All The Wonders Of Kenya!!

Hello Everybody!! Man do I have so much to tell you!! I am sorry I have been sucking at posting again.. I suck! However, this post is going to be great!! First of all, I have to tell you something super fun about the kids this last week. So lately I have been playing tons of soccer with the boys at the school and I am loving it. Well this last week was especially fun because I was playing around with the kids and like pretend pushing them and like holding them back. They thought that it was the funniest thing and they were just laughing their heads off!! It was so cute! Then the next day I was scoring like a mad fool and so they started doing the same to me that I was doing to them the day before. It was awesome! They thought it was the most fun thing ever! It will be moments like that I will always remember of my time here in Kenya!! Also crazy story about the school also this last week. So I had 1000 shillings ($10) stole from my bag. It was horrible.. so anyway I told the main guy and he ended up finding who did it. Sadly it was 2 girls from the school. They had gone into the office opened my bag and took out the money then hid it. They then came back later that night to where they had hid it and I guess celebrated and bought 5 other kids some Mandazi (a doughnut type thing). Anyway, so when we found who it was we called the parents of the girls and then Daniel (our head guy) was taking Emilee and I to the post office we took the girls and ended up dropping them off at the police. I was like WHAT?! I felt bad that it ended up turning up like that, but i guess it is normal daniel said. It is crazy how things are so different here then from in the States.

Also there is a couple random things that I want to share with you about my home life here in Naivasha!! So just to let you all know from Monday to Thursdays at 6.00 pm I am fixed on the tv watching my favorite show Daniela... The worse part about this is that first of all it is a soap opera... second of all, it is a spanish one with English subtitles! Hahahaha! I am so addicted to watching it! It is hilarious!! So dramatic... just how I like it :) Also, our house is like a mini farm! We have so many new additions to the family!! So when we got here there were 2 dogs that were pregnant. So they both have had their babies!! Mukimo had one puppy, Daniela (yep.. after my favorite show!!) and then Mckenna had 7 puppies! Daniela is the fattest puppy I have ever seen in my life! It is awesome and it makes her so freaking cute! However, McKenna's puppies are way different... This is the weird part so Snoopy, Mckenna's mom is obsessed with her puppies! She is a freak. She like tries to feed the puppies and never lets Mckenna near them. We have to like physically pull her away from them and put mckenna there. It is horrible. We have already lost one puppy probably from starvation because they are freaking trying to eat from their grandma.. Talk about messed up!! The rest of the puppies are still extremely small and it has almost been 2 weeks it is super sad. Then adding to the handful of puppies one of the chicken's had chicks! They are adorable!!! However, once again some have died :( I held one the other day in my hands that was dying and I was getting all teary.. :( It was so sad!! I love animals!!

So this weekend Emilee and I did this program thing called Outreach. Boy was that an experience to share with you!! I am going to have to tell you about each part individually because there is just so much to tell!!! So first of all we went to the KCC Slum. That is here in Naivasha just out of town. When we got there we went straight to the school that is ran by volunteers through the program we volunteer with. It was fun to play with the kids and to see them. It is sad though because this Slum just about 3 weeks ago experienced a fire that burnt down 3/4 of the place. We have been there before right after the fire happened and so when we went back again on Friday they had started to kinda of build up houses again. However, the government is coming next week to tell if they are going to evacuate the whole place and kick everyone out or they are only going to be able to have 1 house to every 3 that there use to be. It is super sad. So no matter what people are going to be kicked out of their houses and homeless. So then after we finished there we went to lunch and they headed to my favorite place of the whole trip Hell's Gate National Park. Holy cow was this an amazing experience!! So we biked into the national park and the view was so beautiful!! I can't even explain to you how beautiful it was!! The pictures I took don't even do justice!! While we were biking we were just riding right by giraffes and Zebras! It was freaking awesome!! Oh and we saw tons of warthogs!! Then we also got to see pride rock! I guess it is the rock that inspired the one on Lion King. It was freaking awesome!! Now my most favorite part of it was the hike that we did. It was so beautiful!!! I can't even explain to you how it was. It was just freaking amazing!! Then at the end of the hike we had to like climb this mountain and it had the best view!! I got a few pretty sick pictures of it!! I wish i could post them... Freaking Kenya internet. So after that we just went to our hotel and spent the night... which the worse of my life by the way talk about loudest place in the world!! So then on Saturday morning we went to the IDP Camp. This camp is for the people who during the last elections and the violence that occurred were sent to live after their houses were set on fire or they were threatened. This was so sad to see. Their houses are just like these tiny tents. We went into one of them that was for a family of 3 and I couldn't even stand up in it and I am freaking short. So after we saw the camp we went to the school which volunteers have built and we played with kids and handed out flour and cooking oil to the people in the camp. It was an amazing experience and the people were very grateful! After that we headed to the Garbage Slum. I don't even know where to begin when talking about this. When we pulled up we entered on this dirt road and there was garbage stacked taller than the van we were in on both sides, and the smell was horrendous!!! There was garbage trucks there letting off some new garbage and the people were like vultures to the new trash to get the good things before any one else and I even saw someone eat something. It seriously grossed me out. When we finally parked and got out it was so intense. We went to this one guys house to talk and the whole thing was just made out of garbage that he had found. It was sick. The whole thing was just so extremely sad. The kids were just walking around in it barefoot. It was horrible to see and some of the ladies that we were with stared bawling. The guy that we were with said that most of the women are raped and sometimes by their own relatives. One lady they said has 14 kids all from different dad's. It is horrible. That place was so sad and I will forever remember it and how hopeless i felt.. :( I hope that one day some of them will be able to get out of there and live a normal life.

Now for the Wonders!! So Emilee and I made a list of all our favorite and most memorable things here in Kenya! So I will tell you them and then explain if they need and explanation!!  :) So here we go!!
1. "Quick send that email before the power goes out again!"- The power here sucks!! It is constantly going out and coming on and one time we were trying to send out emails and everytime it came on and we were almost done with an email it would turn off and it was FRUSTRATING!!
2. "Ugali.. the solid version of cream of wheat"- This is some serious nasty food that the people here in Kenya absolutely love!! It looks like cream of wheat dried and it tastes like nothing but it is so heavy. It is the worse food ever. Emilee and I always make sure to get the smallest piece to force down!
3." Kid's stay out of the sewage!"- Sometimes on the street there will be just sewage going down the middle of it and it REEKS! But for some odd reason the kids love to throw rocks in it or jump of it and all this stuff. The teachers get mad!! Those silly kids.
4."I'm a dirty mazungu."- White people are called mazungus here and so the kids when they see dirt all over our legs and things, and when we come home with our shirts dusty from the roads. We are called dirty Mazungus! Definitely not my favorite name :)
5."How are you?! How are you?! How are you?!"- Every kid on the street whenever they see us have to yell how are you! How are you! even after you answer they just keep yelling when you are way down the street! Plus they always run up to you and want to touch you. It is cute but also can be annoying!
6."Did that guy really just want to buy you with sheep?"- yep that's right... a guy in the supermarket told me that he was going to come where I was staying and buy me with sheep. Crazy dudes!
7. "I swear if those dogs howl one more time tonight, I'm going to rip some brains out!"- So the dogs at our house love to howl all night long. So one night I was so tired and so freaking frustrated that i just yelled that I was going to rip their brains out.. I know violent... :)
8."How do you saw water in spanish?"- This one is an embarassing one for me... So i was trying to ask one of the kids how to say water in Swahili and it came out spanish and the look he gave me.. It was priceless! Emilee sure thought it was funny too! I looked like a fool! :)
9."Me-Quick eat my omlete before wallace comes back! Emilee-but im full! Me-Just do it!"- So this is a great story. So Wallace one morning for breakfast made us a spanish omlete filled with all these things I hate so when he left the room I cut off pieces and gave it to emilee and made her eat it for me :) It was awesome!!
10."How long has that lady been staring at us?"- People here love to stare at us... but there is this one lady is the supermarket that never takes her eyes off us. It is ANNOYING!! Im only white freak...
11."Is that donkey eating what I think it is in the garbage?"- Yep exactly how it sounds.. all the animals eat out of the garbage and we usually see them eating anything from plastic bags to boxes. SICK!
12."I think this is the third time we've sung that hymn today"- In church they only sing the same about 5 songs... Sometimes we sing the same song 3-4 times... It is no fun!
13. "Teacher, may I go to the toilet. (muted)" The kids love to ask to go to the toilet pretty much silently... We always have to go WHAT?!?! and yet they still whisper it again. Freak kids speak up if you want to go urine!
14. "Is that dog pooping or...?"- No comment on this one.. its not exactly appropiate :)
15."IM GOING TO PUNCH THAT FLY!"- Once again an anger moment on part! :) This fly kept landing on me and totally driving me crazy and I just wanted to punch it... even though it is practically impossible!
16. "How are you? How are you?"- Just had to put it again because how often it happen! :)
17,."You're just so cute but sometimes... JUST SHUT UP ELLIOT!- So there is this really cute guy that we see all the time that is our family's uncle that is only 25 and he is smokin... but he just really likes to talk and sometimes I am not in the mood. So one day to emilee I was just like he is so cute but sometimes i just want him to shut up! haha!
18. "Ms. Bruno Mars, Ms. Jeremy"- Vicky our house sister nicknames for us! Mine is because I love the bruno mars song it will rain and sing my lungs out when it comes on.. and emilee's is self explanatory :)
19."Vicky hurry up we are going to miss Daniela!!"- Some days Emilee and I are locked out the house because Vicky is gone so I always have to call her and tell her hurry home or I'm going to miss my favorite show!!
20."John put down that dead bird!"- One day when we were walking home the kids were obsessed with this dead bird on the ground. So we kept telling them to put it down, but this one kid would not listen so we yelled at him about 50 times before he finally threw it... at other kids! PUNK!
21."Do you have to keep poking me? Im starting to feel like a zoo!"-  For some reason the kids love picking out everything out on us. We are seriously like zoos... every freckle every zit,etc.
22. "I'M FINE!"- This is sometimes how i want to answer to all the how are yous! It gets irritating when its been a long day!
23. "matatu (bus)- max occupancy 13... 10 people later...scoot over we got 2 more!!- pretty self explanatory!

Well there is our wonders!! More to come later!! love and miss you all!!!
Jordann

One eventful weekend!!

Hey guys!! So this weekend was quite an eventful one!! First of all on Saturday after I wrote my last blog post we met the missionaries to finally see where church was and come to find out it is a 40 minute matatu ride! (aka bus ride) So the first event comes from the bus ride to where we go... So Emilee and I are sitting there on the bus and this guy gets on the bus and at first he was just talking to the guy next to him and then he looks at me and Emilee (im sitting by the window and emilee is on my left between me and the guy) and says welcome to kenya! I hope you guys know that you are most welcome.. and then he looks at me and just goes "wow you are just so beautiful!" Then he keeps saying it over and over and is like telling me he wants to marry me. I was like in my mind HECK NO. His teeth was nasty... I could NEVER get anywhere close to that guy! I was like no i have to go home I can't leave my family. He just kept going on and on! It was horrible! Then he kept asking me well what can I do to make you marry me. I was DYING! I was like so ready to get off the bus.. It was intense!! Finally the missionaries took over and were like well come to church and you can see her!! Then they started talking church with him so he kinda left me alone! It was intense, so that makes 2 guys wanting to marry me since I have been here... One in the grocery store telling me he would bring sheep to where i live to buy me, and the other on the bus demanding that i marry him... Why can't this happen to me at home?!?! :)

Then at church on sunday was quite eventful! (No men on the bus this time!) However, there was this boy that sat by me in sunday school and sacrament and he was probably 12 and he would NOT stop staring at me. I about turned to him and been like WHAT ARE YOU STARING AT YOU PUNK! I was so annoyed!! I am not sure what my deal was but I am so tired of being stared at like I am some kind of mutant. Everywhere I go someone is always staring at me! I am just like everybody else.. freak... Sorry about that rampage:) So where was I.. Oh yes! So other than the kid church was pretty good! At first we were just singing waiting for more members to come and they were acting that we had no idea how to sing the hymns. Emilee and I just looked at each other like.. dude its just cause we are white! So then church went good after that (minus mr stare boy) and we had testimony meeting. This is a first in my life... but there was this girl that got up and bared her testimony and then was like now i am going to sing you a song, and she just start busting out in song in Swahili for like 5 minutes! It was quite an experience that I will never forget! It is amazing to see the church in a totally different place and yet it is the exact same. This church is absolutely amazing and I am so blessed to be a member of it!! I can't wait to see what happens next week.. I know there is a baptism in the pool at the hotel we hold church at so i can't wait to tell you all about that!!

So that was my eventful weekend! I am starting to get better at blogging :) miss you all and Naku Penda!! (love you)

Jordann

Jambo Everybody!!

Wow guys I am so sorry I have been so horrible at posting to my blog!! Life just gets way to hectic here and not much time!! I just have so much to share with you guys and I don't even know where I should begin!!

Well first of all an update on Simon... He never leaves my side! He is my little buddy! I don't want to sound cheesy but I don't even know how else to put it but in a cheesy manner :p It just blows my mind to see how love is so powerful and that you can feel it even if you don't talk the same language.. Like with me and simon we can never understand each other but with our actions we know that we mean a lot to each other. My favorite is that now whenever he first sees me in the morning he gets the biggest smile on his face and runs up to me and gives me the biggest hugs!! It is great!! As for the other kids they are just as cute and I love every single one of them!! There is one boy named Boniface that Emilee and I just absolutely adore!! He has the cutest raspy voice and he is so awesome!! He does this hilarious dance that i can't even explain to you but boy is he a character!! love the kid!!

Well as I told you in the last post last weekend I went on my safari... Oh my gosh i can't even begin to tell you how incredible that was!!  We got seriously 5 feet away from all the animals!! My favorites being the cheetah and its cub!! It was so cute!! i just wanted to get out of the van we were in and pet them :) They were just so chill sitting around. Also one of my favorite parts was we finally saw some hyenas and as we pulled up the first one i saw was pooping! Hahaha i tried to get a picture of it but he got up by the time i pulled out my camera dang it... :p We saw all kinds of animals and it was AMAZING!! I can't even put into words how awesome it was!!

So I forgot to tell you guys last time in the post about when we walk on the streets and little kids see us! They run up to use and all yell "how are you! how are you!" and they love to try to touch your hand. There is this group of kids that we walk by every day on our way to work and to never fail there they are yelling at us with the biggest smiles on their faces!! It is those moments that make this trip all worth it!! :) Especially when we are at school and playing with the kids like soccer and just laughing and having a total blast with them! I can't even explain the feelings that it gives me!! It is just absolutely amazing!!

Even though my trip is going incredible there is one thing that i HATE... as most of you know i am a super picky eater and let me tell you.. i have tried everything that i have been given on my plate... i know BIG surprise... but the food is SO GROSS!! Everyday i swear we eat the exact same thing. Rice (or speghetti), meat (either beef or lamb), and beans. I am SO SICK OF BEANS!!!! Not to mention the meat... can you say chewy!! I have never chewed on a peice of meat so long. The first time i like gagged but i have started to get use to it so i just sit there and chew on it for like five minutes before i can force myself to swallow. Then we sometimes eat like banana's and arrow roots that are cooked and bananas make me GAG but the roots are kinda good.. just as long as i don't eat too much or i want to throw up!

As for everything else it is going great!! Our family is absolutely amazing! It was sad though one of the daughters that we have become really close with and have a total blast with went to boarding school :( We took here this last thursday and it was sad! I can't believe that she is only 14 and she is taken away from her parents for 6 years coming home for like a week every 3 months. That sounds horrible!! Well everyone I have got to get going!! I will start writing more often!! Love you and miss you alll!!!!

Jordann