Another year older. Another year wiser? I don't think so.

Happy Birthday to me. Technically I won't be 19 until 5:00 this evening, but this is my technical day-of-birth. Is it sad that I'm not super excited to be 19? Does that mean I've grown up? Probably not. There's just too much to think about other than turning one year older. Year 19 is, in a way, not a very eventful year. In Kenya, I'm already legal to drive, drink, vote and just about everything else at 18. It's almost the same in the States, so what's one more year? One more year closer to being able to rent a car, put a mortgage on a house, buy my own insurance, but those aren't in my window of opportunity for many more years. I guess what I've learned so far is just because my birthday is on a certain day, it doesn't make it much different than the day before it of the day after. I take each day as it comes instead of only paying attention to the big hitters.

Another reason I haven't been able to focus on my "special day" is because I've been so freaking busy! I haven't really had time to write since I left the Open Arms Village, for all the activity. It hasn't been hectic, really. In fact, it's been a nice balance of activity to inactivity and rest. I've had just enough time to sleep and read a few chapters out of my book, which is really good, by the way. Karen Blixen is quite good at stating her observations in an eloquent and simple way. But I digress...
I've been in Amagoro, a little spot on the map that literally nobody has heard of, for a few days. I'm practically to Uganda. (I crossed the border yesterday. That minute and a half that I spent in Uganda was the most exhilarating of my life. I felt like I was running from the law. Don't tell the authorities.)

Back to Amagoro. On my way here from Bungoma, the only person that had heard of Amagoro was the matatu driver, thank goodness for him, at least. I was greeted by Moses and Zach once I arrived in Amagoro, as well as a few more camp volunteers. Soon after I arrived, a gaggle of peace corps volunteers showed up too, and the next day 2 more Kenyan volunteers. We've got a full house at the moment. People are coming and going every day it seems. We've spent most of our time here planing for the up and coming retreat and camp that will start this weekend. When I first heard that I would be arriving at least 5 days before the camp even started, I thought that was a little over the top. I was wrong. There is so much to plan. I'm a little worried that we wont have enough time to plan everything. It feels really nice to have work to do that involves my interests. Don't get me wrong, the Nest was great, but I can't exactly relate doing laundry every day to my daily life. I really miss the kids. It's been hard being away from them, but it's been made easier. Since I've been so busy, I haven't really had time to think about anything but taking care of business.
I'm sure you're wondering what I mean when I say camps. Let me break it down for you.

We are expecting about 140 kids, both boys and girls, this weekend for our sponsored student retreat. Each student has a sponsor in the united states that pays for their schooling fees, which really aren't expensive for a household in the U.S. (I know what I'm doing with my money once I've payed for college and the inevitable debt that follows.) Each student is responsible for keeping their grades up and keeping out of trouble. There are quite a few requirements to be eligible for this camp and a sponsor. They have to work really hard. Especially because the curriculum in Kenya is off the hook. It's way over expectant of the students learning capacity. Here students are taught to not question authority nor think creatively. They simply sit and intake information and then are expected to regurgitate the information on tests that determine their entire future. Our jobs this week are to encourage a different way of thinking through problems. We are planning different courses for HIV/AIDS awareness, good decision making and problem solving, gender stereotypes and building healthy relationships. It will be different to teach students about things like gender stereotypes because to us, things like the man being the dominant member of the family or women not having a say in any matters is a gender stereotype. To Kenyan students coming from the village, these are just facts about how a family operates.

The week after the retreat, we'll be hosting 20 Kenyan students from the surrounding area to come for 2 weeks for an academic camp. We'll be using a lot of the same activities as we use at the retreat but we will obviously have to add more, which is what we've been planning for the past few days. It should be a ton of fun. I'm pretty gosh darned excited. We've got a bunch of people coming in with specialized workshops for the kids.
Today we ran around Amagoro and Malaba to find supplies for the camps that are quickly approaching.

We drove up to the site for the camp this weekend. We though we would take a 20 minute drive, tops, up to this school nearby. We were wrong. The school is over an hour away in a van packed full of muzungus and absolutely not a drop of water to our names. The heat here is incredible. Midday is stifling, then come afternoon time the rains come out of nowhere. We can't even hear each other shout for the sound of the torrents hitting the tin roof of the Mission House. Back to the story, we made it home just before the rains got bad, but it took us long enough. The school looks perfect for our intentions, but we found ourselves in a bit of a ridiculous situation driving for a total of 2 and a half hours to spend 20 minutes at the aforementioned school.

I've found that with Kenyans, nothing is done quickly, and without consideration. If you come to someone's house to borrow sugar, for example, you don't just come in, borrow the sugar then peace out. You sit down, have a cup of tea, talk about the current events and arrive home a few hours later with or without your sugar. The sugar isn't really what matters in this situation. It is the same when visiting any office, introducing yourself, going to the post office, having a meeting, etc. No meeting gets started until everyone is sitting down, has introduced themselves and had a cup of chai. As a Westerner, whose life is very busy and quick paced, this is frustrating and hard to acclimate to.

I've been chatting with the peace corps volunteers about their experience here. Some have been here for almost 2 years, while some only a few months. One could say that they are enriching their lives. At first, I thought that my 4 months was a long time to be away. They make me look like a weenie. They've got the matatus down. They argue with the driver and chat with the locals like it's nothing. It is funny to listen to their American-Kenyan accents come out when they talk to Kenyans. I heard it first at the nest and thought, why the heck are people talking like that. Now I realize it's necessary to talk slowly with a different inflection. Sure, Americans look and sound stupid when they talk like that, but we're going to look and sound stupid no matter what we do, so there isn't much to lose.

The Kenyans that are here with us now, the ones who arrived a few days ago, just like me, to start with planning for the camp, are much different from Kenyans I've met. They are from Nairobi and are just about as funny and weird and psycho and fun as it gets. They are interested and well informed of American culture so it's refreshing to hang out and talk about things that Kenyans from smaller villages wouldn't know about. All 5 of us, the Peace Corps-ers, the Kenyans and I, can relate to each other pretty dang well and whatever doesn't translate is a learning experience for both sides. They got me singing last night, darn them. I was trying to keep that a secret, but they wouldn't take no for an answer.

Apparently, in Kenya, a person celebrates their birthday by having water and garbage and poop and god knows what else poured on them, or so I've been told. Since today's my special day, I'm going get a nice bath from the lovely Kenyans. I think this is just an excuse to cover me in poo, since I have no idea if this is a real tradition or just a practical joke. Maybe one day I'll look back on this and laugh, but today I'm keeping my guard up against any ambushing attempts.

The rest of the day we will spend planning and coordinating. Stay tuned for pictures of the retreat and beautiful scenery in Amagoro!!