The rainy season

It has rained almost every day for the past 3 weeks. It happens at the same time every day, usually late afternoon around 4 or 5. It has been a nice break from the insanely hot dry season.

Otherwise this month has been going so well. My friend Daniel from UNC was just here to visit for two weeks. We spent most of our time here in Kisumu just hanging out. He got to see how I live and what my life is like here. We did take one trip to Eldoret, a town about 3 hours from here. We took public transport, a matatu, on the way there. The route we went was absolutely ridiculous. It took 4 hours and the road was the worst I have been on in all of Kenya. It rained and the roof of the vehicle was leaking. At one point there were 21 people in the 14 passenger vehicle. It was an interesting trip...

Eldoret town was great. It was much cooler than Kisumu but still sunny an beautiful. We stayed with Daniel's distant relatives who live in a beautiful compound with many Americans. The night we got there the dinner was MEXICAN FOOD... which just happened to be the food I miss the most being here. It was awesome.

Work has been going well. I am starting to see some of the things I have done being implemented. Kids are playing, there is a little less cheating and we are training many coaches, referees and youth leaders. Speaking of playing...

I played in two tournaments earlier this month. There is a girls team here which is pretty good and they train regularly, unlike most other teams. So I played in a game at the main venue in town, called Sportsground, and there were soooo many people there. Definitely the largest crowd I have ever play in front of. Every time I touched the ball, people would start cheering or yelling and I would get a lot of applause for ANY completed pass... I wish it was like that at home too haha.

My team won 9-0 but I'm pretty sure the team we played, some women from the rural area, had never played in a real game. Now people always tell me that they now believe me that I can play football. They ask me why I'm not playing professionally or on the US national team... They don't really understand the level of women's soccer at home.

So now I have officially been in Kenya for a total of one year... crazy. I am finally starting to really feel comfortable here. I understand how things work and I understand how the people work. Every time I have a visitor from home, I am reminded just how different things are here.

Next week, I am planning on going to the Coast for a much needed break. Can't wait to be laying on a beach!!