Transition

Its official. I am a Peace Corps Volunteer. Training is finally over. I must admit that although I hated most of training, I did enjoy my time with my host family. They welcomed me into their home with open arms and loved me as I was once of their own. I will especially miss my youngest brother who I grew attached to in the last month. Maybe I am guilty of showing a preference for the baby of the family but I think he was pretty attached to me too. The funny thing was he did not understand English and I know very little Swahili. But we still did understand each other quite well. I envy him and his youthful innocence. He almost always had a smile on his face and would laugh as if he didn’t have a care in the world. I already miss the other trainees too but a few of them are not far from me and it will always be nice to take a vacation to visit them and see other parts of Kenya.

I have moved around a bit since my last post. We left Loitoktok on a cramped school bus with the majority of our luggage piled onto the back of a pickup truck. The luggage was covered with a tarp and it looked as though an elephant was under there. How we made it to Nairobi on dusty, rugged unpaved roads without losing any luggage is a miracle to me. Our time in Nairobi was great with the exception of more frustration with the Peace Corps (basically some people were sent home at the last minute and nobody bothered to tell us.) We were spoiled with our own bedrooms/bathrooms (with showers!) at a hotel nearby the Peace Corps Kenya offices. The food was great and we were allowed to leave and explore Nairobi. Nairobi is Kenya’s capital and largest city. It looks a lot like an American city except for all of the barbed wire fences. But it was a nice change of pace to say the least. A few of us went to an unbelievable restaurant called the Carnivore which apparently is ranked somewhere as one of the top 50 restaurants in the world. It was a bit pricey especially for our PC budgets but we figured the equivalent in America would cost a fortune, so really it was not so bad. We were given a hot plate and waiters would walk around with skewers of different meats and give us some. It was all you can eat and the meat ranged from chicken to ostrich. We also had some south African wine that many of us have been eager to try ever since we arrived.

Our swearing in Ceremony was on Thursday. Unfortunately the high ranking officials from both governments that were expected to be in attendance had other obligations and delegated their speeches to their subordinates. We all took the oath and received certificates but the highlight of the ceremony was a speech given by three different volunteers. One delivered it in English, another delivered it in Swahili and another delivered it in Kenyan Sign Language. Very early Friday morning we parted ways and went to our new homes. Myself and my supervisor accompany another volunteer and his supervisor to Maua.

Aside from being slightly hungover, the drive to Maua was great. I am especially happy that the entire drive was on a paved road. At one point, the spare tire from underneath the car fell off and caused an accident. Thankfully, this was only a minor accident as the only thing that was damaged was the wind shield from a matatu. After a short while we were back on the road. The scenery was breathtaking. It was much different than the other parts of Kenya that I had previously experienced. We drove through lush forests with numerous streams with the occasional waterfall. We stopped in a the nearby town of Meru to pick up a stove at a Nakumatt. Nakumatt is the Kenyan equivalent to Wal-mart. It was awesome to be in a store with an American feel to it. I mean, they have everything! Need a new lawnmower? Get it at Nakumatt! Need a flat screen TV? Get it at Nakumatt!

Not long after our shopping excursion in Meru we passed a wild game park. No more than 100 feet from the road we saw an elephant! A male elephant with tusks! We finally arrived at my school and we were immediately swarmed by the students who were eager to see me. It is a special school for the deaf and mentally handicapped. There are about 120 students and 70 or so are deaf. It is just outside the town.

I have been here for over 24 hours. Yesterday I went into town to buy a new mattress and other things. One of the workers from school came with me. It was a long process to bring the mattress back here because we had to tie it down to the top of a matatu. The worst part was that it was too big. So today, we made the trip back into town to exchange it, but they did not have the size we needed so I have to wait a few days. Frustrating. I’ll just have to cross my fingers and hope there aren’t any bedbugs in the old mattress that was already here. Tomorrow I hope to clean this place up and maybe buy more things. You know that feeling when you move to a new place and you just do not know where to start? That is what I’m going through now. I have a lot of stuff to do. I still can’t believe I start teaching on Monday.

I will try to be more consistent with my blog and write on a regular basis now that I will be in one place for two years. But do not expect pictures or videos anytime soon. I still haven’t figured that out.