sorry i havent posted lately! i WILL get around to it soon!!
Thanks for all the love in the meantime!
p.s. i added some more pictures..
heres the link :
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=369436&id=227400038

Say goodBYE to teenhood!

So today i turned 20!
It was a very VERY good day! i woke up to an email from my mom that she had stealthily hidden birthday cards in the lining of my suitcase before i left, and it was a fab day ever since. Everyone i live with is AMAZING!
i got to pick a dinner (one of the other girls.. next door .. is an AMAZING COOK)
so they let be pick WHATEVER i wanted under the sun!
clearly i picked pancakes..
they didn't really seem to understand the logic but that's OK!
So school went great..
two people bought me two chapatis each so i had chapati coming out of my ears..
(i don't know if it was for my birthday.. they saw that i bought some yesterday and wanted to get me some?--Kenyans don't really celebrate birthdays.. some don't really know when theirs is.. but occasionally they will have cake) anyways it was a great day.
at night we had the feast.. NOT ONLY was there pancakes,
but homemade syrup (i had my doubts at first but i am not a homemade syrup BELIEVER [not to mention it was still hot])
pineapple (one my favorite fruits) coffee cake (yes for dinner..)
Cinnamon buns (how do they KNOW these things?)
and CAN YOU BELIEVE WE HAD DESSERT? apple crumble
yes it was absolutely amazing.. i d like to consider myself somewhat of a pancake connoisseur and THOSE were delicious pancakes i MUST SAY

well moving on from the pancakes (sorry they are hard to get over) almost all the simpacters from far and wide showed up for my birthday! there are many sleeping here overnight just so they could come! i got presents and the ones who couldn't make it sent me messages. so as you can see the people i live with are amazing.

In FACT I've decided almost everyone here that I'm working with is amazing. (on a more serious note)
We have the teachers and pastor at the school. they are such special people, they had me and Elise over to their home to eat lunch the other day. The faith of these people is INCREDIBLE and this is what he (the pastor) says to me : "white people have so much better faith then we do" ....
wow
i was basically speechless... and a little angry actually
all the Christians around here are amazing..
at the st.Nicholas school where Sarah teaches & stays (it is an orphanage as well) the girls get up at like 5 in the morning and go pray.. these are little girls.. no one is TELLING them to do anything they just get up before anyone else and go pray..
and I've heard so many things like this..
we were talking to Rose the other day.. (pastors wife / headmistress of the school)
and we were talking about our weekends..
"so what did you do Friday night?"
"oh we had a prayer night here "[joyspring school is also their church]
"oh.. so you had a meeting?"
(keep in mind she is saying this in a nonchalant way, it is completely normal to her and she would NEVER brag about anything like this, we wouldn't have known if we hadn't asked about her Friday night)
"oh no.. we stayed up praying all night"
"OK.. when you say all night.. you mean.. till 12?"
"no till morning"
"... wowza"(i may just have thought that in my head)
"[me again] so you must have slept in pretty good on Saturday"
"oh.. no we just wait till Saturday night to sleep.. we have things to do"
"uhhhhh" [a little bit in awe at this point]
there are many many more stories like this

ANYWAYS the girls and I (that's proper grammar for my mother)
were talking about how the faith of people here seems so incredibly strong even compared to most (including myself) back home, it seems to put some of us to shame!
We talked about it for awhile.. we realized that most people in kibera have almost nothing possessions wise. they rely on God for absolutely everything.. if they don't have enough money to eat or to pay rent they pray and expect/get results.
these people learn to rely on God every day for their most basic needs literally "give us this day our daily bread" and it has brought them to a place where they have seen Him work and give true incredibly heartfelt thanks because of it.
Sometimes in the big west, we say that God provides but we don't really believe it , i mean..
who goes to work everyday? me
who makes the money around here? me
i provide for myself
all i need is me
i count on me
many people don't intentionally think this way but I know for myself i have definitely been caught up in this way of thinking quite regularly.
I think the pastor said that because most of the video tapes, and on t.v. the people who are preaching are all white. It was very very frustrating for me to here. He had this "women of faith" tape with singing on it and the camera went to the crowd and he was like "LOOK how much they mean it!"
and then,( this was all while we were eating lunch at their house)
the classic Benny Hinn came on.
Now I'm not going to say if he is a fake or not a fake because i suppose ultimately i personally dont know.. but i do have my opinions, but its so easy to listen to all the words, because most of what he says is true.

We told him that is NOT true, and how we all saw how special their faith was.. we talked about it for awhile.. they were amazed at the idea that maybe the slum of kibera is a special type of blessing in and of itself, they were fascinated by the idea that maybe in North America we have TOO much,
"So what you are saying is, our trials and troubles bring us closer to God"

Forgive me if this blog is just a big jumble of words, it is kind of a mishmash of events and thoughts!

It MAY or may not be the after effects of delicious pancakes
I might be going to Nathan (missionary kid's) soccer tournament
and NO (this is for all my relatives) by KID i mean kid. aka child so don't get any crazy ideas.
so GOODNIGHT & Thanks for the comments so far!!

p.s that was an inadvertant hint that i like getting comments so i know that im not just
[as i once said..]"blasting this into the unknown world of cyberspace" ;)

WHOOHOO!

So todays post isnt really about me its about one of my best buds Katelyn!
Shes one of the group of a few tight buds we have (dubbed "the family") We've been friends since we were born and TODAY is the beginning of excitement!
Kate landed herself a column in the Standard and here is the introduction column!
http://www.stcatharinesstandard.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=765340&auth=CHERYL+CLOCK+Standard+Staff
heres the link to see her first article online

http://www.stcatharinesstandard.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=765342&auth=Katelyn+Muir.
im excited!
and i think you all will be too

EXCITING NEWS. i exercised today. hahaha you thought it was going to be something super. BUT it is good, we got a treadmill over the weekend and now us SIMpacters can work out.
We all eat less and yet we are all gaining weight, mysterious i know...
I have a few theories. A) the africans WANT to be fat, yes they think fat is the way to be, so its not like they take care to get rid of fat in food, now that im thinking about it.. i wouldnt be surprised if they purposely add EXTRA fat. or B) because we cant leave the compound after 6 (when it starts getting dark) we get bored. and we eat.. though it doesnt seem like a lot, but its not like we do much activity after 6. and C) the high altitude. i dont know what that would have to do with fatness but im just throwing it in there. ANYWAYS so this is our new and exciting news.. the workout machine, and apparently we are also getting one of those step machines. so i took it for a test run for a half hour today (clearly not running the entire time.. *insert brisk walk*) and it was good.. but .. at the same time awkward .. since the kenyan cleaning ladies were watching me and laughing at me.. i dont know if thats a good.. or bad thing.
not to mention the little girl deena (super cute) came to sit and watch me and kept asking me all these questions and its really hard to answer while your running // slightly out of breath..
.
so basically i signed my life away and signed up for every single day this week ( you have to sign up to use it at certain times) soon we're all going to be super fit HA
.
ok but lets talk about whats REALLY been going on.. well.. not that that didnt happen, BUT i dont think you really care about the exercise machine..
.
so school was good today, the teacher who was mysteriously sick since the day me and elise started is back.. but she never introduced herself so im a little unsure if she either doesnt like us orrrr is still a little under the weather, OR didnt notice that there were two white people (the only ones for miles) in the tiny school.. haha we will find out tommorrow i suppose. Anyways why do i tell you this? because i have been teaching class 3 and four which was needed BECAUSE this teacher was gone, but now that shes back, teaching class 3 (my favorite bunch) im a little unsure of where i should be once again..
.
so i spent a little while in class 2 today , (it was the first time i was in standard 2) and some girl drew me a picture and wrote me a note that said(and i quote)

STD2 My Teacher 5/11/07

My teacher is madam jack

She teaches at joyspring education center

She came to teach at STD2

She is a good teacher

We love her

and this folks is all after about 10 minutes of just sitting in the class hahaha i have to say.. i did not mind std 2 at all!! (except for the fight that started in the back[its really hard to stop fights when you dont speak kiswahili and you dont use a cane]) MOVING ON..

so let me backtrack to the morning where i helped in nursery

..

i dont know about the school YOU go/went to .. but i know that for our school there were classes that were rowdier and there were good classes..

i was in a seriously good class (i was one of the 'rebels' if you can believe that)

ANYWAYS im seeing its the same at this school

now let me tell you about my experiences with Nursery .. aka preschool

The Facts:

there are 50 4-5 year olds (maybe a 3yr old and a 6yr old or two) in a fairly small room

their teacher pinches their cheeks when they are bad

they only UNDERSTAND kiswahili (though they do math and such in english and can read certain words.. if i speak english .. aside from sit down they have no idea)

i DONT understand kiswahili (or speak it)

they are a little bit scared of their teacher

they are NOT scared of me

i AM scared of them (a little hahaha!! )

the teacher leaves the room to go .. to the store(<- to get the food for the kids NO im NOT suggesting shes a bad teacher just in case that thought crossed your mind..)

i am sitting with 50 kids who are not scared of me, dont understand me, and are cooped up

they start going crazy

.

.. dancing.. yelling.. throwing hats... little almost crying children running up to me trying to tell me something frantically about another kid in a language i dont understand... me trying to decide whether to try and gain some sanity in the room.. or just be the cool sub who lets the kids have fun... things getting a little crazier.. even more crazy..me trying to act tough and giving the kids the evil eye (note: the evil eye isnt very effective) and walking around trying to look like i MIGHT enforce some rules (if i KNEW the rules) .. the other teacher comes back in.. sound level goes down a few knotches.. the kids in the aisle get their cheeks pinched.. i sigh in relief.

(i could say this is the end but that would be a lie, because the teacher left again.. i tried to woo the bad kids in the back with a story book i brought.. and i let then try and look at it.. then decided it was a bad choice when 50 kids all of a sudden started piling on top of eachother to look at the book.. and i managed to barely get it[the book] out alive. )

yes all in all nursery is an eventful class. but for some reason i like it

ive always liked the rebel kids

.

i just need to learn some more kiswahili to yell something and catch them off guard.

anyways its a good way to spend my mornings (oh yeah..i mark their work if you were wondering what i actually do in that class[and i taught them a song once...])

anyways i really like my standard 3 class and i hope i can get them back at some point.. EVEN though the kids in standard 2 DID ask if they could sing to me..

.

today i discovered HOT FRESH chapati (if you recall --like a pita pancake only better)

it was delicious, the nursery teacher bought me one (they make them on the streets---[all the leaving me alone issues were forgotten with the warm chapati])

a mere 5 shillings in kibera.. thats like.. 8 cents what a DEAL

.

anyways this is getting a bit lengthy

i DID have a couple more serious things to write BUT i suppose i can just write them next time because its not something that will change

anyways this is a little little taste of what life is like..i could honestly .. (im in the writing mood) sit here and write PAGES on life here right now .. its so different in certain ways yet so the same in others its crazy

.

UNTIL NEXT TIME

.

p.s. we watched lion king.

and there is DEF. swahili in there..

remember rafiki? asanti sana squashed banana?

yeah..

thank you squashed banana

(it has so much more meaning now)

and who would have thunk it that hakuna matata means no worries for the rest of your days?(for real)

on that note..

Request

Please pray for my roommate Elise, her friend from home unexpectedly died today.
She hasnt talked much about it yet, which is the problem, she has a hard time speaking english and gets even more frusterated when shes upset. Please pray she was already having a hard time here, connecting with people and Im sure this isnt going to make it any easier for her. So please pray as she will obviously be going through a tough time, also that maybe she will find someone who speaks french who she can just carry on a conversation with around here..

* her friend: it was his 21st birthday and everyone went out for his bday and he just unexpectedly collapsed and died

PICTURES

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=357562&id=227400038
ok so i THINK this link will work, BUT if this doesnt work let me know

day 4.

well.. today was only a half day at joyspring,
i felt sick last night and even more this morning
i had some pills my mom packed but this one kind wasnt labelled..
none of the other ones were ones i needed to take and the internet wasnt working so i just winged it and took a blue pill haha
(thankfully it was the right one -- i looked it up online when i got home)
but we ended up going home early
apparently i have a low fever amoung other symptoms. nothing major
the nurse mom prescribed bedrest
she said im not allowed to go to the school tommorrow because i had a fever
but i think by tommorrow i will feel fine, we will see..

but im taking the bed rest as an opportunity to write in here,
as a side note, please ignore all my grammatical errors in this blog, i know that i should be using capitals and saying "Elise and I" and all that, BUT i am rebelling for a while against the system and just typing ..

So yesterday i taught a bit in standard four (grade 4) by myself. because exams are coming up before break, most of what the kids are doing is review. i wrote questions on the board and they copied and answered. i marked the books this morning and some of the answers are very cute, i will have to tell you all about them when i get home.

everyday the school feeds all the children. usually we have rice and these split yellow bean things or wheat stuff with the split yellow bean stuff... haha the teachers say its not actually very kenyan food BUT i ALSO found out the government provides all the food for the kids everyday! i was impressed. sometimes the kids bring a little something from home, like chipati (kind of like a pita but better) Oh, the kids also get porridge in the morning during tea time.

Some of you may know that before i left for kenya i had a new found love for chai tea. (the starbucks kind) So i was REALLY happy when i found out, everywhere, at every school they have "chai time" for their first break. of course it tastes different then starbucks but its still pretty good. usually its made with milk, but yesterday and today there was no milk so it was just "black tea" so .. chai tea made with just water. ALSO if you have ever tried tea that i drink at home it is VERY sweet, but here.. i think their tea is even sweeter then mine, so its pretty intense.. The nurse momma thinks that maybe thats how i got sick, because if you arent used to the water here, and its not filtered, you need to boil it for like 15 minutes before using it, but it probably wasnt boiled that long at the school. its hard sometimes to figure out what you should and shouldnt eat. i dont want to be rude or make the school feel bad so its hard to say sometimes..

LAST THING ummm from some of the things being said i think that i should tell you a little about HIV/AIDS here. contrary to popular belief it is NOT that easy to get HIV/AIDS
the easiest way and most common way is through sex
next is blood exchange.
now when i say blood exchange it does NOT mean if i have a small paper cut, and a little blood gets on me, that i will get it, it is VERY VERY VERYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY unlikely to happen, i would need like a HUGE cut to get LOTS of blood on it. there are also pills here for if you have come into contact with potentially hiv/aids fluids you can take them and it somehow protects you.
anyways i just want to say it is not something anyone needs to worry about.
Africa is usually seen as an HIV/AIDS country, and while it does have a very high percentage of the victims LETS NOT FORGET that it is also in our countries, what people dont realize is its spreading everywhere.

Heres some interesting stats:
Between 40,000 and 50,000 Americans become infected with HIV every year. Half of them are between the ages of 13 and 24. That means at least two teenagers and young adults in this country are infected with HIV every HOUR of every day.
Remember, one in 250 Americans is HIV positive; only one in 500 knows it.

so believe me when i say this is not only a problem here, it is quickly becoming a worldwide problem.
but thankfully for the most part, if you are not sexually active and don't inject drugs, you don't need to worry about contracting HIV.
i dont know how comforting that is, BUT the point is.. it is not really something i need to worry about, not anymore then anyone else at least..
well..
on that note..
ill probably add a bit tomorrow, maybe some pictures, because i imagine ill be bored..