I lied, that last post wasn't my last. This week was so frustrating. My kids are still wonderful and were so excited to see me back so soon, and a bunch of them gave me bracelets and earrings just because they love me :) But I had this brilliant idea of taking each of my kids individually to the library that we're working on and having them read to me because I had the feeling that when they read out loud as a group in class, some of them just listen to the passage the first time through and then memorize it so it looks like they're reading when really they aren't even looking at the words. Good idea, right? And my teacher was all for it. But the other volunteers and I took the first kids we all found that they had no idea what they were doing. None. As in these class 2 kids don't even know the letters of the alphabet when it's out of order, never mind the sounds each letter makes. I took out the simplest books we have in the library and I would ask my kids to tell me the letters in each word and they couldn't. So I went back to my teacher and told her how behind they are and you know what she said to me? She said "Oh no, the kids can read when I write on the blackboard, it must be the books that are the problem. They just can't read from books." Right, that makes total sense. So then we went to talk to the head teacher to tell her what we saw and that we think it's important to take the kids every day and do this and she said it'd be fine once they start getting lunch again (the school ran out of water and maize so the kids haven't had lunch in over a week) to take them for the whole afternoon and teach them to read. So that's cool, I got pretty excited because this'll be really good for them. Then yesterday I went to class in the morning and my teacher called me over to tell me head teacher wants to talk to me about how she doesn't think it's a good idea to take the kids to the library anymore. I was furious. So I went to head teacher, who told me exactly the same thing as she said the day before, that we can take them after lunch. My teacher just doesn't like that we figured out how bad she is at teaching. She's so awful. I despise this woman. She refuses to beheld accountable for the state of her class and clearly doesn't care at all about the kids or her job because she hardly ever shows up! I'm done working with her. I love my kids but I'm only going to go in to teach them to read in the afternoons and then work with my older girls and fix up the library during the day.

This will more than likely be my last post before I get back to America (sometimes I like to keep people on their toes though so there's a chance I'll get back online again in the next 3 weeks). I went to Mombasa this past week to work in an orphanage just for a change of pace, but I got there and hated it. Every second. The host mom, Tabby, is not nearly as wonderful as mama Maggie, although I guess she could be worse. The weather was so extremely hot and humid that I was miserable every day by 9:30am, and the orphanage is actually pretty nice all things considered so they didn't even have work that needed to get done. So I left. Today I get to go back home to Saikeri, to my class 2 kids, to mama Maggie, Shosho, and Julius. I get to spend my last 3 weeks in the place I'm most content with the most wonderful family. But, that being said, I won't have internet until I come back to Nairobi for my flight so I may or may not be able to talk to anyone until then. On a side note, I've now been swimming in the Indian Ocean! Yayyyy. Love you all and I'll talk to you (and see you) sooner than you know

I don't usually update this often (obviously) but I'm laying in bed fairly paralyzed and have been all day and this lovely lady, Carla, who had her flight home today, left her internet stick with us so I figured I'd use this opportunity wisely :) I'm sick as a dog. I was totally fine yesterday but then last night I woke up trying to keep myself from passing out which was very bizarre because I didn't know that in sleep I'd be conscious enough to wake myself up so as to not pass out. Weird. Anyways, I was nauseous and getting stomach cramps all night among other awful symptoms, didn't sleep at all, felt like death, and haven't left bed most of today. Not fun. Luckily (don't know if this is actually lucky or not but whatever) there's another girl who is just as sick as me with the same shit and she's in the bed right next to mine! We've been bonding all day over how awful we feel. And also luckily, I came to Nairobi yesterday and if I was still in Saikeri, although I'd have a nurse mama right there to take care of me, I'd also have to be sick in a latrine instead of a real bathroom and if I got up at night there would be no electricity to light my way anywhere. So really this situation is as ideal as it's gonna get. AND since I'm in Nairobi I have a plethora of hospitals to choose from if I should need one, whereas in Saikeri we only have mama Maggie (who is wonderful obviously, but still not a hospital). I don't have anything cool to update you on because I haven't done anything awesome today but this is life so you can all hear about it. Send well wishes my way (and for my sickly friend too) and I love you all tons

I don't know how many people actually read this but for anyone who looks forward to my updates- sorry it's been so long! I've been living in Saikeri which does not have internet which is actually kind of nice but inconvenient when you want to tell people how everything is going. So where do I begin? This past month has been pure bliss. Life is incredible but most Americans would find it less than enjoyable I'm sure. Nothing much happens in Saikeri. We have market on Tuesdays and Fridays and people walk from hours away to come to that and they're all dressed in their traditional maasai best which you'll all be able to see as soon as I upload any photos to facebook (don't hold your breath though, internet here is not usually good enough for that). So Tuesdays and Fridays are kinda cool for that. All the other days are pretty monotonous- wake up around 6:30 because it's finally light enough for me to pee in the latrine (at night I can pee outside but when it gets close to the morning I'd risk being seen by all the schoolchildren so I figure that's not such a good idea haha). Then I read in bed for an hour or so until I ahve to get dressed for school, get dressed, brush my teeth and throw my hair up. Then I go to the house to eat the daily breakfast of white bread with blueband spread, jam, or peanut butter and chai tea. At 8:15 we walk over to the school and I go to my class 2 kids and teach them (usually) all the subjects- math, english reading and writing, science, kiswahili, and occasionally social studies or religion although I'm not so good at those so I try to get away with not doing them haha (I know, you're thinking "what? she can teach kiswahili but not social studies or religion? that's ridiculous." but it's not. kiswahili is easy because I'm not expected to know anything so I just hope that the kids know how to pronounce their words correctly and write and shit and it's good. This is Africa, it's good.) So we have tea break for a half hour during the day where I go home and relax, and then I go back and do the remaining lessons until lunch. At lunch I let my kids go because I'm such an efficient teacher that I get everything done in the morning :) Lunch varies every day-typical kenyan food though. Then because it's so hot I get really tired so I take a nap or at least rest just about every day after lunch for an hour or 2. Then we read (we being me and the other volunteers), play cards, or sit around for a while. Sometimes we go for walks but thats rare because it's so freaking hot here. This past week April and I ran a girl's education class after school for the ladies in classes 6, 7, and 8- that was awesome! We taught them all about puberty, safe sex, STIs, especially HIV/AIDS, and we found out that they had no pads donated this year so we gave them some and then we found out a lot of them didn't have panties so we went to the city and bought some of those for them too. They were so happy. Then at 8 or 8:30pm we have dinner and then go to bed sometime after that. It sounds really boring and its dry, dusty, and dirty. The kids love to touch mzungus- I don't know if they expect us to feel different or something but I've learned that my body belongs to all of them, not just me, and they will constantly be all over me. They've got grubby little hands but I love them all and honestly have no problem with it. We've also been re-doing the library which was complete shit before but is looking much better now and will be wonderful in a few weeks! The kids don't even use it now because it's so bad. I'll also post pics of that at some point. Hmm, what else? Shosho (my grandma) taught me how to bead and I helped her make some keychains the other day which was awesome. Nini (mama) is gonna have her baby seriously any day now. Yeah I guess that's about all the news I have. It's not much to talk about but Saikeri is a dream come true for me. I've never been happier.