Visitors no more

Date: Thursday June 11 to Sunday June 14

I am officially no longer a visitor in Oyugis! For the past couple days Jen and I have begun to do things without Roy and everything has been great. From the marketplace to the hospital to the internet cafe we know where everything is, what everything costs, and how to communicate with the people in Oyugis.

My favourite part of each day is when we go down the street to Oyugis Primary School from about 5:30 to 7 pm to run and play soccer with the children. Many of the children follow us as we walk down the street and many others now know exactly what time we will be there so they just show up every day to play soccer or watch us. The children seem to be doubling in numbers every time that we go and it is difficult to tell them to go home when we leave.

On Saturday June 13 we went to Roy's village Wire. It was absolutely stunning! Unlike Oyugis his village is very peaceful, serene, and there are a lot less people. We had a fantastic home cooked meal prepared by Roy's younger siblings who chased, killed, and cooked the chicken. We took a really nice hike up to the peak of the hill that Wire is on and the view was breathtaking. Unfortunately the photos that we took do not represent what we saw.

On Sunday June 14 we awoke to loud music blasting and people preaching for hours. We spent the day relaxing by reading on the balcony and playing with children in a grassy area behind our hotel. We made so many friends, yay!

Greatest learning experiences:

• Learning and speaking the language of Oyugis called Luo. Everyone laughs when we speak Luo because the majority of white people don't know the language since they only stay in Oyugis for a very short amount of time. I love learning the language and it is really important for communication with the children and many adults.
  
  Life in Kenya:
• People are either African or a Mazungu. A 'Mazungu' (white person) includes those who don't appear to be Caucasian to us: Indians, Asians, South Americans, etc.
• It is a lot of hard work to live a simple life. Most people do not have fridges or freezers so the food that they eat is purchased in the marketplace or from someone on the street and prepared every single day. Roy's sister explained to us the difficulty of chasing and catching a chicken and I can't imagine how long it takes to remove all the feathers and cook on a small little stove called a 'Jiko'. We have it so easy.
  
  Most Memorable Moments:
  
  • An 8 year old girl ran and kept up with me for my entire jog at Oyugis Primary. Afterwards a group of about 12 - 15 children stretched and did yoga with us copying exactly what we did. It really didn't matter what we were doing it was just like Simon Says and they loved it! The children even started chanting with us "Warrior 1...Warrior 2...Warrior 3" as we did the yoga positions with them.
  • Learning how to make coal and mud huts
  • Buying beautiful fabric in the marketplace to make custom African dresses.
  • The sky is absolutely gorgeous! It is difficult to describe but there are so many beautiful colours and as I scan the sky it is so different from every angle.
  • Making friends with our hotel staff...I love them! They all think Jen and I are between 15 and 17 years old which is hilarious.