mzungu can't dance

Well, I've been doing a lot of field work. We visited schools to pay the examination fees for sponsored children, and I learned that with the way the Ministry of Education distributes funds, teachers will work sometimes for six months without getting paid. Can you imagine?

Today we took the 9 older kids to the clinic nearby to get them health check-ups. This was coordinated and funded by the volunteers, so go us. Tomorrow we are taking the 24 smaller kids and I'm just preparing for disaster. Getting them there on the matatu, calming them down when they get blood taken, helping them poo-poo in cups, herding them together, oh my.

Yesterday was Kenya's independence day, and aside from the fact that the children didn't have school and we got chapati for lunch (YAY! YUM!) there wasn't much else going on to celebrate. We watched the President give his speech on the TV and heard it on the radio. THis was in Nairobi, but I guess locally, people don't do much to celebrate. Kenya gained it's independence in 1963. But anyhow, despite the holiday the orphanage ran as it usually does, meaning Jane was there doing all the laundry, and Joseph was taking care of the pigs and cows and the farm, And Jane was cleaning the dorms, and Grace was there preparing our three daily meals. It's quite crazy because we always have to eat, right? And Grace is always there cooking all the meals. I mean, she doesn't get a day off during the week, and she really does work ALL DAY. I don't know how it works when she wants time off, but I've been here for three weeks now and she has cooked every single meal that I've eaten. Working three straight weeks!

I'm getting pretty used to the Kenyan way of life though. Mostly just taking things slowly and being patient and not always having a lot to do. I know I'll miss it when I'm back at home and always so rushed to do everything all the time. I get really annoyed sometimes at being such a spectacle (you would think some of these people have NEVER seen a white person, and maybe they haven't), but when we got to schools I feel like a rockstar, all these children will surround us and try to touch me and my hair, and even when we are out in the small towns at the market or getting a soda pop, people just stare and the children are forever practicing their English saying "how are you?!" but not knowing how to respond when you ask them back. It's cute, and I know something I'll miss when I'm back home and just another white girl.

We climbed this mountain, Ol Donya Sabuk Sunday under the impression that at the summit would be a beautiful 360 view of Kenya. So we hiked the 9 kilometers to the top, halfway dying at some parts thinking "but we have to get to the top, it'll be amazing" and even further up just thinking "we are so close, ahhh, my legs want to die, but the view, it will be awesome." When we arrived at the top we were quite confused, as there was absolutely NO VIEW at all, just a bunch of radio towers (shout out to MECA). All we could do was laugh, hysterically, and try to be positive, even though we spent too much money for entrance and an armed guard (supposedly there are a bunch of buffalo there, but I didn't see any). We are also writing a letter to the writers of the Lonely Planet who lied and led us to believe we were in for a real treat at the top.

Well, thanks for reading if you are. I want to get a Coca-Cola Light (no Diet Coke here) and buy some mango so better be heading on.