forgot to post this. day 1, arriving in nairobi.

So far we are a day into training at the Nairobi compound. learned my first bit of Kiswahili. after my typhoid and hep A shot that has left me with a dead arm these last few hours, my buddy Ryan v and I went for a quick run before sunset. we ran down a rocky dirt road that ultimately led us to a dead end. I wanted to see if there was a futbol field to kick a ball around and some point. before we hit the the end of the compound, we ran into about 13 little kiddos playing with an old beat up motorcycle tire. They were taking turns rolling it around down the beat up pathway we were running on. A few other little ones were climbing on top of a beat up construction truck that I am sure has been sitting there for a while now… rust and plant life decided to over throw the look and shape of the truck. they hung from the railings and safety bars on the back. As we ran past to turn around at the end of the block, we waived and smiled. They waived back and granted us with a smile of their own. we made a u-turn, and headed back. as we ran up a little up hill climb, I heard commotion in the back ground. Ryan was already a few steps ahead of me so I wasn’t sure if he saw what was going on. as I turn my head, these 13 children ranging from 2-8 years old were running after us and in no time, they passed us up. well, the older guys were but the young-ins with their little legs gave it their best shot. I soon became overwhelmed with joy and realized I was having a moment. I’ve seen pictures of African children doing this and have heard stories alike. I never in a million years ever thought something like this would ever happen to me. as Ryan and i ran with them, their smiles widened and mouths opened with laughter. there were even a few little girls in the group. as we arrived at our place of stay, we slowed down to a halt and we shared hi fives for sticking it out. another pc volunteer was walking up and offered to take a photo of the new Kenyan/ American running team we formed in a matter of minutes. Ryan and I bent down and as we took our positions for the picture, the children hugged us and assumed their place too. there was one boy who kind of wandered in front of the camera so i motioned for him to come over to me. he ran and leaped into my lap where the snap shot was captured. ryan and I looked at each other and only said a few words about what we had just witnessed… and almost in a telepathically way, we looked at each other as if this was one of the reasons why we joined the PC. to strip away all of our past experiences or thoughts that make us fearful to travel and see the most raw and organic subtleties of humanity and culture. After the photo op, we thought it would be responsible to run them back to their jungle gym and tire game. as we set forth on our mile journey back to theirs homes, one of the little guys ran right up to my leg, hugged it, and threw his hands in the air. I knelt down, and picked him up. as I held him, I noticed a dirty old tee, beat up cartoon character sneakers, and a face full of snot. we both smiled. I asked him his age and he knodded. I am sure the little guy couldnt speak english, let alone his own language. he couldn’t have been older than two. we walked a short distance then I let him down. we held hands the whole way home. as we walked side by side, hand in hand, the sun shortly went to sleep. in front of us, a young boy, maybe 3 years old, took a spill on the rocks that speckled the road. his sister and I helped dust him off and I then realized I had another hand holding partner. We soon arrived to their playground. ryan and I told them we would show up tomorrow at the same time to play futbol. I told the little ones to put their hands in the middle and on the count of 3, we all yelled “friends!” Shortly after, we waived and said goodbye. there was something about these children, so innocent and free from all distractions. no video games, tv, or real toys. They have each other and a tire to push around; and that was good enough. all in all, great day, perfect moment, and must add that this is only one little reason why I decided to leave my life and set on this journey. it’s the little things. as I write this blog entry at 1:30am under my mosquito netting, I have only slept about 10 hours in the past 4 days. Must be the nerves and time difference. past few days I have felt like turning over in bed and vomitting. I’m nervous, excited, and realize this time next week, I’ll be in our remote PC training town, living with a host family. I heard the wildlife is epic and we can see Kilimanjaro pretty well. tomorrow we dive head first into a rigorous 10 week Kiswahili language training. it’s going to be rough, but I am excited to learn.