Villager Wes

As time goes on, I'm becoming more and more comfortable in the village. It's still hard being stared at all the time and seeing the extreme poverty, but it's so nice how peaceful and quiet it is. I've started trying to become more acquainted with life out in the village and so far am doing a decent job and having a lot of fun. First of all, i got a new bike. A basic, 60's style bike called a Jupiter. It's a fixed-gear bike and the kind that everyone has and can easily be repaired by any village mechanic. I used to have a mountain bike, but due to the fact that I'm totally inept with mechanical things, once it broke, it became my friend Jessica's toilet paper holder. Now I'm not reliant on the horrible public transportation and can really explore all the back roads (which is most of them). Having a basic bike gives the people the impression that I'm trying to live like them and not a rich Muzungu. Now if only I didn't sweat so much...

Second course of action was to dig up my yard and plant some stuff. That was hard, but fun and it looks like stuff is growing, as is all the grass that I hoe'ed up! Not quite sure exactly what I planted, because of course I didn't write it down or make a map. We'll see what happens. It'll be like Christmas, never knowing what the gift will be! Hopefully I planted a beef jerky tree...

The third and coolest village like activity I've done, is to start growing chickens! I got 2 from my friend Derek and 1 started laying 2 days later. She's now sitting on 9 eggs and I'll soon have 11 chickens! I think that's pretty awesome considering I've never owned any poultry and it'll be cool to be able to get fresh chicken when I want. Of course the whole killing and cleaning part isn't fun, but it really makes you appreciate your food. I'm not around enough to tend them and I don't really have any close neighbors, so I'm keeping them at the home of one of my organization's staff members. He's agreed to tend them and in the future, I'll let him keep some of them. I'm planning on buying an "improved cock", hold the jokes, to help out my chickens as well as the neighbors. An "improved cock" is a larger, stronger one that helps produce offspring that grow quicker and lay more. Now really hold back on the jokes! They are pretty expensive for the average villager (about $5-10), but not a big deal to me. He will of course make his way around the neighborhood and help out the production of other people's chickens. I'm hoping to have some big, fat chickens ready for eating in the fall when my friends visit.