life the last few days

ha...hahaha...sorry...

So my real life over the last week has been a bit more interesting than that :) I am still at the orphanage and love it...i have actually started teaching the kids, usually songs, but lately i have also taught them how to draw stick people and and Elephant, as well as helping them learn to count and simple math (I have been very tempted to start teaching statistics, but something inside of me says that would be a bad idea) I have been shown how to make Ugali and Chappati, so we'll see if i can re-create them at home...that should be interesting :)

However i have also done a lot besides the Orphanage.

Last Friday I was sick, i didn't tell anyone cause i didn't want anyone to worry, it was just a cold. I didn't go to the Orphanage but i did write a lot of blogposts, as you probably noticed. I spent this day doing what i have been putting off for a while...laundry, yes, i did my own laundry, by hand...i have never been more grateful for a washing machine, it wasn't bad and I know i could do it again and I am positive i will, but my laundry skills are lacking and nothing actually got really clean, well my shirts did, but my jeans just got a little less muddy...
Also friday the rest of the volunteers left, i have been on my own the better part of a week and I HATE IT! i can't say that i am never traveling by myself again, but i am never traveling alone again. Whenever I travel from now on it will be in or with a group. when i am alone i can't take pictures with me in them, and there is no one to talk to but myself, you'd think it'd be okay what with a host family and all...NO! they don't talk! Mercy and I have never actually had a conversation, and i do try, but the fellowship just isn't there. Joe...oh my gosh,...you know what...nevermind...this place is amazing and I love it, and i am not just saying that to remind myself...i know it sounds like I am, but i'm really not...okay nothing i can say or do right now will convince you i am really telling the truth (which i am) so i am going to stop...

Last Saturday i was feeling much better and was able to go into town with Frieda, i was going to finish my souvenir shopping at the Massai Market (there will soon be a different post for that) but we also found a shop that sold the exact same things...FOR CHEAPER!!! yay! but we were also able to go to the Market for a bit I found the friends who helped me last week (also in another post) and was cheated out of lots of money as is only expected when a Mzungu goes to the Market :), thankfully Frieda was with me and for reasons that will be explained, i wasn't cheated as much as I could have been. After the Market Frieda showed me a memorial park dedicated to the American Embassy that was bombed in Nairobi in August of 1997 (?) the Park was Amazing and quite peaceful, we stayed there awhile just to sit and enjoy the sunshine.

Sunday was quite a good day, i went to church! you should have seen the face of my host person lady when she asked where i was going dressed up, she couldn't believe it. Church here is just like church at home...surprise, surprise...children cry and fall asleep in Sacrament Meeting, Sunday school is just as boring and relief society (actually true confession: I went to young women's) is just the same. The only real difference was that there was no piano, there was a keyboard that nobody knew how to play, so before each song the chorister would sing the first line and then everybody would start. Everyone was so nice, most everyone came up to me and shook my hand and said hello...my favorite person on the planet is Sister Caroline, she is the Relief Society President and I love her. She made me feel so welcome and if i was ever standing alone she would come talk to me so i wouldn't feel awkward....church was a good experience. :)

Monday was boring, didn't do much...

Tuesday, now tuesday was AMAZING i went to the Orphanage but left early because i was going to see jackson's medical center...let me explain...If you remember, or just look, a few posts back i talked about Jackson and how he wants to start a volunteer program here in Africa. I volunteered to see what he was doing and maybe help out a bit, i was able to see the Library and on tuesday i went to see his medical Clinic, St. MAC's (Mother and Child, named for the target groups) is located in..KIBERA! you can't imagine how excited/nervous i was to go to Kibera and I wish that i were courageous enough to take out my camera, however in fear of losing my precious moments caught on film i kept it in my pocket...anyway, i was led to Kibera by Richard, i don't know if i have already talked about him, but i thought that he was engaged to Frida, but apparently that is a different Richard, because if it were up to him we would probably be married next week...and this for two reasons, 1. if he married me he would have instant respect from all Kenyans because i am white (oh it gets better), and 2. if we married he would become a U.S. citizen, which is his ultimate dream. of course when he was explaining this to me he didn't mention me personally, only 'white chicks'in general (it would've been rude) but the conversation was very pointed and followed rather immediately after the relationship status question...i told him I should slap him and the only reason i didn't was because he was my guide not only through the slums but through the whole of Nairobi in the following days. Anyway, back to the real story...after taking many matatu's and various busses across town we reached Kibera and Jackson came to Retrieve us and show us to the clinic. If you were to pass through the cramped streets and didn't know where you were going, you would have missed the clinic completely, it is set back behing the streets and you have to go througha narrow alley to enter. Upon entering you find yourself in a tiny reception room with various posters about malaria and HIV prevention, there is a small pharmacy and three small rooms in the back, one is the 'lab' which is called so because it houses the only telescope on the premisis and it doubles as the file room, there is also an examination room which doubles as the office and a third room, the third room holds the most expensive machine that probably costed more then the whole of Kibera itself and anything valuable held within...it's a...crap i forgot the word...hahhaha...that machine that shows the baby in the stomach...and it's called...________ (just fill it in already). Jackson's vision is to be able to help all women and children in Kenya, to provide affordable and quality Healthcare. With this machine he is able to help many women who would not beable to see the baby otherwise, he only charges 600 shillings to have a scan whereas it would cost over 2000 at a normal hospital. He soon wants to beable to get the internet in his clinic and be able to scan problem areas in a body and send then to an American doctor to get a second opinion while the patient is still there. He is such a great person and if i come back to Africa anytime soon it will be to help him.

Due to lack of Time and Patience with the computer I am not going to post pictures at the moment, i will soon though. I hope you have enjoyed this novel of my last week and i sincerly hope you did not find it wikipediaish...yes it's a word...