An Average Day...(Doesn't Exist)

       Our general “schedule” is different every day, but here is a basic outline of my Kenyan lifestyle.

8:00 am – Breakfast  (Chai tea and bread – we usually add to it back in our apartment)

        After that we usually choose from a variety of things including work on service projects, running with Chance, hanging out with the nursery school kids that come to the center for school (but not for too long – they are a little wild), walking to buy delicious fruit from the stands down the road, going to town for shopping or food or Julie’s coffee, or talking to whoever we see around the center, including the kids who got sent home from school or who haven’t started yet.

1:30 pm – Lunch  (Rice and beans – goes great with an avocado)

         Next up it’s usually back to work on our projects, to town if we didn’t make it in the morning and need to go, blogging, or whatever else we can find to do.

4:45ish pm – Kids get home from school  (Best part of the day!!)

         Once they are home, there is so much to do! After rushing them to wash their uniforms, there’s football, sometimes karate, sometimes acrobatics, just relaxing (what the kids always say they’re doing), Swahili to learn, secret handshakes to practice, names to try and remember, children to be chased, piggy-back rides to be given, and most of all, laughs to be had.

6:00 pm – Mara Clara is on tv  (The kids were obsessed with this show. The finale was this week, so HOPEFULLY they won’t watch the one that’s replacing it, and we can play more.)

7:00 pm – Dinner  (Either rice or ugali, which is very dough-like but more dense, and either kale or pea-like beans)

         Eating in the dining hall with the kids is quite the experience. It’s insanity. They are everywhere! And there’s only enough seating for about 1/3 of them, so they mainly sit on the floor or stand around an extra table. It’s so fun to watch, though. And whenever someone is full, they just empty their plate into someone else’s. Which I usually have to do every time; I can never finish it all!

8:00 pm – Kids go do their homework

         Most nights I go and sit with the Class 8 group while they work. Some nights I get asked for help, and I’m surprised to admit that my Organic Chemistry class really helped me out one time. (I still hate it, though.) Then sometimes a couple of the Class 6 kids need help with their math. It’s so much fun!

9:00 pm – Kids go to bed

Peter, James, Francis, Isaac, and Jackson in the front.

Awful picture of me, but it's such a good one of them!

         Almost every night I walk the older boys (ages 14-18) back to their dormitory, and we stay up for awhile just hanging out and talking. They love to joke around, and  so do I! Three of them have an on-going argument about who gets to marry my little sister. :D It’s hilarious. Then there’s teasing each other. They love to call each other “Black Monkies”, and then most nights they sing and dance. If I’m lucky, they sing in unison to me. So much fun! Then when they need to go to bed, they insist on walking me back to my room. I love those boys.