I realize thats its been a while since I posted last and I want to let everyone know I did get back safely to Malava a week ago. Vacation was really nice, but it made me realize I'm so happy I wasn't placed to do my service in Nairobi. First of all, its really expensive (at least when you make as little money as we do). Secondly, there are lots of places where you can really forget you're in Kenya. One night I went to see a movie and while waiting for Tom and Michael to get out of the movie they were seeing, I sat and read my book at a nice little coffee shop in a mall. I realized that I could have been anywhere at home, doing the same thing. It was nice to get back to our little community where everything moves a little slower.
Last Saturday we went and saw my friend Lucy take her first vows as a sister of Notre Dame and celebrated with three other sisters who were celebrating their golden jubilee (50 years). The whole thing was great- full of music, dancing and great food like most Kenyan celebrations.
I was on my own this week at St. Julie's Center since Tom was still on vacation with his family. If you haven't check out his pictures from Masai Mara, you should, they're amazing. It makes me very jealous to know that I won't have a chance to go down there before I leave. Anyways, being there by myself didn't make it that much busier, but I did get the preliminary draft of a grant I've been working on done which was a big relief. If we get it, it could mean up yo $10,000 USD for our program.
We've also had a lot of visitors with us recently. There are two SND novices who are from Zimbabwe (but live in S. Africa) staying with us for a few weeks. They're been at St. Julie's center and i've been able to ask them lots of questions about what Zimbabwe and S. Africa are like. Tumaini also had two British volunteers last week who stopped by St. Julie's to see what it was all about. Finally, Katie's sister Amy has been with us for almost three weeks and heads back to the US this Wed. Its been so nice to have Amy here and I hope she's enjoyed having a chance to visit all our service sites. She's going with Michael to school tomorrow to test out her English teaching skills.
The rest of this month will be filled with grad school applications and making bookings for Kate's big visit in December. It's strange to think that I'll be back in the US three short months from Thursday.