Saturday, July 17, 2010

Some Pics

Hope this works

July 11th

I have just put up a blog about my daily schedule, so I hope it gives you some insight to what happens on a daily basis. For the most part Monday- Friday my schedule is the same down to when I fall asleep. On Saturday I get together with the larger group to do health and environmental training. This Saturday we started our own little gardens as a practice. We usually spend most of the day in a lecture setting followed by some short relaxing group activity. Sundays are wide open. I generally have no plans so I take a day to relax and work on homework I have missed over the week. Today I am catching up on emails and blogs and hopefully will be able to walk around the village and take some nice pictures. A few kids came to me two days ago asking if I could help them learn chemistry, biology, physics and math. They are younger kids and they speak English pretty well. I told them I could help them for a couple hours each day if they tutored me on my Kiswahili. It should be a pretty fair trade, but I just don’t know how much time I will be able to commit to them. They also do not have many resources when it comes to studying, so I hope that I will be able to find things that will help them to study. Next weekend the large group is taking a vacation! We have a Kiswahili test on this Friday. It is our first test, it is both written and verbal. After the test our group is going on a vacation. We are heading to a beach on the ocean for the weekend! I am so excited to take a few days away from the studying and just relax. I am going to go to bed now. I hope all is well and I will update soon.

Daily Schedule

Justin’s daily schedule:
6:45 am- Wake up to the sound of multiple roosters outside my window ( they start at 4am!)
7:00 am- Go take a bucket bath with water heated by the stove ( I love a bucket of warm water in the morning)
7:30 am- Sit down for breakfast usually a hard-boiled egg, some form of bread either a roll or few slices of fresh bread and a cup of warm milk or tea
7:45 am- Walk to my classroom which is in the house of someone who lives in the village we are using their front room to hold class. I have to walk by hundreds of kids asking how my day is in English, and me responding in Kiswahili.
8:00am- Arrive at the classroom to practice Kiswahili with 3 other peace corps volunteer and a teacher.
10:00am- Break for Tea. Who would have ever thought I enjoyed taking a break for tea, but when they feed you fried foods with tea I will take a break any day.
10:30am- Go back to learning Kiswahili and studying the culture
12:30pm- Break for lunch. Lunch usually consists of a vegetable either spinach, cabbage, or some other that is found in Africa, most of the time we have beans and rice. Usually we have some form of a fried food like chipate (a fried soft flat bread) or samboosas (a fried triangle kind of like a egg roll, either stuffed with potatoes, vegetables, or some ground beef)
1:00pm- Play with all the kids that sit outside our classroom all day listening to us butcher their language
1:30pm- Go back to practicing Kiswahili
3:00pm- 4:00pm We finish up for the day depending on how much our head hurts from learning new words and concepts
4:00pm Sit and relax with my three other classmates and drink a cold pop in our village. Laugh about how bad we are at the language and how much we want some American fast food, or some CHEESE
5:00pm I walk back to my house to play with my three little brothers and whatever neighbor kids want to play soccer with me that day.
6:30pm The sun sets and I move to the backyard to see if I can help make dinner. Most of the time I just watch as they cook, but sometimes I get to help. I really want to learn more techniques they use to cook. It is over a wood fire, or charcoal usually. They use cast iron pots and pans.
7:30pm I take another bucket bath
8:00pm I come inside and relax maybe read a little before my dinner is served. This is all done by candle light or a flashlight because there is no electricity
8:30pm I eat dinner. This varies a lot from rice and beans, to greens and ugali, to beef and rice. I am always way over fed and need to be rolled to my room to fall asleep.
9:00pm I am in bed and ready to fall asleep, I usually read for a bit, but realize I am not comprehending (because I am so tired) so I give up and go to sleep.

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

The third week!

Ahh this is crazy! I am half way around the world. It is still a surprise every morning when I wake up, look at my mosquito net, and hear roosters outside my window. I never thought I would see 6am consecutively some many days in a row ( including my day off!) Then to walk outside with no street lights, and chickens running around and the smell of carcoal knowing my breakfast and water for a shower is being cooked. I love all the people in my town. They are so inviting and willing to share thier time and stories with me. I still can't believe this is my life! I had projected I would have more access to the internet during training, but was misunderstood. I am going to try and write a long blog at my house, then transfer it on here in a few days. I want you all to visualize my days. Kiswahili is getting eaiser, and the food is still great! I love that everyone is reading my blog, and commenting, even though I havent been able to update. I have three brothers and ahouse maid that live iwith me right now. I am living the hig life. My dad is a social worker, and travels most of the time, so I am "stuck at home playing soccer with my brothers" Life is good. I have a little over two months left of training, and then I am on my own! I find out where I will be placed in three weeks!!!! AHh this is happening so fast. Thank you all for the thoughts and prayers I truely can feel them! Please keep sending me emails and posts I will eventually get caught up with them
I love you all,
Justin