Back-Tracking

I’m going to have to back track a little…and start on Friday.  We didn’t have power all day, and I really wasn’t home all day so I didn’t have time to write.  Friday morning we went to Assumption school again, because my school was having testing.  I wish I could have said goodbye to my students more formally than simply waving, because we didn’t know it was our last day until we were leaving.  Assumption is a great school though, and they had a mass midday that we went to with the students.  It was a beautiful church, and despite the fact that the service was in Kiswahili and I understood next to nothing, it was a lovely mass.  I was glad I had the opportunity to go to church here.  After mass we returned back to the school where the students had a program prepared for their teachers (the students from Grand Valley). The songs were so cute and they almost made me cry reflecting on my time with my students. 

After the short program, we headed home and then two of my friends and I returned back to Shanga while the rest of our group either went to the orphanage or the Wildlife Conservation center.  Shanga means necklace in Swahili, because that is what the whole business started with…a necklace.  The story behind the place is beautiful and I enjoyed returning to hear the whole story, sign with some of the workers, and enjoy an incredible lunch.  Shanga employs primarily intellectually disabled and people who are deaf.  I wish I could have signed with them more, but I only knew a couple sentences that my friend taught me, and I still remember the alphabet.  Now I want to take sign language courses!—there is just too much that I still want to do and learn!!

After Shanga, we went back to the Outpost and got ready for our last dinner with Grand Valley at the Blue Heron.  It was a fun dinner and after that we continued out to a bar that was having live music that night.  It was a lot of fun to let loose and go out with some friends…everyone was up and dancing by the end of the night!  We had a lot of laughs and when we got back to the Outpost we were hoping to continue the fun; however, the power was out.  We all crammed into our room with flashlights for a little bit, but quickly sauntered off to bed.

Saturday morning we got up somewhat early, had breakfast, and then headed to the Maasai Market.  On our way we met a cute man in a red Toys ‘R’ Us shirt that was talking to me and told me what ATM I could and could not go to, as well as to be sure to go to the market.  At first, when he tried directing me to a different ATM I was a bit apprehensive about his presence with our group, but he was so kind and harmless, and at the end of the day I felt bad about even having those feelings.  We did walk with him to the market (because after all, that is where we were going) and he showed us his stand and then we continued shopping.  Before we left I was over by his shop again and he told me to go inside and look around, I told him I only had 500 shillings (not enough money to buy anything but a ride on the Dala Dala) and he said no worries just take a look and I have a gift for you.  He then proceeded to give me a bracelet with the Tanzania flag colors on it and told me that maybe I would be back sometime to shop.  I’m such a sucker, and my heart melted…so I quickly borrowed 10,000 shillings from a friend and made a purchase.  I bought a lot of great things that day, but my funds are dwindling haha. After the market my two friends/group members and I began writing our 30-page research paper…we’re up to 22 pages and that was only in one day! :)  We had dinner with our Grand Valley friends and then had to say our goodbyes.

Sunday we painted the outside of the orphanage, which was a lot of fun and made me feel good!  I was happy to actually be doing something for them as opposed to just giving them things.  It looked great when we were finished and despite some dizziness from paint fumes it was a very successful few hours.  We then relaxed at home and packed for our trip to Dar es Salaam.

We left the Outpost at 5:15 AM and headed to the bus station.  We all boarded the bus and were contently sitting with friends all in a row until about an hour in when one lady through a hissy fit about her seat.  Naturally, I was shoved to the back and was stuck sitting with a stranger.  I feel as if I am often screwed over when it comes to transportation.  So 7 of the 9 hours spent on the bus were with a stranger that did not understand the concept of personal space…I was practically sitting in the aisle the entire ride.  I was able to sleep for some of it, but not comfortably.  We finally arrived in Dar and were sent to our ‘host families’ that we will be staying with for two nights.  I am staying with a woman named Christel and her 13-year-old son Stefan.  She is very nice and welcoming, which put me at ease.  I’m leaving for dinner shortly and tomorrow I will be spending the day in the elementary international school.  Wednesday I will be checking out the University and then we head to our beach house for two nights! I just still cannot get over the fact that I leave on Saturday…at least I will have a couple days in Amsterdam to break up those long flights!

Random Side Notes

The kids at the school yesterday were just as anxious to hold our hands and play with our hair…I particularly love it when an older boy walks up to one of us and touches our hair quickly.  It’s just so funny to me, because despite their age they are still intrigued by us…I just think it’s cute how shy they are about it because they are sixth or seventh grade boys, so they run up touch our hair and run away quickly so no one sees, particularly the ‘Mazungu’ whose hair they touch.  Too funny!

Also, I forgot to blog about this earlier, but the students at my school would often kick a bottle around due to lack of games and equipment.  I think it’s sad in one aspect, because the school does not have the resources to provide the students with games and such.  On the other hand, I think it is a beautiful thing to see such creative children.  In America children are wrapped up in video games and television programs, when here in Tanzania all they want to do is play and be outside, and they find fun in the smallest ways.  Often times after school we would play ring around the rosy, and even the older students had fun with this…at home sixth graders wouldn’t be caught dead playing this game.  I found myself both elated and saddened at the same time in another instance when I took a class of fourth graders outside to play.  When I asked them what they wanted to do they simply said they wanted to play ‘running’ and were thrilled when I said they could.  They merely divided into two lines, one of boys and one of girls and raced each other to the fence and back and then it was the next person in line’s turn—similar to a relay.  They all cheered each other on and had the time of their lives playing this ‘game’.  I feel like many students at home would find this game more as torture and I love that the students here find pleasure in the smallest things.  They sure are helping me to open my eyes to all that is around me.  The littlest things are taken for granted and I need to appreciate all that I have.  After all, sometimes the little things are the biggest things.

Another Day, Another School

     Today, because our school was closed a group of us went with the Grand Valley students to their elementary school.  I started the day in the baby class, which was comprised of three and four year olds.  They were adorable, but it was a stressful class at the same time.  They had so much energy and they were difficult to control due to their lack of English.  We then had tea and after tea I went with another teacher to a Class Six English class.  It was a little boring, but it was still fun to see what English the students are learning and how they are learning it.  I then stayed in that class and was joined by a friend and we answered a bunch of questions that the students had for us.  My favorite was, “If I buy a television in Tanzania and bring it to America, will I get Tanzanian channels or American channels?”  What a creative question! The students were adorable and were so intrigued about our schools, hobbies, favorite foods, etc.  They also asked us if teachers in America use ‘the stick’, because corporal punishment is frequently used here in Tanzania.  The looks on their faces when we responded ‘no’ were priceless, and they all turned to their teacher with looks of astonishment.  That question was quickly followed up with ‘well how do the teachers punish students if they are bad?’. After some more questions we then taught them the Macarena…such an old dance, but boy did they love it! I stayed in that class for yet another period, and after some short science review they were left to do silent reading.  Instead of doing that we played games haha.  We played hangman for a while and then I introduced ‘silent ball’ to them…a perfect activity for today because Class Seven was in testing and everyone had to stay quiet. Overall my day at the new school was fun, but I missed my students soooo much! I continually thought I saw my students at recess but I had to keep reminding myself that I was no longer at Tetra Elementary. Every time I walk through the city I pray to see one of the kids, and I have only been away for a day! Haha—how am I ever going to leave the country? 

Last Day of School Blues

Today was sadly my last day of school.  There was a bit of confusion at the school the last couple days in regards to when they had school and when they had exams, so I didn’t really find out until today that it was my last day.  I am really going to miss my students, and I could cry thinking about it right now.  I’m glad I stayed later yesterday to play with them outside after school! I’m also glad I brought my camera today and had a friend take ‘paparazzi’ shots of me with my students! I know you aren’t supposed to pick favorites, but I may have stretched the rules this trip haha.  Anyways it was so sad saying goodbye, but even sadder because my little students could hardly understand that I am not going to be back to school.  Also, yesterday I received a note in broken English from one of the lunch ladies.  It was sweet and she thanked me for being at the school, and she also asked that I remember her and her family and help her so she can send her sons to school.  I wish there were something I could do to help.  Then, to make the situation more awkward, she gave me a kanga today at school as a gift.  A kanga is a beautiful piece of fabric that all the women here wear.  I felt so guilty because I had nothing for her and she was so nice to me.  Also, a group of teachers that worked with my friends and I over the last couple weeks ran out to buy us gifts when they realized today was our last day.  They bought us all cute Tanzania t-shirts…too bad they must be youth sizes...something is being re-gifted ;)

       After school we were in a rush and were delayed by waiting for our shirts; however, one of our teachers helped us out by getting us a ‘taxi’ outside of the school and negotiating a reasonable price.   I say ‘taxi’ because I am fairly certain this was simply a friend of the teacher and not truly a taxi, but either way he got us home safely and quickly!  Then we got our things together and headed to the United Nations building to see some of the Rwanda Tribunals.  The court case we watched was a trial for one of the Generals in the Army at the time.  There was not a whole lot going on while we were there, mostly background information on his role in the Army, but it was interesting nonetheless.  We then watched a documentary about Rwanda and the process of getting the tribunals started.  We finished our time by talking with one of the men that work for the UN and he answered any questions we had.  It was a long but very informative afternoon, and it is mindboggling to me that nearly 14 years after the Rwanda genocide there are still trials.  Although, I do think it is great that they are still convicting people and working to get justice from that horrific event.  They are still working to find some people that contributed to the events, but they have made tremendous progress.

       I cannot believe my trip is nearly over, particularly my time in Arusha! I am not ready to leave all the friendly faces, especially my students and the amazing staff at the Outpost. On Monday we leave for Dar Salam for the week and I only have one more night in Arusha when I get back.  My time here is wonderful and I have seen and done so much, but I wish I could do more!

SAFARI!

Here comes another loooong blog, but I could write about safari for hours....believe me this is the short version haha...

Well it is my first night back from safari and I am loving my time revisiting my pictures from the trip.  Words cannot explain my experience, and pictures can hardly give justice to the beautiful landscapes and animals that I saw, but I will try.  My time spent in the Serengeti and Ngorongoro crater was absolutely remarkable and I cannot believe the animals seen, the breathtaking views, and of course the lovely people I ran into along the way.  We headed out early Friday morning after loading all of our bags into the four, soon-to-be open-topped land cruisers.  On the way we passed by Lake Manyara and were able to take pictures of the lake and the well-known Baobab trees that are amazing to look at. My excitement was hardly contained on the ride and after hours of driving we finally reached Ngorongoro conservation area.  We saw a few monkeys and a lot of steep edges, the car ride through the crater was beautiful, but when I say breathtaking I’m referring to my gasps around sharp curves and plummeting slopes. 

After passing through Ngorongoro we descended into the Serengeti and that is where the animal sightings began. The Serengeti is difficult to describe, because it looks like it goes on forever.  The best way to explain it is through the word Serengeti, which in the Maasai language means ‘endless plains’ which could not be any truer.  The Serengeti goes on like the ocean, and I never felt like I could see the end.  There we saw zebras and wildebeest migrating together, because they help each other with their weak senses…one has the good hearing and the other the good sight, and they eat different parts of the grass so they live happily together.  You will not believe me when I say this but there were thousands of zebras.  I was in awe.  We continued on and saw tons of gazelle, impala, warthogs and more until we came to a halting stop in front of an average looking tree…average until we glanced up and saw the most elegant leopard sleeping on a branch while his lunch, a gazelle, was slung over a neighboring branch mangled and chewed.  As repulsive as this sounds to the reader, it was nothing short of magnificent for the viewers.  After a few minutes the leopard stood up turned around and lay back down.  I was able to snap some good pictures and we were off. For the longest time I felt as if safari was all staged, I pictured my drivers on their walky-talkies saying, “Cue the lions” or “I think they’re ready for the leopard”.  There was no possible way that this was real, that I was actually viewing these animals in their natural habitat, but I was.  The second day was just as exciting as we saw some of the same animals and many more new ones.  We found four lions sleeping in the grass and next thing you know our driver is off-roading and our land cruiser is circling the lions! I was in awe…the lions had to overall be my favorite animal to find and watch.  After we circled the lions our driver informed us of how illegal that was, but what an adrenaline rush for us, so naturally we cheered in response to the illegality of it.  That wasn’t my only experience circling lions, we did the same thing the next day and it was just as exciting, if not more.  I saw baby cubs with their moms and an entire pride of lions on top of rocks, and boy did that scene scream Lion King…which was naturally sung by many of us on a variety of occasions. On another day we went to a hippo pond where we saw hundreds of hippos swimming and snorting and moving about—it was unbelievable, but also smelly. 

The giraffes we saw were beautiful but shy and I loved trying to find them in the trees.  One of our cars was charged by a buffalo, but don’t worry they weren’t rammed.  After that incident I asked one of our drivers how safe we were in our cars, he responded “On a scale to 10? Probably about a 2”. How reassuring. We continued cruising through the Serengeti, now one of my top ten favorite activities, and looked for more wildlife.  We saw cheetahs relaxing in the grass and lions sleeping with all four paws in the air. 

After awhile we headed back towards the crater and spent our third and final night there.  The view from my room was gorgeous and is beyond words and pictures.  The crater was sure something to look at.  Monday morning we headed down into the crater, which was again anything but comfortable.  The fog was thick and the roads were thin with tight corners and plunging edges, I felt anything but comfortable until we were completely down.  Once there I could hardly believe my eyes.  Elephants were eating and playing, monkeys were everywhere, and the lions were everywhere.  This day, the lions were within arms reach of my car, and we didn’t even have to illegally maneuver the cars.  In fact, one lion walked over and started peeing on our car…that just goes to show you how confident lions are.  They were anything but scared of us and walked right past our cars like it was no big deal.  We saw at least fifteen lions and many more zebra, elephants, wildebeest, warthogs, etc.  We also saw a lake full of flamingo. 

The sights were unreal and I cannot believe I had this experience, but I also cannot believe it is over.  Well, after spending hours standing out the top of a Land Cruiser, I sure do understand why Clancy likes to have his head out the window…I only hope he gets as much enjoyment out of seeing squirrels as I did from seeing lions and leopards.

Random side note: I got to see Mt. Kilimanjaro the other day! It was small and far away, but I am glad I can say I saw it :)

Precious Moments

So yesterday was just another typical day at school: teach a class, teach another class, have an awkward tea break and then an afternoon of playing with kids.  Today on the other hand, was a fabulous day of school, of course with some awkward stories mingled in.  We brought all of our school supplies today and passed them out to all of the 800+ students.  The smiles on their faces were priceless and needless to say I have been in the best mood all day.  The students were delighted to see their own rulers and erasers, items they typically need to share in the classroom.  They loved the jelly bellys, but we did need to tell each class that they were candy to make sure they knew to eat them.  We had enough packages of supplies for classes 1 through 7 and provided the ‘baby class’ and kindergarten classes with jelly bellys and books.  The secondary school all received candy, toothbrushes, and toothpastes and I was told the gifts were received with similar excitement.  We got a lot of pictures, and I will be sure to try to post them at least on Facebook if not on here.  The students are so selfless there and when I returned to my class after passing out all of the supplies they were all sharing jelly bellys with me.  Also, I received a candy treat yesterday and one again today from two different students.  I always feel bad taking them, but I never know what to do, because the students want me to have them and it is difficult to explain that I want them to have the candy instead…otherwise it would look rude like I simply did not want it by handing it back.  It made me feel so great, being able to provide the students with something they find such treasure in, and unfortunately something that we take such advantage of at home.  My kids are really helping me to open my eyes and take a look at the world around me and to appreciate the little things.  One of my favorite quotes has always been “While we teach our students all about life, they teach us what life is all about”, and this quote could not be any truer of my time in the Tanzanian schools. 

            On to the light-hearted and awkward stories of the day…as a result of all of our gifts for the students, the teachers in turn wanted everything we had to offer.  The issue in this, is that we were working to make sure we had enough supplies for each student!  At the end of the day we were able to supply the teachers each with a toothbrush, toothpaste, and jelly bellys, and many also received books.  We were also able to give a suitcase to one of the teachers there (the one that asked for it first), and we could hear her cheering all the way down the hallway….I almost felt like Oprah, just with below par gifts in comparison to hers. Haha.  Also, one of the teachers I usually drink tea with said to me, “I noticed you have a nice water bottle, maybe you could give me that when you leave”.  I felt so awkward responding no, but I told her I still needed it even after my last day teaching because I was traveling to Dar Salaam still.  Another teacher told me she wanted me to leave my purse at the end of my stay here, and later added my shoes as well.  When I told her I needed them for Dar Salaam, she responded with, “Well, you won’t need that nice jacket you have because it will be hot”.  Talk about AWKWARD! I just laughed and walked away, but I felt bad not being able to supply them with the things they wanted.  They believe that any Mazungu or white person is incredibly wealthy and they think we can give them anything…boy I wish that were the case.  I understand that in their terms I am wealthy, but I cannot be handing over the clothes on back.  I just wish I could give everyone what he or she needs, if only it were that easy.

            Moving on, I could cry everyday thinking about how NICE and KIND and CARING almost everyone is here, particularly our staff at the hotel and our Safari Makers staff.  They go out of their ways to help us with anything and everything and they are all just so sweet. Well we are heading out to the orphanage now so I am sure to have many stories afterwards!

More School!

Well, I went to school this morning and observed the first English class, and was then sent to teach the other English class the same lesson, but by myself.  It started off okay, but quickly spiraled out of control.  The language barrier between my young students and myself is frustrating…they are absolutely adorable, but they often times cannot comprehend what I am saying.  I tried a variety of teaching techniques that usually work quite well on my elementary students back in the states; however, these were not strategies that my Tanzanian students were used to, and I could not fully communicate what I wanted from them, besides yelling ‘quiet’ and saying ‘sit down’.  Later in the day I started the research portion of my project by observing third and fourth grade students complete math multiplication problems.  It was fun to see their different techniques, and my partners and I are excited to have this part of our research project completed.  Our final paper is comparing the ways in which students in America solve multiplication problems to the ways Tanzanian students solve multiplication problems. 

After school we went outside with the students, and as usual my hair was being braided and my arms were being pulled in every which direction.  When we arrived home a group of friends and I shared some food for lunch and studied for our Kiswahili quiz.  After the quiz I was actually able to upload just a few pictures to Facebook, but that is quite an accomplishment with our slow Internet! We had dinner and now I am continuing to do some homework, well after I blog and journal.  I’m still counting down the days until SAFARI! It’s difficult for me to comprehend the fact that I will be seeing these animals in their natural habitats, because usually they are encaged in some way or another! 

Sorry for the lengthy post...

This is going to be a lengthy one…sorry it’s been awhile since I wrote, one of my posts was deleted somehow and I was without Internet for a while.  Friday my teacher decided not to show up and left me to teach both English classes with hardly a lesson.  It was going fairly well, but the kids I teach are in class one so their English is very minimal.  It was so sad because once again a student brought me a stick to use to hit the kids that were being loud and misbehaving…and like last time I said oh thanks and set it down.  I hate seeing the teachers hit the students it is so sad.  I tried to get the students to interact with their learning but I could only explain games and such so much, but I think they had fun.  After teaching two English classes I was lucky enough to be told I was teaching Swahili too…for those wondering, I don’t know this language well.  I had to give the students a spelling test in Swahili, the poor kids that spelled anything wrong probably shouldn’t get it marked against them…I have a strong suspicion I wasn’t pronouncing everything correctly. 

Friday afternoon we went to the orphanage and it was so fun! The kids were adorable and we all had a blast playing games, reading books, and talking with the kids.  I found that this orphanage was well kept and it was obvious that the kids there were loved, so thankfully I left feeling happy and not sad or sorry.  Of course, they didn’t have the nicest clothes or a plethora of toys, but at least they seemed loved.  I would love to send tons of children’s clothes and shoes to the orphanage; luckily, we have a lot of books, toys, and clothes to bring with us each trip that we brought from home, but I wish I could do more…like everywhere I visit I want to get them everything they need.  After the orphanage, we went to dinner at the Blue Heron, a fun outdoor restaurant that our group enjoys. On the walk home I somehow managed to step right into a big ditch filled with what I am pretending to be mud and water, let’s hope the sewage filters through somewhere else.  My foot was covered and it was just cold, wet, goopy mud dripping down from half way up my leg…good thing I was with a bunch of friends so all we could do was laugh.  It was embarrassing, but at least I could provide the entertainment for the night.  When we got back to our hotel we all had a drink and just chatted and hung out—it was really fun to just relax for a night.

Saturday morning we woke up and left for Monduli village where we were to camp, hike, and spend time with the Maasai warriors.  On the way there we saw where elephants had walked through to get to the lake for water…when we asked our guide how he knew elephants were recently there he stopped the car, pointed out the window, and said “look at the size of the shit”…his laid back use of the English swear word took us all by surprise as we giggled and took pictures of elephant poop—how charming.  As we piled out of the car our Maasai guides told us we would be hiking for eight hours, I wish you could have seen the looks on some of our faces.  The hike was worth it though, and the views were remarkable: mountains, valleys, wooded areas, etc.  We stopped for lunch a few hours in at the Rift Valley, just an average day.  We rested at camp and then went to the Maasai Market; the kids were blunt in simply saying, “give me money” as we walked by.  I wish I could have, even the smallest amount of money can provide them with their basic necessities for so long.  We learned so much about the Maasai, and our guides were so nice.  They were so willing to share information with us and even talked about the men and women circumcisions, the fact that men have many wives, and that the wives do much more work.  We also learned about the colors they were and about how they move up as warriors.  The different warriors stages are as follows: Junior warriors from about 18-25, Senior warriors from about 25-35, Junior Elder warriors are 35-40, Senior Elder warriors are 40 and up.  Our guide Simon was 24, thus a junior warrior, but sadly they told us him and his family are too poor to buy him a wife…my friend and I tipped him extra, and yes with money. We shared stories around the fire and even bartered with animals to get people to stay and be wives…don’t worry I didn’t stay no matter how many cows and sheep I was offered. We headed to bed in our tents, and the view I fell asleep to and woke up to was breathtaking.  The next morning we had breakfast and headed out on yet another hike; three hours up the mountain and two hours down.  Again it was beautiful, but boy am I sore! We left after lunch and went to a place called Shanga.  They hire people with disabilities, particularly those that are hearing impaired to work there, and all of the items they make are made from recycled materials.  The profits they make all go to help those with disabilities, leading me to purchase probably more than necessary…whoops, sorry mom and dad.  We came home and there was hardly a break between unloading the cars and showering.  Last night was very calm and we all relaxed after a tiring, but incredible weekend.

Today I went to school and taught the days of the week to both English classes, but spent most of the day playing with my students.  After school we went shopping at a grocery store so we could get a few supplies and then some of the cutest shops ever.  I bought an awesome purse made from Kanga material and I’m going back when I have more money to get the shirts that read, “If you can’t climb it, drink it” with the Kilimanjaro beer label on it.  On the way home we took the DalaDala, the local ‘bus’ system, but really it is an oversized van that they crammed 16 people into today.  Also a man came sprinting from down the street and jumped into our van, it was out of control! In the meantime, my friend found a Tanzanian man’s hand reaching into his pocket…he quickly swatted it away.  Now we’re back at the Outpost and we have Swahili class, but I will try to keep posting more frequently.  I leave for safari on Friday morning! 

Tanzania Love

So I went to breakfast this morning and thought I heard an eerily close imitation to the voices of Len Casper and Bob Brenly, weird right?  However, that is exactly what I was hearing…as I look to the TV in the breakfast area I notice that they had the Chicago Cubs game on!!! Needless to say I was sure they were losing, but no, they were demolishing the cardinals, what better way to start my day in Africa? Haha...it was sooo odd!  

After breakfast I headed to school and saying I’m obsessed with the kids doesn’t even describe how much I love them! I’m working out the logistics to take home Macmillan, a little boy in my class…haha obviously I’m joking but my goodness he is precious!  This morning they all escorted me to the classroom—one girl with an umbrella over my head!  Then, when I got in there another boy pulled the chair out and said “teacher, sit sit!” They all call us teacher and it’s so cute, especially with their little accents. After I sat they all just wanted to touch me again and play with my hair…everyone was playing with my hair it was literally going in every which direction, I can’t believe it’s even still on my head.  Today I was able to teach English and it went fairly well until the teacher left then the kids got rambunctious.  In America I would’ve have been livid, but I just couldn’t help but laugh at everything these little ones were doing!  However, it was incredibly sad, because two of the students came up to me with rulers and said “teacher ruler, ruler” and were handing me their rulers to tell me that I could use those to hit the kids that were misbehaving. It was so depressing, and obviously I didn’t use them—it makes me so sad to think that corporal punishment is used here.  The other day my friends saw and heard a little boy being hit, I’m not sure I could handle that.  Later today I taught math and it was so fun to call the students to the board to show their work, I don’t think they get that opportunity often.

      On a side note, did I forget to mention that I heard Wiz Khalifa on the radio? Take that mom…telling me not to be singing my music here! ;) haha Also, I love the fact that every other car I see is a Land Rover or Land Cruiser…my dreams come true, though it is weird to see the steering wheel on the other side of the car! Also, I cannot get over the fact that they have American TV here…in Arusha! We have TVs in our room, though my roommate and I never watch it others have told us we have MTV and as stated earlier I have seen ESPN during breakfast…maybe I will have to wake up early to see some Bulls updates! Well thanks for reading, sorry if my posts bore you :)

First Day of School

We had our first day of school today…I get nervous on my first days teaching American schools, so you can imagine my feelings going into a Tanzanian school.  All ten of us crammed into one van and headed out, and don’t be alarmed; yesterday there were eleven us plus our driver.  When we got there, students came running to their classroom doors to look at us and wave and say hello.  They were absolutely adorable! After some communication difficulties we were placed in our classrooms and I am with an English teacher in first grade.  The schools are different here in that they have specialized teachers for each grade level, like high school in America.  The students were thrilled to see us and all they wanted to do was touch us and feel our hair, clothes, jewelry, etc.  If we took out our cameras they were enthralled, and everyone wanted a picture.  The students would stand and greet me, “good morning Madame” when I entered and the teacher would tell them to sit and they would respond with ‘thank you Madame’.  They were so polite and cute I just couldn’t believe it.  At around 10:00 or 10:30 we had a break for tea and rolls; I observed the teachers dipping their rolls into their tea and followed accordingly.  The tea was great, and I can imagine I would enjoy having a break like this as a teacher.  Awkwardly at 12:30 my teacher told me I was free…we were supposed to be there until 2:00.  I explained that to her so I graded some more papers and at around 1:00 was told lunch was ready.  I met with two other girls from my group and we walked around until we found where our lunch was; it was ugali and some mixed vegetables and beef.  It was interesting and I am glad I had the chance to experience the local food here!  I felt like I was back in Spain with Maria, because my teacher kept telling us to eat more food and fill our plates more.  

whoops...

...forgot to tell you all about the monster spider my roommate insisted on showing me riiiight when we got into our room. It was REPULSIVE. and HUGE. so neither of us wanted to squish it due to the crunch it was sure to make and the body goo it was sure to leave...but we're problem solvers, so we deep-woods-bug -sprayed the crap out of the sucker. mission accomplished.

does anyone else feel like monday never happened? what a weird feeling after so many hours of traveling.

I'M HERE!

I’ve safely arrived!! And our hotel is too cute. I originally had a million things to complain about in regards to my first flight, but that soon passed as soon as I arrived in Tanzania…but I’ll still fill you all in on the good the bad and the ugly. We left O’Hare at 4:20 and of course I had a middle seat between a larger foot-tapping man and another gentleman.  The first guy almost lost his left leg if he didn’t stop tapping it. The nice thing was the personal TV in front of me where I could choose my own programs to watch…Modern Family was my obvious first choice.  I tried to sleep on this flight but couldn’t get more than maybe 15 minutes of sleep.  From Amsterdam I was again stuck in the middle but it was surprisingly not as bad and I fell asleep before take off…for five hours. When I woke up I happily found Space Jam as a movie choice, as if this plane ride could get any better.  And then we landed in Tanzania, Africa!!

            We walked off the plane into the open air of Africa and I was beyond excited.  After waiting in line at passport check and buying a visa, we found and unloaded all 22 pieces of our luggage.  We then loaded into two Land Cruisers and headed to Arusha.  After about 45 minutes of driving we arrived to the Outpost Guesthouse and it is so cute! I feel like I stepped onto the set of a movie.  Everything is green and all the dining areas and lounges are open. I love it.  My room is through a little courtyard and it is so colorful. Our beds have mosquito netting around them, which makes for a comforting night sleep, tricking myself to believe bugs will not be able to get me!

            After a quick shower I settled into bed and it sure didn’t take long to fall asleep.  I had some crazy dreams, as usual, but the malarone may have contributed. This morning we had breakfast outside at our cute new home and now we have a little break time.  I might take a short nap so I’m ready for our walk to town for lunch and city tour.  I cannot wait to explore today! I’ll keep you posted on the rest of our trip…SAFARI NEXT WEEKEND! :)

"The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page"

Preparations

Well, I leave in 17 short days for Africa!! We are having our meetings every Monday now and are getting all of our final things in order.  I was in charge of getting t-shirts together for our group, and with all of Kimi's help we came up with the following:

We're going with option one with Tanzania in the middle and no blue on the back of the shirt so the letters really pop! :)

Next week is my last week of classes and I only have one final the following Monday.  I got the best finals schedule I have ever had, which is really helpful so I can be home for a week with my family before I depart.  Plus, packing up my room at school, unpacking at home, and repacking for Africa might be a bit time consuming. Other than all of this, not much is new...just counting down the days until I head out for a new adventure! I hope you like the shirts!

I'm Baaaack!

I'm restarting my blog to appease my close family and friends as I will be embarking on yet another journey of a lifetime...
On May 8 I will be leaving to spend a month in Arusha, Tanzania working in the local schools and taking classes.  I am beyond excited to start this next chapter in my life and I cannot wait to see and live in a whole new culture!  I might be just a little excited for the safari too...but who can blame me? Yet another bit of my excitement stems from the fact that I am also returning to one of my favorite places...Amsterdam!! Conveniently enough, our flight connects through Amsterdam, so how could I resist making my layover for three days? I can't believe I am lucky enough to not only travel to a whole new land, but also revisit a favorite European city!


In preparation for my trip I have been attending two-hour meetings each Monday where we have been preparing some of our coursework, but primarily practicing Swahili--and I thought Spanish was hard! The pronunciation of the vowels and consonants are similar to Spanish which is helpful in a sense; however, the emphasis is on a syllable I just cannot get used to and the letters they put together are far  from natural noises for me...'nz' or 'mch' and 'ng'... you get the idea.  But hopefully with practice I will be able to get a grasp on the basic vocabulary.


Until I leave for my trip in less than two months, I will try and blog a little about my continuing preparation for the trip, my excitements/fears, pictures of where I will be staying, and some of my itinerary...plus, because they're two of my favorite things I will probably throw in some inspirational quotes with pictures that I have taken.


Also, to all my previous loyal readers, I am going to try my hardest to stay on top of my blog this time!! But it is just amazing how time just slips by you when you are trying to juggle travel with school.


"We wander for distraction, but we travel for fulfillment"