Kiswahili and Electrocution

We passed! We needed to get "intermediate low" on our interview test and we did. Mandy actually got "intermediate mid" which is pretty amazing, considering that after the exam she spent a good 1 hour telling me how she did awful and that she wasn't going to pass... Typical Mandy nerves.
Again there were only 2 people out of our whole group to get the int. Mid and the other person has a bunch of language experience. I think Mandy finally admits she has talents with language.

This is actually kind of old news. We got our results last week and followed them up with practical exams on how to light coal stoves, wash clothes, order food, haggle prices, deal with come-ons, etc. I think everyone did well. It was a pretty fun and relaxing week.

This week we practiced riding the local transport and spent 3 days in Makindu about 4 hours away by bus. I call them busses... But they actually called "matatus" (a.k.a. - death on wheels). they're full size vans which are packed as full as possible and driven like an ambulance in an emergency. there's also got to be a law that matatus must be as old as possible and decorated with as much rap and religous stickers available. Once in nairobi we boarded a matatu with a disco ball, wild colors, and a big screen t.v. in the front blaring american and african rap videos. It was typical rap with the bling and the ladies and the what-not, but to kick it all off the inside and outside of the bus covered with jesus slogan stickers. An odd mish-mash to say the least.

In other news... I got electrocuted in the bathroom yesterday. Many hotels in kenya have hot water in their showers, but by hot water i mean there is a water tank on the roof which is piped into your room and the shower head is equipped with an electric water heater. well... yesterday i decided to get my first hot shower in a month so i turned the heater on. At first it was great, but quickely the water got too hot so i decided to reach up and adjust the setting to lower the heat. The shock traveled down my arm and down my leg, probably into the tiled floor. It wasn't serious, but it was a "shocking" experience. ;)

To end off here is a picture of Mandy with her "leso" made into a head scarf. We were eating at a "sikh temple" which is open to all travelers and all religions. They had great indian food and the food (and rooms) are donation only. Delicous. (In case your curious, the british brought many indians to Kenya to help build the railroad.)