The rest of the weekend in Kisumu went well. Boat ride in the morning around Lake Victoria.. saw some hippos!! I am discovering that the zoom on my camera is a a little sub-par so those pictures, much like my rainforest monkey ones, require a bit of an imagination. We ate some fresh tilapia on the shore, shopped some more, and hoped a ride home. Like most long distance travels, our matatu broke down (battery trouble) and then we got tranferred to another vehicle, then about 4km from the farm we passed another car but were in the way of a bike so we hit that car. At that point we were ready to be home so we caught the first available car and left them to figure out the damages.
The first three nights of the week the generator at the farm wasn't working properly so we ate in the dark and more or less went to bed after that. Although headlamps are great, they attrack every flying thing directly to your face.
I had an Empower session all week in Kitale which is quite a distance but also where Reuben's church and office are (he's the ICODEI founder & it's his farm). So on the plus side we got to drive with him in the Land Rover all week but it also meant we had to go and wait for him to be done every day. They did tend to give us lunch and tea but we got home every night between 7 and 8 so there was no time all week to get to the market, wash clothes, etc. So this weekend I'm just relaxing and spending some time around town.
We had chicken last night and Lilian, who cooks for us, let some of the volunteers kill them. It was pretty crazy... step on the wings and saw/cut off the head. The first one went fine but the next go my buddy Neeraj jumped off the wings as soon as the head was off and, like the saying goes, a bloody headless chicken started jumping and "flying" away so Lilian had to grab him mid air then scolded him for a while. Dinner was good, although a little weird.
Volunteers are leaving left and right but we just got a new girl from Dublin and are expecting one or two more that will be leaving around the time I am. Next Thursday I'm going on Safari with some friends. We decided not to do it at Masai Mara. The village I've heard is pretty tourist oriented and a little disheartening if you really wanted to see Masai. And the wildebeast migration was described to me such: "It's not really all at once like it seems on television. They are just all sort of walking casually in generally the same direction" So we're going to Amboseli then Savo which are a bit more wild and have Kilimanjaro in the distance so that should make for some great views! From there I'm taking a week and going to the Coast, to Mombasa, up to Watamu, and possibly the island of Lamu. Watamu has the Gede ruins and you should Google that goodness cause it seems like it will be incredible. Once back in Nairobi the people I'm with are flying out and I'll take the bus back up here for the last few weeks.
I got an offer from a friend/one of our drivers to be his girlfriend. I told him I don't think I'd make a very good Kenyan wife. I can't carry things on my head, I still pee on myself at least once a week trying to navigate a long-drop, and I definitely couldn't decapitate chickens on a weekly basis. He said that was okay, that his current wife would do all that stuff (as well as take care of the 6 kids). He offered 4 (large) cows as the dowry and I told him my parents didn't have the proper land for them to graze. And also that he'd have to throw in some chickens and at least 2 sheep. He said he'd consider but that would make me pretty pricey. It was a pretty funny conversation.
The kitten that was sleeping with me hasn't been there lately. And now she's pregnant. Whore.
It's been a pretty uneventful week. It's rained almost every afternoon but today seems like the sun will stay out so I'll have to wash my clothes/myself when I get back. I'll miss lots here when I leave, but bucket showers are not one of them.
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