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Karibu Kenya

Sorry it has taken me so long to update my blog! I have a cell phone, which I can check my email on, but it costs a lot of money to load big websites (and it is pretty annoying to try and type long messages), so this is the first time I have headed to an internet café in town.

A short overview of our activities since we got here:

We spent a few days in Nairobi and then we drove to Loitokitok where we will be for the rest of training. I am living with a host family, and I absolutely love them. They don’t speak a lot of english like some of the other host families, but that means that I have been able to practice my Kiswahili a lot, which has been really good for me! My mama is amazing, and she has taught me to wash my clothes by hand and how to cook some Kenya dishes (chapati, ugali, sukuma wiki (kale), spinach) and in return I made my family guacamole this week which they really liked!

A typical day in training consists of waking up at 6am, getting ready for the day (bucket shower), eating breakfast and then helping my mom with chores until 8am when language class starts. Language class is at my house so our trainer (Grace) and another trainee (Dom) come to my house every morning. We have language from 8-12:30 when we walk to town for lunch. There are a number of small places to eat in town and a typical lunch for me is beans and chapati or sukuma wiki and chapati, everyonce in a while I will order getheri (beans and maize). Lunch usually costs less than 100 shilings, which is about $1.50. Then in the afternoon we have technical traning from 2 - 4 or 5. Our technical training can be a variety of things, from going to Kenyan secondary schools and observing, or having guest speakers come and tell us about the differences in education systems, or writing lesson plans, and doing mock lessons for the other trainees. Then at 5 we are done for the day, and ususally a bunch of us go to town to have chai and chapati or we go for a walk. We have to be back at our homestay by 6:30pm because that is when it starts to get dark, so we all head home. At home I do my homework, usually with the help of my 9 year old host sister, and I try to help with dinner the best I can. We usually eat around 7 or 8 and then watch the news or tv. By 9pm I am exhausted and I head to bed, and I am usually asleep by 10.

Training is busy, but I absolutely love it here!!! The other trainees are amazing and they have become like a second family here. We had a Thanksgiving celebration yesterday, complete with a turkey, making hand turkeys, sharing what we are thankful for and eating way too much food. We made mashed potatoes and stuffing and everything tasted amazing! We also played some football, some volleyball and later in the evening we sat around a fire talking and drinking beers! It was nice to have a full day of Americanness! I am going to attempt to upload photos now, so hopefully this works, the internet here is super slow! I miss you all and send all my Kenyan love! Feel free to write me emails at ceboyer@gmail.com, it is by far the best way to get ahold of me!

Update...

Just wanted to post a little update. I got back from a family vacation in Costa Rica, which was amazing, on Sunday. (Above are pictures of the sunset over our pool at our beautiful hotel, and the second one is the view from our room! It was a great last taste of luxury!) From there I went straight to Philly where we had our Peace Corps staging event. I met the other volunteers in my training group (25 in total) and they are all AMAZING! Right now we are in the airport waiting for our flight, and looking forward to a good 24+ hours of travel we have ahead of us!

Once in Kenya we will start our 9 weeks of Pre-Service Training, learning Swahili along with technical, cultural and safety strategies. I have no idea when I will get a chance to get on the internet again, but when I do I promise an update and pictures!

Saying good-bye to everyone was really really hard, but thanks for all of the going away parties, and well wishes, I love you all! I am so excited for my adventure and please keep in touch!

KENYA! It's finally official!

KENYA!

I have finally received my official invitation to serve as a Peace Corps Volunteer! I will be serving in Kenya as a secondary school science teacher, and I could not be more excited. And, I am happy to say that this blog, which started as a documentation of my application process, will now be my official "newsletter" to all my loved ones at home while I am in the Peace Corps.

I leave for Staging on November 2nd (soooo soon!) and will then fly to Africa for Pre-service Training for 3 months before being sworn in (if I make the grade) in January 2010. I will then serve as a volunteer for 2 years in a secondary school somewhere in Kenya! Making my end of service date sometime in January 2012. WOW!

I have so much to get done before leaving, including moving, going on vacation, buying skirts to wear to work in Kenya, buying a ton of other PC essentials (leatherman, headlamp etc.) and leaving my job at the lab (I gave my two weeks notice on Friday). But, I am so excited and looking forward to this amazing adventure.

WHAT A RELIEF! IT'S FINALLY OFFICIAL! YAY!

And a hugggggggggggge thank you to my family, friends and coworkers who have encouraged me through the entire application process!

Why I Joined the Peace Corps

As I sit at work in the middle of the night all alone I have started the habit of reading everything I can about Peace Corps/Africa, specifically, Lesotho. As I was reading a letter from a RPCV who served in Lesotho she recommended documenting exactly why you decided to join the Peace Corps so you can refer back to those reasons on the tough days. Not only do I think this is sage advice, but I also thought people eventually reading this blog might want to know why it is, exactly, that I wanted to join the Peace Corps.



So, here are some reasons I joined the Peace Corps:

• To serve as a global citizen. -I want to make a difference. I have been given a lot of advice about this goal, mainly current and returned volunteers have warned against thinking that you can change the world, but I think that I can make a difference and this is the number one reason why I am joining the Peace Corps. I also eventually want to work in the medical field and work in a community that is under-served, from my background and education I am keenly aware that those under-served communities are not just found in the US.


• To gain invaluable work experience, which will benefit me in the future. -It is said that the Peace Corps is the hardest job that you will ever love. With this widely known and accepted statement comes a recognition by employers and educational institutions that RPCV posses unique qualities which set them apart.


• To be immersed in another culture, and learn another language. -PC volunteers are given a rare opportunity to live and work in another culture for two years, rather than merely seeing a culture through the lens of a vacationer. I have always loved traveling (thanks Mom and Oma) and this is an extension of that passion.


• To have an adventure. -Pretty self explanatory, except to add that at the current time in my life I have no significant responsibilities (a house, family, longterm career) to keep me from taking this opportunity.


• Etc. -There are some other reasons, like, taking a break after Willamette and before PA school, pursuing a challenge, learning to live without (which I would expect will teach me to be even more thankful for the things I have), and the opportunity to travel all over Africa, but the ones listed are the main reasons.

After writing them down and articulating them (again, since I did this for the application about 8 months ago), I am sure that I am making the right decision.

The Application process....

I wanted to start my new blog with a quick overview of my experience in the application process so far:

• I began my application in October 2008
• I submitted my application January 26 2009
• All of my recommendations were submitted February 11, 2009 (what a great birthday present!)
• I had my interview February 16, 2009
• My follow-up interview was February 23, 2009. At this point my recruiter -Erin- recommended me for service, but I was not given a nomination due to health volunteer nominations being full. I was told I would hopefully receive a nomination before my graduation in May, and could expect to leave in the Spring of 2010.
• Change of plans -I got a call from my recruiter with an opportunity for an earlier nomination (most likely January), the only catch is that I would not be nominated for a health position, but rather as a science teacher in Africa. After thinking this option over for, oh, about 20 seconds, I decided to go for it! (I did say I was flexible, and I liked the earlier departure date.)
• Received my official nomination on March 26, 2009 (during my AMAZING spring break trip in Tahoe with the girls!) for Science teaching in Africa.
• Next step was medical and background checks. I completed all paperwork and sent it to PC HQ at the end of April 2009.
• I was notified I had been dentally and legally cleared in June.
• Then I waited... In the meantime I graduated from Willamette University in May with my BA in Biology and continued to work at Salem Hospital in the lab. (This was a long waiting period, where I did not hear from the Peace Corps for many weeks at a time... patience...)
• I finally found out I was medically cleared July 24, 2009
• I was contacted by the placement office and sent them an updated resume, and final transcript a few days later

and.... Here I am. Trying to wait as patiently as possible for word on my official invitation. I am trying to expect the worst and hope for the best, and gain as much useful tutoring/teaching/classroom experience as possible in the meantime.