general rambling

So, a short impromptu update. Normally every other day I sit down for a whileand tart writing about amazing things that happened, thoughts. However, last week a student from McGill that's going to be working with Caro, Erin, came to camp. Somehow that threw my whole system off. I guess one of the reasons is that because she was here (partly)  the guys (kanzo+richard) were around camp alot, so we spent even more time than usual chilling with them. Also, having not one, but two other wzungus, and culture-mates to talk to kept me busy I guess. Getting to know Erin, talking about Ewuas, gossiping about everyone. So I guess I spent even less time than normal alone (didn't think that was possible...). So anyway, the message is that I don't have any even moderately funny story prepared, but am making this up as I go along... You'll have to bear with me I guess.

So, what's been going on? We've been interviewing people for the position of guide to the new interns. Julia and I thought it horrid beforehand. The thing is, I refused to think about leaving for a long time. people would ask when I was leaving and I would say: 'I'm sorry, we're not talking about that.' And then last week I suddenly realised I had less than 10 days left. That hit me really hard. So thursday evening both Julia and I had an existential crisis going: "what will we do when we leave this place? How can life go on? How will we survive?" And preparing for the new interns does not help the matter at all, just confronts with the impending departure, the little we have achieved and the replaceableness of our position here. So, not happy at all.

In the end we had to get the jobinterviews done, no matter how much we hated the idea. We had invited all applicants to come. So friday morning we spent half an hour dressing up, wearing trousers and a blouse to look smart and professional, even a little make-up. Making sure everything was prepared, formally inviting people to come over and wait in reception instead of just generally hanging around in camp, and I even took to chewing some gum to feel more distant, more removed (julia thought this was a little over the top: "I think you're crazy") (just easier to keep distance, get in a more arrogant, bitchy mood, like during novitiaat). Anyway, we prepared like crazy, which was really funny. Then we had them in, we started with Kanzo because the rest were too nervous. We had a great chat with Kanzo (took bloody ages, kept getting lost in jokes and side comments), and by the time we'd interviewed Sane as well I was so upset! His interview was great, he understood every question (you can't believe how difficult a question like: what do you think are your weak points? is. Half of the people did not even understand what we were asking, or else they said: "I don't have any"...), and he's so happy and idealistic, he would talk about how great it is to get to know new people, that he is eager to learn so much etc. Perfect answers, and they were just so like him. So I kept thinking: 'Oh, I love you! I love everyone so much! It's great here, I don't want to leave!'. But I guess that was to be expected. So we did all the iterviews, had Richard breathing down our neck because he felt it was taking to long (admittedly, the first one took 45 minutes, but that was Kanzo...). At the end we had so many good candidates, just going by intuition. Their answers didn't matter, but some interviews just felt really good, like you can actually understand the other person. I guess that's what we  selected people on. Sounds kinda unprofessional, but on the other hand, being able to communicate with the new interns is pretty much the biggest criteria.  But anyway, it was great to talk to everyone, and there were so many people around camp. Almost everyone young guy we know was there, all the guys hanging together. great fun!

where is this post going? I don't know! Today we're in kajiado, were supposed to do a lot of typing (so much!) but SOMEONE forgot to bring the usb stick that the document is on, so we can't do much... Also, we're buying gifts for a zillion people here, I'm picking up a dress I had made (so exciting! Erin came and gave us this huge boost, she was so much fun. we just kindof settled into a routine, and erin comes by and she went like: let's make salad! we would say: no lettuce, and she would say: how about cabbage?! (imagine, cabbage salad?:S would never eat at home, but whatever...) no problems, we can think of a solution. she was like: squash? let's make squash soup! we were going to make cookies overthe fire (never got around to it because of some ... crisises... but still). and then she was like: I've had these beautiful things made everywhere I go, I buy beautiful fabric and have a fundi make me something. pretty amazing, I don't know why we didn't try that before! so anyway, erin came and excited us and we spent an hour discussing how much fun it would be, just three girls discussing fabric and clothes... great!). So exciting day, and loads of things are happening, so great fun. It promises to be a good day, so I'm not going to waste my time typing any longer (also, while I'm typing, Julia is actually getting some work done. although apparently we lost that work again because of the bad computers. but whatever... should get to work).