"IF ONE MORE GUY TRIES TO SELL ME A 3 WEEK OLD NEWSWEEK I AM GOING TO..." (or "my mental breakdown and recovery")

I would love to tell you that I have always maintained my cool this trip. That I treated everyone I met with love. That I exuded peace at each moment. That would be a load of crap.

Yesterday was a BAD day. I woke up pretty sick to my stomach so I didn't eat breakfast. I didn't get a chance for lunch. Now you all know that I don't miss many meals, plus I am still dealing with culture shock, so I was in a pretty bad way. Finally I got done with work and caught a minibus to the cafe near my apartment. They were out of the first two things I ordered and I got stuck eating a cheese burger covered in mayo because they were out of lettuce and tomato and apparently decided to replace those things net weight with mayo. Exhausted and ticked off I headed for the apartment while Steve went to the internet cafe. About a 1/2 km down the road I realize Steve has the only key... SO after walking back and getting the key I went up the 5 flights of stairs, opened up the door, and discovered that the power and water were off... again... for the 4th time in 5 days. I nearly went ballistic. Sometimes everything adds up. None of that was major, but I just couldn't process it all at once.

Fortunately sitting in the dark gave me some time to calm down and I am doing much better today :) Incredibly we have digitized 106 manuscripts since Monday (for those not familiar with how fast this process normally goes, don't feel bad I wouldn't if it wasn't my job, that is an incredible rate!) I am shooting about 13 manuscripts a day, my previous daily record was 12. It has been very cool to see the project come together. I have also made a few friends and have been teaching two of the guys to photograph manuscripts. It has been awesome to see their progress. Massai even wants to race me each day, which is a lot of fun and I am not ashamed to admit that he has given me a run for my money the last two days. We work for two more days and then fly to Nairobi, spend time with our friends there, and then fly home the 9th-10th. It has been a great adventure and I will keep you posted on the last bit of it. Keep me in your thoughts if you think of it, Steve and I are both pretty worn out and feeling kind of sick. Thanks, until next time.

~Jeremy