PCV in Kenya: Week 15

Monday

I woke up, still at Mama Gladys’ home, and quickly packed up my things and Nala. I left the house with Tina when she left for work and she was kind enough to drop me off at main stage. I caught a matatu home. When I got back, I cleaned my house and made a lot of food: popcorn, pancakes, and lentils with rice for dinner. The rest of the afternoon I worked on paperwork for school and for Peace Corps. Around 6PM, CJ and Caroline came over so they could look through the clothes in my closet and take what they wanted. It worked out for all of us 😊 I ended the day with an episode of “Yellowstone”.

Tuesday

Anitah and I showed up wearing matching black dressy overalls today. I spent all day marking chemistry papers. I don’t really mind marking papers, but after an entire day of correcting the same questions, my brain feels like mush. When I got home, I continued to finish marking because I wanted to be done before tomorrow. When I finished, I Marco Polo messaged Aunt Susan and researched places to stay for my April trip. I also did a light load of laundry before calling it a day.

Wednesday

I was able to plug in all of my grades into our school’s online portal this morning. Once this was done, I was officially done with Term 1. I spent the rest of the day finishing my PowerPoint for the upcoming Peace Corps presentation, worked on friendship bracelets, and continued researching for my upcoming trip. When I got home, I did my nails, washed my dishes, and had girl dinner of popcorn and gummy bears because I didn’t feel like cooking tonight. I finished all of “Blacklist” tonight. This was kind of sad because I have been watching this show for a long time and I’ll miss the characters. It could be a series I watch again. I ended the night by reading some of “A Clash of Kings”, the second book in the Game of Thrones series. I had been listening to the audiobook, but I had to return it to the Libby app, so I decided with my new free time, I can finish it by reading it.

Thursday

I unintentionally took my time getting ready today. This ended up being fine because unbeknownst to me, no students were in school today. I spent the morning doing some research and finished making my friendship bracelet. I went to the market around lunchtime and did some shopping before going to language class with Elma. She and I had lessons until 3PM and then I went home. At home, I got my house ready for me to be gone this weekend. I took out the trash, swept, made dinner, and packed. The power was out tonight, so it was a cold shower before bed today.  

Friday

I was able to sleep in today because it is a holiday weekend for school due to Easter being on Sunday. I did my dishes, finished packing, and took all of Nala’s things over to Sammy’s house because he is so kind and looks after her when I go away. Caroline came over and picked up some clothes I had taken to the tailor for her. I left my house shortly after this and was in Kisumu by noon. I met a Lutheran Pastor on this matatu ride which is a crazy coincidence. My first stop in Kisumu was a swimsuit shop so that I could purchase a few swimsuits for my April trip. I then had a yogurt and fruit salad at Java House before continuing on to Masai Market. Here, I got two glasses chains, a waist bead chain, and an anklet. I then went to Ritsy Salon in KCity for a pedicure (thanks Aunt Susan 😊). From here, I walked to the Peace Corps office and picked up the cat carry case that another Peace Corps Volunteer had left for me. Olivia was also here, enjoying the air conditioning, so she and I went to dinner. I had delicious pasta and got a little too excited by ordering carrot cake with a scoop of ice cream. It was a treat myself kind of day. After dinner, Olivia and I took a public tuktuk to her house because we were both going to the same place tomorrow.

Saturday

Olivia and I left the house and were at Java House by 9AM. We got breakfast here with Laura and Elda. I got an omelet with home fries and they had Tobasco which was incredible. From here, we took a 250 KSH shuttle to Kakamega where we met up with Sophie, Mark, Josh, Zoë, and Trevor at The Crying Stone. We paid the resident price of 150 KSH (non-resident is 500 KSH). It was a quick walk to The Crying Stone, and as usual, we quickly became the attraction for most of the other people there. We didn’t stay here very long, and instead went bar and restaurant hopping to hit some places that the Kakamega volunteers hadn’t been to before but wanted to visit. This included Yolo, Kwela Kwela, Roca, and Vovo. I ate the most food at Vovo compared to the other places. I got chips masala and Olivia and I split a pizza. Tonight, seven of us stayed in a nice house just outside of the downtown area. When we made it there, I showered and was asleep quickly.

Sunday ~ Easter

The group of us woke up and chatted until it was time to check out at 11AM. From here, we took a tuktuk into town to have brunch at Columbus. I got a strawberry iced tea, passion fruit juice, and an omelet. All of it was delicious. From here, we walked around Kakamega for a bit and we ran into Deborah 😊 Soon after, Laura, Olivia, and I got on a shuttle back to Kisumu. Back in Kisumu, we went to Naivis for a few things then Olivia and I went back to her house and Laura went back to hers. I had to pick up a few things that I had left at Olivia’s and then I was back on the road to go to my house. I got home around 6:30PM and moved all of Nala’s things back into my house right before it started to rain. I relaxed for a little but didn’t even make or eat dinner because I was so tired that I just went straight to sleep.

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