PCV in Kenya: Week 50

Monday

Today was my first full day back at my house after vacation. I started my day by doing some unpacking and by making pancakes. I watched “Law and Order S.V.U.” while enjoying my relaxing breakfast. I then cleaned out my refrigerator because it got moldy while I was gone. I knew I needed to unplug my refrigerator while I was gone, but no one had ever told me to leave my refrigerator cracked when I do this so that mold doesn’t grow when the moisture forms inside the refrigerator. While I cleaned, I listened and responded to all of the Marco Polo messages I had received while I was on vacation. I then headed to the market where I met up with Jack and Mary, my two new Peace Corps Volunteer neighbors. I was able to do all of my grocery shopping for the week and then we lucked out because a Peace Corps car was bringing a package to Mary. They dropped me at my house on the way to her house so I didn’t have to carry anything home. Back at the house, I prepared dinner and snuggled with Nala before calling it a day.

Tuesday

I woke up very disoriented and hearing a loud chirping sound in my room. I assumed it was a mouse because that is the most likely intruder to a home in Kenya. Because of this assumption, I sent Nala into the room in hopes that she would catch it. In the meantime, I organized my laundry that needed to be washed because my neighbor would be arriving any moment. When she arrived, she helped me look for the mouse because Nala was unsuccessful. We saw the “mouse” at the same time and both ran out of the house screaming because the “mouse” was a bat. Thankfully, Sammy was able to capture and take care of the bat after hearing the ruckus from my house 😊 After this eventful start to my day, I ate breakfast and answered a collection of questions from my vacation. Whenever we were wondering something about where we were traveling, we would add it to a list on my phone to answer when we got back. It is a helpful way to learn a lot of things you wouldn’t know to ask until you visit a new place. It is also a fun way to relive the vacation. After learning more about the locations we visited, I was feeling the Christmas spirit, so I started redecorating my living room wall. I played Christmas music and made Christmas doodles to hang in my living room. When I finished, I took out the trash and made shakshuka for dinner to end the day.

Wednesday

I was able to sleep in today which was so nice. I spent the morning and part of the afternoon working on a travel guide for Istanbul 😊 I also cleaned all of my dishes and my water filter. I think the water filter is my least favorite thing to clean so I was happy I got this task out of the way. When I finished, I called my grandpa, aunt, and uncle because Thanksgiving is tomorrow. While I ate leftover shakshuka, I watched “Dan in Real Life” and was pleasantly surprised with how much I liked it.

Thursday ~ Thanksgiving

I had a very nice Thanksgiving at my house. I spent the morning making my yearly Christmas card on Shutterfly. Shutterfly is so nice because you can put in the addresses of your recipients and they will send the cards for you. Around lunchtime, Jack came over and we spent the afternoon chatting. He then helped me patch up the various holes in my roof where the bat may have come through. This was so helpful. For Thanksgiving dinner, we made cinnamon rolls and pancakes with cinnamon hot chocolate 😊 It was delicious!

Friday

I had an early start to my day. I moved all of Nala’s things to Sammy’s house and left before 7AM. My first matatu ride back in Kenya went fine and I was soon in Kisumu. My first stop was the Peace Corps office to get my first post-exposure rabies shot because of the bat incident earlier this week. I don’t think I got bit, but since it was in my house while I was asleep and bat bites are often unrecognizable, I’m getting the post-exposure shots just in case. Thankfully we were already given pre-exposure rabies vaccines when we arrived in Kenya, so I only need to get two post-exposure shots. After my shot, I walked down the street to pick up my Kenya resident card 😊 I’ve been waiting for it for three months, so it was exciting to finally have it in my possession. From here, I went to the movie theater and went to see “Gladiator II”. There were only two people in the theater, me and another man. The start time for the movie came and went without trailers showing. The man went to check on what was happening and he came back to report that they were working on it. After another ten minutes, I went to check on the progress and they told me the same thing. Forty minutes after the start time of the movie, the man left and I was about the cut my losses as well when the movie attendant came in. She told me they forgot to renew their licensing to show “Gladiator II” so I couldn’t watch that today. My options were to come back tomorrow or to watch another movie I wanted to see. I couldn’t come back the next day, so I chose to watch “Wicked” in a theater all to myself 😊 It was such a great experience and the movie was amazing. After the movie, I went downstairs to Naivis to pick up some snacks then went back to the theater to watch “Moana 2”. It was a very cute movie and I enjoyed my day at the theater. From here, I went to Mama Gladys’ house and we caught up before calling it a night.

Saturday

I had a slow morning which was very nice. I then left the house with Mama Gladys and she dropped me at the Kakamega matatus. In Kakamega, I met up with Sophie and Rikki at Naivis and we did our Thanksgiving ingredient shopping. From here, we met up with Marissa at Columbus Café for lunch. I had a vegetable quesadilla and a delicious espresso milkshake. We then got on a matatu for Andy and Cici’s house. When we arrived, we got the tour of their compound and chatted for a few hours before dinner. Christine, the mama of the compound, then made us a delicious dinner to end the day.

Sunday

We started our day with French toast, real crispy bacon, and mandazi. It was delicious and I enjoyed the bacon so much because I haven’t had it since the United States. We then spent the rest of the day preparing our Thanksgiving dishes. We had stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, chocolate cake, sesame cold noodles, focaccia, dinner rolls, two turkeys, cookies, ginger carrots, pumpkin pie, and winter salad. My role was the mashed potatoes and I think they turned out successfully for a second Kenyan Thanksgiving in a row 😊 After eating all we could fit in our stomachs, we spent the rest of the day cleaning up and chatting. It was one of my favorite Thanksgivings ever 😊

The contents of this website are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the U.S. Government or the Peace Corps.