work/not so fabulous surprise

Laura and I had interviews on Monday to work at this big convention they're having in Boston Wednesday-Saturday. We went to the interview, and after 2 minutes of talking to the lady, she told the other woman working there that we were better than the other people on their list who were "kind of B-teamers". That was pretty funny.

So we got the job and went to our staff meeting on Tuesday night where they told us what we'd be doing, etc. Laura and I are with the 3-6 year olds, who are labled "Rompers". On Wednesday though, I am filling in for someone with the "Excusion" group who are 12-17 and go on field trips in Boston. I'm going with them on a Whale Watch out of the Boston Aquarium.

We are going to be working 8am to 10 pm or 8am to 5pm every day, with 30-40 3-6 year olds. Whoa. I think it will be pretty fun though, as long as there are not a lot of trouble makers. Aparently we have to watch out for the "Dalt Boys" though, who are brothers and are a little hard to handle.

After our staff meeting we met Uncle Rob who took us out for sushi and ice cream (yum). Then we went to the airport to pick up my mom and Joy who were in San Fransisco. While they were away we painted their room (which has been unpainted since we moved in three years ago). We couldn't decide on a color so we went out on a limb and chose a spring-y green color, whcih turned out to be a little brighter than we thought, so we were kind of nervous, but decided once we got the furniture in that it looked good.

So when they got home, they sat downstairs FOREVER and ate and talked, etc. Uncle Rob brought their bags up, so they didn't go upstairs for a very long time. Laura and I had been waiting for the moment they walked into their room all week, so we were pretty impatient. Finally Joy went upstairs to get something and came back down and kind of mouthed "whoa", which wasn't the reaction I was hoping for : ) Then my mom, about 20 minutes later, went upstairs and Laura and I kind of followed behind nonchalantly. She walked into the room, put her stuff down, and about 10 seconds later looked up and kind of screamed, "oh!" It was pretty funny. So neither of them seem to really like the color, which is kind of sad for Laura and I, but maybe it will grow on them.

pole sana Africa

Yesterday I went to the library to check out books on various countries for some research I am doing. I asked for books on Spain, The Netherlands, Mexico, The Domincan Republic, Ghana and Tanzania. The librarian was going through her head and figuring out that they had all of those countries, except that "when it got to Africa, we kind of just ran out of money, so we have a book on African as a whole". She said it so nonchalantly, too. LIke, "no we don't have books on the rare tibetan caterpillar, or golfing in Antarctica, or COUNTRIES IN AFRICA". I was shocked, and yet it just seems so typical.

crazy yard salers

So Laura and my friend Rachel and I had a yard sale on Saturday. We put up signs around the neighborhood saying that it was on Saturday from 10-5. On Saturday morning we got up at 8:30 and started putting all the stuff out on the front lawn, and hoards of people starting pulling up and coming out of their cars to buy things! By 9:30 we had made about $10 each and the yard sale hadn't even "officially" started.
People around here who go to yard sales are serious. One lady even told us she "wasn't even going to do any yahd-saylin today". Yet, she proceded to buy a bunch of random objects, and we didn't complain. So many people though, were such hecklers. I had a set of brand new bags, there were four of them, with the tags still on, and when I asked the woman for $3 she said "two sounds a lot better". There were so many people like this!! I kept trying to remind myself that this junk would have been sitting in my room otherwise, and I wouldn't be making any money off of it, but jeez! I was surprised at how cheap people were being.
People pretty much stopped coming at 2:30, so we closed up shop. Between the three of us, we made about $120, so we were pretty satisfied. Then we all went inside and took a good long nap.

makeover for sister #3

Last night at dinner Grace told us all that she wanted a makeover, so make her over we did. Well Laura made her over, whle I documented

We started by giving her one of Laura's shirts to wear as a dress, and it actually served that purpose quite nicely. Then Laura straightened her hair and put all this makeup on her, at Grace's request. She wanted Laura "to do everything she did to herself". When the transformation was complete, she looked like a completely different person! It was so cute!

Here are the pictures from the eventful evening:
http://northeastern.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2064760&l=bb9bb&id=7411464

sala ya kiswahili

This morning my mom and I went to a church service in Lynn that was led by Kenyan priests. The service was mostly in kiSwahili, but also in Kikuyu (another Kenyan language) and some in English. At one point during the service they passed the microphone around to visitors and we had to introduce ourselves and I introduces myself and my mother in kiSwahili! It was cool : ) Then after the service, I talked with some different Kenyan people and one guy invited us over to his house for a cookout sometime to eat some "good Kenyan food". I hope I get to do that, because I really miss that good Kenyan food.

Then we went outside where the whole church (English speakers) were having a cookout and no one really talked to us and it was a good reminder of how friendly and outgoing East Africans are, and how closed Americans are. Because we were standing by ourselves for a while, we left and went back home. I really liked going to the service and hearing Swahili being spoken, it made me feel like I was back in Kenya for 2 hours : ) Hopefully I will get to go back there again.

acupuncture and bus drama

Today I went to get acupuncture for the first time. I was told I have a lot of heat in my body, so the goal is to get that out. The woman put needles in my ears, between my eyes, in my arms, hands, legs and feet. Most of it was okay, but a few were pretty painful. Then I laid there and did breathing exercises for 20 minutes until she came back and took the needles out. It was very interesting, and I am going twice a week for the next three weeks with the goal of making my skin somewhat better.
On the way home, on the 66 bus, a cop pulled the bus over and everyone was wondering what was happening. The bus driver said something about someone getting searched for a gun and everybody got off the bus except me and three other people. Then the driver said the cop had pulled him over because he was "driving erratically", which he wasn't, though many drivers do. Then I realized it was two white cops and black driver. Ugh. The driver went to talk to the cops and the cops told him they didn't like his "tone" when he was talking to them. The driver took the four remaining people on the bus' names and phone numbers for a witness list, and it was another half hour or so before we got moving again. Jeez.

Good Music

Last night I got to see two of my favorite artists perform, as well as a lot of new artists I had never heard of, but were really good.
First I went to Harvard Square for the Mountain Stage Newsong Songwriter's competition. There were 10 competitors and one of them was Chris Pureka, whose music I fell in love with a couple years ago and I have seen perform in Philly and at Haverford College a bunch of times. So each competitor played two songs and they were only allowed one accompanist. Chris went first and was awesome, and I found out that my friend's boyfriend is her upright bassist, so it was cool to watch him play too. Most of the other 9 singers were really good. Some of my favorites were Liz Stahler, Emilia Dahlin, Jason Spooner, and Reva Williams. They were all "folky", but all had pretty different sounds. It was really fun.
Then I went to Central Square to see my friend Annie's band perform. I had seen them one other time in February, and she is one of the few artists whose sound I instantly fell in love with. She sings lead and plays guitar and is accompanied by an upright bassist, a cellist, and a guy who plays mandolin or banjo (or sometimes saw). So I sat there in awe as they played 8 or so songs. Chris Pureka, who had played at the songwriters contest (possibly my favorite singer/guitarist) showed up at Annie's show to listen/watch. After the show she came up and told Annie she had no idea what to expect, but that she really liked it. It was like these two artists I liked so much were coming together into one amazing night and kept overlapping. That makes a lot more sense in my head, and not so much looking at it on a computer screen. Anyway, afterwards I talked to Annie for a few minutes and went home.
I couldn't have asked for a more perfect night. This music resonates so deeply in me, it's hard to describe. I can almost feel my soul sighing with contentment.

Adjusting

The past two days I have mostly been around the house, trying to unpack and find places for things. Yesterday I went into Harvard Square to exchange money and gave 3,150 ksh and got $42 back. That was kind of depressing. Being in my house has mostly been good, but when I leave and walk around Cambridge or Boston it gets a little overwhelming. People here seem so much crankier and less friendly than in Kenya. Even when they don't say anything, you can just feel the coldness.
Last night I made Kenyan food for my family. I made pilau, kachumbari, sukumawiki, and ugali. The ugali turned our horribly. I have heard that making ugali is an artform, but thought "How hard can it be?". It was hard. And mine was not good, and nothing like anything I ate in Kenya. Other than the ugali though, everything was good and everyone seemed to like it. The pilau was an especially big hit with Laura and Joy loved the Sukuma because she loves collard greens.
Sunday I went to church with my mom at a monestary in Cambridge, which was okay. I was allergic to the incense they were spraying around the room though, so that wasn't very good. Afterwards my Uncle Rob, my mom, and I went down to Community Boating in Boston and my uncle got certified to sail there and took us all out on one of the sailboats. It was cool to see Boston from that perspective, I have never been out on the river before in the middle of the city.
So slowly, but surely I am adjusting. I still get extremely exhausted around 2-4 pm when it is my bed time in Kenya. I am hoping that stops soon. My stomach isn't used to richness of the food here yet. I weighed myself yesterday and realized I lost 10 pounds while I was gone, which seems a litle crazy.