Cosmas Returns

Cosmas (last year roommate) returned to AEE out of the blue three weeks ago.  I had called him daily since returning from Isreal/Palestine in January but it went straight to the lady saying, "the mobile subscriber you are trying to reach is unavailable."  He called a week before he showed up at AEE on someone else's phone, when I asked him where his phone went he simply stated, "someone dropped it in the lake."  I responded, "Well, I guess when you live on an island, the chances of that happening jump considerably."  He left today back to the island, but it was great to see him and spend time together.

The most entertaining conversation with Cosmas occured during an explanation to him that it is not nice in my culture to call people fat.  He looked at me dumbfounded and said, "you mean it's not good to tell American women they are fat?"  "Nope," I said.  He replied, "OH NO!, I've told so many American women they are fat. When I meet a fat American women I usually say, "it is so nice to meet such a fat woman."  Oh no..."  It is a compliment here to say, "you haven't lost any weight" or "wow, you've put on weight!"  I would compare it to "you look nice today" in the States.  I wish you all could meet Cosmas to understand how sad he was about possibly upsetting American women and what an amazing person he is.

Cosmas' Return:


The Foxfires

The Kenya school year is set up with the calendar year and instead of a summer break (it's summer here year round) they have April, August, and December off from school.  Therefore, all of the schools that I go to are closed for April.  We are going on a short weekend trip this weekend and then to Mombasa for a week and half next week.  There are now four Foxies: Steve, Sam, Bela, and Nicholas.

The 2009 Foxies:


Usually there is an excess of girls, but this year there are none to be found and a plethora of boys.  It is interesting sleeping in a third of a Quonset Hut with five people without individual ceilings and one big round ceiling.  On account of the round ceiling, when someone uses the sink or toilet, on the other side of the Hut, it sounds like the sink or toilet is in your ear.  I use to be a light sleeper, but I think Kenya has fixed that right up.

They are all very cool guys and I get along well with them.  They are also 19 years old which makes for an interesting time.  I am like the Foxfire RA.  We had a heart-to-heart this week about cleaning up after yourself and times when it is alright to be loud and when we should be quiet.  Two days later, we're doing well.

Entertaining Conversation

I finally got to sit down with the very busy head of the Foxfire program to discuss how things are going and upcoming events.  Here is the conversation we had:

Him: "I hear the Foxfires aren't getting up at 6:30 to pray."
Me: "They're supposed to get up at 6:30 and pray?  Nobody told me."
Him: "(laugh) Yes, sorry we need to talk more often.  They should get up at 6:30, pray together, excersise together, clean their rooms and themselves, and have breakfast before 8 AM devotion.
Me: "Interesting.  You want me to head this up?"
Him: "Yes."

So, this morning at...7 AM...I got all the Foxies up, we went in the common room and prayed, then we stretched and jogged a mile (I'm terribly out of shape), and then came back lie down because we couldn't breathe until 8 AM devotion.  We leave tomorrow morning at 7 AM on our trips so we won't have 7 AM work outs for two weeks, but when we get back...watch out for a really out of shape mzungu!