GO USA!!!! What a game, just got home from the bar. I hope we keep winning as it gives us a reason to party. They even extended curfew today so we could watch the game at the bar. Thanks everyone for the B-Day wishes. Pam, Ted and the Connecticut McDonalds thank you for my cards, I received them today. My birthday day was very nice. The other volunteers and I played beer pong at the bar while watching the World Cup during the day. At night, my family slaughtered a chicken for me (a great honor as chicken is a very expensive meat) and even had cake. An interesting combination of American and Kenyan culture. It is getting quite cold here as it is now the beginning of winter and I am getting more and more anxious to get to the coast! The more people tell me about my site the more I want to get there. Me and the people in my area have been given the nickname of “The Beach Corps”. Works for me!! My language training is moving along slowly but I am told I am right on track. I am going to a city in the Eastern Province next week for HIV training. This is actually exciting news because we get to leave Loitokitok for the first time in a month. It will give me the opportunity to see different parts of Kenya and hopefully some wildlife. I have a cell phone now. My # is 011 254 700 858 918. I would suggest buying a calling card as it is expensive to call Kenya but I would love to here from people. Keep in mind the time difference is ahead 7 hours from the east coast. My address (now that I know the mail indeed does work) is
Michael Paladino
Peace Corps
P.O. Box 698 00621
Village Market
Nairobi, Kenya
AFRICA
I would be happy to give anyone suggestions on things to send but I am aware it is quite expensive to send things. Also, it is recommended that you write “for educational purposes” on any packages as they will slide through customs smoother. All in all I am doing great! Time is flying by, I will be at my site in no time. I miss everyone and think about you daily.
Dino

I am taking a break from the World Cup to answer a few questions people seem to have, first being about my assignment. Beginning in July I will be living in a town called Ukunda ON THE COAST! It is about 3 km from Diani Beach which happens to be the nicest most upscale beach in all of East Africa. While this might prohibit me from having the typical Peace Corps experience I am sure I can make the best of it. I will be a bike ride away from 4star resorts, beachfront bars, amazing snorkeling over coral reef, whale shark watching tours and gnarly reef breaks. Within a 10 km radius of my home there are 2 known surf breaks both being shallow hollow reef breaks and countless undiscovered ones (apparently I am going to have to step up my surfing quickly). This being so, priority number one is now finding a surfboard. As cool as my locale will be my job will also be pretty sweet. I have a number of assignments including marketing for a furniture company that makes stuff out off palm wood and coconuts, running activities at a boys vocational school and marine environmental conservation. Right up my ally? I think so! As you can imagined I am super stoked and can't get wait to get out there! The other question I am receiving is what animals have you seen and or been bitten by? Other than the ones I saw on my drive out here, nothing to crazy. I saw a family of Colobus Monkeys my first week (top left). Also some cool birds and strokes, an Agama Lizards, a dead Chameleon and a Bearded Dragon. The Bearded Dragon is the only thing I have been bit by so far. There is a serious cricket problem in my bed room and am planning on letting a few lizards lose in my room to eat them. I will keep you posted on how that turns out. Other than World Cup festivities nothing too eventful is happening I have seemed to settle into a normal routine. I miss everyone, have a good weekend!
Dino

Where to begin.... so much had happened since my last post. After an amazingly scenic drive from Nairobi I am currently living in a town called Loitokitok located on the Tanzanian border at the base of Mt. Kilimanjaro. The drive was an adventure of its own. We started in Nairobi (possibly the dirtiest city on earth), after driving through what I could only describe as several "Trenchtowns" we were in Lion King like savannas complete with the famous Flat-Topped Acacia Trees, Giraffes and Ostriches. After only a few hours we were in beautiful mountains passing by tribes of Masai when I finally got my first view of the great Kilimanjaro. Over a week into my stay here, seeing that mountain everyday does not get old. It is truly beautiful, especially for someone who spent his whole life on the East Coast. My town is on the base of the mountain and still almost 7,000 ft. in elevation (I am reminded of this everyday when I walk to and from class). I am staying with a host family and will be till I leave here in July. My family is great, I have 2 kakas(brothers), 2 dadas(sisters) a mama and a baba (father). I have taught my brothers and the other boys in the neighborhood American Football and regularly have games, by the way someone needs to tell Urban there is some serious talent down here. Life here as you can imagine is considerably different. The food is pretty bad, lots of starch and fat, except for the fruit which is amazing and cheap. I LOVE PASSION FRUIT. My bathroom experience consists of bucket baths and what is literally a whole in the ground you squat over. This confuses me, people here have TV's and cell phones but somehow are content with a hole in the ground for a toilet? It is way colder than I prepared for here, 40's at night maybe a high of 80 during the day. A typical day for me consists of language class from 8-12. Classes are held in peoples backyards which is strange but kind of cool. We have off for lunch till 2 which we eat at local hoteli's (hotel/restaurants). After lunch I have SED (Small Enterprise Development) training till 5. We have a 6:30 curfew because the town gets sketchy at night but I always find time for a few beers at our favorite bar before dark. The beer situation is awesome!! Tusker is the most popular and a tasty brew but we also have Guinness Foreign Extra which is a little more robust than regular Guinness and a hefty 6.5% alcohol. Allsops however might be my favorite, it taste very similar to Tusker but is a full 1% stronger and 20 schillings cheaper (after all I am a volunteer on a tight budget). All the beers come in big 500ml bottles and cost between $1-1.50 US, yea its pretty sweet!! Well that's is for tonight big day tomorrow, WORLD CUP TIME!! Miss you all!
Dino