Well, here were are again with not much to discuss.

It's still been pretty slow moving since I've gotten back to site. And I mean slow moving in every way possible. The temperature has increased by about 20 degrees since before IST so now I be sure to take my time when I walk into town or anywhere for that matter. It's really the Kenyan way to walk incredibly slow so no one judges me for moving at a snail's pace. In addition to the heat that rolls in around 10am and sticks around until about 10pm, the sun seems to be a bit more harsh than I remember. It doesn't take any longer than 10 minutes in direct sunlight for me to notice substantial progress on my farmer's tan and an increase in the number of freckles on my face. Honestly though, I thank the Lord that I'm semi-required to wear skirts every day. It's like environmentally friendly air conditioning.

Mango season is right around the corner. 

 Still have yet to sit down in a meeting with my supervisor and counterpart to discuss what the h-e-double hockey sticks I'm supposed to be doing right now. I've tried telling my supervisor I would like to meet with her on more than one occasion but she always seems to be doing something out in the field or needing me to type up something for her like I'm her personal secretary. Regardless, I'm trying to keep myself busy. I visited one of the secondary schools in the next town over, Kakuswi, and spoke with the principal there. He's slowly becoming one of my favorite people in this area. I talked with him about teaching a class on life skills and picked up the text book from him so I could look it over and also discussed teaching a computer course. He was thrilled that I was willing to do this. I was thrilled at the thought of having something to do one or two days out of the week so all in all, it was a good day for the both of us. I also threw it in there that a lot of the adults in my town, including my supervisor and counterpart, are very interested in learning how to use a computer and was wondering if I could start a class for them sometime when the computer lab was available. He also thought this was an excellent idea and agreed to allow me to do this and also to let the adults do this free of charge. He then told me I was now one of the staff and they were going to make a spot for me in the time table. Then he took me into the teachers' lounge and told me to sit and have tea with the teachers and have them designate a desk for me. Due to my love of Kenyan tea, I was more than happy to stay and chat with the teachers although it's becoming increasingly more difficult to slurp down a scalding hot cup of tea when it's 90 degrees outside. On a previous visit to this school, I told the principal and a couple of the teachers that I studied Biology and Psychology in college, so they also want me to help teach Biology but I'm thinking I'm going to try and get out of that one. I'm happy to teach the life skills and computer classes because they don't exist yet so I'll be the one making up the syllabus, lesson plans, etc. whereas if I was to assist in teaching Biology, that wouldn't be the case and I think I might end up pulling my hair out.

My two favorite ladies on the compound, (from left) Stella and Gladys. 

Another thing the principal and my counterpart, who's the chairman of the PTA at this school, discussed with me is that they would like to start a school library. The principal is asking every PTA member to donate at least one novel that they have lying around. Naturally, they asked me if I had any books I would be willing to donate. Unfortunately, I don't think any of my books would 1) interest a Kenyan high school student and 2) be at a reading level suitable for a high school student who's first language isn't English. But I would also like to see Kenyans read for leisure more often and it's better to have them start now while they are in school rather than expect them to pick it up on their own after they're done. So, I'm going to Nairobi this Thursday to visit the Kenya Book Foundation. Supposedly they have many books to look through and they sell them for a pretty low rate. I mainly just want to go and see what they have to offer and how the school would go about registering with them. Hopefully it's a trip well worth the money I'll be paying for travel, food, etc. In addition, I've sent an e-mail to the superintendent of good ole Meridian C.U.S.D. #223 to see if he can perhaps put the word out there and possibly throw together a care package of old books from any of the schools or libraries in the district to send to the school. Which brings me to my next point, I'm willing to accept any donations of even just one old novel that would be suitable for a high-school aged student or younger. The book doesn't have to be in mint condition, by any means, but having all of its pages and covers intact would be greatly appreciated. If this is something you would be willing to do, please shoot me an e-mail at ljrippe@gmail.com first because if I get enough offers to help, I'll just have them sent to my wonderful Mom's house and then her and I can work out the details on shipping (hope that's OK, Mom!).

How people in my community get water.  

This last Sunday I moseyed on over to Andrea's side of the river for the day. Neither of us had anything going on so I figured I'd pay her a well-deserved visit since she's always coming my way. I got all tourist-y on my walk over there and took a handful of pictures until my camera died and once I arrived she handed me quite possibly the greatest thing anyone has ever given me since I arrived in Kenya. A plate full of no bake cookies and a glass of milk. I savored every bite and then wept slightly when there was nothing but crumbs left on the plate. On our stroll through the bush over to her supervisors house we were initially greeted/yelled at by a man who could clearly see us because he was yelling "mzungu" over and over but we could not see him at all and then shortly thereafter we were not so pleasantly surprised to run into a 3 foot long snake. In traditional American way, we stopped dead in our tracks, screamed, grabbed onto each other, and then quickly walked/ran away. In traditional snake way, immediately upon realizing it was not alone it slithered away into the bush before we were even done shrieking. Upon arriving at our destination, we found her supervisor's husband at the gate of the compound explaining that he heard us scream and thought we were in trouble so he was about to come save us. Being the smart cookies we are, Andrea and I both carried a stick with us on our walk home as a weapon of defense against any other reptiles that we might encounter. Thankfully, we made it home without having to use them.

On my way to Andrea's...

As I said before, I'm heading back into Nairobi on Thursday to run some errands (nothing like taking a 3+ hour bus ride and booking a hotel room solely to run errands) but on Friday, Andrea and I are heading up to the other part of Eastern Province where our friends Jill and Clare live to spend the weekend with them. It's another 5 hour bus ride to Jill's but she's got a posh apartment complete with stove and refrigerator so I'm willing to make the trip if I get to have cold beverages all weekend.