Lot to talk about in kenya!

So i really have been wanting to put up a blog.These few days have been really busy! So the weekend of the 16th was nice. Saturday I went to see man that lived about a hour and a half work.(That is not the far for me these day...) I talked to the man about america common questions I get are"how many languages are in the U.S.?" "Do people live on big hills like we do in the U.S.?" "how much money can you make in the U.S.?"(This is a tough one bc a dollar can go so much farther here) Sunday I met with the priest at the catholic church. Since he only comes up once a month and I go travel on the weekends alot it has been hard to meet him. So these days the road here is bad for U.S. standards but it used to be bad for kenyian standards(1 year ago) and still kinda is.This priest has been driving up for the last 7 years! The priest has quite a good heart. I had tea and yams with him after mass. The week following was pretty boring I went to the forest a few times with some swahili (its coming..) and just relaxed. Also worked in this survey for fish farmers which I had alot of input with the people I work with so that was nice. Friday I headed to Machakos to learn about kenyian sign language(ksl). I was at a school for deaf children. I now can count, introduced myself , say where I am from, the whole alphabet and a few other things! Sign is really easy to pick up. The kids were so happy just to come up and tell me what thier name. It was also neat there was a pcv that was deaf and I was able to sign with her. I didnt always know sign but I could spell or put it in a way that made sence. If you take the time you realize deaf people are just like me and you. I learned a little about the culture too things you would never even think about. If anyone reading this and knows some deaf I would encourage you to find a way to just learn a little sign and say hi to the person! Sunday lady I was in voi and I met this lady that was a pc in 2003 in kenya and now works in Sudan. Life is so relative sometimes I think it is crazy for me to come to Kenya and people tell me "i could not do what you are doing" but this lady put it well "peace corps is nothing, in sudan there are places I cant go to the bathroom in the side of the road bc of mines" she was interusting but I dont think I would want to do all that! Tuesday I met with some Kenyians from World Vision from Nairobi. They are working to help the people here. Really liked how they were going it too. They said you(the villagers) come up with an idea, you write a proposal , you write a marketing plan but we will help you along the way. This is what people need to get out of poverty not donations of food and clothes(now I am not saying those thing dont still people). I met some students that were from marcet in WI(sorry for the spelling I need word spell checker!) that were helping at the hospital for one day and the rest of the time building a library. The other day I had a reminder of how small this world is when I saw a guy in my village wearing a shirt from Shaumberg at first I thought "no that has to be a different one not IL" but I looked on the back and it said IL! So yesterday there were some men down to try to set up tourism here main attraction being the forest. It was alot of walking but I enjoyed it. We went to this point that had probably the best view of the land I have seen here. It was I big cliff so one wrong step and you might not make it live! One of the guys(from Kenya) had studyed at Texes A&M and he had traveled alot in the U.S.(38 states) with this schooling. Once I again I another fact of the world not being so big...I was talking to him ,he asked "so what state do you live in" i replied "IL" the man said "oh I have been there" I asked "really where at?"he replied ,"peoria"...wow! I also asked them what his favorate state was,nowI dont want to even say his answer...Iowa! He told me they have I nice animal breeding program in Ames. Today and tomorrow I will be with these 3 men. I have really enjoyed my time with them, they are very well educated and have been giving me lots of ideas and things to get excited about. So my mom had written me a letter with some questions and I figured everyone would enjoy the answers. Everyone in the has a big garden or shamba that feeds thier family and sells to others, all that are not in cities that is. I define a city as a place you can buy chocolate(like Voi). The main crop is white corn(maize) there is a shortage and this is a big deal for Kenya. Beans is probably number 2. They also grow yams, casava ,potatoes and others. Fruits it is guava reason now. Mango and passion season season has about past. Fruits seem to be seasonal and there is crop rotation offen for beans and corn. Not in my neck of the woods(literaly!) but tea and coffee is grow and it is a big exporter. It is getting colder here(but I still can wear sandles) So seasons hence are opposite. Thanks for reading I will try to catch up on letters and e mails soon but I always love them thanks guys!