Mfangano

Hillary and I finished our finals last Thursday, which is 9 days before our flight back to the US. It would have been VERY boring to stay at Daystar with everyone studying for their finals, so we went to Lake Victoria. I guy we met here is from one of the islands in the lake called Mfangano. They run a school and his mom is a nurse.
To get to this island, we first had to take a bus. The bus was suppose to leave at 9pm, but of course it didn't leave until 1030pm. Then, instead of a 7-8 hour bus ride, it was more like 12 hours. And this bus was very crowded. Every single seat was taken and there were children sitting on their parents laps. I'm pretty sure we had some live chickens along with us as well.
Finally we made it to the lake and had to take a 45 minute boat ride to one island and then another 90 minute ride to Mfangano. It was direct sunlight and I forgot to put sunscreen on...I wore a shirt on my head. I'm sure I looked ridiculous, but at least it kept me from getting too burned!
We finally made it to the island and we were instantly crowed by children. They followed us everywhere and always wanted to hold our hands. I think they were fascinated by my hairy arms. We ate fish and stayed in a little house that reminded me of a hobbit house. One day we hiked to the top of one of the hills and looked out over the island. It was really pretty!
People there live in the traditional homestead style. They have a house for each wife (yes they still practice polygamy) one where they cook and one for each grown male child. They are all in a little cluster. There was also no electricity on this island, which means no running water either and all the cooking was done over a fire.
It was a good experience to have. There are so many different lifestyles all over Kenya. There are the people in Nairobi who lives just about the same as people in the US and then there are those who live like the people on Mfangano and everything in between.
I wish I could add pictures, but it isn't letting me right now. If you really care, ask me when I get home (which is Sunday) and I'd be happy to show them to you!I also learned how to cook chapati and I would love to cook some for you too : )
Please pray for safe travels back and a smooth transition into American life. Also pray that there are no snowstorms while we are traveling so we don't have any delays.
See you soon!!!

Sunsets

I know I haven't posted in a while... please forgive me. I'll try to give an update on what I've been up to for the last month.
Women's soccer has officially ended for the semester. Hopefully they start again in January (here they have the luxury of practicing year round). This is a little bit sad. It was the thing that I looked forward to all day. Not only did  I get to be outside doing something that I enjoy, but I got to meet a bunch of great girls doing it! We never had any official games, but it was content with just playing for fun. Actually I preferred that. To make soccer practice even better, the sunset each evening was AMAZING! Here are some pictures so you can see what I mean:

There is a place here that students go to a lot called "the rocks". I have heard about it all semester and everyone says we should go, but no one has taken us yet. The other weekend, some of the Korean international students here invited us to go with them. They didn't actually know where these rocks were either, and I don't think we went to the rocks, but it was fun hiking with them anyway.

On the way down, we found a lake. And again, it was a beautiful sunset!
Last weekend Hillary and I and two friends of our went to Mombasa. This is a coastal city where many tourists and Kenyans like to go on holiday. Sheila's (our friend) family is from the coast, so she was our guide. We had a great time relaxing in the sunshine before we had to come back for finals.

This one is actually a sunrise, but it's basically the same thing...

Now I have to study for finals because they are worth more of my grade than any one test should ever be. 60-70%! That's like cruel and unusual punishment.
Hopefully I'll make one more post before I'm back in the States...so stay tuned.