what smells... good?

it smells here.

the smells are so bad - and so normal - that the body odor from 95% of the population around me doesn't even shock me anymore... it's commonplace, and you really cant do anything about it... so you just deal and chalk it up as part of the experience.

men walking by... the woman sitting next to me... the boda driver hauling my butt down a kenyan road... they just smell. i noticed it everyday, and at every moment for my first few days in kenya. now i only do on rare occasions when its just RAUNCHY and overly inconvenient for my nostrils to try and ignore someone's stench.

i didnt realize how used to the bad smells i'd become until i was at the internet cafe a couple days ago. i was typing away on my blog, and then was pleasantly surprised as i thought "that smells so good... what is it?" just in time for daniel to walk up behind me. a breeze had blown his cologne towards me as he walked in the door.

arent breezes amazing? i really loved that breeze. it had a special place in my heart that day.

it was so ironic... there i was, sitting among six men around me who probably hadnt showered in days or worn deodorant (ever), and what i was shocked by wasnt their stench but rather the amazing smell of dan's cologne. thats the way it is here though... you dont notice the bad smells after a few days... just the pleasant ones.

as dan left, i silently dreaded the next breath id have to take. i knew it would bring with it the common stench, and the knowledge that kenyan body odor had overpowered the good smelling italian (stallion. daniel requested i put that at the end of his new nickname).

god bless the italian stallion's cologne... it reminds my nose that this suffering will not last forever.