Yellow House

I have a big post written about my week.. but alas. I can't get the document to open. blasted. aaahh. i thought of a trick. I will email it to myself and open the attachment. Hurrah.

So it's Sunday. I have spent the morning creating stationery which some of you may be lucky enough to hold in your hands in the not so distant future. I think people should know I am very self congradulatory these days (as recent travel companions noted). It's just that the universe is really proving to be on my side. Okay well it hasn't really sent me an abundance of fun friends to drink with (or any), but my post has started to arrive and lo and behold the envelopes contain VERY VERY USEFUL things that I swear I haven't seen since 2004 and yet the information is JUST WHAT I NEED for my upcoming training.. which has since expanded to cover staff from another 10 districts (did I already mention that).

Speaking of friends. I was considering inviting my tuk-tuk driver to the movies. I would pay for the show if he would pick me up and drop me off. then I considered that this would seem awfully like a date.

I am taking things into my own hands. I am spending next weekend and the following week with Claire. We are joining forces, and I will be visiting a new district and hopefully meeting the womens health professional group based in Nairobi. Anyway.. here's the post.

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This week I went to Kakamega. As I understand it the Kakamega forest is a tract of virgin rainforest. It is also the only remaining piece of an environment that used to span the African equator. A couple of hours from Kisumu in the hills, it is considerably breezier and a nice place to go to get away from the buzz of the town. I’d like to say I did something great there. I didn’t. Took a few gentle walks. Including one to see a sunrise. Enjoyed the clear night and plethora of stars peeking through the leaves. The cheap accommodation and meals were less than I’d hoped. I need pampering. My companions tell me I am a princess. It's all true. But I still love my bucket bath.

Anyway I returned Friday. Travel home consisted of – the back of a pickup loaded with bags of maize, spine shaking boda-boda and matatu. An exhausting and dirty business.

Saturday I did chores. Picked up my bed (I had to have an 2 feet cut off the width – I stupidly ordered a 6x6 foot bed and when I saw it realized it would basically consume the room), some small benches and met an ex-volunteer for breakfast. I had my landlord remove an extraneous door, re-build the new bed in my spare room and fix a light. Met with someone to have new chair and sofa cushion covers made to match my rather smashing curtains. Mundane shit. I napped. I read. Had a long chat with Phil. The hours trickle by. The work I should be doing on my computer has been evading me this week. I had hoped Kakamega would do the trick.

Upcoming excitement: I am in Kisumu at Joylands on Monday, Vihigia district on Tuesday, Mumias district on Wednesday and then plan to go to Nairobi at the end of the week via Nakuru and Kijabe hospital. I think the following week I will trail Claire around Laikipia district. VSO has changed the in-country training to March, but I still need to come east for meetings. Phone conversations about my work are not particularly successful endeavors. I catch about 3 of every 5 words and feel the need to summarize what I think I have heard every five minutes. I have about a 50/50 success rate. The 6 hour bus trip will be less frustrating.

I am uninspired this weekend. Maybe I just need a good night out?? I DO NEED A GOOD NIGHT OUT. But on a bright note I am now at 55kg. hooray hooray hooray. And not an upset stomach to speak of.