Kenya: Week 8 Pre-Service Training
Monday began with a language lesson followed by Peace Corps education training. We ate lunch in the market and found bhajia (circular potato fries), mandazi (fried bread), and ndizi (banana). We brought our lunch back to the training room to eat and we watch an episode of “The Great British Bake Off”. We got out of training early because there was a change in our schedule for our guest speakers, so I went to Mama Grace’s to study and talk to Andy (my hometown bestie). Back at my house, we planted three trees around the yard because it was Kenya’s National Tree Planting Day. Peace Corps provided the trees for our families and my neighbors came to help Dan and I plant the trees. I was still behind on laundry, so I finished that after we planted the trees. When I came back inside, Sheila was sitting in the living room. It was an awesome surprise for her to be back because no one told me she was coming to visit for the week. I had missed my sister, so it was a fun night of catching up with each other’s lives.
Tuesday, we went to the training center and had a meeting with current Kenya Peace Corps Volunteers about their current sites. This was followed by language class, lunch, and household safety training. After training there was a game of ultimate frisbee and a tree climbing competition (neither of which I participated in because I’m a bit too clumsy for that). There was a gorgeous sunset tonight and I was able to take a hot shower which made this a fantastic day.
Wednesday began with household safety training and ended with teacher training. We did a lot of labs for teacher training which was a ton of fun. We went back to our homestays tonight and it was a very chill evening.
Thursday morning, I co-facilitated a Peace Corps education training session and then we had guest speakers talk to us until it was time for lunch. It was another market lunch of bhajia, chapati, and ndizi. We had language class after lunch. They reorganized our language groups this week to correspond with our level of understanding, so I have a new teacher. We have about three weeks before our language test, so everyone is a bit nervous and we are trying to get some last-minute learning and studying completed.
Friday, we had Peace Corps teacher training which involved a Kahoot and multiple labs so it was a great day. Sophie came to my house for lunch and we made ramen and ate this with cake and Fanta (lunch of champions 😊). We had language training for the rest of the day. Back at my house, Sheila taught me how to make mandazi dough which we used to make mandazis for breakfast tomorrow.
This Saturday was the first Saturday in a long time that I was able to be at my homestay so I was able to sleep in. I did some laundry so it didn’t pile up like last week and cleaned my room. Sheila was awesome and helped me study language for a few hours until lunch. It is so helpful when she practices having conversations with me because our test is conversation based. Savannah came over and we had a nice nap in the yard because Sheila brought out a yard mat that I’d never seen used before. It was so relaxing in the shade of the tree. We had rice and potatoes for lunch and the three of us learned some new friendship bracelet patterns (Daisy Chain and Zig Zag). The Peace Corps Volunteers had planned to play soccer with our host siblings, but the ball wouldn’t inflate and the field had an official game being played on it when we arrived. We had settled on just watching the official game, but Lucas’ brother found us a soccer ball and a place to play. During halftime of the official game, we took over and it was a lot of fun. Back at the house, I taught Dan how to make the bracelets that Savannah and I made and one of Sheila’s friends came over for dinner.
On Sunday, I got to sleep in again and I spent my morning watching “The Great British Bake Off” and reading my book (I’ve picked up reading for fun again and it makes me so happy!). I met up with Andy, CiCi, and Savannah to catch the Peace Corps car to take us to the next town over so that we could take a matatu into Kisumu. Savannah and I got off before everyone else because we wanted to walk through Kibuye Market (a large open-air market). We found some amazing things for Christmas which Savannah is giving as her Christmas gift so I am keeping them a secret. She found two dresses as well. This market has anything you might need from clothes, to household items, and produce. From here we walked about fifteen minutes to United Mall so we could have snack at Java House. Java House was having a BOGO deal on passion fruit chocolate cake so naturally that’s what we ordered. I also had lemonade with my cake. There was a bit of a misunderstanding when we ordered because the waiter came back with four pieces of cake, assuming we had each wanted a BOGO deal 😊 Thankfully he understood when we re-explained and we didn’t have to pay for the extra cake.
From here we walked another fifteen minutes to Masai Market. This is a street of market stalls with jewelry, art, and clothing traditional to the Masai people. We met an amazing artist (dongo creations – Instagram: Odongoarts) and his paintings are bright and beautiful. We continued another five minutes to K-City. The best way I can describe K-City is that it felt like a market for women. There were boutiques everywhere with new and second-hand clothes, hair salons, nail salons, and restaurants. It was awesome and by far my favorite market that we have visited. I also found an outfit that needs a tailor (because I am short 😊) before I can wear it. We continued to Naivis to shop for Thanksgiving ingredients because we will be celebrating Thanksgiving as a group next week. In this Naivis, there is an inclined escalator that you can go on with your shopping cart. When we were on our way up the escalator it was not running, so I pushed the cart on it to go upstairs, but the cart is designed to lock when you get on the escalator so it doesn’t roll back and injure people. So, I was stuck on the escalator with the cart. A Naivis worker came to help and as he was pushing the cart up the escalator I looked back to talk to Savannah. At the same time, the cart had got stuck again and the worker was no longer walking. This resulted in me absolutely tackling the man and I have never been so embarrassed in my life. Thankfully he thought it was funny, but I can never shop at this Naivis again 😊
Since Savannah and I had all of our groceries, walking was no longer an option, so we took a tuktuk to a restaurant with a view of Lake Victoria. Here we had a relaxing afternoon with some drinks and chips masala (delicious). We took a tuktuk back to United Mall so we could go to Carrefour for a few items we didn’t find in Naivis. We took the trip back home and my mama had chapati and potatoes ready for dinner. We called Baba Charles (my host baba from my permanent site) so he could meet my Mama Margaret, Dan, and Sheila. They had fun talking with each other and I am really happy they had a chance to meet. It was a great way to end the week.
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