA Day….one of the best “holidays” ever! 😉

Watching Lion King while I’m in Africa makes me appreciate the movie more…..

Me at a Mexican restaurant: “What in the world is that sound?!”
Friend: “That’s your food sizzling…..”
Me: “…..oh….yeah….right….why do I always forget that everything makes a sound?”

Antarctic…..still on my bucket list…..now to figure out a way to cross it off….

How much does one adapt to a culture when some cultural values conflict with what you believe is “right?” Is what you believe to be “right” really “right” if it’s “wrong” in a culture you’re currently living in?

Bacon cheese burger + milkshake = my happy place…..

Friends, sharing PC experiences, hot showers, American food, decent Internet access……IST (In-Service Training) would be perfect if we didn’t actually have to sit through training all day long…

Reflection #1 on my first 4 months as a PCV: People have mentioned that as a deaf PCV that I need to have a thick skin…which is true….to a certain degree. I think I was too thick-skinned my first term of teaching and I need to find a balance between protecting myself and allowing myself to experience things on a wider spectrum of emotions in order to achieve what I want to achieve here.

There are days when I think Kenya is teaching me how to be patient…..then there are days when I think I’ve used up a lifetime worth of patience and I don’t have any left….

Apparently I slept through my first earthquake…

Saw 5 Kenyans wear Chiefs/Royals clothes this weekend….I think that’s a sign that the Chiefs and Royals need to start winning games…

Am proud of my kiddios…they did great at sports and 9 are headed to Nationals….

Every time I cross the equator I secretly wish there was an actual line….ya know….like on maps

Experienced a shopping center, paved roads, a Western toilet, and running water the other day for the first time in 4 months…..

I try to subtly ask why hearing kiddios are subbing for deaf kiddios at a deaf sports event and I get yelled at for asking too many questions…ughhhh

So….I pulled out paper, stickers, paint, and crayons and told the kids to have fun. I told them they could either keep their drawings or I would put them up on my wall thinking I would only end up with about 10….I should have known better….they all wanted their drawings up on the wall. I think they like stickers……. 🙂