oh shooooo

well, im on day 18 or so here. its a lot of the same stuff, and i feel most productive just doing the domestic chores, though they certainly aren't my favorite. doing field work is by far my favorite though. walking on dirt paths to various sponsored childrens' homes, and seeing so much of the beautiful country. its so strange too because the guardians are always so grateful that we came to "visit" them. they offer hot chai (even though im sweating my life away because it is so freaking hot) and one home even gave us oranges, chapati (so delicious, we have it on friday nights at the orphanage and it's a BIG deal), and soda pops. it feels wrong to accept these things from people who live on so little. but that's the way it is done, hospitality is important. a lot of times we go to homes and no one is home. it's often a long way to walk and i asked eric (the staff social worker) why they don't plan these visits in advance. he explained that if they knew we were coming it "would be very expensive" because they would cook a big feast for visitors.

i had to go to the public health clinic in makuyu because i was having some sort of allergic reaction - im sure it was poison ivy. that was an interesting experience, too. i showed the doctor my fingers and explained that i thought it was from some sort of plant. he left the room and came back with a little baggy of 14 pills and told me to take one three times a day. there was no indication to what in the world kind of pill was in there, and he didnt ask me about any other medications i was taking, or if i was allergic to any medicines, it was just that. here are the pills and i dont need to know what they are and i am to take them. how incredibly different it is in the states... there is paperwork to sign and "do you want to talk to the pharmacist about this medication". but i guess everyone just puts complete faith in the doctors.

today was sponsor day, so all the sponsored children come to get maize, beans, soap, toothpaste, a pencil, body jelly, and then whatever other needs they have indicated (clothing, school books, pens, kerosene lamps, bookbags, etc). that was really incredible, actually seeing the money going to use for these children who do not live at the orphanage.

right now there are seven other volunteers - my roommate is from poland but lives in england and is a wonderful person to share a small living space with. one girl is from germany and the only dude is from ireland. the rest are americans. we talk about foods we miss a lot - namely cheese. there is an amazing amount of fresh fruit here - passion fruits (so weird and delicious), papaya, mangoes, avocadoes, bananas, oranges, and pineapple to name a few. they are all so affordable too, its just lovely.

i cant think of much else now. im really getting into the swing of things though, and am not as homesick as i was previously, though of course i miss all you wonderful people.