October 9, 2012
Asabuhi yanu (how are you all)!
I'm drinking chai, not masala Chai I had in India but black tea, milk and sugar and with my tea I'm eating samosas and mandazi. Mandazi is a puffy sweet pastry. Both are great with the tea! My family asked me what foods I love, to help me learn how to cook them. Last night I learned how to make a steak stew. The meat here taste soo very different when it's not pumped with chemicals. Much more natural! I also learned how to make a cook a cabbage, carrot, Kenyan dish and then they asked me if I knew how to cook rice hahaha I responded that is one thing I'm almost competent in!!!! I'm making the rice for dinner tonight. I hope to learn how to make chipati, a staple food in Kenyan's diet and samosa's. There is also this chick pea dish called, Endangu, which I would like to try.
Today we're at Tea Tot the hotel we stayed in for the first night we were in Machakos, and today is hubday! A wonderful day of free food for all of us! Otherwise we have to buy our lunches everyday on the stipend that Peace Corps gives us, as well as any supplies that we need.
I'm drinking chai, not masala Chai I had in India but black tea, milk and sugar and with my tea I'm eating samosas and mandazi. Mandazi is a puffy sweet pastry. Both are great with the tea! My family asked me what foods I love, to help me learn how to cook them. Last night I learned how to make a steak stew. The meat here taste soo very different when it's not pumped with chemicals. Much more natural! I also learned how to make a cook a cabbage, carrot, Kenyan dish and then they asked me if I knew how to cook rice hahaha I responded that is one thing I'm almost competent in!!!! I'm making the rice for dinner tonight. I hope to learn how to make chipati, a staple food in Kenyan's diet and samosa's. There is also this chick pea dish called, Endangu, which I would like to try.
Today we're at Tea Tot the hotel we stayed in for the first night we were in Machakos, and today is hubday! A wonderful day of free food for all of us! Otherwise we have to buy our lunches everyday on the stipend that Peace Corps gives us, as well as any supplies that we need.
All the Kenyans I have met are sooo very nice! Kenyans also
dress very nicely. All men where dress shoes, pants and button down shirts. The
girls wear skirts, dress pants, button ups and heels. EVEN on the roads, which
are dirt roads with Matatu's driving everywhere. Good thing I went to India before because Africa's traffic is calm in
comparison to India's.
We are now in our 10 week training in Machakos. All of our training happens in Tea Tot hotel. It's a very nice, "modern" hotel. We still get the fun experience of sqautty potties though, which is good because we have to get use to them since it's rare for anyone to have a western toilet. During our training we have had Kisswahili classes every day for an hour at one of our houses. We have had medical classes where we have learned how to prick our own finger to test for malaria, sanitize our water with a nice 3 step process, safety precautions in case of worse case scenarios. A class that terrified me but was luckily was concluded by saying that rarely do these horrible things happen to Peace Corps volunteers. My PCMO, Peace Corps Medical Officer. I think that's what it stands for, also ended the talk with, if you ever need a hug i'll be there for you! I was much relieved after hearing that.
We are now in our 10 week training in Machakos. All of our training happens in Tea Tot hotel. It's a very nice, "modern" hotel. We still get the fun experience of sqautty potties though, which is good because we have to get use to them since it's rare for anyone to have a western toilet. During our training we have had Kisswahili classes every day for an hour at one of our houses. We have had medical classes where we have learned how to prick our own finger to test for malaria, sanitize our water with a nice 3 step process, safety precautions in case of worse case scenarios. A class that terrified me but was luckily was concluded by saying that rarely do these horrible things happen to Peace Corps volunteers. My PCMO, Peace Corps Medical Officer. I think that's what it stands for, also ended the talk with, if you ever need a hug i'll be there for you! I was much relieved after hearing that.
We had a class on the Education system. Grades 1-8 are
called Standard 1-8 and High School 9-12 is called Forms 9-12. I will be
teaching primary education at a school for the deaf. I'm not sure which subjects
I'll be teaching but I hope I don't get 6-8th grade. I like to play games and
do arts and crafts, so the babies are good for me! We'll be starting KSL
(Kenyan Sign Language) classes next week. It's pretty different then ASL
(American Sign Language) so I really have to get ASL out of my head.
Kiswahili has been going alright. It's a pretty easy language but it's so much easier to read then listen to or converse in. Unfortunately, we only have 1 week of Kiswahili because the rest of the time we will have KSL class for 4hrs everyday. I'm much better at sign and it gets me gitty when I think about becoming fluent in sign and being able to communicate with my kiddies in sign! Our days are packed and long but I'm happy they are packed because it makes me not think of all the people and everything I miss back home.
Kiswahili has been going alright. It's a pretty easy language but it's so much easier to read then listen to or converse in. Unfortunately, we only have 1 week of Kiswahili because the rest of the time we will have KSL class for 4hrs everyday. I'm much better at sign and it gets me gitty when I think about becoming fluent in sign and being able to communicate with my kiddies in sign! Our days are packed and long but I'm happy they are packed because it makes me not think of all the people and everything I miss back home.
Stand Tall, Stay Strong and Look Forward To The Positive
Rather Then Fixate On The Negative!
(Someone told me that
and it's been a little mantra of mine ever since)
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