The Trip Home

Sorry it's taken me so long to get my final post on here. It's been crazy since I've been home! My last days in Moshi were fun but sad. Friday night we went out to Glacier and had a few drinks and did some shaky shaky. Most of the guys showed up. Freddy and Abbas said goodbye to me earlier that day because they were heading out on safari. Hans and all the rest of the guys showed up for my last night in Moshi. We had such a good time. Melissa and I shared a bottle of Konyagi (local liquor that tastes like gin). After Glacier we took a cab to Kool Bar one last time. I was a little too tipsy to play pool so we all danced until we decided it was time for La Liga. By this time it was past midnight and by the time we got there I was so tired! Riley said Melissa and I ditched the boys right away and headed to the dance floor haha. We danced for awhile until we couldn't really keep our eyes open anymore. We took a cab home, Melissa and I munched on some popcorn and chocolate and then went to sleep. In the morning Kevin called-he got our puppy! He had just picked him up. He is now about 13 weeks old, he is a brindle boxer puppy and we named him Diesel. He's the perfect little puppy! This phone call made me sooooo excited to get home! I was not fully packed but was pretty hungover, so Mel and I slept for a couple more hours while the boys took the grill and the food across the street to Mzungu Bar to start the BBQ. Riley woke us up and told us the food was almost ready, so we headed over and had some hot dogs and burgers. I was still feeling a little rough but managed to eat a hot dog. After hanging out for awhile Mel and I headed back inside and she helped me finish packing. My bags were SO heavy! I had a lot of stuff that I bought for people back home, and my bags were pretty much full of souvenirs, I wasn't even brining that many clothes back. Riley was helping me take my bags to the cab and was like "Oh Dory, you're plane is definitely going down! What? Did you bring one of your children from school and pack them in here?!" So funny! I ended up taking a cab (of course Stanley, our wonderful cab driver and good rafiki ((friend)) offered to take me) to the airport since a couple other people were leaving for the airport a couple hours after me and Ibra was taking them in the van. Mel and Riley wanted to come with me, so we all loaded up and headed out after I said goodbye to the staff (was so sad!). It felt like the week before when we were heading to the airport with Stanley except going to Zanzibar. It felt so surreal, I just kept thinking that it was a joke or a dream and I would be heading back to CCS homebase to see all the staff and friends, not that I was actually leaving. It was so crazy, I just couldn't register it. It was really pretty on the way to the airport, we went through some rain but it was still sunny (my favorite!). It was such a perfect night, warm but not too hot. I was so sad to leave. I don't think it hit me until we actually got to the airport and I said goodbye to Stanley, Riley and Mel. We got one last Three Musketeers picture and then the tears came. It was so hard saying goodbye to Mel! We already have plans for her to visit over the 4th of July, and Kev and I are planning on going to her house for snowmobiling next winter. So excited! Everything at the airport went smoothly. It was sad getting on the airplane, seeing my last view of Kili and getting my last breath of Tanzania air, I'll miss it so much! My layover in Nairobi went well too, which I was so grateful for, because that airport is small, cramped, hot, and not very organized. Katelyn got stuck there for 14 hours on her way home! When I got to London the first thing I got was Starbucks, yum! Missed that a lot. I finished writing in my journal, read, and shopped (I had an 8 hour layover). I went to a chocolate store and the woman working helped me pick out some truffles for my Momma. They are pink champagne truffles and they are by appointment to the Queen. My mom liked them a lot. They also had a store called "World of Whiskies". Kev loves Whiskey so I went in and got him a pack of 3 small bottles to try, all aged differently. The layover went pretty quickly. There was a little scare when the fire alarm went off about an hour before my gate opened. I was so worried there was a fire that would result in delays, but luckily after shuffling all of us in the terminal around for about 20 minutes they cleared the area and my gate opened on time. The flight home was smooth, and I got through Customs without them having to look through all my souvenirs (would have taken so long!). Kevin met me in the parking lot (I told him not to come in because I didn't want him to have to leave the puppy in the car). It was soooo good to see him! I couldn't beleive how cute Diesel is, he's the best little puppy! It was weird driving over 40 mph, on paved roads, without speed bumps, on the right side instead of left side of the road. Even though it was super nice out it seemed so cold to me! So strange being home after being in such a different place for such a long time. In the past few days I've been adjusting back to home and to being a new puppy owner, trying to get everything with graduation and in the house worked out and organized. Kev had the house clean when I got home, which was so nice, but "Tornado Dory" as he calls it came in and there is stuff from Africa all over I'm trying to get organized and put away. We've already been talking about planning our trip to Tanzania, it'll probably take us a couple of years to save up, but I'm so happy Kevin wants to go back with me. I really miss the friends that I made and my kids, I think about them all the time. I miss the country so much, I can't wait to go back! Thanks to everyone for reading my blog! Hopefully sometime in the near future I'll be writing another one about my second trip to Tanzania!

Rest of Zanzibar and Moshi

Oops, the power went out...typical! One thing I won't miss about here. Anyway, Melissa and I decided by asking ourselves "what would our mom's tell us to do?" and we both decided that they would want us to spend the extra money since it wasn't that expensive and not suffer in the heat. Riley and Elle wanted to try to stay in the Banda and save money. It was amazing once we got to our room and turned the air on! We haven't really felt A/C since being in Africa. We told Elle and Riley they should just sleep in our room since there was a double bed and a single bed. The room was super nice with it's own beautiful bathroom, outside sitting area and sitting area inside. So cute! After we cooled down we went down to the bar on the beach. We were all in such a good mood after being in the A/C that we decided we would stay there our 3rd night also and all just split the cost of the room. We were worried that we wouldn't find anywhere in Stone Town with A/C and it is a lot hotter in Stone Town, no sea breeze and very crowded. So, we had some food and then the Full Moon Party started, a party they throw once a month on the full moon. They decorate the dance floor/eating area really nice and there are dancers and acrobats and then everyone dances afterwards. Elle and Riley were super tired and we all noticed we looked a little burnt so they went back to the room and Melissa and I stayed and danced for a couple more hours. It was fun but we went to bed fairly early because we were tired too. By Sunday we were all in so much pain from our sunburns. They didn't look very bad, but they were the most painful burns any of us have ever had. Then we understood why they asked us if we wanted wet suits for snorkeling: the water is so clear that no matter how much SPF you put on the salt water washes it off and the sun hits your back the whole time. Even the backs of my knees were fried (sorry, Mom, not my fault!!). We were all popping Advil and running from the sun for the rest of the weekend. We would all be hurting saying how we just wanted to go back to Moshi then we would take some Advil and sit out in the shade on the beach and say how beautiful it was and how we didn't want to leave. We developed quite a love/hate relationship with the island. We just bummed around and relaxed on Sunday and Sunday night on the beach. On Monday we got an early cab to Stone Town. It was super hot and we were carrying all of our stuff so we only hit the main highlights. The first thing we saw was a church which was built exactly where the slave auctions took place. First we went to a building next to a church down some steps into a scary dungeon-looking place. There were two tiny rooms. One held 100 women and the other held 150 men consistently during the trade. It was unbelievable and incredibly sad. It seemed impossible that many would fit in such a small space. Then we went to see a memorial built to honor those who died, then went into the church. It was very interesting. After the trade was abolished in Zanzibar, missionaries came and built the church over the auction site. When you first walk in you see a basin where baptisms take place. A guide explained that they built the basin in that place because below is where the mass grave is located. When slaves died in the small rooms or when women gave birth they threw the dead and the babies into the mass grave. Since baptism is like celebrating new life, they put the basin there. Also, there were Roman columns in the church that were put in upside down because the architect wasn't there that day, and when he got back he decided to leave them, so it's the only church with upside down columns. The altar is directly over the whipping post, where slaves were whipped to see how much they would cry out. If they didn't cry out, they were considered stronger and thus went for a higher price. It was very sobering. After, we went to the main Stone Town museum, which told a lot about the history of Stone Town. It was really interesting. After that it was time to go to the airport. We were very happy to get back home to Moshi, and it was so nice and cool (only about 85 degrees) when we got there around 5:30 pm, it felt so nice to be home! This week has gone by so fast. I've been running around town trying to get last minute things done. Today is my last day with my kids, and we are going to have a little party. I'm super super sad to leave them, but I'm also very anxious to get home. I still look back and can't believe I've been in Tanzania for 10 weeks! Crazy! Tonight we are going to Glacier, of course, and then to Club La Liga (I'm going to go once more since it's my last night even though it's crazy!). And tomorrow we are going across the street to Mzungu Bar for a BBQ. It should be a blast. I'll be so sad to leave, but I'm also getting so excited to get home!!!

Zanzibar and my last days in Moshi

So it's already Thursday evening (seriously, only 2 days left? CRAZY!) and I decided I finally needed to take time to update everyone on my Zanzibar trip, so here goes:
Friday morning Stanley picked us up at home and took us to the airport. We had a quick one hour flight to Zanzibar. The view over the Indian Ocean was so pretty! Once we stepped off the plane we could not believe how hot it was! We thought Moshi was hot, but it was ridiculous! You could hardly breathe the air was so hot and humid. We immediately got a cab and initially were going to go straight to Stone Town, which is the center of the city and was the area where the original city and slave trading took place. However, the air conditioning in the cab was so nice and we had so much stuff that we decided we didn't want to lug it all around Stone Town in the middle of the day, so we had the driver take us straight to Kendwa, which is a town on the top tip of Zanzibar island where there are amazing beaches. We had an idea of where we wanted to stay from my friend Ellen who had previously been in Zanzibar for a week. We had him drop us off at Kendwa Rocks (our hotel) and hoped that they had open rooms (we didn't make any reservations because most hotels don't have phones). They had open rooms, several types and prices to choose from. We chose two Bandas, which are little two-story huts that are really cute, they are just a small room with two beds and they are made out of wood and grasses. Elle, our friend from Hostel Hoff stayed in one with me (it was on the second floor and a little rickety, kinda scary!) and Riley and Melissa stayed in one right down the path. They had shared bathrooms that were clean and pretty nice, especially for Africa. It was sooo hot in the rooms, but we hoped it would cool down and there would be a sea breeze at night. We immediately put our stuff down, got changed, and went to the beach. The sand and the water were phenomenal! Really white, soft sand and the water was the purest, bluest, clearest blue I have ever seen. It was amazing. The ocean was the perfect temperature for swimming and cooling off. We just played on the beach for awhile. Then, a man came over toward us and he had the cutest pet monkey! I kinda felt bad for the monkey being a pet, but it was so cute and friendly! We were all so happy. After, we all went and showered and got changed for dinner. They had pretty amazing food. We all got pizza for dinner and it was so good. We also had a few beachy cocktails, it was sooo nice! Eventually we went back to our Bandas for bed, which is where it all started to go wrong. It was SO hot! Even with the fan going it was unbearably hot. Elle and I didn't sleep at all and were sweating all night. Also, right now Zanzibar is experiencing some political unrest, so there isn't any power on the entire island. Any power that the hotels have comes from generators, and to save money (the power has been out since October-ish) they don't run the generators all the time. So, at 3 am the fan turned off. Elle and I were desperate! I remember thinking, "seriously, WHAT am I going to do, it is SO hot and there is NOWHERE to go to get cool!" it was bad. Also, Elle and I were super dehydrated from the drinks we had earlier and the amount we were sweating all night. We stupidly didn't buy water to bring with us to our room. We decided to go out in our t-shirts and undies to look (we were so hot and didn't want to put clothes on, we didn't even care). We walked down toward the beach which of course was pitch black. We could hear some men talking down by the water but couldn't really see anything, and then Elle made a comment about how the guards needing to be by the water all night to watch out for Pirates, because we weren't that far from Somalia (I reminded her that we weren't that close, either, and Pirates aren't coming on shore looking through resorts for money, that they only hijack big ships), but, all the same, the comment and the dark freaked us out a little bit. We were so desperate we went to Riley and Melissa's Banda to see if they had water. They weren't sleeping either, but didn't have any water. They were also super thirsty so we decided (since we now had a boy with us) to brave the beach one more time and see if we could find some, even though I don't know where we were thinking we'd get some. We walked down to the sand and immediately saw two locals standing and staring at us. It freaked me out! We both just kinda stared at each other and then Elle and I were like "umm water? maji (Swahili for water)" and they turned out to be the security guards. They basically told us the bar was closed and there was no hope of water until the morning. We were ready to cry. On the way back to our rooms Elle spotted a semi-full water bottle sitting down on the table of the Banda below us. We told her not to take it but we were so desperate that we also drank the water when she did. We vowed to buy our neighbors some more water and profusely apologize the next morning. Then we went back to our rooms and struggled through the rest of a sleepless night. The next morning we were all a bit grumpy from being so hot and getting no sleep. We decided we would figure out later what to do, go back to Stone Town or stay another night. We had scheduled Snorkeling for 9 am that morning. It turns out they got a boat just for the four of us, and the boats were so cool! They were like traditional fishing boats, long and made out of wood. It was awesome. We headed out with the Captain and a snorkeling instructor. The boat ride was about an hour, and it was beautiful. On the way we saw a lot of flying fish (so crazy to see them run across the water) and the water is so clear most of the time you can see straight to the bottom. When we got to our first spot we got our gear on and dove in. The water was perfect. We saw such beautiful coral and so many fish and sea urchins. Our instructor dove to the bottom and brought up different things. The first thing he brought up was some coral, and then he brought up a bluish-purple starfish for us to hold. It was so pretty! He also brought up a giant sea cucumber, which is super disgusting! It looks like a big yucky you-know-what. I held it and it is slimy with little bumps all over it. It also randomly squirts water out of one end. Pretty gross. We ended up going to two snorkeling spots, it was amazing. On the way back we were pretty tired and napped on the boat. Back home we washed off the sea water and had an amazing lunch (a mushroom calzone for me, so good!). After that we decided that we'd had enough sun for a bit and went to take a nap, but again, the power was off and it was just too hot to do anything. Melissa and I were ready to upgrade to a room with air conditioning, which was $85 a night. Elle and Riley weren't ready to splurge. We went back and forth and Melissa and I decided by asking ourselves, "what would our moms t

Tanzanite

Yesterday we kind of decided last minute to go back to Arusha with the group who's only here for a week. Instead of going back to the Tribunal Randy, Jay, Andy, Riley, Melissa and I went to this coffee shop we've been wanting to try. It was fantastic. I got an iced coffee and it was so so good! Then we walked to a cool place with all kinds of t-shirts that Ibra showed us one of the last times I was in Arusha. After, we ate lunch at McMoody's. We got there and finished eating before the rest of the group even showed up so we decided to go back to the Tanzanite Experience store so Jay could finish paying for the stones he bought and pick them up before the rest of the 20 people in the new group all came. Well, looking at all the Tanzanite finally got to me. I ended up buying a small stone (almost all of the stones that they sell are loose stones). It's so pretty! It's round cut and it's .64 carat. I'm not sure what I want to set it in yet, I was thinking a small ring, but we'll see. I am so happy with my purchase! All of us except Riley and Andy ended up buying stones. Melissa bought one a little smaller than mine but in a trilliant cut and slightly deeper color. We were both happy girls when we left the store! We got certificates of authenticity with our stones stating the carat, cut, clarity and color, so nice to have, since it's one of the only stores who has certificates with their stones. It's said that Tanzanite will be depleted in one generation, and those who buy it within the next 15-20 years will be the first-time owners of all the Tanzanite in the world. Such a precious and rare stone, of course I had to buy one! After the store we went back to the Maasai market where I helped Riley pick out a necklace then we went back home. We were all pretty tired so after dinner the boys came in our room and we played some cards and listened to music until bed. This morning everything went well with the kids. They are really starting to get numbers 1-10 and the first 15 letters of the alphabet, so exciting! I get so happy when they learn stuff and I know I helped teach them! They are such great kids! I only have 4 more days left with them, because tomorrow Riley, Melissa, Elle (our friend from the hostel) are heading to Zanzibar, and we won't be back until Monday night. I cannot wait, the white sand beaches and Indian Ocean are supposed to be absolutely fantastic!! After today I only have 9 more days left in Tanzania, I can't believe it, the time is going by so quickly! So, I'm trying to enjoy the rest of my short time as much as I can!

Mawenzi Hospital

Yesterday (Monday) went by fairly smoothly. It was actually a little cloudy and not as hot so Melissa, Randy, Jay and I walked all around town running errands. We walked to the Mama who has done all my skirts and I dropped off material for her to make me another shorter (knee-length) skirt, a pair of sleep shorts and a headband. Then we did a little shopping and went to a coffee shop for some beverages. I got an iced coffee, which was really good, except a little too sweet. I wish I had told them I would add the sugar myself, I don't like that much in my coffee. Tanzanians put quite a lot of sugar even in a small cup of coffee. Our walk took us a couple of hours. Once we got home Melissa and I cuddled up with our books (we are both at really exciting points in them) until dinner. After dinner we went across the street with the boys to Mzungu Bar. Freddy and some of the other boys were there. They didn't have a lot of work to do during the day and football (soccer) was on tv so they had been drinking for awhile by the time we got there. I just had a soda water and we all chatted for awhile until we got tired and headed to bed. Today was a good but chaotic day with the kids. I left early to go get a tour of Mawenzi Hospital where Randy, one of our group, is helping the administration to get their records in order so that their funding will continue. The hospital is pretty big, there are several wards, each building is a separate and you walk the grounds outside to get from one to the other. It is nothing like hospitals at home, and pretty graphic. We saw the pediatric ward, it was hard seeing the little kids hooked up to tubes and some had severe burns on most of their bodies. We saw the clinic strictly for HIV/AIDS patients (which was unfortunately extremely full with patients waiting to be seen). Then we went to the maternity ward, which I think affected me the most. There were about 30 women in there who were in the beginning stages of labor. In the labor room there were three women. When the women are about to give birth they are stripped down naked and laid on hard tables (sanitation purposes). One woman was very close to giving birth, and her contractions looked so painful. They are on their own most of the time right up until the baby is about to come. Right after birth they often have to walk themselves out of the room to the beds in the ward because another woman in labor needs the delivery room. They are not given epidurals or pain medication. Another woman had just given birth. She was still lying on the table, still in pain, alone because husbands or family are not allowed inside, and there was a nurse in the corner holding her baby. The baby was premature, and since they don't have the necessary equipment to handle premature births, they were just keeping the baby warm under a heat lamp and had an oxygen mask on her waiting for her to pass away, trying to keep her comfortable. It's quite a culture shock, so different from home. They just simply do not have the necessary tools to deal with such things in countries like Tanzania. After the labor ward we saw various recovery rooms, and we saw those who are in quarantine with communicable diseases. We also saw the psychiatric ward, they have separated men and women as they do with all the other wards in the hospital. This was also very difficult to see. There were two sides to each building. One side had beds with patients who have psychological issues but are still functioning enough to be allowed out of the ward to walk the grounds. The other side is where the patients are locked in. There aren't beds (no metal or sharp objects for their safety) but just foam mattresses on the floor. Most of the patients are chanting, babbling or yelling out as if they're in pain. The hospital doesn't have the resources to treat things like schizophrenia with medication so there isn't much they can do with these people except make sure they can't hurt themselves or others. The hospital is really doing great work but needs more funding so eventually they can get the resources to treat these patients. Randy is helping get their records in order so funding continues, because although they do give the treatment and medication most patients need, it's not documented, often because they are so short staffed. The doctors are constantly running around with patients to see, and with so many the first thing that goes is paperwork. So, Randy is trying to find a balance that will help them with this. They've gotten some computer programs that should really help them out. Melissa and I are planning on going in the afternoons this week or next week to help them get their records in order. Overall it was very difficult to see but I think it's really important to really see first hand how this country is struggling and be able to tell about it to others. I will definitely never forget that first trip to Mawenzi, but am so grateful I got the chance to see it.

Kili Marathon

Today was the Kilimanjaro Marathon, so we all got up around 6 am and headed to the starting line. There were so many people and everyone was getting pumped up to the Tanzanian music they had blaring through speakers. We were running the 5K which started a little ways down the road from the stadium. When the race started Deo and I had to manuver through lots of people since so many were running. We ran past Kool Bar and up the steep hill that goes past Alba, the internet cafe we use. That hill was killer...I was happy I made it up running at a good pace. I ran with Deo most of the time. Then it was back around and toward the stadium. There was a final hill up to the stadium that was rough after going through so many hills during the run. I walked for only about 10 seconds to wait for Deo because I wanted us to finish together, and once I saw him kept going. We ran into the stadium where there were hundreds of people cheering and music playing, it was so exciting! It was fun even though we were only running the 5K. Deo and I crossed the finish line together. I was pretty happy with my time since running in Africa is a bit harder than running at home because it's so hot and there is so much dust and so many hills. At the finish line we got bags filled with Vodacom stuff, one of the sponsors. We got a jersey shirt that says Vodacom and Kilimanjaro Marathon '10 on it, a Vodacom bandana, and a few other things like a visor and pen. Then we went to watch the 1/2 marathon finishers. The first people came through with incredible times. The first 3 people were Tanzanians, and the crowd was so excited about it. Kerry, one of the women in our group, ran the 1/2 and came through with a pretty good time. We were all so proud of her. The first place finisher for the full marathon was from Kenya. It's pretty awesome to say that I got to run with Tanzanians and Kenyans...they are such phenomenal runners! I really want to come back with Kevin and run the full marathon...it will definitely give me motivation to keep up my running when I get home. Part of me wishes I would have run the 1/2, but I know I'll be back. After the run we came home and had some breakfast, then just relaxed and I organized my stuff in my new room until lunch. Right after lunch Riley, Jay, Melissa and I headed to the pool and spent about 4 hours there. It was well in the 90 degree range so being by the pool all day was so so nice. Melissa and I got some sun and read our books and we also played some water football with the boys. Now we're just waiting until dinner then plan to watch a movie and lay low tonight. I can't wait to see my kids tomorrow, I've missed them all weekend. Only 8 more days in the classroom! That makes me so sad!!!

The past week

This past week has gone by so quickly! I had Monday and Tuesday with my kids, then on Wednesday I went with the new group back to Arusha. We went to the morning session of a trial at the war tribunal. It was really interesting. They had a former high-ranking official for the Rwandan Army as a witness testifying for the man who was being tried. He was accused of several things and was charged with various acts of genocide and conspiracy to commit genocide. The witness had already been convicted and had been sentenced to 35 years for his crimes. It was very interesting, I was so happy I got to go back to the Tribunal 3 times on this trip. After, we went to lunch, where I had an amazing organic steak burger. Then a couple of the girls went back to the Tribunal to watch the afternoon session, and the rest of us went to the "Tanzanite Experience". It was amazing! This company mines 80% of the world's Tanzanite, and the mine is really close to where I'm staying in Moshi, it's right behind the Kilimanjaro airport. They have a museum which shows the history of the stone and talks about who discovered it and how it came to be so popular (Tanzanite is over 1,000 times rarer than diamonds, and the chances of it being formed in any other part of the world other than Tanzania is less than 1 in 100 million!). They also have the largest crystal ever found, and I don't remember the exact size but it was thousands of carats, so big! Then they showed us a video describing how the stone is classified. Then, we looked at some of the stones they had there. I fel in love with a pear-shaped stone (most of the stones they sell are loose and you have to get them set) that was 1.51 carats, but it was $870, so maybe I'll get it next time :( It was incredible to see. I already made Kevin promise me we would come back here to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro and he said we can get a stone then, so I guess I'll just have to wait. After the Tanzanite tour we went to the Maasai market and I helped a couple of the guys bargain since it's so overwhelming when you first go. It ended up being a super long day so we were all tired by the time we got home for dinner. On Thursday, after school Living and I were waiting for Ibra to pick us up and an old man at the bar wanted to buy me a beer. Since it's rude to refuse food or drink in Tanzania, I accepted. When I got back home Melissa decided to come across the street with me to Mzungu bar for a couple more drinks. It was a fun, relaxing morning! After lunch we napped in the sun. Nothing like a couple of cold beers on such a hot day! :) Last night (Friday night) Melissa and I got all dressed up in some cute dresses and went out with the boys. We went to Kool Bar for some pool and then headed to our favorite spot, Glacier. Hans, a local who has become a good friend, was there after being on safari for 12 days. It was sooo good to see him! We all had a great time dancing and chatting with the friends we've made here. I just love the people here, they are so amazing, I know I have some lifelong friends in Tanzania. Melissa and I ate popcorn when we got home then we decided to have a sleepover, so she slept in my tiny twin bed with me, so funny! Surprisingly we were very comfortable, although it was of course hot. I also had two new roommates...there are 19 students here from Northwestern Universtiy in Qatar. They are only here for 8 days and have a totally packed schedule, so we won't see much of them. They left this morning for a day safari, and should be back sometime tonight. Kat, one of Melissa's roommates, leaves for home tonight, so I think I'm going to move into Melissa's room, even though I've been in my little room and bed for 8 weeks. Melissa and I have become such good friends we decided we should just be roomies, plus there is a private bathroom in that room. So, I'll be making the big move tonight. This afternoon Riley, Andy, Melissa, Jay and I went out for cheeseburgers, which we were all craving after last night, and they were so good! Then we were going to go to the pool but it's well into the high 90 degree range so we decided that since we all weren't feeling fantastic to begin with we should just maybe go home and nap. Now we're just hanging out until dinner. Tonight we are going to lay low because the Kilimanjaro Marathon is tomorrow, and we're running the 5K. I'm hoping it's not as hot tomorrow as it is today, or it will be brutal, even though it's in the morning. I only have 8 more school days with my kids...makes me so sad! Melissa, Riley and I leave on Friday for Zanzibar, and we are so excited! I'm thinking my last two weeks here are going to go by way too fast. I'm getting so sad about leaving, I can't believe my trip is almost over. I'm going to miss it here so much!

The Weekend

This past weekend was for the most part uneventful, but it was fun. Friday was pretty low-key, because most everyone went on safari. Riley and I went to Living and Amani's soccer game at the Moshi International School, it was fun, and the boys won. Then we just hung out and played cards for the rest of the night. On Saturday in the morning/early afternoon Riley and I walked around town and ran some errands. He helped me pick out a hat for Kevin and we got some other small stuff. Then we stopped at Kindoroko and got a soda. After lunch we were going to go swimming but then Deo told us he was going to Malindi bar to watch the soccer game. Riley and I decided to go along for some soccer and afternoon drinking. We called Elle and she and Valentine met us there. The game was exciting (Manchester United VS Everton)...everyone expected Man U to win but Everton surprisingly won 3-1. There were a lot of people in the bar and it was pretty exciting. After, we went to Pub Alberto for some food. I had some awesome fries and a chicken sandwich. Then we went next door to play some pool, and I wasn't horrible...at one point I made 4 shots in in a row! Maybe I'll actually be able to play Kevin in an exciting game when I get home, we'll see. I made it out until about 9 pm (we started drinking at 2:30, so I was pretty tired by then). On Sunday we found out that that morning when Andy had gone running, he saw a human severed thumb on the road followed by a long trail of blood, just up the road from our home base. I wanted to go see it but the boys were being big sissies about it and used the excuse that they all wanted to go swimming. While they were swimming I finished the Transporter movies (I watched the first on Saturday night when I got home, and 2 and 3 on Sunday). I'm happy the rest of my weekends are busy, because I'm not one to sit around all day, so I was pretty bored. Yesterday (Monday) was fairly uneventful, Melissa was sick so Riley went with me to see if our skirts were done. They weren't, but we stopped at the Maasai market and Riley helped me pick out another pair of tire shoes for Kevin, since he thought that the first pair I bought was not comfortable. (Riley is the same height as Kevin, they have the same shoe size, and he has the same size head, so he's been my stand-in as far as trying stuff on so I know it'll fit Kev ok). Apparently according to Riley this pair is much better. We also stopped and got him a hat like I got Kev since he liked it so much. Afterwards I went running, and although the thumb was gone I did see the long blood trail. Every once in awhile there were large dried pools, as if the person stopped while walking/running away. Was a little cryptic for my run, but oh well. The locals think it must have been a robbery that happened during the night. Although it is very safe here, it becomes very dangerous at night which is why we can't go out past dark unless we are in a cab and why we always have 2 guards on duty all night, every night.
Today was fairly uneventful. It was a pretty good day at school, the kids are finally starting to recognize the letters of the alphabet we've been doing, makes me so happy! I'm getting so sad...I only have 10 more class days with them. I miss them even over the weekends, so I'll be super sad to leave them for good, I've gotten so attached to every single one of them. I've also gotten so attached to this country and its people, I can't wait to come back. Tomorrow we're going back to Arusha for my 3rd trip to the Rwandan War Tribunal and the Maasai market, but I'm excited because it's always a fun trip. Tonight after dinner a few of us are going to play pool, so should be fun. Right now I'm gonna get a quick run in before dinner-the Kilimanjaro Marathon is this weekend-I decided to run the 5K...running any further in this heat and humidity just does not seem like an option to me.

Kool Bar

Yesterday Riley, Melissa and I went and confirmed and payed for our Zanzibar tickets. It's official, March 5th-8th, and we are soooo excited!! Then Melissa and I went to the fabric store and I took her to the Mama who has made all of my skirts. She is amazing, such a great woman, and she can make almost anything out of the fabric you give her! I'm getting two skirts made for gifts and Melissa is getting a skirt and a purse made. We can go pick them up on Monday. Then it started pouring...you can just feel the heat radiating off of everything when it rains, it's like being in a steam room. The rain here aways comes in big fat drops, and it can rain pretty violently for awhile. There was almost a river running down the streets, crazy. We quickly walked to The Coffee Shop and got some ice cream and cake (so good!) before heading home to shower and get ready. Then, last night after dinner Melissa, Riley, Jay and I went to Kool Bar to play some pool. I was on Riley's team for the first two games and we won. I actually didn't suck! I was surprised at how well I played, since I never play at home and since I played so horribly the other night when we went. Eventually some better players showed up so Melissa and I sat and chatted with some local friends and had a few drinks. We saw quite a few people we knew, it's so nice to have so many local friends here now! We all ended up having such a blast! Today at school Asia (a-see-a) showed back up. She has been absent for about the past two weeks. She is easily the naughtiest child in our class. She never listens, she's ALWAYS whining and crying about something...she even has the guts to try to hit us and throw things at us! It is definitely a lot more work having her around. At lunch most of the new group left for safari, so it's just a few of us here this weekend. Tonight we are just hanging out, watching a movie and getting some rest. Tomorrow Riley and I were talking about going swimming, it's been so hot lately. We'll see what the weather is like. This is my last lazy weekend here, since next weekend is the marathon and after that is Zanzibar, time is going by so quickly! I will miss it here so much when I leave!

Marangu Tour #2

We left CCS home base around 8:30 yesterday morning for Marangu. Although I did the tour with my own group Moses let me go again since I thought it would be fun. Our first stop was the giant Baobab tree. While Ibra told the group about the tree and its uses and while they took pictures I was searching for a secluded spot where I could pee. Just when I thought I found one, little kids came running down the hill excited to see the Mzungu's. So, I went and got Sara, our program manager, and she stood guard and made sure the kids stayed away while I did my business. In my quest to find some privacy I found myself in some pricker bushes and ended up with prickers all over, which were oh so much fun to pick off. So funny! Then we continued to Marangu. We stopped at the cave first. I went down again with Melissa since only one other girl in their group didn't chicken out. This tour guide didn't take us all the way to the back chambers of the cave which you have to crawl on your hands and knees to get to. I was happy I had gone before and our guide took us to the chambers because it was more fun crawling in such a small place to get to the little rooms and we saw so much more than this group did. The boys were more afraid than the girls of the giant spiders and bats that were hanging around. After the cave the group went to see the Chagga Live Museum and I helped Ibra get the lunches set up and hung out drinking a soda water at the resort until the group was done. After lunch we headed down to the waterfall. It started thundering on our way down, but we weren't sure if it was going to rain since it often thunders here but doesn't rain. We made it to the bottom and had enough time to take some great pictures before the rain came. We walked down farther away from the waterfall to the area where you can swim. Riley and Andy were the only two who swam (the water is so cold!) but we all sat on the rocks in the pouring rain watching them. It was so much fun, and the rain was so nice after having such hot days. It was the first good rain this group has seen here. I was happy I got to see the waterfall one day that was sunny and hot and one day that was raining. The rain looked so cool hitting the falls and the swimming pool. Eventually we headed back up to the top. On the way home we stopped at Unique Batik and I bought a quilted hand made blanket that I have wanted since the first time I saw it 5 weeks ago. It's beautiful! Totally worth the wait. We got home right before dinner and were so happy to find that Primo made a feast for us. By far the best dinner I've had here so far! He made kabobs with onions, peppers and beef on the grill, grilled chicken and pork, this amazing meat sauce, fresh hot garlic bread, rice, mixed vegetables, a fresh fruit salad, and a lettuce salad with fresh avocado (all the vegetables and fruits we eat are grown at the CCS home base), cucumbers and tomatoes. He also made fresh popcorn for an after dinner snack. It was amazing. We were pretty tired so after dinner we sat around, munched on popcorn and played cards.
Today it was nice to be back at school with my kids. We had one small incident involving blood which Living took care of since I was a little grossed out but overall the kids were in a very good mood. After lunch Melissa, Riley and I are heading to the Precision Air office where we reserved plane tickets to Zanzibar. We are going to pay and confirm. We will be going Friday, March 5th and returning Monday, March 8th (my sister's birthday!). So, we will have about 3 full days there. We are SO excited! That is my last full weekend here so it will be the perfect ending to my trip. I can't believe I only have a little over 3 weeks left, time is flying by!

The rest of my week

I wanted to get that last post on here in case the power cuts out and loses my work (happens very frequently here!). So, on Thursday it was back to work as usual but at night we went to the dinner and dance with the new group at the restaurant Aventure. It's still so fun to go do this stuff because it has been such a long time since our group went! We all had a good meal and joined in with the traditional dancers. On Friday, we had shaky shaky time during class, and I took some videos on my new Ipod (thanks, Lor!) of the kids. I can't wait to show everyone back home! They are just too precious for words. After work we bummed around until dinner. After Josh, Katelyn and I took some of the new volunteers to our favorite bar, Glacier. They really liked it. I only had soda water since my throat was bothering me, but we danced and they met Abbas, the owner of Bushmen Safari's who took us on our safari and took me up to the first camp of Kili. They of course loved him, he's such a great guy. It was a fun night. Katelyn, my roommate, stayed out when we went home because it was her last night. She was with a couple of the guys and some girls we have become friends with who are staying at the nearby hostel. Her flight was scheduled to leave at 6 am Saturday morning so Ibra was going to be at the house to pick her up at 4 am. I woke up around 2:30 am and she wasn't home but I knew she was staying out late so I didn't think much of it. Then, later I woke up when she busted in the room, flipped on the lights, and started yelling certain obscenities. It scared the crap out of me. She said that she had "stayed out a little later than usual". I looked at the clock-it was about 4:15 am. She was late and she hadn't even finished packing yet! She was running around, telling me how she was still drunk, she was late, she went to La Liga (the skeezy club) and it was "not good" (have not yet found out what happened-stay posted) and she didn't know if she had packed everything. She literally threw things in her suitcase. I was going to go to the airport with her but she told me not to worry about it since she was so late and I had just woken up. I told her I would send her anything if she forgot it. We hugged, she told me she loved me and would miss me. I, of course, felt the same, and she was gone by around 4:30. She made it to the airport, but she had to fly to Nairobi then have a short layover before heading to London, so I'm sure she was exhausted and beyond ready for sleep by the time her plane took off from Nairobi. So now it's just me in my room. It's nice to have a room by myself in one way, but it's super lonely since I've had a roommate the whole 6 weeks I've been here. I really will miss that girl!
On Saturday Melissa and I started out the day by reading our books and magazines and listening to music out in the sun. It actually wasn't too hot so was a perfect bronzing opportunity :) We just hung out and enjoyed the morning. Melissa is this awesome girl in the new group. She's from Canada. I keep telling her that Kevin would just love her because her whole family rides Ski-doo's and she grew up playing hockey. She's such a sweetheart.
Josh (the very last person from my group left) had his dad come to CCS so he could show him around and so his dad could eat lunch with us. His dad came because they are climbing Kili together and were going to start the next day. His dad was exactly what I pictured-so much like Josh! After lunch Josh invited me to go with him and his dad (Josh and I have pretty much been joined at the hip the whole trip-he is such a good friend!) into town. We went to The Coffee Shop (world famous! US Presidents have even eaten there) and I just got a diet coke because it was so hot but Josh and his dad got the amazing coffee and split a piece of their amazing carrot cake. After we walked around and showed him some good shops and I helped them pick out some things for Josh's sister and mom (boys never know what to get!). Then we walked around a bit and I split ways with them once we got close to CCS because I had to come here to the internet and they had to get back to home base. Ibra was going to give them a ride to their hotel. It was so sad saying bye to Josh, I'm gonna miss that kid SO much! He was my buddy this whole time :( His dad was so nice, saying I always had a place to stay if I was ever in Chicago. It's now Monday, so they are on their second day hiking Kili, and they should be into or close to the second camp by now. Josh wasn't feeling the greatest the whole week before the climb so I hope they're both doing ok. I can't wait to hear how it went!
On Saturday I went with Living, Riley and Andy to Kool Bar to play some pool. I played a few games and pretty much totally sucked. Riley was on my team. Good thing he's patient! I made a few balls in. At one point, when I actually made one in all the men in the bar who were watching started cheering and clapping. So funny! Then, after a few games, good local players started to show up, so I decided to stop embarassing myself and just watch. Riley said he wasn't that good but ended up almost beating one of the best players there. So awesome! The balls they use here are a little smaller and the rules are a little different. You can't hit an opponent's ball first, you have to hit one of yours. It takes a little getting used to. It was a super fun night. Freddy and his roommate Felix showed up and I hung out with them while we watched the games. Then we went home and I went to bed because I was super tired.
On Sunday we just bummed around home base. I was a little sad I wasn't able to be with Kev on Valentine's Day, but he called me right after breakfast. Made my day! We talked for about an hour, it was so good to have a nice long conversation with him, we get to have so few of them while I'm here! I really miss him a lot, but I know that in one short month I'll be home! After breakfast I went for a run (I actually finally started running here, despite the ridiculous heat and the large amount of dust swirling around!) and then cleaned my room, read my book, took a nap and did laundry. Sunday's are always so lazy here. I don't like it! I would rather be at work with my kids. Nothing in town is open so there isn't a lot to do. But, only a few more left!
Today some of my kids who have been sick were back in school and I was so happy to see them! Omar gave me the biggest hug, he is such a sweetie! I also started a second placement in the afternoons at Mrupanga Secondary School. I make my own lesson plans and teach upper level English. After I grade the papers and help do any other administrative work that they need. One problem is that the Mama's want me to eat with them  in the afternoon. A large hunk of Ugali (it's a paste-like food that has no taste and is made out of corn flour, pretty much all carbs, and NOT something that will go well with my diet! It's kinda like grits but stickier) is not something I really want to eat every day. It's very rude to refuse food in Tanzania. I got out of it today, but I'm trying to work something out with Ibra picking me up a little earlier (2:30 instead of 3, since I'm done with all my work by 2:30 anyway) so I can just avoid this issue all together, but, we will see.
That's the update on my life lately! On Wednesday I'm going with the new group back to the Chagga village and to see the waterfall and the cave, and Melissa, me and Riley are trying to plan a trip to Zanzibar, and some of us are going to run the 5K in the Kilimanjaro Marathon in 2 weekends. So, my life here in Tanzania continues to be exciting!!
Badaye!

War Tribunal Trip #2, Wednesday, February 10th

Jambo!
It's been a busy week! On Wednesday, Josh, Katelyn and I went with Ibra back to Arusha to the War Tribunal. It was fun to go just the four of us. We jammed out to Nelly's old album "Nellyville" on the way there-brought back quite a few highschool memories! The day was sunny and beautiful-you get such a great view of Mt. Meru (a mountain right outside of Arusha) it is so beautiful! There were a lot of dust tornadoes along the way. So crazy to see so many of them at once! We tried our best to get pictures but they come and go so quickly! Once we got to Arusha we sat in on a case that was currently in session. It was hard to follow because we hadn't gotten a background on the case or what the charges were prior to listening in. We listened to one witness, a formal General in the Rwandan Army at the time of the genocide. He was being questioned about weapons availability and if youth soldiers were being supplied with the weapons and trained how to use them. The General was an extremely frustrating witness. He was really cocky and gave really long winded answers to every question the Prosecution asked. The prosecutor and judges had to remind him several times to keep his answers short. The General was speaking French which I understood some of but it was translated to English for us. During the recess we decided to leave and bum around Arusha since we didn't really know what was going on with the case and they were not going to put a new witness on the stand until the next day. Ibra took us back to the Maasai market, which was so much better this time around! I didn't feel overwhelmed at all. Going during our 3rd week was so overwhelming, but after being here for over 6 weeks I feel like I finally know how to bargain and how to handle so many people trying to sell you their products and yelling at you from all directions. I got a present for my dad, a present for my mom and for Lori (Kevin's momma), and a necklace and pretty wooden hand-carved giraffe statue for myself. There are still a few things I want to get and I'll be lucky enough to go back with the new group. Since I'm the only one left from a previous group, Moses is letting me go on all the day trips with them, which will be lots of fun, even though I've done them already. After the market Ibra took us to get some ice cream. I didn't get anything as I'm trying to work off the weight I've gained from the food here (they cook EVERYTHING in LOTS of oil!). After, he took us to a t-shirt store and I picked out a t-shirt for myself and one for my best friend's 2 year old son. After that we had just enough time to head home for dinner. It was nice having a small group and being able to do whatever we wanted in Arusha, and Ibra is such a blast to hang out with!

The New Crew

The past week has gone by pretty fast. It was nice to have a week of quiet with just me, Katelyn and Josh, but on Friday new volunteers started showing up. There are 9 of them. They are pretty cool. They are a lot different than our group because there is such a range of ages among them. The youngest is 19 and the oldest is 59. They seem like a lot of fun and like we were when we arrived they are pretty overwhelmed. Today they are doing more orientation stuff, and they should start their placements tomorrow. This past weekend Katelyn, Josh, Ellen and I went to Glacier on Friday night for some shaky shaky. We had a great time. We've made a lot of friends from the hostel Hoff and friends that live here in Moshi, so it's fun going out and meeting up with them. It has started raining and cooled off a bit, which is a nice change from the ridiculously hot weather we have had the past couple of weeks. Saturday we took the two new guys around the town and to the coffee shop. It was a pretty lazy day. Yesterday Katelyn, Ellen and I went over to Ibra's house to watch some movies. We of course watched Rush Hour 2, Ibra's favorite. It rained pretty hard for awhile which cuts down on the amount of dust but also makes everything pretty muddy. It was great to see my kids again this morning, but we haven't had as many kids in class because a lot of them are sick with colds and some don't come to school if they think it's going to rain. It's nice working with a smaller amount of kids but I miss the ones who don't come. Ellen has come with me the past two mornings to school to help out and hang out with the kids. She leaves Thursday night, and Josh and Katelyn leave on Saturday. I'll be super sad to see them go, I will be the only one left from our group after they leave. I'm trying to work something out with Moses so I can go straight from Watoto Rau to Rupanga Secondary School and stay there until about 3:30 pm every day. That will help fill up my afternoons since the new group will be super busy the first 3 weeks and I will get to see some of the kids I worked with at Tuleeni orphanage, since that's where they go to school. Tomorrow we go back to the legal aid office, and I really hope we get to see some clients come in. I'm officially over half done with my trip, which gets me excited to go home but also makes me sad. Today after lunch I'm meeting Ellen for coffee then we're walking to Msamaria, the street center to hang out with the kids. Hopefully it won't rain. On Wednesday Katelyn, Josh and I are going back to Arusha to the Rwanda War Tribunal to watch another court session. I'm really excited, it's so interesting! Tonight after dinner we are taking the new group over to Abbas' house (he owns Bushmen, the safari company who took us on our safari-they are amazing) so he can give them his presentation about the services he offers. It's always so fun going over there, he is such a happy upbeat guy, so fun to hang out with. Another update soon!

Life Recently

This week has been fairly uneventful. We are all starting to get into our routines and our house feels like our home away from home. I always love seeing my kids on Monday morning. I miss them over the weekends! We continue to work on letters and colors, but it's hard since now we have 31 kids signed up for class! New volunteers (9 of them) come on Saturday, and one of them will be joining Living and I at Watoto Rau, so it'll be nice to have someone else there to help us with the kids. I went to the legal aid office on Tuesday, and Esther and I decided it would be better for me to go in the mornings after all, since that's when most clients come in. Katelyn and I returned today but no clients came in so we chit chatted with Esther and two other attorneys and had a break for tea. It was nice, but I hope on Tuesday some clients come in so we can start working with them. I talked to Mama Grace yesterday and she is going to try to hook me up with volunteering at Rupanga, a secondary school in the area. The school is only open until 3:30 every day, so I would probably go straight from Watoto Rau to Rupanga and eat lunch on the way or stop at CCS for a quick lunch and then go. It'll be nice to have something to fill up part of my afternoons, and some of the kids from Tuleeni orphanage (my first placement) go to school there, so it would be so great to see my kids from Tuleeni every day! We'll see how everything works out. Everything in Tanzania is pretty unorganized, so it's hard to get concrete plans made, but everyone wants volunteer help, so I'm going to try to go to as many places as I can while I'm here. Last night after dinner we all went to Ibraham's house (Abraham actually spells his name Ibraham, so I figured I should actually start typing it correctly). We watched Rush Hour. Ibra is a huge movie buff, he's always asking us about American movies he's seen. It was lots of fun but I, of course fell asleep around 9:30. Stanley, our faithful cab driver, picked us up around 10:45 and had us home by our 11 pm curfew. Today Ellen, one of the volunteers who was here for four weeks then is taking two weeks to travel, comes back from Zanzibar. We are all so excited to see her. She's staying at Hostel Hoff, one block away from CCS, and she's here until next Thursday. We missed her! We are all planning on going to Glacier tomorrow night to celebrate her return. Should be a blast! After this week I will have officially been in Tanzania for 5 weeks. Halfway done! 5 weeks to go! I already know I'm gonna miss my friends here and my kids so so much! So very sad.

Club La Liga

The past week has gone by fairly smoothly. The legal aid attorney wasn't in her office so Katelyn and I won't be going until next week, but Moses (program director) talked to her (Esther is the attorney's name) and she said it would be ok for me to go in the afternoons, after lunch, which means I won't miss any days with my kids :). We worked on colors and letters some more this week, mostly reviewed ABC and started learning two new colors. The kids were a little restless all week, and very tired. One day Jordan fell asleep in my arms...so precious! Didn't want to wake him up but he had to get home. It still seems so crazy that 3 year old kids here walk to and from school by themselves! A lot of the time now they just want to be held during break time. On Friday we had our shaky shaky time (like we do every Friday). The kids are really good dancers! They know all the words to the songs, so funny! Living just plugs his Ipod into a speaker and they dance around the room in circles and hold hands...very cute.
Friday was the last night that Mama Karen, Marissa, Ellen and Sabrina were here, so we all went out. We started out at Glacier, our favorite bar that's outside and usually has a live band, then went to club La liga later. This club is crazy....black light paint all over the walls, really loud music, and pictures of half naked girls. It was definitely an experience...reminded me of a trashy club you would find in a big city. A big difference is that here there are a lot of prostitutes out at night, and a lot of them apparently find business at La liga. I can now say I've been waiting in line in a bathroom full of prostitutes. Needless to say, not sure if I'll be returning to La liga for the rest of my trip, it's pretty intense. The boys are always with us to make sure we're safe and we get home ok. It's so nice to have them around, we have it so much better than the tourists that come here. Last night we drove the girls to the airport. Sabrina is staying until Monday because her brother is visiting, and Ellen went to Zanzibar and will be back for a couple days on Thursday, so that will be nice. Today it's just me, Josh and Katelyn. We've been bumming around doing laundry and stuff like that. We'll probably just hang out and watch a movie tonight. So excited to get back to work tomorrow! 4 weeks in Tanzania gone, 6 to go!

Hot Springs

Yesterday we left around 10 am for the hot springs. We drove about half way to Arusha on the highway then turned off onto a dirt road (dirt roads here are very very bumpy and rocky, it's very slow going). We drove down these roads for about 45 minutes (if you want to know for sure if you get car sick or not, come to Africa. Thankfully, I don't). The terrain turned very very hot, dry, and dusty with little plants and trees, almost desert like. There was a coat of dust over everything in the van, not very healthy for your lungs I'm sure. Finally we arrived at the hot springs. It looked like a small oasis. We pulled in and saw the pool of water, it was blue and crystal clear, absolutely beautiful. You could see the bottom and the little fish swimming around. The water in the main pool is flowing from a cave that goes underneath the ground and comes back to the surface a ways away, so there was a fairly strong current in part of the pool. There were monkeys swinging from the trees when we got there, they were so cute! We all jumped in, and the water was perfect! It wasn't hot or cold, just cool, the perfect temperature to cool us off. When you stand on the rocks ready to jump in the little fish come bite/suck at your feet, it feels like someone tickling you, so weird. We swam around for a couple of hours. The boys climbed a tree branch and jumped into one spot that's really deep where the current is. We all kept saying how surreal it was with all the palm tress and the sun peeking in places and the water was so clear it was unbelievable. After we swam we ate lunch and hung out in the shade for a bit, then we headed back. It wasn't super fun getting all dusty and hot again after our swim, so I took a shower right away when we got home. It's so hard to keep anything clean here because of all the dirt and dust around. The rest of the day Sunday we basically just lounged around, read books and hung out. Sunday night Caitlyn, Josh, Ellen and I watched The Dark Knight (love it!) then went to sleep. It was another hot night to sleep through. Today it was back to work and I was so happy to see my kids, except now we have 30 and they can be quite the handful. Why is is the biggest trouble makers are always the cutest ones?? So hard to stay mad at them and punish them. We are working on the time out system. These kids are used to corporal punishment and being beaten with sticks by teachers, parents, etc. Living (and obviously me) don't believe in that but it's challenging punishing them when they are used to that system, because they often don't understand what we are trying to do or why they aren't getting hit. Some try to get away with a lot because they know we won't hit them. But, Living is really good with them and they really don't like sitting in the corner when they've been naughty so it's starting to work.

Waterfalls and Coffee Tour

So I'm feeling better still today, so that's good. Today we did the waterfall/coffee tour with Living and Amani. Amani is Living's best friend. He started Jipemoyo, which is a center for women with HIV/AIDS and a school for their children to attend. Amani also volunteers with us at CCS, and CCS volunteers go to Jipemoyo to help him. These boys have already done so much with their lives. They take people on these tours to earn extra money to pay for their schools. We drove into an area with a lot of Chagga people. We had a local guy who is friends with the boys who lives in the Chagga village take us on a narrow path for about a 1/2 hour walk to the waterfall. It was the most beautiful waterfall we've seen on our trip yet. It was super high and lots of rocks throughout the cliff it was falling on so there was a lot of that effect of the water hitting smaller rocks on the way down. Super pretty. There was also a cave on the left side at the bottom where Chagga women and children hid when the Maasai were attacking their villages. The spray was super refreshing and the water was really cold. We stayed there and took pics for awhile, then climbed back up a little ways to a small look out to eat lunch. Then we walked back to the village for the coffee part of the tour. We didn't see the crops because they are between harvesting seasons. So, they had some coffee beans that had been picked and the first shell removed already. When you remove the first shell the outside has a really slimy sticky substance on it, so they put the beans out in the sun to dry. To get the first shell off they run the beans through a home made grinder. Then, after they are dry, they pound the beans in a big pestle (we all had our turns at this) to get the second shell off. After that is removed, you can see the coffee bean like you would buy at home except it's green because they haven't been roasted yet. So then we roasted the beans over an open fire for about 10 minutes. You could really smell the beans, soooo yummy. The roasting is what gives the beans the dark color. In order for us to drink the coffee out of the beans we started with we had to grind them by hand in the pestle again. It took about 10 more minutes to get them ground well. Then, to make the coffee they put the ground beans into boiling water and stir for only about 40 seconds, then quickly pour the pot of coffee through a small strainer into the thermos below. So, we drank the coffee that we made. It was a really long process, and they do it all by hand. It makes you appreciate the coffee you are drinking. It was soooo good! Not bitter at all and a nice bold flavor. We added a little raw sugar (the boys like to add a lot of sugar) but I didn't need much at all, the coffee was so good. I got Kevin 2 bags, which is 4 pounds. It was 6,500 TSH per bag, which is roughly 6 dollars. I might get him a couple more bags, not sure yet. They are delivering the whole beans to me the day before I leave so they will be super fresh. Then we went home and I came here before dinner. After dinner we are gonna go out dancing tonight, should be fun. Tomorrow we leave home base around 10 am and the boys are taking us to the hot springs, which should be super fun. The 3 trips cost 90 dollars, most of the money going to park fees, gas and our box lunches. We are more than happy to give the guys the money, we know they'll use it for a good cause. I'm excited to get back to the school on Monday, I always miss the kids over the weekend. I met with Moses, our program director to ask him if I could go with Caitlyn on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and he said that would be fine. Caitlyn is going to be going to work with a legal aid in the area. She will be giving seminars on those days. Hopefully it will be cool, we'll see. I'm really excited to go and hope it all works out. She mostly helps women in the area who need representation. I'll only be with my kids 3 days a week, Monday Wednesday and Friday, but I'm excited to see how the legal system here works, and it would be great to put on my resume. Because we are interns they pay for us to use "resources", and since this legal aid attorney is not a volunteer but a worker in the community, she is considered a resource. So, us interns get extra perks, so the extra money we paid to be interns goes to things like this. This coming week the attorney will only be in on Friday, so Friday we go and then the next week it starts Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Last night the first person from our group, Michelle went home :( We already miss her. Tonight, 2 more girls go home, one who was one of my roommates. Sad. Next Saturday four more people go home and then it will just be me, Caitlyn and Josh left. I think it's the three of us for a week and then a new group comes. Caitlyn and Josh will have one week with them and then they go home. So after that for two weeks I will have to find things to do on my own in the afternoons since they will be having speakers and Swahili lessons.
More soon!

Rwanda Genocide Tribunal

Yesterday we didn't have work, instead we had a day trip to Arusha. On our way we got a flat tire. Abraham had a little trouble changing it because the jack was too short. So we hung out and took pictures for a little while before we got going again. We went to the Rwanda Genocide Tribunal building to watch a live trial, but they were on break when we got there. So, we went to the big Maasai market. So overwhelming! Everyone is trying to get you to go in their shop and buy stuff, you feel so much pressure. I got tire shoes for Kevin, and a really pretty large bowl and chess set (even though I don't play chess, it's really cool). After, we went to get lunch at a restaurant. I had super good pizza. I've missed pizza in the 3 wees I've been here. After, we went back to the genocide trial. They were trying a Mr. Kanyarukiga, a business man who is accused of ordering the demolition of a church full of 1,500 to 2,000 Tutsi's. The Tutsi's thought that churches would be a safe haven for them, but many died when they took refuge there because the churches were often bulldozed, set on fire, or the people inside shot. He is accused of physically being there and ordering the demolition, and celebrating with beers afterward. The priest of the church has already been convicted and sentenced to life in prison because of his involvement. It was really interesting, but a lot different than court back home. It was a UN trial, so there were 3 judges from different countries. The defense didn't seem to be very organized and made some pretty outrageous objections, and the prosecutor and defense attorney got pretty heated and sometimes called each other names. I'm getting updates via email about the progression of the trial. We saw one of the defense's witnesses, who was supposedly an alibi to the whereabouts of Kanyarukiga at the time of the church demolition. It was crazy hearing people talk about the genocide who were actually there. It was definitely very interesting for me. Then we went home, ate dinner, and I went to bed fairly early because I wasn't feeling very well. Living said the kids were asking where I was, they are so sweet. They were super happy to see me today, so nice. We worked on the letter C and colors again. It was hard keeping up with them today since my stomach is not feeling well but they are so fun to be around. It's super hot again today. Tomorrow I will have been gone from home for 3 weeks. Only 7 more to go!

Living's Birthday, Soccer game and Kili

 Monday, January 18th
So we left around 8 am Sunday for the base of the mountain (Kilimanjaro). The driver was CRAZY and drove super fast. He didn't even slow down for the speed bumps (there are lots of speed bumps here so it takes quite awhile to get anywhere). Michelle and I were in the very back and one speed bump we went over sent us flying and we nailed our heads on the roof of the van. So he finally slowed down after that. When we got there our guides, Georgie and Robert, gave us our rain gear and some more water and we got all the paperwork done. We finally got going and it was so beautiful going through the forest. First we stopped at a really pretty waterfall then continued up. It was like rain forest really dark and lots of trees and plants. It was really green and there were lots of little waterfalls and springs coming down from the mountain. It took us about 3 hours to climb to the first camp. The top was windy and a little cold but the day was absolutely perfect, sunny with hardly any clouds in the sky. We ate outside and when we were eating we saw a family of monkeys running around by us. They were really big monkeys but were so cute. After lunch we climbed a little higher to the rim of a small crater created by volcanic activity. Once we got a little higher the landscape changed really dramatically, it was like walking through a door. It looked like out West Arizona-type climate with lots of pretty grasses and Dr. Seuss looking trees. We walked around the rim of the crater and on one side we got an awesome view of the border of Tanzania and then of Kenya, it was awesome. After some pictures we climbed back down which took about 2 more hours. It was steep in some places climbing up but for the most part a more gradual climb. Going down was a little slippery with the gravel but we made it. It was so pretty I can't even explain. On the way down we saw more monkeys and we also saw cows toward the bottom, which seemed crazy to see them in the forest but there is a Chagga tribe that lives in a valley right at the beginning of the hike, so that's where they came from. We were pretty tired (there was 4 of us, me, Michelle, Sabina and Karen) when we got back, so we had a big dinner and went to bed early. Our guides were so great, they really made the trip fun. They are so enthusiastic so we all had a great time. Today is super hot. I got some skirts made so Michelle and I are going to pick them up after this. I got two made for myself and a Barack Obama one made for Maggie (they LOVE him here, so close to where his family is from!). I'm gonna get Maggie another one also but haven't picked out a pattern yet. Living and Amani's soccer game in Arusha on Saturday was super fun. They are really good. Amani is a striker and scored both goals. They won 2 to 1. It's fun going on trips with everyone because our group is only 10 and everyone gets along well. This week I think we are doing a day trip back to Arusha to the building where the trials for the Rwanda genocide were held, we've driven past it both times we've been in Arusha and I'm really excited to go inside. Also, this weekend we are doing the coffee/hot springs/waterfall tour with Living and Amani. Should be really fun. It's been hot in our room the past two nights because on Friday after dinner when we went back in our room the light was on and there were about 30 huge flying ant looking things swarming around the light. Somehow we got a hole in our screen. The bugs swoop down to attack you and get in your hair. So nasty. We went and got Charlie (he is one of the guards--we always have a guard during the day and two at night since it's not safe at night, even though we live in a very safe neighborhood). They are so good to us. Charlie went into our room swatting them with his jacket it was so funny. He killed them for us and shut the windows, our hero. So, we had to keep the windows shut Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights so more bugs wouldn't get in. Today they put tape over the holes so hopefully that will work. Shaky Shaky on Friday night was also really fun. We went to Glacier, a bar where a lot of Mzungu's go (white people or foreigners) and then to Kool Bar, more of a local bar. It was fun. Amani and Living are very protective of us. All the girls dance together and if any guys come around us they will push them away or step in and dance with us until they go away. They are also really good about making sure we all get home safely, so we are all very safe with them. We continue to have a few more kids in class every day. Some are scared and sad but they all end up being ok. Today we worked on colors. It's hard to keep the attention of 25 three and four year olds! It's fun though, they are so cute.

Hi all!
Here is a continuation of what's been going on during my trip thus far:

The safari was awesome! We left Friday after work and drove to our campsite near Lake Manyara national park. Then Friday night we went to see a traditional Maasai village. They sang and danced for us when we got there, and showed us their houses. They sleep in really tiny huts made out of cow dung full of cockroaches. There are two small "beds" made of bamboo shoots with only an animal hide to cover them. It's permanently dark and not well ventilated because they don't want wild animals to get inside. Then we went back, ate dinner, and went to bed. Saturday we got up early and went through Lake Manyara national park. The first thing we saw were baboons (they are everywhere here!). They can be pretty mean, they are constantly fighting with each other and screeching. The top of the truck comes off so we can stand up and see through the roof. One baboon jumped on top of the truck it was a little scary. We also saw hippos, giraffes, impalas, lots of elephants and birds. We did that for several hours then we went back, ate lunch, and headed farther to the Ngorongoro crater. We drove up to our campsite which was on the edge of the crater so it was really high up. The dirt roads were narrow and no guardrails, but fantastic views. It was pretty cold on the edge of the crater, and I was freezing. We ate dinner, drank and had a campfire. I woke up in the middle of the night hearing noises outside our tent. Then I heard someone else unzip her tent and yell "get out of here!" I was like ohhhh what the HELL is outside?! Then I heard it walk around to our tent and I heard really heavy serial killer-like breathing right by my head. I woke Sara up (there were two of us per tent) and we were freaked out for awhile. I kept my ears plugged for about two hours and kept asking her if she could still hear it cuz I didn't want to anymore. A little later we both had to pee so bad we braved the outside and ran to the bathrooms. We were so scared I'm sure we looked so stupid. The next morning we found out it was a big warthog. I'm just glad it wasn't something bigger or worse like a hyena. So then Sunday we went down into the crater where all the animals are. We saw so much! Wildebeast, antelopes, giraffes, ostriches, elephants, water buffalo, zebras, jackals, birds, flamingos, hippos, and, best of all, LIONS! There are about 60 or 70 lions in the crater. The first three we saw were hunting buffalo but didn't kill any. Then we came across some that had just finished eating. There was a huge male sleeping next to what was left of a wildebeast carcass and other males and females sleeping about 10 feet away. They were practically laying against the truck, SO CLOSE! I got some really good pictures. The hyenas were surrounding them waiting to scavenge the hunt. It was intense, especially when the lions woke up. It's crazy seeing them like that with no glass or anything between you. So then after several hours we drove back to Moshi and stopped for camel rides on the way. The camels are so tall when they stand up you feel so high in the air. It was cool. We were all pretty tired last night, after my ordeal with Pumba (that is a Lion King reference if you forgot, plus Pumba is the name for Warthog in Swahili) I needed sleep, so I went to bed at 9. Today we went back to work. It went by really fast. The kids are really good at math and science (like physics...they are really smart) but need A LOT of work on English, so that's what we worked on all day. On Wednesday I go to my placement at Watoto Rau (Watoto means children in Swahili and Rau is the town it's located). I'm excited because all the kids are 3 and 4, and because the person who started it is a local who also volunteers at CCS. So, he is with us every day. He was the first person to show us around when we got here. His name is Living, he's 23 and super awesome. It's amazing he started a nursery school already, and he pays for it out of pocket! I definitely want to do some fund raising for him when I get home, because he is currently trying to get his own land to build a school (currently he rents a bar when it's not being used in the mornings). So, I'm pretty excited to start there.


Today (note written on Tuesday) we went really close to Mt. Kilimanjaro. We visited a small Chagga village (the Chagga are the original people of this region) and I bought a couple small tools for Kev from blacksmiths that were working right in front of us. Then we went to this amazingly beautiful resort to eat lunch, then went to the Chagga live museum which was really cool, then we walked or should I say climbed down a really steep cliff to see this amazing waterfall. It was fantastic. Last night we went dancing and out to dinner it was really cool. We had the whole hall to ourselves and there were traditional dancers. Eventually, after a couple of drinks we all joined it. It was really fun. Daughter is "binti" in Swahili. I don't use it much because I am working with orphans right now. But, since today is a holiday that's why we went on our day trip to the Chagga village. Tomorrow I start at Watoto Rau, I"m really really excited!

Today (note written on Wednesday) I started at Watoto Rau (Watoto means "children" in Swahili and Rau is the town it's in). I work with Living (he started and runs the school out of his own pocket-he's only 23!) so it's really fun, he's great with the kids. We only had 9 students today. Soon we will have 25 between the two of us. The first week we are just working on songs, playing games, drawing and doing crafts. The kids are soooo cute! They are 3 and 4 years old. Today we taught them the ABC song. They are pretty good at picking up songs and words. One little girl named Asia (A-see-a) said "bye Mzungu" to me. Mzungu is the Swahili word for foreigner or white person here. It's so funny. We only teach them for 2 hours a day because they are so young. The school fee is only 2,000 Tanzanian shillings per month, where other nursery schools charge about 15,000. Living really tries to keep costs down and make it easy for the parents to pay. Moms can run errands and get a lot done without the kids running around for a couple of hours. So, I'll be there for the remainder of my time and I'm really excited. It doesn't take long for the kids to warm up to you. Today we have a guest speaker and this afternoon Swahili lessons. I'm gonna try to do my laundry today, we'll see how this goes. You have to hand wash it and hang it on clothes lines to dry. After it dries you have to iron it really well because while it's on the clothes line small larva or bugs from the Mango trees get into the fabric, and if you don't kill them they can crawl into you under your skin and make you really sick, so I'll be ironing really well.

First days in Moshi!

Hi all!
I've been in Moshi for over a week but we have been so crazy busy this is the first chance I have to post anything. I'll try to update you on everything I've been doing:
There definitely is an adjustment time when you get here. It's 9 hours difference from Minnesota. The first challenge was to go from below 0 weather in Minnesota to very hot, humid weather here. I've since gotten used to it and am sleeping quite well. Everything here is so completely different from home. The poverty is incredibly sad but the people are very happy, it's very refreshing to see everyone so nice and happy all the time. Their favorite saying here is "hakuna matata" or, "no worries". I've been learning a good amount of Swahili and the locals love to help you out and talk with you.
This is a note I wrote to my mom a couple days after arrival:
Tanzanian's are incredibly nice and welcoming. you can literally go to any house in the town and say "hodi" which means essentially, hello may i enter? and they will welcome you and offer you food and drink, even if they don't know you. We are going on our safari this weekend, a bit nervous because we are camping in the park but it is incredibly safe and we are going with highly recommended guides. we already met with them and they gave us a presentation and showed us their tents, supplies, trucks, etc. it was impressive. Mt. Kilimanjaro, we call her Kili here, is absolutely breathtaking. most of the time she is hiding in the clouds but this morning on our way to work you could see her. she is soooo close! one of the guys on the trip, actually the only guy right now, is climbing her after he leaves. he's here for 6 weeks. there is a 35 year old that is here and has been for 4 weeks. she is so outgoing. she has spent time in a lot of places. she has been a huge help. she's also going to be here up until my last two weeks. i'm also happy to report I'm sleeping better and my luggage came! Abraham, our driver, took me and another girl to get it. everything was in it, such good news! The food here is incredible! we have two chefs, Kisoka and Primo, and they give us a very balanced meal of traditional foods, lots of starches but also something like kale and lots and lots of fruits. There are crepes and natural peanut butter as a staple every morning along with a mix of other things. At lunch today one of the things we had was spaghetti with vegetable meatballs, so good! Anyway, i will give you guys an update soon. it's cooled down a bit since the first day but still very hot and humid.

Side note: On the first night I think a combination of exhaustion, the heat, and my malaria pills had me sleepwalking in my room...so happy that only happened once! I woke up looking out the window picking at the screen (we also all sleep with mosquito nets) and talking to myself. Yikes!

Here is my next note:

Another happy message from Tanzania! This place continues to be amazing. The people, I can't even describe. Incredible! I wish we had people like this in the states. They don't even have a word for stranger in Swahili. I'm learning lots of the language because everyone is so willing to help and talk with you. We go on our safari this weekend. We leave Friday right after we are done teaching and come back Sunday night. So, after tomorrow (Thursday) I won't be able to message you until Monday. I'm so excited! On the safari we also go see a traditional Maasai tribe. I have met some people from traditional Maasai tribes, they still wear traditional clothes, it is awesome! One guy, Zach, we only met once but already is a good friend. I know I will see him around more, he lives really close. If you don't know what they wear you should google it, it's so cool. I can't believe I'm actually seeing all the things I learned about in my classes in college. My students are so cute, and SUPER SMART! They are 10 and some are asking me to teach the process of rain, about water vapor and advanced algebra. I'm trying to keep up! These first three weeks we have such a full schedule, I have been getting up around 5 am to work on my lesson plans or read a bit (because I'm so tired at night), then at 7 is breakfast, then we leave for work at 8, then get back around 12:30, then lunch at 1, and then for the first few weeks our afternoons are filled with day excursions, guest speakers, and Swahili lessons. After the first three weeks things will calm down, but I have a feeling I will still be crazy busy. As of now I'm not super homesick, just of course miss my boy, so I hope that continues for the rest of the 9 weeks, this is only week one! Feels like I've already been here for at least 2. I am going to start taking pics of some of the food because it's too incredible to explain. I haven't had to take even one allergy pill yet (KNOCK ON WOOD!!!!!!!). Hopefully that continues. I'm also getting used to the heat, to being dirty and being sweaty. When you walk into the orphanage the kids practically attack you, wanting to touch you and talk to you. They all fight to hold your hand. They are so precious! Already I know I will never forget them. My goal is to give them the best education I possibly can while I'm here. They are so smart I wish they had more opportunities. They are so willing to learn, it makes you feel guilty for taking advantage of our education or not listening. They cherish pencils, paper, any type of material. They have no books. Tomorrow I'm giving them a test on geography, one of the things they don't know a lot about (they love exams and were amazed when I brought a map in today). I'm also going to bring a biology book and work off of that tomorrow. I will work more on my lesson plan tonight/tomorrow morning. Also, I guess for my internship here I have to write a 10 page experience/research paper when I get home from here. So, I will have to start working on that. There are 3 people here doing internships, and because we are we get to hear a few more special speakers and go on a few more small trips. Also, if we want to learn about a particular subject, our director said just to ask and he will try his best to get a local Tanzanian who is an expert in the field, so cool!

ps: I am being forced to get over my fear of chickens. They are everywhere here, even a couple roosters (who crow literally all night, I'm learning to sleep through that) and chickens here at the homebase. There are 2 roosters and about 6 hens and about 20 chicks at the orphanage.....eeeeeeeeeeeeeewwwww!

My time is out, that's all for now, more later!!!