the past week...

on sunday i woke up at 6:30 am to get ready for church. janet my host mother, wrapped nelson to her back and we headed out into the street. we walked for a while , cut across a field, and waited with a group on the side of a two lan e highway. soon a matatu pulled up, horns blaring. a matatu is a van used in the way busses ar e used. it is usually a 9person van with 15 to 20 people crammed inside *depending on how many children there are(. i was sent to the back of the van with nelson who did not seem phasedd by this transportation means. janet sat in the front because it was too narrow a fit in the back. we rode for about ten minutes, then got out and walked for another while, until we arrived at an anglican church, which janet tells me is the church she grew up in. i recognized some of the songs we sang * everything was in english, save a few verses(. there were hundreds upon hundredds of people in attendance, and at one point all first time visitors to the church were asked to stand. now, that was awkward. i stood up along with two other people and immediately felt hundreds of sets of eyes on me. i gather it is rare for a young mzungu to attend this church service. after the service, i met many of janet's relatives, all women, now that i think about it. i met her sister, mother, aunt, grandmother, cousin, and a few friends. we walked around to the back of the church and got a cup of chai each. after a few minutes, i took a step back and realized how different my surroundings were from what i would have expected in the u.s. for perhaps five minutes, as strange as it may seem, i had been completely unphased by standing in a dusty field, being the sole 'white' person in a group of kenyan africans, sipping chai from a plastic cup, in the middle of an african country on a sunny sunday afternoon. i realized that i have lost all sense of expectation. i walk in whatever direction the person next to me walks, eat what is put in front of me, climb to the back of an overcrowded kenyan van with a three year old child and sit there until i am told to get out. i never know who i am going to meet or what my next meal will be, or what i will be doing two hours from now, and i never know where i am. i do not even know how much anything is supposed to cost, it's always different. six machungwas cost me 199 shillings in the supermarket last week. today i bought four small machunguas on the street for 20 shillings. this is a very significan difference *2.5 dollars vs 25 cents(. everything is unpredictable and i have consequently found that i am completely free of any anxiety i used to experience ni the u.s. it's truly amazing.
anyways, when we were finished with out chai at the church, i walked with janet and nelson along a path by the highway for fifteen or twenty minutes, and finally arrived at a gate, which was unlocked and opened for us from the inside by a young teenage boy, perhaps 13. we were led through a dust path and wen t through another gate.the house was dark and the television was automatically turned on, playing brooklyn rules *an interesting choice, no doubt*. i stayed at the house for about eight hours, doing many things. i browned a bowl of rice, entertained nelson by playing soccer and games with him, explored the small family farm *on cow, chickens, rabbits, vegetables*, drank chai, ate a late lunch at four pm, and got into a three o r four hour political/cultural discussion with my host's cousin. he is very smart and outspoken about his political views, and his english is at the same level as mine. we discussed kenyan politics and corruption, american politics, african culture, black american politics, classism, racism, the concept of beauty , gender politics, soccer, movies, and how i thought he should become the kenyan president and change the way politics are done here. he says the two most beautiful sounds in the world are that of a v10 engine and a lion roaring. by far the most interesting person i have met n a long time. by the time we left the house, it was dark outside and relatively late at night, which is the first time i have done such a thing. being in a group of kenyans, including two males, i was perfectly safe, but was warned never to do such a thing alone. we crowded into another matatu and then took a taxi from there, for at this point it was just me and janet, which was not safe. that night i fell asleep in front of the customary blaring tv. i was also given a cell phone by my host father,, they insisted, to my surprise that i must have a cell phone for keeping in touch even though i go to school within walking distance of the house. last night i was bitten by quite many mosquitoes, and their whines woke me constantly. fortunately i am on malaria meds, but i will nevertheless be on the lookout for a mosquito net.

favorite quote so far, before i forget it:
"Look at what the government has done to us, that we use our bathtubs as feeding troughs" spoken by janet, on tour of her family's small farm, as we indeed watched the cow drink from her now useless bathtub.

as for the water situation, it is undoubtedly dire, due to a number of factors. the cousin i spoke of previously claims that the water issue is due to a combination of political corruption and kenyan civilian laziness. the only thing i can speak on from a first hand basis is that people use water with incredibly caution right now. i bathe with a large bucket of water and piece of soap. the water from bathing drains out into the yard. the water i don't use is poured into a larger bucket next to the toilet. when iwish to flush the toilet , rarely done, i open up the top of the toilet and pour a gallon of water from the bucket into the top, after which i can flush the toilet. we wash our hands n a bowl before eating, and then that water in the bowl is used to water the plants outside. i find these practices, though enacted within the limitation s of necessity, rather admirable, and look forward to practicing much of this when i get back to the u.s. i bath every day here, and have probably used in total a quarter of the amount of water i use in one long shower. there is also house help in the home, which i am totally down with ... her name is lidya and she is very nervous around me *note, this was written about a week ago , and we actually get along very well now*. janet said she had never been around a white person before, let alone sleeping in the same room as one * i bunk above her in a 6 x 10 room(.\

today was my first day of school in riruta, which is the village i stay in right now. since elly's host father and my host father are brothers, we live next to each other, so we walked a short way this morning, also stopping along the way to pick up lidya *student, not house help*. we got very lost, but eventually arrived at the school *which is actually a house* twenty minutes late. i had lessons in the living room, and for lunch i ate what my host mother packed me *rice, peppers, beef, spices, peas, and chapati*. after eating, i went out with two people and we walked around the street markets, which i s where i bought the oranges for 20 shillings.

as you may have noticed, i have not e posted any photos. this is because i've hardly taken any. it is not a good idea to walk around with a camera here, so i am waitng until i'm more familiar with the place and people to take it out. i will take photos in the next week, but do not know if i will get to post them.

if you have any questions, please ask. there are many things i amy be forgetting to mention.