Java House, Schedules and Matatus

Hello again, it must be another Monday because my fingers and wrists hurt from typing. This week has been interesting, definitely my hardest week since I have been here but not my worst. Believe it or not, on Sunday my internship is halfway over! So, from here on out I only get closer to being done then to starting. So, here is the magic of this week!

Living and such:
This week has been crazy! I was so tired by Saturday that I was falling asleep on the couch watching the World Cup. By the way don't get me started on the refs at this world cup, they are jokes, I don't know what stupid hole they pulled them out of but man, I don't even think they know what a goal post is, why do we expect them to know what a HAND BALL IS FREAKING BRAZIL!
Anyway, it has been an interesting week, I didn't really see much of Alvin because we are both doing our separate things, plus he gets back very late at night sometimes. He calls me his "pre- marriage house keeper" because I wash the dishes and make dinner (sometimes) so he doesn't have too, last time he called me that I responded " keep calling me that and I will sit around all day licking plates and bowls .Using your spoons to kill mosquitoes and leave them in the sink! "and he thought that was the funniest thing. As I said before, this week has been a little bit harder in terms of mental strength. Some days (like Saturday) I find myself alone in the apartment for most of the day, I try to keep busy but some days are just lazy days like that. Those days I feel very alone and sometimes get a little sad so if you could pray for those kinds of days for me that would be great. I just learned that the week Alvin is gone on his honeymoon, I will be living alone for a week! Ugh, so I am going to have to figure something out. This weekend we head up to Kisumu to have the final meeting between Alvin's and Nancy's parents. That will be fun, I will get to see Lake Victoria from the other side of Africa and eat huge fish.

Community Development:

This week was hard, I had scheduled nine interviews, three for Tues, Wed and Thurs. However, each day we always wound up doing two. This was really frustrating because either my translator was late or one of the people "wasn't ready". I don't know what that means, its not like we were going out to a ballroom dance or anything I just need to ask them a few questions. So, each day I became more and more frustrated because I am running out of time to complete these interviews. I still haven't even met with any of the other group in Kibera, for many reasons but they have been very elusive! Also, I realized I hate doing interviews, I like the data and responses I get from it but I hate actually doing the interviews. They are so time consuming and monotonous it takes self control not to answer the questions myself to speed up the process. It makes me wonder how many official documents have been created by people who hate interviews. I am really excited to compile and compare all the data...I just need to get to that point. Until then I am walking everywhere, being asked"how are you"every two seconds and also being stared at until I look down and see that there is a hole burned in my back pocket because of so many people seeing the money sign stamped on it. Normally, I have the mental strength to just treat people nicely and go beyond that and make the best of it but this week I didn't. I was walking somewhere the other day and this kid that I had just seen with his parents comes running up to me going 'brother, brother" I automatically know he is going to ask me for money and I was so tired that I just turned around and stuck out my hand and asked him "hey, do you have any money?" On another note, most of the interviews went very well! Many people are giving some great answers and I am already seeing things that I can give to Alvin. However, pray for my scheduling because we both decided that I have to do at least 7 more interviews in the Kawangware group...pray that that will work out because I have this week and next week to finish interviews then I lose my translator. Also, pray for my mental strength as I continue, I want to make the best of the time I have here and in order to do that I have to really be strong mentally. So, please pray for that and this week as I continue doing interviews.

God and such:
I am still being challenged to just grow in faith and walk with God in daily life. As much as I hate interviews I really have been encouraged by many of the peoples testimonies. So many of these savings group members lost everything in the 2008 election violence and have been a victim of tribal clashes. I talked to a guy the other day that started his business with 300 shillings (about 4 bucks) and now owns a taxi and has a pretty big soap making business! So, their testimonies are really encouraging. Clara and I are reading Psalms together, and this morning and got to Psalm 19:7 that says "the law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul..." and It got me thinking how backwards the church is. The other day I was watching Aljazeera (a world news station) and they did a segment on what people think of the church and many of the people who didn't attend one said something like "I don't need anyone else telling me what I can and can't do"or "Its so judgmental I just don't need that in my life". These souls don't sound revived...they sound beat to a pulp, and while these kinds of people are out there here we are arguing over whether or not a kid can be baptized. That argument isn't good enough so we have to argue if the kid can be baptized then we have to argue about which form is more holy, sprinkling or dunking. Sheesh, give me a break, no wonder everyone thinks the church is full of retards talking out of their butt. This doesn't give them a break either, if you take a look you see the world is full of retards stammering butt. I guess that is the point of the gospel though, the law revives the soul. The church has some how confused it and made it the opposite. With things like: You can't play vollyball on Sundays or you can't drink a beer without being a sinner or you can't have any democratic friends or views if you want to be accepted by Christ. Come on guys, wake up figure out that the gospel is for retards that talk out of their butt, the only difference between us and the world is that we know our butts have hope in being redeemed in the end. This is what the church is there for, affirming the butts and talking out of them together, struggling together and loving each other none the less and knowing what the implications of Christs coming means. This is also the point of fellowship outside of the church too...but that is another blog.

Other stuff and Small Anecdotes:

-it turns out that I have at least 10 names here, many people see you and want to be associated with you (because your from the west) so they will just call you a random name hoping you will say "hi" Here is the list so far:
Jesus, Tom, Jonathan, Daudi, Davoh, Christiano Ronaldo, Mozungu, Howareyou, Carrerras (some football player), Jonga and the big finale and my favorite, Antonio Banderas.

- USA is still in the WC and Kenyans are impressed...Yeah, that's right the US can bring it they came back from 2-0 in the second half two tie the game at 2-2...they would have won if it wasn't for the REF!!! COME ON!

-Last night I held a celebration in my room and ate a Slim Jim because it marked my 100th mosquito killing since my internship! I am hoping to reach 500 but July is supposedly the cold month so nature will take over then. We will see how many I get by the end of my internship, if it is 350 or over, I am taking Alvin and Nancy out for Japanese food. I am also competing with Kevin Hartzell for the championship belt of mosquito killing...I kinda got a head start though so I am starting a side project of Squito killin!

-Since I saw japan play a game in the World cup, I really really really want Japanese food

- I went to Java House the other day (Kenyan Starbucks) and sat down at a table. I had a Kenyan news paper in my hands and I was reading it at the table ( I love the newspapers here....I don't know why). First a woman waiter comes up and asks if I wanted anything and I said "is your internet working today?" She scoffs at me and looks at me like I asked her if she was pregnant and says "of course its working" and stomps away. First off, Java House internet never works and if it does it acts like an excel sheet with 80,000 cells filled with MP3's to turn the lyrics into a pie chart, so don't tell me "or course it is". I shrug it off and then the waiter comes up and says "would you like anything?" I asked "is your internet working today?"and he says with a smile "let me go check". He walks into the main building and then comes out with a woman...the same woman the stomped off. She comes out expecting someone else and then takes a look at me and walks back inside the building. I lean over and ask the guy "is she OK?" He just shrugs his shoulders and walks back inside. She comes back outside and says "what would you like" with a frown on her face. I open my mouth to order so food so she doesn't get more upset with me and I realize I have no money so what comes out is "can I just have a glass of water?" Yeah...I hope I don't see her again.

Alright everyone till next week,

Dave