Goodbyes are Tough

Hello again! We have had yet another eventful week and a half here in Kenya.

Last week we had several memorable days. Some of the students have been training for singing competitions that have been held throughout Mombasa. Grace went with the first group of girls on the first day of competition (I stayed home because I was sick - just some casual throwing up.. just add that to the list of sicknesses I've had here). They performed quite well because they advanced to the next level! The following day the three of us went to the second round of the competition and it was AMAZING. We saw many schools perform traditional african compositions in full african atire. It was really cool for lack of a better description. I can't really describe it to you so you will just have to wait for the pictures and videos to be posted.

The next few days were spent at the school. We continued to teach and play with the children. Grace and I even joined in with some dancing. For some reason the kids were laughing at me - I'm guessing it was because of my lack of rhythm - there will be a video so you can decide.

Over the weekend we went on a Safari. VERY cool. It's so different seeing the animals in the wild versus in a zoo. We saw elephants, lions, different species of antelope, giraffes, buffalo, and many more animals. We have some GREAT pictures too.

Today Grace and I attempted to play football with the boys. This proved to be a fail - at least on my part. I had flip flops on so I had to play bare foot - not that I should be complaining beacuse most of the kids played bare foot (in my defense, I'm not used to it) - and my feet were totally battered by the time I was finished. If you must know, Grace's team kicked my teams butt 4-1. Either way, it was a lot of fun, and the boys got a kick out of the fact that their female teachers were playing with them.

This week was definitely the hardest. Though 5 weeks seems like a long time, it really isn't. We spent as much time at the school as possible and treasured every moment spent with the kids. Now it is Wednesday and we are leaving for the States tomorrow. Wow. I don't think it has really hit anyone yet. We formed amazing friendships with the teachers and students as well as with Jacob and Brenda, the family we are staying with.

Many people have said to me "Oh you will have a great experience," but to me, and I think for Grace and Hannah as well, this has been more than a mere experience. It has been life changing. We bonded closely with many of the students and feel as though they are our younger siblings. It's amazing to see the children here interact with one another. The older ones always help the younger ones - even when it comes to going to the bathroom. On multiple occassions I've witnessed an older child - maybe 10 years old - take a 4 year old to the bathroom to help him clean up after he has finished. If a kid in the US was asked to do that for a younger child, I'm almost positive 99% of the time his response would be "ew that's gross." I know mine would have been. They even share their food with each other even though they get so little of it. If one kid has a small bag of nuts, he will pass it around to the others willingly. If one kid falls down, the other helps to pick him up.

This will not be the last blog post. Once we touch down in the US, and after I've had a bacon cheese burger from shake shack complete with real ketchup, I will write another post summarizing everything that has gone on in the past month. Also, stay tuned for some epic pictures and videos. We will either post them on the blog or put them on a flicker. We've combined all our photos so it should be a really great album.

Tomorrow we take a bus to Nairobi and fly out of there at 11:30pm. Then we land down in New York at 2:30 on Friday. Thanks for tuning in!

Melissa