First update from Turbo!

Habari Family and Friends. First of all THANK YOU ALL FOR ALL THE BIRTHDAY WISHES! I am so grateful for all of the love and support! I wish I could have seen you all for my birthday. Now.... Sorry for the delay on updates, I have been moving in and getting settled into my new digs.  I am now living in Turbo, well actually just outside of Turbo.  I moved in on Thursday after swear in. Swear in was at the ambassadors house. It was a beautiful ceremony and we lucked out with no rain. (pictures to come)  Now I originally moved in with another Business volunteer.  We were both supposed to be working for the same womens organization, Joyful Women.  Well as of Wednesday she quit, and yesterday morning she moved out.  This leaves me to my own peace corps experience that I was originally expecting. This also means I have a ton of extra space for many visitors (hint hint.) I live on a beautiful piece of land. There is a farm on my compound.  I get fresh milk everyday, to make chai ( I LOVE CHAI) I pretty much make better chai lattes than Starbucks! (if this doesn't entice you to visit....) than consider this I live in the greenest part of Africa. The climate is perfect! Not to hot (yet) right now is the long rains, so it rains, but still beautiful! Monday was my first day of work. I met everyone in the office, however the office is in Eldoret (about a 45 min matatu ride) I will mostly be working directly with the women's groups (there are over 400 in the surrounding areas) I obviously will not be able to get to them all, but the ones I do get to meet with, I will be educating them on personal hygiene, home sanitation, water sanitation, malaria, HIV/AIDS, and much more. I also (hopefully) will be working with the local schools.

The latest on the local eats. Right before swear in we still had a day left of training in Nairobi. Here we learned that 1 chapati (all of gods goodness fried into 1 beautiful flat bread) each has over 500 calories and over 300 fat cal! Yes I usually ate 2 or 3 when my family in Loitockitock would make them! Then 2 for breakfast the next day! This explains the weight gain. Along with almost daily mandazi, (fried doughnuts.)  Yes Kenyans have a bit of an oil/fry obsession, that is contributing to my poor eating habits! Now that i am on my own hopefully I will eat better. I did however attempt to make chapati for my birthday present to myself. Not a failed attempt but the next batch will go better. 

The latest on local wear.  Yes I still am wearing skirts (below the knee) this is actually more convenient when using the choo (squat pot.) I now prefer skirts and even wear them on my day off!

For those of you wanting to send me packages (greatly appreciated, would prefer them hand delivered by you) here is my new address: PO Box 32, Turbo, Kenya 30106.  And here is a revised list of wish list items: American candy (m&m's, reese pieces, etc) Mayo and relish packets or tuna salad kits, cute cheap clothes/sunglasses (keep me in American style) magazines ( to read and then make jewelry, if you send one you get a bracelet) instant coffee/cappuccino, pictures of you and your families, mac and cheese/ velveeta shells and cheese. (honestly anything I receive is a surprise and I love everything!)

I miss everyone at home, but am still having the time and experience of a lifetime! I love you all! xoxoxoxo     

a few pictures from africa

This was a picture taken at a mobil clinic that we worked at for the day. We were checking school children for malnutrition and giving them vitamins and de worming pills. By far the best experience yet!

This picuture was taken at the top of a mountain in Mbale. From left to right Elise, Me, Matthew, and Aaron. Here we stayed with a current volunteer, and had an awesome experience. 

This picture was taken in Taveta, we had an HIV/AIDS retreat, we learned almost nothing about AIDS, but still had a great time! These kids were watching some of the volunteers play football. 

This is me after slaughtering a chicken! I honestly didnt think I would be able to do it. But I did, then after de feathering and gutting, we fried it!

My cow finally had its baby! Its a baby girl, absolutly beautiful. The named her Joy. We can now get milk from Mama Jane. This is me attempting to milk her. Its a lot harder than it looks. 

At host family appreciation day! Andrea, Lindsay and me. Dressed in our African best. To see more awesome photos check out my facebook! 

I LOVE KENYA

Wednesday we swear in as official Volunteers! Can't wait! xoxoxo

yep....... i did it!

For everyone who is wondering..... I PASSED!!! i passed the language exam! That made the start of the weekend awesome! Basically a 3 day weekend for us! Friday we all hung out and celebrated, than on Saturday we celebrated some more!
Sunday was an adventure on its own...... I killed a chicken.....then cooked it!. My family says i have the courage of a Kenyan. My friend, another volunteer had me over for lunch. Her mom held the chicken while I cut its head off. Now some you may think that this is barbarian, but in Kenyan if you want chicken, this is how you do it. Atleast you know where it is coming from and how it was treated before its death. I did not throw up or pass out for those of you who are wondering. After the slaughtering, we de feathered it than gutted it. YES I HAVE PICTURES, which i will post as soon as possible. We ended up frying it, it was delicious! I than went home after lunch and continued to bake brownies for my family in a jiko oven. For those who don't know, we don't have an american oven. So to bake things we make an over by placing a huge sufria (pot) on the stove, than putting sand in the bottom. than place the smaller sufria inside to bake. Put a lid on top and you got yourself an oven. My family loved them! Especially my 4 year old nephew! Ok this will be my last post until next week when we get to Nairobi! Hope everyone has a great week!

Kenyan time flies

Habari friends and family
We have 1 week left in training, time has just flown by! this time next week we will be saying good by to our homestay families and leaving for Nairobi. Swear in is on Wednesday the 17th.  For those of you who are dying to know, my cow has not had a baby yet, im beginning to wonder if she really is pregnant, or just fat? hehehe We took our final language exam today! We won't get the results until monday, so everybody pray that I passed and that you wont be seeing me sooner than we all expected.

I have compiled a list of items that would be glorious to have from home: (ofcourse no expectations, I will love anything that is sent to me :)
      Poptarts: brownsugar or smores
      MnM's Nutella, italian seasoning and garlic salt, little debby oatmeal pies, instant oatmeal, dark chocolate, PICTURES off everyone, oatmeal cliff bars, almonds, mayo mustard and relish packets (to make tuna salad) tuna in packs too!, cute tops and jewlery from anywhere! i miss new clothes lol, cheez its, magazines, raisins, and anything else!!
These items are not necessities but just some things that we dont have here and are sometimes missed. I plan on finally uploading photos when i get to Nairobi! soo keep a look out for a new post. I will also post my new address as soon as I know it, so you can get those goodies in the mail!!! Ill update soon! xoxoxoxo
  

Latest from Kenya

So I apologize for not updating everyone in a while.  Heres whats been happening. 2 weeks ago our health group traveled to a small village and worked with a mobil clinic to check children and pregnant mother for malnutrition.  We learned how to measure there arms and check their weight and height. I spent the whole time feeding the children de worming pills and vitamins. I absolutely loved it! Finally felt like I was doing real work and actually helping people. After this on Tuesday our whole training group headed to Taveta for a AIDS workshop. Well we learned little about AIDS, but got to enjoy american showers and AMAZING food! They spoiled us like crazy. We got to stay out past curfew, which here in Loitockitock is 6:30.  I felt like a mini vacation, which I think was definitely needed for everyone.  After Taveta, we broke up into small groups and traveled to spend a few days with a current volunteer. My group stayed in Mbale. It was sooooooo beautiful. The volunteer we stayed with had fruit trees growing around his house, and lots of monkeys! Yep it was another vacation.  Finally got to wear my tank tops and get a little sun.  We got to enjoy the local made yogart, (which was cold!) Cold beverages are hard to come by around these parts.  We hiked the huge mountain, it was so beautiful! I can't wait to upload all my pictures for you guys! 
Now were all back in Loitockitock.  We have 3 weeks left here. Its sad to think that soon we will all be going our separate ways.  Im sure it will feel like leaving my roomies after college :( We have all become close friends.  In three weeks we will head to Nairobi for swear in at the Ambassadors house. I had 2 outfits made, so now I just have to decide which one to wear! I post those pics too.
I know my family is worried about my eating here.... don't worry too much, my mama tells me I am getting much bigger! Yea, funny to think that here in Kenya it a compliment to have a fat kid. Im getting sick of the food anyway, same thing every other day. A few of us have decided to start making are lunches, it will save us money, which  means I can get more clothes made!
Thats all for now! Missing America but Loving Kenya MORE! xoxoxoxo 

Can you say "chapati baby?"

This shout out goes out to Holly ! and anyone else who is planning on visiting me :) you will not be staying in a tent out in the wild! unless you want to of course. I have found out that I will be placed in Turbo, which is a small town outside Elderot.  You can start looking up flights :) more details later, but fyi I will be staying in a 4 bedroom house with another volunteer, it has western toilets and an american shower, with electricity and running water. I guess someone decided I am roughing it enough during training. 
 Here is a little bit of whats been going on in Loitockitock. Everyday we have several hours of language training, i may actually be able to speak kiswahili by the end! We also have culture and other training after lunch. Foods I eat, well lately its been peanut butter and jelly sandwich's for lunch, its cheaper and i get sick of the local foods. Which include: ugali (really thick grits, eatin with kale) (2-3 times a week) beans, rice, beans, chapati, beans, cabbage, beans, aroroot, pancakes, and more beans. Good thing i like beans! The food here truly is not bad, and usually pretty healthy minus all of the carbs. i.e. my Chapati baby!
 On Tuesdays and Saturdays is market day. This means Everyone from here and surrounding areas comes to sell item including: fruits, vegetables, new and used clothing, pretty much everything! I have already purchased several skirts, tops and others. I will post pictures when I get chance, but im still using cyber cafe so that will be awhile. That pretty much it so far. Email me for personal stuff! Happy 4th of July!!! xoxoxoxo

1 week down

I have been in training for a week now! It feels like we have been here for a month, in a good way. My host family is wonderful.  Language classes are okay so far, but are definitely starting to get tricky.  My home here is really nice, but pioneer standards by the United States. My toilet "choo" is a hole in the ground (im serious) And my shower is in a bucket.  But i am already used to both and it feels almost normal. This weekend I will finally do some laundry, which is also out of a bucket. 

The food here is good, but the same almost everyday. Including rice, beans, Ugali (really thick grits) lots of veggies and fruit. My family grows bananas and avocados, so i get them everyday.  I can't upload any pictures yet because we don't have internet. Im writting from an internet cafe for 1 1/2 shilings a minute.  I will continue updating when possible.  Email me if you want a quicker response. I do have a phone but use it mostly for in country things.  I miss everyone!

Oh by the way my family has a cow and it's pregnant and due this month! Im so excited!