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Jambo!! My first week of class is done! I have had alot of Kiswahili, four hours every morning. Then either my international development class or country analysis in the afternoon. We had the afternoon off to go to the Immigration Office in the city center to get our "resident status" and a couple extra stamps in our passport so we can have a multiple entry visa in case we decide to take a trip to Uganda or Tanzania. It was over a two hour project thumb prints and all. One African man made quite a scene and was dragged out screaming and kicking and yelling for them not to beat him. I'm not quite sure what he did, but he must have pissed them off. We went to a burger joint in the city for lunch...definitely not good. I think I'll wait until May and have a tasty American burger with Wisconsin cheese. Next weekend we have a tentative safari planned at the Masaai Mara game reserve. Our program supervisor said we were allowed to go if Kafi Annan (the peace talks mediator) is still here next week. It rained alot yesterday, which is very strange for this time of year since this is their dry season. The walk home from school yesterday and this morning was VERY muddy since nearly all the roads are mud. I was planning to take a shower when I got home to rinse off all the mud, but Mama Mary informed me that we had no water, so no shower for me! I have not found out if it is back on yet today. I guess I will have to wait and see. I'm not quite sure to the exact reason why the water has been going off, but it has been happening to a number of people in the area including other MSID students. I have heard that it is because they are re-routing some of the water to accomadate the displaced persons in a park near here. Last night I had my first experience with "Daga". Daga is basically the Kiswahili word for minnow. Lillian had made herself some daga with cabbage and Mary thought it would be hilarious if I ate one. These minnows are just thrown in with the cabbage and eaten whole. So I popped the little guy in my mouth...head, bones, skin, guts, and all. Mary then proceeded to ask me if it was crunching and that the bones are a great source of calcium. It was pretty disgusting but definitely an EXPERIENCE. This little snack of daga led to an hour long discussion of Mary telling me all the other nasty things Kenyans eat: termites, rat, mice, etc. She was particularly detailed in describing the termite eating process...how to catch and prepare! :) She was laughing so hard at me that she was crying.
**I posted some pictures yesterday and a couple more today, some of them have descriptions too. There are more than what I put on facebook. Uploading pictures takes FOREVER since the internet here is so slow.***
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