Crazy Weekend

well this first bit was supposed to have gone up last thursday, but interest wasn't cooperating so i'm posting that and writing about the weekend.

I've consistently been with Standard 7 and 8, and had quite some good laughs today. Especially during Standard 7's science lesson, I ended up coming up much later than I thought because we ended up playing hang man. They got so into it!

What's funniest though, is when I was talking to them about sex. You know when you're like, what nine years old and laugh whenever you hear the word, sex? Well these kids are about sophomore in highschool age and it was so cute seeing their reaction. They suddenly got all shy and it hit me then that the boys and girls had been sitting on opposite sides of the room. However, I did take a serious tone, especially when i started talking about AIDS; it is prominent in Kenya. I know a lot of volunteer workers here that work at clinics, and see tragic cases every day. But hearing phrases like "deep kissing", and "do sex" made me laugh.

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:Deep Breathe:

I walked into the internet cafe and they had gotten new computers! It's funny and kinda sad to say that the internet in Kenya has been faster than it is back home. LOL.

Over the weekend, I went to Mombasa with Meghan, and 6 other girls. We were all a good international mix: 2 from England, 4 from the US, one native Kenyan, a Candian. We met up with two other volunteers from IVHQ, from Cananda and Sweden.

While the weekend before was all about sightseeing, this weekend was about enjoying the beach. The sand is white here, and since high tide brings in the waters really far up shore, the sand is flat enough to do a comfortable cartwheel. We found a great price to rent a condo for two nights, and for about 7 dollars a person. Well, it was suppose to have been a 4 person house but we squeezed in 10 girls. I love each and everyone of these girls, but you can't make me ever join a sorority. Ever.

I got up to a point this weekend where it felt like rock bottom. I was craving all sorts of food thta I didn't even like before, just because they reminded me of home. I started dreaming of memories of home, that I'd wake up and my mom would be calling me awake before it got too late(or past 8 AM) I began imagining a separate shower tub in the bathroom instead of take rinse next to the toilet. Just so many things I take for granted in the United States. The fact that water, WATER is safe enough to drink from the tap, and that it's free at restaurants. Unless you want Hep.A or Typhoid, you can't really do that. I started freaking out because I wanted to go run so bad, but knew I couldn't because I have Neuroma(nerve issues of the feet) and it's not the best idea here.

I big part of my home sickness was that I got really sick over the weekend. I havent' felt like this since first grade, when I got the flu the one year I got vaccinated for it. I remember that day so clearly. I woke up with such a huge tummy ache and told my dad I couldn't go to school. Being a dad, and also because that meant he didn't have to take me to school, he was fine with it. But when my mom came back from work, she was furious.

"Why in the world are you watching the girl rolling around on a clock mat?!(Molly and the Big Comfy Couch)! If you can watch TV, you can go to school!"

Well although I told her I was really sick, she draped a huge winter coat over me and dragged me out of the one bedroom apartment that our family of 5 lived in. I had to listen. I got to school feeling groggy, and just plain awful. Then I had a weird taste in my mouth and before I knew it, I was puking all over the brand new alphabet and letter carpet. Sad! It was quite embarrasing because the 4th graders called me "baby" cuz I had thrown up. My dad had to pick me up and I stayed in bed the entire day.

I never missed a day of school my entire life.

Sometimes I look at my group of students and I wonder how are they so motivated. And then I wonder, why in the world was I so freaking motivated? I worked myself so darn hard, from the very beginning. I liked getting my gold starts, being a "good swimmer"--doing good deeds to others as you want done to yourself--, which progressed onto check pluses, which progressed into A's, that evolved into high ACT and AP scores. I never can understand. No, it's not because I'm "Asian". that's not the explanation.

Nonethess, I am leaving for home exactly 2 weeks from today. How fast time flies;I've already been here for 2 weeks and 5 days. I have no idea what to expect when I get back. What kind of emotions will I feel? I mean, that's a long time away, but the longest I've been out of the country without family was 10 days. Even coming back from then was a huge culture shock. It's going to be a rough readjustment.

When I see the conditions that people live in here, it makes you want to give them anything, the coat off your back, even a 5 cents worth of shilling to provide a meal for a little kid. I want to take them all in my arms, cry with them and say that it's going to be ok. But the reality is, a lot of them wont be.

You see a little toddler that comes up to your knees (or maybe your shins since I'm short). He stares up at you with huge watery eyes, smiling this huge ear to ear grin despite that fact that he's covered from head to toe with dirt, that he has cuts and scars, that he is rail thin. "Ha-wa-ryu?" "Ha-wa-ryu?" "Mzungu Mzungu Mzungu!!!!" (how are you? how are you? white person white person white person!" This same kid might become the next adult who gets involved into drug dealing, corrupt politics, alcohol, stealing. Or he can become the next Obama, the next loving teacher.

I find myself wondering how can I help at least one kid, one kid from going down the wrong path? I am but one person. I am only here for so long, and thing will go back to way things were without me. I can just hope, pray, and raise money so that the headmaster can purchase the land. That way the kids won't have to pay for their education.

Becky