OK. so i know i said i was leaving for western kenya today. i lied. this whole being unproductive thing and drinking beer instead has gotten the best of me. in good news though...my papers are all done now! i just have to go back and edit and do bibliographies...then tomorrow i will be on my way. i have to pack all my dirty clothes..none are really clean right now...and then there is nothing between me and Nakuru.

i'm going to be honest. i'm a little sad to be leaving kenya. my mom keeps telling me i don't have to leave the house if i don't want to for the whole month...and honestly..part of me is tempted...just because i love them so much. chumba feel asleep in my arms last night and i carried her to bed and we snuggled for a while. and Nelly and I have been having such a good time hanging out. and my mom...is just wonderful. everyday i get excited for her good morning hug...and the hug i get when i come home in the evening.

until yesterday i din't really realize how much i love this place. when i was in nairobi for the first part of the program...adjusting was hard and i don't think i ever felt at home because i still wasn't comfortable with the culture. mombasa was hard, and i don't think i realized how much i had grown from that experience until i've been back for the past couple of days. having to do things all on my own forced me to stop worrying so much, and just go with it. I was a little worried i wouldn't survive the next couple of weeks of travel until i really looked at myself. i am such a different person than i was a couple months ago. i'm completely self aware, self confident, and alot more patient. and honestly. i'm more happy than i ever have been back home. sure there have been alot of rough days...but even then...i'm in africa, really? how bad could my days really get. I see now how much i have adapted to the culture here. I may not be kenyan but i don't think i am entirely american now either.

i only hope that when i come home in under 2 months...i will be able to retain the person i have become here and still be happy with my life back at home in the states. i would be lying if i said i wasn't excited to come home...but i would also be lying if i didn't say i was totally terrified as well.

ok sorry if this was just one big jumble of thoughts...i'm going to be honest...i'm a couple beers deep and i've written alot of papers over the past couple of days...my brain is a little squishy.

hopefully the next blog will be from somewhere in western kenya or uganda.

xoxo

maggie