March Madness

so I have officially been here 6 months... how did that happen?

Work is going great. I am becoming much more adjusted to the Kenyan ways of doing things. We have about 150 teams participating in our leagues, so we are essentially organizing competitions for 3000 kids!

This past weekend I went to Nairobi for the day on Saturday (took the night bus there on Friday and the night bus back on Saturday). I went just to watch the Harambee Stars play, which is the name of the national soccer team here. They played Tunisia in a World Cup qualifying match, but we lost 2-1... bummer! It was an awesome experience though. Live events always are.

On Sunday, I went to a party with about 40 other Americans. It was on a barge that was anchored just in a bay here on Lake Victoria. We hung out and had drinks and a buffet dinner. I ate tuna, brie cheese, shrimp and turkey. All things I have NEVER eaten in Kenya before then. It was amazing! Then in the evening, people started jumping off to go for a swim so of course I also had to do it. I was assured there were no hippos in the area even though we were in a place called Kiboko Bay, which means Hippo Bay in Swahili. So I did it and it was my first official swim in Lake Victoria.

Today I spent the day at a local school where school games were held between four schools from around the area which have all students who are special needs. Here they are called "intellectually disabled." The kids, of all ages, competed in track and field events as well as a soccer game. Little did I know, I was the guest of honor so they talked about me for about 10 minutes and then I had to give a speech to the 150+ people who were there. Good thing people don't understand my English very well...

So overall things are great and going very well. I could essentially start a youth football organization ANYWHERE in the world right now with the experience I have had here in the last 6 months. People around here are starting to know my name and not be afraid to talk to me (they used to call me "mzungu" or "white person"). I've been invited to a lot of events as a special guest of honor which is flattering but also making my schedule quite crazy.

Also, March madness has not quite been the same here without other college basketball fans. I have tried to explain the brackets and the tournament to people and no one gets it. Oh well.... as long as Carolina is in the Final Four it's allllll good with me!

GO HEELS!