Where to begin….. So I am officially a Peace Corps Volunteer. We were all in Nairobi last week for swearing in. It was a lot of fun. I frequented the casino they have in the Westgate Mall (yes there is a casino in the mall and its awesome!) I got pretty hot on the black jack table and my luck must of carried over because some how I found a Ronnie Brown jersey at some random store to blow my winnings on. Growing up I could not even find a Dolphins jersey in New York, but somehow I find one in Kenya? Swearing in was at the Ambassadors house and I officially want to be a Ambassador now. His house was ridiculous even for American standards. The highlight of the ceremony was when a monkey jumped on his roof during his speech. He did not appreciate the distraction but I got some sweet pics. That night we hit up the clubs in Nairobi with some current volunteers making my 10 hour journey the next day even more miserable.
OK now the important stuff. I love it here, Diani Beach is the shit!!!! The best way to describe it, is that its like being in the Bahamas, only I live in the sketchy place right outside the resorts they tell tourists not to go to. The best of both worlds for sure, after all I am in the Peace Corps. My job assignment seems pretty cool too. I will be marketing furniture and bottled water produced by the school. The furniture is made from palm wood and is really nice. The water is from our brand new water treatment facility given to us by my man Ambassador Ranneberger. Now back to the beach, amazing beautiful turquoise water and full of European tourists. It seriously looks like Cancun or something. My favorite bar / place on earth is called 40 Thieves . Its right on the beach first of all, and I don’t mean on the beach like Hatties. I mean I could lifeguard from my bar stool. They have great food, plasma TV’s, pool, fosse ball, darts, and the most amazing view of the Indian Ocean…oh and they have Tanqueray and real ice cubes ( the first place I have found Tanqueray in Kenya and ice is a real treat for us PVC’s). That’s it for now folks start making travel arrangements everyone seriously needs to check this out. Love you guys!
Dino

Last week in Loitokitok. I would use the term bittersweet but the truth is I am craving independence and cant wait to be on the coast. Everyone I talk to has nothing but good things to say about my site. I have done some research and found some potentially good breaks using Google Earth. Also, I have found out that there is a golf course and a casino within 40 minutes of my house. I know, I know it keeps getting better. This week I met my closest volunteer. He is about 40 min south of me and cool as shit. I’m excited to check out Mombassa with him, it’s a bummer though he leaves in December. It is cold and incredibly dusty here (it has rained once in the two months I am here and this is the “wet season”) making me more and more anxious to get to my hot sandy home. I have been busy lately as you can tell from my infrequent posts. Last weekend we had a party at a camp site on the base of Kilimanjaro for the 4th of July. We got a couple kegs delivered and roasted a goat over a fire. An interesting mix of cultures. We played beer pong and I ran the table most the night; nice to know I still have it. In other eventful news I slaughtered my first chicken or any animal for that matter this week. I was excited to do it as a kind of right of passage type of thing but did not intend on doing it again. However today I was asked by my family to slaughter another chicken. As it is a great honor, I could not decline but am happy to say it went smoother the second time around. I am mildly concerned about the chicken haunting me in my sleep though. The anti-malarial drugs we are on give us disturbingly vivid dreams so unfortunately this is not out of the realm of possibilities. Wednesday is my big language examination. If I pass I will swear in as a Peace Corps Volunteer on Saturday. We are having our ceremony and after party at the Ambassadors’ House it should be pretty interesting. My Kiswahili is coming along pretty well and am fairly confident I will pass. That’s it for now I am in need of an afternoon cocktail. Oh yea, Wardo and Alex that sketchy phone number you keep ignoring is me trying to call you so answer your damn phone one of these days. PEACE
Dino