Well, we are alive! I just spent 20 minutes typing up a post of everything going on, but this computer shut itself down. 🙁
Now I’m running out of Internet time. Here are some of the highlights:
-We spent our first night in a house in one of the Nairobi slums. We couldn’t really go out, but enjoyed meeting a bunch of the other volunteers.
-Driving here is INSANE! No lanes painted on the roads, so it’s just up to 3 or 4 lanes of traffic driving wherever they can fit.
-We were taken to our placement in Thika. We are staying with a great family and we are lucky enough to get a house with a shower (some didn’t have electricity or running water).
-We are settling in, although I’m having to get used to lots of critters (mice, misquitos, spiders, and cockroaches). It’ll be a great home for the next two weeks, though.
-Ann, our house mother is really great. Her daughters, Lucy and Maggie, are a lot of fun. They took us to our first Kenyan club last night, which was a lot of fun although we got a lot of looks because we are white. The best pickup line was a guy who walked up and said, “you are different…wanna dance?” LOL
-We have only seen one other white person in this city of a million people. We love the diversity, and all the looks from the locals are pretty good, too (most of them don’t ever see white people unless they go into Nairobi, an hour away). 🙂
-We are planning to attend a Kenyan church tomorrow, which we hear is really cool.
-We start our volunteer work on Monday. We are supposed to be doing HIV/AIDS work in a hospital, but may switch over to working in a school for handicapped kids…we’re thinking of trying to do half of each.
I sincerely apologize for how short this is, especially since I have no idea when the next chance I will get to write will be. We also had pictures ready to upload, but these computers don’t have USB ports to do that with. Oh well, that’s life in Kenya. 🙂 Once we hit South Africa in a couple of weeks, it should be better. 🙂 I hope everyone is well!
Danette
Still laughing about how you’re “different.” If he only knew 😉 Sounds like it’s going to be a great trip! I would freak out with all the bugs – glad you’re handling it a bit better. 🙂 Now I’m off to take a hot shower in my well-lit bathroom, get in my gas-fueled vehicle, do some shopping at some large store with lots of other white people, then treat myself to a massage. *sigh* 🙂 Miss you! Can’t wait to hear more about your adventures!