Homestay Sweet Homestay

So my journey has finally begun. As I am sitting here, I am writing this post via lantern amidst the noises of donkies, cows, chickens and of course, my family. I have now been at site a week now, and it has been nothing short of amazing. My homestay. I had no idea what to expect. I guess I thought there was going to be a lot of dirt and poverty, and thats about it. This does hold true, but my village, however, has taken my breath away.

My village, Kilulu, is located in the hills of the most beautiful forest you have ever seen. I live in Washington and you do not see green like this. The forest is straight out of Jurassic Park. Huge palm trees, bushes, covering rolling hills and mountains. This is about as descriptive as I ever get, but there are no words, this place is absolutely breathtaking. I love it here. My Swahili is coming along Pole Pole as they say, (slowly), but I am loving every minute of it.

The family has completely taken me in as their own. My Baba (dad) is a 35 year old farmer, and badass. I barely talk to his wife (mama) as she is always in the kitchen. They live with their mother (Bibi), their son (kaka) and another girl, I have yet to figure out if she is a part of the family. Haha. The family doesn't speak any English. My dad speaks a little, so as I am learning Swahili Pole Pole, he is learning English.

The children in the village are awesome. They have all learned my name and run around screaming it whenever I pass by. They all huddle around me at all hours of the day, even though they can't say anything in English. It's great. The especially love it when I kick their friend's asses in checkers (which they play with different colored bottle caps BTW).

So here is my typical day... 5:30 Wake up from the animals outside 6:15 Get up with the sunrise 6:30 Help sweep the house and clean up 7:00 Kick it with the villagers 7:30 Eat breakfast 8:00 Class 10:00 Tea break (chai) 1:00 Lunch 5:00 Done with class 6:15 Sunset 6:30 Kick it with villagers 8:30 Dinner 9:00 Bucket bath/Bed

Thats my routine 6 days a week. A ton of class, and not really any free time to do my own thing since the sun pretty much rises and sets at 6:15 everyday, and I don't get out of class until 5:00. But whatever, I'll figure out what I can do to get an escape. I am hoping to have much, MUCH better pictures a little later, when I get some free time to do some hiking and exploring and uploading. Untill then...

Cheers,
Jayce