one week down!

hello everyone! well, i've officially been in kenya for one week now. i feel like i've already been here for a long time; it's hard to believe it's only been a week. this past week was quite a whirlwind! we spent the weekend in nairobi - mainly getting to know the city a little bit. one day, we were able to go to kibera, which is the largest slum in africa where over 1 million people live. it was definitely a crazy experience to visit there. after we went there, we drove about 10 minutes away to an indian restaurant for lunch. it was incredible - one minute we were in the middle of a huge slum full of impoverish people, and 10 minutes later we were sitting at an extremely nice restaurant that looked like it could've been in the middle of any american suburb. it was quite a contrast and something that was hard to think about and comprehend. i think it helped us all understand all of the inequality here - it gave us a first-hand experience of what we're trying to change.
then, on monday, we took a 9-hour bus ride from nairobi to kakamega, in western kenya. this is the city i'll be working in every day. we (myself, the 3 other interns, and the 2 program directors) have spent the week in a hotel in town. this week has been full of orientation-type stuff, like talking about working cross-culturally, doing development work, learning swahili (or at least trying to!) and many other things. it's been really great so far, b/c we've gotten to eat lunches and dinners at some interesting places (i LOVE the food so far) - so we've had a lot of fun nights just sitting around, eating and drinking and talking about anything and everything.
yesterday, we went to a town called kisumu which is about an hour away. we ate lunch there with a peace corps volunteer who talked to us about a lot of his experiences. there was a pool there, so we got to hang out by the pool and swim and soak up some of the equatorial sun! luckily, no one got burned :) it was a really fun day - it was nice to just relax w/ everyone before we start our jobs on monday! we will be working 9-5 on weekdays, but on weekends we're normally free to hang out or go on trips to random places. we've already planned to go whitewater rafting in uganda at some point!
well, this morning we packed up and left the hotel, and in a few minutes, we'll be on our way to our respective villages (everyone lives outside of the city) to meet our host families! i'll be sure to write again soon once i start my job and meet my host family. please keep me updated on what's going on w/ your lives, too! kwaheri from kenya!!