The Story where he wrote love on his arm

This story is about when my friend Mattchew visited my site.

First we met in machakos, then I took him on the bus ride to my site. Once off the bus we had a 45 minute walk to my house.

On the way to my house we ran into my friend Jahap. Jahap is probably twenty years old, male, who lives in my village. We have new spoke together, but he is one of my best friends here. Jahap is deaf and is home from school. I usually see him riding his bike through town, sometimes with 3 jugs of water on it, and anytime he sees me, he gives me the biggest greeting I’ve had. He is always smiling and happy and excited to see me. Our conversation consists of hand signals, what we are currently doing, if we are staying here or if we are on our way someone else.

Back to the story. Jahap finds us, and gives us his typical greeting and conversation. Then he writes the word love on his arm and points to his arm and points to me and repeats this, to tell Mattchew that he loves me. Another moment that make my experience.

Day in the Life

This post will be about a day in the life of me, cause its incredibly exciting (I do wake up happy everyday).
6:30am –the time I usually wake up, from here I cant make any guarantees on how quickly I get out of bed, mom can attest to me calling still in bed and still sleepy.
7:00am –if I running this morning I’ve ate and gotten ready by 7. I’ve been running on a dried out river bed, I cant get myself ever do a “traditional” workout.(this includes inverted push-up, 1-legged squats or step-ups along the way when I get tired).
8:00am- I’m showered feed, and mostly clothed. I’ll usually clean my house or read until I leave for the day.
9:00-10:00am I start my way into town, if im walking this is 45 minutes and a dozen hand slaps, I can’t call the kamba high five a high five, because its so much more.
10am-3:00pm I could be doing anything, but its usually three things; I’m sitting through a CBO meeting, entirely in kamba, waiting for when they ask me questions, conversing with the town and snagging a few Swahili or kamba lessons, or I’m at my supervisors’ house watching his baby chase the chickens naked.
4:00-5:00pm – I might be taking chai at the obama ’coffee’ shop, then heading over to the water kiosk. Our community center has a large water reservoir that collects water from a near town and sells it, very cheap, to the community. I spend a lot of time sitting and watching the community collect their water.
7:00pm- By 7, I’ve finished everything, talked with the men who live on the compound with me and probably about to start dinner. –dinner has been bean/lentils/rice and soy nuggets with vegetables.
The night- ill finished my night reading and then talking a cold shower before bed.