Random Thoughts

I am anxiously awaiting my site placement. It is a pretty big deal since I will finally know just exactly where in Kenya I will be living for the next two years. There are rumors that we may find out as early as next week or when we are sworn in on January 8th. Last week we had to list our preferences for our sites. Ideally, we all would prefer to have electricity and running water in our homes but it does not matter so much to me. I would not mind living without electricity because most likely the school I will be working at will have electricity so I can charge up my computer, phone, camera, etc… I think having such amenities would take away from the overall experience. I would rather have running water or water close by than electricity. The worse case scenario would be to have to walk a good distance to a well or have to dig for water. We still have to treat our water either way.

I would like to be at a school that has a field nearby because I want to get involved with recreation in some way or another. It seems to me that most of the deaf students do not have a way to socialize outside of school. Most of their families probably do not even know sign language so it becomes impossible for deaf and hearing to interact. So I’m hoping that I can get deaf and hearing students together in a sport related setting and this way the deaf will be able to socialize with members of the hearing community. This is one of the things that I am really looking forward to.

One of our training sessions this week was about learning life skills. So we split up into two groups and one group came to my house. We learned how to use a jiko, which is a small charcoal stove. Every meal comes from scratch. Obviously I will not have a microwave or any of the other finer cooking appliances available in America so each meal will have to be prepared from fresh food. However, I am looking forward to this. And if it doesn’t work out as I hope, I have been told that many of the volunteers in the past, especially the males, have worked out some sort of deal with a local dining establishment and eat there almost everyday. So I guess that is always an option.

Kenyan Sign Language still frustrates me. I wish it was more of a priority in our training. We only had two KSL classes this last week and we have a mock language test this coming Tuesday. If I do well, I am going to work on learning more Swahili while I am still with my host family. I can tell that they wish I would try to learn more but since the deaf education trainees must pass a language proficiency test in KSL to be sworn, I give that most of my attention. God forbid I fail and I am forced to live with my parents in freezing Wisconsin and not be able to find a job since the economy is in turmoil…

I’m sure I have mentioned before that the deaf education training group consists of only nine people. There is a IT/small business group and a regular education group. All told there are roughly 45 trainees here. Two trainees have already gone home. Deaf ed is the only group that has not had a trainee leave, and hopefully it will stay that way. One of the trainees that left was medically separated. It would suck to be sent home for something that you cannot control. The other departed trainee was dealing with a minor medical issue and went to Nairobi for treatment, but this person was mugged while he/she was there so I am sure that contributed to that person’s decision to go home.

Yesterday was Jimbauri Day (spelling?) which is Kenya’s Independence Day. Many Kenyans commemorate this occasion by planting a tree. So thats we we did. The Peace Corps organized a “tree planting” for each of the trainees that included at least one member of our host families. I brought Brian to this event, and we planted three trees. It was an enjoyable learning experience. Afterwards, we attended the days festivities which just amounted to a bunch of speeches my local officials.

I guess this post is pretty mundane. Sorry I do not have a exciting story about being attacked by wild dogs on my way to take a crap at night. Occasionally, the dogs fight with each other and it gets ridiculously loud. It sounds like Micheal Vick moved in next door. But so far, I’ve managed to make it to and from the choo safely. Ooh! That reminds me, the night sky here is amazing! Recently, there has been a full moon that is so bright it even lights up the snow atop the mountain (we have snow here too!).

Welp, see ya later!