Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Hamjambo
Just a quick update. I have been in Kenya for about two weeks, and I'm loving it! i see kilimanjaro every morning on the way to my training school. i love my kenyan host family, and they take great care of me (this morning i had bananas, pineapple, and crepe-style pancakes). Happy turkey day!
Sunday, November 9, 2008
5 parts excitement:1 part nerves
I have finally packed my bags, which feels like the final step before leaving for Kenya, even though I have a few last minute errands to run tomorrow. I have spent the past few days doing all things Vermonty: hiking Mt. Mansfield, pizza with the Lewis family, enough Ben and Jerry's to last a lifetime, and Penny Cluse tomorrow! My belly is full with my last serving of Pat Brown Sunday morning pancakes, for a few years, and I am feeling very very ready to go!
In between the abundance of unknowns, this is what I know:
I know that I fly out of Burlington early on Tuesday and train for a day in Philly. On Wednesday I'll take a bus with 42 other PC volunteers to JFK airport. We will fly through Amsterdam to Nairobi (I will soon be able to say that I've been to Europe...kinda). I know that I will spend the first few months at the base of Mt. Kilimanjaro living with a Kenyan family, learning Swahili, and doing my best to soak up enough knowledge to be an effective Kenyan educator.
We arrive during the rainy season, so it will be a rainy 75-85 degrees during the day, and down to 40-65 at night. I know that I am supposed to bring mud boots (I love mud). I know that I will not have great internet access for these first two months, and I may or may not have a cell phone.
After the two months, assuming that I pass the Swahili language test, I know that I will be 'sworn in' as a PC volunteer, and will move to the site that I will work and live at as a biology and/or chemistry and/or physics teacher for two years.
I know that when I come back I'll be 25 (hellooo quarter-life crisis), which I'm sure seems like a much bigger deal to me now then it will when I return.
I know that I will come back with some idea of how to play the Ukulele I just got!
As I told my Aunt's fourth grade class, I cannot wait to see the Kenyan plants and animals: giraffes, hippos, impalas, zebra, pangolin (look these up...they are wicked cool), the famous wildebeest migrations, and baobab trees.
I know that I don't know much, but enough to be 5 parts excited, and just a little nervous!
Carly
In between the abundance of unknowns, this is what I know:
I know that I fly out of Burlington early on Tuesday and train for a day in Philly. On Wednesday I'll take a bus with 42 other PC volunteers to JFK airport. We will fly through Amsterdam to Nairobi (I will soon be able to say that I've been to Europe...kinda). I know that I will spend the first few months at the base of Mt. Kilimanjaro living with a Kenyan family, learning Swahili, and doing my best to soak up enough knowledge to be an effective Kenyan educator.
We arrive during the rainy season, so it will be a rainy 75-85 degrees during the day, and down to 40-65 at night. I know that I am supposed to bring mud boots (I love mud). I know that I will not have great internet access for these first two months, and I may or may not have a cell phone.
After the two months, assuming that I pass the Swahili language test, I know that I will be 'sworn in' as a PC volunteer, and will move to the site that I will work and live at as a biology and/or chemistry and/or physics teacher for two years.
I know that when I come back I'll be 25 (hellooo quarter-life crisis), which I'm sure seems like a much bigger deal to me now then it will when I return.
I know that I will come back with some idea of how to play the Ukulele I just got!
As I told my Aunt's fourth grade class, I cannot wait to see the Kenyan plants and animals: giraffes, hippos, impalas, zebra, pangolin (look these up...they are wicked cool), the famous wildebeest migrations, and baobab trees.
I know that I don't know much, but enough to be 5 parts excited, and just a little nervous!
Carly
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