Goodbye Salone!

As this post's title illustrates, my time in Salone is finished :( It was a wild few months that I will never forget but due to a number of different things - not least of all the ever-growing ebola outbreak (the deadliest one in history) - I'm back stateside and attempting to now wrap up things from here.

Freetown definitely proved a tough place to be. It seemed I was constantly sick or in the hospital and if not, it seemed there was always some roadblock getting in the way of progress at school. Nonetheless, things did happen, though they were very small and probably don't make that much of a difference. Here are some of them anyways:

The skylights that I had been working so hard to get approved finally were and the difference they've made in the classrooms is literally night and day. Check it out!

Class 4/5 before (on a rainy/cloudy day):

 Ibrahim putting in the skylight:

Class 4/5 AFTER: :) :) :)

Nursery Class before and after: 

Nice, huh? 

Before I left I also had some chairs and desks built for the the kiddos in Class 6, who are rather large people and have to sit in these teeny tiny seats meant for nursery class. Here's the before and after of those: 

Old desk:

New desk:

I also managed to arrange a two day session at school on alternative forms of punishment. It took a little convincing but with some built-in incentives and a few meetings beforehand, they all finally agreed. The sessions went splendidly and though I'm not convinced any of the changes will actually be implemented in the classroom, it was at least nice for the teachers to hear from someone who wasn't a tiny white girl. 

All in all Salone was a fabulous learning experience, one I wouldn't trade for anything, and despite all the setbacks and motorcycle crashes and ebola, I will miss it. Freetown is an exciting place to be; full of life, good friends, good food, beautiful beaches, and so much potential. Before I left everyone kept asking when I would return. I told them I have to be in school for a few years, but that I would come back as soon as I could :) Goodbye sweet sweet Salone!

SO, from Freetown I flew to London, and meet up with Sound Seekers to debrief and have a meeting with some of their projects committee people. I also made sure I went to see Platform 9 3/4, Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, and others :) A few days in London was certainly not enough, but it was better than nothing! Before this trip I had never been out of an airport in Europe (though I feel I've been in SO many of them!). London is a gorgeous city and one I most definitely want to go back to when I can (mostly because it's absolutely FILLED with Mini Coopers). Here's some snaps from London:

www.hubbardscupboards.com

Where the magic happens

"But Hagrid, there must be a mistake. This says 

Platform 9 3/4. There's no such thing, is there?"

Big Ben!

Buckingham Palace. I believe the queen was home, too.

So I'm in Michigan now, and will be here for just a short while before setting out with Maliza for Maryland, then South Carolina, then Maryland again before finally heading up to Boston. I finally have a place to live in Boston now, thanks entirely to my incredible brother for house hunting and dealing with realtors and just being generally wonderful. I'm not sure how much time I'll have to blog once I get  started in school, but if I can find some, I will.

Thanks to all my avid readers, all two of you (you know who you are)! And thanks to everyone in my life who has helped me make it all the way here: to 27 and lived-in-Africa and starting grad school and just basically having a pretty incredible not-much-to-complain-about life. Love you all loads.

Cheers and happy August!

~ Shub :)

Progress..?

I suppose it may depend on your definition of progress but I do believe things are happening here in Salone :) I've been here just about two and half months now and it's taken that long to start getting things done. The major changes thus far have been the new paint job inside school. What a difference a fresh coat of paint can make! I've found a very good contractor, who is dependable and nice and who's office is right next to school! He also feeds me lunch sometimes so that's an added bonus. My painters are funny guys and though it's taken them some time to realize that I'm a perfectionist when it comes to things like this and they can't just slop on the paint all crazy-like, they're doing a good job now. Here's some before and afters:

Main corridor

Class 6

Class 4/5

If I had enough funding I would just build a whole 'nother school, but we are working with what we've got :) With just a few more rooms to go we should be done within a week. But don't forget, no hurry in Africa. Everyone keeps asking me if we are going to paint the outside too, to which I always have to say, "we'll see!" I'm keeping an eye on the money and if we have enough left after other things then perhaps we'll paint the outside. Though the rains have officially started here, which makes doing any outside work rather tough. I've been told that July and August are the worst for rainy season. As of now it pours buckets at night and very conveniently stops just before I need to go to school. I'm not looking forward to all the mud.

A note about being white: In Kenya the Kiswahili word for white person is "mzungu," and was screamed at me every day, multiple times a day, for two years. Here in Salone the language is Krio, which is a funny pigeon mix of English, French, other European languages, and a lot of African dialects. I'm not picking it up very well and I keep trying to speak Kiswahili to people, which obviously does not go over very well. Anywho, there is a Krio word for white person, but you really only hear it out in the provinces. Here in Freetown I just hear "WHITE GIRL! WHITE GIRL!" Or sometimes they just scream "WHITE!!" Needless to say it's hard to forget how white I am over here. Oh well!

In other news - I've moved houses! I made friends with a very nice American who has a HUGE place that is essentially nicer than anything I've ever lived in before, in any country. I walk in and instantly feel like I've stepped out of Africa, which is not always a good feeling. It's also a bit farther from school. BUT I can't complain; air conditioning and 24/7 power and the kitchen of my dreams. I miss the guys that I used to lived with but I'm going to keep going back to bother them as often as I can. 

Even more news! - I know that most of you probably don't want to hear this, but I crashed on a motorbike last week. Not my fault, or my bike driver's; a van merged into us on the highway and we both ended up on the sidewalk under the bike. My pride was hurt more than anything seeing as how I was wearing a skirt and flashed the crowd of people that were watching as I rolled off the street. I just ended up with some cuts and scrapes on my right leg, which was funny because I had just fallen on some rocks the night before and scraped the crap out of my left leg. It was definitely not a great start to the week. Anyhow, everything was fine until Friday when one of my cuts opened up and got infected. When it wouldn't stop swelling and oozing I decided to go to the hospital and have since been taking tons of gnarly pictures of it that I would love to post but will spare you from :) The hospital wanted to keep me overnight but I didn't want to pay for that so we just agreed on doubling my dosage of antibiotics and that I would come back if it didn't get better. Thankfully, it has, and though I was rather excited about the prospect of a prosthetic foot, I'm glad I get to keep mine. Let me know if you want to see the super-gross photos. They're awesome. 

Here'a  few more photos to round out this month's post:

Workshop at my contractor's place. So many old timey power tools!

Friday means pink and yellow shirts! The backs of 

their shirts say "Deafness cannot stop skills!"  :)

And as always, the obligatory kitten photo. 

When I'm not at school painting or enjoying sleeping kittens I've been house hunting for my new place in Boston! I've gotten connected with some of the other girls from my program at BU and will be living with them in hopefully a super awesome place. I can't wait to go to Target and Ikea and shop for home furnishings!!

Ok, gotta run back to school! Love and hugs and all that jazz <3 p="">

Xoxo ~ Shub :)

Updates and observations from the Sierra Leonean adventure!

Things are moving along here in Salone, albeit very slowly. People in Kenya always used to tell me "No hurry in Africa" which I'm finding to be the case on this side of the continent as well. Perhaps it's the perpetual and unrelenting heat, for which I don't blame people one bit when they move slowly. Kenya was essentially the lap of luxury compared to here. The power in the house I am living in comes on maybe once a week, if I'm super lucky. In fact I don't think it's been on at all the last two weeks. We do have a generator, but can only afford enough petrol to run it for about three hours every evening. So I've become a regular at some of the air-conditioned, wifi-enabled coffee bars/restaurants in town. I'm relatively certain the owners of these places are getting pretty annoyed with me, seeing as how I seem to spend more time on the wifi than what the food I buy is worth. Oh well. It's working for now.

I've been here over a month now and sometimes feel like it's been MUCH longer. Work is progressing slowly, as is my fluency with the kids at school. I'm finding all the same issues with the kids here as I had with my kids when I first got to Kenya, only it's more so here because these kiddos are younger and have less language and vocabulary. Even simple things like asking "why?" or "how?" seem to not make sense to most of them. But with time my kids in Kenya and I came to understand each other perfectly, so maybe that's all I need here, too.

I have lots of things to say, mainly general observations that seem interesting to me, and might be to you as well, my dear readers. So here they are, in no particular order.

- Water comes in bags here. Sure, you can buy bottled water, but the water everyone drinks is packet water; little sealed 500ml packets of good, clean water (as far as I know, clean!). One huge bag of about 20 packets is 3,000 Leones, which equates to less than a dollar. I think at a country concert I paid $8 for a bottle of water one time. Crazy. Anyways, I'm finding the packets are actually much easier to carrier/store/have and I now seem to not be able to leave the house without one in my mouth. At least it's easy to stay hydrated!

- Speaking of money, the exchange rate is anywhere from 4,200 - 4,500 Leones to the dollar, and it all depends on where you change your money. There is an official exchange rate, I believe, but it doesn't seem to matter much to anyone. The banks like to make money off their exchanges, as do the guys on the street who change money as well. There's also an issue with bills that are dated before 2006. You get less for them, for some odd reason. Luckily, I've found a nice supermarket where they change my bills for 4,500Le every time. I will keep going back there. Plus it's air conditioned and has every cleaning supply under the sun, which I love.

- Speaking of supermarkets, Indian are to Kenya as Lebanese are to Sierra Leone. In Kenya it was always the Indians who owned the big supermarkets and shops and restaurants. Here, it's the Lebanese. I've met some very nice Lebanese people while being here, who were born and raised here, second or third generation Sierra Leonean. They all seem super pleasant and have been giving me good exchange rates, so I like them :)

- Continuing with the money, EVERYTHING (besides packet water) is expensive here in Freetown. I had to pay $35 for a pillow and a carton of strawberries I saw at the supermarket near my house was about $19. Phone credit is expensive, internet is wildly expensive (and horribly unreliable), and because just about every decent food is imported, it's all expensive as well. So crazy.

- I seem to get stared at less here, which is nice, and unexpected. I've had other white ex-pats tell me they get bothered SO much here, but I really think Salone is nothing compared to Kenya. I couldn't walk into town in Kilifi without getting at least one marriage proposal, a multitude of kids chasing me for money or sweets, or just 20 different people who wanted to say hi to me. Here that happens MUCH less frequently. I think a lot of it has to do with the lack of tourism in Sierra Leone. I could be totally wrong (and perhaps this is rude), but tourists generally have a different mentality about foreigners, especially in Africa, and it really comes across in a place like Kenya. Here, without all the tourism, the white people only come to work, and get stuff done, and I think that makes a big difference. Either way, it's kind of nice :)

- Everything here is spicy, and I'm slowly acquiring a mouth of steel because of it. Sierra Leonean people put SO many tiny hot peppers in every dish ever, that it's hard to actually taste what you're putting in your mouth. While eating I spend half the time wiping sweat off my face and blowing my nose, all because of the spiciness. Dad, you wouldn't do well with Sierra Leonean food :)

- What's the staple food here, you ask? Well, besides tiny hotter-than-hell peppers, they eat rice. Also rice. Oh yeah, and rice. Sometimes with the rice you get chicken or fish, and that often comes in what's called "groundnut soup" which is basically a spicy peanut sauce, or ground up cassava or potato leaves cooked in copious amounts of palm oil. And peppers. Did I mention they use a lot of peppers? I've been told palm oil is super unhealthy because of all the fats that are trans or saturated or something, but a few months of it won't kill me, right? I also eat a lot of mangoes and bananas, and pasta, and a LOT of bread. At school for lunch the kids who don't bring their own lunch eat bread. Sometimes there's butter (solidified yellow fat from a tub) or mayonnaise with the bread, but mostly it's just bread. At the beach I eat lots of fish and chips, and occasionally I pay a boatload for a relatively mediocre salad. Needless to say I'll be needing a few weeks straight at a salad bar when I get back stateside.

- My brother asked me a few weeks back what the craziest thing I've seen so far was. I told him it was tied between two things: 1) I saw a guy carrying a fridge on his head. Mind you everyone carries EVERYTHING on their heads here, but this was not a dorm fridge or something half-size. This was a legit full-sized refrigerator, and he just walked on by me like it was made out of foam. The funniest part was he had a little entourage of kids running along behind him with the inside parts of the fridge of their heads. Super cute. 2) People in wheelchairs have a hard time commuting from one side of town to the other, or at least getting into a taxi. Their solution (as I've seen multiple times) is to roll into the street and grab onto the back of a moving taxi or bus and just speed away. Obviously this looks incredibly dangerous, and surely is, but I guess if you gotta be somewhere you gotta be somewhere.

- Freetown is like an African San Francisco: SO many ridiculously steep hills! I believe "Sierra Leone" comes from the Portuguese phrase for "Lioness Mountains," which is very appropriate. So other than increasing the size of my thigh muscles (either from holding on for dear life on the bike of a motorbike or actually walking up the hills) this lends itself to some breathtaking photo ops.

So all in all things are good. I've been making lots of plans for projects at school and balancing that out with numerous days at the beach and lots of local beer :) I've got funds to get some renovations done to the school building (which was built in 1961 and has had precisely zero maintenance on it since then), purchase some ASL dictionaries and find a way to get them here, do some teacher trainings, and more. Fingers crossed I actually get something accomplished!

Hope all is well wherever you are, whatever corner of the world you may be in at the moment :) I will leave you with a classic Shub photo of some super great deaf kids.

Love and hugs from dusty and unbelievably hot Salone!

~ Shub :)

PS If you haven't checked out Facebook for all the photos, do it now! Go on! Do it!

Sweet Sweet Salone.

In the immortal words of Julie Andrews: "Let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start!"

This photo was the first one I took here! Beautiful sunset just after landing in Lungi, waiting for the boats to take us into town.




I've been here for about two weeks now, and so much has happened already! I've moved into my new place and done my best to settle myself in. I live in a part of Freetown called Aberdeen, in a lovely spacious lofted room with a decent amount of breeze from the ocean, which is visible from the porch. Here's the view:

Not bad, eh? The breeze is necessary here because the trend seems to be that electricity is not usually on - we turn the generator on in the evenings to have lights and charge things for a few hours, but otherwise I'm mostly just sweaty all the time. I'm renting a room from a guy called Abs, who runs an organization called The Dorothy Springer Trust, which is dedicated to helping disabled people in Sierra Leone - pretty cool stuff! I share the house with Abs and his brother, who are both VERY accommodating and have been nothing but lovely since the start.

So the first week here was full of running around with Emily - the programme manager for Sound Seekers (the lovely people who have sent me out here!), getting to know the area, and meeting people. We spent one quick day at the school where I'm now working, met up with a lot of deaf adults living in Freetown, met the only ENT doctor in all of Sierra Leone, and also spent time in Makeni. Upon arrival in Makeni I unfortunately picked up a horrible stomach bug, and ended up in a Sierra Leonean hospital. They passed me around to a lot of people (while I was writhing in pain, mind you) before I finally convinced them to give me an IV drip since I hadn't been able to keep anything down. A few hours and a LOT of needles jammed into my hand later, we headed back to the school (where they have a guest house we stayed in) and I basically did nothing for the next day and a half :) Needless to say let's hope it doesn't happen again. Bleh.

This past week I've been at the school - spending time with the kids, talking with the teachers, and making lots of plans. The kids are fabulous, as I expected them to be, and their situation is not. One thing I've learned in the last two weeks is that Kenya is WAY more developed than Sierra Leone. Kenya's constitution states that Kenyan Sign Language is a national language, new deaf schools pop up around the country all the time, and they're actually doing a relatively decent job at spreading Deaf awareness and such. It's not perfect, but it's definitely better than here. From what I've gathered there are only three deaf schools in the country, of which I've seen two. Sierra Leone uses a form of American Sign Language, but (also as I suspected) it varies depending on who you're talking to, or what school you're at, because of the lack of communication from a deaf group in one town to a deaf group in another, and the general lack of awareness everywhere. So the kids seem to have made up a lot of their own signs for things, or modified ASL signs that were taught to someone somewhere long ago. Either way, they're all still wonderful.

The school is a primary school - no secondary schools for the deaf exist in Salone :( So the kids range in age from super teeny tiny to probably 19 or 20. My kids in Kenya were older, since my school was secondary, and their language was MUCH more developed. I'm therefore still trying to get used to a different level of signing with the kids here. They might not understand as much, but MAN are they cute. Imagine teeny tiny African kiddos that point at you at a lot and always just need to be held. They're fantastic. Here's evidence:

This is at morning assembly where they sign a 

song about Jesus and do some adorable exercises.

Assembly again, on a different day

This little gem is Kadija - she's a total drooler and needs like 30 hugs per day.

And I was VERY excited to see that my favorite guy in the whole world made it all the way to Salone! Check it out :)

ALSO:

Look what I found!

AND lastly,

This is Kochi. Filthiest kitten ever.

In other news I've made some big decisions about my future. Being here with these kiddos has solidified my desire to keep doing what I'm doing. SO I confirmed my enrollment here:  -------------------------------------->  Ahhhhhh! I'll be starting at BU in the fall for a Masters in Deaf Education. It still hasn't really sunk in yet, but I get super duper anxious and excited every time I start thinking about it. SO if anyone knows anybody in Boston that needs a roommate come August, CALL ME. 

So all in all things are going well - not much to complain about on this end :) Internet here (like other things I took for granted in Kenya!) is terrible, so don't be surprised if you don't hear from me for a while. Hope everyone reading this is great! I miss you all very much!

Love and hugs from Sweet Sweet Salone!

~ Shub :)

"I think I'm quite ready for another adventure!"

Lots of apologies to all my adoring fans (all two of you - you know who you are!) for the second LONG intermission between activity here on the Shublog. As previously mentioned, my life sort of stopped being interesting for a while, and therefore stopped being blog-worthy. During that interlude I spent nine months on a non-profit organic farm in Massachusetts, three months back in Kenya working at a spectacular eco-friendly hostel and backpackers in Kilifi, and then finally came back to Maryland for another few months and worked at the front desk at a doctor's office. And with those things in mind, I'd like to give a few shout-outs before I move on to my current situasche:

Shout-out #1: That farm in Massachusetts belonged to Heifer International and the time I spent there was unforgettable. The incredible people I met and the things I learned will remain with me for a long long time. Heifer is a great cause and next birthday/Christmas/holiday think about getting someone a goat instead of an iPad :)

Shout-out #2: That hostel in Kilifi was called Distant Relatives Eco-Lodge & Backpackers and, like those in Shout-out #1, the people I met and things I learned were unparalleled in every way. If you ever find yourself on the East African Coast and need a place to stay, this is the place. Go here: http://kilifibackpackers.com/ for more info.

Shout-out #3: That doctor's office in Maryland where I spent many-a-day laughing my butt off with the girls up front is the office my mom use to practice in, owned by Dr. Mays. This shout-out is dedicated to him and his extraordinary family. Thank you Mays Fam, for housing and feeding me, and for giving me a job, company, love, and support - all right when I needed it the most. Love and miss you all so much!

So here's what is the haps now: I leave tomorrow for this country:

"What country do these beautiful colors represent?" you ask? Why, that is the splendid West African paradise of Sierra Leone. I will be going there with an organization called Sound Seekers, who's goal is to improve the lives of deaf and heard-of-hearing people, namely children, in the developing world. Visit their website here if you want more info about what they do and all their projects.

I will be based in the capitol of Freetown, where I will be teaching/working/doing deaf kid things at the National School for the Deaf there. Apparently the school needs a little bit of help and I'm hoping that I can deliver. I will also be doing a little work in another town called Makeni, which is inland a certain number of hours. Makeni is home to St. Joseph's School for the Hearing Impaired, where I will also be helping out where I can. 

As with Peace Corps I believe a lot of this job will entail figuring things out when I get there. I will be meeting the Sound Seekers Program Manager, Emily in country, and she will have the exciting task of showing me around and introducing me to everyone! As Bilbo so aptly remarks before he leaves Middle Earth, I think I AM ready for another adventure!

The next big thing on the horizon, after West Africa, that is, is GRAD SCHOOL. I've been accepted to a few places with some pretty remarkable programs and am doing my best to pro/con/future-plan my way forward. As per usual, I need lots of help and TONS of people to talk through everything with, but it's definitely looking more and more like I'll have a concrete future relatively soon. Thanks to all the people who helped me with the application process: coached me through essays, wrote me a reference, put me up and fed me in Nairobi the night before the GREs, picked me up from the bus in Kilifi the morning after the GREs, everything. Thanks thanks thanks. Asante sana :) You guys rock. 

Not much else to report! Hope all is well with everyone - wherever you are in whatever corner of the world. I will try to keep the blog as updated as possible during my time in Sierra Leone, so be sure to be on standby. 

Loads of love,

~ Shub :)

PS - Puns are super easy with Kenya: KenyaBelieveIt, KenyaDigIt, KenyaHearMeNow; but what do I do with Sierra Leone? All I can think of is Sarah Leone. Thoughts?

Back...

Hello World!

I'm back on the interwebs, after a long and not-so-easy hiatus, and I'm sorry that I've been gone so long.  Leaving Kenya was definitely one of, if not the, hardest thing I've ever done, because it wasn't just leaving Kenya; it was leaving my town, my friends there, my house, my school, my cats, and most importantly, my kids. They are still the most wonderful people I've ever had the pleasure of meeting and knowing that I wasn't going to be able to see their beautiful smiling faces every morning from here on out was the toughest part.

But I'm stateside now, and trying my best to keep going. SO, what's happening now, you say? Well it took me a few moths to get back into the swing of blog-posting because it took me a while to be happy with life again. That's not to say I was majorly depressed for two months, but it wasn't easy coming back home with no job and no income, no home in Maryland anymore, and no deaf kids to hang out with everyday. I was in what I called my "Mid-Twenties-Post-Peace-Corps Angst-y" period and on a day-to-day basis the lack of job was the hardest. I'm a person who likes to be busy. I thrive off of having a schedule and things to do. I like to relax, but relaxing with nothing to do for months at a time is not ideal for me. So after flying into Michigan and a few days later driving to Maryland for the holidays, I spent the next month 'sleeping around' as they say. Even though my folks are no longer in MD, there are still lots of people who were willing to put me up for a few nights. I spent the majority of the time in Maryland at my cousins' house in Frederick. So I'd like to give a very gracious shout-out to the Nylec family for putting up with me for a whole month. Thanks for letting me take over the basement and for consuming all your food and coffee. I love you guys :)

So a month into moving in with the Nylecs I decided to not overstay my welcome and, trying to find something fun but also something to keep me busy and remind me of Peace Corps, I applied to volunteer on a farm. One online application and unexpected phone interview later I was accepted as an Education Volunteer at Heifer International's Overlook Farm in Rutland, Massachusetts. Heifer International, if you've never heard of it, is an awesome organization that focuses on working with communities to end hunger and poverty and does so with donations of livestock and the appropriate education connected with the animals to make families and communities sustainable. Heifer's headquarters are in Little Rock, Arkansas and Heifer has a few self-sustainable farms in the U.S. called Learning Centers. The biggest Learning Center is just outside Little Rock in a town called Perryville, a place where I took my church youth group kiddos a few years back, and the next Learning Center in line is where I reside now in Rutland, Massachusetts.

The farm here is called Overlook Farm because of our view of Boston from the hill, and we sit on about 270 total acres. We have everything from guinea pigs and bunnies, to goats, sheep, cows, llamas and yaks. Pretty much every farm animal, save for horses, resides on this farm. As a new volunteer on the farm (I got here four days ago) I'm learning the ropes to the twice daily animal feedings, the temperaments of all the livestock, what food I am allowed and not allowed to eat and/or give to the animals, and the ins and outs of Heifer International as an organization. We'll be laying low for a few weeks at least, while it's still cold and while there are no guests to accomodate. However starting in March the groups will begin showing up and apparently things are busy until the next winter. As an Education Volunteer I will be doing what seems like half Peace Corps and half Maryland Images Tour Guides, both of which I LOVE. As groups and guests start to show up we'll be giving them farm tours, Global Village tours, and sending them through all kinds of programs that we have. I'll be spending the next few weeks memorizing all the things I need to for the tours and programs and trying to stay warm.

I live in a house on the farm with five other volunteers and we have a big kitchen and living room, fireplace, huge basement, and state-of-the-art VCR player. The house itself may be a little dated but the stories behind it and people inside it are pretty awesome. The farm has about 20 volunteers in total and nine full-time employees. Volunteers come and go every six months or so and the legacies passed on from group to group seem much like Peace Corps. And speaking of which there is a good number of other RPCV's here as well, some volunteers and some employees. Hooray!

So I'm still alive and finally doing something with my life again, even if it isn't benefitting me financially in any way (again!). I guess at some point I'll have to get a real job so I can sustain myself for the rest of my life. Meh. I'll worry about that later.

I still miss Kenya like nobody's business and wish more than anything that I find a way to get back there. And I thank goodness everyday that I decided to join Peace Corps and that I ended up in Kilifi. Rutland is a decent substitute for now, however, even though the difference in weather is unfathomable. Another plus of living here is that I am only an hour away from my wonderful brother and soon-to-be sister-in-law in Providence. After two years of not seeing each other often, this is a real treat.

ALSO, as a tiny gift to myself after getting back in December I went out and bought something I didn't think I deserved at this time in life. Now, though, I've totally and completely fallen in love with her.  :)

Just my size right?

Ok everyone. To those of you who still read this silly thing: Thanks and you rock.

And as they say on the farm,
"Love and Llamas,"

~ Shub :)

PS. The name of the blog is going to remain the same, because even though I'm not in either of those places currently, they both have a big place in my heart.

Ok bye!

There are now 90 missing pieces ...

... that I didn't even realize were that much a part of me until they all said goodbye to me for real.  If this were an actual piece of paper there would be tear stains on it. Instead I'm just crying onto my keyboard, which even though I'll be getting a new computer fairly soon, is probably not the best thing.

In my last post I mentioned I would try my absolute best to tell all my kids how much I love I them. Well, try I did, and BOY was it hard. We had one last big hurrah of a movie night last weekend, of which I prefaced with my short schpiel about loving my kids. I stood on a chair in the front of the classroom, and after making sure ALL 90 were in the room and everyone was looking at me, I sign-stuttered my way into explaining how much they've meant to me in just two short years. I told them if it weren't for them I would have been long gone a while ago, and if it weren't for them I wouldn't have been even remotely as happy as I am when they're around. I told them I love them more than words or signs can say, that I'll miss them more than anything in the world, and finally I told them "thank you:" for reminding me that patience is essential for sanity, that happiness is not about having a lot of things, that personal vanity should always be thrown out the window, that curiosity should never, ever be stopped or stunted or held back, and most of all, thanked them for being themselves.

My kids - just them the way they are - is all I have ever needed here.

I am going to miss them so much. I already do.

After I finished saying what I needed to say, the kids themselves told me thank you as well, gave me all that love right back, and told me once again how much they're going to miss me. It took some effort to hold back the tears that I knew were on their way, but I managed to keep it together until I left the room at least. I turned the movie on and quickly made my way out of the room to the back steps of school where I could sit in peace and cry my eyes out until there was nothing left. Well the peace and quiet didn't last long. One of my Form 3's noticed I was a little hurried to leave the room and waited a few minutes before coming out to check on me. He thought something else was wrong, something other than my looming bout of depression once they all leave. In sign I told him "miss deaf alone, bas," meaning missing them was the only thing I was crying about at that point. Then, what I didn't realize until later, was that Emmanuel had gone back into the classroom, paused the movie, turned the lights on, made everyone look at him, and told them all that Sarah was sitting outside crying and she needed some comforting. That prompted two of my girls and another one of my boys to come out and cry with me. This lasted about an hour and a half, with different kids cycling in and out of the cry-fest.

All in all it was a pretty emotional night, and that's a definite understatement. My eyes were still pretty red and swollen when I woke up the next morning.

The emotions don't stop there, though!

Tuesday was a party day, of which I was mostly unaware, because they all tried to keep it a secret from me. I knew something was going on, but I didn't know any details or anything. Turns out all my teachers and all the staff (dorm father, cooks, shamba boy) had contributed some cash and they went out and bought pilau for the whole school! The kids were stuffing their faces and I couldn't have been happier watching them do it. Then after we all couldn't eat anymore, one of my teachers, Veronica, shuffled everyone -kids, teachers, staff, and even a board member- into the Form 4 classroom to have a little ceremony for me and for the Form 4's, who were also leaving school at the end of this year. Two of my teachers, the dorm father, the board member, and three of my kids all got up in front of everyone and said how thankful they were to have had Sarah for two whole years. They each listed lots of the different things I've done, or paid for, and all said a big 'thank you and God bless you.' Then they said it was my turn to talk. I had already had my night with just my kids, thank goodness, so, having nothing prepared, I just said thank you again, and told them one more time how much I love them. I thanked my teachers for sticking through it with me and for that whole wonderful little party. I knew if I started saying too much more I'd explode into tears again, so I tried to keep it short and sweet. Then they gave me presents! Not only had the teachers chipped in to buy a good lunch for everybody, they also chipped in to buy me a bracelet and a very pretty wrap from Mombasa. My kids also did a similar thing. They each contributed 10 shillings, which can buy a whole chapati, so could not have been easy for them to give up. 90 kids x 10 shillings a piece got to around 900/-. My head boy and head girl took that money and went into Kilifi that morning and bought me a necklace, a pair of earrings, and another wrap, in really bright Kenyan colors "so I wouldn't forget Kenya." How could I ever forget this place?

Anyway, I was humbled and touched beyond belief and once again felt like I didn't deserve this kind celebration and this kind of love. The day ended in a lot more hugs and a few more tears, and one final movie night before they all had to pack up and go home the next day. I know I'll be back next year and will see most of them again, but that didn't make it any easier to say goodbye. I don't know if I'll ever be able to accurately express how much I love them. I think it's safe to say I've tried though.

I'll finish up with one last picture. After the little thank you/goodbye ceremony we were all shuffled outside one more time to watch the acrobatics that the kids had prepared. When they had finished jumping around and cartwheeling and back handspring-ing we took one final whole-school photo, with Sarah's tiny little white head smushed in the middle of her 90 favorite people.

Goodbye kiddos. Love you more than I can say. Thank you for everything you've taught me and done for me, and don't ever forget how wonderful you are!

Close Of Service

In the grand scheme of things, two years is really not that long of a time. When I'm old and grey these past two years will be a very small percentage of the total life I hope to live. But when what seems like every second of that time is either the hardest and most frustrating, or the happiest and most wonderful, two years can end up feeling like a lifetime.

Thanks to Peace Corps, I ended up on a free flight to Kenya, and two months later, thanks to a lot of general happenstance, ended up in Kilifi, which I know now is the one of the best little places in the world. Peace Corps Kenya, though I've stayed in constant contact with administration throughout, and continually worked with PCKenya on a number of different projects and initiatives, has become less and less about Peace Corps, and more and more about just living the wonderful life I have in Kilifi. That's not to say I don't recognize Peace Corps' importance in all this anyways - if it weren't for them, I would never have even imagined a place like this existed, or that I could love it so much.

I've spent two years making some of the closest friends I could ever ask for, and forming the most incredible relationships with my students. If it weren't for Peace Corps, I would never have met my kids, who, Kilifi deafness, PC, and novelty of living in Africa aside, are still the most fabulous bunch of people I've ever had the pleasure of meeting. I have relied on them for two years to keep me happy and keep me going, and they've fulfilled that responsibility to no end. I've learned so much from them, so much that they'll never even realize they taught me. They've spent the last two years just being themselves and, what I know now is, that's all I've ever needed.

Life here can be SO unbelievably complicated sometimes, but the majority of the time, life is easy and simple and happy. As is known about Africa and the developing world, people here worry less about material things, and more about things that really seem important. Ground flour from maize in the shamba, milk from the goats and cows, hanging clothes out to dry, carrying water for your bath, and slaughtering your own chickens, all seem to me like things that are supposed to be done. There's so many other wonderful ways of life that I never imagined before coming to Kenya, and I've been lucky enough to be a part of this one on the coast. Not to say when I get back stateside I won't thoroughly enjoy my hot showers, cold milk and cereal, and luxury of a washing machine, but I know for a fact that I love living here. Life here is more just about everyone being together, enjoying each other's company, and when it comes to my group of Kilifi friends, making and eating a lot of really good food. With my kids it's just about each other's company, because the food could always be improved a little bit (however I've become extremely attached to ugali and mchicha).

That being said, my life in Kenya is not over. My life in the Peace Corps is coming to a close, but Kilifi has made too much of an impression for me not to return here. I will, without a doubt, be back here next August at the very latest, for a very important and exciting wedding, one of probably four that I'll be at next year. And whether or not that turns into staying here for even longer, or going back to the US for a job or school, is yet to be determined. What's nice to know is that I have the option to come back here. I guess we'll just have to see what happens and how I feel when I'm back. All I know right now is that I'm gonna miss Kilifi, my group of friends here, and my kids more than anything in the world. Hmpfh.

I've been on duty this week at school, which means, even though I do like going into town and meeting up with the gang, I get to be at school with my kids all week :) Last night was movie night, the second to last movie night I'll ever have with them, and I showed The Mask. Boy did they love it. They've been asking for Transformers 3 but I've told them I want to save it for last because they're gonna love it so much. Next weekend won't be easy.

I've been trying to find a way to properly explain to all my kids what they mean to me. I can tell my friends here fairly easily, because they get stuff like that. But my kids are a different story. I can sign to them right now just as fluently as I'm writing this post, but even in English it's hard to express how I feel about them, and how I feel about leaving them. There's also an aspect of emotional attachment that I think a lot of them don't really grasp, only because they've never had the opportunity to feel that way about anyone, or been exposed to someone else feeling that way about them, or just recognized either of those situations. It's not a bad thing; just different. Not to say they don't love, or can't, but maybe it's just a different kind of love, and they have different ways of expressing it .... hard to explain.

Either way, I'm gonna try my absolute best to tell them next weekend just how much they mean to me. And I'm going to try to do it without crying. Easier said than done.

This post is getting pretty wordy... Some quick updates on the following month to come, and then pics :)

The last movie night will be next weekend, which will be after a big ceremony thing at school to open the new girls' dorms, and immediately followed by a music night party thing in Kilifi. The week after that is the week that we close school :( and I think the kids should be going home around the 23rd. The 24th is our augmented Saturday Thanksgiving, since most everybody here is busy with work on Thursdays. I'll be making a HUGE turkey, sweet potato casserole, stuffing, salad, and those will hopefully (considering the number of people I've got coming to this) be accompanied by a lot of other good dishes. That next Sunday the 25th I've gotta get my butt up to Machakos for the start of Model School for the new group, that really scary week towards the end of training when you practice teaching for the first time. I'll help with that for the week in Machakos, then need to head to Nairobi to actually close my service. We have to take one final language exam, close our bank accounts and other administrative stuff, and then I'll need at least half a day to say goodbye to everyone in the office. After COS I'll be heading back to the coast on the 6th of December, and that weekend is supposedly some sort of goodbye thing for me, though we're all sort of in denial about it. The week after that will be my last in Kenya for a few months so I will need to spend some time just being around and seeing everyone. I also want to head down south coast for a day or two and visit some friends there. Then on the 15th I fly home. Mombasa to Nairobi. Nairobi to Amsterdam. Amsterdam to Detroit. Detroit to Grand Rapids. We should be in GR for only a few days before we drive down to MD. Hopefully be there before the 20th.

Also, after a LOT of thought and one very unhappy afternoon, I've decided not to take my kitties with me, THIS TIME. I'm leaving them here with the new volunteer moving into my house until January, when they'll go to another friends' house until I get back to Kilifi next August. At that point I will either take them back to the US then, or will have decided to come back Kilifi for longer than just a visit. We'll see. Whatever ends up happening, it's not going to be easy leaving them.

Whew.

Ok. Picture time.

Gona and Osman :)

Drinking my morning bathwater...

Evason tried to climb up onto the water tower without a ladder, but didn't quite make it.

Kelvin took this. At members for the afternoon.

They draped me in the Kenyan flag while I was on the computer..

I LOVE this shirt Chaka has on :)

And the ever-beautiful walk home at sunset. 

Aright dudes. I'm out. Again, I'll be back in the States on the 16th of December, and will be in Maryland a few days after that. Happy November and lots of love and hugs from Kilifi!

~ Shub :)