Cracker Barrel, I missed your country cookin'.

Well, my first major holiday in Kenya (sans American family) has gone and passed. While it wasn't too bad, minus the amount of delicious food I missed, I have a feeling Christmas may be a bit more difficult. Although, not having to rack up the miles on my precious Pontiac Sunfire driving to a handful of family gatherings was actually quite enjoyable. I spent the weekend with a couple other volunteers and surprisingly, we cooked mostly Kenyan food. Our Thanksgiving dinner was nothing compared to the one cooked at Jill's house which included a freshly killed, stuffed, and cooked turkey and other homemade American side dishes, but it was still delicious. Lee Ann kicked butt two days in a row making chapati, with the help of her devastatingly handsome assistant, Louis.  In addition, she made us fudge two days in a row. Glorious. I pretty much just stood around looking good and waiting for Lee Ann to tell me which vegetable to chop. I was also the self-designated dish washer since I wasn't helping with the cooking.

We stayed at DaMon's place which is located in the Taita Hills in Coast Province. It's absolutely gorgeous there. Everything is green and there are flowing rivers and waterfalls in every direction. I took a handful of photos on a hike we went on one afternoon but due to a problem with the internet connection recently, I won't be able to post them until I am in a bigger town/city with 3G coverage. But just take my word for it, it's awesome.

Speaking of awesome. I've noticed through recent status updates on good ole facebook that I seem to be abusing that word. I think it's time to start looking for another word from the 80's to use as a sentence enhancer. Yes, a sentence-enhancer. Much better than an adjective.

Work wise, I was able to discuss different funding options with my supervisor, finally. She claims we already have proposals written and it's just a matter of some minor editing and then we can send them off. Great. Now I wonder if I'll get said proposals sometime this week... In addition, I'm becoming the annoying mzungu who sends multiple e-mails in a week and also makes at least one to two phone calls a week to the same person/place with hopes of getting a response in a decent amount of time. Just so you know, this isn't working very well but I'm going to continue to be annoying whether they like it or not. Annoying is practically second nature to me so they really have no idea what they're in for.

Marking my Territory

So I realize it's been a while. I apologize. I'm just so darn busy reading books and watching movies I can't seem to find the time to write on my blog . But anywho, this week was relatively eventful.
 
Quick recap:

1. Spent a ridiculous amount of time in the office getting angry with my internet connection.
2. Finished the third season of Friday Night Lights and as a result, I'm now alternating living as a 23 year-old in Peace Corps Kenya and a 13 year-old teenage girl with completely unrealistic crushes on two of the main actors on that show.
3. Got really sun burnt on the right side of my body and mildly sun burnt on the left side.
4. Re-taught myself how to jump rope.
5. Finally called embassies and other large, slightly generous organizations to see if they would accept proposals for funding for my organization. Got one yes, one no, two no answers, one voicemail, and a partridge in a pear tree.
6. Called an organization called SACDEP to see if they could come talk to my community about how to better their already existing greenhouse and fish ponds. Still waiting for the call back I was supposed to receive yesterday.
7. Beat my high scores for every level of difficultly in Snake on my phone.
8. Made a new Kenyan friend that is actually my age.
9. Got the leaks in my roof fixed and some cement poured in front of my door to close off the gap where small (and not so small) reptiles and insects enter.
10. Carved my initials in the wet cement.

Phew. This week was a doozy.

But most exciting part (no, not my outstanding Snake skills) is that I made a new friend. Unfortunately she doesn't live in my village but rather in Nairobi. She's my counterpart's sister's friend's daughter (did you follow that one?). Her mom and dad are missionaries for Kenya but they are Kenyan. They lived on and off in California and Kenya for many years but they haven't been back to the states in a while. Her English is incredible. I can speak at a normal speed and like a (somewhat) normal person with her and that's awesome. Remember, it's the little things that make me happy these days.

I've finally decided that I will be doing something for Thanksgiving. Planning on heading to another volunteer's house for the weekend. Thanksgiving dinner won't even be close to what I'm used to in the states but at least I'll be with some fellow Americans. I will be missing Thanksgiving breakfast at Cracker Barrel though and that bums me out quite a bit, surprisingly enough. Gotta love that country cookin' and the Bosecker boys struggling through their day after Snakesgiving. I love my family.

In other news, I'm still working with the other girls to finalize the library project. Hoping to get it up on the website before Christmas to try and get people to donate while they're still in the giving mood. We plan to meet again in a little less than a month and iron out all the details (hopefully). Twice this week I secretly disposed of the goat meat on my dinner plate to first, a four year old seated next to me and second, to the cat. We never have meat at the house so I'm just banking on that being a rare event. My stealth skills are steadily improving. The greenhouse is almost ready for it's first harvest! I'm pretty excited about that and I've already declared I will be a regular customer. Can't wait to eat tomatoes like it's my job. Also, there's a hole in one of the couches at the main house that the cats climb in and out of and the other day one of the cats climbed in there and gave birth to a litter. I think there's only two or three kittens but that's just guessing by the meowing because the mama cat hasn't brought them out yet. I'm totally taking one.

Finally, to my family, I miss and love you all. This time of year is definitely going to be the hardest but we made it through the 4th of July and Halloween just fine, so Thanksgiving and Christmas should be a piece of cake.....right? :( I'll be thinking of all of you and incredibly jealous of the delicious foods you are eating. I can't even bring myself to think of Sara's ham at Christmas. It almost brings me to tears. I missed it last year so that will make it three years in a row. Pretty sure I'm going to need my own personal ham my first Christmas back. I'll be so used to gaining weight at that point I won't have any shame in eating an entire ham. Again, love and miss you all and I think of you all every day.

But let's end this on a happy note... Dad, this one's for you.

I'm so three-thousand and eight.
You so two-thousand and late.
I got that boom boom boom.
That future boom boom boom.