the sauna

the whitfield's sauna is a short walk away from the main house, in the heart of the eucolyptis forest that surrounds their home. it is far enough away that you cannot see any lights when you are out there in the sauna, but close enough that you can get back to the house in 2 minutes if you need to.

the sauna is, i am told, the exact same one that the whitfields had at their first house in africa. this means that it is the same sauna that my family used when we were here 17 years ago. pretty cool.

the eucolyptis forest is completely gorgeous. the trees stand over 100 feet tall, and they are as straight as can be, with leaves only branching out at the very tops. the bark of the trees falls off, laeving the ground literally covered with long strip of crunchy, tube-like bark. what is amazing, well the whole thing is pretty amazing, but what is really amazing, is that when the bark falls off the trees don't all have the same color wood. each tree turns different colors: some are greenish, others are blueish, other's purply, or grey. and no tree is only one color. in the daylight these colors are wonderfully vivid, but at night the trees begin to glow as the moon beams off their shiny surfaces.

the sauna itself is wonderfully hot, just like any sauna. i guess what makes this sauna special is that when you get too hot, (which happens in an instant, suddenly you realize that you absolutely cannot be in there anymore!) you push open the door to be greeted by the cool breeze and wonderful darkness of the eucolptis forest at night. on the side corner of the sauna are buckets of water to rinse off with, which feels silky and smooth and the wind just blows all around you and it's incredible.

you go into the sauna and get dripping wet with sweat, run outside into the darkness and cool off with the water, then get right back into the hot sauna. ther are benches at the far end of the sauna house were we just sat and listened, and enjoyed this spectacular piece of heaven.

the moon last night was just a sliver, but instead of being a sideways sliver, it was a bowl of a moon, just the bottom edge. the moon just poked through the thick trees, casting shadows all around the forest. i felt like a nymph. whatever that means, i just felt like one.

ps. to see pictures so far, go to: www.sophieskenyapictures.shutterfly.com

password: sophie

xoxox
sb

recent events

yesterday we went to school, where we soon realized that if we are to be in any way productive, we are going to have to bring the ideas with us. what i mean is that when we show up they are so excited, but then they have no idea what they should do with us while we are there. they also waste a huge amount of time at school, just sitting around, while the kids (who like i said are totally obedient) do their lessons without teachers even in the room. its weird. different i guess is a better word choice?

we spent last night with eston in nanyuki, which was really a blast. eston's 18 month old dog just had puppies (fathered we are pretty sure by his other dog). it was NOT planned, and kinda bad because the mother is so young, BUT it means that there are 3 tiny adorable puppies about 2 weeks old and they are quite cute!

we are meeting today with this guy who will be our guide on our hike up MOUNT KENYA! yup! we're going up the mountain! super exciting. we'll probably go on sunday and spend about 3 nights up there. fun~

must go. we're going to take a sauna later this afternoon. oo man is it a rough life here!

xoxoxo
sophiebess

cookies and flying!

yesterday we baked cookies with the nieghbors kids. it was so fun and wild. they are probably 6 and 8 or something like that, and in the process of making the cookies, those kids probably ate about a pund of cookie dough and 2 pounds of frosting before we even finished making the cookies. it was great. havnt been so dirty and sticky in a while.

the best part of having family and friends who are pilots is that if you want to go somewhere, you just have to get on a plane and go! today was a great example. we woke up and went to the airstrip and got on a tiny four person plane, piloted by eston himself. flew from nanyuki to nairobi, about 200 miles away i think, to meet up with randy for some lunch. we went to this amazing restaurant called carnivor, that was all you can eat, and just like the name sounds, it was a billion different kinds of meat. but not just the usual kinds of meat at all! they started out by giving us chicken and beef and pork, but then came the cool stuff: ostrach, camel, crockodile! oliver joseph harris lubin, and basically anyone else who knows me, should be very proud of me. i had everything. well except the chicken gizzards and the crockodile because randy and eston both said it was gross. then we got back in the airplane, this time i got to be copilot and took off heading back to nanyuki! the coolest part was when eston let me fly the plane...also some part of the plane broke while we were up there so we had to do some make shift landing without the wheels, etc. MOMMY I'M KIDDING! no but actually there was something wrong with the plane that made us keep going higher so i had the job of keeping the plane headed down while we were landing. it was cool.

now we are spending the evening with louisa and suzanne and randy. tomorrow we are giong back to school which will be fun. we have also just made plans for wednesday that lauren and i are going to accompany eston on one of his flights, as his "stweardesses," to some exotic place, and we get to fly in a helicopter... so super cool, i know!

im going now. love to everyone!

xoxoxoxox
sophiebess

this was a day.

a few hours ago i pulled a huge thorn out of the bottom of my foot. it actually wasn't THAT big, but doesn't that make a better first sentence than "i pulled a tiny thorn out of foot"? regardless of size, this splinter serrriousssllyy hurt because it was really deep AND because the end tip actually has some poisen in it which makes it hurt even more! yay~ of course, the poisen part was what was lodged inside my foot. i was joking with Cecilia, our cook and my new friend, that the thorn was probably half way between the top and bottom of my foot. that is an exaggeration, but whatever.

the thorn itself is NOT that important. amazing i know. but it's not. the REASON for the thorn, however is very important. here is the story.

today was my first day of school. i walked onto the compound as all the kids were having their meeting. they were completely adorable, recited the lords prayer (tho not a single kid was saying the same thing at the same time and i have a feeling that none of them knew what they were actually saying, even the ones who understand english). then i sat in on a few classes to get a sense of what each class is learning, also because im still totally at a loss as to how i am going to suddenly become a teacher!! ate lunch with the other teachers who are all simply great and after a long day of feeling out of place, stared at, and awkward our 30 minute walk with Suzanne and Lauren back to the whitfield's house. here is where it gets incredible.

again i am going to have to tell you, whoever you are, that what i am about to write and what you are about to read is going to sound like a made up story straight out of a movie. but it's not. it actually happened. and it was probably the coolest experience of my life....

before we started our walk home we noticed the sky beginning to turn grey and far off in the distance we could all see a storm coming our way. like i was saying yesterday about the openness of this place, since there is nothing between your vision and the sky, you can see the whole storm taking place before you, even when it is miles away. i got to see the weather in a comepletly new way. it was so beautiful because half the sky was sunny still and the other was totally grey and cloudy! the kids were still playing around the fields, i have a feeling that storms always look like this here in kenya, so to them this was nothing special to them. bu to me looked like the sky was attacking us! anyways. we started walking, Suzanne saying that the storm would probably go the other direction, much to my sadness actually because it really did look like quite the storm...so we started walking, and we had a group of about 25 of the kids from school walking with us. actually they were walking behind us, whispering, watching, laughing, not daring to go ahead.

then it started to rain. huge drops, and freezing! as we started reacting to the rain, the kids started laughing and reacting to it just the same. then it really started to rain. like REAALLYYY started to rain. i was quite drenched quite quickly. my laughing made the kids start to laugh, we can't communicate very well, but we all were experiencing the same thing: the joy of a good rain, the excitement of getting soaked, and the elation that we were all in it together. they all started laughing as the drops got faster and bigger and as we started laughing and screaming about it too. then it started to hail. again this was no light, small hail. this was heavy, pebble sized balls of ice that flew down at us and smacked you so hard that we all have a few bruses on our faces and arms. everyone started screaming and shreeking, but we were all still laughing just the same. i think the kids really loved to see us: these white american girls who had been with them all day so proper, suddenly become just as affected by the weather as they were.

by this time the dirt roads had become streams of muddy water, so much so my pants dragged in the mud, and nearly were falling off because they were so wet and heavy. i was slipping all over the place. i took my shoes off, planning on carrying them, when this girl came up to me and prompty took my shoes from me and told me she would carry them for me. another grabbed lauren's shoes. i kept laughing, lauren kept laughing, suzanne was laughing probbaly the hardest of us all. and the kids loved it. eyes were just staring up at me so happy that i was enjoying a good dance in the rain. they were thrilled. they were also freezing, but that was totally secondary. it got really bad, so we all ducked into an open church that was on the side of the road to wait it out. the hail on the tin roof of the church was incredible. it sounded just like my granfather's rainsticks, only times about a billion.

but the storm wasn't letting up and we were all getting really cold not moving so we decided to get going again. we kept walking slash running shlash slipping, still laughing, pretty much sliding our way along this road of mud and water. at one road split most of the kids went the other way from us, while we kept on going, still followed by a few. we ended up having to cross a river by this tiny slanted bridge. since it was so muddy we crawled, naturally. the kids on the other hand did it walking, still carrying my shoes. this made me feel like an old person. whihc was the first time that has ever really happened. it was the first time that i have felt separate from what kids do. anyways. we made it back to the house safely, well except for my foot. at some point during my shoeless escapade i managed to step right on a thorn. it took a long time and a lot of digging in my own skin (ooo yummy) to get it out. it still hurts like crazy too.

so. that was my day. those kids loved it, i loved it. Suzanne and lauren loved it! it was so much fun! it was one of those experiences that could have gone on forever. it was also one of those times when i was totally, 100% alive and awake. i was so free of everything that my mind could be telling me about these kids, about that school, about my own fears of teaching, etc. instead i was seriously, just simply, being there alive.



back to the topic of school for a completely secondary point, not NEARLY as interesting as the first, are there any thoughts as to good games to play (keep in mind that most of the kids don't understand a lot of english) mom or margeret, circle games from waldorf? play ideas. it looks like i am going to be teaching english, and also im going to be leading a project to build a small garden that will soon grow food for the kids lunch at the school. im going to make it an entire school wide project, as in im going to have each class be responsible for helping me with some aspect of the garden! i have to think about it some more, but i do think that it will work. like i was saying before, the teachers at the Mukuri primary school are all so wonderful. they are warm and welcoming, and they give off the impression that they really care about teaching and about their students. its really great. its also quite fascinating to be on this other side of the teacher student relationship. normally im the one being taught, or the one paying attnetion (or not paying attention as the case may be). suddenly i am observing a class for the sole purpose of understanding a means to teach....soooo weird.

the kids here so really different than kids back home. american schools are filled with hyper-active, attention seaking kids who can never sit still and who can never be quiet. here, it is the complete opposite. nevermind telling a child he must be quiet, it is harder in fact to get them to speak in the first place...really different.


as a final note i wanted to say that i had my first lesson in Swahili today! i know a few key words and also how to conjugate the basic present tense!! here is an example, if i can remember it without my book which is downstairs...

i sleep - mimi ninakulala

i know a lot more, but will write it out later because someone is telling me that there is ice cream downstairs and you all know me and ice cream!

love to everyone!
xoxoxox
sophiebess

ps oly you're a butt. two fingers! big duuhhh i figured it out after a milisecond!

driving and schools

the roads and the driving here in kenya are an experience unto themselves. there basically aren't any laws, or if there are laws, no one obeys them. in the city people drive outrageously fast, they cut you off and pretty much ignore signs and lights. taxi buses are everywhere, so full of poeple that some are riding outside the windows holding onto the inside. it's pretty nuts. out here in the country the roads are barely paved, with huge ditches and holes everywhere. poeple drive around the holes, even if this means going onto the wrong side of the road. the space is comepletly open here too. you can see the entire sky, in a way that i dont think i've ever really seen before. its a full 360 degree dome above our heads.

we drove to see the schools lauren and i are going to be working at. it was a real experience. as we walked into the school yard almost immediatly we could hear whisperings and heads started popping up out of the windows, trying to get a glimps of us. it is not that these children have never seen white people before, they just have not seen that many. while we were there the kids were let out for recess and it was like we were on a stage or something: nearly every pair of eyes just stared at us, watching our every move. tomorrow we are going to their all school assembly at 8am where we will be introduced.


dinner time. love you all

sophiebess

this is amazing.

day 2: it that really only the second day??

we spent the day with Louisa yesterday. it was quite a day! i can't even beleive what i am about to write, but i swear that it's true. 100%.

first we went to her house, which is in Nairobi, and which also happens to be the most adorable little house i've ever seen. it is has one main room, with a loft above where she sleeps, and a tiny kitchen and bathroom off to one end. it is in the middle of such a beautiful garden with some of the brightest flowers i've ever seen. then we drove to the airstrip where eston works and got on a tiny little plane, flown by eston's boss, jamie. we flew over Nairobi and all the way to the farm house out here in the country. what an amazing flight! seriously. the sun was just setting and we got some amazing pictures!! this country is so beautiful, one minute it is rolling green hills and the next it's flat dry fields. we saw a rhino! actually i didn't see it. sad. but Lauren adn Louisa did. but i did see some zebras and other cool weird, african animals. Jamie likes to show off so he was flying really low to the ground and back and forth, basically my mother is freaking out as she reads this thinking to herself that i could have died. but look mommy! i didn't! i've alive and safe!

so it was just about the most beautiful airplane ride i've ever been on. and i'm trying to figure out how to upload some picutres off my camera onto this site. randy is helping me do that right now.

we spent the evening just sort of settling in, having a great dinner and going to bed. we woke up at noon this morning, i guess we're still a bit jetlagged. how do you actually spell that? whatever. the only thing i do have to say on this supbject is that once again my mother was right in her advocacy of homeopathic medecine. her faith in bread & circus led her to purchace these pills that are supposed to help with jetlag. and they do work! amazingly!

now i could probably write an entire book on the house we get to spend the next 6 weeks in. pretty much, this house is the single most beautiful piece of architecture i think i have ever had the blessing to walk through, let alone live in. we are surrounded by eucolyptis trees that blow in the refreshing cool breeze day and night. they make a sound that sounds strangly like the ocean does, which makes lauren feel that we are right back on the cape. but we arent, are we. nope! we're in kenya, africa. a bazillion miles away from cape cod. their house is open. like realllyyy open. every window is really a door that opens out and lets in the sunlight and the breeze every time of day and night. the front wall of their house is in fact a hige window which they open during the day. as you look out of this giant wall-window, past the green open field in front, what so i see but mount kenya of course. it is breathtakingly gorgeous here. not to sound cliche, but it really is. every color is enhanced, every tree is taller than any i've seen, they are more alive! nature is right here. instead of being something you go outside to experience, nature is something that is inside this very house.

this morning Suzanne took us on a tour of the area. the whitfields own a third of this land. two other families work nearby. one family grows and exports thousands and thousands of roses. and the other family works with irrigation systems, i think. we met some of the people who work on thier land, all of who are so nice and happy to meet us. as we walked i noticed that even though suzanne has been here for so many years, she still finds the beauty of this country to be amazing. she still is blown away by the colors of the trees, or the smells of the roses, or the sound of the wind. it's really great to be around someone like that, someone who really charises nature like that.

i will now try to upload some of the best pictures that i have taken so far. it takes a while to do, so i will have to be selective about what i put up here and what i will have to save for some big slideshow when i get back. lauren and i will start teaching at two different nearby schools either tomorrow or the next day. i have absolutely no idea what i am going to do. probably just show up and say that im here and willing to do whatever they want and need me to do. that's life i guess.

i hope everyone at home is happy, peaceful, and enjoying their summers. this trip as only just started and i promise to keep anyone who cares, updated. if no one reads this. if nothing else. it is a way for me to document what i am doing each day.

love to everyone!
sophiebess

I'M HERE

so we are actually here! i am writing this in an internet cafe on the top floor of this new shopping mall in Nairobi.

we flew 6 hours from NYC to Amsterdamn, felt extremely confused for about three hours in the airport during which time we could not figure out what time it was, what language they were speaking, or where we actually were; then we got back on a plane and flew 7 hours to nairobi. Eston and Louisa met us at the airport, with some of their friends. we drove to the house of Nancy and Tony who live in central Nairobi; had a great dinner just talking, laughing, getting to know eachother all over again. it's weird because technically i've known them my whole life, but this is only the second or third time i've seen her. but it's really great. they are all great. went to bed last night so tired and woke up at 10am here. i have no idea what time it really is or what time it is supposed to feel like right now. all i know is that it is tuesday, and right now the clock on this computer says that it is almost 1pm...who knows.

the plan for today is just to walk around Nairobi, see some things, and later jump on a plane heading to Nanyuki, where we will be staying and working. this trip is going to be amazing. it already is amazing. we have plans already made to go to the coast, and other places we've been told we HAVE to see, etc.

so far what i have noticed most is how nice everyday poeple are here. waitresses, gatekeepers, store clerks, etc. are all just general really nice to their customers. its like there is a different mentality everyone has towards strangers. maybe i'm more aware of it coming right from New York where someone will slam into on the street and just keep walking wihtout a word, who knows.

alright. we are leaving now. funniest thing tho, is that this internet cafe is blasting christian rock music...

love to you all, whoever reads this. i'm really happy to be here. and i'm unbeleiveably lucky to be here!

xxoxoxoxoxooxxo
sophiebess

im leaving tomorrow

sooo, im leaving for kenya tomorrow and im excited!!!

the party at my house tonight had me set this up so that poeple can read what i'm doing during my trip.


i will miss marty

also chet got a pink razor.