Hi again everyone! Sorry it’s been awhile since my last post. Everything is still going well here, in fact even better than well, it’s going great. I had a great birthday and thank you for all the birthday wishes, it’s wonderful to know I’m being thought about even though I’m not there. I took some time on Saturday to sit down and go through my photo album and think about all of you back in the states… I may or may not have shed a ‘homesick-tear’ or two thinking about what I’d be doing on my birthday if I were at home. More than anything I miss all the birthday hugs I know I would have gotten and just so you all know, I’ll be cashing in on those when I get home.

       Training is slowly but surely coming to an end here. We have about 3 weeks left and we’ll be heading to Nairobi.  I will miss my home-stay family a lot when I leave here, I really feel as though I have been adopted. I cooked dinner for them on Sunday night and my 7 year old little sister informed me that I knew how to cook with a giant smile on her face. It’s the little moments in life like that that keep me going to bed every night with a smile on my face.

A number of people have asked me if there’s anything I need here, if they can send me a package or anything. Honestly, there’s not a whole lot I need. Letters are great and anyone who feels like sending one should know I treasure each and every word.  If anyone feels like sending a package my way here’s the things I’m missing in Kenya (but by no means feel like you NEED to send anything!):

*        - Good dark chocolate

*        -Cheez-its or any horrible-for-you-but-so-tasty snack items

*    -Powdered drink mixes (propel, gatorade, crystal light, etc)

 *    -Dried fruit, especially dried bananas but berries are also impossible to find here

*    - Protein bars (Cliff & Balance Bars are my favorites)

*     -Pictures of home (send me pictures of you, your family… anything really, postcards, maps, I need things to decorate my walls!)

*     -Newspaper articles ( I have NO idea what’s going on in the US or in MN, if there’s stuff you think I should know about or I would be interested in, cut em out and toss them in the package)

          My address is “Lindsay Bergman, Peace Corps Trainee, PO BOX 698-00621, Nairobi, Kenya.”  I get duty-free (I don’t have to pay to receive them) packages through August so if you do send a package I ask that you do it in the next week so I don’t go broke trying to buy my packages out of the post office! Again, no one should feel like they need to send anything, I’m actually surviving quite well here, it’s just those few little things that I miss. Like I said, mostly I like getting pictures and letters from home, so if you do send a package there had better be a little hand written note in there!

          We recently got back from a couple weeks out of our training village and it was wonderful to realize that when we came back to Loitokitok it actually felt like coming home. It really is amazing how fast you can adapt to a totally different way of life. Honestly, I think about going back to the US right now and I have a hard time imagining going back to life as usual… a flush toilet, refrigeration, my car, a normal work day, running water, electricity 24/7, air conditioning.  I thought I would miss those things a lot more than I do. Mostly I miss having face-to-face conversations with my favorite people. I miss my pets, my oak tree in the back yard and being outside after dark (we have a 6:30pm curfew during training…). I miss walking down the street and not being stared at and wearing pants instead of skirts.  Oh, and tofu, I miss the hell out of tofu.

But really those are just little things. There are some amazing people in my training class and getting to know some of them has been a privilege these last 2 months. It still amazes me how well I feel like I know some of them after only a short amount of time. I guess being thrown into a 3^rd world country and emotionally stressed a lot of the time will do that to you.

                   So, like I said, our training session here in Loitokitok is wrapping up and its bitter-sweet. I look forward to swearing in, being a real volunteer and having a lot more freedom but saying good-bye (at least for awhile) to the other volunteers will also be very hard. August 13^th will be our last day in Loitokitok and then we’ll head to Nairobi for swearing in and on the 18^th I will leave Nairobi for Kakamega where I’ll get to see the community in which I’ll be living and working for the next two years.

        

               Hope everyone back home is doing well. Please feel free to e-mail or write me any time, I love hearing about you lives back in the states. Until next time, Kwaheri!