I am sure many of you are wondering what the hell I am up to these days, what with not uttering a single solid update on the blog since the beginning of July.

There’s a very good reason for that.

I’ve been on sort of a whirlwind since then – hopping to and fro and then followed by a successful attempt at reintegrating myself into the Meru community. I think it’s best if I start from the beginning.

The third week of July, I flew to Durban, South Africa to attend the World Federation of the Deaf conference with a fellow PCV, Lee Von Hofe. The conference was somewhat informative but the treasure of it all was the chance to see fellow Americans who are fluent in ASL. (This is a matter of import, especially after being in Kenya for over 9 months without ASL.) Ryan DiGiovanni, Marcos Aguilar, and Nick Comegna – thank you all for revitalizing my spirit. The conference was one week and I was astounded at how developed and different South Africa was from Kenya. Beautiful country.

Ryan flew back to Kenya with me but there was a 4 hour flight delay from Johannesburg to Nairobi. Luckily, Ryan DiGiovanni got us both into the first class lounge and managed to get us a hotel paid for by the South African Airways once we arrived into Nairobi. The hotel in Nairobi was so nice – that’s where I took my first bath in 10 months. Amazing is all I can say. We took a matatu up to Meru the next day, and Ryan was bombarded by all things Kenyan. Our planned trip up to Maralal was cancelled because of the rain. We should have gone ahead anyway but alas we stayed in Meru. I took him to the waterfall I frequent to. We left Meru with three of my students, Beatrice, Moreen, and Gladys to go to Nairobi where we would sleep a night before continuing on to Kisumu for Camp GLOW. Once in Nairobi, I said my goodbyes to Ryan, who would be flying back to South Africa before returning to the States.

Camp GLOW was a week of fun. Not much to say about that as it was the PCVs teaching the campers about HIV/AIDS and everything that is related to females. It was really informative and was inspiring to see the girls’ eyes light up from the knowledge they accumulated. After Camp GLOW, a large group of us volunteers returned to Nairobi (with all the campers that were from that part of the country, of course) and then continued our journey to Mombasa the very next day. The trip from Kisumu to Nairobi was 9 hours and from Nairobi to Mombasa, it’s 10 hours -all in a span of two days.

In Mombasa, at Bamburi Beach Travelers’ Hotel, we had one week of what is called Cross-Sector. It’s where people from all sectors in the Peace Corps mix together and bring counterparts from each of their communities. The entire week is focused on HIV/AIDS prevention, stigma, and whatnot. HIV packed month it was! The hotel rooms were so luxurious, I almost fainted. The food was amazing and the pools were so clear! I opted for the ocean more than the pools, naturally. It was truly a beautiful place. I was reluctant to leave but I did. I went to Kilifi to visit a PCV – Sarah Hubbard – for a day before taking the night train back to Nairobi.

The train was hell. Twenty-five hours it took, in place of the supposed twelve. Moving on.

I picked up my grandparents in Nairobi on August 22nd – it was such a sight for sore eyes! I hadn’t seen them in over two years. Ah! We went to the Masai Mara for 3 days, 2 nights and managed to see ALL of the Big 5 (Rhino, Lion, Elephant, Water Buffalo, Leopard) in the span of three days. The first day, we had an evening game drive. We entered the Masai Mara National Reserve and were greeted by hordes of wildebeest in their annual migrations. Amazing. The second day was an all-day game drive, where we drove to the Mara River where the wildebeest cross and hopefully catch a glimpse of crocodiles gobbling up a few ‘beests. That didn’t happen but we did see an abundance of other wildlife! The third, and final, day was the morning drive where we saw two lionesses chase down a wildebeest. The lionesses killed the animal not ten metres away from our vehicle! It was exhilarating! Little cubs came out of the sparse bushes to munch on the recent kill, so we got a glimpse of life among the lions.

And then, we were off to Nairobi for a night. The next day, we took a matatu to Meru to stay at my school for three days. It would serve as a pit-stop for my grandparents to see my school and where I live as well as to rest. We didn’t do much other than see what my daily life was like. Too bad my students weren’t there as school was out. We hurried back to Nairobi to catch a plane to Lamu soon thereafter. In an hour, we found ourselves in a balmy and humid Lamu, a stark contrast from the crisp coolness of Meru and Nairobi. One hour. To go via bus or train would take at least two days. Mind-boggling even to this day. Lamu was four days of sheer relaxation. The town has such a slow pace and it’s so beautiful with it’s Arabic influenced architecture. There were also zero vehicles, save the vehicles for ambulances, so it was nice. The main form of transportation was by dhow, which is their name for the wooden boats that are scattered all along the docks.

The last night in Lamu, the two PCVs whom live in Lamu: Jon and Alyssa, decided to take me to a floating bar. I was all up for it and my family was tired and wanted to sleep early anyway. We took a dhow to the bar and it was such a bizarre feeling being on a bar floating on water. Every time the large majority of the people on the bar jumped in unison to a song or something or other, the entire bar would gently rock to and fro more so than if it was a wave pushing the bar. All was well until Jon and I were ready to head back to the main island and hit the sack. Jon and I boarded a dhow: him on the right side of the boat and I on the left, both facing the rear end of the boat. To this day, I’m still a bit unsure how it happened but we hit another boat and Jon went more than halfway overboard. I, and another woman pulled him back into the boat the moment we noticed but that must have been a good 20-30 seconds after the accident. Jon’s head was in the water. We pulled him in and tried to revive him. About 7 or so minutes later, he revived but we could see he had been hit. The shirt at his shoulder had been ripped off and was bloody. We took him to the nearest hospital and it became an overnight affair. Alyssa showed up as quickly as she could. Jon ended up being airlifted to Nairobi the next day a few minutes before my family and I flew to Malindi to continue down the coast. I luckily escaped unscathed but Jon went to South Africa for further medical treatment and is still there now.

Anyway, we arrived Malindi and took a matatu down to Kilifi. There, we went to a restaurant that overlooked a ‘stream’ as they call it. It was huge – took me 30 minutes to swim across it. It made me feel so good as it had been a while since I swam anything of that length. I also got food poisoning from that restaurant and hit the peak of it on the train to Nairobi. Ew. I managed to stay an extra night on Medical as my grandparents took their leave. I hugged them goodbye at the Jomo Kenyatta airport, knowing I’d miss them and truly appreciated their effort in coming out to visit me.

I went back to site in the beginning of September and struggled a bit to reintegrate myself into the community, especially because of what happened in June. Slowly, but surely, I was getting there. I felt better with each day that passed. I loved the students and the teachers were better somehow: more friendly, more understanding maybe. The second to last week of September, Peace Corps emailed me saying that my site transfer request had come through. I declined it, saying that I was okay in Meru now. A week later, I get a call from my boss saying I have a day to pack up everything I have and come to Nairobi to move to my new site because of a new policy. I was livid. No, I was beyond livid and shaking with rage at how long it took them to process the site transfer and when I said I was now okay, they forced me out like uprooting a plant. I fought to stay for the weekend but it didn’t happen – I got an extra day to say my goodbyes and pack. It was painful. I became emotional every time I had to talk to the students and say my goodbyes. It was hard, especially for the ones that didn’t really understand what was happening. Some of them believed I would be back the following Tuesday.

Well, I came into Nairobi yesterday with five bags. It was a wretched ride. I spoke with the APCD of Kenya and I have two options: go to Hola, Kenya or have an ‘interrupted service’. I have not decided yet. I still need to talk to my program director on Monday.

For now, I’m just going to enjoy Nairobi the best I can and see what comes next. September 29, 2011 was the day I ended my service in Meru and the day my heart broke. October 3, 2011 will be the day that I choose which route I take in the crossroads that my journey has brought me to.