so the year comes to an end...

So the holiday season is almost over... Christmas didn't really feel like Christmas this year. Nairobi weather is nowhere close to that of NYC or Philly. So I went to church on Christmas morning. We were given two packs of flour and a tub of cooking fat. That was the gift. Later I visited Inspiration Centre to help eat a goat that had been slaughtered earlier that day. I opened an enourmous pot, only to find a charred goat's head in a rolling boil. That was the dinner. I helped hand out pencils and little "happy meal" toys to eager children. American kids would laugh at me if I handed them one of those as a gift...

I made it home in time to watch "Storm Over Paradise," the soap opera all of Kenya is currently addicted to. So the story is the same... Imar has yet to find her true paradise love, Nicholas, and I have yet to find my holiday spirit in this foreign land. Will the holidays really be over so soon???

On another note...

Last week I spent some time at a wedding in Najile, learning about Maasai life and culture:


Low Point: having to greet men by bowing and letting them pat my head.

Lower Point: repeatedly stepping in thorns... (flip flops are cute but useless)

High Point: riding on a motorcyclye to Maasai market, using my up and coming swahili to vegetables and fabric.

Higher Point: visiting a few traditional Maasai compounds (homes) and being given the name "Kijoolu," meaning "she just arrived."

This week I will be leaving my current host family to live with another. A bit nervous... new beginning for a new year... Happy 2010... maybe.

turkey murder

Here's my friend Godfrey with the kids during the Buildabridge camp.

Happy belated thanksgiving!

okay, this post has to be quick...

I went with my english students to the Giraffe center in Nairobi. We had a great time feeding them and it it said that giraffe spit is medicine....

I spent a week in Mathare slum teaching kids art. The week went by so fast, with alot of drama too...

-my cell phone fell into a latrine (toilet) and was fished out by a man with rubber gloves. (Horrible to see... horrible to smell...)

-i witnessed a turkey being murdered for thanksgiving dinner (what a horror!)

but other than that, all is well with me. I'm doing okay, and so is my stomach. It's been tough getting to the internet though.

Happy holidays... njoy the cold weather folks... heheheh!