Peace Corps, Paris or BUST

Kitties on the Buss go Round and Round...

2011-02-07T12:00:00.000-08:00

It’s funny, when I was in Lesotho and would have to transport my kitty to the vet or another volunteer’s house for kitty sitting I would be the most hated person on the kombi (public transportation van). They hate cats. Many of them think that they are used in voodoo and that witches use them to cast spells on people.

So, it was a bit of a shock to me when a lady sat next me on the bus and wanted to pet Lily. It took me a second to realize I was back in a Country that loves animals. I missed that.

will work for humanity...

2010-12-15T11:47:00.000-08:00

Been home a few months now and am looking for a job…maybe I should change my blog name to “How to Find a Job after Peace Corps” cause it’s NOT easy. I think I’ve signed up to every online job search engine known to man.

I applied for a job with the San Francisco Peace Corps office and got it; only to find out a couple days later that Peace Corps had a hiring freeze and they considered the position “non-essential”; so no job for me. Now I’m considering Grad-school sooner than the planned 2 years from now. Not sure when to give up though. I really do want to stay home for a while. With working in France and then Peace Corps Kenya and Lesotho I’ve been working overseas for about 4 years now. I know whatever job I finally settle into after Grad-School will at the very least have me traveling a lot so I wanna enjoy some time in the bay area for a while. I guess I’m just talking myself into something I’m already planning to do…

While I was in Lesotho people were telling me about how bad the economy was but its a different thing hearing about it vs. being here. Trying to find a job makes it VERY clear.

I'm very lucky to have my family and friends. They've been so supportive during this time but I can't help but think about all of my other volunteer friends out there that are struggling. I just hope this all turns around soon.

2010-12-01T23:58:00.000-08:00

Yes, Yes, I know. I’ve been MIA for quite a while.

This past year has been tumultuous to say the least. After being home for X-mas and New Years in 2009 I went back to Lesotho with plans to stay for a third year. Unfortunately on the 29^th of March I learned that the only Father I’ve ever known; my Uncle Bruce was in the hospital. His Lung Cancer had spread to his brain and things did not look good. I was on a plane home on March 31^st and though I didn’t get to see him before he left I did get a chance to say to say goodbye. It was probably the hardest thing I’ve ever gone through but I’m glad I was able to be home with my Family. Bruce Allen Goronsky will be eternally missed.

It was a difficult decision but after a few weeks home I was back on the plane to Lesotho. While home I was looking to my family to answer the question as to whether or not I should stay in Lesotho for another year but I learned it was a decision I would have to make on my own. I knew if they asked me to stay home I would but if I regretted it I would have blamed them for that decision. Going back to Lesotho to make the decision was the right thing for me to do.

I returned to my COS (Close of Service) Conference and everyone celebrating the two years of Peace Corps Service we were about to complete…

After a couple of months back in Lesotho I realized I was trying to hold onto something that it was time to let go of. I’d worked on a number of programs; Youth Groups, Libraries, Life Skills Classes etc… and as the days marched on I began to realize that the amazing Community that I came to know and love was ready to try these projects out on their own. It was bitter sweet but I left the village of Nazareth to the Grand Opening of the Community Library that took the Community and I two years to build. It was a great way to say Good-Bye and was a wonderful thing to share with friends that came to visit from home.

Here I am at a Good-Bye celebration in my Basotho Blanket and Hat with Ntate Edgar; one of my favorite people in Lesotho.

Me with the Teachers at Morapeli High School

I had an amazing three years. Smartest thing I ever did... http://peacecorpsparisorbust.blogspot.com/2006/05/mayas-big-adventure.html

More Pics from Lesotho here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/graci0us/sets/72157624936166764/

And she's back...

2009-12-21T00:51:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I know you guys haven't heard from me in a while and I'm mostly writing at the moment because I have nothing better to do with the four hours that I have to sit in the Heathrow Airport right now. And I know you guys would much rather I talked about Lesotho and my last few months that I haven't written about but I'm not gonna cause that's not what's on my mind at the moment. I'll talk about that later but I won't promise anything because I imagine I'm gonna be busy hanging out with everybody for the next month so ya'll will just have to deal with seeing me instead :-)

I'm on my way home and surprisingly not too nervous about it at the moment. Maybe I'll get anxious when I actually step off the plane and am about to see my Mom and brother.

Amy and I had plans to sit in the Jo'burg Airport together yesterday for about 6 hours and play phase-ten (Jen we should totally add that to game night. It's awesome) and have lunch but unfortunately after getting off the bus we decided to go exchange money and we think she left her passport at the bureau de change. We spent a good five hours looking for it but unfortunately came up empty. When she went back to the bureau de change it was closed; we assume because it was Sunday. In my attempts to help her find it I went to the Airport Police Station and you would think the cops would be easy to find in any airport. Unfortunately not so much in the Jo'burg Airport. I didn't realize how many people lose their passports. After walking around in circles for a while I finally found the police and told them my problem. Well this proved to be an issue because I am not Amy so I of course could not claim her passport but I then explained to them that I just wanted to see if the passport was there and then she would come and claim it. After attempting to spell her name for them several times they gave up and handed me a box of at least 50 passports and said that I could look through them to find hers. And of course the whole time one of the cops was asking me a million questions about being a "black american". How do you answer the questions; "What's the most interesting city in the U.S.?" Do you realize how many cities there are in the U.S.? Clearly you don't or you wouldn't be assuming that I've been to all of them and able to compare.

I spent most of my time in Botswana defending my American-ness. That and hiding from the awful awful heat. I thought Kenya was hot but good lord. You step outside the door and you feel like you're going to melt like the wicked witch. I can now empathize with her pain.

Anyhoo; my time at the airport is not all that exciting so I think I'll post some pictures cause hey; I HAVE HIGH SPEED INTERNET RIGHT NOW!!!

This is what I usually wake up to lying next to me in the mornings in Nazareth. I swear my cat thinks she's a person. One morning I woke up and had to take a picture of this insanity. She requests to get under the covers by jumping up next to my head meowing and pawing at the covers until I hold them up so she can crawl under. You kinda can't not love this cat!

Here's me Trish and Ash on my Birthday...

Here are Some Pics from our Semongkong Thanksgiving:

Hiked to the Highest Waterfall in Southern AfricaHere's me and my Donkey on the Donkey Pub Crawl:

And here's me and Tara after making Thanksgiving Day hats a la kindergarten :-)

Hope you enjoyed and See ya soon!!

Name that Kitten

2009-05-17T05:16:00.000-07:00

I know I haven't written in a while but I am working on a big catch up blog entry that will be up soon. In the mean time I got a new kitty cat and was wondering if you guys would help me name her. She's really sweet and likes to snuggle. Here are a few pics.

Now; click on the comments link below and let me know your suggestions.

Something that made me giggle...

2009-03-17T08:16:00.000-07:00

I spent most of today in the bed trying to avoid a cold and watching The Office. Decided to surf the net and look at my old blog and discovered an even older live journal blog that I totally don't remember ever having. Anyhoo; this brought me to one of my best friends blogs which I began to read. She and I would have the most random conversations while working at our respective jobs back in the day. And this one she decided to post on her blog from January 27, 2005. It made me giggle...

maya: i have a pimple under my chin...its very strange
jen: Welcome to today's episode of Too Much Information!
jen: Today's guest, Maya W
jen: Maya, you say you have a pimple under you chin.. just how strange is it?
maya: lol
maya: its in a weird place...like where the chin meets the neck.. that flat part
jen: ah
maya: i've never had a pimple there before
maya: that's why its strange
jen: it must be an alien pod
jen: its going to hatch soon
jen: and take over the world
maya: very well
maya: i am the mother of world domination
maya: snazzy

Oh Red; how I miss you so...

Handout Mentality

2009-03-14T09:56:00.000-07:00

There are so many people in this country; usually those that are working in some humanitarian capacity that talk about the Handout mentality of the Basotho (People of Lesotho). There are dozens upon dozens of organizations here that come in and give people money; or food or jobs. From NGO's to churches; to individuals who've decided on their own that they want to do something good for the world. This has been going on for probably as long as Lesotho has been around; so much to the point that there are Generations and Generations of people here that don't know what it's like to work for something.

The only way that I can really think to describe it is to compare these people to the children of rich parents. In many cases rich kids are handed things their entire lives. They don't know the value of hard work and parents have a really hard time getting them to get off their lazy bums and do something that will sustain their lives instead of living off Mummy and Daddy.

The only problem; actually there are several problems in this situation...some of the main ones being that there is no way for the people of this country to help themselves if one day, the gravy train decides to a grinding halt and as for in the work of those of us in the Peace Corps; how the heck are we supposed to convince the people of this country to do any work if they're always looking for a handout.

When I first arrived at my site and would have meetings with the people of my community they would all come in droves and be very excited about thee ideas that I would present to them. But once the actual work needed to be done on projects the people were no where to be found. I planned a pitso (community meeting) on Sunday of last week and of course; being an American I was on time and prepared to wait for a least an hour for the meeting to get started because that's the way things work in this country. I did wait for my planned hour with the Chief and one of girls from my community and no one showed up. I was a bit frustrated but the Chief suggested that we re-schedule the meeting for Thursday. So; we re-scheduled and I headed back to my little house.

Thursday rolls around and I head back to the Chief's house for another attempt at the pitso. I arrive and the Chief tells me that the community had two deaths during the night and people probably won't come. I'm pretty frustrated at this point. The Chief tells me that we will re-schedule again and I start heading back to my house. On my way; one of the community members stops me and asks why I'm leaving; because they are on their way to the pitso. I head back to the Chiefs place and let her know that people are in fact coming. In the end; only three women show up. We discuss all of the things I want to and they give me their opinions and answer my questions. All in all it's actually a pretty successful meeting since at least some members of the community have shown up.

During the meeting I ask this question; about the “Handout Mentality”; which I of course have to explain a few times to the women. When they finally understand what I'm saying they completely agree with me. They say that yes; in order to get the people in the Basotho culture to do something you must offer them something; whether it be food at the meeting or some sort of prize. As long as something is being given away for free; you will always have a large group show up to your meetings.

So; the big question. Since I'm a volunteer and don't have the money to lavish the people of this community with free gifts of food and the like (and even if I did have the money I wouldn't); how on earth do I get them to do work without immediate gratification. How do I prove to them that in the end they will reap the rewards??? The answer? Well; none of them really had an idea. They all agreed to help me with the projects I am working on and we moved on to other things. Needless to say; I'm frustrated.

Don't get me wrong; there are many people that I've met in this country that are passionate about change and they do know the value of hard work. I also find that those that I've spoken too are having the same problems I am. And their answers are always the same; all they can really do is continue to work on the projects they're working on and continue to help those willing to do the work; no matter how large or small in number they may be.

Sometimes I think that I'm not as invested in this country as the people of it; and I guess not being a Masotho; I can't be. I am passionate about Lesotho and it's people and the fact that there are people here that I've grown close to makes me want to make a difference but end the end I always go back to Kenya. I always go back to the fact that I couldn't stay and I didn't go back. So in the end; why should the people here put their faith in me and rely on me. Why should they listen when in the end; I'm just going to go home?

This blog has turned into a bit of a bitch fest. Maybe I won't even post it. Hell; two posts in a matter of days; my readers may not know what to do with themselves...

Catch Up Blog

2009-03-10T09:35:00.000-07:00

Well; I haven't written since the election. I have a lot of unfinished blog entries; most of which don't seem that exciting to talk about at the moment so I'm going to steal an idea from beansontoast and just give you guys a few snipits from the ones I think you'd be most interested in.

1. X-mas/ New Years:

I actually got to talk to a lot of you during x-mas and new years since I spent most of that time staying at the Ambassador's residence taking care of their puppy/house sitting. Originally there were just going to be a few of us for X-mas dinner but a number of volunteers' plans fell through so I made dinner for about 8 of us. It was really nice. I made a ton of food; including a leg of lamb which I was very proud of and a delicious Peace Cobbler which was a definite hit. Sorry there aren't more pictures but my battery was dead and I forgot the charger. New Years was nice and simple; it was just me and one other volunteer at the Ambassador's. We played board games and drinking games and made Jello shot jigglers in x-mas shapes. That was cool.

Note: Sorry; was gonna load pics from x-mas but they're too big...will do it when I'm not paying for internet :-); oh, and same for Egypt Pics

2. Supervisor Insanity:

After the Holidays I headed back to site to find that my supervisor had lost her mind. She was always a generally nice person but never very personable. Not like the other nurses who'd invite me over and try to get to know me. I just assumed that she was someone who liked to keep to herself; but the day after the inauguration I learned that this was not the case.

She'd offered to let me share her refrigerator at the clinic which I accepted. She's very weird about locking the fridge. I'm not sure who she thinks is going to steal her food but; yeah... anyhoo she had two keys. She gave me one and kept the other. The morning after the inauguration she sent me a txt message saying that she'd lost her key and would I bring her mine. At the time, I was in Maseru and sent her a message back letting her know where I was and that I would bring her the key as soon as I got back to the clinic. When I returned to the clinic and asked where she was, I was told she was busy with patients so I said I'd come back later.

Now; hindsight being 20/20 I could have just left the key with one of the other nurses but I didn't think of it. I had every intention of going back. I went to my house and promptly fell asleep. At about 4:30 I hear a knock at my door and it's one of the men from the clinic telling me that my supervisor wants to see me. I assume she wants her key back. I go to her door and immediately she starts yelling at me. Telling me that I've “disrespected” her by not returning her key when she asked for it. I won't go into it all but she yells at me to the point that I'm in tears and demands that I take my things out of her fridge. She tells me that she doesn't care if I'm sorry; nor does she care what I do with my food; when I point out to her that I don't have anywhere else to put it and that it will go bad.

I then leave her house in tears planning to take my food out of the fridge. One of the other nurses sees me and calls me into her house. I explain what happened and she goes to the Supervisor trying and smooth things over or at least figure out what really is wrong with this woman. That only makes the situation worse. My Supervisor storms into the other nurses house demanding her key and refuses to discuss it any further. The other nurses have no idea what to do. So, at this point I don't have my food and no way to get it. The next day, one of the nurses tells me that she talked to my Supervisor and convinced her to let me use the fridge until my food was gone. It all just gets worse from there. She began to treat me like a red-headed step child as my Mother might say. None of the project ideas that I present to her are approved. She began only speaking to me in Sesotho because apparently after being here for 8 months I should be able to speak to the language fluently. Peace Corps came out to talk to her but things never got better. Last week I made the final decision with my APCD (Assistant Peace Corps Country Director) to stop working at the clinic; at least until the new Supervisor starts in June.

The whole experience has been a bit of a nightmare. I feel like I was being a bit naïve thinking this woman was nice initially. I've always considered myself a pretty good judge of character but she just kinda came out of nowhere. I keep telling myself I need to focus on the good things happening at my site. Other things are going really well. My Library is coming along slowly but surely. I have a youth group that's also doing really well; I have a study group helping some of the High School students with English and I've started to work with World Vision. I'd really like to continue with my work and ideas for the clinic and it sucks that this woman is preventing me from doing that but I'm trying to be positive.

3. Egypt:

After Peace Corps met with my evil Supervisor I was happy that my Egypt trip was just around the corner. It was definitely a world wind Adventure. I met the other folks at the Jo'burg airport and we took the red eye to Cairo. We arrived at about 5am and thought we would have some time to sleep a bit; but nope. We got our VISA's, headed for the hotel and went straight into the touring after discussing some additions to the tour. We pretty much saw everything you'd want to see in Egypt; swam in the Red Sea, ate some amazing food and had a great time. It was a little bitter sweet for me to see all my friends from Kenya only to say good-bye to them such a short time later; especially since they're all leaving Peace Corps Botswana in a few months time. But it was great to see them all.

Everyone keeps asking me what my favorite part of the trip was and I guess I'll have to go with seeing the Pyramids and riding the camels. I think I kept trying to convince myself that I wasn't dreaming the entire time. Here are a couple of pictures from the trip. I've posted the rest of them on flickr : Maya's Egypt Pics and here are some pics from one of my other travel companions: Shannon's Pics Enjoy!

4. Back to Lesotho:

Since I've been back from Egypt I've tried to get back to the grind of things. And like I've said before things are going okay. I do find myself staying in my little house more often than I should these days. It's hard when you don't have something that you're suppose to do every single day for a few hours. I need to push myself a bit more to get things done. I've made a list of all the stuff I wanna do and am trying to get back into my running/pilates routine again. I did go to Bloemfontein last weekend to try and be more social with the other volunteers. I had a good time watching movies and eating good food and I did get to know a few volunteers a bit better; so that was nice. Unfortunately, being in South Africa is a little like going back in time 60 years back home for me. I know there's still racism back in the States but it's a completely different story when you have to deal with it directly. I guess I've been a little naïve in that respect as well.

Well; that's all for now. And I always say I'll try to write more often but now since I finally got the internet to work on my computer; it's a bit more likely. Hope everyone else is doing well back home. I miss you all!!

-Maya :-)

Proud to be an American

2008-11-05T00:31:00.000-08:00

I've been anticipating this election for years now. I was invited by the U.S. Ambassador to Lesotho to an election party. Now of course in my head an election party consists of a bunch of people sitting around a television for a few hours monitoring the election results. This however was a different situation. I and a few other Volunteers arrived to find hundreds of people at the home of the Ambassador. We were served drinks and made to mingle...and if you know me you know this is one of my least favorite things to do. Ask Diane; it was like pulling teeth making me mingle when I was helping her out in the Judges race.

So I spent a few hours standing around wishing I were in America with Family and Friends watching the election. The party eventually came to an end and about 5 of us decided to stay up for the rest of the night. You may have seen me online. I did however fall asleep around 2:30 but was pleasantly surprised when I woke up at 4:00am to find Obama was coming into a landslide victory.

I still can't believe it. The United States President is Barack Obama. I can't imagine the home I will return to in 2 years time; after the Peace Corps. I know change will come slowly and I hope the rest of the world takes to heart the words that Obama spoke in his Victory Speech; that this is just the beginning and change will NOT happen over night. I hope he is given the time to make that change to and become; like he said; the President to all; even those that did not vote for him.

I am so Proud to be an American. I'm so Proud to be an African American. I'm just so PROUD!

New Baby and Favorite Girl

2008-09-20T07:54:00.000-07:00

One of the Nurses at my clinic is amazing. Well; they're all pretty amazing but this particular one has taken in 3 orphans from different members of her family who've passed away. The eldest is 17 and just had a baby. I went to visit her in the hospital when she had the baby and took his first picture. Apparently the Basotho like to make people name their children. The Nurse gave me the honor. Lotta pressure naming a kid. Figured the first kid I'd name would be my own but I figured I'd give it a try.

So; meet Samuel...Born September 5, 2008

This is 1 Day old

This is by far my favorite kid EVER!

Her name is Mpho which means gift in Sesotho and she is such a little gift. Every time she sees me she gives me that great smile of hers. It's funny; when I first got here she wouldn't even let me hold her hand so she wouldn't fall down. Now, when I come to visit she has to be distracted before I leave so she won't cry. She's such a cutie pie!!!

I might put her in my suitcase on my way home in 2 years:-)

Health Matters/A good Day

2008-08-19T07:40:00.000-07:00

I've been at my site now for a weeks 3 days and I think my body is rejecting Lesotho. I've had the runs since Saturday; my allergies are insane. I think I spent the entire day sneezing to no avail and my eczema is rejecting any form of lotion I give it.

I told my APCD when she was trying to choose a site for me to find one with lots of kids. So yesterday despite the fact that all of the above was going on I spent the day chasing around my twin four-year-old host brothers and their little friend. I think the people in my village think I'm crazy cause I chase small children around but I had fun! :-)

These are my bo-abuti

Running

2008-08-17T07:32:00.000-07:00

So as most of you know I like to run but I haven't really run since I went home from Kenya for that few months and even then it wasn't much. While in Kenya I didn't really run because of the elevation and the elevation here is much greater but I've decided to give it a try.

So, this morning one of the men that works at the clinic knocks on my door and says, “Tomorrow you will wake at 6:00am.” Perplexed, I asked him why; thinking that this was the time the outreach vehicle was leaving; but no, he wanted me to run with him. Now; this man runs on a regular basis; is about 6'4” and all legs. There is not way on this earth that I'd be able to keep up with him. But next week I start the running. Wish me luck and that I don't pass out/ have a major asthma attack.

UPDATE 9-25-08: Still not running. Got Bronchitis that was made even more fun by my asthma and the super dooper dryness of the climate here...give me a couple weeks :-)

Race Relatons

2008-08-15T07:18:00.000-07:00

Lesotho is not a very diverse country; especially coming from the point of view of a San Franciscan. You have your expats; you might see some Afrikaans every now and again and many of the successful business owners are Indian or Chinese.

The Basotho do not like the Chinese. Usually I would not make such a blanket statement but in this case I feel pretty confident in saying so. Today one of the Peace Corps Drivers came by house to drop off some things; among them a gas tank that needed to be filled. He took me to the “Chinese Shop” to fill the tank. Now this particular driver is a very nice, well educated man; so it came as a complete shock to me when we arrived at the store and before I even spoke to anyone he began to warn me about how difficult it is to communicate with “these people”. I spoke to the young woman behind the counter and the transaction went just fine but the entire time we were waiting the driver continued to talk badly as if the two young ladies tending the store weren't standing right in front of us. I tried to express my opinion the the man as loudly as possible so that all could hear but he just continued to berate.

After paying for my gas a man put it on the truck for me and I waited outside for the driver. I wanted to go back in and apologize to the ladies. Tell them that I was sorry for what he'd said and let them know that I didn't share his opinions but a lot of me just thought they wouldn't have given a damn. The look at me and see another Masotho; not an American so what good would it have done.

This wasn't the first time I'd experienced something like this. A couple of weeks before training was over I was in a Chinese owned internet cafe for a quick email check. A Masotho woman came in shortly after me and proceeded to ask me questions in Sesotho. After explaining to her in my broken Sesotho that I didn't speak the language very well she continued in English to explain that the only reason she came to this particular internet cafe is because the other one wasn't working and. She then went on the yell at the young man that was trying to help and complain that his Chinese computer was going to give her flash drive a virus. I was surprisingly calm throughout this entire exchange; even after she asked my age and then proceeded to tell me that she has a son my age that I could marry.

I'm not entirely sure what the reason behind the hatred is. I think a lot of is it has to do with business sense. Many of the successful businesses in this country are owned by the Chinese. I have concluded that most of the Basotho businesses owners in this country don't really have a head for business or know how to compete in the business world. For example: In my training village; there were 2 general stores; essentially right across the street from one another. The sold exactly the same products for the same prices. They didn't really keep records of what they sold so they weren't keeping track of what sold well and what didn't. They just continued to by the same things. At one point when we were going around as a group getting to know the village we asked them about selling different things or slightly lowering their prices for more business. These concepts were completely foreign to them. I think it angers the Basotho that they are essentially giving their money away to the Chinese and Indian shop owners so in turn they treat them in this horrible manner that makes me wanna cry. I think I might have a big problem with this over the next two years. Not sure how to handle it. Any thoughts??

It's Official...

2008-08-06T07:04:00.000-07:00

I'm a new volunteer...again. And here is Photographic evidence :-)

Here are all of us as trainees right before we swore in...I think I'm looking a little confused.

Here are all the ladies in our group. There are 17 women and only 6 men...

Below are a few pics of another volunteers site. He will be working at Maliba Lodge. It's gorgeous. We spent the day there and hiked around for a few hours.

In my training village; this was my favorite little girl. She liked to greet me and ask a million questions. She would meet me after school, take my books; hold my hand and walk me home. She was so super sweet and always made my day; especially when I was having a bad one.

And this is just a super cute picture of a super cute kid.

That's all for now. My next entry will probably be after a few weeks in my village. Wish me luck!

-Maya aka Amohelang aka Mafusi

Swearing In and the last few weeks...

2008-08-06T00:00:00.000-07:00

So, we swear in in just a couple of hours. I'm feeling ready to get this show on the road. I'm excited about my village and the work I'll be doing there.

To catch up on a few things...."The Great Pants Rebellion" as I like to call it happened the week before we left our training villages. A group of us decided that we would take a hike to another training village to meet some of the other volunteers and innocently enough we thought we could wear jeans. As I and another volunteer were leaving my house we ran into a trainer who was less than please with the fact that we were not wearing skirts. At this point I was fed up with the situation. It's frickin cold here and wearing a skirt is not something I like doing; even back home. I refused to put on a skirt and walked away. My friend; not being as abrupt as I decided she'd at least tell the trainer that she would put a skirt on later. We weren't the only ones that decided to wear skirts that day. Once we got to the other village a few stragglers showed up in their skirt and told us that the trainer had marched them back to their homes and made them put on skirts before they could leave.

It was sooo blown out of proportion. I just have to say; the women in America have it easy when it comes to this sort of thing. Mind you when I first started writing this blog I was a lot more excitedly angry about the situation. We had an end of training interview with our Country Director and Assistant Country Director yesterday and I completely forgot about it. Oh the drama.

We took our language tests a couple of days and everyone passed. I didn't pass in Kenya so that's saying something about this crazy Sesotho language. It did seem a bit easier to me.

I went to site visit and got a new name...I don't like though...they call me Mafusi...I think that's how you spell it. I have about 7 siblings and the last born were twins so Mafusi means after the twins...I like Amohelang better.

I'm off to swear in and hopefully will be able to post some pictures later today. I know I've been promising that for some time now but it will happen one of these days. I hope everyone is doing well. I'll write again soon.

Love,

Maya

HI ALL

2008-07-18T06:47:00.000-07:00

Some of you might have expecting a post entitled "The Great Pants Rebellion of 2008!!" Unfortunately I did not have the time to finish it nor do I have the time to do it right now; but I did find out my site today. I will be working with a Clinic for Orphans and Vulnerable children near the capital of maseru. I'm very excited!! I will post more later.

Love,

Amohelang

Just A quick Note

2008-06-29T03:36:00.000-07:00

Hi All,

This is just a quick note to let you know that I'm doing well. I just got back from a site visit with a current volunteer. The travel was a pain in the bum but brought back memroies from Kenya. Life here is going to be very similar to life in Kenya.

There is going to be a taxi strike starting tomorrow so I may not get to post for a couple of weeks. My computer time is running out but I love you all and will try to write again soon, with pictures hopefully.

Love,

Amohelang :-)

Thoughts from Amohelang...

2008-06-21T02:55:00.000-07:00

Whoever had the idea of a tin roof should be shot. I'm typing this blog to the VERY LOUD sound of hail falling on the tin roof above me. I'm also noticing that all of the places that the roof leaks are conveniently located around the bed and not over the bed. That's nice.

I've been in the training village for about a week now and despite my earlier complaining; it's been a really amazing experience. My host family is awesome. I have two host sisters (ausi or bo-ausi for the plural); one is 15 named Lindy and the other 9 named Andile. Lindy has helped me out so much with the whole language barrier thing and despite what she thinks speaks nearly perfect English. My host Mom or 'M'e (May) is great as well. She cooks things a little on the salty side but other than that is awesome. Starting tomorrow we'll be cooking for ourselves so that will be nice. I think it amuses my 'M'e that I look like her but can't speak the language. I also have a few brothers (abuti or bo-abuti) that I rarely see. One is 12 and seems to pop up every now and again but the others are either out tending to the livestock or away at college. So; I haven't really met them.

This culture is definitely a lot different from the Kenyan one that I got use to. Women; although they still get the short end of the stick culture wise seem to be the ones that get the educations. Men are relied on to tend to livestock at a pretty young age and yes the women are expected to stay home and take care of the kids, clean the house etc... but the young girls get to go to school more often than not and have an opportunity to attend college and make something of themselves. It's pretty interesting; especially when I compare it to the experience that I had in Kenya where women weren't educated because “it is a waist of money to pay for an education for someone who is going to be married off to another family.” as I was told.

They focus a lot more on the language here in training than they did in Kenya. Which is definitely a good thing with all the clicks and pops they got going on. My new Sesotho name is Amohelang (AAMOOHAYLANG) which I believe means “we are greatful/thankful to receive” and I'm told it is a very special name by all who greet me.

In about a week or so we will be doing a site visit to a current PCV's site for a few days just to see what they do and how things work. There are several field trips planned for us to go build key-hole gardens (Lesotho's take on Kenya's sack garden; which I think is a way better idea; the key-hole; not the sack) and work with communities. I actually like the structure of the Lesotho training a lot better than Kenya. There is more hands on work. They don't just say hey you're going to do ABC and then send you off to your site they actually have you implement ABC before you leave.

Training is hard and it still sucks for the most part that I'm having to do it again; but I am learning some new things and the experience isn't terrible. I know that still sounds bad but that's the gist of it. I'm not terribly home sick but I would like a phone call every now and then! I sent out an email with my number. Also, here's a website you can go to to get pretty cheap calling cards...http://www.phonecardsmile.com/search/Lesotho/-.html.

I was going to attempt to load pictures onto my blog today but unfortunately forgot the cord that connects the camera to the computer... so that will have to wait until next time. I love you all and hope everything is going swell for all.

Love,

Amohelang

Off to a new host family...

2008-06-14T05:28:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow we leave for our host families in Lesotho and will be staying with them for the next 6 weeks. I'm excited about having my own little space. The training center here sleeps about 6 people to a room. And not a very big room at that. It's been kinda like being at camp for the last week; especially with the cold. I expected it to be cold all the time here since its winter but it's only cold in the mornings and at night; which definitely has it's ups and downs.

In our training villages; instead of having a room in the home of our host families; we actually have a house to ourselves on the compound of the family that's hosting us; where we will eventually be doing all the things we'd be doing at our site. I think this is a much better idea than what Kenya did because it forces the trainees to fend for themselves early on and make the mistakes in training that we had to make by ourselves in Kenya. Basically during our training time in Kenya everything was done for us so it was a lot harder to fend for ourselves when we went off to our own little villages.

For the most part; I'm seeing this as a nearly identical experience to the one I had in Kenya. I have noticed many similarities to Kenya here but the culture is somewhat different and I imagine that I will learn a lot of new things about this country and its people. I am looking foward to it now. It still gnaws at me sometimes that I'm having to do the training over BUT I did talk to the trainers and it looks like I will be able to help out in trainings in areas in which I don't need the training as well as work on language during times in which I can't assist but have had the training that the other volunteers are getting. That makes things not seem so bad. I'll let ya know how it actually turns out though.

We come back to Maseru about once a week; so I should be able to post at least that often. And by this time next week I will apparently have a new name; so I'll let you know what that will be. I hope everyone is doing well!!

-Maya :-)

Lesotho

2008-06-08T01:31:00.000-07:00

I arrived in Lesotho about 2 days ago... I believe... my mind can't really keep up on what day it is at the moment.

I keep looking at the small city of Maseru where I'm staying and trying to compare it to Kenya and my experiences there. There are a lot of similarities to Kenya but for the most part the place is very different. Much smaller than Kenya for one. Definitely fewer people. I think there are probably fewer people in the capital here than there were in the small town of Oyugis near my site in Kenya.

Training so far has not been too torturous but we don't really start working on anything major until tomorrow. It does sound like they're not going to force me to re-learn the information that I already know. I think I'll be able to spend my extra time studying the language which will be nice because the language of Sesotho is much harder than Swahili. There are clicks involved!! Which I'm really not getting the hang of so far.

My training group is pretty cool as well. Everyone seems pretty excited to be here and taking all of it in. I don't know if panic hasn't set in for me because I've done this all before or if it's just lingering in the back ground; but so far so good.

I did manage to get a cell phone sim card. I sent an email with all the info on how to call me. I look forward to hearing from folks!! I'll try to send another update soon.

-Maya :-)

Peace Corps: Take Two

2008-06-04T01:01:00.000-07:00

So; I've taken the plunge. I'm officially a Peace Corps Trainee...again. The Staging experience was nowhere near as bad as I thought it would be. It actually wasn't bad at all. For the most part I did know everything that was going to happen before it did but I tried to put a good spin on it all and actually got some enjoyment out knowing more than the others did.

My training group is much smaller this time around. There are only 23 of us. 17 girls and 6 boys. Classic to the Peace Corps ratio on things. It definitely gives me a different perspective. My first training group started out with 50 and I'm not sure how many of them I really got to know. After being in Kenya for a while I tried pulling memories of my fellow trainees out of my head from staging and many of them that had grown to be my closest friends; I couldn't place. This time I feel like I've really gotten to know the majority of the people here.

So now the next step is the 17 hour 40 minute plane ride to Lesotho. I don't know that I'll be getting internet access anytime soon so this will probably be the last you'll be hearing from me for a while. So before I go I just want to say thanks to all of my family and friends for putting up with me. For putting up with my depression over Kenya and supporting me when I said I wanted to go back to Africa. I know many of the things I do are pretty crazy in a lot of peoples eyes and many of you wish that I'd just settle down in one place for a while and perhaps some day I will.

On a side note: As many of you know during my time at home I'd been helping Diane with her campaign for Superior Court Judge in Santa Clara County. Well; as of 3:35AM EST she is in the lead with 27.49% of the vote; with her closest competitor only holding 18.85% of the vote. So; she'll definitely be in the run off in November. So; if you live in Santa Clara County VOTE DIANE RITCHIE FOR JUDGE NOVEMBER 2008!!! Congratulations Diane!! I'm very proud.

So back to Lesotho. We're going to be spending a night in Johannesburg, SA before our final flight to Maseru. There might be a chance of internet access there but I'm thinking I might just wanna lie down or run on a treadmill for a while. Sitting for that long is gonna suck.

I'm definitely not nervous; like I was for Kenya. It's kinda nice feeling a bit more prepared. I'm just hoping this experience works out a bit better for me. Thanks again everybody and I'll see you all in 27 MONTHS!!

76 Days...

2008-04-04T17:48:00.000-07:00

For the last 76 days I’ve been waiting. Waiting and praying for something to happen. For peace to reign over Kenya, perhaps? To return to my little village and my little house with the tin roof that leaks. To play with my little kitten who by now is no longer a kitten and is probably actually catching those chickens she enjoyed chasing so much. I dreamed and prayed of returning to this place but today I made a decision that means I will not be returning to this place and will most likely travel to another location still unknown to me.

Most likely it will be Lesotho/South Africa because my friend Jen; smart woman that she is did a little internet search while I was having my nervous breakdown about the Peace Corps making me make the decision between being reinstated into Kenya and re-enrollment into a new country yet to be named. And of course they wouldn’t tell me the name of the country I could potentially go to. That; ladies and gentlemen would have been way too easy.

What was I talking about again? Oh yeah; Jen she went into searchenjen mode and found someone’s blog who is leaving for Peace Corps on June 2^nd; the date that they gave me and they are going to Lesotho so it is logical to make the assumption that that's where I'd be going. Now; of course there still is the chance of this not being the location I end up going to but I’m going with it for now.

I guess my decision to go somewhere else; instead of continuing to wait for Kenya had a lot to do with the fact that I know going back to Kenya won’t be all of those things I prayed for and dreamed about. The experience will be so far from my dreams; that to be honest the idea of going back depresses me. The chances of me going back to my site are pretty much non-existent and the chance of violence erupting again still exists and reading articles online makes that fact clearer to me everyday. I really don’t want to put my family and friends through thinking something terrible might happen to me again. I know they want me to be happy and continue on with what I want but despite the fact that I was fine while in Kenya I was in fact one decision away from being one of those people that had to be evacuated by helicopter. And who knows; had I been at the center of the violence like so many of my friends were; I may not be so gung-ho about going back now. I definitely left a piece of my heart…and my kitten in Kenya but now I guess it’s time for me to move on.

59 Days...

2008-03-18T09:44:00.000-07:00

59 Days…

I’ve been home now for almost 2 months now. I haven’t written for several reasons, I suppose. The main one being that I simply didn’t want to complain about something that has become clear to me that most people won’t understand. Everyone… ok; not everyone but many; have at least given me the impression that I should be happy to be home; happy that I’m not in that horrid country being shot at (I will state this many times over; I was no where near the violence! Never even heard a gun shot. Probably a better chance of me being shot in Hunters Point in SF) living without running water and electricity. This; I don’t handle well. I was happy in Kenya. I was happy in my little village helping the people and beginning to make a difference. I miss them. I miss my cat Lola. I even miss my choo (pit latrine); ok, not that much. Kenya will always be this unfinished place in my heart. I will always feel like I deserted it and should have fought harder to get back to it while at the same time I feel lucky that I’ll be able to go back anywhere at all. As many of you may recall when we were being evacuated from Kenya; we were told that we had 4 options during this whole mess.

(1) Direct Transfer – This is where we would leave Kenya and go straight to another country in Africa. The idea of this only appealed to a few; I being one of them. But I inevitably changed my mind. A decision I have wondered for the last 2 months if it was the right one.

(2) Reinstatement – This is where we go home and wait for Kenya to calm down and when/if that happens we could return. Most people opted for this.

(3) Re-enrollment – This is where we return home and re-enter the Peace Corps; not necessarily from the beginning but it might as well be. It’s kind of a smack in the face to be honest; but I’m thinking positively. This is the option I chose.

And finally (4) Completion of Service – This is where you say, “Screw Peace Corps I’m Out!!”; not exactly but you get the point. Surprisingly enough; at least to me, many people took this route.

No one bothered to mention to any of us that there was a chance that we couldn’t be invited back for reinstatement back to Kenya or that there was a chance that we would not be allowed to Re-Enroll. I’ve considered suggesting to my friend that this has happened to that she sue. I think she has a pretty good case; but I am biased.

As for me I’ve been Re-Enrolled; but I don’t know where I’m going. There is an opportunity for me to go to Zambia which would be great but I have to be medically cleared first which might even happen this week. This excites me. But what sucks is; if I don’t get the post in Zambia then I will have to wait until late July to go to another country in Africa. At this point I can’t complain because at least I’m getting to go somewhere.

Things in Kenya continue to flounder. I was excited a few weeks ago to hear that Kofi Annan helped broker a power sharing agreement between Kibaki and Odinga but there doesn’t seem to be any real progress stemming from this agreement; just more conflict. I know the country will eventually calm down but I definitely wouldn’t count on that happening anytime soon; although I still pray that it might.

As for now I continue to work with Diane on her campaign for Judge. At least I can be of use to someone while I’m stressing out over this whole situation. I’ll probably do some traveling; thinking about going to visit Marc & Shanta when they come back to the States in Philly and might go to Portland to visit my Aunt and cousin. That’s about all for now; I’ll try to update my Blog more often but I’m not making any promises. This is all a very depressing situation for me and I don’t really want to discuss it or bore the rest of you with my stories. But if something good happens you all will be the first to hear…or read about it rather. :-)

2008-02-19T21:49:00.000-08:00

I will write something soon.... I swear!! :-)

2008-01-13T06:18:00.000-08:00

I have been trying to write a blog for ages now. I’ll start on something that I find interesting or think you guys might find interesting; like the fact that I had to climb out of a matatu window because there were two touts (dudes that take your fare) fighting in the matatu and the car was so old that getting the door open was pretty much impossible. The Kenyans laughed at all of us as we climbed out of the window but we thought to ourselves, “They’ll probably be doing the same thing if the touts don’t calm down and someone doesn’t manage to get the door open”. The touts continued to fight as we went on our merry way. For all I know they’re still in that matatu arguing about Lord knows what.

I was in a tiny town near Nairobi for a little over two weeks with four other volunteers. Half of that time was planned because we wanted to be there for Christmas. The next phase of our plan was to head to Kisumu for New Years Eve; but as you all well know that didn’t happen. After our two weeks at the site near Nairobi the Peace Corps moved four of the five of us into a part of Nairobi called Westlands. Westlands is kinda like being back home. There are big apartment buildings and hotels; malls and lots of diversity. One of the only differences is that there are about a million cab drivers trying to get you to use their cab when all you want to do is find the internet café that’s probably only about 50 feet away.

We spent 2 nights in Nairobi and arrived in Nyeri; (a town near Mt. Kenya) on the 10th.
Peace Corps moved all of the volunteers that can’t go back to their sites (mainly those of us with sites in the western part of Kenya and some in Rift Valley) and weren’t evacuated to Tanzania or Uganda here. We’re staying in a very nice hotel with probably what I would consider the best food I’ve had in Kenya thus far. I am enjoying it a great deal. Maybe I’ll put back on some of that weight I’ve lost.

At the Hotel we’re doing several things…well the Peace Corps is making us do several things; I assume so that we don’t go stark raving mad. It’s mostly busy work; such as revising the Peace Corps Kenya welcome book and other documents that we complain about all the time and of course language classes which I was not so keen on in the beginning but have since changed my mind. Now I’ll get to learn some KSL (Kenyan Sign Language) which I am excited about.

So, since I’ve stopped and started many a bog entry over the last couple of weeks I thought I’d just throw in some stuff from each entry and let you all enjoy my randomness…

December 30, 2007:
Being in Kenya at the moment is a bit surreal. At home you tend to listen to the radio and watch the news and feel so far removed from all the bad things going on in the world. In most cases I would just say how sad things are and simply move on because none of it’s directly happening to me. It’s a bit surreal being here. We’re in a safe place and we have all of the amenities that we need such as electricity and running water (most of the time) as well as all the movies we can watch and computers with DVD players to watch them on. And I kinda have that feeling of being removed from the situation because though it is all happening around me I’m still an American and the violence is not right outside my door and there’s always that assurance that I can go home anytime I want to because this place isn’t my home. Though that makes me that much sadder about the experience my colleagues back at my site are going through. This IS there home this IS where they have to stay. They can’t just get on a plane and go somewhere where everything is fine.

As for those of you that don’t know what’s going on I’ll give you the quick and dirty of it all. On December 27th there was a Presidential election in Kenya. The two biggest candidates were Mwai Kibaki (the previous and technically current president of the country from the kikuyu tribe) and Raila Odinga (from the Luo tribe).

The majority of the Kenyans that I’ve encountered wanted Odinga to win. They were ready for a change in the country. As you may know based on my previous blogs many of the people in Kenya that hold government positions or power positions in general are corrupt. Many of them obtained their jobs through bribery, lies and schemes and continue to do those things in order to keep their positions. One of the biggest things that surprised me when election time came around was the blatant outright ways in which the politicians would bribe the people.

One day I was walking through my little village and kept seeing large crowds of people just milling around waiting. I asked one of the Mama’s what was going on and she explained that a politician was coming to speak to them and the main reason they were all waiting was because the politician was also going to hand out hundred shilling bills. What I found very strange about this fact was that all of the politicians did this and all of the villagers came and collected the money from each and every politician. I finally asked someone who they would vote for if they were accepting money from all of the politicians and they simply said, “Oh; whoever gives me the most money will get my vote.” All I can really say to that is; WOW!! I could never have imagined it if I hadn’t seen it all with my own eyes.

January 1, 2008:
New years was a bit of a bust, to say the least. We couldn’t go anywhere or do anything. We ended up spending the night listening to the BBC, hoping to hear any news on the election madness. At around 11:45pm we all decided we couldn’t stay out of bed for fifteen more minutes so we all got in bed. I was the official time keeper and yelled out “HAPPY NEW YEAR” at midnight. I think we were all asleep about 5 minutes later.

January 1, 2008:
Something about tribalism/racism that I didn’t get in America and that I definitely don’t get here is; well, here everyone really IS the same. I know that’s kind of a childish naïve statement to make but I feel like it’s true. At least in terms of looks; for the most part everyone looks the same. Same hair, same skin color (although they tend to differentiate between shades of brown), same eyes; but the hatred that they seem to have for one another definitely equates, in my opinion to that of the KKK and the Black Panthers and I just simply cannot wrap my head around it.

Different tribes traditionally did different things to survive and lived in different parts of the country. I’m not sure how deep the animosity ran between them before their colonization by the British but I’ve been told by many Kenyan’s that Kibaki’s tribesmen (the Kikuyu’s) were favored by the British for some reason. They obtained more land and were able to make better lives for themselves and their families while many of the other tribes suffered. After independence in 1963 the new President (Kenyatta) chose not to serve the country as a whole but to give preferential treatment to his tribe, again the Kikuyu’s. They are the largest tribe in Kenya.

The people of Kenya look at what has happened in the country in terms of development and it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that the areas in which Kikuyu’s live are much more developed than any others. All of the other tribes are angry because they feel like it’s their time to benefit and they believed that Raila Odinga; the opposition candidate was going to bring about change.

January 5, 2008:
I just got an update on the towns nearest my village and things are apparently not so good. There are no vehicles going in or out of the towns due to road blocks and lack of fuel which means that there is no food coming into the towns. They haven’t seen bread since the day of the election and rice that should cost 20/- costs 200/-. And I know it’s probably the last thing I should worry about but now I’m concerned that my cat’s not going to get any food because she was left with one of the teachers on the compound and if they’re not able to get basic food I doubt they will feed her or be able to for that matter.

Law & Order Katika (in) Kenya

2007-11-09T03:16:00.000-08:00

Perhaps I should consider a new career in detective work? We have about 24 solar Panels on our compound. They power a water pump that pumps water from the river to a tank on the compound for the whole community to use. This project was completed on Friday the 2^nd. Everyone seemed so excited to have to water so readily available and I was excited that soon the solar panels would also be powering my house. Yay! Electricity. On the night of Sunday the 4^th, not even 48 hours after we’d celebrated this projects launching someone broke into the compound and stole 2 of the solar panels and of course; we need all of them in order to pump the water. In short; I was livid! Whoever took the panels had to be from the community because they knew exactly where to go to get them. And all I continue to ask myself is; how could they take them!?!? They were there to benefit the whole community; not just one person. How could they do it?!?

And slowly but surely things began to get a bit foggy. The askari (guard) that’s there during the night mysteriously failed to call the manager of the project the night it occurred; didn’t yell or scream when the men were there or even after they left; didn’t knock on my door to tell me and wasn’t there when people arrived for work. The barbed wire gate that encloses the solar panels was not disturbed and neither was the outer fence that encloses the project. It all sounded a little fishy to me; an inside job if you will.

The people at the project continued to question the askari and his story continued to change. They reported the matter to our closest police station in Oyugis.

I am fully aware of the fact that the police in Kenya are corrupt but I didn’t know just how corrupt. I thought their corruption ended at taking bribes from Matatu drivers that didn’t have licenses or packed 30 people into a 14 passenger van; but no, that doesn’t nearly scratch the surface. After reporting the crime to the police they informed my manager that in order for them to investigate he would need to provide the officers with 500 shillings to fuel their vehicle to get to our site and another 1000 shillings to continue the investigation. They also wanted to put the askari in jail. Though I kinda still wanna do that too; his story is just a bit too shady, but my manager is convinced that he didn’t do. I think he is taking pity on him because his mother just passed away. I don’t want to believe he had anything to do with it either but it’s certainly beginning to look like an inside job.

So, after they reported the crime I found out that there was another crime earlier that day and suggested to my manager that perhaps that crime was committed by the same people. The young man that was robbed had reported his robbery to the Chief (kinda like a city councilman) and the Chief failed to tell us this when we met him. Though the young man told the Chief he knew 2 of the 4 men that robbed him the Chief did nothing. He didn’t ask who the men were or where they lived. He just took the report and sent the young man away!

We located the boy who was robbed and questioned him and he went to Oyugis to tell them exactly who the four boys were that robbed him. And last night they were arrested. I don’t know if we will get our solar panels back but I have to tell you it was actually kind of fun running around town interviewing people and demanding that folks tell the truth. Though, I am quite convinced that the police would not have been so inclined to help had I not been there. They tend to be more on the ball when there is a mzungu (American) around.

So, now all I need is a flashlight; some handcuffs and a room with a 2way mirror in it and I’ll be all set. Just call me Detective Washington.

2007-11-04T01:45:00.000-07:00

Hi All! Sorry for the long time between blog entries but I’ve been kinda busy which is a good thing I suppose. Let’s see what is there to update you on. I named my cat Lola; a suggestion by Jen. She has grown a lot so she no longer fits in the palm of my hand. She enjoys chasing the chickens that wander into my yard. Though she can’t quite catch them yet. I’m not sure what I’m going to do when she is able to catch them. Guess I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it. I don’t think my neighbors will be happy if their chickens start to disappear. Sorry; no pictures but I will be getting a camera soon.

For the last couple of weeks the sponsors for my project came to visit from the UK. It was nice being around Westerners; as they call us for a while. They are a really great group of people and it looks like I’m going to be able to work a lot with them and get some of the projects I’m hoping to implement off the ground.

As for now I am working on a couple of projects at site. Getting a Mobile VCT (Voluntary Counseling and Testing) to come out to my village and test the people there. Many of the women in the village are widows who’s husbands passed away because they got “sick” as they like to say. So, the chances of the widows being positive are pretty good. So after talking to many of the Women’s groups I think I’ve convinced them that it would be beneficial to find out their status. Though the round trip to a VCT is about ksh100 for them which is a lot of money for someone in this community. So, I’m hoping the VCT is successful. With all the planning I have to do for it I’m thinking I should be able to have it in January sometime.

I’m also working on getting the sad little playground at my site that is falling apart repaired/upgraded for the orphans. It looks like I’m going to have to write some sort of proposal for that but there is a guy in Kenya who’s working on building playgrounds for kids that one of the other volunteers put me in contact with. So I’m hoping he will be able to help me out as well.

The previous volunteer is still working with the project and has a University Scholarship she wants to give to someone in the community. So I’ve been helping gather information on that. We start interviewing potential people for the scholarship tomorrow at 8:00AM. So that should be interesting. Of the applicants we’ve gotten so far there are about 15 or 20 that qualify so we are going interview them and see how involved they are in the community and what they will be studying in school as well as assess their financial needs. The goal is to have someone come back and work for the project for at least one year after they finish school in order to benefit the community. It’s definitely going to be hard to make a decision because all of them deserve the chance to go to school; it’s just a matter of money. But thank goodness; the decision is not left to me as to who gets the scholarships. That will be left to the previous volunteer and her charity.

I guess that’s all for now. I’ll try to update more soon. Hope everyone is doing well.

Happy Birthday to Me

2007-09-19T06:08:00.000-07:00

This time last year I was sitting in a Mexican restaurant in Paris with Marc and Shanta. This year I am in a tiny village in the middle of Kenya.

My Mom called this morning to wish me a Happy Birthday by singing to me. I then went for tea with the staff at my project and they surprised me with a cake and a rendition of Happy Birthday that I am not familiar with. They got the words right but the tune was waaaay off. It was very sweet of them; since most Kenyan's don't really acknowledge birthdays.

Then Jen called and we caught up a bit; while Penny apparently ate something plastic. Still haven't named my cat yet... but I am strongly considering "Cheese" hehe.

Tonight I'm going to visit my site mate and the British volunteer in her town. They are going to cook me a mexican dinner. I hope it includes cheese; that stuffs hard to come by here. Anyhoo; that's all I'm doin for my birthday. I definitely miss the days of going out in San Jose with my girls... sigh...

Ok; that's all for now. Maybe something exciting will happen for my birthday and I'll have a fun and exciting post for tomorrow. :-)

*** UPDATE***

So, on my birthday I saw a boda boda guy (they give people rides around town on the backs of their bikes) get hit by a matatu (kinda like a public transportation van); Jillian dropped and broke my camera! So, that really sucks. Gonna try to get it fixed but since I'm in Kenya I doubt that's gonna happen. So, no more pictures; I might cry.

But on a happier note; we made yummy Mexican food and I learned how to make tortilla chips from scratch. My brother called while I was doing this and I think he was wondering why on earth I was MAKING tortilla chips when normal people just go out and buy them. Well not in Kenya. Most people don't know what a tortilla chip is.

Name that Kitten...

2007-09-17T00:54:00.000-07:00

So, I got a kitten. The teachers from the school on my compound gave her to me. Apparently she is supposed keep away the rats and bats that live in my roof and eat my avacados and tomatoes. Though I don't think she will be working for a while since she fits in the palm of my hand...

I haven't come up with a name for her yet. Any ideas? I've been calling her "sweet face" thought I think that's cause my Mom always calls me that. I considered "button(s)" for a while but for the most part I'm drawing a blank. So any suggestions are welcome.

On a side note; I've been in Kenya for nearly 4 months now and have lost about 15 pounds. SEND CHOCOLATE!! :-) That's all for now.

Love,

Maya :-)

Just another Day...

2007-09-07T04:01:00.000-07:00

So today I got to go to a VCT (Voluntary Counseling and Testing) facility with Mama Mary; one of the HBC (Home Based Care) workers in the community and one of her clients. She had convinced the client to get tested for HIV and invited me along to see the hospital and the process. It was an interesting experience to say the least.

We entered the VCT area and there were maybe 60 people waiting. I was surprised because I thought they were all there to get tested but today is the day that people get their drugs. After Mama Mary talked to someone she knew; the three of us were directed into a room and we just sat there for a while.

I could tell that Mama Mary's client was a bit nervous but she didn't speak any english. And as much as I wanted to tell her that everything would be ok; I couldn't. Both due to the fact that I don't speak Luo and I really didn't know if everything would be ok.

Steve, a friend of Mama Mary's came in and told me about the process and what would happen next. The client then went to the lab took her test and since it was positive, went to counseling. She was very calm about the entire process. She didn't cry, didn't seem angry or ANYTHING for that matter.

I asked Mama Mary to ask her how she was feeling and she said she was happy now that she knew her status. It seemed like a strange answer to me. Though I don't know how I would feel if I were told the news. I'm sure I would have probably cried for a very long time. But I suppose much of her knew she was HIV positive. Her husband had died about a year ago and though many in the Luo community deny the existence of HIV/AIDS (they say people die because they have been cursed) I think she already knew. But now she can begin her treatement and hopefully live a long life for her 2 children which was her main concern.

It was an interesting day... I have no idea how to feel about it really. But it was a good experience for me to have I suppose...

hrmmm....

2007-08-31T00:09:00.000-07:00

I really have nothing to say right now, but I thought I'd complain about the fact that no one ever posts comments to my blog! Where's the love people? I'm in frickin Africa for crying out loud!

Ok, I'm done

:-)

...

2007-08-25T06:55:00.000-07:00

The one thing the Peace Corps was right about when giving us information on our 2 year experience; which wasn't much, was that it would be a rollercoaster ride of emmotions. While in training I was pretty much 100% sure that I could ride this experience out for the next 2 years; no problem. And then I got to site.

I've been at my site for about 3 weeks now. My first week; one of the teachers that works on my coumpund came by my house to say hello. She proceeded to tell me her life story which inculded the death of her husband and father; how she is trying to support her two children on 2000 /= (shillings) a month; which is about $30; and how her mother is in the hospital dying of throat cancer. She then proceeded to ask me for 5,000/= to pay her mothers hospital bills. I of course could not give her 5,000/= and felt like the worst human being to ever walk to the face of the earth when I said no.

I talked to a few of my fellow volunteers about this and they all convinced me that it was most likely a hoax and that she just wanted the money. This got me through the night but silly me decided to ask my Supervisor about the woman the next day. The story of course turned out to be true and I burst into tears in front of my Supervisor. Kenyan's don't know what to do when people cry...

I then went to Oyugis; to visit my nearest volunteer for the weekend. I had to get away from my site.

Since this incident 2 women and one child in my community have died. They weren't women that I knew particularly well but I had seen them in passing and the child was one of the orphans that goes to the school on my compound. She was very bright and liked to lead the children in songs. I remember thinking how smart she was and hoping that I would be able to find her a sponsor so that she could attend secondary school. She had the chicken Pox! They thought she had malaria and had a local man come in and give her a shot of medication for malaria. She was dead within hours of being given the medication.

So, needless to say, this is hard...and I don't know if I will make it through the next 2 years. Everyday is a new and different experience ...

Everytime I have a good experience it reminds me of why I'm here and what I'm doing but I don't know if that will be enough to sustain me. Don't worry; I'm not planning on going home tomorrow or anything but this experience is anything but easy.

Wish me luck...

Maya's Requested Items!

2007-08-17T11:50:00.001-07:00

Hi, this is a note from Maya's friend Jen. I'm helping to manage her blog and she has asked me to put up a list of some items she'd like to be sent from anyone willing to do so! The list is to the right of the blog entries. I will continue to update it as she updates me. She needs a lot of the "NEED" items, and I'm pretty sure she'd like a lot of the "WANT" items as well. If you'd like, leave a comment on this post noting the items you're sending. Thanks!

Swearing In...

2007-08-03T00:50:00.000-07:00

Was kinda bitter sweet. For some unknown reason 2 of our fellow would-be volunteers were “training separated”; that was a new term for us. This all happened the day before we swore in and was pretty depressing; to say the least. We didn’t even get and explaination :-(

Actual Swear in was pretty cool though. We had the ceremony at the Ambassadors home in Nairobi. They served us American snacks of Dorito’s; mini snickers and Oreos!! (Send OREOS!); FRITOS and chocolate chip cookies. Perhaps you think this silly but for a bunch of 20 somethings that have been missing their American junk food for the past 2 and a half months … it was heaven.

After we snacked for a bit we started the ceremony. The Kenyans sang their national anthem and then they looked to the volunteers to sing ours. Despite the fact that I personally have no musical talent whatsoever I think we managed to pull it off pretty well. And it sounded like we all actually remembered the words; even if some of us didn’t… hehe :-)

There were then a number of speeches; lots of pictures taken and then the actual swearing in and passing out of certificates of completion for training.(Kenyan’s really like their certificates; I’ve learned). We tehn had more snacks; kibobs of meat; meatballs; egg rolls; humus…I was in heaven.

So, now I’m officially a Peace Corps Volunteer. You can now change the PCT to a PCV on my mail… hehe.

End of Training...

2007-07-31T00:49:00.000-07:00

So, training ended yesterday and we had a party to celebrate. Silly games were played. Yummy food was consumed and people danced and played Frisbee in the dark. It was fun. This morning we piled into the matatus back to Nairobi one last time before swearing in as Peace Corps Volunteers. Now I’m headed to Java House for a Double Bacon Guacamole cheese burger…

2007-07-25T00:47:00.000-07:00

After FSV it was back to Kitui for us; where we continued training and complaining about training. A couple of people decided that Peace Corps just wasn’t for them for various reasons and decided to go home. I was sad to see them go. As for me; I’m still here; alive and well. Lets see how long that lasts. I’m not being cynical. Just realistic. We only have a few more days left and people are a little stressed out. Myself included. We have a language test to take and bags with extra things to put in luggage that’s the same size it was when we arrived, laundry to do and a family appreciation dinner to prepare!! It’s insanity I tells ya!!!

Future Site Visit

2007-07-09T00:07:00.000-07:00

On July 4th while everyone back home was probably attending BBQ’s and watching fireworks my fellow trainees and I left Kitui and headed to Nairobi to find out where we would be for the next 2 years of our lives.

My site is located in the Provence of Nyanza in a tiny Kijiji (village) called Kirongo. You probably won’t be able to find that on a map but the closest town that I found on my map is called Oyugis. Two larger cities are Kisii and Kisumu. I’m about an hour matatu ride away from each of those. Smack dab in the middle. Which is nice because Kisumu has cheeseburgers and a Nakumat (it’s kinda like a target)

My house in on the compound for the community project that I will be working with; called the “Kirongo Christian Community Integrated Project”… try saying the 5 times fast :-). The community I’m working with has a 26% HIV/AIDS positive population. The project helps in advising PLWA’s (People Living with AIDS) on nutrition and with health support. They also help support the orphans and vulnerable children in the area. There is a school on the compound that I live on. I’ll also be trying to help think of IGA’s (Income Generating Activities) for the widows in the area; which there are a lot of due to AIDS.

I don’t even know where to start…

When I arrived at the tiny town near my site I wanted to burst into tears! There are two other volunteers near me and we traveled to our sites together with our Supervisors. Once we got to Oyugis; it’s the nearest sorta big town to me; we all went our separate ways and I think I kinda freaked out cause I hadn’t really been very far from my comfort zone yet and the drive to my site seemed like 20 years.

I got to my site and met a few of the people I’d be working with and then everyone left. I was in this little house in the middle of no where and had no idea what to do. I finally got it together enough to make myself a dinner of chips and real live Heinz ketchup that I found at Nakumat. The first night was pretty terrifying. I have an Askari (guard) named George. He came by on my first night to say hi and let me know that he would be walking around. This was suppose to make me feel better I suppose but for the most part it scared the bageezus out of me. I was convinced that someone was trying to break into my house all night. It was most likely just the lizards running around in my roof but needless to say; it was a sleepless night.

The next day I met the rest of the staff that I’d be working with and met the children at the school. My first introduction was to a classroom full of 3 and 4 year olds. I felt much better shortly thereafter. :-)

The next day I got to meet with a group of community leaders who proceeded to tell me all the different ways they would like me to save their lives; from building an orphanage to building a medical facility nearby to finding sponsors to provide the orphans and other children with an education. It was all I could do not to start hyperventilating. U have sense calmed down but I still have no idea how I’m going to help all of these people.

Here are some photos of where I’ll be living…

My room; already a mess...

The view from my front door

After FSV those of us in the Western part of the country had a “West Is Best” party in Kisumu where we hung out at the Kisumu Peace Corps office, had a BBQ and then went to some bars.

Raven, me and Amy

So, now I ask myself…what have I gotten myself into?!?!!?

Church in Kenya

2007-06-24T22:46:00.000-07:00

Church in Kenya is craziness!! Sometimes they have it all day on Sunday from 9-5. There is a church behind the house I’m staying in; it starts around 10:00am and ends about 2 or 3 in the afternoon. And that’s if the Priest decides he doesn’t have much to say. I don’t think I’ll be going to church on a regular basis in this country…not that I did when I was home; but this just enforces that even more.

9 more days til I know where my site is going to be!!

So yesterday I did all of my own laundry for the first time. I have decided that I will be hiring someone to do my laundry for me when I go to site. I don’t know if it’s the soap or what but it ate away at the skin on my fingers. My host Mama kept saying I would get use to it. I don’t think I wanna get use to this. The pain I tells you THE PAIN!!

A Little Home Sick

2007-06-17T09:00:00.000-07:00

Friday, I sent out an e-mail to everyone to send me letters. Emails are great and all and of course I would probably get them faster than letters, but I also have to pay 2 shillings a minute to use the internet. Which isn’t really much money to you guys but it adds up fast for a person who is being paid in shillings.

I guess my home sickness started with all the “Mama’s” (they call anyone who is older and or has children a Mama) in town. I swear they could all be my Grandmother!! And then hub day came. It’s the day when all 48 of us come together and do training instead of just in our smaller groups of 5 or 6. On hub days we get mail. I sent out a couple of letters and didn’t expect to get anything back. But someone called my name for a letter. I was all excited that someone had written me. Then I find out it’s the letter I sent my Mom. It got sent back to me!! A bunch of us had given letters to the medical staff to mail for us in Nairobi and something must have happened because none of them had even been processed. And to top it all off at this point I had sent my brother my new cell phone number and no one had called me!! I would call people myself if it didn’t cost me 200 shillings (that’s about 2 meals) to talk to someone for 8 minutes. I think I’ll just have to suck it up and call my Grandmother though.

I know it’s only been a few weeks here and I’m sure to everyone back home that’s how it’s felt; but for me these few weeks have been months. It hasn’t been a bad experience; don’t get me wrong but there’s just so much to deal with and everything is so completely different. It’s kind of hard to explain I guess. But like my title says I am a little homesick.

We will find out where our sites are in about 2 weeks and then we have a site visit. We go with one of out trainers or supervisors to our site for a few days. Make sure that our living situation will be up to Peace Corps standards and get to see exactly what we’ll be doing. That’s pretty exciting because at this point we still don’t know what our exact jobs will be and some people still won’t know once they get to site since it all depends on the “needs of the community”. I’m excited about finding out what my new job will be; a little nervous too but mostly excited. I mostly just want to know what my living conditions will be like. I think I can prepare myself for anything if I know well enough in advance. The only thing I don’t think I could handle is complete solitude. I mean I like my alone time just as much as the next guy but I couldn’t do it all the time. We had a volunteer come and talk to us about her site and her job doing water catchments in an area of Kenya that gets very little rain throughout the year. Her job seemed really cool and she was very successful in it but she’s out in the middle of no where with nothing around her. She said it would take her something like half a day to travel to a town. I don’t think I could handle that remote of a place… I’ll keep ya posted on where I end up.

Alrightie; I’m off to the “Hub” to study my Swahili. Hope everyone is doing well. I promise to try and put some pictures up soon.

2007-06-06T20:24:00.000-07:00

Well, I’ve been here in Kenya for about 2 weeks now. About a week and half of that has been spent with a host family that includes a Mama (mom), Baba (dad), Kaka (brother) he’s 8, dada (sister) she’s 6 and a 15 year old cousin (baba’s niece) who seems to clean the house and take care of the kids for the most part but she also goes to school; so that’s cool.

Coming into the Host Family experience, I was a bit weary. They’d kind of bombarded us with all of this information about how we would be received by Kenyans in general. A couple of my biggest concerns were that apparently many Kenyans don’t believe that there are African “American’s” It is their belief that ALL “American’s” are white. This was a bit disconcerting; to say the least. At that point, I was convinced that my host family would lay there eyes on me, be convinced I was an imposter and my entire experience would be horrible. And of course, this was before I was told by my Country desk dude that they would see my dreadlocks as a sign of drug use. Definitely wasn’t off to too great of a start at that point. And I hadn’t even left the country yet!

Well, as they say, “Expect the worst; hope for the best.” I don’t know if I was hoping for the best, by any means but I was definitely expecting the worst. We arrived in Kitui, Kenya (about a 4 hour matatu (public van/car dealie) ride from Nairobi) on Sunday May 27^th. And of course I forgot the little index card that had my host family name on it. So, while everyone else was meeting there host “mama’s” and “baba’s” I was standing around waiting for someone to find me a new index card. But fortunately I spotted my name and met my new “Mama”. Her name is Florence. She didn’t seem shocked that I was black; so that was a good sign. Also the first sign of the many things the Peace Corps had told us that were just plain wrong. I guess not necessarily wrong but they could have explained things a little better; lets just say a bit overly exaggerated. For example: Yes, it is true that many Kenyan’s don’t think African American’s exist but most of them live in wee tiny area’s. Though Kitui is a Rural area they do know of the existence of African American’s if not only for the fact that the Peace Corps has been training volunteers here for the past 5 years. Also, the existence of dreadlocks does not make one a drug user/dealer unless people are living about 20 years in the past. At least this is what I’ve learned from the locals.

I have, however come across an uneducated girl that did not believe I was from America. She asked me where I’d been before I was in America and I told her I was born there. She then asked where my parents came from and there parents and so forth and then we got to slavery and her only conclusion was that I was from West Africa. This was frustrating, to say the least and I guess I didn’t think that it would bother me as much as it did.

9:08 PM

My journaling was interrupted for a bucket bath. In the process I broke my mirror. The thing survived 2 trips all over France and even survived being in a checked bag to Kenya and now it decides to kick the bucket. Someone, please send me a good sized “shatter proof” hand mirror :-)…Guess that means 7 years bad luck for me. I knew I should have given it to Marcus today… I really don’t need 7 years of bad luck.

Okay, back to the previous topic…so apparently I’m not an “American” to some Kenyans. There doesn’t seem to be much learned about America in schools here but there isn’t much learned in the U.S. about Kenya either. I’ve also been mistaken for Kenyan on several different occasions. The older Mama’s in town will see me walking around and start talking to me in the local language “Kikomba”. I need to learn how to say in Kikomba that I don’t speak Kikomba.

It surprises me how much influence television has on the communities here. Most of them are without electricity but many have televisions that they hook up to generators. My Host Mama says she takes her generator into town and it costs her 40 shillings to get it charged; that’s about 28 cents to us…give or take. The charge lasts about a week; using it to watch television and listen to the radio. Oh!! and guess what we watched the first time they used the TV while I’ve been here….no, really, guess… ok I’ll tell you. Walker Texas Ranger!! Apparently they love that show here. It’s quite hilarious really. I could barely hold back my giggles when I realized what they were so excited about.

Yesterday we planted trees…well, I didn’t plant any trees because when we got to the tree planting site they told some of us to dig holes and others to cut this long bamboo looking grass, called napia. Well, apparently I’m allergic to napia grass. After cutting a few of them up I began to itch and break out it hives. So the Peace Corps Driver came and got me and took me to the Medical office where they told me to take a bucket bath and some benadryl. I then went home and my “Mama” wasn’t there so I was locked out; so I went across the road to Amy’s house where her dada (sister) Naomi, made me a bucket bath and some chips (French fries) for lunch. Oh, that reminds me…send ketchup! One of the greatest things about Kenyan culture is the hospitality; where else in the world could you knock on someone’s door that you barely know, feeling sickly and they take you in and make you chips and a bucket bath?!? Certainly, not anywhere in the U.S. that I know of. I’m glad I’m not an agricultural volunteer cause I’m pretty sure that napia stuff is all over the place here.

Alrightie; I’m sure there is lots more to tell and although it’s only 9:30 here I’m off to bed. I’m usually woken up by screaming children around 5:00am.

Lala salama (goodnight) to all.

My First Night in Nairobi

2007-05-25T06:52:00.000-07:00

I think it was much more pleasant than we all expected. There are about 50 of us in the training group and the night before we left Philadelphia, we were told that we needed to repack our bags because only our carry-on would be coming with us to the Hostel in Nairobi. A little frustrated, we all re-packed so that instead of having all of our toiletries and clothes in one bag each we had a little disbursement. Well, what we were told during orientation wasn’t true. We got all of our bags. We didn’t need to repack. The Hostel in Nairobi has running water…though I haven’t quite discovered if it is at all possible for the water to EVER be hot. The faucets do have the red and blue indicating hot and cold but all I seem to get is cold. But, I can’t really complain…it’s much more than we expected.

I guess I’m still taking it all in. I’m in Kenya, but nothing really feels very different to me. I’m sure that will all change once we get to Kitui. I got here in one piece and all of my luggage seems to be in tact. Though; the airports didn’t weigh any of my luggage at any point so I could have brought pretty much all of the stuff that I left behind. AND!! I forgot my granola. I thought I brought at lease one small bag but nooooo. I spent the better part of my time in Philly searching for it but realized it wasn’t there when I repacked. Oh well.

Simple things I’ve noticed about Nairobi so far. Everything is in English. All the advertisements and building signs for businesses. Everything! I thought that was very strange. Gas here is between 67.95 and 79.99 shillings a liter. Which is about 75 cents to $1.02 in U.S. currency.

That’s all for now. I must brush my teeth and head down for breakfast at 7:15. And then we will start our initial crash course in language training. I’ll write more soon.

Kenya Here I Come

2007-05-23T14:02:00.000-07:00

Well, the time has finally come for me to leave for Kenya. I'm sitting in the airport and the fact that I'm going still hasn't quite hit me. My bags have been checked and all I have with me is a backpack and a small suitcase. Soon I'll be in Amsterdam and then it's off to Nairobi. I'll spend 3 days in Nairobi with my entire group of 49 volunteers and then i'LL BE "adopted" by my host family.

I'm not entirely overwhelmed but we will see how that goes. I don't have much time since we're about to board the flight. I'll hopefully get to post soon. I love you all.

-Maya :-)

Time...

2007-05-01T15:40:00.000-07:00

In the words of Jesse Spano; There's "No time! No time! There's never enough time!" I have a million and a half things to do … squared. I should have quit my job sooner. I was going to change my departure date to an earlier one because they were having my replacement start on May 3rd. I could train her for a couple of days and then leave. But noooooo; she didn't pass the stupid background check!! So, there's no one to replace me and well…There's "No time! No time! There's never enough time!"

I made a list of all the things that I need to pack. I think it's funny that I forgot pajamas…I doubt anyone else finds that humorous in any way; but I do. I keep looking at this list and thinking there is no way I'm going to make that 80 pond weight limit. All this stuff has gotta be at least 100 pounds. On top of which; I'm going to be carrying it all by my lonesome. They say; "please do not bring more than you can carry because you will be responsible for the transportation of your luggage at all times." GREAT!!! Now, of course, I'm saying all this before I actually start the packing process; but you just wait and see. I'm terrible at packing. I need an expert. Iris, will you come pack for me? I'll take your finals for ya.

Does anyone know where I can buy a lockable case for a laptop. I don't want it to get stolen and if someone does steal it; I want them to be pissed off that they can't open it. Ok, now I'm just being mean, but I still need one.

Alrightie…I think I'm done with my rant now…maybe one more for good measure...

"No time! No time! There's never enough time!" ...

Went to Vegas…Going to KENYA!!

2007-04-17T10:59:00.000-07:00

Yes; I know; I suck at this blogging thing. Anyhoo; as you all well know I am off to the Peace Corps in a few weeks time; and going to Kenya. So, for a grand departure I went with my brother and some of my friends to good ol' vegas a couple weeks ago. I even won a couple hundred bucks while I was there. It was lots of good clean fun :-)

We got to meet a real live the Blue Man…

and a few not so live ones…

Jen and I met Sponge Bob…

and let him taste our yummy drinks…

AND Iris and I got to hang out with some Elvises…Elvii??…yeah, well you get the point…

It was loads of fun…

Now; I must figure out how to consolidate all that I want to take to Kenya into 80 pounds and a carry on.

Little help?

View from the top...

2007-02-13T19:00:00.000-08:00

This is the view from my office on the 35th floor. I did miss San Francisco...

Fog looks cool from the 35th Floor:

2007-02-05T17:01:00.000-08:00

Well Ladies and Gentlemen; I got myself a job. Tra la la… I had been looking for a job since I got home back in December and was getting pretty worried; thinking that I wouldn’t find one before Verizon cut off my cell phone. And then how would I get a job if no one could call me?!? But, lucky for me, that didn’t happen and I got a snazzy new job on the 35th floor. It’s at another law firm, as usual. I gotta go where the big bucks are.

Anyhoo, last week the view was fabulous but it’s foggy today and well, I can’t see much but I still think it looks pretty snazzy deep in the fog. Yes, I’m weird. And darn; I wish I had my camera!! I'm turning into Jen.

Oh and I’m sure many of you are dying to know where I’m going for the Peace Corps. Well, I’m dying to know too. Hopefully the answer will come soon but for now, I’m practicing that patience thing. It was a lot easier to practice patience when I had Paris to occupy my mind/time. Oh well, what can I do? That’s all for now.

Chasing the Sunset...

2006-11-27T05:35:00.000-08:00

So as many of you know; Marc Shanta and I went to Bordeaux for the Thanksgiving weekend. Lots happened but one of the highlights was this sunset. Shanta needed to see the Beach so after going on a winery tour we decided to go on an adventuree and find the beach to see the sunset. After running through a bit of forest and lots of walking we found the beach. It was pretty awesome. I'll post more later. I hope everyone else had a happy Turkey Day.

Christmas shopping in November…

2006-11-19T05:10:00.000-08:00

Now, for most people shopping for Christmas presents on November 18^th is nothing new but as for me; the queen of Christmas Eve gift buying; I am surprised to say that about half of my Christmas shopping is done. Unfortunately, I can’t show you any of the snazzy presents I bought because the people that read this will be getting them…although…I can show you what I bought for my Grandmother since I don’t believe she has ever ventured onto the Internet before. It made me think of her and my Mom when I saw it.

I should have taken a closer picture of this. The detail is amazing. I'll add some to Flickr later.

Before our shopping began Shanta wanted to buy a flower for the dinning table in their apartment; so we picked this one…

I think it’s an Amaryllis flower…or at least that’s what Shanta thought the fellow said in the shop. I tried comparing it to the picture on my Aunt's book, Forcing Amaryllis but still wasn’t too sure; even Google pics wasn’t too helpful. But we thought it was gorgeous.

After all the shopping my tootsies were angry with me and I was pooped. Marc and Shanta headed off to see an all male version of Swan Lake in their Sunday best…

And I headed home. T’was a fun day. I hope everyone else at home is having some fun days. I’ll see you all soon.

Happy Birthday to Iris...

2006-11-08T12:17:00.000-08:00

My Original Gangsta!

Round and Round it goes...

2006-11-08T11:49:00.000-08:00

These are the stairs leading to the top of the Arc de Triomphe. Seriously! there should be warnings for these things!!

Missing in Action...

2006-11-07T17:10:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I know I've been missing in action for some time now; started this entry ages ago as usual and am only now finishing it. A lots been happening here in the land of Paris. I got here back in September and I can't believe it's November already and only 35 days until I head home. Pretty crazy.

I guess I'll update you as best I can on my time here. If you've been keeping up with my pictures on flickr at http://flickr.com/photos/graci0us you probably know most of it but here goes.

When I first arrived in Paris I was quite depressed for many reasons that I won't go into. I was hoping that this would be somewhat thwarted by the fact that 2 of my best friends would be near by. Unfortunately when I arrived they were in India for a wedding. My Mother's advice for my saddness of course was not to be alone; which was kinda hard being in a foriegn country in which you know no one. Ok, well, you know someone but they aren't around. Once my roommate arrived, that forced me to go out into the world a bit more. And once Marc and Shanta came back it was nice to have a bit of home near by and things have slowly but surely changed.

When Marc and Shanta returned they took me on a little weekend adventure to Rouen where we saw this huge church that Monet painted and wandered
around the town a bit. It was pretty cool. You can check out more pics at the link above.

On my birthday I was feeling particularly OLD and didn't really want to do anything but Marc and Shanta took me to this cool Mexican restuarant just down the street from my apartment. Apparently it's quite difficult to find good Mexican food in this country but this place was great. Completely authentic as explained by the waitress when we arrived. We also thought it was a good sign when Marc called to ask what time they closed and the woman only spoke Spanish. The restuarant had really cool decor and really yummy food and REALLY good Margaritas. We've been back several times since.

Let's see, what else is there of siginificance... we went to Nuit Blanche, which is this snazzy thing that Paris and a few other cities around the world do. they have art exhibitions up at all these cool locations in the city and everything is open all night except for the metro which is a bit of a pain in the bum when you want to go home. We started our night rather late so we didn't get to go to lots of different locations but here's some of the stuff that we did get to see.

When we arrived at Nuit Blanche we had a toast with some Champagne. We made our toast in these snazzy yogurt cups provided by Shanta.

Here is a giant necklace that I kept

telling Marc I wanted to try on.
Unfortunately for me it turned out
to be a bit too big to go around
my neck and this is the closest I got.

At this display Shanta and I are trying to push a Giant inflated ball. I'm not sure why we're doing this. We were most likely drunk.

None of us were quite sure
what to make of this one...

So, since I have labeled my occupation to be that of a bum Shanta has informed me that I need to do something with my life, so I have decided to study for the LSAT while here in Paris. I signed up for the February one and Diane was nice enough to send me some LSAT study books for my birthday, that have done wonders. I'm still not up to my desired score yet but I do have a few more months to study and hopefully will do well enough not to have to take it a second time. So, when I return from my Peace Corps adventure I can just start applying for Law School. The Joy!

So, Paris in general is great. Though lately it's been frickin' freezing. But I can't complain; I am the one that said I'd like to see it snow here before I leave and that does require a certain amount of frickin' freezing. I've gone to a lot of different places in Paris and seen some really cool stuff. Can't really go into it all or this posting will be days long. Like I said, go to my flickr page and view some of my sets. I've nearly turned into Jen with all my picture taking...ok, that's probably not possible, maybe more Iris. :-)

I'll write again soon or at least I'll try. Promise!

-Maya :-)

First Day off of the Last Session

2006-08-22T06:50:00.000-07:00

Well, I’m at the home stretch. One more week and camp will be over. Having this group of kids is definitely a great way to end the session. They are a surprising good bunch. Yesterday was my first day off for this session and it was SPLENDID! One of the Daily Life Counselors Minnie (Malvina) invited me over to stay at her house in Grenoble. I was very excited to get away from camp for a while.

It was nice being in a home. Her Mom was really sweet and made us breakfast in the morning and gave us a ride into town. We took the little tour bus dealie around town…

And then took what they call a “cable car” up to the mountains.

We walked around the Mountains for a bit and then decided to take a look at the caves which were created during war so that the soldiers could move around without being noticed.

We eventually made our way back down the mountain, took a train back to meet Malvina’s Mom and headed home. I was pretty exhausted after that trek down the mountain so I passed out until dinner time. We had homemade Spaghetti’s for din din and then it was back to camp for us. It was great just getting away from camp for a while.

The Life and Times of Noodles

2006-07-25T07:08:00.000-07:00

Tuesday July 25^th… wow…I never know what day it is anymore. I am currently at the American Village Tours de Buis camp site and it is my day off…but since it is so frickin hot here I really can’t do very much. The end of our second session is nearing and I’m very excited to have a few days in a row off. I probably won’t do much but it will be nice not to have to deal with 60 screaming kids for a few days.

Each session is 2 weeks long and each day is themed around some American type holiday like Thanksgiving or Valentine’s Day. The kids learn about the theme days in ESL class and we do goofy skits and programs, all of of which is in English so many of them have no idea what’s going on. But by the end of the session you’d be surprised how much they actually catch onto. It’s a lot of fun and a whoooole lot of work. But I must say, definitely better than sitting behind a desk all day.

The first session’s kids were great! We give them American names when they come to camp; so we had a Superman, Homer and a Billy Joel last session. This session we have Super Girl a Spiderman and Megatron. It’s pretty interesting to yell at a kid, “Spiderman, stop picking your nose!!”

The counselors also get new names. I was having the hardest time trying to come up with one. First there was Mojo after my stuffed monkey but I figured there were too many other references and no one would understand; then there was Homer, but we already have a counselor named Domer; so everyone said they were too similar. So one day Aphex (Emma) said that I should be called Noodles. So, that is now my new name. I hadn’t heard my real name in ages, so when Marc and Shanta referred to me as Maya on Bastille Day I didn’t know what to do with myself...hehe :-)

One more month and then it’s off to Paris for me…I’m currently deciding on whether or not to visit a friend in Scotland for a few days before settling into Paris and I still really wanna go to Oktoberfest for those of you who still wanna come; so let me know.

Alrightie, I’m off to enjoy the rest of my day off. I hope everyone else is doing well.

Bastille Day

2006-07-25T07:07:00.000-07:00

I actually got to spend Bastille Day in Paris. It was pretty awesome. We arrived in Paris the afternoon of the 13^th with about 17 kids that we had to deliver to their parents at the train station. We then had an interesting night out with some other American Village counselors that were in town for the weekend. I’m not sure what time I got home but I didn’t wake up until noon the next day, so that should tell you something.

After a very late lunch on the 14th I got to hang out with Marc and Shanta for a bit. They had plans to see the Alvin Alley Dance group so I didn’t get to do anything with them for the Bastille day festivities but it was nice to have a relaxing chunk of time with them.

After hanging out with Marc and Shanta we headed to dinner and then to the Eiffel Tower for Fireworks; which we missed. But that was ok because on the lawn near the Eiffel Tower people were setting off their own fireworks so we got to see a show anyway.

As you can see, we were very pleased…

Getting home however, was a complete nightmare. Someone told us that the metro had extended its hours to 2AM which was not true. So then we thought we could take a cab back to our hotel but every cab we saw was full. We walked and walked and walked for more than an hour and then saw a night bus but it was packed to the brim and didn’t stop. A few more of those passed us up until we got to the Louvre…and if you know anything about Paris you know the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre are no where near each other. So, we were exhausted to say the least. We found a couple of cabs and got to our hotel. But the doorman was sleeping, so we had a wait another 10 minutes (ringing the doorbell constantly) for him to wake up and let us in.

But, I must say…Bastille Day in Paris…can I really complain?!?

Where in the World Is Maya B. Washington

2006-07-25T06:46:00.000-07:00

I started writing this entry weeks ago…sorry for the delay but I don’t get much time for typing these days…

From SFO to JFK to LHR to CDG to a shuttle (cause there was no way I was taking the metro from CDG to the hotel) to the shower (cause MAN after 17 hours of traveling I was sure one stinky girl.

After arriving at my hotel and washing the stink away I met two of the people that I would be working with at American Village and we went to check out my new apartment. Which is soooooo cool, by the way. If you’ll be visiting me during my stay you will definitely have a place to sleep (apartment location has changed since I’ve been here but it’s still cool and there is still lots of room for visitors).

After a very long walk to the apartment (kinda got lost) my new friends and I met up with Marc and Shanta. How, you might ask did I have the energy to go see my apartment and have dinner with Marc & Shanta right after all that fun travelin?! I haven’t the tiniest wee clue, but I did it!

Marc did his research as usual and found some restaurants near my new place. Unfortunately the one we picked out had changed its’ name so we spent a good half hour or more walking around in circles looking for it. We did finally find the place and had a very nice din din.

The next day it was back to traveling!! We left the hotel at 8AM…(again, not quite sure how my body woke up early enough for this) and we got on the Metro to Montparnasse Train station, spent another 6 hours on one train and then another couple of hours on another train to a town called Montrejeau. There we found lots of other counselors to meet and chat with, which was nice because we had to wait another couple of hours for our bus and a few more counselors to arrive. So, I took a few pics while waiting…

Finally we arrived at the Thébe camp site which is absolutely gorgeous!!

I spent a little less than two weeks there doing BAFA training. You’re required to have this training if you want to work with kids in France. The first couple of days of training were a complete nightmare. Everything had to be translated from French to English and vice versa and lots of stuff was getting lost in translation. It was pretty insane to say the least but after a few days and some well thought out “point de stage” or what we liked to call bitch sessions we all starting to communicate better and ended up having a pretty good time all around and learning quite a bit.

After BAFA training some of us decided to leave a early to spend a day in Toulouse. It was very nice. We went to a little outdoor market dealie got to see some cool dancing and this fellow with his puppets…

After watching one of the world cup games in a British Pub we went to dinner. I wanted Steak and chips so we ended up at this restaurant that looked suspiciously to me like TGI Fridays. It was called “LA BOUCHERIE” I pulled a Jen and took some pictures, though I really wish I would have taken one of the Giant Cow that they had at the entrance.

We also went to see Paris Je t’aime (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0401711/), which I highly recommend to all!

ok...im here...

2006-06-16T17:29:00.000-07:00

damn the european keyboards...it takes me 10 times as long to type ANYTHING on one of these things than it would an american keyboard. forgive my lack of punctuation and mispellings. i arrived in paris on the 15th of june; at 3:25pm european time and despite a screaming 3 month old i was pretty well rested.

im currently at training in thebe which is the weeeeee tiny town (im talkin 60 people weeee) near toulouse france (south of france); where apparently REALLY REALLY old french men want to marry me. i shall pass...

Ill be training here for about a week before i head off to my permanent camp in Lyon for the next few months. i would type more but its about 2:30am here and i really need to sleep. ill write more soon; hopefully on my own computer (yay for punctutation). ttfn.

Maya's Big Adventure

2006-05-31T21:32:00.000-07:00

“We are prone to judge success by the index of our salaries or the size of our automobiles, rather than by the quality of our service relationship to humanity.”
~Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.~

“I was blessed with a birth and a death and I guess I’d just like some say in between.”
~A. DiFranco~

I guess that pretty well sums it up, but I shall elaborate…

I was given the life I have for a reason. I’m not entirely sure what that reason was but I don’t think it has anything to do with paperwork, so I’ve decided to seek my purpose elsewhere. I guess I just don’t want to look back on my life when I’m old and gray and say, “I wish I would have…”, so after a few years of it just being in the back of my mind and a few years of it being all I could think and read about; I’ve decided to join the Peace Corps.

I’ve gotten a lot of different responses to this decision from friends and family. From my friend Lonny’s “What??? Are you nuts?!” to my Grandmother’s simple, “I love you and I’ll pray for you.” So, who really knows? This may be the smartest things I’ve every done; or it may be the stupidest. But either way; I’ll never have to look back and say, “I wish I would have…”

And to top it all off; for good measure I’ve gotten a job in FRANCE (my favorite place in the world, next to San Francisco, CA), teaching English. This will all be before I leave for the Peace Corps. I’ll be in France until mid-December and should be leaving for the Peace Corps sometime in March 2007.

I will use this Blog to tell of my adventures. Enjoy!

~Maya :-)