Jaimie's updates

Hey you guys!!!! how are you?!just a few details about what it's like here:it is COLD! it's their winter here so it's overcast until about 1everyday and then it starts to warm up, but i'm wearing pants and myfleece right now w/ my feet tucked in under me b/c they arecold...which many of you know is pretty normal even in warm weather :)locals have terrible kaoroke voices, painfully terriblethere are mutatus (public buses) everywhere and even the locals callthem crazy means of transport-they usually are blaring loud music,some have lights around them like in a party bus, and some EVEN haveindividual tv screens on the backs of their seats playing musicvideos...crazy! they are fun, uncomfortable, and cheap cheap cheapwe don't have running water, so when we need to flush the toilet (byneed i mean when there's something other than pee in there) we dump aload of water from the well into thetank and then flush, we take ourshowers in a bath tub w/ a orange "home depot" sized bucket, splashspalsh, rub on some soap, rinse, and you're done! shaving legs hasbecome unimportant and unecessary and i can't bring myself to make theeffort necessary to wash my hair yet-so the last couple days i've justput it up in a bun w/ a head scarf-it makes denying the need to washit much easier :) mmmmwe gave the kids jump ropes yesterday and they loved them so that wasreally fun, i tried jumping rope w/ a bunch of them w/ a big jump ropeand got winded after a few rounds aand felt my joints hurting and bodyfat jiggling w/ every jump, hahahaha! i'm getting ooooooold!the kids are really fun, only the older ones speak english, they workso hard, never complain, play hard, and one thing that stands out tome so much here is how well they take care of each other andespecially the younger ones. i absolutely love love love the othergirls/women that work at teh orphanage. so much fun, we laugh a lottogether, they make fun of me for always whistling, they are alwaysteaching me new words in swahili and i'm always forgetting them andasking htem five hundred more times, they are patient in tecahing menew things and they are strong strong women w/ a lot of love. thereis so much that i can leanr from them.we went to 14 falls yesterday, a beautiful waterfall park and weretaken across the falls by these boys that live there and take peopleacross for a living, they new the exact path to take and the exactplaces to step so that we wouldn't slip and fall, they were so carefulw/ us and their balance was astounding. some of them would jump off ofthe waterfalls, like 50 feeet...AAAAAAAA! scary. it was so much fun,really beautiful, i loved it.got to go, hope everyone is having a great week and is so happy!so much love and hugs to you guys!!
jaimieOn 7/2/08, Jaimie Shorten <jaymeekay@gmail.com> wrote:> hi! so we've been in kenya for a few days now and parts are still abit> overwhelming. i'm a really impatient person and can't wait to be over the> anxious feeling of beeing in a new place and just feel comfortable here and> know my way around. the other volunteers are really great, lots of fun, i> really love meeting new people that are from all over. there are a few> australians, a few americans, some from ireland, one from cananda and one> from italy, everyone really sweet. carly and i got our assignment at an> orphanage here that has about 40 plus kids at it. it's called the neema> land kings and queens orphanage so everyone is queens and kings and are> addressed as such. it's really sweet. yesterday we bought a lot of food> for the orphanage w/ some of the donation money. it couldn't have come at a> better time for them. they had run our of food and hadn't eaten all day so> their first meal was dinner around 8:00pm. when we pulled up w/ the truck> load of food, grace, the head of the orphanage put one hand on the truck,> fell to her knees, and w/ the other hand over her eyes immediately began> thanking God and Jesus. i looked over and my sister and she was crying> too. the donation money was much needed and well spent. it was an> unforgettable moment and i'm so happy to be here.>> we are living at the orphanage also. we were woken up aroun 6 this morning> by the kids singing their morning prayers and it was so beautiful i didn't> even mind being awake before the sun :) i was holding king david this> morning who is seven months old, he's the son of one of the workers there,> and i suddenlt felt this warmth on my stomach which spread to my hand which> was underhis bum. so i was peed on today....and am still wearing the same> shirt, once it dried i didn't really feel a need to change it.>> we're going to falls today, a waterfall place, maybe keoreoke night tonight,> the massai market saturday, and the animal orphanage sunday afternoon. i'm> so excited about the animal orphanage, we get to pet leopards and hold a> baby lion, i worry that i'll follow suit after baby david and pee my pants> w/ excitement.>> hope all are happy and dointg SO well! lots of love and many many hugs>> love,> jaimie