OBAMAMANIA!!!

Truly it is crazy and exciting here today after Obama's win. Yesterday CNN was aired on a local channel all day, so I caught pieces of it here and there. everyone was psyched b/c they kept showing clips of people in kenya from obama's grandmother's village. there's even a huge billboard in kisumu with his picture on it. and they had a mock vote in kisumu where people filled out obama's name on slips of paper and put them into a cardboard box. i bought a newspaper yesterday...there was a 16 page pullout insert in the middle all covering obama. crazy! Milham was glued to the screen last night. he kept standing right next to the t.v. peter had to ask him twice to please come sit on the couch. i went to bed feeling pretty confident that Obama was going to win. At 7 a.m. Popo calls and wakes me up saying, "hey are you watching the news." to which i replied, no i'm sleeping. and he says, "go turn on the news right now." 15 minutes later i woke up and had a text from Julius, one of the cool teachers at the blue house. it said "congratulations on your new president. god bless america." when i went downstairs everyone was up...peter, milham, victor, leon...all watching the news. i heard most of the acceptance speech in the midst of brushing my teeth. walking to the matatu this morning everyone kept saying things about obama "let's give a wave for obama" etc. people were all wearing their t-shirts. oh, and tomorrow has been declared a public holiday b/c of obama. i had a long conversation with a pastor i randomly met on the way. he was super excited and wants me to come speak to the youth at church (doesn't everyone...comes with being white). the acceptance speech was played over again on the radio on the matatu ride to town. there's a guy talking about it on his cell phone right now. if i didn't know better i'd think i was in america right now. the kids at blue house started clapping and cheering when i talked about obama. with one class, i decided the reading lesson would be using 2 obama newspaper articles...i knew that would interest them. so yes, people are quite excited here.

yesterday someone stopped me in kibera and asked why i wasn't voting, to which i explained i already had. popo tells me on election day here everything is closed. and that policemen and military people can't vote here. interesting.

on my ride into town yesterday, a red VW golf car flags down our matatu driver with a walkie talkie and makes us pull over. must have been an undercover policemen. he pulls our driver out of the car, and yanks him back towards his car. seriously, 2 guys were forcing him to come. i thought for sure that they were going to arrest him. but he showed his ID and it must have been the wrong guy they were looking for. so shortly afterwards we left. only to soon have another traffic cop hitting our driver and the conductor with their stupid little batons. this would definitely be harrassment in the u.s.

speaking of hitting, caning is a very common thing in schools here...as in spanking kids, but with a stick. and we're talking all age of kids. now i was spanked as a kid, and i think i turned out okay, but i think spanking older kids is ineffective. especially b/c it gets to be effective. and kids only seem to respect teachers b/c they're afraid of being caned. oscar (the spanish guy at the juvenile) witnessed someone being caned for the first time and was understandably very upset about it. we had a long chat about whether or not we should say something to the principal. it's hard b/c you can't go in demanding people change everything. but at the same time, many of these kids often get into fights and so seeing violence makes them think that it will solve problems. plus some of these kids are 17...that's pretty old to be caning kids, don't you think. oscar and i were discussing that there were lots of other more effective punishments they could do...like putting them to work around the school.

that same day i paper mached with the kids and was covered with flour when i went home. people hate being dirty here, so them seeing me was a bit of a shock i think. one kid told me i wasn't very clean. peter's sister from england has come to stay with us, and i think she thought i was crazy when i walked in the door. she said, well maybe next time you could put a wrap around you. and i replied, that i didn't really mind being dirty, i was very used to it from teaching art at home. her name is maxine and she brought her son, elisha with her. i can't exactly figure out what the story is on her. she's staying with us for at least a few months. i think she's still on maternity leave and that's why she's come back to visit. not sure if she's married or what...i'm guessing not; divorced? don't know that it would be appropriate to ask.