Finally! An update!

It's already March 14th. . . Wow. I have now lived in Kenya for four and a half months.

Kenya is a nice place. It's peaceful and quiet, and the people are friendly-- of course, this applies mostly to the village that surrounds me. I have made many friends and now meet regularly at a local mama's house for some palm wine and conversation with several locals. Palm wine is made from-- take a wild guess-- palm trees. The flowers that blossom and later produce the coconut are tied off. A day later through flower is cut and a bucket is placed under the cut. The coconut is not produced because of there tying of the flower, but continues to produce the coconut milk (but it may have several differing qualities). The milk is set aside for a day. Nothing is added. The next day you have palm wine. The next day you have stronger palm wine. The next, stronger. On the forth day it, becomes lethal. The local drink is good, but each day it sets its taste changes. Palm wine is a very important part of East African culture. When a dowry is being discussed, there must be plenty of manazi, palm wine. A wedding cannot take place without the drink.

This week will, for the most part, be review for the end term exams. Exams begin a week from tomorrow. The form one students have been impressive, but there is one student who is having trouble with the most basic of concepts. Hopefully the students will start helping each other.

With the end of the term comes a month break, at least from teaching. I have a pretty packed month ahead of me. Just a few days after school is closed, a volunteer in Western Province is coming to visit the coast to discuss some ideas regarding our program's future and advancement. While she is here, we are going to try are hand at wind surfing in the Indian Ocean. A few days later, we are taking the train to Nairobi, the capitol of Kenya, to pick up our passports from the Peace Corps office. This is because on the April 11th - 15th we will in Uganda for some white water rafting on the Nile and then bungee jumping. On April 16th, Kristiann and I have a meeting with the country director and our APCD in Nairobi regarding our project. April 19th then starts two weeks of our in-service training in Nairobi.

It's a rough life, this Peace Corps thing. . .

Well, it's bedtime here. Until next time. . .