Places to go back to

I saw these places while in Kenya and thought they would be fun to visit when I go back.

 This place is a hotel in the rain forest!  How cool is that!?  It was gorgeous and had it's own pathway for a rain forest walk.  I saw monkeys right outside.

And this place is in Kisumu.  It is a retreat overlooking Lake Victoria.  The pool looked so nice.  Gorgeous views.  And it's right next to Impala Park with lots of animals.  I saw monkeys playing in the trees right by here.

Kenya!

While I was in Kenya the one time I tried using the internet it worked too slow to really blog.  So I wanted to make a post while the trip is still fresh in my mind.  I woke up in my bed this morning still in culture shock at being back, I still haven't unpacked my bags, and I'm feeling slightly sick from malaria pills.  Seems like a good time to post.

Kenya was amazing!  I already know I want to go back.  It is a gorgeous country.  I love how green everything is!

I also love the people!  They are so amazing.  Kenya is a very social and welcoming country.  Everyone would wave and say hello.  The people were so generous and loving.  I especially fell in love with the kids.  I knew it would happen.  I think I'll just make a completely separate post of pictures of cute kids.  The school children I met were so polite and cute in their uniforms.  They loved us taking their picture and showing them.

I was afraid of being hungry there, but I totally wasn't.  I loved the food.  Chapati was delicious and reminded me of Cafe Rio tortillas.  Ugali is a staple there and is delicious.  I also really enjoyed the talapia from Lake Victoria.  

Sleeping with a mosquito net made me feel like I was hanging out in a fort.

I loved the volunteering I was able to do.  I got to go to the orphanage twice.  It's called Babies in Crisis.  This orphanage takes in abandoned babies.  Most of the babies are abandoned by young girls or families who are too poor to care for them.  I loved these kids.  When I held them their eyes lit up.  It broke my heart to leave the orphanage when this one little girl cried when I left and whenever I put her down.  The first baby I held was Darius.  He fell asleep in my arms.  So precious.  This picture of me is of feeding them breakfast.

We also went to a lot of schools.  I loved the school kids.  They would all flock to us.  We taught a lot about what the US is like and about hygiene.  The kids are so smart.  The first school we went to welcomed us to their school by singing to us.  I wish I had brought more supplies for the schools.  The kids would all recite things together like "welcome to our visitors."  They played hopscotch, jump rope, and would run around with these tires.  Their school uniforms were adorable.

We also did jigger treatments.  Jiggers are these little fleas that enter into the skin and start eating it away.  This was so heart breaking to see.  We taught about hygiene things to the kids, teachers, and some parents.  Most of the effected kids are orphaned living with other family members.  So many kids parents have died from AIDS.  So sad.

We planted trees for the reforestation of the rain forest.


I was transported there in buses, motorcycles (called piki pikis), tuk tuks.  I think the piki pikis were my favorite.  The buses would sometimes get super full.  One time I was even sitting next to a lady on the bus who was holding a live chicken.

I got to do some fun things there too.  I loved the rain forest.  It was absolutely gorgeous.  And it was my first time seeing monkeys in the wild.  I of course had to swing on one of the vines I saw there.  I went on sunset and sunrise hikes there.

I got to see lots of animals there.  Some of my favorites were going on a boat ride in Lake Victoria and seeing hippos.

I also got to go to an elephant orphanage.  They take in and take care of baby elephants left in the wild.  Most of the moms died from poachers.  Then they release them back into the wild.  These elephants were so cute.  And I got to touch them.

Lists

Once I had it pointed out to me that I'm a list person.  I guess that's my way of keeping organized.  Or semi-organized.  One of the best presents I ever gave was a list journal (last year for Anger's birthday from me and Kayela).  I should look at that again...or ask Anger how she likes it.  Even better than that was getting Jenny the portable stripper pole. Owe Chelcee the genius behind that one.  But this is a post for lists.  Lately in my journal I've been making random lists.  It's enjoyable.  So why not blog about it?

Concerts I want to go to:

• Justin Bieber (yes, I am jealous of all the little girls who get to go that I keep hearing about
• The Shins (happening today)
• Taylor Swift (I think this could be the greatest concert ever and I would sing every word)
• Dave Matthews Band (for old time's sake)

Places I want to travel to:

• Hawaii (how have I still never been?)
• A cruise...to anywhere (refer to the parentheses in bullet one)
• South America
• Africa (thank goodness this is happening in under 2 weeks!)
• India (I want to work in the leprosy colony)
• Thailand (seems like a good place to ride an elephant)
• Savannah, Georgia
• Florida (I could always go back)
• San Francisco
• Utah or New England (to see the fall leaves)
• Virginia (I still have not seen any of Laura's college soccer games)
• Revisit all my places in Europe and see Florence, Spain, Austria, Prague, Germany, Switzerland
• Australia
• New Zealand
• Tonga
• I could go on forever, so I'll just stop

Bucket list items:

• Swim with dolphins in the wild (I have endangered myself on more than one occasion trying to fulfill this one, and yet it's still up there.  Why do dolphin's have to swim so fast?)
• Kiss a black guy (maybe I should've taken some of the opportunities I've had)
• I'm sure there's more, but these are the ones I'm thinking of right now

Businesses I want to start:

Note: if you steal my business ideas from my blog, that's just mean

• Journal making business with Kayela
• Pastry shop with Laura
• Women's clinic with Stephanie
• A backpacking through Europe business with authentic in country experiences

As fatty club president I owe one of these lists to go to great food:

• raspberry tarts
• Cafe Rio pork salads
• Greek yogurt with honey from Turkey
• Sister Volsky's Thanksgiving dinner
• Lettuce wraps (why did Chili's get rid of these?)
• Nina's pizza 
• medistakake
• creamy pesto pasta
• which reminds me of pasta da vinci
• Southern bbq

Favorite musicals:

• Wicked
• Les Miserables
• Phantom of the Opera

Things that annoy me:

• Slow traffic
• boys on occasion
• bratty people
• cheapness
• passive aggressiveness

Retarded Injuries (pretty easy since all my injuries are retarded)

• breaking my middle finger while trying to catch a basketball wearing drunk glasses
• cutting my leg to the point of needing stitches while going down a jello slide
• catching my arm in the top of a fence while jumping off in attempt to recover a lost tennis ball
• falling on my knee while running before I was fully awake at 6:30 am (this may sound not intense, but it got infected and I had to see the doctor, and after it was part way healed I got a prayer blister on it)

Things I was once voted for in most likely's (see how many of them I have fulfilled)

• to be in a reality tv show
• to help a friend in need
• to marry first out of my high school friends
• to run off with pirates and elves
• to get a PhD

Favorite Smokey memories:

• The time I blamed him for farting and he started laughing at me
• The story of him running over Jasper (or getting Jasper to roll over him) to get to the hot dogs first and then having him throw up those hot dogs whole
• That he was such a good trained dog and we completely untrained him
• how he could always leave the vegetables in left overs (even if we mixed them with mashed potatoes and gravy)
• how he'd always love to walk with me
• how he waited for me to come home from college before he died

Okay, I won't make you suffer through reading any more lists...but wasn't that fun!  Go home kids and make a list.