09/15 - Still Stinky

Ah, Kenya.

The morning started off like clockwork. I followed some white people - thinking they were volunteers with my group - on to a bus for a short tour. When we got to the drop off point I was quickly put back on the bus and sent to the hotel. The organization probably has a note in my file that says "unable to care for herself." At least I got to see some of the city before the other volunteers. Let's just blame it on me being competitive versus incompetent.

There are a ton of volunteers that basically fit into the party crowd or the anti-American crowd- even though they are all Americans - and I never see them. Then there are five people that I just adore: Tara (Indiana, 20), Lily (California, mid-20s), Andy (Seattle,19) and Sally (California, 30). Sally is the personal massage therapist for Megan Mullay (Karen on Will and Grace) and is filming footage for her new talk show. We are doing all our trips of Nairobi together. I ended up picking the same orphanage as Tara, another volunteer, who has been a large part of the Kenya joy. She totally is an integral part of me loving this place.

Today was the first day of orientation. It was basically blah until we go to the Swahili part. This is where pretended to mouth pronunciations while I made fun of everyone else in my head. Seriously, this is 10 times worse than Mandarin. I try for like a minute and then I just start making clicking noises. Back to the miming for me.

There was a huge list of orphanages to pick from so you basically just close your eyes and pick one at random. I hope I got a good placement but you can't tell until you get there. I also signed up for a Safari and a trip to the Muslim Coast. Apparently, it has great scuba diving. Some volunteers got worms in their feet when they were there and malaria is rampant on the Coast so they told us to be careful. Little do they know I am a sick magnet.

We had lunch at Karen Bixley's estate. She is the author of the book Out of Africa. It was also used in the movie the Constant Gardner. This whole place looks like the Constant Gardner, but that place was pretty nice.

At night we went and looked for my luggage at the airport. I got one bag back but it was full of kids’ toys for the orphanage. Who needs to shower when kids have stuff from the dollar store to play with?

That night we stayed in a guest house full of wild dogs that wouldn't stop licking me. Can you say rabies? It was really fun and I feel in love with the son, William. Don't worry, Jeremy - he is like 10.

I am starting to get the hang of this place and loving every minute. I will check in again tomorrow.