9.12

things:

little children follow us in the street and yell "mzunguuuu!" and "howayoo?". i think every child in a two mile radius knows how i'm doing now.

this small village is very much like new york city, in that if you look straight ahead like you're kind of pissed and don't want to be bothered, nobody bothers you. if you look around and look friendly or naive or lost, some people will yell at you or make fun of you. most of the people here are wonderful, but there are a few who really ruin it sometimes. drunks (rare) are the worst. they loudly harrass you up and down the street, try to grab you, etc. this has happened to me twice, and the first time someone tried to calm him down to leave me alone, the other time, it was just really quick, and then we lost him.

i broke down and bought a pair of jeans. it's so nice... if i cannot fit them in my bag, i will give them away later. i will be going with lydia, our house help, to the real market later today hopefully. apparently she's an awesome bargainer. also, she taught me how to make ugali and a traditional meat dish today. she thought it was funny how i wanted to help.

went to a restaurant and bar last night with fellow students. we didn't drink very much, or anything, just looking to spend an evening in the city. i had a hamburger with guacamole and real ketchup, which was so exciting. \'ketchup" is usually tomato sauce. the famous beer here, tusker, tastes like water but it's very popular. the taxi ride back was scary, because the taxi driver didn't know where riruta was and it was very hard to give directions in the dark.

i have had common cold-like symptoms for the past few days, despite taking daily vitamins and eating oranges. however, we are all mostly still in much better health than was expected. only three people have had any intestine-related ill feelings.... i'm being vague on purpose... maybe you get my drift, though.

had a swahili exam yesterday. wasn't bad. it is amazing how much swahili i can speak already. i understand a third of what i hear around the house, and am able to barter, purchase, and generally converse with people in swahili, albeit slowly.

i have been hit on by three kenyans so far. two men, one woman. like i said a few posts ago, nothing surprises me anymore...

i miss you all fiercely when i think about it, but am fortunately pretty busy most of the time, so i dont have to linger on it. there are so many interesting things going on. i really want to photograph the cows being herded through the dirt streets by maasai people. it's quite a sight.

i am cooking macaroni and cheese for my family tomorrow night. hopefully. but who knows what will be going on that evening?