i think i'm gonna need more zone bars...

well, the good news is - i wasn't served chicken feet! turns out that Mama Shumi sells her chicken feet at the school, which is good news for me. :)

the first night was interesting. Mama Shumi served me dinner which consisted of chicken, rice, and a sort of carrot/potato sauce. the salad was not a typical american salad, it was more like a salsa - lots of chopped tomatoes with onion, peppers and some sort of sauce that looked like soy. so that took some choking down, but i considered myself lucky that it wasn't chicken feet. when i prayed before my meal, Mama Shumi said that i was the first visitor she's had that prayed before dinner.

my room is nice and big, and i even have carpet on the floor of my room, which will help when it gets really cold. the house is much bigger than the home i stayed in while in Costa Rica - and outside is nice and loud so that you remember you're part of a community. i woke up this morning bright and early when the roosters decided it was time for me to wake up. i did my best to get back to sleep, but since my room is right off the kitchen the sound of chicken feet prep continued to wake me up.

i took my first shower in lukewarm water - and i kind of think that's the best it's going to get. it could certainly be worse - in Poland the showers were freezing. breakfast was unique... Mama Shumi left everything for cereal out so that i could help myself. i was lucky enough to see a fly do a swan dive into the milk carton - and when i looked closer i could see that he was just joining his friend. so i grabbed a zone bar, covered my tracks so that it looks like i ate, and headed off to the office.

one of the girls my age that is working with the center is also living in Kayamandi. her name is heather and she's living with pumla in her new shack. she's really roughing it, sleeping in pumla's bed and peeing in a bucket. so things are pretty good all things considered. yesterday heather mentioned to me that on tuesday evenings you can go to the movies for 7 rand (1$) - i think she and i are going to get along just fine.