Yes, I'm Still Alive :)

Hello from East Africa! Yeah, yeah, I know, it's taken me for-freakin'-ever, but I'm finally I'm on the internet. The last two months have been a whirlwind, but I've made it through pre-service training, and I'm officially a Peace Corps volunteer with my very own site (i.e., town) to serve. I am in a reasonably large town called Nanyuki, which is about a three and a half hour drive north of Nairobi, on the northwest slope of Mt. Kenya, the second highest point in Africa at over 17,000 feet. Nanyuki sits at about 6300 ft elevation, so great for running when I finally find some time. I still have a hard time believing I'm actually here in Kenya - this has been the experience of a lifetime so far, and I just hope that I'm able to assist the people of my new home in some small way (or in a big way!) over the next two years.

Wow, where to even begin... should I start with the bucket baths and the choo, the slaughtering of the Christmas goat, the end of my 16-year streak of not throwing up, or "How-are-you?! Hill"? The stories I could tell at this point are almost endless. But, since food is on my mind at most hours of the day, I will dedicate this blog entry to food - specifically yogurt. For any of you that had ever seen my fridge in California, I always had on hand an obscene amount of yogurt. I ate one (or more) Trader Joes yogurts, one (or more) Yoplait yogurts, and toward the end of my stay, one (or more) of the Nancy's brand yogurts from Whole Foods every day. And then on the weekends, I would go to Yogurt Park in Walnut Creek and feast on the frozen yogurt. Yes, I had a problem. But when I did my cross-country trip, I forgot to pack my mini-cooler, so I adjusted to life without yogurt. Or I only had one every few days. But, here in Kenya, there is lots of dairy, and there are actually yogurt shops. There was one in Loitokitok, and there is an even bigger one here in Nanyuki. Not only that, but they sell 250ml, 500ml, and 1liter bottles in the supermarket. So, I've been ramping back up, and yesterday, I took down a full liter after the long walk home. Life is good. Really good. Gotta go pick up some food for dinner and then start the long (but very nice) walk home from town. I'll post again soon! Hope you are all well!