It's that time of the year again ...

Like Jon, or to Deaf Eds, Die Hard, said in one of his blog entries, mango season is upon us.  I walked through the streets of Mombasa yesterday, and saw the carts full of huge mangoes, hawkers trying to out-sell each other, and the sweet scent of mango juice running everywhere.  I immediately started drooling and knew that apple mangoes (which are smaller but insanely delicious - Kilifi is known for their apple mangoes, and this may have also ruined mangoes for me for the rest of my life) was just about to follow.  

For the next few months I'll be paying 15 cents instead of 30 for apple mangoes and 7 cents instead of 20 for normal mangoes, which fits nicely into my Peace Corps budget.  However, there is a huge trade-off.  While the mango season is upon us, it is now again the "summer," or what they call the dry season out here, which means the days of 95-105 degrees are upon us again.  Last night, after spending time in Nairobi, Nakuru, and cold Loitokitok, I had to finally turn on the fan to sleep.  

So, yeah, it's the dry season.  But at least we have fantastic and juicy mangoes.  

Speaking of Nairobi, Nakuru, and Loitokitok, here's the gist of what happened the last couple of weeks.  

I was declared healthy and fit for the second year of my service in Nairobi, and of course, hung out with the fellow PCVs who were poked and prodded at the same time.  Erin, Matt and I then decided to head to Nakuru for a a couple of days, checking out Lake Nakuru National Park and looking at the wildlife, and the actual real life flamingos (not the ones on your lawns!).  My phone then did a graceful swope into the toilet (how's that for a topic seque?!), but luckily the mobile shop in Loitokitok did some magic and it's back up and running.  

Matt headed back to site, Erin and I hiked the Menengai Crater cursing the fact that the Coast was at sea level and there were no hills for us to practice hiking on, so we were wiped when we got to the top.  The gorgeous views were worth it, regardless.

Erin and I then headed to Loitokitok again to see the new trainees who have now been in Kenya for more than a month, and we found them in good shape, and raring to go.  Over the week, there were discussions, support, sessions, KSL classes, some videotaping, and then finally ending the week with the movie, "Through Deaf Eyes," which I absolutely recommend to everyone.  

And ... I've been prepping for my trip back to the States!  I'm flying to Amsterdam on Thursday night, arriving on Friday morning to see one of my old college roommates for the weekend, as well as Sarah.  After the weekend, I'll fly to Seattle to meet my family, and I can't wait to see them, especially finally meeting Olivia.   

Throughout the last couple of months, I have been nervous about the trip back to the States, not because of the fear that I might never go back to Kenya (my service here is in no way over, and I don't like leaving things unfinished), but mostly because I haven't really thought about the US much over the last year as my life is here in Kenya.  The US is so far away and I can understand more and more why the US is so distant but at the same time so connected to the Kenyans, and the closer the trip back is, the more I think about the States, and I've finally made my peace.  The United States is my country and my home, in spite of all the commercialization, in spite of all that twilight and new moon thingy that I hear is going on out there (apparently vampires are huge right now, according to the new trainees, hmm interesting), in spite of all the political problems (c'mon pass that health care bill), it's still home for me, and it's where my family live, and many of my friends live, so now I'm finally excited about returning for a couple of weeks. 

Lastly but not least, Happy Hanukkah!  Tonight is the fourth night, and I miss my childhood days of visiting Grandma and Grandpa and getting cool gifts from the family, so light those candles for me, I'll be thinking of y'all!