Snapshots: Fellows making new friends over chores, sweat and coffee

It’s hard to believe our 29th class of fellows, KF29, has been in the field for 4 weeks already! They’ve started visiting borrowers and understanding the country they are in, and have reported some great stories with fantastic pictures. We asked them to share with us snippets of their first weeks in the field and what made them smile so far. Here is what they reported back!

Marybeth works with ID Ghana in the Chorkor area. She told us about a great experience during her everyday chores: "The feeling of accomplishment after finally finishing hand washing the dust and sweat out of a weeks worth of clothes made me smile this week. The crowd of Ghanaian women and children surrounding me while I did this, either offering tips or playing in the water (respectively), was an added bonus!" Learn more about the everyday details of her work here.

Kiva Fellow Oliver told us about his first week in Zimbabwe, working with Camfed Zimbabwe: "It was early in the morning, a bright blue sky sunny day in Harare. The woman in the Tel One internet office asked if I had been caught in a rain shower. 'Well, no, actually, I... err... am just a little bit warm.' When she figured out why my shirt was damp, we laughed it off together. Now it's become a running joke at the house I live at. 'Oliver, were you caught in a rain shower?'"

Abigail is currently in Colombia, and shared with us just how much accents from different parts of Latin America are diverse and recognizable. "I went for coffee with the Kiva coordinator here in Barranquilla today before I start work on Monday. We had been chatting for some time and it came up that I had been living in Bolivia before I arrived in Colombia. When I told her that, she began to laugh and smile emphatically and said 'Oh, yes, I was actually going to ask you about that because you definitely have a Bolivian accent!' It made me smile because it's a lot better than being told you sound like an American!"

Michaela, our Kiva Fellow in Panama, tells us another story involving Spanish. "I was laughing at myself and with my taxi driver on the way to San Jose central from the airport. It was my first real conversation in Spanish and everything was going pretty well until I accidentally told him I was 'ten and five' instead of 'twenty and five', which is how you would actually say my age. I also then asked if his wife was a desk, when I meant to ask whether she was a writer!"

You can keep up with all of KF29’s adventures through our fellows blog or searching for #KF29 on Twitter and Instagram.