We thought we were ready to go...

Dear Friends,

For those of you who have followed us on this great adventure, we are now reporting with bags just packed! Tomorrow those bags will join us as we make the trek back to the states. Each day we have been here, we have noted things we miss about home, people we are excited to see, and luxuries we are ready to use again. However, saying goodbye to the students and teachers today at the Kibera School for Girls made us realize the finality of our time here in Kenya. We will spend tomorrow saying goodbye to our friends in Nairobi and visiting the places we have come to know the best! It will be a bittersweet return home, but we are all the more excited to share with you about the experiences we have had here this summer!

Thank you for your support and following us on our way!

With love,
Emily and Katie

Our Time is Running Out....

Today is July 24th, our last Sunday in Kenya. Hard to believe, time has really flown. Just as we’re starting to get the hang of things around here, we have to leave. Last week was spent going in and out of Kibera to the school as well as taking many trips to the public library and our trusty coffee shop the Java House. Our goal for our time at the Kibera School for Girls was to create numerous resources and an informational book on Kibera for the teachers to use when they implement their new unit on Kibera next academic year. We had really been working hard on finding credible sources for the book on the history of Kibera as well as designing and formatting resource sheets, such as note-taking pages, brainstorming webs, etc. We also took the school’s new social studies curriculum and used it to create a sharing schedule that would correlate to the themes of the new curriculum. Apparently, show and tell in each class is a disaster, so we hope to help them re-vamp this. We were pleasantly surprised when we sat down with Jordyn at the end of the week to show her what we’d done and she said, “Wow, you guys have been busy.” Heading into our last few days in Kenya, we will be working in the classrooms to help the teachers with show and tell. We really want that time to be meaningful for the students, so that they can learn more about one another, and form a community in their classrooms-, which is a goal of the new social studies curriculum. We will also be teaching and observing lessons in hopes that the teachers can not only learn something from us but that we can learn some skills from them.

Our friends from the farm, Vivian and Mercy, came to visit us on Saturday. We had planned to meet them at the National Archives in the city center of Nairobi at 10 am, 3 hours later we welcomed them off of their matatu and strolled around the city. We asked if they had suggestions for a place to eat and they took us to Club Bettiez. It seemed like a fun place to go at night, but being that we can’t go out at night, we’ll take what we can get. We treated them to lunch for coming to visit us, and we are now happy to be called their “American Sisters.” They hung out with us for a few hours, but had to go back to the farm. They’re hoping to come send us off to the airport on Wednesday. We’re so excited to have Kenyan friends! Today we spent souvenir shopping and walking around different markets. We are getting SO PRO at bargaining, and we’re very proud.

The last couple of weeks have gone by so quickly. We are finding that we’ve become more or less comfortable with the way things are here in Kenya. We’ve become accustomed to the cold showers, having to buy every drop of water we need to drink, the slower pace of life, and the delicious, yet different, food. Hmmm….all the more reasons to come back! Only for longer next time!

You know that you are in Africa when...

• people say "fine" before you ask them how they are
• people call you, "muzungu". You are the only white person they will see that day, or week 
• you have gotten out of the habit of locking the bathroom door because most stalls don't have a lock anyway
• it's totally normal to carry a 5 liter jug of water up the 5 kilometer hill back to hostel
• your bodily alarm knows that it's time for the 10:30 tea break
• it takes you 5 minutes and 2 nearly fatal attempts to cross a street because there are no traffic laws
• everywhere you go you are told you "will get special price because you are the first costumer of the day"
• your life span has decreased by 4 years because the exhaust fumes are so bad
• a cashier is insulted that you don't have exact change because they don't have any coins themselves
• the only laundry you want to do is the bare minimum dirty underwear because doing it by hand takes SO long
• you walk into an empty field only to find that you are not alone, in fact that empty field is home to a pack of waterbuck... you quickly turn around
• what costs you $8 in a cab costs 20 cents in public transit
• you have a new found appreciation for deodorant, perfume and cologne 
• your body has adjusted to falling asleep by 9:30 because you have to back before the sun sets at 7:00
• you know where every supermarket is in the city because buying water there is 150% cheaper than buying it at a stand (we are muzungu, remember???)
• children form a parade behind you, singing "how are you? how are you? how are you?"
• you have become accustomed to cold showers (hence the lack of showering frequency)
• you meet a nice business woman on the street and her first instinct is to invite you to see her office (don't worry, Dad, we politely said "no thank you")
• you can bargain your way from $65 to $9
• you walk outside in a tank top, yet, since it's winter here, everyone else is in scarves and jackets
• people at the market offer to bargain not with money, but with pens
• you say a little prayer before getting online in hopes that some Divine power will intervene and your email might, just open...

Kibera, Finally!!

On Monday morning (7/11) we said goodbye to our friends at KIOF and were kindly offered a ride into Nairobi by John, the Director. We were so thankful because we didn’t want to have to take a matatu with our big bags, which we’ve named Reynold and Reba respectively. On the ride bag to “town” we had a most interesting and enlightening conversation about marriage. Apparently in Kenya, there are 3 types of marriages. The first type of marriage, which they call “traditional,” is in accordance with each tribe’s customs. So basically, a man can have more than wife depending on what the tribe allows. The second type of marriage is a “Christian” marriage. This is where a man marries one woman and remains faithful only to her. The last kind of marriage is a Muslim marriage, which involves a man marrying up to 4 wives so long as he can take care of them financially. Islamic law oversees the rules of a Muslim marriage. To our complete surprise, dowries are still compulsory here in Kenya. A wedding is not recognized until the husband has given the minimal dowry of a baby goat and a lamb. In addition, men are supposed to give 90 goats or the monetary equivalent. Sometimes, they are asked to contribute other things to the wife’s family to replace her, in a sense. For example, if the daughter of a family used to carry water to the house, the family may ask for a water pump from the husband. We were baffled when our friend Anne, a young Kenyan girl in the car with us, explained how she thought it was irresponsible for a man to have more than 2 wives. John and Anne were equally as baffled when we explained that in the US, dowries are a thing of the past and, typically, a man gives a woman an engagement ring and that the wife’s family usually pays for the wedding. In fact, they found it completely disrespectful that the husband leaves a wife’s family with “nothing!”

Anyway, we made it back to the home sweet hostel to see our Kenyan dad, James. We dropped off our bags and headed over to the Java House to check email, etc. We also planned to meet Jordyn, our contact person at the Kibera School for Girls. We met her at Yaya, a nearby shopping mall. No surprise, it was full of mzungus. Jordyn talked us through arriving at the boarding house for the school, in Kibera, where we would be staying. We also got to discuss a bit about what we would be doing over the next week and a half. Jordyn gave us the contact information of our new favorite cab driver, Buloma. He took us back to the hostel and we geared up to go to Kibera the next day.

After walking around Nairobi for most of the day, we met Buloma who would drive us to the boarding house. Driving there, we realized the boarding house, named Margaret’s Safe Place, is directly on the outskirts of Kibera itself. Six girls who live at Margaret’s Safe Place, Alice the cook/launderer, and Tina the guardian met us. The girls: Faith, Sarah, Beldin, Lucy, Valerie, and Shiro are all completely amazing and warmed up to us right away. We learned that the girls are at the boarding house because they are orphans or their family lives are too dangerous for them to stay. We also realized we would be sharing a room with Lucy and Sarah, but we’re happy to report that there were no bugs! In fact, everything was very clean. We got to help Alice make dinner, where we learned to make ugali and greens. We ate with the girls and short after, got ready for bed. What a sight! The girls were obsessed with all of our things, including our contacts which they called “taking our eyes out.” We felt really fortunate when we asked about them putting on pajamas and they responded, “What are pajamas?” We couldn’t help but think that we are unbelievably lucky to have all the things we do. Bedtime is around 8pm, because the dog next door starts barking at 8:30. But really, the girls wake up at 6am to get ready for school.

The night noises in Kibera are about what you’d expect. Dogs barking, people yelling- making it very hard to sleep. Early the next morning, though, the light switched and we had 6 pairs of eyes waiting for us to get up. We dressed and went downstairs for breakfast of tea and bread. The girls were so excited to get to school! They lead us through Kibera to the school. On the way, we noticed Kibera is a slum in every sense of the word. There are shacks lined up next to each other, trash everywhere, dogs everywhere, and sewage running through the trenches. There are no trash receptacles anywhere, so people throw their trash on the walkways or burn it wherever there is space.

We knew we’d found the school when we saw a brightly painted pink building. The yellow hallway of the school leads past 4 classrooms, pre-K to 2nd grade, and an art room/music room/library. After the girls were on parade outside, we were able to sit in a couple of classrooms to observe. The classrooms are about a third of the size, maybe, of a Logan classroom. There are many homemade posters on the walls, and usually 2 tables set with chairs. In each class there are between 15-20 girls and two teachers. The girls have a notebook for every subject and can each write and read very well. While observing, we saw the typical call and response style of teaching and a bunch of copying from the chalkboard. Noticeably, modeling by the teacher in any way was absent. How different! When it was time for the girls to have their porridge, we met with Jordyn and the headmistress, Anne. We also met Claire, a teacher from NY who had been at the school creating a new social studies unit with the teachers. They all explained to us that our task would be to research and collect/create materials for the teachers to use when implementing a new unit on Kibera, next year. There is a huge lack of reading material, especially age appropriate material, for the girls to use to “do research.” Our hope is to essentially create projects/activities/resources like we do at Logan for this new unit on Kibera.

However, our time at the school was limited, as we needed to take a trip to the hospital. Katie had been feeling not well and was experiencing pain in her right ear. Buloma drove us to AgaKahn hospital where we waited, Katie had blood drawn, and it was determined she had an ear infection. She got some antibiotics and 6 hours later, we headed back to the boarding house to collect our belongings. Surprisingly, with an ER visit, blood work and antibiotics, the bill ended up being around $40. Shocking! We were sad to say goodbye to all of the girls at the boarding house, but we couldn’t stay with Katie’s illness. Buloma then drove us back to the hostel where we’ll be for the last 2 weeks of our trip. James ended up giving us a great deal on our room, so that we’ll spend less than $100 for our last 14 nights in Nairobi. Sweet!

Yesterday we spent the day roaming around Nairobi doing background research to build our knowledge base on Kibera. We decided when planning the new unit materials, we’ll be focusing on Kibera’s history and its people. We took a trip to the National Archives and then to the National Library, where we’re sure we’ll be spending more time. We can’t wait to learn more about Kibera, as it’s a wonderfully diverse, fascinating place. We plan to spend some mornings at the school with the girls, and the rest of our time researching and planning.

Not only are we excited to share what we discover and create with the school, but also we’re equally as excited to bring all of this knowledge and experience back with us.

On a side note, we’ve discovered a love for MANGOS! There is a fruit stand by our hostel and we bought our own knife, so that like Oscar Kister, we can have half a mango for breakfast every morning. We would also like to add that we’ve been taking the matatus successfully, and saving ourselves SO much money as a ride is about 20 cents.

Hope all is well in Denver and that everyone is staying dry!

A wonder"full" weekend!

What a weekend!

We were starting to wonder if we were going to get to visit the all-girls secondary school (high school) that is affiliated with KIOF. We checked in with Florence who explained that we would go there on Friday evening and come back on Sunday. However, we had arranged with our friends Vivian and Mercy to go to the nearby town of Thika. Boy was that a mistake. At the mention of this, Florence got a little panicked. She started talking about the rules, of which we were never informed, and seemed to have major anxiety about telling the Director we wished to remain at KIOF. We tried explaining that our wish to visit the school was to see how it worked and what the classes were like. This objective would not be met on the weekend. So, we politely offered to talk to John, the director, ourselves (also getting us out of our second shoveling shift). During our tea break, Mercy called on us to say that no one is to turn down an invitation from the director and that we could go to Thika another time. However, we also discovered that it is very against the rules to make plans to leave the compound with KIOF students. We were in for quite a visit with John.

We found John and half enthusiastically accepted his offer, we would be heading to Small Earth Secondary School that evening. We took the afternoon to shower and get ourselves together for a one night visit; we would be coming back on Saturday.  At the end of the day, John took us in his car and we passed the Del Monte Pineapple farm and many coffee, tea and banana plantations. He stopped at a roadside market, on the side of the highway and was greeted by nearly a dozen pairs of staring eyes, wishing for him to by their fruit. After purchasing mangos and bananas, we headed onward. To our surprise, our first stop was at his house in Maranga. We met his 6-year-old daughter, Susan, wife, Monica, and 9-month-old son, Daniel. We came to realize that his family must be well of because they have many animals, a car, and a house helper and home with many bedrooms. As the Kenyans often do, Monica offered us tea and we politely accepted. As the sun dropped, we were more or less told that we would be spending the night at the director’s house and traveling with them to the school on Saturday morning. We knew this was a great honor. However, we could not ignore the small cockroach-like bugs that popped up on all the wrong surfaces, including the three that came from Daniel chew toy! Oh Lord! The glory of the situation was that the house help, Lydia, had been cooking up a storm and it smelled DELICIOUS!!! We got to eat pasta! Yay! The pasta was complimented by a fabulous traditional beef stew that had peas and carrots and sweet potato. There was also hot chapatti, which we really enjoy. For desert, we had fresh bananas, two juicy types of mango, and oranges. Soon after, we excused ourselves for bed, not knowing how we would sleep. In our room, usually occupied by their two older children not at boarding school, we tried, with no avail, to ignore the bugs that were on both the walls and the floor. We arranged our mosquito nets and did our best to fall asleep.

Saturday morning we did not need our alarm, the roosters outside woke us up with the sun and the kitchen clock rang at ever hour. We dressed and found Monica in the kitchen, eager to teach us how to make Mandazi, an authentic Kenyan breakfast dish. We rolled the dough of wheat flour, baking powder, salt and sugar and cut it into small circles. Then, we dropped it into hot frying oil. Essentially, it is like fried dough for breakfast. After enjoy our baking and more tea, we were off to Small Earth.

The school is situated in the lush, green hillsides, situated on 15 acres of land. At 10:00, the girls were deep into their “preparation” time, working on assignments and studying. We toured the classrooms, met the teachers and saw the dorms and dining hall. At the end of the tour, we were informed that the school and staff would formally greet us. The 60 students patiently listened to John ramble about a pen pal program that they have with a school in Minnesota. Every time he talked about the school and “the visitors” our home state of Colorado got and closer and closer to Minnesota. It came to be that we were teachers at a school right next to Maple Leaf. He told us after the meeting that he would be back to get us after lunch.

Puzzled with how we would spend these two hours, the girls at the school quickly discovered our hair. That was enough entertainment right there! They couldn’t keep their hands off of it and kept using words like smart and sexy to describe it. They also showed us around the campus and soon it was time for lunch. As we had transformed from manure shovelers to honored guests, we were given rice to go with the plain beans that the girls were served. After lunch, the girls started asking more important question about what the US government is like and what our agricultural system looks like. We also got to chat with one of the teachers about what teaching is like in the states.

We headed back to KIOF in a matatu. To our surprise, our bench mate had a chicken in her lap. Luckily, she fell asleep so we were able to take a picture. It was a bit unexpected.

Saturday night, we went to the local pub with our friend Yenni who is from the Basque Country of Spain. We also met up with a KIOF student, Charlie. We shared some Tusker beers and “chips”, which are really french fries. Charlie left us to visit his sister in Nairobi and on our walk back, we picked up another friend named Paul. Paul will save the world some day. We have watched him demonstrate his leadership on two different occasions, and he very much stood out. He is quite charismatic, energetic, and has amazing English! He was overwhelmingly flattered and said he felt empowered by us telling him he would save the world. It was a delightful walk home.

Sunday we woke up and went to church. This time, we made sure to check in with Florence and get her blessing. We took a matatu to Juja with Vivian, Mercy and Rachel and went to the Presbyterian Church of East Africa, Juja. It was packed but a nice service. We got the gist of the service about “putting your priorities right”, but it was tricky as the Pastor kept switching from English to Swahili. We walked to back to KIOF “pole pole”, “slowly slowly”, and then found Yenni to make plans to go to Thika.

After lunch was served, Yenni, Charlie and the two of us took another matatu to Thika Town. We walked around Thika and passed many closed shops, as it was Sunday. We got to see many of the fruit markets and many shoe shops were open as well. We couldn’t head back to KIOF without enjoying some food that wasn’t rice and beans (called githeri). We first enjoyed coffee and “drinking chocolate” then enjoyed more chips, Katie a sausage and Emily a samosa. We also stopped at the supermarket because we had run out of the toilet paper.

Our last night in KIOF will be a relaxing one as it is Sunday night and many students will be studying. We will be glad to say goodbye to the ants that seem to really enjoy our shower, but we will be very sad to leave our new friends. In our week here, we feel like have made a bit of a home and family. We have achieved another of our goals while being here: forming authentic friendships with Kenyans. 

Day 2....Manure

This morning we are happy to report that we made it to breakfast! We collected our pieces of white bread, came back to our room, and finished the movie we watched on a laptop last night; judge if you want, but everyone needs a piece of home once in a while. Afterward, we set out on time at 8:30 to find Florence. In true Kenyan fashion, we found her at 9:00 and began working at 9:30. Guess what we did? Fed the rabbits and worked on composting some more. This time we had a fellow worker, Katherine, who is on “attachment” from another agriculture program in Kenya. Their attachments are the equivalent of American internships. During our work today, we were given more responsibility. We were able to take wheelbarrows and pitch forks to fetch hay, which is called “material” here. We also chopped “greens” or the leafy party of bushes to be added as a layer to the compost. Keep in mind, we were very excited about this because it not only gave us a break from shoveling manure, but we got to do it alone! We took our “tea” break at 10:30, and once again found everyone shocked that we don’t in fact drink the tea. But, we happily bought chipati for 9 cents from the canteen, the on-campus general store the size of a handicapped toilet. Someone made a funny comment to us today about us always carrying water. We tried to explain that it’s hot here and we need to stay hydrated, and he replied with, “you carry your water bottles like mobile phones.” So hilarious because it’s true!

We decided that after our morning of composting, we wanted to learn more about what goes on here at the farm. This was a particular struggle for Katie because she felt a desire to do other things here on the farm besides composting. So…what did we do? We took matters into our own hands. One of our Kenyan friends, Charity, invited us to go observe the classes she would be in for the afternoon. We’re still not sure what the first class was. A teacher walked into the room, wrote 2 assignment questions on the board about animal diseases, and then walked out the door- leaving the class to their own work. The second class, however, was Linda’s class on entrepreneurship. We’re not sure if Linda actually knew anything about this subject as she struggled to define the difference between credit/debit and assets/liabilities on a balance sheet. She, once, even looked to us The Americans to help her. But luckily, a student stepped in and asked if they could “help themselves.” He actually did a fine job explaining it! We left feeling a bit enlightened, but more perplexed about the teacher and teaching method. We came back to our room and realized the power was out, so we couldn’t access the internet like we were planning. Oh Kenya…..this a saying we’ve come to use when we find ourselves missing the luxuries of home. With technology out of the question, we decide to do our laundry, because in Kenya that requires no power source. Just a good ol’ pair of hands and some elbow grease. Finishing that, we took a walk before dinner. On the way, we met some nice girls from Uganda who are here on an exchange. They were full of energy and loved our names; thinking they were really original. We thought hat was hilarious. Our walk was short because the sun was setting and we had to get to our dinner of the standby beans, rice, and cabbage. Luckily we had dessert waiting for us in the room thanks to our trip into town yesterday. It’s the only thing that gets us through meals, really. Even though the food isn’t terrible, it sure is repetitive. We find ourselves dreaming of the first meal we’ll eat on July 28th. Given the list we’ve got going so far, it’s gonna be a huge meal!

We miss and love you all.

On the Organic Farm!

We woke up this morning with a knock on the door from Florence; she is the one looking after us. Apparently, our breakfast of white bread and tea starts at 7:00 when we thought it was 7:30. Good thing we saved the High Energy Biscuits from our night bus because that was all we had! Also, we had been waiting for just the right time to break out our “sexy pants”. Thank you Sheryl Max for providing the most hideous, zip-off nature pants. Today was their day of GLORY!

After about 8:30 we decided it would be a good idea to find Florence and see what the day had in store! Get pumped!

She led us to Baru. He is Ethiopian. He speaks no English! She told us we would be feeding the rabbits and then weeding the garden… the whole garden! The rabbits live in a shed; they are mostly white and some have creepy red eyes. Baru brought a bag of greens for us to give them. They enjoyed their breakfast…. Glad somebody did! J

He lead us to the tool shed for the weeding tools. In the shed, they also keep the animal feed for the pigs and chickens. Of course, the food also attracts mice and rats! We watch them, in slight horror, as they climbed the walls to scurry away. One little mouse, hiding in a bag of feed, was not so lucky! All of the sudden, Baru grabs a machete and begins pounding away at the bag. When he is satisfied with the crunch, he opens the bag, pulls out the dead mouse and throws it outside! What an initiation!

After laughing at our mortified faces, he hands us our own machetes and demonstrates the way to whack the ground to loosen the dirt by the weeks. Us being the experienced farms hands that we were raised to be, we carefully examine each plant before extraction to make sure we are not uprooting an important vegetable. Then, we weeded, and weeded, and weeded. We found some interesting bugs and creepy crawly things. We broke for tea, and then we went back to weeding! We finished at about noon.

Then our weeding friend, David, showed us around the grounds a bit more. We had some interesting conversations about the local economy. He told us that the area we are in is a major mining area. He explained that mining is a highly sought-after job because it pays well. Rocks have in high demand for construction. There are also salt mines. He told us that the weeding work we did is the most menial job around. The work that we did would have paid about a dollar. David also told us that he had a cow, but the profit it allows him is only $3.50 each month. The money he had to spend to keep the cow and feed it is also $3.50, so he does not make a profit. This was the distinction between mining and having animals as a local job.

After a lunch of ugali, cabbage and beans, the real fun began. Turning the compost! We met Baru in front of a giant pile of manure by the composing hut. We spent the afternoon piling layers of manure on time of hay covered with ash and water. The ash and water help get rid of any parasitic worms. Picture this, two muzungu (white girls), in sexy pants, shoveling warm cow manure, swarmed by flies, in the heat of the day! Pretty picture, right? Eventually, Baru must have thought we were going too slowly because he came over and, rather than shoveling a load and walking to the compost pile, he remained stationary by the manure and shoveled and flung it. He was fast!

We were quick to split from the leveled pile of manure and for once we were excited to take a cold shower. Although, we first had to scrape and pound the manure off of our shoes. We had put in our day’s work.

Once we were clean, our friend Mercy stopped by to see if we still wanted to go into Juja, the town near the farm. Mercy is one of the students here at the Kenya Institute of Organic Farming. She is in a two-year “diploma” program studying eco-tourism. She and her cousin, Vivian, accompanied us on our very first matatu ride. A matatu is a small transit bus. In town, our main objective was to stop at the super market for water and snacks. We also bought bananas and started a bit of a parade as little Kenyan children followed us chanting the only English they knew, “How are you?”. With groceries in hand, we got to know Mercy and Vivian well and made plans to meet them in Nairobi on our last weekend here in Kenya.

At dinner, we learned that politics have been further disadvantating the Kibera slum, our next location. The politicians want to maintain the status quo and for a while would punish anyone trying to empower the poor. We were glad to hear that that policy has been abolished. It was an enlightening conversation and reinforced our desire to be here, doing this work!

We hope all is well in Denver and that everyone had a fun and safe 4^th of July! 

The Wonders of a Masai Village.....

I wanted to add a bit about the Masai Village we were able to visit while on our safari. It was day 2 of our safari to the Masai Mara. After spending the day out on a “game drive,” George our driver dropped us off at a Masai Village near our campsite. Alex, the chief’s son, greeted us. He let us know that we could ask as many questions as we wanted while at the village. Some of the warriors performed a traditional ceremonial dance for us, complete with jumping. He explained that the Masai warriors have to spend 5 years in the wild. They can come back to the village periodically for visits, but they have to learn how to be tough and survive on their own in the wild. Apparently, the mark of the best warriors is being able to kill a lion while out in the wild. The warriors work together to kill about 1 lion a year. Alex had a huge scar on his knee that he said came from the claw of a lion he and others were trying to kill. While out in the wild, the Masai warriors let their hair grow long. Once they spend 5 years away and kill a lion, they are welcomed back into the village. From there, they can cut their hair and have the choice of the most beautiful bride. Is typical of the Masai people to marry outside of their own village.

Alex then led us on a walking tour of the village. The village is arranged in a circular shape with the houses on the outside and a large protected area in the middle for the cattle. This is because the Masai are a herding tribe and rely heavily on their cows and goats for food. They grow hardly any crops, so their animals are very important to them. The houses are made of sticks and mud. The roofs consist of straw and cow poop. Apparently, the women build the houses and keep them, while the men shepherd the animals. Alex brought us into his brother’s house, which was very dark and warm. They were boiling water for dinner over a small open fire. There were small sections of the house set aside for baby cows and coats to sleep at night. To be honest, we were a little unsure about going into this dark house alone while the rest of our group was elsewhere, but it turned out ok!

After the tour of the village, we passed through the Masai market where the women were selling the bracelets and other goods they made. The Masai people, especially the men, typically wear a piece of plaid cloth wrapped around their body and tied with a belt. It is a sign of beauty to wear many beads, bracelets, etc. They also wear shoes made out of pieces of tire! In some families, the men choose to gauge their ears so that eventually there are gaping holes in their earlobes. Emily and I each bought some souvenirs at the Masai market. It is sort of nerve-wrecking to have women following you around trying to get you to buy whatever they’re selling, but we chose to buy from this beautiful young girl named Anne.

After the market, we stopped at the village school. This was the most interesting part of the entire day for me. We got to meet a couple of teachers and even see a teacher grading some paper. In one classroom, there are up to 78 students being taught by 1 teacher, in a room smaller than any classroom at Logan. It was very interesting to see. Apparently, children come from many Masai villages all around the area. They learn math, science, social studies, religion, English, geography and history. On the walls of the classroom were paintings of the ABCs, digestive system, and multiplication. It was really sad for me to see that the kids only had a few dusty books lying all over the floor. The government apparently supplies notebooks and pencils. I felt very lucky to work in a place like Logan where we have SO MANY resources, great parents, and wonderful teachers to work with such small class sizes. One teacher I spoke with was surprised to learn that where I come from, there are 2 teachers for a class size of about 17. I felt very inspired upon leaving the school, and got to thinking about what sort of teacher mentorship programs are available for teachers in small villages like this. It’s something I would really like to look into and perhaps pursue in the future.

After reading all of that, we want to let you all know that today, July 5^th, we’ll be leaving to volunteer on an organic farm. The organization we’re working for is KIOF- Kenya’s Institute of Organic Farming. We’re really excited to get our hands dirty and learn a lot. We’re not sure how accessible internet will be, so we might not be able to update for a week. Also, the internet that we’ve been using isn’t the fastest, so uploading pictures is very difficult. We’ll keep trying because we know you all want to see these amazing things we keep talking about!

Mombasa!

Today is June 3rd, and Katie and I arrived early this morning in Nairobi, coming back from 3 days in Mombasa. It was a wonderful experience, and a learning one at that!

We got to Mombasa early in the morning at 6:30 or so after taking the night bus. When we arrived, we took a taxi to our hotel (one that had been recommended by some fellow traveler friends). We pulled in to Kahama Hotel and knew immediately that we were where we wanted to be. The hotel was big, clean, had a pool and a sign for coffee! Because it was so early, we could not check in and were directed to breakfast. Breakfast is one of the many things we were excited to have included in our room price. Other luxuries were the hot shower, tv, air conditioning, towels, and internet. We were excited to try the morning special for African breakfast. Pool side we tried beans with sweet sauce (yummy), dumpling bread (also yummy, espcially with the beans), arrow root (tasteless and a bad texture, not a favorite), sweet potato (yum) and eggs (yum)! There was also coffee, juice and tea! We had plenty of time after we finished eating and wanted to update our blog... and then the battle with technology began! No password or configuration could connect us to the internet (boooo). Luckily, right before we really tipped the scale of frustration, we were shone to our rooms and were so overwhelmed with the luxury, our anxiety faded! Uncharacteristically, I wanted a shower and with Katie taking a nap the long, warm shower was amazing! By about noon we had ourselves sunscreened and ready to go lay out on the beach. When we got there, we found that it was not the culture to lay down and sun bathe on this beach, probably why all hotels have a pool. Instead, we went for a nice walk, quickly annoyed by every vendor saying, "Muzungu, you like? Looking is free. Come have a look". We knew to expect this and quickly adjusted ourselves to be as closed off as possible. We got quite good and after about an hour walk along the beach, we headed back alone the sand near the vendors and did stop a few places for free looks. It was a wonderful way to spend our afternoon. We came back to the pool and some shade by the palm trees. Again we attempted the internet; it is amazing how badly you want something when you cannot have it! After getting frustrated again, we decided the best thing to do at the poolside is relax. We found a bit of sun and let worries fade again. Our stomachs were the ones that decided it was time to leave the pool. We rotated shower time and hotel computer time, also realizing that we couldn't check in with our parents via phone, because mysteriously our phone had turned against us too. We knew these beach days were meant to relax so we decided to get a little dressed up for dinner (meaning not hiking pants). Because of Mombasa's port history, many civilizations have inhabited the area and left their cultural mark. Therefore, the town is said to have good Chinese and Italian food. The first of these that we stubbled up was an Italian pizzaria that was recommended by the same travelers who suggested the hotel. We popped in, and since we were there early, had our choice of seating. It was a wonderful, slow dinner. First a drink, then delicious garlic bread and then salami pizza. Being the budget travelers that we are, we took half of this food home with us for another meal! We walked back before the sun set and, regardless of Mombasa's beach party scene, we opted for the safe route and stayed in. Again, we got frustrated that we could not call home, thankful the silly comfort of a tv eased us to sleep at about 8:30!

Nevermind our early bedtime, we couldn't drag ourselves out of bed until about 8:00 the next day (July 1st). Breakfast was more traditional (eggs, toast, bacon, sausage, fruit salad), and as our plans were fluid we spent an hour writing in our journals when we were finished. Then, we caught a cab into the city for a walking tour. The major monument of Mombasa is Fort Jesus. This castle-like fort is made of coral and it's huge walls protected were used for armies to protect the fort. However, many different countries and civilizations controlled it at different points, so there was no single, dominant ruler. The other highlight of our tour was seeing Vasco de Gama's Well. This well is important for two reasons: is marks the terminus piont of slavery, as Africans were smuggled from there to Tanzania, and it said to never dry. People were using, and apparently commonly do, to bathe. We also so many impressive and old mosques and vaious historical governent buildings! The end of our tour was market, in particular the famous Mombasa spice market. Mom and Dad... you can get excited for some gifts! We were expecting only spices at the spice market, but it was in fact quite similar to a farmers market. Of course, people asked us to look and buy, but we solidly refused and moved on. It was a wonderful tour, and the culture of the town was much different than the busy city center of Nairobi.

Yesterday, we packed up to check out of our hotel and stored our bags in safe keeping for the day. We were off to sea. We made a deal to spend the afternoon swimming, "making snorkle" and boating in the water of the Indian Ocean. The sun was shining, Nora would be proud of the 70spf sunscreen we wore! The water was particularly salty, but very warm and nice! We saw fish and part of a ship wreck that had drifted over from the high sea! It was very cool! We spent a little more time by the pool, and hung out with a 9 year old girl who we met who wanted to practice our English. Of course the two of us were eager to hang out with someone much younger than ourselves. We went for a short nature walk before dinner at a park on the other side for the road. When we got to one clearing Katie said, "Well, this doesn't look much different than the U.S.". I said, "Well, you are right, unless a giraffe comes out in the middle of nowhere, and then we will know we are in Africa again". About a minute later we spot a family of Waterbuck, chuckled to ourselves and then went quickly and swiftly in the other directions! We went to the famous White Sands Hotel for dinner and enjoyed kabobs with cooked vegetables (something I was missing) and pasta! We topped our visit off with chocolate cake, we had been craving it for a few days! Then, we met the night bus and headed back here, to Nairobi!

It was a lovely trip!

We hope that all things are well in Denver and that everyone is gearing up for some fun 4th of July picnic action! We are meeting some fellow American travelers tomorrow for our own toast to America! Enjoy the fireworks!!!!

It's been a while!

Hello!

Once again, we find ourselves way behind our blogging schedule... and our journaling scheduling for that matter. So, we spent sometime this afternoon journaling and figured we should hit the blog this evening! So, for simplisity's sake, I (Emily) am going to copy, again, from my journal and you can have the real treat of knowing what happens in my head!

6/26, 6:05

Wow, I am totally wiped! I finally got a full night's rest last night, and I am so glad that I did. We were up at 6:30, breakfast at 7:00, in the park by 7:30.

As for the park, I will give the highlights because the 150+ pictures tell the rest! First highlight: we saw a whole field of zebra. Max Jordan would have been in heaven! They were grazing, playing, hanging out, but as long as you could see, zebras papulated the area. With so many of them, I wonderred if there weren't more lions, being that they could be eating very well. We also saw more giraffe, up close and alone, also a whole parliment in the distance. 23 in total.

We also saw elephants! I thought of Clare. At first, we only saw one, an easily distinguishable male. He was at least 10 feet tall! He was blocking the path and wanted to prove his dominance, so he puffed out his giant ears and sared sraight at us. As he walked away, we followed him. He lead us straight to his family. We saw probably 10 elephants. It was fascinating! Some were eating, some were rubbing against a tree, other were just walking about. We also saw hippos in the Mara River. A crocodile was also waiting up the stream for the zebra and wildebeests to start their migration. It has about a week and a half left, then it can feast! The crocodile's name is Solomon and according the Massi Guard, John, he has been around for about 200 years! We had lunch near the river... but not too near the river! After lunch, we saw many more elephants, some cute baboons, more giraffe and zebra!

Then, we stumbled on the most amazing lions! At first, they were speak out, but we waited by a tree and all four of them came together, right near us. There was one within 3 yards of our van! It was completely unreal. I noticed that they were breathing very quickly and later learned that, because they cannot sweat through their fur, they breath their extra warmth out. It keeps them cool!

After the park, we went to the Massi village. Katie and I were paired with the cheif's son. His name is Alex. It was very Interesting! I will let Katie pick up there!!!!

I hope all is well! We will write more. I guess I should add that we are currently ending our second day in Mombasa, an historical coastal port. It has been relaxing and very differernt, but still amazing!