Hi there,
Here are some pics of my cottage and the place where I am staying. We are right on the shore of Lake Victoria - it gets very humid at night and the bugs come out to play. Long sleeves and pants a must. I have to spray my room every night and sleep under a net - if malaria does not get me, I think the insecticide will... you can't win! The birds squawk, the dogs howl, the frogs sing ... a bit difficult to get quality sleep, but I am sure I will settle in at some point.... I'm getting a feel for the type of schoool I will be teaching in... it will certainly be very different from at home. I'm still getting a sense of things... but the paradox here is that... visually things look very poor - ie. the shanties, the kiosks - but inside those shanties are regular little boutiques - my hosts have told me I will see the whole range here - the poorest of the poor right up to well off. Kisumu is certainly a biggish town. I am trying to think of what to compare it to... perhaps an Orillia, or small Ontario town... one big main street, tons of street vendors, lots of banks, a couple of two big supermarkets - a la Wal Mart style - so I can get everything here. Modes of transport are car, Matatu (small van), bike taxis, Tuk Tuk's smart car type taxis, but not as stable :>, regular car taxis. Some market places -have not ventured there yet... butbasically it really is a town with everything. Out in the rural areas - now that is a different story. You see lots of huts like the pic you will see below - similar to my cottage, but probably a bit less solidly built, tin shanties and lean-to's. But there is a properness here - people are dressed very nicely - ladies in bright colours, men in trousers and shirts, the little girssl in frilly pretty dresses. some kids are definitely in bare feet, most wear flip flops.
