Claire's Blog

when i first came here, all i could see was how different it was here.  Different food, different ways to eat it, differnt weather, different amout of daylight each day, different was of showing respect, different clothes, different ways to bathe and even pray!  And it is different, but this week i'm beginning to see how much we all have in common.  We eat red beans and rice (muchele na malaki) every Sunday, we read the same Bible (albeit in different languages), and baby hands and feet are still widely accepted as the most beautiful things in the world.  The girls are patiently teaching me Swahili grammar, and I can now roughly conjugate verbs in the past present and future.  This week i worked on a grant proposal, which was something totally new for me.  i only typed it up and formatted it, but i learned something about the tricky world of NGO's.  I went into town on Friday and it was a little overwhelming.  The UN, World Food Program, and other international organizations are very present there.  The city is pretty big and brimming with cars and people.  I am not used to the currency, which fluctuates a lot at the beginning of the month when people are getting paid, and I spent 25$ on one box of cereal, a small tub of nutella, and a box of teabags.  |Needless to say, i'll be sticking to fish and bukhari from now on!  On Tuesday, English classes start, and sometime next week we're baking cookies!  Lots of people sell bread and other little goods from their homes, and if we get good at it, we may try to sell bread and cookies as well to generate a little income.  I know how to make-ish bread now!!  I hope everyone else's adventures are going well, and some of the girls wanted me to tell you all hi!