midterm already?

this past weekend was our "midterm" retreat. it is so hard to believe that i'm almost halfway done w/ my time here. i guess i always knew that it would "fly by," but now that the time actually is flying it is so hard to believe.

the weekend officially started on thursday night - we all met for drinks at this cool hotel/restaurant in town that kind of looks out onto the whole town. it's only a good place to get food if you're not hungry at all and you have about 4 hours to spare, but it's nice for drinks! after that, we went back to the hotel we stayed in during orientation for dinner, and then we slept over there - b/c if you stay in kakamega past dark, there's really no point in trying to go back home. which sounds like it could be expensive, but actually, it only costed about $4 per person, so we splurged. there were four of us hanging out at the hotel, and for some reason, we all ended up getting haircuts. with kiddie scissors. and suprisingly, everyone looks pretty good

then we took friday off from work (i feel like i'm getting a real glimpse of the working world - i like my job but it was nice to get a day off) and went to the kakamega forest which is about an hour away. one of the interns actually lives and works out there, at an NGO focused on environmental conservation. so, she was able to give us a big tour and show us around her home!

we stayed at these things called "bandas" - basically like hotel rooms on stilts. i'm not sure why the rooms were raised off the ground but it did make it seem more vacation-y or something. we spent most of our time there just talking, playing cards, eating, and taking hikes. the first day, we took a hike to a look-out tower, and just looked out onto part of the forest. it was beautiful and a picture could not do it justice (that's going to be my excuse for not taking pictures - sorry!)

the next day, we woke up and took a picnic-hike to a river which was about 2 hours away. it was really awesome; it's amazing that the forest is just so huge. on the way back, we got rained on but it was actually really cool to be walking through the rain forest in the rain! on our way back, we cut through this retreat-vacation place called Rondo. from the looks of it, that's where all the rich european/american bird-watchers go. it looked sort of like pleasantville, in the middle of rural kenya... kind of weird. we had many discussions about that whole issue of traveling to another very different country and then staying somewhere that totally doesn't represent the real country at all, but the only conclusion we came to was that we had no conclusion. anyway. something to think about, i guess. they did serve actual, made-from-a-coffee-maker coffee, though, so it did have some redeeming qualities.

the next morning (sunday) we woke up at 4:30 and took a sunrise hike to the top of a hill. it was probably the most physically demanding thing i've done in a long time, especially so early in the morning, but it was totally worth it. watching the sun rise over this beautiful forest was so amazing. after that, we went back to Rondo for breakfast - i'm not sure how i felt about that place in general, but the breakfast was incredible, especially after hiking for a few hours.

after that, it was back to reality. but, that's a good thing. when we arrived back in town on sunday, i felt like i was returning home. kind of like the feeling you get when you're coming home from vacation and you see your town's exit ramp sign on the highway. like, ah it's hard to come back after such a good time, but also, it's good to be back somewhere familiar, somewhere comfortable.

i know i still haven't talked much about my actual job here - it's not b/c it's not going well, it's just b/c it's ever-changing, and after working a whole day, i normally feel like writing about something else- but i promise to soon!!