A safe return

Just letting you know that I made it back. The trip went well. I almost got stuck sitting next to a screaming baby and a mother who didn't know what she was doing, thank god there were a few empty seats! I got an isle seat, with no one in the middle seat! Can you say lucky! Also the flight went straight from DC to Ethiopia only 11 hours!  no stop in Rome. Once I got to Nairobi, I went straight to the ATM, so I could afford a cab instead of dragging my huge bag and the enormous dog cage onto a bus. Well go figure, peace corps hadn't payed us yet, so there was NO money in my kenya account, I tried my credit card next, go figure it wouldn't allow a withdraw (my dad later told me they froze the account because there were suspicious withdraws at tj-max and a gas statin (yep that was me)) thank god they had the atm that takes my american atm card( which there are only a few in Kenya, cause its not a visa. ..... anyway I made it to the hotel (finally) Decided I would get up first thing in the morning to take a shuttle home, instead of going right away and getting home in the dark. The next morning I had to lug my stuff only 1 short block to catch the shuttle.  Welp, my dad had bought me a roller cart for the cage, well the cage was sitting on it off center, and walking that one block found to be a tricky task. The whole cart, dog cage, bag and all fell over twice on my walk to the ally where the shuttles are, then I had to maneuver it through tiny tight spaces, before finding an empty shuttle so I could snag the front 3 seats. I'm sure I looked like the crazy mzungu (white girl) hahaha 

   Once we were on the road there were absolutely NO problems. Since I bought all 3 seats I didn't have to worry about sitting next to any vomiting children, or stinky people. Once we arrived to my drive way ( about a 400 yard walk down a uneven dirt path) I was up for the challenge after deciding to wear my heavy bag and put my smaller one in the cage. It didn't go to bad, my neighbor girl helped me out half way through. 

And finally I was home!!!!!! Nothing like arriving home to a happy face! Kibaibai was ecstatic that I was home. Of course I was so happy to see him too! 

I emptied my bags, put everything away and snuggled up with kibaibai for an afternoon nap. 

On Saturday I woke up bright and early to attempt my first run back in Kenya. It went as good as I thought it would (horrible!) but after eating american food non stop, and breathing in good ol Ohio oxygen for 2 weeks, I expected a rough first run. 

 I cleaned a little, washed Kibaibai (he certainly needed it) and walked to Turbo, to get some veggies and eggs. I decided to walk home too, I needed the exercise and a tan! 2 weeks in Ohio and I was as pale as if I had never been to Africa! I got home and fell asleep, I ended up taking a 5 hour nap! Got up around dinner time, made dinner and went to bed by 9 and slept straight through the night! Hello Jetlag...........

Now I'm getting back into the groove. I finished cleaning today (Sunday) and getting other stuff around the house done. It feels good to be back, but I am definitely missing everybody back home! These next 9 months will fly by! 

time flies when you're havin fun

Well I only have a day and a half left here in America. Then back to Kenya for 9 more months. I want to thank everyone who made it out to my open house yesterday, especaially my mom and dad for having a party for me! It feels so good to know that you all are thinking about me! And an extra big thank you for all those who helped pay for my MT. Kenya climb! I promise I will take lots of pictures!

But this trip would not have been complete without the time I got to spend with the best friends and family a girl could ask for!

I had a great weekend with my best friends, including lots of wine, hot tub, and a hummer limo! Talk about showin the love! Thanks girls!!!!! xoxoxo

Also my aunts and uncles and grandparents that came out for our Thanksgiving, thank you sooooo much for coming!

I have eatin everything on my list of foods that I have missed while being in Kenya, this including but not limited to : pizza, subway, taco bell, mexican, slow roasted home cooked meals, moose tracks ice cream, dietses ice crea, and oh so much more!

I had a great trip, but am definitely ready to get back to kenya......

 I miss this guy
 

and the slow simple life in Kenya.

Good bye America! See you in 9 months!

Last post till Im in the US of A!

I had an awesome day, ok lets be honest, I've had an awesome past couple of days.  Since Im leaving for home soon (only for a visit) I have not been working here. Instead I've been spending my days with my 2 favorite families, and it has been so comforting.
 Yesterday I taught mama kosi and her sisters how to bake a cake, I was supposed to teach mama jemeili too, but ran out of time so I baked her one this morning. They loved learning how to bake! We also used food coloring to make the cake a red a blue swirl. They wanted to make it for their guests that they were having today.
So today (this morning actually) I went over to help prepare the food. I showed them that I am the master at rolling out chapati ;)
I felt so great to get to help out and be treated like family instead of a guest.  When I visit most people here in Kenya, I have to sit (usually alone) in the sitting room, while they prepare the food or chai for me. But with mama kosi's family and mama jemili's family, they put me in the kitchen and don't act like i'm fragile. Still they are impressed when I know how to prepare some traditional food.
So we cooked all morning chapati, rice, ugali, kuku (which I actually didn't kill) and fried potatoes. It was a feast, and the whole family was there, along with some other visitors.
They never did serve the cake we baked yesterday however. I wonder if they thought there wouldn't be enough for everyone, or...... they wanted to save it for themselves :)
Probably a little of both, the cake did turn out kind of small.  Obviously here we bake the cake from scratch and not from a box. I'm not sure what I am doing wrong, but the cake never seems to rise, it always turns out flat and dense........ Grandma I'm coming for you for tips personally! hahaha
Other than that, I've been also spending alot of time with Kibaibai, I sure will miss him, while I'm gone :(

A few pictures from halloween

Just some animals at the watering hole

Our zoo, or safari, from left : Lindsay-Cheetah, Me- Giraffe, Andrea- Zebra, and Breezie- Lion 

Well I am back from Halloweening at the beach. I had a great time with great friends! Now only a few days at site before I am headed back to the U S of A!!!!! whooop whooop whooop... It's hard to express my excitement through typing,  but just so you know, I am VERY excited!
This morning I went for a run. After 5 days of not sleeping, not running, and probably having a little to much fun, I thought the run would not go well.  After 2 miles I turned around to head home, and a kalingen runner came up behind me ( i usually see a lot of runners in the morning) Anyway, I finished my last 2 miles at his pace! I was pretty impressed that I could keep up. Obviously I was a lot more tired than he was, he said he'd see me tomorrow.....we will see. hhahaha .
I'm mostly getting stuff done to go home, so there is not a lot going on this week. I probably won't up date again till I get back from America, unless I get bored at home...... which I'm not expecting that to happen.

I didn't have much to do today, one of my supervisors from Nairobi, came by to check on me and some other volunteers on this side of Kenya. He says I am a "silent" volunteer, meaning that they don't usually hear from me except for the monthly reports. He said it is not a bad thing, as long as everything is going good. I told him I'm very integrated and can work out most of my problems on my own.

Such as today....... so bored, nothing to do..... so I baked bread! See what I mean, I can solve my own problems.

I baked Oatmeal Raisin Bread.

1/2 cup rolled oats
1 1/4 cups water
1 large Tbsp honey
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp dry yeast
2 cups flour
1/2 cups rasins
(I added 1/2 Tbsp flax seed)

Cook oats in one cup of water until soft .Stir in honey and salt and let cool. Dissolve yeast in 1/2 cup warm water and stir into oat mixture along with 3/4 cup flour.  Beat mixture for a few minutes, then cover with a towel and let rise in a warm place for about an hour or until it doubles.  Stir down mixture and stir in the raisins and add the rest of the flour. Knead the dough until it is smooth and elastic (around 5 minutes) Form dough into a ball and but it in a buttered pan.  Let rise for about 1 hour. Punch it down and let it rise for about 30 minutes. Bake in hot oven until done.

I also made a peanut butter icing for it. 1 Tbsp natural Peanut butter. 1Tbsp milk, and powdered sugar.

TAMU!!!!!!! (yum!!!!!!!!)

Finished oatmeal raisin bread

Kibaibai sun bathing because he is absolutely not impressed with my cooking........

Saturday: I would like to reset the scene for you. I showed up to the event (cancer awareness day) It was being held at a local primary school. I marched over to sign up for the 3000 meter race. At the time I signed up there was only one other lady signed up. She came over to greet me as I was at the table. Go figure she is like a real kenyan runner! I come to find out that she just got back from running a half marathon in China...... I think to myself ...."great.......... hopefully more people sign up so it is not just me and her, that's not much of a race..." After the men finished their half marathon (in an hour!) We got ready for our race. By this time a few other women had signed up. They were all around may age or a bit older, but all of them were mamas. I thought "I actually might have a chance here" We lined up, and the race began. These women took off in a full sprint! ...... Now for those of you who run long distances, we usually try to keep one pace throughout, meaning we don't sprint at the beginning. Well I was so overwhelmed, I took off at a much faster pace than I am used to, and still managed to fall behind very quickly.   The race was 7 times around the field, which by the way, was uneven and un-mowed. I did my best to pick up my pace, but I'm also racing at an altitude of about 5000ft.  I finally started to gain up on a mama, and passed her. I finished the race second to last..... and the mama I beat was running barefoot and in a skirt......... a little embarrassing, but everyone was very supportive! and now I can officially say I raced with the kenyans :)  
The races were not the only thing going on that day. There was soccer and volleyball games, as well as free cervical cancer screenings. While all the women were waiting for their turn to get screened, I took that opportunity to teach about breast cancer, and I taught them how to do a self breast exam. So I say all and all it was a very good day. I was exhausted afterwards, and was in bed by 7:30!

 (Friday) I was working with the Living room.  the outreach group that I normally work with, was very busy preparing for tomorrows cancer awareness outreach day, so I felt more in the way than helpful. We did take the HIV positive patients, to the AMPATH clinic in Turbo, so that kept us busy until lunch. After lunch (and more sitting around doing nothing) I headed home. No better way to end the day than snuggling with Kibaibai, sipping an adult beverage, and watching Grease!  Just a way to relax before tomorrows cancer awareness day. I'm going to run the 3000 meter race (against kenyan women) and then give a talk about breast cancer. Susan told me today that they are expecting over 500 attendants, well here's hoping I don't trip while I'm running, or mess up my talk!

Thursday, after a brief house cleaning episode, I went over to visit my neighbors.  It had been over a month since I had visited! I can't believe how much the kids have grown! We settled right into our normal routine, as though I had just seen them the day before. The reheated some lunch for me (even though I had already ate, they always insist) Then I hung around, helped bath the babies and caught up on our lives.  I really miss them when I don't see them. I am so lucky to have families that make me feel like part of their family. It makes being here alone, much easier. I'm planning to go visit again next week, hopefully I will have time to teach them how to bake!