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.