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  Bungoma/Kabula, Kenya
Saturday, April 7, 2007

How is everyone doing on this wonderful Saturday? I am just relaxing in the wonderful Kenya breeze, sipping on an orange Fanta. Ha...Ha... I love it here! Maryann, I hope you had an amazing birthday. Sorry I missed it. I sent you an African home-made card, so you should be getting it soon.

This weekend I am just hanging out around the village relaxing. I was not able to go the Mt. Elgon Ebola cave :-( Host nation citizens kept telling me that it is not safe there. Almost everyday on the front page of The Daily Nation, there is a story about killings near Mt. Elgon. For the past six months there has been a civil war going on over land. There have been over 200 deaths, 150,000 people displaced, and over 30 schools have closed. So yes, I think it is best if I don't go. I am a little upset because it was going to be the first time I have ever slept in a tent. Oh well, I will get over it.

So since we are staying at home this weekend, my friend Erin is trying out for Miss Bungoma 2007. It is going on tonight at the local pub where we hang out every Friday night when we are home. This should be a hoot! I am the only person that brought "dressy" clothes, so she is wearing one of my outfits. Everyone else brought shorts, tank tops and flip-flops...oh no, I brought like ten pairs of dress pants, dressy tops and nice shoes. I was totally not prepared. Anyway, back to my story. I practiced styling her hair and make-up yesterday (yes, I am the only one that brought make-up). She is going to be looking hot! She said that tomorrow the front page of the newspaper won't have Mt.

Candy Stealer

Elgon massacres but instead, "Muzungu (meaning white person) wins Miss Bungoma 2007." I can't wait until tonight! We are going to have a huge crowd supporting her.

We have two new volunteers that arrived Wednesday evening. Michelle is from Washington and Daniel is from Canada. Michelle is working with the HIV/AIDS program and Daniel has something to do with micro-economics. They seem very nice. I don't think I introduced my IU friends yet (the students who arrived a week later than me), so I will do that now. There is Lori, Michelle, Erin, Jordan, April, David, Sandy, and Claire. I am going to give you a description of each. Lets start with Lori....I don't know if I told you, but she is the one that had bug bites all over her butt. When the bumps were squeezed, little white bugs crawled out. No joke! Isn't that disgusting? I understand how a person would freak out about that, but she is a totally hypochondriac. She complains about everything. But enough about her. Lets move on to Erin. She is hilarious. Everywhere we go, she has to comment on a man. She has like five African boyfriends. She is the one trying out for Miss Bungoma 2007. Erin and I went to the same high school, but we didn't know each other. David and Sandy are husband and wife. They are basically our parents away from home. Sandy is 50 and David is 64. They are awesome! April is one of my roommates. She is the sweetest person I have ever met. Last semester she did 'semester at sea' so she is used to traveling. My other roommate is Jordan. He is hilarious! Claire is my third roommate. She is the one whose BOYFRIEND Evan, not fiance, lives three houses down from my grandparents, in Illinois. What a small world. When I told my grandpa that Evan lives near him, my grandpa printed a picture of us from my blog and brought it to their house and asked Evan's mother if she knew anyone in the picture. Grandpa you are too funny! So those are the other volunteers.

This past Tuesday was our last day teaching until next week. The students have a little break after they are finished testing. So on Tuesday the entire school had an award ceremony, which recognized the top three students in every class. They also recognized the most improved students. Guess who was the most improved student overall??? Levin!!!!! He was most improved out of over three hundred students. Isn't that amazing! I love him so much! After the ceremony I gave him a big hug and kiss (which embarrassed him). Of course I was crying :-) I walked home with him that day and finally met his family. They were so welcoming and friendly. They hired someone on a "boda-boda" to go to the nearest market and get me two large sodas. They also made me some chapatis, which are kind of like a tortilla but so much better. I stayed for awhile and watched some African wannabe Back Street Boys on dvd. It was hilarious! The family did not know much English, so I just enjoyed listening to them communicate amongst themselves. I explained to his aunt that Levin was most improved in the school. They were excited to hear that. Yesterday Levin came by my hut and hung out with us for a few hours. All of the other IU volunteers love him. A few of us were playing cards and Levin was brushing our hair for us while we played. He is such a sweetie.

I am going to start my service learning project soon. Since teaching here is graduate credits, I have to do a service learning project. I am going to help at the nearest orphanage, and hopefully be able to start some sort of funding project for them. Yesterday some of the volunteers went to the orphanage, but I was not feeling well. I went to bed at 8:00pm the night before and didn't wake up until 2:00pm the next day. I just felt dizzy and weak. I think it is my anti-malaria medicine. Anyway, I am very excited to start working at the orphanage.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Easter. I am still looking for paint to paint some Easter egg rocks :-)

I love you all!

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