A whole new world

Wow. life here is soo different. sooo different. as is to be expected, but its so good. i really, really love my host family. they are so precious. everyone in africa is family, they really are. you never know if someone is REALLY related because everyone is your brother, sister, mama, baba, grandmother, grandfather, aunt, uncle, etc. I call my host parents, who are 68 and 75, bibi and babu, meaning grandmother and grandfather. and the kids i get close to refer to me as auntie lena. our family has 2 "house girls" and a driver, and a few boys who help around the house. that makes it seem as though the family i'm living with is really rich. but thats not the case. its actually incredibly common for families to have hired help like that, especially older people like bibi and babu. they still struggle financially. they give all they have to the school they run and to the people and family friends around them who are in need. they are sooo generous. we dont have running water. we bathe from buckets, and we boil all the water before we use it so as to make it safe. but, i definitely came totally prepared to live in a hut or something of the sort, and i feel like my life is so luxurious in comparison to that. this weekend i went to a nice resort. i didnt event pay to stay there, i only went there to have a drink and hang out at the pool. and it felt WRONG to be there. as though it was just not right to be in such a nice place. it was strange. i was in awe whereas at home it wouldn't have been THAT impressive...although it was really nice, dont get me wrong.

I'm having a hard time getting used to my "white person" fame. its so weird to be walking down the street having people point and yell "white person" or come and touch me. i do not like having a lot of attention on me and it is definitely impossible to avoid it here. everyone is staring at me all the time. and i ALWAYS have to remember that here it is a compliment to be called "white person." my initial reaction is to get angry and cop an attitude, but they say it because it makes them happy to see me and i constantly have to remind myself of that.

i already have some favorite students at the school. they are sooo precious and there are some of them i would love to just sit with for hours and talk (as much as possible) and play around. i also went to a school for 2-7 year olds last week. they were sooooo cute that i just cried as i watched them practice their english and sing their little songs. i couldnt even believe how beautiful that time was. they were the most precious thing i had ever seen. i took a video a really wanted to post, along with some pictures of my time here so far, but the internet is SO slow that i think it will be a problem. that makes me sad because i really want you all to be able to see the things that i am seeing.

i love and miss you all. even though its a lot harder for me to stay in touch with you all as well as i usually do, you all have to know i still think about you just as much and still love you all like crazy!!! :)