PCV Baby!

What I wrote a couple day ago:

No longer a PCT. It has been such a long time coming, but I am FINALLY an official Peace Corps Volunteer! And I am so proud to be a part of the Peace Corps. After the craziest 9 weeks of my life to date, we made it to Nairobi for a few days and eagerly awaited our swearing in ceremony on Wednesday. We were sworn in at the Deputy Chief of Mission’s house, the second in command at the embassy. The home made me feel like I was walking through the Breakers mansions in New England, and the food was even better. My stomach yelled at me that night for downing so many cookies, but I couldn’t help myself.

Nairobi gave us access to SO many things that we had not seen for 9 weeks; namely cheese, free wireless, and western toilets. It’s practically paradise. Tuesday night before the big day (as if the vacay in Nairobi couldn’t get any better) we even went to town and saw Harry Potter. I got a movie, a hot dog (with real mustard!), popcorn (with real butter!), a coke, and a chocolate milkshake, all for the equivalent of about 7 bucks. Awesome.

We also had a chance to meet our supervisors in Nairobi. They came from all over the country to attend our swearing in ceremony, and then take us back to site. The headmistress of my school in Kilifi came to get me, and she is super nice. She seems very progressive and eager to start up lots of clubs with the students. Count me in! Looks like I will also be teaching 1 or 2 computer classes, and possibly English. I want to start my Life Skills class as well, but not sure if I’m allowed to until 2^nd term. We’ll see. The other volunteer that was at my site in Kilifi has gone home, so I am now on my own at the school. Part of me thinks it’s better this way though. I can’t wait to be settled, to be comfortable teaching, and to just feel like I belong.

Overall training was wonderful, stressful, educational, frustrating, and the best thing ever. Here’s some things that I learned in my pre-service training for Peace Corps Kenya, in no particular order.

1. PB& J is a life saver. As is American candy.
2. I have to adjust the way I speak in order for most Kenyans to understand me. Annunciate everything and don’t use contractions. If you’ve talked to me on the phone here you’ve witnessed this.
3. I feel so lucky to be in deaf education. I can’t wait to start teaching.
4. Taking things one day at a time is just about the only way to go.
5. My group here is pretty much the best group I could have ever asked for.
6. I now know exactly how animals in zoos and celebrities feel on a daily basis.
7. National exams are just about the worst thing ever.
8. I feel even luckier to have received the education I did in the States. Being here has taught me how much I appreciate the American education system.
9. They have plows in Africa too, though not for snow… for mud.
10. “Mzungu” and “’Ow ah you!” are probably the most obnoxious things in the world.
11. It is totally possible and actually quite easy to live without running water or electricity.
12. Kenyan families are not that much different from American families; they laugh and miss and cry and love, and just like mine back home, have a great way of showing me what’s really important.

What I wrote today:

So this post has been mulling over in a word document for the longest time, and I finally now have time to post. Swearing in was an absolute party, I drank a little too much afterwards, and though I didn’t feel so hot traveling the next day, it was the perfect way to end PST. We got up early early on Thursday morning because the trip to Kilifi is not short. Took a taxi to the bus station, took about a 9 hour bus ride to Mombasa, took another hour bus ride into Kilifi town, and a couple tuk tuks to my headmistresses house. Another volunteer, Alli (also in Deaf Ed.), has a supervisor who is out of town for the next week. So she is staying with me for the time being. It’s absolutely wonderful not being alone right away. So since my house was a shambles when we got to Kilifi on Thursday night, we stayed at my headmistress’s house. Kenyan’s are so hospitable it’s redonkulous. We had a full dinner, a nice cold bath, and a comfortable bed. I think I was asleep before my head hit the pillow.

Friday we made our way over to my house at Kibarani, the primary school for the deaf compound. I think I am really going to like it here. There are always people to say hi to, there are people to take me to town to pick up furniture, there’s a couple small kids who think I’m deaf, and there’s always some very crazy cows trying to eat my laundry. My house is SUPER old, but definitely better than what some of the other volunteers have. It’s got 2 bedrooms, a spacious sitting room, kitchen, walk-in pantry, bathroom, and electricity and running water that are present but very fickle. I have headlamps and water storage tanks for when they decide to go out, so life could be a lot worse. The house, however, was dirtier than all get-out when I moved in, and if you know me at all, you know I hate dirt and I love to clean. Kenyan’s are also not big on aesthetics, so I’ve taken the liberty of repainting the whole inside of the house too. We are well into the throws of priming everything, and I’m still not sure what color will be the finish coat, but anything is better than the satanic blood red that it was before. It’s going to take a few more weeks to get everything finished, but if this is home for the next two years, it needs to be HOME, and not just a dirty cement shack. So aside from the extremely abundant ants, termites, spiders, lizards, cockroaches, giant millipedes, mice, and frogs that find their way into every corner of the house, this place isn’t bad, and it’s gonna be a lot better when I’m done with it.

My house is about a half hour walk from town, and a little bit longer to the new supermarket they just put in! Hooray for living in a tourist town! Tusky’s is fantastic; it’s got fresh bread, and apples, and cleaning supplies, and furniture and clothes and almost everything else. I love it. I feel so lucky to be in Kilifi. Another good thing about this town is that there is already a group of mzungus from all over the place that live here too and hang out all the time. Some from the states, Ireland, the UK and plenty of other PCVs on the coast as well that will hopefully come visit me at some point. I’m pretty sure these white people are going to be crucial to my sanity out here. They do dinner about once a week and drinks even more often. It’s wonderful.

Also, I am SO excited to start teaching. Model School really helped my confidence in the front of a classroom and since I already know a lot of the kids, it will hopefully be an easier transition than I thought. It still scares me that I’m going to be here for two whole years, but hopefully I’ll get over that.

So I know it’s almost Christmas or something, and apparently there’s been snow back home, but that’s all I want to hear about it. I sweat in unbelievable amounts here, and I’m pretty sure I won’t see rain for a few more months. When I think too hard about the holiday season back home I get a little sad, so I don’t like doing that.

I hope everyone is happy and healthy and enjoying winter! I miss you all like nobody’s business, and really hope I get to come home next Christmas. Love you all and Happy Holidays from East Africa!

~ Shub :)

Swearing in, hallucinations, and condom relay races!

It's officially been a little over 7 seven weeks that I've been in Kenya, but it feels like 7 months. We have one more week of training left and then we head to Nairobi to become real volunteers! And even though I'm extremely excited about the prospect of swearing in, I have recently been scared silly about the fact that it's not a given. Apparently people have taken the whole swearing in thing for granted and it came back and bit them in the ass, AKA they were sent home. I have already passed my language exam, and I think I've done everything else ok throughout training, but I am now fully aware of the fact that this is a privilege and swearing in is not something that's owed to me. As anxious as I am to get going, I'm still going to work as hard as I can this last week, and just hope for the best. The thought of being sent home after the past 7 weeks is absolutely unthinkable. So I won't think about it. One week till swearing in!

On a funnier (maybe scarier?) note, I forgot to post about my first meph hallucination a few weeks ago. Mephaquine is the malaria phrophylaxis drug they have a lot of us on, and it's super super strong. It can really screw with your emotional well-being and also can cause very vivid, sometimes lucid dreams. And if you're REALLY lucky, you get hallucinations too :) So a few weeks ago I woke up standing on my pillow. I don't remember getting up to stand on my pillow. But I also was spinning in circles. What's funnier is if you picture it because the mosquito net is only so high, so I was hunched over, standing on my pillow, spinning in circles, and that's the position I woke up in. I was doing this, of course, because there were thousands and thousands of those giant scarab beetles from The Mummy Returns inside my mosquito net with me. I'm not sure why spinning in circles would have helped this situation at all, but whatever. It took me a couple seconds to fully come to, and realize this was the meph talking, and the beetles slowly disappeared. It was uber scary for just those few seconds, and from then until now it's just been really funny. Hope you enjoyed the story! I will definitely continue posting about the hallucinations, as long as they're not too crazy.

So this is unrelated, but still very funny. My 5 year high school reunion just took place over Thanksgiving and I was given a little reminder here in Loitokitok, Kenya. There are these things here called piki pikis, which are essentially a motorbike-taxi type situation. They drive WAY too fast and scare the jibblies out of the mzungus on a frequent basis. Anyways, I was walking through town the other day and saw a piki piki driver (old Kenyan man probably around 50) wearing a QOHS Cheer jacket. This was an old cheerleading jacket from Quince Orchard, my high school in Gaithersburg, Maryland, and since no one else in Peace Corps Kenya went to QO, I was the only one blown away by this. Once I told my friends that the piki piki driver was wearing a cheerleading jacket from my high school, they recognized the craziness of it too. Ahhh!! Feels like home! (Just kidding).

I said before that I would update on the whole Model School situation. The week actually went just as fast as I was hoping and I am much more confident about teaching now. Though Amanda and I only had 6 students for the week, we both taught about 8 lessons, and even gave exams at the end of the week. The students did way better than I expected, considering 25% is passing in Kenya. I got better at organizing my lessons, at explaining things in sign, and also at understanding the kids when they sign to me. Just being around them all week helped my signing improve. Lord knows what two years will do! All in all, I think Model School was a success, and it definitely would not have been without the help of the current PCVs. I could not be more grateful for them. I'm even more excited now to start actually teaching, the way I want to, not the way the Kenyan teachers want me to. I'm thrilled to start up a Life Skills class in Kilifi, and I just can't wait to be teaching the deaf kids. I may just be a little partial, but I am so happy to not be teaching in a hearing classroom. Deaf kids just seem more well-behaved, more attentive, and they definitely participate more, which is key. I did only have 6 kids all week though. Oh well! We'll see how it goes :)

Model School consisted of teaching in the morning, and playing Life Skills games and doing things like Science Fair in the evening and afternoon. Wednesday afternoon was a Life Skills day. It was dedicated entirely to the proper care and use of condoms. Hooray! It's a great thing for these kids to learn, since it can mean the difference between HIV positive and negative. The Peace Corps in their infinite wisdom supplied us with about 50 wooden penises, and TONS of condoms. We had students volunteer to put a condom on in front of the rest of the class, making sure to check the expiration date, check for an air bubble, not open with their teeth, and so on. Guess who volunteered? The deaf kids! After that we had condom water balloon toss, blow-up condom hot potato, and condom relay races. By the end of the day everyone had put a condom on a wooden penis at least once. It was fantastic. It also teaches these kids to not be afraid to talk about things like sex and HIV. It helps them understand more about themselves, about what they're allowed to say no to, and just about being smart. Peace Corps LOVES condoms, so this was a great day.

I think that's about it for now. I spent the day at the market with Mama, so now I'm gonna go make some guacamole for dinner and dream about having it with some fish tacos and a couple gin n' tonics. Again, soak up the holiday season for me! I miss it like whoa.

Happy December!

~ Shub :)

An African Thanksgiving.. and some other things

Well it certainly wasn't like any Thanksgiving I've had before, but it definitely was fantastic. Here's a recap: We stayed at Outward Bound, a camp/resort-type place where we spend many a medical session learning about STDs and getting shots. Thankfully neither of those were included in Thanksgiving. We rolled in around 10am Friday morning and promptly broke into our first stock of beer. We helped the staff guys set up our tents for the night, and then decided to do some hanging around. Hanging around turned into a few games of American football followed by ultimate frisbee. This turned into us taking over the Outward Bound kitchen to start making our desserts. This was around noon. Dinner was at 6. Desserts turned into appetizers which was soon followed up by more hanging around. This persisted for a while until we decided to start cooking dinner around 5. The Outward Bound kitchen staff cooked some, but we spent a lot of time telling them not to put too much grease in things, and to put certain spices in other things. We wanted things to taste as American as possible. One of the girls in the group even volunteered to slaughter our chickens! I tried telling the cooks that in America our food isn't running around the field with us a few hours before it's in our bellies. They weren't quite sure what to think. So dinner ended up happening around 7. We had our own room, we had a giant table, and we had enough space to sit just about all 26 of us, plus a few PC staff. Before eating we all went around the table and said what we were thankful for. This included everything from friends and family back home, to the American taxpayer, to large African beers, to the best Thanksgiving some people had ever had. It was the happiest I have been in PST so far. One trainee stood up and said "I'm thankful that you guys are a lot weirder than I thought you would be." This got a giant round of applause. Training has been the most frustrating thing, and being with everyone for this holiday made it all worth it.

Dinner was chicken, mashed potatoes, spaghetti and homemade sauce, I made an avocado pineapple salad, a few Kenyan foods that I refused to touch for one night, and a million delicious desserts. It was the best meal in Kenya yet and and I could not be more thankful for it. After dinner we had our own private bonfire until it started raining. A couple flooded tents later I was sharing a two-person tent with 3 other people and loving every minute of it. I didn't sleep much through the night but that gave me more time to think about the amazing food I had just consumed.

We all woke up at the crack of dawn, waited for breakfast at 8:30, settled the beer money, and walked back to town. All in all it was definitely one of the best Thanksgivings I've ever had. Nothing really beats Thanksgiving with my family, but this certainly ran a close second. One might even say it was actually quite similar since these people are my family here :)

On a more serious note, I had the scariest night so far in Africa last week. It was the first time I was truly afraid. Here's what happened: My little sister Margaret (who is 5) and little cousin Mary (who is 3) did not come home from school when they were supposed to. My other sister Ann (13) went back to look for them 4 times but they were no where to be found. I had just gotten home from class when I found all this out, and as soon as I got home, everyone left to go look for them and told me to stay home. I was alone in the house thinking about my missing siblings when all I wanted to do was help look for them. Soon the whole town was out looking as well. About an hour later I heard hysterical crying down the road. It was Mama. She couldn't even walk back to the house by herself she was crying so hard. I thought the worst had happened. Apparently they still could not be found, and Mama was so upset because people from Tanzania come to Loitokitok to kidnap children, rape them, and then take their skin. The thought of something so horrific happening to my little Margaret made me want to explode. Soon there were 8 or 10 neighbors in the house with Mama and I, trying to calm her down. They yelled for a good 45 minutes in Kiswahili while I sat holding Mama's hand, helpless and totally clueless as to what was going on. FINALLY an English phrase popped in: "They are coming." I wasn't going to believe it until I saw it. The other bad thing was it was almost dark. Night comes in the blink of an eye on the equator, and I imagine Africa at night as it is in I Am Legend; everyone turns into Zombies and no one is safe. Margaret and Mary eventually showed up just as the sun was going down. I have never felt more relieved in my entire life. It's surprising how much I love my family here, even though I've lived with them for only 5 weeks. Turns out the girls had gone to someone else's house after school, where they had never been before, and without telling anyone. Mama held Maggie so tight I think she learned her lesson. All in all it was super stressful, freaked me out, and made me miss my real family even more. Whew.

Moving on. This week is Model School. Current PCVs have brought their students from all over Kenya to Loitokitok so that we can practice teaching them. It's free education for them, it's extra help that they might need in math and science, and it's wonderful practice for us. While everyone else in the group is teaching 3 lessons throughout the week, Amanda and I are teaching 8 a piece. Story of our lives in PST. Also, everyone else gets to teach in English, while Amanda and I actually have to teach in the language we're learning. *Sigh.* So we team-taught two Biology Form 1 lessons this morning, and although it was pretty horrible for both our first times teaching, it wasn't a complete disaster. We certainly have a lot to learn, but we also have all week to practice. More updates on Model School later.

Just about everyone in the group has been sick so far, and I was kind of just waiting my turn, which unfortunately hit me last night. Apparently we're the sickest group PCKenya has seen in a long time. So I'm eating plain rice, bananas, and attempting to down some oral rehydration salts, which taste like I'm drinking the Pacific. Hopefully I'll get better for the rest of Model School. Great timing!

Anywho, I basically cannot WAIT to get to site. As much as I love my host family, PST cannot end soon enough. Last night I was trying to talk to my Mama and sisters about when I leave in 2 weeks, and every time I opened my mouth they started screaming really loud and talking over me. They refuse to admit that I'm leaving and probably have plans to lock me in the house so I never leave. It's definitely a good feeling :)

OH! And I forgot to say that I passed my LPI (Language Exam) for KSL and have started Kiswahili lessons. We'll see how that goes.

So even though I'm not there yet, I have changed the address to my new one in Kilifi. Beau will pick up anything that gets there before I do. But I doubt in two weeks anything will. I have received letters and packages so far (hint hint) if you want to send anything :) Getting mail is just about my favorite thing in the Peace Corps.

I think that's about it for now. Hope everyone's Thanksgiving was just as good as mine and I hope you all enjoy the holiday consumerism back home! We don't have anything like that here. Sing some carols for me and get an extra pretty Christmas tree too.

Love love love from Africa. Miss you all.

~ Shub :)

Niko Sawa

So I haven't been able to post for a bit because my computer was out of juice and and we haven't had electricity for a few days. Luckily, the Catholic church we have been having classes at does have electricity. It's all good now.

Training has been coming along, though is slowly getting more and more frustrating. For one thing, Amanda and I have not had one full week in the same city yet. This is good because we have experience with traveling around the country (which is pretty much a contact sport here), but we are sick and tired of living out of our backpacks. Since we are the outliers in the group (the only ones teaching at deaf secondary schools) we've had to go all kinds of places to get our training requirements in. I'll survive, I just would like at least one weekend at home. *Sigh*.

So next week we have to travel back to Machakos (the first city we were in after Nairobi) for our first language exam. This is where the rest of the deaf ed. group is, so the people testing us are there too. Thankfully right when we come back it's Thanksgiving. For those of you that don't know, this is my all-time favorite holiday. For me, there is absolutely nothing better than my family mixed with a day full of football and fantastic food. It won't be the easiest thing being in Africa for it, but at least I have a family here. The other volunteers (there are 26 of us total in Loitokitok) have rented some tents next Friday at a place called Outward Bound, which is a base camp resort thing for climbing Kilimanjaro. The Peace Corps has decided to pay for our dinner and breakfast the next morning. It won't be like any Thanksgiving I've had before, but it will at least be interesting, and I definitely won't be alone.

I also already have Christmas plans. Which is good because Christmas happens right after we all swear in and get to site and realize how alone we truly are. Thankfully there is another volunteer at my site, some more on the coast, others a little bit inland, and tons of other mzungus in Kilifi. We will be roasting a pig at a friend's beach house and hopefully drinking the night away. Christmas in Africa!

Before Peace Corps my blog posts relied solely on the photos I had to back them up. I think now it will be opposite. I will post photos when I can, but there is so much to say that posting without photos may be a common occurrence.

We have been spending the last few weeks learning about the education system in Kenya. From my perspective now, Americans do 2 things really well: equality and education. I feel SO lucky to have gotten the education I did, and most of the time have it handed to me on a silver platter. Sure, I worked for my diploma and degree and stuff, but I just took for granted that I even had the opportunity. Education in Kenya, like most other things run by the government, is relatively corrupt. In order to move from primary to secondary school (our equivalent of grade school then high school, respectively) students must pass these national exams. They also have other national exams after form 4 (12th grade) which are comprehensive from the last 4 years and are super hard. Normally a 25% is passing, and last year, only 30% did pass. And even if you do pass, universities here are set up just to make money, so they won't necessarily have enough room to house all the students that deserve to be there. The students that don't pass their exams are sent to... get this... teacher's college! They are trained to be teachers, which is most of the time the last thing they want to be doing. It's a giant vicious cycle.

So many of the teachers in the classrooms don't want to be there, don't care about the students, and lots of the time don't even show up. Students are taught nothing but the value of rote memorization, and that teachers should be feared and respected. We spent yesterday afternoon learning about corporal punishment. For Americans it's just inherently wrong. For many Kenyans, it's the only way that works. We had current volunteers come talk to us about alternative forms of punishment in the classroom, and that was really helpful. The new Kenyan constitution, which is still being put into effect in many aspects, has outlawed corporal punishment. But this basically means that it's something for the government to say that they don't do, and still do. Beating children still happens all the time, just about everywhere.

And there's this whole issue with the deaf students! Kenya is definitely a more forward-thinking country when it comes to the deaf community, but there's still a lot that needs to be done. Many deaf children are still thought to be cursed, and kept inside most of their lives because they shame their family. The students that do make it to the deaf schools (which there aren't a ton of) don't usually have the greatest teachers. Mix the last few paragraphs with not being able to sign, and just yelling at the students for not understanding. They're deaf for Pete's sake! I'm really excited to start teaching, so I can let them know that they're not disabled and deserve just as much as the hearing kids. So basically it's tough for them, but thankfully I have two years to help them out, even if it might only be a handful of kids.

On the bright side, my family here in Loitokitok is awesome. Mama laughs at everything and never leaves me hungry. She always packs me snacks during the day, and always heats my bath water in the morning. My would-be Baba (father) died just two months ago in a really tragic car accident so it is Mama and my 6 siblings. Try to keep track. Paul is 20, he's sharp as a tack and very worldly. He and I have all kinds of discussions about the differences in our cultures, and he always has some funny insight. He took over Baba's furniture business after he died, so he's pretty much the man of the house now. Trizzah is 18, she just finished secondary school, and is waiting to hear back her results from the KCSE (the secondary national exam). She wants to go to university in Nairobi next year, but for now is just loving the fact that she has a mzungu sister. Ann is 13 and does everything around the house when Mama is not around and when Trizzah is at school. You'd think she was my age. Henry is 10 and absolutely LOVES my electronics. He also loves to try and scare me when I get home from school everyday. Most of the time he succeeds. He's the only other boy in the family so Paul is a great role model for him. His other favorite thing is reading with me, which is funny because it usually puts us both to sleep before dinner. Monicah is 7 and Margaret is 5, but she thinks she's 6. The two of them love walking me to class in the morning and love joining me for nap time. Basically it's non-stop play time and I don't get much privacy. It's ok though because I know I have a limited time here before I leave for good.

I laughed with Ann, Paul, Trizzah and Mama for over 2 hours last night about the differences in the way we speak. Kenyans for the life of them cannot pronounce "r" the way Americans do. It's super funny. Here's some other funny things: Henry was looking at my pictures from home and was totally astounded that I have black friends in America. "Black Amerikan!" he kept saying. It's crazy to them. When I opened up my computer the other day Heidi Klum popped up in some ad online. Margaret pointed to it and said "That is you?" I almost fell over laughing. They think all mzungus look alike. It's hilarious. They also think that people in airplanes can see them when they wave. I think that's my favorite one so far :)

I haven't gotten really sick yet, and am dreading the day I actually do. Lots of other people have, so I'm kind of just waiting my turn. Have I mentioned the other volunteers in my group are fantastic? Last weekend we got together for a hiking trip, then spent the evening drinking beer and playing charades. This weekend we're attempting to cook an American lunch, then meeting again for more games and possibly some more beer. When I have the energy I go running in the mornings with some of the other girls, which is actually quite easy when Mt. Kilimanjaro pokes it's head through the clouds as the sun comes up.

So save for a few times falling in the ever-present mud, the incessant "How a' yuuuu"s from the little kids who don't know what else to yell to the mzungus, and a looming bout of homesickness on Thanksgiving, niko sawa; I'm OK. I'm ok and I know this is the right thing for me right now. I can't wait to become a real Peace Corps Volunteer, I can't wait to get to my site, and I can't wait to start teaching. Hope home is doing well, home on the East coast and home on the West coast. I miss you all like never before.

Love you bunches, will post again soon.

~ Shub :)

Still Traveling!

So it’s almost week 4 of PST and I’m STILL traveling. After our beginning stay in Nairobi I was in Machakos for a week, then moved to my new training site in Loitokitok for a week. Just spent a week in Kilifi (coincidentally my site) shadowing a current volunteer, and I’m currently sitting in some Sikh Temple in a town called Makindu that is putting us up for the night. Peace Corps has this rule that we are not allowed to travel after dark. And it gets dark REALLY quick on the equator. So we had to hop off the bus we were on and find a place to stay. Luckily these people are very hassle-free and the room and food is all free as well. Who knows, maybe I’ll come back!

On the up-side, I really love Kilifi. There are palm trees and coconuts, and lots of good pineapple. The house I will be living in is rather decent as well. It’s got 2 bedrooms, a living room, kitchen, walk-in pantry, and even a flush toilet. The running water and electricity are not the most reliable things, but at least they’re there :). I will be cleaning the crap out of the house when I move in, and decorating like crazy. If this is home for the next two years, I want it to look as home-y as possible. The house is on the compound for the deaf primary school, so it’s very safe and there are always children to play with. It’s a boarding school so the kids all live on the same compound.

The school I will be teaching in is a one building, 4 room school-house about a 3 minute walk from the primary compound. There is nothing except their classrooms, so the secondary students live on the primary compound. I lucked out in having my shadow week be at my actual site. Now I’ve met the staff at my school, met the staff at the primary school, and even met some of the students I will have. They are awesome. They are all so thirsty for information and so eager to have things properly explained to them. They have so many questions about America, and love to hear about what it’s like there, and about Obama. They already know my sign name and know that I will be back at the end of the season. I am probably going to be teaching some sort of Biology and Math, but maybe English as well. It all depends on how meetings go when I move in in December.

The week in Kilifi was spent at school watching Beau teach, but we also got to do a little sight-seeing. Unfortunately the internet connection I have now is slower than dirt so I can't upload the great pictures of the Indian Ocean I took :( My house in Kilifi is about a 30 minute walk from the beach, but it's easily accessible and absolutely beautiful once you get there. The sand is white, the water is blue, and the beer is cold. I suppose things could be going a lot worse right now.

I will be back in Loitokitok tomorrow, only to leave again in another week for our HIV/AIDS week. Officially I have made it through three weeks of training, I have 6 more left, and I swear in as a real Peace Corps Volunteer on December 15th. As fun as it is, all of us are itching to be done with training so we can actually start doin stuff! Swear-in day is going to be one big party.

Hope everyone at home is doing well, and hope America hasn't changed too much. I've been reading in the Kenyan newspapers about the Obama polls, but it has little effect on how much the Kenyans still love him. Oh well.

I miss everyone SO much. I miss being able to text and chat with people at a moment's notice. I miss being able to get in the car when I needed something and go get it. I miss bagels and cream cheese, and really cold cereal. I miss fish tacos and spinach dip, and my Terrapin on sesame with muenster. But in two years I'm probably only going to be thinking about how much I'll miss Kenya.

Ok. Love you all!

~ Shub :)

Some pictures!

Sitting at a coffee shop in Mombasa and drinking a chocolate milkshake :) There is free internet and little bit of air conditioning! Hooray! The little things these days are what get me through. Right now I'm thoroughly excited that I get to post pictures for everyone! Training has been crazy, but here's some highlights so far:

This is me with some of my host family from Machakos.

Little Joe is 2, Damian is 5 and Jennifer is my Mama's sister.

(Machakos)

My Mama and Joe (Machakos)

This is one of the many inspirational murals on the walls at the

deaf school. If boy sneaks into your bedroom you might get cancer.

So watch yourself. (Machakos School for the Deaf)

Here I am *trying* to help Mama in the kitchen.

Some stuff that we learn in training.

The other side of this pillar = Tanzania.

And here's what we get to look at every morning in Loitokitok :)

Oh HAI Mount Kilimanjaro.

I have yet to take pictures of my giant family in LTK, but I have another 4 weeks with them :) Next time I find free internet I will definitely post more pictures. Hope life is good in the states. Life is moving along in Kenya!

Kwaheri and ninakupenda! (Goodbye and I love you!)

Shub :)

Finally Online!

It’s taken quite a while to find internet around here, but I finally bought myself a modem. It’s not the cheapest thing around, but at least it works.

SO. So much has happened in the last two weeks it feels like I’ve been in Kenya for months. The other volunteers will probably tell you the same thing. PST (pre-service training) is so packed full of classes and events and meetings and sessions every day that it’s hard to remember it’s only the second week. I have learned so much in the last few weeks; about Kenya, about the languages, the people, the school systems, and my new assignment.

Speaking of which, I have been posted to Kilifi, a touristy-type town on the coast, about an hour north of Mombasa. The coast is HOT. Hot hot hot. Like hotter than anything Americans have seen before. But apparently it’s a very nice town. There is another volunteer currently at that site, doing the exact thing I will be doing. I am going to be living on the compound at the deaf primary school, and teaching Biology and Math, and maybe Life Skills at the deaf secondary school right next door. It is a brand new secondary school, meaning resources are extremely limited, and I’m only the second volunteer to be posted at this school. It’s definitely going to be challenging.

I spent a week in Machackos, with the rest of the deaf ed. group, and then was bussed to Loitokitok for the rest of training. I had a host family for one week in Machakos, and though some days were extremely hard, I’ve been learning like crazy. I miss home and everyone, and have had a few mini panic attacks here and there, but nothing a little country music can’t fix. It’s definitely the small victories that mean the most so far.

Here’s some beginning PST milestones:

• Successfully learned how to pee in a hole (here it’s called a choo, pronounced “cho”)
• Learned how to wash my clothes by hand (scraped the skin off my knuckles in doing so, but at least they got clean)
• Learned how to get pretty clean from only one washcloth and one bucket
• Learned how to treat my water so I don’t get parasites and such
• Had some conversations with some deaf adults in Kenyan Sign Language
• Learned how to greet people and count to 10 in Swahili
• Understood my language trainer when she was interpreting from Swahili to KSL

This weekend I travel with Amanda (the other secondary deaf ed volunteer) to Mombasa and then Kilifi for a week of shadowing current volunteers at their sites. We come back a week later, before soon taking off again to meet somewhere else for HIV/AIDS week. See? Busy busy busy.

Here’s what has been really hard:

• Adapting to a new culture is probably easier if you don’t look like a marshmallow in a giant bowl of chocolates. Here white people are called “mzungu” and it’s a word I have now begun to totally identify myself with. Kenyans automatically assume wazungu have tons of money, so we get stared at constantly. As much as I love being the center of attention sometimes :) this is really tough.
• Not being able to talk to everyone at home all the time. Thankfully I have the most wonderful support group I could have asked for here with the other volunteers. I could not be more thankful for them.
• Not having cheese. And cereal. We spend a lot of our free time talking about food we miss, and it’s only week two. Lord help us.
• Trying to pick up two languages at the same time. KSL is very similar to ASL in a lot of ways, but also completely different. Swahili isn’t like any language at all, except maybe Arabic, so that doesn’t help.

And here’s some things I am very happy about:

• I have a cell phone, and I know to call the states :)
• The other volunteers in my group are absolutely amazing, and I totally could not do this without them.
• I have 6 siblings in my host family here in Loitokitok. I love it. Ages 20, 16, 13, 10, 7, and 6. And there’s some cousins that run around too. Just two months ago they had another volunteer stay with them, so they know the drill. The kids help me with my Swahili words, and I teach them signs. They’re awesome.
• So far, the food isn’t bad. The fruit is fresher, the meat is a little chewier, and when we get candy, it’s that much tastier after not having it available all the time. Tea (chai) is a total staple here and I am rapidly falling in love with tea break, which is a Kenyan necessity. Why don’t we have tea break in America?
• I have been writing and venting in my journal like a madman, and it has really been a huge relief when things are stressful.
• The top of Mt. Kilimanjaro pokes through the clouds every so often, and reminds me that I’m actually in Kenya.

It’s hard to believe that I am actually going to be here for two years. I can’t believe I’ve only been here for two weeks. It’s a little scary when I think about it, but I’m so determined to see this through, that when I do finish, I’ll be that much more proud of myself. Just like they told me, emotions go up and down like a roller coaster by the second, and two things are on constant scroll through my mind every day, and will be for the next two years:

One day at a time.

and

No giving up.

I hope everyone at home is doing well, and that things haven’t changed too much in the last two months, I mean weeks :). I love love love all of you, and can’t wait till I can post again.

Love always,

Shub :)

PS my phone numberS are now posted under my address. Two sim cards = Two phone numbers. No telling when you'll be able to reach one or the other, so just try both if you need.

We made it!

Hi hi! Just wanted to let everyone know that I am alive and safe in Kenya. We made it in to Nairobi this evening (it's almost 1AM here; 7 hours ahead) and we lucked out on a hotel that has wi-fi, but only in certain rooms. Thankfully all of us PCTs (Peace Corps Trainees) like each other enough to share spots where we can pick it up and share computers too.

Tomorrow we have another full day of orientations and shots and stuff, and Saturday morning we leave for actual training. I found out on the bus ride from the airport that I am probably going to be in Secondary Deaf Ed., which means I will be teaching Chemistry, Biology, and Physics IN Kenyan Sign Language. Eeek! Hopefully it won't be as tough as it sounds.

Hope you all are doing well! It's been just a few days and I miss everyone millions. But they're keeping us busy enough that we don't have TOO much time to think about home. The group that I came with is absolutely awesome, and they are totally making things easier every step of the way. Hooray for friends!

Ok ok, gotta run! Not sure when I'll find internet again but I will definitely try.

Bunches of love,

Shub :)

One week to go.

One week feels like tomorrow. BOY that six weeks goes fast.

7 more days sleeping at home. 7 more nights to watch Friends. 7 more days to enjoy the washer and dryer. 7 more hot showers. And 7 more days to tell everyone how much I love them. Why am I doing this again?

While running around packing as if I actually am leaving tomorrow, I got an email from Peace Corps saying that they were looking for someone else to go into Deaf Education instead of Science. My official invitation was for science, but since I have experience in ASL, they recommended me to Deaf Ed. How cool is that?

I suppose I don't care which I get, but I think the Deaf Ed may be younger kids, which might be a little more fun.

Anywho, not sure who actually reads my blog but I just wanted to send grateful, happy, thoughts everyone's way. I can't thank everyone enough for either helping me through this process, coming to the farewell shindig, buying me new swiss army knives and video cameras for my mud hut, or just being my friend. I have the greatest friends and family in the whole entire world, and I'm pretty sure there won't be one day in Africa when I won't miss every one of you.

Hope everyone's Fall is going well. I miss you all like crazy already.

Cheers!

Shub :)

15 days...

till the biggest thing in my life.

Last time I posted was when I just found out about Kenya. Since then I have been packing like a crazy person, and about my new African life I now know.. well, not much else. For legitimate reasons the Peace Corps does not give you much information about the next two years. Mainly because they don't know it either. This whole "no expectations" thing is really quite hard. I just keep telling myself I'll live, and yes, someone else has felt this way before.

Here's what I DO know so far:

• On October 12 I take an early train ride into Philadelphia for what's called Staging, sort of a mini meet & greet and orientation. October 13th we take a bus to JFK and fly out that evening. We have a layover in Amsterdam and get in to Nairobi sometime the next day. My phone will definitely have stopped working by then and I will do the best I can to find internet once I get there. I will probably be getting a phone when I get there too.
• We hang in Nairobi for a few days before heading south towards the Tanzania border to a town called Loitokitok, where our training will be. It is apparently 15 km from the summit of Mt. Kilimajaro, and supposedly a site to see. We will be there in Loitokitok for two months, taking crash courses in Kiswahili, cultural training, programmatic training (the educational part of it), and medical briefings. This is what's called Pre-Service Training (or PST).
• About halfway through training is when we figure out what site we will be placed in, AKA what village we'll be in, what new local village language we'll have to start learning, and how close/far we might be from our fellow Peace Corps Volunteers (PCVs). So since they don't even know, there is no way for me to prepare either. Humph.

Along with all the packing I've been saying a lot of really tough goodbyes. REALLY tough goodbyes. I know I'll be back in two years, but a lot can happen in two years, and that's definitely a little scary. I know this is the experience of a lifetime and I'm going to have a new awesome world view and learn a lot and all that other cliche crap, but it's hard to see the good parts right now. All I can think about is how much I'm going to miss everyone. I'm currently in Massachusetts, sitting in my brother's dingy little TA office while he's at class. I'm not quite sure how I'm going to get along without him.

I think maybe some people might join the Peace Corps because they feel like they need to get out of America, or don't have much going here. I, however, am constantly reminded how many people care about me, and love me :) That's what's gonna keep me going I think.

I've been so overwhelmed by anxiety and anticipation and sad goodbyes that I tend to forget how excited I was when I first got the news. Every once in a while throughout the day I get those thoughts again, very brief and fleeting, but they're there. Though short, they are comforting, and reassuring, and reminding me 'I can do this.'

It's just that saying "See you in a few years" to the people I love the most, and actually meaning it, is surprisingly hard. WHO KNEW.

Anywho, here's what I think I know about sending mail, AKA presents:

• Number any and all letters and/or packages as things can get lost in transit. Although this won't help track anything, it's a good reference for what's been received and what's not.
• Write "Air Mail" AND "Par Avion" on all envelopes.
• It may take anywhere from a few weeks to a few months for letters/packages to get to me, so don't get too worried if for some reason you don't hear from me for a long period at a time. I've heard just the thought of letters and packages on it's way is comforting :)
• With packages, don't ever declare anything more than $15. Don't really say what's in it, especially if it's something expensive. This is because if someone thinks they want what's in my package, they have no problem opening it and taking it for themselves. Use vague descriptions like "Educational Materials" or say things that people don't care about, like napkins or toilet paper. You should also write religious things on packages, like "Jesus Saves," and "God loves you." Current volunteers say this is good because customs agents are less likely to open things that are religiously based.
• Peace Corps Volunteers are allowed duty-free entry for packages for the first 90 days in Kenya. After that I'll have to pay duty charges, which are priced on the items in the package. Not sure how all that works, but once I'm there I'll try to send home info about things I might need.
• Send anything other than letters and postcards in bubble-wrapped mailer things, because boxes are more likely to be opened, and less likely to reach me, wherever I might be.
• Because of all this, don't send anything super valuable or irreplaceable, and don't write anything you wouldn't perhaps mind having some other Kenyans read. Although it doesn't happen on a frequent basis, it is possible that I might never receive things, or receive them re-packaged by customs/postal officials.
• I am working on finding the first address I'll be at so that I can have packages when I get there. Just kidding :)

If you're at all worried about me, here's some links for family and friends to put you at ease (or perhaps escalate those worries):

- "Prepare Your Family and Friends" from the official Peace Corps website.

• Benefits of Volunteering
• Volunteer Health
• Volunteer Safety
• Staying in Touch
• After the Peace Corps

- Unofficial but very awesome collection of Peace Corps blogs

- and just a little something to watch when you haven't heard from me in a while :)

I know my URL is technically still the California Initiative, but it's way too much work to change it to something Africa related, so we're just gonna keep it the way it is.

In conclusion, I'll leave you with some pictures of the beautiful baby cousins I had to say goodbye to last week :(

Q-bug (Quincy) in her new apron daddy (cousin Jeff) got

Zetta Sue, probably one of the happiest babies you'll ever meet.

This is Z looking like Boo from Monsters Inc.

And here's my darling AJ, who makes

my heart ache when I'm not with her.

So Kenya here I come! They better be ready for me.

:)

AND THE WINNER (country) IS .....

KENYA!

That's right! The verdict was returned and I found out yesterday around 3pm that I'm headed to East Africa for the next two years. EEeeek! Here's what I know so far:

• I depart on October 11th (WAY sooner than I had originally planned but it was this or next April)
• I am going to be teaching Chemistry, Biology, and Physics (bleh) to what age, I won't know till I get there.
• I am going over and training with lots of other volunteers, who are going to be teaching in the areas of science (like me!), math, and deaf education! Wow!
• We are all also going to be trained in HIV/AIDS education
• Just because I train with them does not mean I will have any English speakers at my 2-year site
• Every Peace Corps tour of duty is 27 months... 3 months of intensive language, programmatic, and cultural training, and then 2 full years on your own.
• I most likely won't have running water or electricity, but the Peace Corps does promise me a room that locks, and some windows! What else could you need?
• At this point I have only read through about 1/6 of the multitudes of papers and books they sent me, so that's what I'm doing for the next few days.
• Even though most don't have electricity, there are A LOT of volunteers that maintain blogs while overseas. This is promising and hopefully means that somehow or another I'll be able to keep everyone updated on things :)
• I can't tell you how unbelievably excited I am.
• I can't tell you how utterly terrified I am.

So over the next 6 weeks (or less than), I will be getting my life in order before departure, and seeing as many people that I love as possible. Previous Peace Corps history and experiences have shown that love, support, news, letters, and any form of contact from the homefront can mean the difference between a great two years, or a lonely two years.

I'll keep updating before I go as I get more information about addresses and things. Thank you thank you thank you to everyone who has helped me through this process! I couldn't have done it without you :)

Missing everyone already,

Shub :)

Where oh where has Shub gone?

I've actually had a number of people in the last few months ask me why I have not updated my blog. Look at that! People read it! Who knew.

Anyways, as I knew would happen, I've been very busy this summer. Aside from visiting family, friends, and the boat when I can, I've been on road trips galore. Both with church, with friends, and with family. After coming back from Cali, I spent a week taking church kids to DC, working with non-profit organizations and helping feed the homeless and such. Here's some of my kids making our 50 loaves of zucchini bread for the shelter! Yum!


Another week of church camp brought us to Sharpsburg, Maryland at a Heifer International farm. If you've never heard of Heifer PLEASE check it out. Heifer uses livestock and education to help needy families and villages in over 127 countries become healthy and sustainable. We LOVE Heifer. Along with numerous team-building exercises and farm chores, we learned about vermiculture (worms), how to make rope, how to make candles, and more! Yay Heifer! Check out our farm photos:

Building a rabbit cage!

S'mores:

After our week at the Heifer Maryland, we packed our bags once more and took some high schoolers to Arkansas, to the corporate Heifer Ranch in Perryville, just outside Little Rock. We had an absolute BLAST and though I just spent a week on a Heifer farm, I still learned more than I thought possible. And only in a week! Lord knows what I'll pick up in a couple years.

I did everything from work with beehives and chop down trees to live in an urban slum and sweat my butt off over a cook fire for oatmeal. BUT everything was ok again when I got to play with baby animals. Here's some highlights:

Our AWESOME group in front of church
before the LONG road trip
Beehives! (I'm the short one)

My spot by the lake

Climbing a GIANT ladder meant to help with

teamwork and pushing personal limits

A little something I fell in love with

And a final image of Shub on a farm:

Basically the weeks at Heifer showed me how truly proud I can be of my kids, and also taught me LOTS of interesting things that I might be able to use in Africa. (EeEek!)

SPEAKING OF WHICH, there's not a day that goes by that I don't think about something else I'm going to miss while in the Peace Corps (again, if I'm lucky enough to get invited). Here's the most recent news from these people ---->



I got a call a little over a week ago saying I received my medical clearance. YES. This is apparently one of the biggest hurdles of the application process. So my records have been sent to the Assessment & Placement Office, I updated them on the things I've been doing this summer with Heifer, and now I get to WAIT some more :)

In the meantime I also signed up the take the GREs in October, so I need to get my butt in gear and start studying. It's not easy when you're out of college. Hell, it wasn't easy in college.

So that's what's up on the Shub side of town. I hope everyone is having a FANTASTIC summer (or start of school year) and I hope to see everyone soon.

Love you all!

<3 Shub :)

Back on the East Coast baby!

Hooray! Angie and I finally made it home safe and sound. We had an AWESOME trip across the country, and missed LaceFace every step of the way. My last post ended with some photos of the drive into Montana. Big Sky Country is absolutely beautiful, and I can totally see why people go there to get away. We spent a very long day in Yellowstone, and enjoyed every second of it. As with everything I've seen on these cross-country road trips, if you ever get a chance to visit Yellowstone, YOU SHOULD. Here's why:

Kepler Cascades

Buffalo friends

Old Faithful erupting

The end of a rainbow!!!

These are just a few of the many photos we took at Yellowstone. The scenery just kept getting better and better, and therefore I will post the pics on Facebook as well :)

After Montana and Yellowstone we continued east into South Dakota and found this!:

It's Mount Rushmore! We had an awesome time visiting with the presidents and eating some ridiculously good soft-serve. We had a lovely night in Rapid City, SD and promptly drove to Minneapolis the next day. One night there and we left for Indiana! One night in Indiana and we made it back home late on Friday night. Whew! Long drive. But so worth it. Go HERE to see everywhere we stopped. ALSO, look at this (green is with Lacy and orange is with Angie!) :


Angie flies back to Florida on Wednesday morning :( and till then we are hanging around MoCo. It feels awesome to be home, but I didn't realize how much I'd miss San Diego! If you are around town this summer, I would LOVE to see you. Please call!

Happy Summer and GO TERPS.

Love, Shub :)

Road trip home!

So Angie made it safely to San Diego and we are successfully on the road! After a day of visiting the city of SD, and saying some very hard goodbyes, we made a short 6 hour drive to San Luis Obispo, on the central coast, where I go just about every other weekend. Totally knowing my way around, I took Angie to my favorite place, Montana de Oro, where we hiked the cliffs and enjoyed the waves one last time.

After a busy day in the tidepools, we returned to clean the car and say goodbye to my little cousins. It was really tough saying goodbye to them, even though I know I will see them in October. Here's one final picture of my beautiful AJ showing me how much she loves me:

After a final night in SLO town, we drove to Fair Oaks, CA, outside Sacramento (where Aunt Susie and Uncle George live) for the night. Bot going in that direction I had to visit Google one last time, so that's where we made our lunch stop.

Next day we finally hit the road out of California, and made our way into Boise, ID, with some beautiful scenery through Lake Tahoe:


and some not-so-beautiful scenery through all of Nevada:


Today we got up and drove another 9 hours to our current location, Bozeman, Montana, known for Montana State University and it's big-horned sheep (which we saw at a rest stop). Driving through the mountains of Montana is one of the most gorgeous and scenic places I've ever been, and though the towns may be small and often abandoned, they don't take away from the views out here.

Tomorrow we are off to Yellowstone for the day. We can't wait for more picture-worthy scenes, and are confident that tomorrow will have plenty.

I hope everyone is doing well! I am going to be home uber-soon and can't wait to see people :) Miss you!

Love, Shub :) (and Angie!)

PS, the guy we are staying with here in Bozeman was in the Peace Corps! Hooray!!!

Homecoming.

The time has come, the walrus said, for Shub to come home.

Yup! After a very fast, very busy, and VERY happy year in California, I'm heading back home in two weeks. Two weeks! Yikes! It seems like yesterday I was packing the car in my front driveway and saying goodbye to my mailbox and my tire swing and stuff.

Here's why I'm comin' home: The job I have, though wonderful, is not enough to support me, and the people I live with need to have less of a burden; My parents' new boat needs lots of work, and who better to help than their soon-to-be unemployed daughter?; I would regret more than anything not being able to go to church camp this summer :); OH, and that whole Peace Corps thing.

At first I was unsure about how certain a "nomination" for the Peace Corps is, rather than an "invitation." I only have the former so far. I have been cleared legally, and my dental forms have passed. They told me my medical forms will not be reviewed until August, and since my potential date of departure is November, I'm supposed to hear by September about whether it's a done deal. They tell you not to make any rash decisions before getting an official invitation, such as quitting your job or moving, but I plan on doing both. If there is a chance I am going to be in Africa for the next two years, I want to spend summer at home with Mom and Dad, and my friends. As much as I love San Diego, I'm a Maryland girl, and always will be.

But WHO KNOWS, maybe after Africa I'll come back to SD for grad school or something :)

SO, AngiePants flies into SD on June 1st, and we drive out on June 2nd. Two weeks and a few thousand miles later (assuming leetle Saturn can handle the Rockies), we'll be back in MoCo. Instead of the southern route we took out west, we are going north to get back east. I'm thinking of keeping daily posts like LaceFace and I did on the way out here, just because it will probably be an interesting trip.

I can't wait to see everyone again, and I just can't wait to be home.

See you soon! (Eek!)

Love, Shub :)

Happiest place on Earth!

So a few weeks ago the one and only Peggy Tiffany (my old boss from the admissions office at University of Maryland) decided to come to the west coast for a visit! And by that I mean she was here on business and let me tag along. I drove up to Los Angeles to meet Peggy and her friend Courtney, and we made our way to Disneyland.

In all my years and travels to Florida, and in the last year living in California, I had never once been to Disneyworld or Disneyland. Now I know what I was missing.

We spent the day enjoying all the rides we could, and stalking the Disney characters if we got a chance. The cleanliness of the park continued to surprise me and the visual effects on the rides kept me saying every time (without fail) "How do they do that?" It was AWESOME, and I had an absolute blast. Here's proof:

See? I told you I'd never been before!

The Disney BAND!!!!!!! (way to go C-Nets!!)

Here's Peggy and I and Walt:

And here's some kids that became baby Jedi while we were there:

AND THEN my favorite part of the day happened. Peggy got mad at me for enjoying this more than Disney, but it is what it is. Halfway through the day Peggy took me along with her to the NACAC (National Association for College Admissions Counselors) that she was in town for. I didn't realize how happy this would make me, but I jumped right back into tour mode and talked prospective students' ears off about the wonders of Maryland. It made me miss giving tours MORE THAN I already do, but it was so worth it. GO TERPS!


All in all it was an awesome day and an awesome weekend. Lessons to be learned: Disney is fun for ALL ages and the Terrapins are truly my first love.

More posts will follow regarding my homecoming :) Hope everyone is well!

Shub out.