Today marks the one week point of my landing in Kenya... it feels like much longer. Surprisingly I am not feeling nearly as homesick or as culture shocked as I expected.

Since Wednesday I have been living just outside of the town of Ngong about 50km south of Nairobi. The town, I am told, has about 57,000 residents, many spread out in the surrounding hills. "Ngong" apperently means "knuckles" as it is said to be the hills where God sat down to rest and left knuckle impressions in the soil. The town sits on the edge of the Great Rift Valley and is such a beautiful landscape of rolling hills... lush green fields demarcated by the bright red soil.

I am living with a host family which includes my host mother Grace and her husband Stanley. Their 18 year old son is away at boarding school, but I am told I may get to meet him in a few weeks. The family also includes the cats Aju and Terror... Terror being a kitten and somewhat rambunctious. Then there is Bobo, the little girl from down the road who comes over after school to do her homework until her parents get home. They are a lovely and very welcoming family.

I have started work at the hospital in Ngong... I'm at a loss as to how to describe the experience so far. I think it will take a little longer to know what to write. For now I'll say it will be a monstrous adjustment as well as a learning curve of epic proportions.

Overall, my experience here so far has been much less intrusive than the last time I came to Africa. Two years ago I was in Ghana and I expected this experience to be very similar; I am now realizing that Ghana and Kenya are indeed a continent apart! In Ghana I felt constantly on display and my well refined North American personal bubble was intruded upon on a regular basis. Here, although I attract a lot of stares (especially now that I am out in a rural area, away from the hustle of Nairobi) I feel comfortable. In Ghana I was constantly hissed at and marriage proposals were hurled at me from across the street; here in Kenya I seem to mostly just attract a small children's chorus of "how are you?" wherever I go. Of course some things are the same; in Ghana I was "eyvoo" (white girl) here I am "muzungo" (white girl).

I'm off today to the Giraffe Centre a few kilometers outside of town. Apparently we get to feed the giraffes... obviously I'm thrilled.

Kelsey Aaron