delirious ramblings i'm sure to regret at a later time

dilemma dilemma. i have the urge to divulge lots of bizarre details/feelings/thoughts about my experience during my time in transit (through London) to Thika, Kenya. the debate i'm having with myself is how much to divulge . one of the reasons i was unsure about starting a blog was that the majority of blogs i'd looked over online about westerners living in Africa start off with 10 computer screens worth of useless info about how much they had to endure to get to Africa, how exhausted they were, how great a shower felt, blah blah blah. of course all those things are true for me, but i'm more overwhelmed by how unbelievable lucky i feel to be here.

#1 i brought too much luggage. my Director keeps referring to my "5 month stay (or longer" and i'm not sure if this is due to a misunderstanding about my (two month) contract- or more of an inside joke with himself about my loads of stuff i carted over. the way i make myself feel better about this is that I predict that whenever i leave i will find homes for lots of what i packed and buy things from local artisans to support the economy here (even though Kenya's economy and the financial well-being of its citizens seem unrelated.). this will be right before i create world peace, naturally.

#2 i can hear both sheep and roosters from my room. the walls are painted cartoon sky blue and sea foam green. there is a disconcerting 2+ inch gap (what the hell would that be in millimeters i wonder?) between the bottom of my bedroom door and the outside world which likely includes adventurous cockroaches.

#3 i realized that the shoes i brought will not have the right kind of heel for killing those monsters.

#4 Peris just told me that their children, Annette and Keith "don't understand our mother tongue (Kikuyu), just Swahili and English" I was sure how to respond and then Sam chimed in with "too much urbanization". I widened my jet-lagged eyes and said something sympathetic-ish and then pointed out that I wish I had known two languages when I was 1o.

#5 I have it on good authority that I will at some point get a chance to hear old Kikuyu folk music. Don't get your hopes too high, Lis, but I was already inquiring about it on the car ride to their house from the airport (which took over an hour and i learned the airport isn't really in Central Nairobi).

#6 I've disclosed the fact that I don't eat goats since I'm part of the goat clan. They laughed at me but I think they understand.

-Why am I numbering things?

-Today, Peter (their nephew) introduced me to his dog named Rex. he rolled the "r" super dramatically and then informed me that Rex is a female. I loved it.

-I can't get over how flat it seems here, and the wind.

-Today Peris lectured me about some of the more embarrassing characteristics of Americans and America. We don't know how to survive, we don't know how to use our hands, we use too much timber and we're going to end up with no trees like Kenya. It made me feel like crying a bit since I knew too well how right she was. I told her I liked hand washing clothes and about my Permaculture course and how some Americans are very concerned about conserving resources.

-Sam told me that he believes that solely because I am here, G-BIACK could attract more funding. He said in his 13 years epxerience that's how he's seen it work. When the westerners or european's names disappear from the funding proposals, the funding dries up. I told him that was horrible and I am sorry.

-I'm now surrounded by Swahili conversations flying from across the room. There are visitors from the neighborhood and Sam's family. It is so pleasing to my ears. It flows like water.

Can't wait to go to the Center. Lots of projects going on there... kitchen for classes being built, culverts at the entrance being constructed, training hall soon to be built, new roof for the main building. All new garden beds to be put in. Greenhouse repairs. Soil studies. Comparative research that could be sent to John Jeavons. Follow up fieldwork with previous trainees.

Next week we are having a team-building, retreat. I think there will be close to 15 of us in total.