Last week in Kenya...

Can't believe that this is my last day in Kenya...(this trip). I can remember back to the first 2 weeks here, and how 7 weeks seemed like forever!! So an update on my last week here goes a little something like this...

Saturday was the first time I really got to play tourist. A few of the other volunteers and myself went to Karen, the posh suburb of Nairobi named after the famous author who wrote Out of Africa, and my goodness it was beautiful. Just imagine the most beautiful garden you've ever seen, then triple the size of all the plants, flowers, and trees, and then multiply it until you have one after the other, after the other, lining the quietest streets of Nairobi, and you've got it. Our goal of going to Karen was the Kazuri bead shop, which is the most wonderful place ever. It's a whole compound of clay pots, beads, and jewelry-making, from the processing of the clay that comes from the heart of Kenya, to the giant kiln rooms, to the glazing factory, to the jewelry making workshops. All employees are single mothers, and the working conditions were just amazing--so clean and well ventilated, lots of light, and everyone was more than happy to let us watch over their shoulders as they painted beads or threw a pot on the wheel (I was unsuccessful in getting them to let me try it--bummer). It was the best morning ever though!! I'm so glad I got to see it! That afternoon, we delivered the shoes to the orphanage that one of the other volunteers had raised the money for and we purchased from the Kawangware market. I have never seen children so happy to get new shoes before! They were absolutely ecstatic!! Their smiles went ear to ear, and they mobbed us trying to show off how smart they looked in their new shoes!

Sunday two of the other volunteers and I took the older kids at the orphanage out for a treat at the local restaurant. It was great fun and we taught them how to play some card games. I got most of my souvenir shopping done over the weekend as well...whew! Monday was community football at the orphanage, and we actually had 4 new people from the community there--the kids loved it!! Monday night was my first experience at the cinema here in Kenya: went to go see "The Last King of Scotland," which was about the corrupt and brutal presidency of Amin in the neighboring country of Uganda back in the 1970's. Very heavy film, but did an excellent job of portraying his rise and reign at the helm of the country. And it was only $5 (US) for the ticket, popcorn, soda, and a candy bar...unreal I know!!

Tuesday I got to teach English at Hidden Talents!! And it was the same class I had last week, so they shouted my name as soon as I walked in the door!! The lesson was on adjectives, so I started out by describing someone famous from the US, and they got it after the third adjective...Arnold Schwarzenegger!! It went sooo well, and gave me some much needed confidence about teaching, for which I have no real training, as I'm sure the bulk of the projects in Peru will involve some aspect of teaching English.

Wednesday was siku ya sharehe at the orphanage!!! Oh, that's "party day" for all those non-Swahili speakers out there :) All of the goodies I have received thus far via care packages were put to good use, as we did face painting, played with Play-Doh, had a sports day (three-legged races, sack races, every kind of relay imaginable), and two rounds of water balloon fights!! Filling 144 water balloons, and then gone in under 5 minutes, twice, was quite the experience! I was soaked by the end of the day, and it was awesome!! I have never heard these kids laugh like this before, and when we handed out candy and a prize to each one of them, you would have thought we gave them the world! It was the best day ever!! Boy was I tired that night...I think I was in bed mentally by 8 PM.

Yesterday, Thursday, was my final showdown with FedEx...I had placed numerous phone calls to them over the past few weeks and even made several trips into the city to their main office, as the package containing my INR self-test machine, which I will need for the rest of the year to keep track of my own blood levels since I don't know what the medical conditions will be in all of the places I am going this year, has been stuck in customs at Nairobi airport since February 18th. Long story short, after over an hour at their main office, a major breakdown complete with tears on my part, and basically demanding that I get the machine that night or else, it was delivered to me at 8 pm at the very nice Italian restaurant where the other volunteers and I went to celebrate my last week here. Again, I have a new appreciation for the United States Postal Service and the fact that pretty much any building in the US has an actual address to deliver things to, as the houses here have no physical address. I don't really lose my patience too often, but I think I definitely had God covering his ears and eyes yesterday...hopefully he was busy elsewhere at the time...

So last night I spent cramming on how to work my new blood machine, and after cringing the whole time I read the chapter on how to fingerstick yourself, and almost upchucking as I practiced operating the automatic lancer that has the most sickening clicking sound ever (for those of you not familiar with my absolute dread of needles going anywhere near my veins, now you know), I was 75% confident that I could do it! Today I got to try it out for real at the doctor's office, who said my hands weren't shaking too bad, as I had my follow-up appointment today. My numbers are good, and the ones the lab got matched the ones on my machine, and after picking up enough warfarin to last me for the next 6 weeks, I'm all set to go!! Tonight will be a packing frenzy, and tomorrow morning at 8 AM I will fly out of Nairobi, arriving in Arusha, Tanzania at 8:50 AM. I will keep you all posted once I get settled there, and hopefully I will write my next blog from an internet cafe that has a window with a direct view of Mount Kilimanjaro!!