sawa sawa [okay okay]

Ahhhhhh!  Only ten more days in Africa!!!  I can't believe how quickly July has flown by!!  This next week is so busy with all the volunteers trying to get things in order before leaving.  Sadly, all five of us are leaving on the same day... Oh, have I mentioned there are five of us now? heh whoops.  It was SO exciting when the other two girls from McGill came.  Want to know why?  THEY BROUGHT NUTELLA!!!  The jar only lasted 5 days, but boy oh boy, it was a great 5 days.

Our schedule is as follows:  garden, school, garden, school, meeting, school, garden, school, meeting, meeting, meeting, school kjfal;kdjfkjgkls;kjg!  Busybusybusy!  Don't you worry though kiddies, I'm going to fit in some time for fun things too!  Liiiike on Saturday, our gardening club (now titled "Tumaini Green Revolution Gardening Club...yeah, TGRGC rolls right off the tongue, eh?) is going to Farmer Ali's house for a soybean workshop, where we were promised that we would learn how to make our own yogurt!  And Sunday, I'm going to church with Rose!  Five hours of loud and proud worship!  Hallelujah!  On Tuesday we're visiting another one of Rose's brothers for chocolate ugali!  I got pretty excited when I heard it was chocolate, but then they all told me that it's only called 'chocolate ugali' because it's brown, and that it has absolutely no cocoa in it...bummer.  Wednesday is closing day at school, and we get to meet all the parents at school (and hopefully we'll even have some doctors or nurses giving a health and hygiene workshop)!

But next Thursday morning, bright and early, I'll be on a bus to somewhere unknown... Either Hell's Gate in Naivasha or Nairobi National Park.  Friday, I'm on a plane, and back in good ol' Montreal by Saturday afternoon!  Wowzers!

watoto [children]

Aren't you lucky?!  Two posts in one day!!  I guess I was feeling kind of guilty when I heard that Uncle Rick has my blog set as his homepage... pressure's on!!

Last week Juli, Sabrina, and I visited Matungu Special Needs School!  I really wish I had seen this school earlier on in my stay here in Kenya, so that I could have had more time to be involved with them.  The school is mixed day and boarding, and has about 50 or 60 special needs kids, but on the same grounds they have a primary school, so many of the kids are integrated.  It was neat to see teachers so passionate about making sure these kids could have a somewhat normal life.  At the school, they teach everything from behavioral skills, to mathematics, to everyday life skills like cooking, farming, and even going to the market.  There's even an exercise bike for muscle conditioning!

I wanted to go to this school to donate some of the toys I brought from home: plastic toy animals, pipe-cleaners for arts and crafts, and a whole mess of Legos (special thanks to the Brenan family!!).  This was truly the perfect place to leave these toys!  The kids were so appreciative and had so much fun playing with the Legos.  We joined them for an hour or so, watching as they all built planes, cars, or random structures.  Everyone was so incredibly focused!  And somehow, the four gallon-size bags of Legos were enough for the dozens of students in the room!

For me, it could not have been a better experience! [I have loads more photos that I'll put up soon!  I really went picture-crazy at Matungu.]

Afterwards, we visited our friend Hamza at St. Joseph's Secondary School.  Hamza was so happy to see us!  We had him give us a tour of the school, and then the head teacher Bernard offered me two hectares of land if I promise to come back and stay in Kenya forever!!  I'm not exactly sure how much that is, but it sounds like a good deal!

So here is what kind of offers I have received in Kenya:
-two hectares of land
-a house built just for me and the other volunteers
-our friend Fanuel's wife to cook lunch for me every day
-my very own chicken (this one I have for real!  His name is Lord Henry!  We got him as a gift just two days ago)

Sounds like I'm all set for life!

I really should update the creepy-crawly page soon... The other day, a giant green caterpillar fell from a tree.  When I say giant, I mean ENORMOUS -- and even that doesn't really cut it!  This thing...ugh.  It must have been 6 inches long and an inch in diameter.  Then Fanuel poured some sort of creepy-crawly-killing chemical on it and Anerico's son carried it away in a shovel.  Bummer...I was looking forward to a nice protein-filled dinner!

Suguwa meno yako! [Brush your teeth!]

Exciting news for this past week:  We started the new Health and Hygiene program at Tumaini Academy!

The project started by purchasing new taps the water container, so that the children now have water to wash their hands with.  The old taps were really rusty and stuck in there pretty good.  Unfortunately I'm still not strong and manly enough to fix that kind of thing. I managed to remove one of the taps with the help of Oyango, the groundsman, but then I had to call for reinforcements.  Regardless, the school now has a way for the children to access water!  Huzzah!!

The school already had many toothbrushes from previous donations, so we spent an afternoon labeling each toothbrush so every student would have his or her own.

 

It was really a never ending pile of toothbrushes... I think 160 in all.

In addition, we donated ten tubes of toothpaste, and have a meeting on Friday with the owner from Khetia's (a supermarket in Bungoma) to see if the school can be sponsored for toothpaste in the future.  Now the children brush their teeth every morning before classes start!

We also purchased water canisters so that each classroom can have clean drinking water.  That was quite a process...the canisters used to be containers of cooking oil, so they were SO MUCH FUN to clean.  Mmmm.

 

Anyways, to kick off the program, we went around to every classroom explaining the importance of hygiene.

These are the kids in grades 1, 2, and 3, all listening attentively, and only slightly distracted by my camera.

We had two of the younger classes watch the presentation from outside.  Here's Juli and Sabrina being wonderful teachers.

 

The chart Sabrina is holding has all of our steps to our program on it:
1.  Brush your teeth every morning after arriving to school.
2.  Wash your hands every time after using the toilet.  Use soap and water.
3.  Wash your hands before every meal.  Use soap and water.
4.  Be sure to drink enough water every day.
5.  Come to school clean every day!

I should put up a picture of the chart so that you can see my lovely art work.  Or maybe not...

Ah, this morning I stopped by the school bright and early, and I was so excited to see that our program was actually in action!  All the students were outside brushing brushing brushing, with the teachers supervising and helping with the toothpaste.  Success!! 

And finally, for those of you back home who have forgotten what your favorite Maria looks like, here's a picture of me with two of my favorite students!  Ayub Something and Michael Junior.  They enjoyed hanging with us in the office while we were labeling toothbrushes hours after school was over.  I guess it's more exciting to hang out in the teacher's office when mzungus are there...

 

That's all for now folks!

wakulima [farmers]

This week Kennedy from ACE Africa came to visit and teach us a bit about organic gardening!  The two day seminar was held at Anerico's place, the same location as our community garden itself.  We had a lot of preparation, arranging to borrow chairs, dishes, and utensils from neighbors, and also trying to figure out how much rice and beans should be bought to feed 30 people for two days.  Turns out about 6 goro goros of each...whatever that turns out to be.  Anerico also hired a lawn mower to prepare the venue.

Dad, maybe we should get a cow at home!  Might save you some yard work.  Not only can you use it as a lawn mower, but it can help you make some nice compost and liquid manure!  Kennedy taught me that!

We borrowed sooo many chairs from all of Anerico's neighbors, and created a nice little sitting area in the shade.  You can see the farmers were all hard at work, taking notes from Kennedy's lecture. 

 

 

We even had a field demonstration, during which everyone kindly pointed out that our garden is a bit overgrown -- even "bushy," as they called it.  Perhaps we have a ton of work to do, but at least now we know how!

That's Kennedy showing Anerico something in the garden. (Maybe I should have taken better notes!)  You can see that they are standing in the sukuma wiki (kale) section of the garden, which we now know should be harvested soon and sprayed with a magic potion to get rid of harmful pests.

So anyways, I am now an expert farmer, certificate and all!  After these two days, I know all about making liquid manure, from plant waste, animal waste, and yes, even human waste!  (But we won't use that method...apparently it's not culturally acceptable...)  I also know how to prepare the perfect compost, how to properly space each type of crop, and how to make all kinds of organic pesticides.  When I grow up, I'm going to have the bestest garden in the world!!!

Safari [journey]

After long matatu ride through the country with three transfers, Amy and I arrived in Kisumu!  We checked in at the "Sooper Guest House" at about 1PM, and were amazed that our room had not only running water and electricity, but a television as well!!!  Kenyan soap operas tonight?  Heck yes!!  And then things just got even more mind-blowing when we discovered that the restaurant we ate lunch at had....LIGHTS AND CEILING FANS!! WOOOWWWW!!!

After lunch we went to Hippo Point for a hippo safari boat ride.  It was just the two of us on a boat, with the guide and a driver...A nice personal safari!  The guide was 'sooper' informative and pointed out all the different birds and plants.  As we cruised past the mangroves, we even caught a glimpse of an antelope!  Oh and how could I forget about the hippos?  There were about twenty of them in all, and the took turns submerging and resurfacing, and even threw in a couple yawns for us. Ohhh hippos...


The boat ride turned sour when we got into a minor quarrel with some local fishermen...but that's a story for another time!


The scenery on Lake Victoria was amazing!  Once again, I hope you guys have good imaginations because yep, you guessed it: my camera is back in the Sooper Guest House.  But once I'm back in Eshibanze, I'll put some up.

Now we're killing time at the cyber before dinner, and then tomorrow we'll hit up the local markets before heading back to the village!!

Kuku [chicken]

After my trip to Uganda, I jumped right back into working in the village.  Wednesday I spent the morning working on budget reports for the school, and then in the afternoon, I attended the Tumaini CBO meeting.  I must say, the meeting went fantastically!  We are on the verge of starting an HIV/AIDS support group in the community, and also beginning a brick-making business as a way to fund resources for the support group as well as AIDS education in the area.  After this meeting, I feel like the CBO definitely shows some real promise for the future, and I'm super excited to get more involved with these projects! 

Thursday, Amy and I got busy with some manual labor:  we spent the day mudding Anerico's chicken house!  Mudding was super fun -- you get to pick up handfuls of mud and throw it as hard as you can at the wall!  Sometimes, you could see worms squirming around on the wall...Mmmm!  We had an audience too.  Anerico's neighbors thought it was pretty amusing that he had mzungus mudding for him.  I guess it was quite a sight!  We were pretty messy!  Or, I was anyways.  Every time I threw mud, it would splatter back at me.  By the end of the day, I was covered head to toe in mud.  After about four hours, we were pretty tired out, so we stopped to eat lunch.  Anerico cooked us some ugali (a cornmeal-based doughy creation) and sukuma wiki (kale).  The only problem was that ugali is traditionally eaten with your fingers!  So after mudding all day, our lunch had quite an earthy taste...but it was still delicious anyways! :)

I pinky promise that pictures of mudding will be up soon!  My hands were waaayyy too messy for photography, but somehow Amy was purrrdy clean...so all the photos are on her camera.  I'll steal them from her ASAP!

Uganda!!!

I was not so good at taking pictures in Uganda...oops!  But reading is fun too, right??  I thought I'd give you the full adventure here, since my last entry was not so informative.

Day 1:  Stacey and I arrived in Jinja around 4PM, after a seemingly endless and uncomfortable matatu ride.  We checked into the hostel, and then went out to find lunch/dinner (it was an odd time for a meal).  We ate at a restaurant that had mzungu food!  Crazy!!  I'm talkin pizzas, burgers, lasagna...the whole works!  I had a veggie burger and boy, it was fantastic!  And then to top it off, we bought some ice cream at the supermarket and ate it while exploring Main Street.  We spent the night in a tent because there were no dorm rooms left, but it was probably for the best, because we were at a party hostel and most of the guests had just returned from a booze cruise.  The tent was superduper comfy though!

Jinja has a lot of splended advertisements like the one above.

Day 2:  Shopping in Jinja!  Stacey, Sabrina, Juli and I went shopping in all the craft stores.  By the end, I basically perfected my bargaining skills.  A parade passed us while we were shopping!  Something to do with elections...

We tried to go to the Nile Gardens, but the pikipiki drivers took us to the Nile Garden Hotel instead...which was nice I guess, but probably not a real tourist attraction.  So then we decided to go see the source of the Nile, where the river flows out of Lake Victoria.  When we got there, we realized there were visitors fees.  So we decided just to go home, since we'd be up close and personal with the Nile the next day anyways. 

That night after dinner in the hostel, we were going to go to a concert with some of our new Ugandan friends. The concert was supposed to be two of Uganda's most popular musicians, but when we got there, it was cancelled!!! Bummer! So we went to a bar instead. Ugandan nightlife sure is...interesting.

Day 3:  RAFTING DAYYYY!!!  I don't even know how to describe our adventures!  It felt like we were in the water more than on the raft.  Yeah, that's right -- I went swimming in the Nile River!!  The rapids were crazy and really only scary when I was stuck under the boat, but it was sooo much fun!!!  I'll try to put up pictures soon so you can see just how crazy it was!

Day 4:  A long journey back to Kenya.  We went grocery shopping for cookies and chocolate to use up all our remaining Ugandan shillings before crossing the border.  Finally being back in the village feels good!  I missed those familiar sounds of unseen children yelling, "Hi! How are you?!"

Maji [water]

Ahhh I don't have too much time today, but I wanted to let y'all know that I'm still alive!  I was not eaten by crocodiles while rafting in the Nile, even though I'm pretty sure we spent more time in the water than actually on the raft...

Uganda was AMAZING and it was great having showers with running water, but I sure am glad to get back to village life!

Mbu [mosquito]

Ayyyy everyone!  This post is going to be dedicated to creepy crawlies and other magical critters!  That being said, it will be continuously updated for the rest of my stay here in Kenya...Awesome possum, right?

Let me start by introducing you to everyone's favorite friend!

This is our beloved dog, Maximus.  Max was rescued by Stacey a few months ago when he was only a wee little pup, and now he lives in and out of our house.  He frequently likes to sit by the jiko for warmth.  Ain't he a cutie?  The other day, he came for a run with us!

 This little guy joined us for dinner one night.

This is a really gross wormy-caterpillar thingy.

 

 BABY COWWWWWWW!

This is an action shot of Rose saving the day by killing not one, not two, but THREE GIANT SPIDERS! 

UNICORN TURKEY!!!!  Need I say more?


And believe me, there will be much more to come!

Nakupenda Kenya! [I love you Kenya!]

Hey everyone!  It's been quite a while!  I can't believe I've already been in Africa for 15 days... that's 25% of my journey completed already!  Wowzers!

I thought it might be time to give you a nice little tour of my house here in Makadara (supposedly that's the name of my exact location...hmmm).

Let's start with my house.

Here it is!  Tucked behind some nice little trees, and surrounded on all sides with maize fields.  I'm surprised that there are no chickens or turkeys in this photo, because we always have huge flocks of poultry clucking about, including a nasty white turkey, who frequently likes to attack me! 

Anyways, the house is a cozy little place, with 4 rooms...one bedroom for Rose (the fantastic woman who cooks fantastic food for us!), one bedroom with 4 beds (where Juli, Sabrina, Amy and I sleep), and then the main room, which has our kitchen, table, chairs, a couch, and 2 more beds (one is for Stacey, the other is empty)...and then I guess there is one other mysterious room which exists although I have never seen it...

Above is a picture of my bedroom, or as we like to say "the Room of Life."  The bottom bunk belongs to moi!  As you can see, I'm just as messy in Kenya as I am at home!!  The dark thing on the left is the other bunk bed.  Fun stuff, eh?  I don't know why it looks like I don't have a mosquito net...I assure you, Mom, that I do!  Maybe it's just that blue thing in the middle...hmmmmf.  This picture was taken a while ago, so now the net is set up like a nice, spacious tent.  I've learned to really appreciate the net...it protects me from all the creepy crawlies...like the cockroach we saw one night that was AS BIG AS MY HEAD!  You think I'm exaggerating?  mmmmm....maybe.  But not by much.

Here comes the fun part!

 You guessed it!  That's our handydandy bathroom!  The door on the left is our shower, or rather a room with a slanted floor (to act as a drain).  We get about half a bucket of water each night, and surprisingly, it's plenty!  It makes me realize that I probably use superfluous amounts of water back home.  I shower at night, usually after dark, so I have to bring my headlamp and hang it on the door.  I've actually gotten quite used to the whole process.  The door on the right is our toilet.  I'll leave that up to your imagination...

Okay kiddies! That's it for now!  On Saturday I'll be travelling to Uganda for some white-water rafting down the Nile!   Can't wait to tell you all about it, assuming I am not eaten by crocodiles...

P.S.  I'm going to go through my past few entries and add some pictures, so be sure to check them out!

Jina langu ni Maria [My name is Maria]

Okay kiddies.  Please don't hate me for posting yet another entry without pictures.  This time I tried, I promise.  But I wrote everything yesterday, and then it started raining cats and alligators, so the power went out while my photos were uploading and everything got all ahfl;ajdslfkagkjlgkj.  Today, I just plain forgot to bring my camera cords (I didn't think I'd be going to the cyber, so I wasn't prepared).  They will come soon though, have no fear!!  I know that when I read blogs, I only look at the pictures, because I really don't know how to read...but I am trying my best! [JUST KIDDING FOLKS!  AS OF 6/15/2011, THERE ARE PICTURES!  HUZZAH!!!]

Yesterday I went to Tumaini for the first time (the school where I'll be volunteering.)  In the morning, I sung the alphabet song with the baby class, and read an awesome story about jungle animals.

This is the baby class...I assure you that most of the time we were there, the kids WERE actually smiling...here I think they were just confused by the camera.

Then Amy and I taught the kids how to play frisbee.

 

The children really enjoy playing with the new jump rope that we brought.

In the afternoon I sat in on a grade 3 science class, where I learned about planting maize and bean seeds, and then guess what?  I taught P.E.!!  Or rather, I taught a bunch of kids how to play "Duck, Duck, Goose!" and the teacher had to translate for me.  'Twas pretty fun though.  The kids really only know how to say, "Hi, how are you?" in English, but hopefully soon we'll be able to communicate better.

The day before yesterday, I went hiking in Kakamega Forest (Kenya's only rainforest) with Sabrina, Julie, and Stacey.  SOOOO MANY MONKEYS!! And butterflies, and medicinal plants, and other things that are less exciting than monkeys.

 

Here's a picture of me inside of a Strangler Tree.  I kind of look like a boy in this picture...but hey, I'm in Africa, so shuddup. 

 

There were tons of crazy trees like this one... I think this is the one that our tourguide said was over 600 years old, but I could be lying to you and you'd NEVER EVER EVER know!

The monkey pictures didn't come out so well because my camera couldn't zoom well, so let's pretend there are some in this photo. :)

After we left the forest, I tried my first Kenyan beer!

On the way home from the forest, it was pouring rain like CRAZY and my seat in the matatu happened to be the only one under a leak in the roof.  It was...interesting.  I'm also learning that pikipikis in the rain are not the most fun...They get stuck in the mud quite often.  Well actually, they are really SUPER fun, but maybe not the safest mode of transportation.  You would all be aghast at how terrible the roads get here everytime it rains.

Today we went to Bungoma to meet with ACE Africa, an organization that does a lot of work in the area revolving around AIDS/HIV.  Part of their work is creating gardens so that people living with AIDS, and their families, can have the proper nutrition for cheaper costs.  The meeting went really well, and we were able to set up a two day seminar where experts will come teach community members about organic farming.  Hopefully this will spark a lot of interest in Anerico's community garden!  I'm really looking forward to see how this progresses. 

P.S.  Soon I'll give you a tour of my house!  Last night there was a lizard in the shower!  Thankfully it was either gone by my turn or just too dark for me to see it.

P.P.S.  I have been trying to take pictures of all the creepy crawlies I see (it's tricky though, because sometimes they are just too creepy, and sometimes they are just too crawly).  So maybe soon I'll be able to dedicate a special post just to those! 

P.P.P.S.  I don't think I will be seeing anymore Walters :(

Tikiti maji [watermelon]

I am slowly conquering my fear of the creepy-crawlies.  After spending all day weeding Anrico's commmunity garden, and after my encounter with a huge creepy-crawly in the shower last night, they are maybe not so bad.  Even the ladybugs are not nearly as terrifying in Kenya as they are back in good ol' Marblehead.  (Also, the ladybugs here are opposite - black with red spots!)

Karibu! [Welcome!]

Today was my first full day in the village of Eshibanze!  First, let me tell you about our journey from Nairobi.  Daniel was supposed to be picking us up from the Wildebeest Camp at 6:30 AM, so we had planned on waking up with plenty of time for one last real shower, and maybe some breakfast.  But of course I didn't wake up until 6:33.  It's a good thing Daniel was late as well!

We took a matatu (a small shuttle bus, for about 9 passengers) to Bungoma.  The ride took about 6 or 7 hours, but we drove through the Rift Valley, so it was really enjoyable.  You would not believe how many cows and goats are wandering on the side of the road.  And my new favorite animal for the next two months: donkeys.  They were EVERYWHERE!!!

Arriving in Bungoma was sooo hectic, but thankfully Stacey, Julie, and Sabrina (the other volunteers) were there to greet us.  After a lunch of bread and beans (mmmmmm), we hopped on another matatu.  This time, there were 16 passengers, in a 9 passenger van, plus all of Amy's and my luggage.  But here comes the best part.  After that matatu ride, I hopped on the back of a piki piki (motorbike), with my luggage, in the rain, on muddy roads, and through a couple streams.  So ridiculous. 

But now we're safe and sound at the volunteer house.  Today Stacey showed me around and introduced me to some of the projects that I might be working on.  Tomorrow, we'll be helping Anrico with his community garden. 

And my final adventure of the day, Stacey and I went for a run with my new friend Hamza!  It's going to take a while to get used to the heat, but I'm no wimp!  Oh, and tomorrow is Sporty Sunday in the village!  And Wednesday is card club!  I think these two months are going to go by so quickly!

Sorry that there are no pictures today -- I'll try to put some up soon.... but I'm really lazy!  Plus its 6:30 and already dark in our house.  Maybe later I'll tell you how AWESOME our showers (read: small mud room)and toilet (read: hole in the ground surrouded by tons of flies) are!  No but really, it's not that bad at all!  And the food is great too!  I probably eat better here than I do at home. 

Hope all is well back in the homeland! :)

Hakuna haraka [no hurries]

I have officially survived an entire day in Kenya without being eaten by lions! Which is saying a lot, because Amy and I were actually watching lions at feeding time. It's a bummer that I left my fanny pack full of steak at home...Otherwise I would have been able to get you some closer pictures!

Our driver Daniel picked us up this morning to take us on errands around Nairobi (cell phones, internet connecty thingies, etc.). It was great having a local to show us around the city and help us get good deals on things.

This is Nairobi.

Notice the lovely grey sky. 

And this is a billboard for Simba Cement…the only cement worth buying, obviously.

After our errands, he brought us to the animal orphanage. This place was really neat - there were all the animals you could expect to see in any given scene of The Lion King… warthogs, baboons, ostriches, hyenas, and lions galore! And look! There was even a baby giraffe, only 3 weeks old! 
 

I named him Walter, of course.

We finished seeing all the animals a couple hours before feeding time, so we decided to hang out for a bit until all the excitement started. We went by the Swahili saying of “hakuna haraka.” (“No hurry“….please don’t try to look that up in a translation dictionary because I probably butchered the spelling) . Like Daniel was telling us yesterday, “here in Kenya, we have watches but we don’t have time.” So we hung out and talked to Daniel about his business ideas (Akeda Tours...I'll post the link when I'm not being lazy as a snaaaail) for a very long time, until it was time to watch the feeeeeast.

All in all it was a fantastic first day in Africa. Saw lots of neat things, met lots of great people, especially other people staying here at the Wildebeest Camp. This one guy, Jerry, has been travelling around Africa for three years now, just for kicks. He somehow wound up renting a national park in Malawi for a year. Then tonight we met this lady who is starting a social business about menstruation....interesting, eh? But I bet none of them stick out like a sore thumb as badly as I do here in Kenya...boy do I scream foreigner. Even Amy said she can spot me from all the way across the supermarket. But hey, at least I'm not as odd as this guy:

But I'm probably not as awesome either.

I also wanted to add in some info about the 24 hours of travel from Montreal, like how AWESOME airplane food is (despite all those people who say otherwise, and how sick it made me feel), and the man in Brussels Airport who convinced me to take a picture of him, and then was confused when I told him I was living in the 21st century with neither an email address nor a telephone number.  (He's this following mysterious creature.  Maybe if we all work together, we can turn him into an internet sensation!)

Oh, and I also wanted to tell you about how I surrupticiously managed to acquire not one, but TWO ice cream bars on the plane from Brussels to Nairobi!!! (but then I felt guilty and gave one back)

Off to bed now!  Gotta wake up at 6 tomorrow to start the journey to Bungoma!  Later Gators!

The Journey Begins

This is more or less a pointless entry... I just wanted to test out uploading pictures on this rinkydink computer.  It's SOOO slow!  But hopefully it will get the job done.

Anyways, I said all my goodbyes yesterday, and loaded up on pizza and icecream, since I know I probably won't be getting any for a while.  I can't help but think that I'm forgetting to pack certain items.  Plus there was a bit of panic this past week when I realized I had misplaced my yellow fever certificate.  There is NO way I'm willing to have to get any more vaccinations, especially ones I had already gotten. GROSS!  But then I found it - phew!  More panic set in when I misinterpreted my visa and thought that it had the wrong dates...That would be a disaster!!  I can't wait to just get there and get settled in, and not have to worry about all this preparation. 

One more day in Montreal, and then Amy and I head out for a nice long flight.  Something like 27 hours of travel time... I hope Amy's prepared for some quality Maria time, and an endless game of I-Spy: Airport Edition.

Okay now here's the real test...photo time.  Let's see how computer-savy I am.

Wooo!  Congratulations, my very small audience!  This blog will not be completely devoid of pictures!  Huzzah!

Yep, that's 33 pounds on my back and a whole duffel bag full of legos (thanks to the lovely Brenan family).  Plus another backpack hiding in my other hand.  By the time I arrive in Nairobi, I'll have muscles on my muscles from lugging all this junk around.  Oh, and did I mention the ridiculously large bag full of Swedish Fish and Sour Patch Kids hidden in there somewhere?  Yup.  Africa, here I come.

Countdown 'til Kenya

Leaving for Kenya in 5 days, so I thought it's about time I get this thing set up!!  I've never been really good at keeping a blog, but hopefully I'll be able to stay diligent and keep you guys updated on all of my adventures.

Some background info on my trip:  My friend Amy and I are heading to Kenya to work with AVIF at the Tumaini Centre in northwestern Kenya.  We're volunteering on behalf of Borderless World Volunteers.  After Amy's departure in July, I'll be met by two more BWV girls, Ainslee and Danielle.  What kinds of projects we'll be working on have yet to be determined, but I can't wait to get started!

I guess there's not much else to say yet... I've hardly even started packing!