TGIF & Saturday

TGIF

March 25

It’s Friday and NO SCHOOL for me.  But I will go down to Legacy and talk to a teacher down there and pick up my change from one of my purchases.  Then I’ll try and find Roselee and see what safari her son is going on when he comes here from the States with his wife and sister in law.  After that it’s wash the clothes and get them hung up in my room.

Saturday

March 26

What a day. I was up at 5am and out the door at 5:30am and walked down to Legacy. Jesse and another guy walked me down to the school, so I wouldn’t be walking in the dark all by little ole self. Anyway got to school, and guess what? My 8th graders were in the classroom working on homework at 6am. 6am these kids are doing school work.  Where did these kids come from? I mean who does that? I’ll tell you who, Kenyan’s do that.  Well I was shocked. 

Then we were off to Eldoret to the airport and Poa Place. Now the airport was a total bust because the kids couldn’t go in the terminal for a tour, and apparently no planes fly into Eldoret on Saturday so nothing was taking off or landing. It was a waste of time. Then we left and went to Poa Place. Now this place is kinda like a zoo, but it’s not. It’s a mini fair but it’s not, and people go there to have weddings, conventions, and the like.  The Zoo aspect of Poa Place is kinda neat. They have 3 kinds of Monkey’s and a few baboons. There was a baby baboon that was just 2 months old. SO cute! Then there’s the snake house where they keep, wait for it ... snakes.  LOL But the best thing this place has are 2 chetah’s one is 8 months old and the other is 5, and 2 lions, male and female. Oh they have a camel as well, but I can’t stand camels so who cares?  haha After the kids saw the animals, then they went to the fair part of the park. There they road a Merry Go Round, but not one with animals. This one just had the swings and it went round and round. Then the kids did other things, and some of them went swimming. I didn’t cause the water was green and I’d look like the great white whale is I put on my suit and went into the water LOL.  The kids seemed to have fun, one thing I noticed here is that not all kids know how to swim, well only 2 of them could actually swim, the others faked it. It’s not like there isn’t any water around here, I just hope Owen, Amon, and Carlos all learn how to swim.

The ride home was like the ride there, HELL... That road is horrible in areas. We almost got into 2 wrecks. But then again our driver is an old man and he really should retire, but I don’t think they retire here. Not sure. LOL

Pictures

Don't know why but I am unable to download pictures. If you want to see pics you can see them on my Facebook page. If you don't have facebook, then you'll need to wait until I get home.

Sunday Morning, nothing like Monday Morning the song

Sunday Morning, nothing like Monday Morning the song

March 20

Last night couldn’t sleep worth a darn. It was almost 2am when I finally was tired enough to go to sleep, but I’m not sure how long it took me to sleep. This morning I needed to get up early to go to another church with Alice. So here I sit in a skirt, yes a skirt and believe me it doesn’t happen often here, waiting for the car to come and get us. Apparently the church where we are going is an hour away. Not sure on that. Often Alice doesn’t communicate with me exactly what I need to know. Even when I ask. lol

So here we sit waiting on the guy with the car. Man I miss my truck.

We were finally on our way in, and I can’t believe I actually rode in one, a Matatu. Or more commonly known as a mini van turned into a taxi. On the way up to Kapnyarkwat. Now this village is populated by the Pokot people. They are a traditional tribe that has only recently began wearing clothes (thank you Lord!) They live in traditional tribal houses, and until recently their method of living was raiding cattle or what we call cattle rustling. I met the commander of the cattle raiders and we had lunch in his home. Litterally in his house. This particular band of people no longer raid cattle I was told, but I bet that they just might if the opportunity arose. I was told that the commander doesn’t participate in cattle raiding anymore because he became a Christian and he gave up his gun, an AK-47. 

I met another man, but he was younger than the commander. This guy’s name is William and he helps with the church that has begun in the village. William translates the Swahili to the native language of the Pokots.  It was very interesting having my English translated to Swahili and then translated to the language of the Pokot. I’m sure some of what I said was lost in translation. For me it was very confusing to speak and then have what I said translated twice. I kept getting ahead of the second translator and I had to really slow down and that’s when I get lost on what I am saying.

At the end of our time with the church William’s mother presented me with a gift. She gave me a beaded necklace that is commonly worn by women in the Pokot tribe and she gave me a gord that is used to ferment milk. Fermented milk is a very common drink to have in this part of Kenya. I’ve tried it and to me it’s yucky, and it smells worse.  It was suck a wonderful jester on this woman’s part I was stunned. I didn’t have any idea at all that this would happen, but I’m so glad it did.

Pastor Kibet and me

Yesterday was a good day. I went to town and after a bit I called Pastor Kibet and he came and met me for Lunch. We always have a good time. I can tell that man anything and he listens to me. It’s so refreshing. Here in Kenya I see a lot of hypocrisy in people and it’s driving me totally nuts. I know hypocrisy is alive and well in America, but here it’s so blatant it’s hard not to question Christianity in Africa. I think part of it comes from the culture and how deeply embedded the culture is here in East Africa. I’m not sure, I’m only speculating. It’s odd, but real.

Saturday Night

I'm just gonna say it.  This town is so flippin' boring!! It's 10pm on a Saturday night and what do we do? We go to bed! UGG. I want to go to a movie, meet friends for coffee or heck even a drink! There is nothing to do in this town, I mean NOTHING. GRRR

OK the one thing I like to do is watch one, I mean ONE, TV show. It's called Soy Tu Duena and yes it's dubbed in English but it's just getting good but what do people do when I'm trying to watch the bloody show?  They TALK. It drives me NUTS.. I mean don't they know its rude to talk during someone's only entertainment. It's not like I can watch again tomorrow, but what does Alice do? She talks all during the show.  Drives me nuts.

OH tomorrow I get to go to a church that is an hour away and I might get to give my testimony or tell people all about my life since Robb died. I've done it twice so far, and I'll be honest I don't want to do it again. I just don't.  

I think a friend said it best, buy some beer and go have a beer with Spot! At least he wouldn't talk during Soy Tu Duena!

No Holiday Here

No Holiday Here

March 17 2nd installment

St. Patrick’s day is just not celebrated here in Kenya like it is back home. No green rivers, no green hats, and no green beer.  When it comes to night life, there is none here in Kitale, so you all can stop worrying about Cait having a good ole time in Kitale Town. It just ain’t happening. There is literally nothing to do at night here. There are no  malls to hit, no coffee shops to visit with friends, and no movie theaters in town. There are bars, but you don’t go in them without an arsenal of firearms at your disposal. So you could say it’s pretty darn boring here in Kitale. I’m sure people get together for meals and the like, but not here at Alice’s house. So I’m not sure if it’s a Kenyan thing or just an Alice thing in not having people over for dinner.  Mary has come a couple of times, but she’s Alice’s best friend and they get together often. As for people from church, nope no one has come over via an invitation for dinner. Odd I think, but then again this is Africa.

At the secondary school today the student’s were engaged in different sports. Netball, Badminton, Volleyball, Football (soccer), and tennis. What these kids need is a coach. Especially for the tennis. I was watching them and oh boy they sure are using the racket wrong. Now it’s been a heck of a long time that I’ve taken tennis lessons, but I did when I was a kid. What I saw was a bunch of kids wanting to play the game, but unable to correctly hit the ball because they lack a coach. I would love to coach them, but I am not a tennis player by any stretch of the definition and I don’t know enough about the basics to teach them. I wish I could, but alas I can not.

I was asked

I was asked if I was ever worried about being charged by an elephant or lion while I'm walking through fields?  OK, just so everyone knows, I'm not even close to any elephants or lions. The largest wildlife I've heard here in Kitale are monkeys, aside from the rhino that I petted at Capt. Davies. My biggest worry when I walk through a field is whether or not the bull will charge me, and I do my best to stay away from him!

What I Miss

What I miss

March 17

I’ve been here in Kitale for 10 weeks now and I must say there are things back home that I really miss. Aside from my family I mean. Things that I start thinking about and all I want to do is get on a plane and come on home. I never thought I’d miss things as much as this, and it’s not just things but it’s food as well. 

I miss my stuff. I know stuff shouldn’t be focused on but I’m being honest here OK. I miss being able to watch my TV. I know it shouldn’t matter, but TV here is so horrible. If you don’t have a satellite dish you get like 4 channels. Now the shows are either in Swahili or in English. The English shows are OK, but it’s nothing like NCIS or Hawaii 5-0. Then the actors here just don’t do it for me, if you catch my drift. Then there are some shows that are filmed in Mexico but dubbed in English, and those are sorta ok, but most of the time the plot is so easy to figure out. Then there is really no variety of shows to watch. There’s no Food Network, TLC, USANetwork, Discovery, and a host of others. It’s so sad really. Well for me it’s sad ok. I must say that if TLC’s What Not To Wear ever did a show here in Kenya it would be a HOOT!!! Up here in Kitale fashion isn’t what you’d expect. 

I miss my truck.  I know I shouldn’t but I do. I miss not being able to drive my own self where I need to go. Like today for instance. I needed to go into town to get some stuff printed, but I couldn’t go because it was raining. I get to town via a motorbike, and there’s no way on this earth I’m going to get on a bike when it’s raining outside. It’s just not safe to do so.  So I miss my vehicle. 

I miss the foods I like.  Pot Roast, Fried Chicken, Taco’s, Hamburgers, Potato Salad, Macaroni salad, Chicken and rice, Steak, Baked Potatoes, and the list goes on and on. I miss my favorites. Coffee Ice Cream, Chocolate Pudding, Cake with yummy frosting, most of these you can’t get here. I did find Coffee Ice Cream at the Coffee Shop, but it’s not like home. I would love a piece of cake, yellow with chocolate frosting, oh ya that sounds so good to me. You see, cake here isn’t cake at all. It’s yucky. I just don’t like it and I don’t see the point of eating it if I don’t like it. What I did find here are grapefruit. Expensive as all get out, but so totally worth the money to buy them.  In town, there are no Mexican, Chinese, or Italian restaurants to be found at all. Maybe in Eldoret there might be, but here in Kitale that would be a NO.  Then driving to Eldoret isn’t easily done because the road is crap and not something you do on a whim.

I miss my house. I miss my front window with my plantation blinds. I miss how the light comes through in the mornings. I miss my office where I can be surrounded by my books and my computer and printers and be totally content. I miss my Aspen Trees in my back yard and how the leaves flicker in the wind. I miss my books, I know silly, but it’s true. My books don’t just reside in my office, they are basically all over the house. They are like dear friends that will come along with me to visit another world in story. Love my books. Here in Kitale books stores aren’t what you would think, but that’s another story. I miss my shower!!! Man I miss my shower.  I miss hot water spraying down on me.  I miss my queen size bed with the pillow top and my down comforter.  Here in Kenya I don’t have a pillow top mattress, what I have instead is a really thick hard mattress made of foam.  I bought this mattress because the one that was there was thin and broken down so it didn’t provide any comfort between me and the boards supporting the mattress. Then today the faucet on the shower here broke so I’m not sure how that’s gonna get fixed. More than likely I’ll buy the parts and then have someone fix it.  I miss my kitchen and my sink OH and my dishwasher. I really miss my washing machine and dryer.  I did my wash today and it’s hanging here in my room, and not drying because it’s been raining. UGG    Man I miss HOME.