We miss you all.

It's hard to believe that we have been in Kenya for over a week now. In some ways it feels like we have been here longer. It seems as though we have thoroughly adjusted to rural living in Kenya.

Here is a typical day for us in Kenya. We wake up in the morning around 5:30 to the sound of the rooster crowing. Then we use our flashlight to begin getting ready for school. We hear the voice of our host mother, "Nikola, water is ready for you." We go in one at a time to the bathing room where we spash warm water on ourselves to clean. It is freezing outside before the sun comes up and we wake up completely after our shower. Then we sit together in the living room and take our breakfast. We drink chai, cow's milk and tea leaves and eat a cooked egg and about 3 butter and jam sandwiches. All of the food portions are absolutely enormous. We walk out into the yard of our compound to brush our teeth and fill our water bottle before we leave for school.

Around 7 we start off on our long journey for school. On Monday night it rained very heavily so for Tuesday and the days after it took a longer time because we were hiking through thick mud that made our shoes weigh about 5 pounds more. We walk along the road for about 10 minutes and then veer off onto a foot path that winds up and down 3 enormous hills between our home and the school. We look around the hills of Kenya and can see for miles. The grass and trees dot the hills and there are only a few small homes dotting the landscape. As we approach the school there are children who begin to walk with us. They smile shyly at first and then more boldly. Some move closer to touch our hand.

We enter the school area and the entire school (about 500 students) are gathered outside for an assembly. We see so many eyes glued to us and warm smiles eager to catch a glimpse of "The visitors." We enter into the teacher's room at the end of the compound. We begin to plan our lessons and mark some of the student books that are scattered on our table. When it is time for class to begin a student rings a bell outside. We go to our separate classes with a lesson plan in our hand and a piece of dusty chalk in our pocket. I walk into the room and the class of 50 stands to greet me. "Good morning Class," I tell them loudly. "Good morning teacher," they reply eagerly." "How are you today class?" "Fine thank you teacher!" "You can sit." I proceed with my lesson talking slowly and loudly in a slightly altered accent so that they can understand. I ask a question and immidiately 10 hands shoot into the air, "Teacher...Teacher...Teacher," they shout out trying to catch my attention so that I will call on them. The students are crowded in their desks and they sit with their arms around their friends, boys and girls. When the bell rings and it is time for me to leave they beg me to stay. "Please we have free time next keep teaching us more."

On our breaks we have tea with the headmistress in her office. They prepare us a lunch at the school. The children eat a mush like substance made from oats donated by the US. They live too far away to go home and otherwise they would go hungry.

On our way home from school we walk with several students who hold our hands. They sing us songs and teach us words in Kiswahili, while we pant for breath hiking up the hills...

We have just been informed that we must now go to the airport to try to recover Nikki's bag, which is still lost. Hopefully sometime soon we will have a chance to finish the description of our day and also post more information. We have so much to say, that there isn't possibly time to say it all.

We miss you all!