journy to the coast

Happy Independence Day a day late!
I traveled to Mombasa to see my volunteer friends and to spend the holiday with them. Yesterday I stood at the main roadside for over an hour trying to catch a bus. As I stood there I saw many mzungus (white people) passing by in empty matatus with only one or two of them in it. Private matatus...that is one way to travel around. However, I was happy I travel like them because I was traveling like a true Kenyan. I boarded an overcrowded matatu and road to Mombasa like the locals.
On my journey to the coast, I passed through Tsavo national park where I saw all the usual animals as well as entire family of elephants (9 of them). After traveling through dry Tsavo, the country started to turn green, the houses were constructed of different materials since the rock of the area was no longer clay but rather granite. Some of the huts were constructed out of grasses. I loved seeing how the shelters changed according to availability of materials. Once I was at the coast it like I was in another country. There is water here!
This week at school some crazy things happened! I became the girls handball and volleyball coach...yep don't even know what handball is. We also got a generator and watched a shakespear play. All the teachers canceled class and we had 200 students and 8 teachers in a room watching this horrible tape version on an 18 inch TV. They told me they wish TV could be there hobby and I was so happy that TV is not available here. I am so glad it was a special treat to be able to watch this play and TV is not a hobby!
Life Skills Club update. This week I have started to hear horrible stories about HIV/AIDS and what the people think about the disease. I have heard when someone finds out they have HIV/AIDS they have sex with as many people as possible because they do not want to die alone. It is such a sad concept that makes me cringe. The phrase here is once you have decided to have sex, even if it is when you are married, you are accepting the fact that you may die with AIDS. I am working on educating them on HIV/AIDS but it is very difficult.
Teaching is still going well, I brought the students to the lab this week and we did a lot of work in there...which was disastrous at first but by Friday they were understanding the lab a little better. We received a box of posters this week so we hung them and the students were so excited to have "learning aids." My community is awesome and all is well. I will try to update you again soon (maybe with pictures) but it might not be until my next trip to Mombasa in August.