The Kids

Hey everybody... I'm finally getting around to posting photos! It took about 10 minutes for this one to load, so I don't know that I'm going to put any more up right now. We'll see. Anyhow, this is a photo I took last night at a School for the Deaf. We came to visit and they put on a show for us complete with drums, dancing, poems, songs... it was amazing. This school competes nationally in a music competition and they just took second place recently. I know, music and dancing probably isn't what comes to your mind when you think of deaf children, but they can feel the vibrations made by the drum and they have a sense of rythym that I can only dream of having. (That's probably not even how you spell rythym.) They made the outfits themselves and some had metal soda bottle caps that had been flattened and sewn on the clothes to make chiming sounds as they danced.

Ok, well I just tried to post another photo and failed, so I apologize. I'll try again another time. By the way, I want to congratulate several people... Nicole & Jason on their recent wedding and Lakshmi & Kevin on their recent engagement. Wish I was there to celebrate with you guys, but I'm there in spirit! Congrats! Libby

Random Stuff

Well, I taught my first class last week and it went better than expected. This, of course, wasn't the class I'll be teaching when I get to my site - it was just for practice, but it was a real lesson in a real classroom, so it was exciting. The kids were learning about the food groups (of which there are only 3 in Kenya) and I was teaching them about the locally available foods and which groups they go into. I won't go through the entire lesson because that would be too long, but I will say that the kids were very enthusiastic. We played a game towards the end of class and it seemed like they were genuinely learning and having fun. It was an experience I needed. Fortunately and unfortunately, there was no one observing me - like a teacher or my technical trainer - so, I'm the only judge of how it went, but that's just kind of how it works here in Peace Corps.

Saturday started off very productive. By noon, I had finished my laundry (some of it in the rain), taken a bath, and helped plant peas and maize in my host family's shamba. Then I ate lunch, which was ugali (a solid porridge-like substance) and sukuma wiki (kale) and then I took a 2 hour nap. Like I said, it started off productive. The rainy season is about to start and so I usually fall asleep to the sound of rain hitting the tin roof. Friday night it was so loud I probably couldn't have heard someone say my name. However, it was not as loud as the car horn that went off continuously outside my bedroom on Monday night for 2 and a half hours! Eventually I had an earplug in one ear (thanks for the earplugs, Kyle), my mp3 headphone in the other ear and a book on top of the headphone. It was probably quite a sight and if the house had burned down I would have burned with it because I couldn't hear a thing.

So, for those of you who are expecting me to come back knowing Kiswahili, I'm afraid you my be disappointed. Our lessons in Kiswahili are few and far between because KSL is more important for our jobs. I have a feeling the amount of Kiswahili I know right now is about the amount I'll know by the end of my Peace Corps experience. Pole.

I'm actually writing this "blog" at home, on paper and will be typing it as soon as I have a chance to access the internet in Nairobi. It's faster this way and therefore saves me money. Anyhow, as I was writing the previous paragraph, the electricity (yes, I have electricity) went out, so now I'm writing by kerosene lamp. And it has started raining again, so it's almost romantic in a way. Give me another month - by then, it will just be annoying. I need to get in the habit of carrying my flashlight with me after dark because when the electricity does go out you can't see the hand in front of your face. Of course, my host family can somehow find the matches and the lamps in the pitch dark without so much as bumping a shin, so maybe I'll get that good at it eventually. Or maybe I'll just take it as a sign to go to bed. Which I'm about to do - it's almost 8pm!

The volunteers are planning a Halloween party for next weekend, so I'm looking forward to that. It is my favorite holiday! Not sure what to do about a costume though. I was thinking about going as a mosquito or maybe a tapeworm. If you guys have any ideas before Saturday, text me. I'll let you know how it turns out. I'm actually in Nairobi now and there is this store called Nakumat (I think?), which is like the Kenyan version of Wal-mart. It's disturbing. They sell charcoal stoves (called jikos) right next to microwaves. Anyhow, I was walking around in one of these stores yesterday and noticed that they had a Halloween section. I was tempted, but a PC trainee's "salary" doesn't really allow for fake blood and face paint. Go figure.

As a side note, either my trousers ("pants" here means underwear) are getting stretched out from the hand-washing or I'm losing weight! The volunteers here have decided that if the weight is still off when we come home, we're making commercials... "Hi, I'm Libby and I lost 20 pounds on the Peace Corps diet... and my schistosomiasis is almost completely gone now thanks to my chronic tapeworm. I'm recommending the PC diet to all of my friends! Thanks Peace Corps!" :)

Love you guys. -Libby

Month One

Hi everybody! I'm in a small town near my training site using the internet and although I'm spending the night and should be able to post more tomorrow, unfortunately there are a lot more volunteers coming in the morning and I don't know how long I'll have to spend on the net. SO... I'll just write a little for now and possibly try and upload photos and write more tomorrow, but no promises. Thanks to Kat for posting my last update. I'm doing much better these days. Training is intense and completely confusing, but I think that is sort of the Peace Corps way. As another volunteer said... it's like baptism by fire. We've been visiting the Deaf School in my training town (not sure if I can say what that is on this blog, so I won't for now) and it is a bit scary. Some teachers can actually sign to the kids and others don't even show up to work. And the horror stories we've heard about corporal punishment in schools and how many deaf children are abused is enough to make you cry. So, no matter how bad of a teacher I think I'll be... I'm at the very least going to care about the kids and try my best. Oh, by the way, my assignment is working as a deaf teacher, in case some of you didn't know that. I wasn't sure before I left what my job would be, but I found out soon after I arrived in Nairobi. Although, I have no idea which grade or which subject. It will depend on my actual site and what they need me to teach. And if it's teaching the lower primary I may have to teach all the subjects... including things like CRE (Christian Religion Education)... yikes. But, if I end up teaching the upper primary, it may be just one or two subjects. Tonight should be fun... we're all staying in a hotel in this small town and we are completely excited because we'll get to take WARM showers in the morning!!!! Well, I'm off to play hold 'em and drink Tusker. I know most of you are wondering why I had to go to Africa to do that, but really I do work during the week... I swear. Plus after training is over it may be months before I see another volunteer, so I need to have all my fun now, right? Right. Thanks for all of your support. I miss you guys. Take care of my Kyle-Kyle! I'll try and write more soon. Libby

Holy Crap

Hello everyone! As Kyle puts it - I am in the land of elephants and wildebeests - although it is more like the land of bugs and garbage. Unfortunately, the miracle of curbside pickup has not made it to Africa yet, so people generally pile the trash up in the yard and burn it periodically. So, next time you see your local garbage man/woman, please tell them I said "thank you". Anyhow, I don't want to give you the wrong idea; Kenya is a beautiful place. The people are typically very friendly - although if they are saying something rude, I don't realize it since I know very little Kiswahili. To put it nicely, I am completely overwhelmed. I have good days and bad days, but I'm still hanging in there. On top of learning two languages, getting shots, learning to be a teacher, working with deaf children who know more sign language than I do, using a hole in the ground for a bathroom, walking over 3 miles a day, eating new foods, sleeping in someone else's home, getting painfully sunburned, and taking a bath by throwing water over my shoulder out of a small bucket...I miss Kyle more than I thought I could ever miss another person. (Not that I don't miss all of you!) So, that is why I MAY decide to come back early. I know I sound like a big wimp, but I'm an honest wimp. Right now, I'm just taking it "one day at a time" - to be cliche - and I'll see how it goes. (And for all you Indy gamblers, I'm not giving away any inside information - just in case you guys have started a pool on how long I'll last!) In the meantime, take care and I'll try to keep you guys updated. Love, Lib

(Just in case any of you were wondering - Libby still does not have internet access. So, I posted this blog by her request. Kathryn.)