09/25 – Who is Dirty Now?

Today started on a sad note – Phoebe, our maid, left without saying goodbye. We really adored her. I was looking forward to spoiling her before I left. She loves Oreos and I snuck them too her almost every day. On top of that my laundry is piling over and I fear having to do it myself again.

Lucy keeps telling me that I needed to wash my feet better. I couldn’t see why when every time I walked outside in my flip flops they immediately got dirty again. There is NO way to stay clean here – it’s dusty, and dirty 24/7. Clearly a lost cause for all involved. Finally she broke down and told me that the local Kenyans who live in the neighborhood were making fun of me because my feet were always so dirty. They call me the dirty American and say that I don’t need to wear shoes because my feet look like dirty stones. Lucy even bought me a special foot cleaning tool to encourage me to be hygienic. While isn’t that grand. People who live in houses made of animal crap are calling me unsanitary! I’ll show them dirty.

Sally, Tara and I took the day off from the orphanage to go downtown and meet up with the other volunteers. They found some American restaurants we were dying to try.

We took a matatu into the city but then tried to find a taxi to take us the rest of the way. The way to win the transportation game in Kenya is to find a taxi driver that is willing to be loyal to you and you have it made. That’s when we met George. We got a fair “white” price for the ride, and he was highly amusing to boot. We had a blast getting to our location. Unfortunately, he dropped us off at the wrong place. We were over two hours late at that point.

Figuring that everyone had already left us, we spent some time on the high-speed Internets found in the ex-pat neighborhood. We also got to shop in some Western-owned stores. I found a really beautiful Tribal mask that was carved in the Congo and found in Kenya. Sally bought the most amazing Massai art that I have seen.

We ended up having to walk about half-an-hour down the road to meet up with everyone else. But it was worth it; ten minutes later we were eating ice-cream and cake at the Java Café. It was amazing. It wasn’t much later that we called George to come and get us.

We are always tired and in bed very early. Even with the sugar rush, tonight was no exception. I have no idea what makes me so exhausted. I guessing it’s a combination of the time change and sensory overload. I look forward to climbing into my comfy bed back home…