flies, tea, and water

Hey guys

so i'm in kenya! haha but y'all already knew that. I've been here for about a week and have about a week left to go. I've been having a great time so far!

So i guess i'll start with the trip here. I had to be on the shuttle at 2:30 am. So i just stayed up that night because i didn't want to sleep in and miss my flight!

I didn't have a lot of room to pack things because i had to bring over some speakers for the campaign.

These were my two bags! one was just the speakers and the other was almost filled by just the speakers.

The flights were good, on both international flights i had my row to myself so i could spread out some which was super nice!

I think i was delirious in that picture, not sad like i look haha

I of course also took advantage of the free wine/beer they offer on international flights!

When i had almost made it to Amsterdam, i looked out my window and saw Megans house!

Finally made it to kenya and made my way through the aiport and to the hotel in Nairobi

Things have been good since i've been here. I've gotten a lot of work done. I'm out in a smaller city called Narok which is near the site for the water borehole we're trying to dig. I've been going out daily to the area and learning about the different beneficiaries of the water project. There are about 10 schools who will use the water, then a couple bigger shopping center type places (not like a mall, more like 20 or so shacks that people hang out around) then a ton of villages, a couple orphanages, and finally a new medical clinic they're building.

It's been a lot of fun, the first day i went out to the site where the hole will be dug, there were about 40 people waiting there who had heard i was coming. They wanted to get to meet me and talk to me about the water project. It was really great getting to put a face with these people. It also made me really nervous that i don't want to let them down so i have to do my best!

Most of the pictures i've taken are on my other camera and i didn't bring my cable but i did take one at one of the schools of some of the kids outside. I know it's not great.

We also went to a lot of villages and talked to the local people. This means going into their home and drinking a cup of steaming hot tea while trying to combat the hundreds of flies going for your ear, nose, eyes, and mouth.

One of the women, whom we made a member of the local water board, made me a necklace! 

I've been needing to get a lot of "human interest" photos of dry land and kids with flies covering their face and stuff like that to make the rotary people sad so they'll give more money, but with my luck it has been raining almost every day i've been here and so everything is very very green. I'm trying my best though so hopefully i get a couple tear jerking photos to use.

It's taken me a little while to get back used the the whole "no clocks in africa thing" where we make a plan to meet at 10am to start the day and don't end up doing anything until 2pm if at all. 

And i didn't forget near as much swahili as i thought i had! I thought it was gonna be almost like starting over but it has been going pretty well in that area too.

overall everyone has been very very welcoming and i hope all of this goes as planned and we can get this water to all of these people.

no for the down side! I saved up like a weeks worth of Hulu shows because i knew i was going to have some downtime in the evenings or some days all together. I got here and on the second night tried to watch hulu and it isn't available in this country!!! ahaghghghg so i looked around and tried netflix....nope! then today i was like hey wait, maybe i can go to the station's website and watch these shows that way! NOPE! ugh oh well, i guess i'll just sit in front of my computer for 3 days straight when i get back home!

The other bad part this trip was the jet lag. It wasn't that bad but i usually don't have any problem with it at all. i got here and slept completely through the first night, which is actually better than i usually do. But then that evening i got sleepy and fell asleep at about 630pm which means i woke up around 2am and was wide awake ready for the day! Wasn't too fun but i randomly got on skype and found a couple hoodlums that i could skype with!

sorry you couldn't see me or megan, callie but it was great to get to see both of you!

Anyways, this is getting a little lengthy so i'll end it here. I miss you guys tons and you all have to come visit me sometime in kenya!

"Everybody's Hometown"

Hey

so here's my update since the last blog, brace yourself, it's kinda long!

I've been trying out a bunch of the local places. I have a couple that i like the most right now.

The first i'll talk about it the Raven.

It's a great local place with tons of beer with an amazing happy hour from 4-6 and 10-close! Like anything you could want. And a few of the bartenders that work here brew their own beer and it's sold here too!

they also have great food here. all organic and anything they can buy local they do. i probably come here for lunch at least 3 times a week.

They also have bands play every weekend but i haven't been to watch any of those yet. Hopefully soon!

Another place i like going is called Wild Iris. 

It's just a small little coffee shop where i go and get some work done. I snuck a couple pictures of the inside for you guys!

I think i've told some of you but also i've been going to spin classes like crazy. 

Five times last week and now three times this week. I think it's going to work out really well in my health scheme! At first it was tough but i feel like i'm starting to get the feel for it now and am enjoying myself in there. The only thing is i get annoyed with all the people who don't do what the instructor says. They'll just sit there doing their own thing and i'm like if you want to do that, go out on an exercise bike on your own! You're ruining the vibe!

I drove to phoenix this past weekend to see my friend Melissa whom i met in Kenya about 4 years ago. I had an amazing time. We sat around all day drinking wine and catching up. Something i picked up on about an hour into the conversation was that she lives with a pot dealer hahaha. Her roommate Reann was really nice though. But about every hour someone would come by, they would go in the back yard, smoke some and then they would leave and she would come in with more money hahaha. And she had a giant canister full of the big pot bud things. 

But ya i had a great time. After we talked all day they cooked dinner and then we got ready and went out to a few gay bars in phoenix. Apparently there are a ton there. They said that they have the most out of any city in the US. i'm not sure if it's true or not because they make up a lot of facts. Anyway, we went to the first one and drank a ton, i barely remember leaving to go to the second one (we had been drinking all day, remember)! I remember some at the second one like telling a go-go dancer he looked like he was 12, then i don't remember anything about the 3rd one! i do remember trying to get the cab driver to take his pants off once we got back home though! Then the next morning i woke up and i was laying the in middle of the living room floor! hahaha all in all it was a great night! I didn't take any pictures out at the bars, just of the drive there and back. Lots of mountains and cacti!

In other news, Arkansas (jerome) and i are i guess attempting this thing long-distance. Neither of us really know what to expect but like each other a lot and want to try. He's a pretty great guy so we'll see! But right now all we can really do is Skype, which we do pretty much every night for 2-3 hours haha. After i get back from kenya he's thinking about flying out here to see me. If not though in march he's going to vegas with his mom and aunt and so i'll be able to drive over there and spend a weekend with him.

Work stuff is going well. We've raised about $500 with the election facebook site alone! We have a few other fundraisers coming up after i get back from kenya too that should bring in a pretty big lump. I'm starting to get really excited because i'm leaving in a few days! I'll only be there a couple weeks though, coming back on i think Feb 10th or something. I have to get back so i can meet with the north carolina rotary club to give them all the information i get on this trip and start trying to raise the $100k with them that this water project is going to take! 

I still haven't really met anyone from prescott but that's ok. I'm having a great time with what i'm doing for work and my personal life. I think this change upgraded my life by about 100%.

Anyway i know this is getting super long but i just wanted to say thanks to everyone for blogging! I really do appreciate it! I miss everyone of you guys tons and think about you everyday i'm here!

Love you all!

B-rad

PS. incase you're wondering, "everybody's hometown" is prescott's motto! hahaha

road trip to new home!

Gonna give this another go....

I know I haven't been great at blogging in the past but i'm trying again!

The drive out here was pretty good. My dad came with me but i still drove most of the way so he could work on his computer and phone in the car. We drove 11 hours the first day and then the next day drove the last 4. We got here and unpacked all my stuff in my new home!

a little bit different! haha but it's a lot bigger inside than it looks. Once i finish getting the inside all organized i'll take some pictures and show you. Right now there is shit everywhere on the inside.

prescott is really pretty. and there is pretty much any kind of store/restaurant i could want here. there are a lot of places i can't wait to try. i do wish i had someone i knew to explore with me thought! I'll take a tour of the city soon and take lots of pictures to show on here.

prescott has a million thrift stores. they're different than oklahoma ones. they aren't all a bunch of shitty old things. you can really treasure hunt at them! i plan on getting everything for my little room/home from them! I joined the Gym here and started working out again. I went to my first spin class there this morning and it went well! i'm going to shoot for 5 times a week, but we all know how lazy i am!

work is going really well. Our two main project right now are the election and a water project. Meitamei is running for parliament again, hopefully it wont get rigged this time. The polls have him leading right now with 80% of the votes. One thing we are working on right now is fundraising to be able to have a representative at every voting spot to make sure the votes don't get rigged this year. Also we're working in a giant water project. We are working with Rotary international and are trying to raise $100k to bring water to thousands of people. The plan right now for kenya is probably that i'll head over around the 23rd and come back a few weeks later. I have to go do a lot of ground work for the project like get the land surveyed and figure out a detailed budget for the whole project. Gonna be fun! haha

I have the most relaxed work schedule ever :) i get to pretty much work whenever i want and take breaks whenever i want! except when we have meetings, like the other morning when i had to wake up at 530a for a 6a rotary meeting!

I miss you guys tons though and i need you all to blog more!