I thought everything was going to be easy when I returned home...

.....apparently not! The first day home was great- Tropical Storm Fay was hanging out overhead, school was canceled for Kristina and Mom and Dad got to stay home from work. It was a nice party in the dark (our power went out for a while too). Wednesday is when things got dicey.

Wednesday morning, Dad and I left the house early to run some errands as I was supposed to leave for school on Thursday. We went to the bank and the car dealership and decided to go to Perkins for breakfast. Now, I hadn't slept too much in the past few days (jet lag and excitement) nor had I been able to keep much food down. Well breakfast comes and I can only eat two bites of it before I feel incredibly sick. I think I am just having a difficult time adjusting to the food as the food that I was eating in Africa was rather bland. I became extremely cold as we were leaving Perkins (I felt like I was living in a freezer) and I began to feel dizzy and have numbness in my hands and feet and heart palpitations (it felt like my heart was made up of butterflies). Now, I'm not a trained doctor but I have enough sense to know that this is not a good combination. Dad takes me to the urgent care for a blood test as I am sure I have malaria. Well, I end up almost passing out twice (I literally slid down the wall in a haze) and spent the next few hours hooked up to an IV, giving blood for testing and answering many many questions. After a while (and two specialist consults later), the urgent care doctor decided it was best for me to go to the emergency room to see if they could figure it out and so that they could do the malaria test (urgent care doesn't have people who know how to read a malaria smear). Mom joins dad and I and after Mom informs the triage nurse that I have an extremely high white blood cell count and that my EKG was abnormal, I was brought back to a room that they opened just for me. I was hooked up to another IV, had more blood taken from me and had a chest x-ray. The chest x-ray showed that I have pneumonia (which is really strange since I don't have any symptoms). The blood smears and cultures had to be sent to the lab in Ft. Myers and so we wouldn't hear about those until the next day. But, seeing as I still did have pneumonia, the ER doctor ordered IV Levequin and was set to discharge me after the Levequin was finished running in. As Mom and I were walking out of the ER (by this point Dad had left to be with Kristina), all of the sudden my heart felt like it was stopping (I though I was dying, no joke), my legs went numb and my hearing disappeared. I fell to the flood, a wheelchair was brought for me and I was wheeled back into the room I had occupied before. When the ER doctor came in and saw my gray appearance and heard what had happened, he admitted me for more testing. Once admitted, I had my vitals taken every hour, blood taken quite a few times, and had a cardiac echo, among other things.

I'm now home and though very tired, I feel generally fine (though I felt "generally fine" before all of this happened.) We found out that the malaria smear was negative though Mom talked to the doctor that read the smear today and he said that you really need three smears done to make sure that you don't have malaria. And the cardiologist said the echo looked fine. So basically, I know nothing more now than I did before. Oh well!

I was supposed to drive up to school on Thursday but that has been postponed until Sunday though even that is not a guarantee as I might fly to school and come back for my car later. But I have to be at school by Tuesday for enrollment clearance so I will be back to Memphis soon.

Also, below are a few pictures from my trip. I have just uploaded a bunch to the flickr site (the kids, safari and Zanzibar) so make sure you go check those out! http://www.flickr.com/photos/24414765@N07/

Namaste!

Its raining, its pouring (thanks TS Fay)...

... and its also 4:30 in the morning (darned jet lag!)

I am now back in Florida after two (extremely long) days of traveling. I had exit row bulk head seats for both flights (Dar to London and London to Miami) which helped the time pass as I wasn't sitting with my chin on my knees as I do in other airplane seats. The flight to London was about 10.5 hours long and I was so excited to get off the airplane, through customs and to the hotel I was staying at that I didn't pay enough attention to where I was walking (well that and I am also notoriously clumsy)- as I was walking towards immigration, with a ton of people walking behind me, I tripped on a piece of carpet and literally did a somersault as I fell the ground. Of course, I had my hands completely full and every that I was carrying flew everywhere and I was in a skirt (oh the embarrassment never ends!). I skinned my knees pretty badly and my (good) knee is now rather stiff and sore but other than that I am fine. Everyone was very helpful to me and one gentleman even carried my bag to immigration for me-very kind. When I arrived at my hotel (the Yotel in Heathrow's terminal 4), I was informed that they were having severe maintenance issues at the moment and have moved all of their guests to the Hilton. Well, this Hilton is very nice (and very expensive) and I had a wonderful room (with hot water!) and loved sleeping without the mosquito net.

On Monday morning, I got up fairly early to take the Hilton's shuttle to terminal 5, London Heathrow's newest terminal. I was unsure what going through security would be like so I allowed myself 3 hours. Naturally, I didn't need that much time as I made it through security in 15 minutes but it was nice to wander around the shops and to people watch. On the flight to Miami, I again had a exit row bulkhead, and I sat next to a very nice fellow who was also from Naples. We had some very good conversations throughout the 9 hour flight. Even though this flight was one hour shorter, it felt like it would never end; I was very excited to see my family! It took one hour to go through US Customs and Immigration but when I finally made it through, my dad was waiting literally as close as one could without getting taken away by Homeland Security. It was great to see him and I spent the entire two hour drive back filling him in on all the little stories and details of the summers adventure. When I got home, my granny had cooked an AMAZING meal of different vegetables and cornbread (I was really missing these things) and I told more stories and just enjoyed being in the presence of my family. Kristina made a cute welcome home sign for the front door and I'm telling you that nothing is like a hug from your mom when you have been away for a while. After dinner, I handed out presents and then we went through about 1/3 of the photos that I took (eventually we will make it through all of them).

It is really great to be home (even though there is a tropical storm in the area) but reality hasn't really set in for me yet; being back in the States is rather surreal to me as I expect to hear the dogs fighting and the roosters crowing any second waking me up from some dream. I miss the kids like crazy but I think in a week, when I have adjusted to life in the USA again, it will really hit me that it is going to be a long while before I see them again, if ever at all and I will miss them even more. But there are two volunteers there right now and they are going to be there for the next month and they have promised to email update me on the kids' progress as often as possible, so I'm not completely disconnected. :)

Today or tomorrow I will be posting A LOT of pictures and some video's so please check back for that.

The last day

Today was my last day at Malaika. It was rough. Really really rough.

I captured their handprints on paper today so that I could bring a little bit of them home with me (and because who doesn't love sticking you hands in finger paint) and we danced on the table to Indian music. At the end of the day, all the kids sang beautiful song for me and then lined up to give me a hug. I cried and they cried and it was so hard to leave.

I didn't think it was actually going to be this hard to leave them....

Two more days.

Goodness gracious, the days are getting harder and harder and shorter and shorter. Today and tomorrow are my last days of work at Malaika (its hard to believe it actually is almost over) and I start the two day trip home early Sunday morning. I have to admit, thought, that even though I am really going to miss the kids and Tanzania, I am really excited to go home and see my family and talk to friends and have something to eat other than starches! (Mom and Dad, could you please buy lots of different vegetables! asante sana!)

Two days ago, I was given quite an unexpected gift. Solome, one of the women who work at Malaika, wrote a song for me as a gift and secretly taught the older girls the song and the dance. On Tuesday, they performed it for me and it was amazing and such a blessing. I took video of it and when I return stateside, I will post the video on the blog so you all can enjoy the gift too. Today, I am going to write down the words in Swahili and attempt to translate it into English and I will post that on here soon too.

Yesterday, Solome invited me to church with her and it was quite an interesting experience. The church itself was a small and unassuming building, decorated with fake flowers and twinkle lights and a simple cross. Yet, even in its simplicity, the spirit was definitely moving through the people. I didn't understand much of what was going on (they were speaking really fast swahili) but a woman saw my confusion and sat down next to me and started to translate the whole (4 hour) service for me. It was really great. Halfway through the service, I was invited to read the days Bible lesson in English for the congregation (it was quickly followed up by the Swahili version). It was an amazing feeling to be instantly welcomed into the congregation and it really reminded me that it is not a church in Tanzania or a church in Naples or a church in Memphis that I am a member of but rather the Church of and in Christ that I am a member of.

Well, I must go to work now. I think I'm a little late (I stopped wearing a watch a few weeks ago and I have no idea what time it is. :) )

Oh, and until next time, say some prayers for the people of Georgia and Russia.

Namaste!

The last week.....

I arrived back to the hostel last night after an amazing weekend on Zanzibar. After I wrote the last post, Kristen (my traveling buddy) and I went back to the spice market to wander about some more, wandered around the labyrinth-like streets and eventually made it back to the hotel for sunset. Now, Naples, Florida has amazing sunsets, but absolutely nothing like the sunsets on Zanzibar. The colors were so vibrant, only made brighter next to the stark white sails of the dhow boats coming back in for the evening. After sunset, we made our way to the Omani Fort where we were meeting up with Oulti, a volunteer from Finland, to have dinner at the Old Fort Restaurant. We sat in the middle of the amphitheatre, surrounded by walls build in 1032 and listened to the local music that was being played at the far side of the fort. I had barracuda (I didn't know that you could actually eat this fish!) and it was fantastic! We chatted for a few hours before heading back to our respective hotels for a good nights rest. Kristen and I woke up at 7:30(too early for vacation but its hard to break a habit) and headed down for breakfast on the beach. We were served all different types of tropical fruits, breakfast breads and cakes, eggs, sausage, coffee, passion fruit juice, the list keeps going on and on. Like good (and cheap) travelers, never knowing when our next meal will be or what it's going to be, we wrapped up some of the breads in our napkins to save for later. :)

Our next meal turned out not to be that much later. After walking around for a few more hours, we wandered up to Mercury's restaurant, named after the late lead singer of Queen, Freddie Mercury who was born on Zanzibar. We had some drinks while overlooking the beach and waited for the next ferry to arrive. Two other volunteers, Amy and Courtney, were going to be joining Kristen on Zanzibar and they were going to stay a few more nights. We were halfway through lunch when the ferry came in so Kristen ran the 5 minutes to the port to meet them and bring them back to the restaurant. We stayed for a while longer and then it was time for me to head to the port for the 4 pm ferry. After 2 (very bumpy) hours, I arrived back at Dar es Salaam and the hostel.

Today started my last week of work and I cannot believe that it is already here! It seems like not too long ago I was writing in this blog about how excited I was to be going and that I couldn't wait for the trip to start. It seems like just a day or two ago that I texted my Mom and Dad to say that I was homesick and thinking of coming home early and it seems like a few hours ago that I finally got the hang of living here and began having the time of my life. And now it is all coming to a close. I'm going to stay the night at the orphanage for the next few nights so that I can have as much time as I can with the kids. It is going to be so hard to leave them; I don't even know how to begin to prepare myself. Being with and taking care of these kids has become my life- I miss them when I am not with them and the times goes by too quickly when I am. I know Friday is going to be rough- I'm not looking forward to it.

There has been a big elephant in the room (ok- in this blog) that I haven't addressed and maybe since it is my last few days, I feel more comfortable bringing it up. That is the health of the kids. It has been a subject that I've been avoiding talking about on the blog I think because it is not really something that I am able to fully process. Some of my kids are very sick and all are in constant poor health. We have a number of kids with HIV, serious kidney infections have become standard, horrible and painful skin infections have become routine and the local doctor and I are on a fist name basis. It is so hard to see these kids so sick and know that they are really limited- in access to health care and in lifespan. It is absolutely horrible to watch these kids be in pain and know that there is absolutely nothing I can do about it in the long term because my time with them is limited as are my own personal funds. They have already been dealt a rough hand in life, being left orphaned or abandoned, and it is only made more difficult by disease and sickness. The health of the kids is something I have avoided thinking about and dealing because it is the one thing that has caused me the most grief and anger since I have been here. And now I am leaving and no other volunteers are coming in behind me to hold their hands when they don't feel well or are exhausted or to buy them an ice cream cone after a series of injections.

Friday is definitely going to be rough. I'm not looking forward to it.


Namaste.

Zanzibar

Zanzibar is amazing! Absolutely beautiful. Kristen, one of the volunteers who came into the mess this week, decided to come over with me and the two of us left the hostel at 5:30 this morning. The reason for the early departure was that Kristen had not bought the ticket and we needed to do that an hour before the ferry left. We were actually the first ones on the ferry (after I rather gracefully slipped up the steps) and we got a great seat by the window. The ferry ride was rather short (or maybe it just seemed that way because we were deep in conversation) and before we knew it dhow boats were racing by us, their insides full of fish and octopi, and the bright blue water and sandy beaches were greeting us. We went through the formality of customs, even though Zanzibar is part of Tanzania and we started our (short) trek down the beach to the Tembo House Hotel. Holy Moly this hotel is amazing. Needless to say, the two of us were a little unsure if this was actually where we were staying given how absolutely gorgeous the hotel is (and especially after where we have been living for the past few weeks). The lobby is amazing- designed in traditional Zanzibar design (a mixture of Arabic and Indian- amazing!). I am staying in room 17 and though it is a single, my family of 5 could totally fit in this room comfortably. Its great with a beautiful carved 4 poster bed as the center piece. There is a balcony that overlooks the pool and the beach where we are going to watch sunset later this evening.

We left the hotel, started walking around and got completely lost. We soon found ourselves by Tibu Tip's house, a former slave trader. We were reading a sign outside and were soon invited on a cool tour given by one of the residents. After we left Tibu's house, we were again completely lost and were found by a very nice Zanzibari man. He ended up taking us on a FANTASTIC tour of the city, including a trip to the spice market before delivering us to our hotel. It has been a great day here and this evening we are going to watch the sunset from the beach and then we are headed to dinner at the Omani Fort.

Its fantastic here!

Namaste

Corruption sucks....

So, if you ever become a country coordinator for a non-profit organization, please never send fake immigration officers to your charges volunteer agencies, threatening arrest if you don't bribe them. Also, don't tell the other volunteers that people have been arrested in a ruse to get more money out of them and to take their passports. Poor life choices!

Yes, this is what has actually happened. After much investigating and sneaking around, the few other volunteers and I have found out that this whole immigration/arrest thing was just a ploy done by the country coordinator. It's crazy really. The group of us talked with volunteers around the country over email and phone, talked with immigration and talked with the different embassy's of the countries we represent and pieced together that our country coordinator has been lying to us the entire time. It is hard because the majority of the volunteers are very young, some traveling to another country alone for the first time, and you think that of all the people you can trust in a foreign country, the country coordinator is that person. I think we all feel really let down, cheated and used. I hate that this has but a big stain on the rest of a very great experience. I just hope I don't remember this when I look back on my time here, but rather that I think of all the AMAZING experiences that I have had here.

In other news, I'm sick! I have two HUGE swollen masses on the sides of both legs and I have been running a bit of a fever (though fevers are hard to tell here because it is always SO hot) Today I got to visit the TMJ Hospital, a very nice facility very close to the hostel. It cost me 6,500 tsh (about 7 dollars) to see the doctor and 24,000 tsh for the medicine he prescribed. All the tests were included in the price of the doctor's visit. After waiting about 20 minutes, I was let in to the doctors office, greeted by a very kind doctor. He asked what was wrong with me and after explaining I was worried that it was either malaria (lots of mosquito's here) or African sleeping sickness (Selous Game Reserve has lots and lots of tsetse flies....and one of the other kids on Safari was bit) he put on gloves and examined the two masses. He wasn't as gentle at his poking and prodding as I would have wished but he was very nice and completely put me at ease. He said that he didn't think it was malaria or African sleeping sickness but he would do the tests to make sure (and to put my worried mind at ease.) After he did the blood test (and yes, everything he used was new, right out of the package, no worries), he assured me that it wasn't some horrible disease but rather something more common among people in Southern Tanzania- Acacia tree sickness. Apparently, sometime in the last week or two, I brushed up upon an acacia tree and got a little of the poison under my skin. Its nothing to worry about (though very painful) and usually clears up on its own. But, since he could tell that I was in pain and that I would be traveling soon, he prescribed two medicines that will help it clear up sooner (I don't remember their names, but I know that they are medicines also given in the USA). He said it should be gone in 5 days, but if by Wednesday I still have pain and swelling in the area, I should come back to visit and we will talk about what to do instead.

So it has been an interesting few days. Tomorrow morning, I'm headed to Zanzibar for the weekend, staying at the Tembo House Hotel (thanks Dad for booking that for me). On Monday, I start my last week of work and I start the journey back to the USA next Sunday. I'm not sure I'm ready to leave (though I really miss my family and friends).

Watch the Olympics for me!

Namaste!

Volunteers arrested and other such adventures.....

I'm sorry it has taken me a few days to get up information. It has been a little crazy here (maybe as you can guess from the entry title). The safari was amazing! Though there were tons of people all the time (the perils of the norther safari route) the scenery and the wildlife was spectacular. I swear I will put up pictures really soon...when things calm down here a little.

Some of the highlights include: a adult male lion taking a nap in the shade of our car (but not before giving us a frightening glimpse of his teeth), a cheetah killing and eating an impala (a little gruesome sounding, I know, but it really was an amazing sight), almost getting charged by an adult elephant protecting its newborn baby elephant and driving through a sea of zebras and wildebeest. If you can stand the large amount of tourists, a northern safari is definitely worth every penny paid. Just make sure you are a conscious tourist.....

Yes, so volunteers have been arrested and all volunteer work with the organization I am here with has stopped. At the end of the safari, Yotam (the country coordinator) met us at the Arusha hostel with the news. Apparently, immigration is getting stricter with the visas and arresting people who they find to be in violation of their visas. Since IFRE said to purchase a tourist visa, that is what I did, even though it clearly states on the visa that all work, either for pay or volunteering, is strictly prohibited. I was nervous about this before I left, but after talking to the US coordinators I felt assured that it was not actually a big deal and that nothing would happen. I was wrong. Immigration agents have visited most of the organizations that IFRE (and other volunteer organizations working in Tanzania) works with, including Malaika, questioning, detaining and sometimes arresting the volunteers that are working their. To work in Tanzania it is necessary to have a residents visa. However, the reason volunteer agencies recommend getting the tourist visa is that residents visas are very difficult and costly to get. But now, volunteers are having to pay a fine and get a new residents visa, so ultimately it is costing us more money. I'm unsure if I want to go through the expense as I leave next Friday- I think I might just risk it and continue working.

Yotam has been in Arusha sorting out the mess up there (there are many more volunteers in the Arusha area than in the Dar es Salaam area) and so I am in a holding pattern until he comes down here, either tonight or tomorrow. He has told me not to go into work until he comes and talks to me and we sort things out and it is so frustrating. I had already been away from the kids for 5 days because of Safari and now I am going to be gone for (probably) the entire week. I might go in tomorrow around lunch time for an hour or two just to visit them (and maybe bring them some caki to apologize for my long absence).

I can understand why immigration is being more stringent- I am taking away a job from a Tanzanian citizen who could potentially be teaching English and providing care to the children. It is the same argument that is used in the United States with illegal immigrants (or at least part of the argument) and it is interesting being on the "illegal" side.

The whole mess is just causing me (and all of the volunteers who have had to return to Dar es Salaam because their projects have temporarily stopped) a lot of heartache and trouble. But, I will try and be optimistic and hope that it will all be sorted out quickly (no hakuna matata right now please, Tanzania government.....)

I will keep you all updated on the saga.....


Namaste!

The past few days have gone by very quickly. Though nothing out of the ordinary has happened, each day has been special in its own right. All of the kids are doing well in school and at home. It is so great to see everyone living harmoniously, helping when they need to help. A few days ago, Ema and Hamisi asked me to help cover their school notebooks (notebooks similar to the Rhodes College blue book) in brown paper. It was a very sweet moment and it reminded me of when my mom and I would cover my school books in elementary and middle school so as to keep them nice. With most of the kids in school, my mornings are very quiet and though I try to fill the time with those who are not in school, I miss the noise and busyness of having all of the kids home.

Yesterday, CJ (Amita's neice) and I cleaned and organized the office. What an undertaking! In the back of the small office, in between the bunk beds and the bookshelf were three huge boxes filled with toys, games and books. These things had been left by previous volunteers but no one ever bothered to unpack them or put them up. We have tons of stuffed animals (though those are not so much of an interest to all of the little boys here), puzzles, and TONS of cars (thank goodness!). We organized the book self, putting the toys that the kids were most likely to play with out while the rest of the toys we organized in boxes to put into storage. These toys will be saved for the new 300 child facility that will soon be finished.

Today, we found out that Sadi had sold his uniforms so that he didn't have to go to school. A few days ago, he sold his backpack and school notebooks for 200 tsh (20 cents). W are not really sure what to do about this as he will not tell us who he sold the items to. Today, he went to school and wore Solum's uniform (Solum was home sick) but tomorrow, I'm not really sure what he is going to do as the children are not allowed in school without a uniform.

For the past few weeks, the kids have had a weird skin infection on their heads- disgusting looking sores. they have all had their heads shaved to try and combat the infection and so that medicine can be applied. Well, over the past week or so, I have given too many hugs because now I have this skin infection all over my face. It looks gross and it hurts but I have recently gotten medicine for it so hopefully it will be gone soon!

Tomorrow I am headed to Arusha for Safari. It's a nine hour bus ride to Arusha and my Safari will start on Friday and end on Sunday. I will be visiting Tangire NP, NGorongoro Crater and Lake Maynara NP. I'm so excited as I have heard amazing things about these parks. Hopefully I will get to see lots of animals (and not too many mzungu's)!!

When I return to Dar from Safari I will only have 2 weeks left in the country. I have such mixed feelings about returning and I am sure that it is going to be a big shock to me. I am definitely not the same person now as I was then.

Sorry for the brevity but it is getting dark out and I need to start walking back to the hostel.

Namaste!

What a day.....

So I actually wrote this last night after a particularly long and stressful day. I would have posted it last night but, in accordance with a bad day, the internet cafe on the walk home was closed.

From Friday, July 25:

It is rather sad when your journal becomes you best friend. But, all alone in this country, this darned journal is the only thing that actually understands English. :)

Today was a really rough day. I had a premonition that the day would not go well but I just shrugged it off as my pessimistic nature at work. I should have l listened to myself and stayed in bed, waiting for the day to go by. There was nothing out of the ordinary on the morning walk to the dala-dala, just the same date and marriage proposals that I get everyday. A dala-dala had just pulled up to my stop when I was crossing the street and I even got a fairly good seat in the second row. After two stops, however, before he opened the door to let more people on, the money taker man looked at me and pointed to the vacant last row. Now, I try and avoid this row like the plague. It is the Bermuda Triangle of dala-dala rows- once you go there, you never leave. As a small consolation to myself, I didn't scoot over in the row but rather stayed in the aisle. That didn't last long. A few seconds later a man was making a noise and moving his hand in such a way as to say "move over." Being the good little girl that I am, I listened and scooted over. We reached Shoppers Plaza and to my chagrin, there were about 15 people wanting to get on this dala-dala. I was stuck! My stop was rapidly approaching and I had no escape plan. So picture this, me, trapped in the back of an overly full bus trying to figure out if the dala-dala would slow down enough for me to climb out the window or if I could somehow hold my bag and hold down my skirt at the same time as I was trying to climb over the benches. I started calling out "sousha Mkwajuni! Sousha Mkwajuni!" (Stop Mkwajuni) hoping that someone would take pity on this poor mzungu who had the misfortune to find herself trapped. When we reached the stop before mine, I tried to move up closer to the front but we were so packed in the back that I couldn't dislodge myself enough to stand up. I watched my stop come and go, dejectedly calling out "sousha, sousha." The thing about dala-dalas and Tanzania is that both are ridiculously noisy and I was more than likely not heard over the din of roosters, goats, car horns and shouting. Four stops and two miles later I was finally able to get out of the dala dala but not without arguing with the money taker first. Since I had actually traveled out of Dar, he wanted to charge me 500 tsh (about 50 cents) when the normal fare is 200 tsh (about 20 cents). I told him I had wanted to get out at Mkwajuni but he didn't let me and I handed him the 200 tsh coin and turned around to walk to work. I arrived at Malaika 45 minutes late to find a strange car parked out front. Turns out, child welfare had decided that this morning of all mornings would be their day to do a surprise visit. I walked in hot, sweaty and grumpy and was glared at by the child welfare lady. As it is one of my jobs to get the kids ready in the morning and do some type of fun and educational activity before school starts, many of the kids were still lying in their sleep clothes watching cartoons. Not exactly the best impression. Any other day, this would have been fine but of course, child welfare came on the one day I was not ready. Ultimately, the visit went fine but after they left I got an earful from the orphanage director (who I have only met twice in 3 weeks- she never really comes to work...ever). Needless to say, I will be leaving the hostel at 6 am just in case anything like my dala-dala experience ever happens again I can still get to work on time. :)

The rest of the morning went fine, and after lunch when all the kids arrived home from school and the mosque, I took most of the kids outside for a football match. We were having a great time until I went to steal the ball and the ball hit my baby toe and jammed or sprained it. Now wanting to upset the kids, I quietly limped back to the house while muttering some choice words in Swahili. By the time I hobbled back to the house my toe was bright red, throbbing and swollen. I left work early saying that I was really tired even though I was secretly in a lot of pain. I made my way the mile to the dala dala stop and didn't have to wait too long. I also managed to get a seat in the front row. Maybe things were turning around for me! Wrong. My dala dala stop is the terminal stop for that line and usually there are just one or two other people on the dala dala with me getting off at Nyrere. But as it turns out, the time I was on the dala dala was a peak time and so when the driver saw that there were only a few of us on the bus, he pulled over with 1.5 miles left to go and told us to get off as he wanted to turn around to collect more fares. On any other day, I would have been a little perturbed but generally fine with having to walk almost 3 miles home but today I was upset. With tears in my eyes, I stumped along home, cursing every rock that decided to jump in my teva's. I called my dad and he listed to me cry and complain before consoling me and saying just the words I needed to hear.

Things are starting to look up now: when I finally arrived home, no one was here so the hostel was actually quiet. Most of the people have gone to Zanzibar for the weekend and the two who didn't are going on a small weekend Safari. I will have the hostel to myself for 2 glorious days. Thank goodness!

Even though today was really rough and I had a crying breakdown, I'm still loving my time here. No lies, Tanzania is a hard place to live as a westerner but it also has an odd and magical charm that draws you in and becomes part of your heart. So even though individual days may be stressful and rough, I will always love this country and the people, leaving part of my heart here on the dusty roads, cramped dala dalas and loving children.

More Safari Pictures

So sorry about the brevity of the last post. I was racing against the clock- literally. I had 45 seconds left to log on to blogger, open a new post window and make sure the blog posted. I made it with 1 second to spare. Crazy crazy.

Anyway, I am too tired today to write an actual post other than to say that I have posted some more safari pictures.

The link-
http://www.flickr.com/photos/24414765@N07/

Also, as per a request, I will post pictures of the house I am staying at in the next few days. Sort of a day in the life of Jen in Africa!

So, until next time,

Namaste!

almost about to run out of internet time but check out some of the safari pictures. not all could get posted because of bad internet.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/24414765@N07/

Safari. part one.

I know that it has been a while but I have a valid excuse! Last Friday, while walking home from work I received a phone call from Yotam (the country coordinator for IFRE) asking what my plans were for the weekend. I though this was a little strange, but I thought I would play along, saying that I was probably going to rest at the hostel and enjoy the quiet. He asked if I wanted to go on Safari for three days leaving the next day, explaining that he had an opening and they needed three people for the trip. He gave me a FANTASTIC price, an offer I couldn't refuse. So the next morning I loaded into the Land Cruiser with Jim and Nate(two of the guys who have been working at Malaika and staying at the hostel) and drove 7 hours to Selous National Park in Southern Tanzania. I wrote in a journal while I was there so that I wouldn't forget my thoughts and so that I could post it up here when I got back.

I have a post that I wanted to put up on Friday (but the internet was down) and I'm going to wait till tomorrow or the next day to put it up so as to do both entries justice.

Without further ado, the Safari:

From July 20, 2008:

Here I sit, at the bank of the Rufiji river, exhausted from a full day of safari but exhilarated from the amazing scenery and wildlife. All day, I had one verse from the beginning of Genesis stuck in my head: "God made the beasts of the earth according to their kind and the livestock according to their kind and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good." (Genesis 1:25) And it certainly is good!

So, they don't call where we are staying "Hippo Camp" for nothing! Last night, I fell asleep to the sounds of the hippos- a noise that sounds like a cross between a dog and a cow. We woke up early this morning so that we could leave for a game drive at 8 am. We piled into the Land Cruiser after breakfast, ready for our adventure. After only being in the park for 15 minutes, we crossed paths with a pack of elephants- literally! Five elephants and a baby elephant were grazing after their morning water break, taking their time crossing the dirt road. Of course, this made for some amazing photos! At the same time, giraffes were wandering around but they were a little shy and ran away (oh so gracefully). Our guide, Saidi knew exactly where to take us so that we could see the best (and the most) animals. After a while of incredible scenery, we traveled over a small hill and what we saw below us could only be described as something out of the opening scenes of The Lion King (and yes, I had that soundtrack stuck in my head the entire safari!). The hill looked out over a small valley with green grass, a rarity in the dry season. Wandering around were monkeys, giraffes, impalas, birds and zebras with crocodiles and hippos resting by a lake in the distance. There really are no words ad the pictures don't do the beauty justice. I think this is something that has to be experienced because it is so amazing. We drove down to the valley and though the zebras and impalas were rather skittish, the giraffes allowed us to get so close before starting to walk away. After a while, we moved back to the main road in search of lions. It took us a little while but we finally stumbled across a lion and lioness (according to Saidi, the guide, they were on their honeymoon). Both were napping and resting in the shade of an acacia tree. After taking pictures, we drove around another bush when Saidi made a sudden stop, pointing to a spot under the bush. There, two small lion cubs were resting. They were so adorable that it was hard to believe that they are also fairly dangerous. We stopped for lunch (the deal was no lunch until we saw lions) and made our way back down to the bank to eat. Saidi pulled off the path by a 2000 year old Baobab tree and invited us to sit. I kid you not, walking around us were giraffes, zebras and lots of baboons. After a while, we started to drive again and realized that most of the animals resting in the afternoon heat but it was nice to drive leisurely, watching the scenery go by. After a few hours, we decided to head back to camp and now I am sitting on a bench facing the river, writing, watching the sun set, hippos swimming nearby birds flying and enjoying a safari beer (because what could be better than drinking a safari beer after going on safari! :) ) Tomorrow is another adventure and I cannot wait!

From July 21, 2008:
I just arrived back to the hostel after a 7.5 hour drive! Wow! But for me, it wasn't as bad as our trip there becasue somehow I managed to get the front seat ( I think the guys were being chivelerous- or they were deffiring to their elder ;) ). Regardless of the good seat, 3 hours of extremely bumpy roadshas made me really tired. I attempted to kill time by writing a journal entry on the way home, but again, too bumpy. The day started very early0 6:15 am as the boys and I had to be by the mess hall at 6:30 to meet for our river tour. At first I thought the river tour might be kind of hokey (I'm from FLorida- Disney River Cruise ring a bell? :) ) but it was actually pretty fantastic! The boat was very small and very close to the water and at first I was afraid the hippos might try to get in the boat with us! It started off a little slow but i think that was becasue the animals were just as tired as we were. But not after too long, we saw a few families of black faced velver monkeys, jumping from tree to tree. According to Saidi, they make fantastic pets (and I'm really tempted to bring one home. Kristina, do think a monkey could make friends with Pepe?) We aw tons of birds- in such beautiful colors too, like a crayola box. Saidi was sitting in the front of the boat with bonoculars and told the the boad driver to pull over to the side by a big tree. I wasn't sure what we were supposed to be looking for so I looked over at Saidi and he just pointed up. I glanced up and I'm pretty sure I screamed. Right abouve my head (no, litterally 3 feet above my head) was a 4 foot long river lizaerd, a miniature dragon looking creature. The boys chuckled at my obvious discomfort and I quickly snapped a picture before I ducked my head down and prayed that the lizard didn't decide it was hungry. A little farther down the river, we saw a few crocodiles lazily swimming down the river looking for breakfast. Nathan and Jim thought his was pretty cool but being from South Florida, I have seen too many crocodiles/ alligator looking creatures. Still I do appreciate the cool factor. By this point, I was getting a little antsy. Don't get me wrong, lizards, crocodiles, monkeys and birds are really cool but I really wanted to see hippos. We were staying at hippo camp and I hear them all night so I knew they were out there. After a few minutes, my prayers were answered and Saidi saw a few hippos snouts in his binoculars. The boat man headed that way and within 45 seconds, I was within 300 feet of 4 massive hippos (adult hippos weigh a minimum of two tons). We took tons of pictures and marveled at these not-so-gentle giants when all the sudden one of the hippos descended into the water and started running on the river floor- a pretty amazing scene. But the hippon was running very fast our way so the boad driver decided it was time to move so that we didn't hurt the hippo with the boat motor, or worse get tipped over by the hippo and made a mid-morning snack! On our way back, we literally stumbled upon a group of baby and adolescent hippos playing on an island in the middle of the river. Fantastic pictures! After this it was time to go back to shore and leave the camp for our long drive back. Great trip but too too short!

Pictures to follow soon!

Namaste!

Sorry it has been a few days- working late combined with getting sick does not lend itself to internet usage. I'm feeling a little better so I decided to make the mile trek down to the internet cafe.

Here is another link for some more pictures of the kids: http://www.flickr.com/photos/24414765@N07/?saved=1

Most of the younger kids (the kids in the group I teach) are doing very well. I'm so surprised at how quickly Adam and Sadi have picked up reading small words- they are fantastic and so intelligent! Adam is absolutely brilliant at math. He sailed through addition and subtraction and he has picked up multiplication with ease. I only have to show him things once and then he understands perfectly. Maybe I need to start doing calculus with him to challenge him...... :) Unlike Adam, Sadi didn't take to the multiplication as easily. I let Adam go a little early so I could spend some one on one time with Sadi. It took some time and some creative ways of explaining the multiplication tables but I think he understands it now.

Some of the other kids are having some problems grasping the alphabet. Juma just cannot seem to grasp the concept of the alphabet; its like his brain is just not processing the information. I will say "A" and point to it and ask him to say "A" (sema A) and point to it. He can do that but once we move on to "B," "A" is completely forgotten, as if we didn't study it. We have sung the alphabet song hundreds of times, each time with me pointing to the letters as we sing them but he never says the letters in order. But, he thinks he is doing it correctly and doesn't understand why I keep saying, "hapana, hapana" (no, no). Yesterday, when I arrived to work, he came running out of the boys room with a piece of paper in his hands. After I had left the evening before, he wrote down the alphabet to show me the next day. He was so proud of his work and I thought maybe we had had a breakthrough, maybe he finally got it. But when I looked at the papers, the letters were not in the correct order and most were backwards. He could tell from my face that he had not done it correctly and he took the paper out of my hand, crumpled it up and threw it down. It was a sad morning for both of us as I tried to explain in my (very) broken Swahili that its not his fault and that he will learn it eventually and that he is still a very smart boy. I'm somewhat at a loss of how to effectively teach him but I'm trying everything I can think of. Today we sat and made the letters out of play-dough and that seem to work a little and he was very proud of himself, sticking out his little chest every time he got a letter right. But I'm not sure if tomorrow (or even later today) he will remember. I just keep hoping that eventually it will all click, but until it does, I'll try everything I can think of to help him learn.

Dula and Modi are also having some problems learning the alphabet but I think that is due to laziness on their part. It is easier for them not to try (and do the same thing every day) than to work hard, make progress and learn new things. They are both really intelligent and it will take some creativity on my part to get them motivated.

Adam was bit by a scorpion today. We have also been painting the inside walls of the orphanage and some of the kids have been helping move things. Apparently, Adam was moving some bricks out of the way and a scorpion claw ( is that what it is called?) attached to his finger. The other kids helped him get it off and he came in screaming and crying. While CJ and I were preparing him for the hospital, Amita (house mom) went outside to see the scorpion. She came in saying we didn't have to take him because the stinger was still intact and that that is where the poison is kept. He was still pretty upset but I gave him a piece of candy and that seemed to make it a little better.

So, its been a little crazy and a little trying but I'm finally having the time of my life. I love it here and I'm a little sad to think that in 4.5 weeks I will be leaving the kids. But, I won't think about that. :)

Namaste!

Hangin' out in Dar

Today has been a really fun day. After working 7 days in a row, I finally got a day off and boy am I enjoying it! I was able to sleep until 8 today which was a huge surprise to me since the roosters start making noise at 4 in the morning. I was able to take a leisurely (cold) shower- lasting no more than 5 minutes (or else we will run out of water) and I was able to sit at the table for breakfast (something hard to do with 12 people staying at the hostel with a table for 8). All in all, its nice not having the other people here. But, I shouldn't say that too soon because most of the people leave for Arusha, Bagamoyo or Norongoro tomorrow so I will be by myself again and I know I will miss the hustle and bustle. After breakfast, Cindy ( a woman from Ft. Lauderdale, FL who also happens to be going home tonight), the Danish girls and I went to the carvers market. Even though I was only tagging along, I couldn't help but pick up a few things for family and friends. Because it was Sunday morning, there were not too many people there which was nice except that it meant that the shop owners tried even harder to get us into their shops ("Rafiki, good price for you!" "Sunday price for you, rafiki", etc.) But its totally fun and definitely worth it. :)

My dad recently asked me about what type of food I have been eating. The answer is quite simple- lots and lots and lots of starch. We have white bread toast in the morning (along with eggs. Lord, I don't ever want to eat scrambled eggs again....), rice at lunch and pasta and rice at dinner. There are different sauces to put on top of the rice or pasta but it still rice and pasta. Last night, because it was only Cindy and I eating dinner, we had fresh green beans and carrots (along with the rice and sauce) and I just about died. They were very good! The one good thing we get is fresh fruit- every morning with breakfast and after dinner for desert we get fresh papaya, mango, bananas or watermelon. I love it.

My dad also let me know that a link to my blog is on Vanderbilt Presbyterian's homepage. So cool! To my friends at VPC, thank you so much for all of your thoughts and prayers. It is so comforting to know that you are here with me in spirit. :)

I would have put up another link to more pictures today but I just realized that my camera battery died (probably from taking too many pictures yesterday). So, tomorrow or the next day, be on the look out for new pictures!

Until later,

Namaste!

I have finished the first week

It seems like I have been here for so long, but yesterday marked the end of my first week in Dar Es Salaam. It seems hard to believe.

I have been having a hard time posting photos on the blog so I put them up on flickr. I have not added all of the pictures, only a few, but I will be adding more soon! Here is the link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/24414765@N07/

Yesterday, the kids in my group at the orphanage moved from learning the abc's (in and out of order) and upper and lower case letters to learning small words. I'm so proud of them and amazed at how quickly they are picking things up! I have been using zoo phonics to help them learn the words and it seems to be working. Who knew that the same program that helped Kristina learn how to read in kindergarten/ first grade is helping my kids learn how to read! Its a good thing I was paying attention all those years ago! On Monday, I am bring in some of the books that I brought with me to see if we are at a point where we can start to read them. They are simply books filled with three letter words so I think my kids are up for the challenge. Maybe I will get cookies as a surprise.....

It is a very quiet weekend here. Most of the people have gone on weekend trips. Some to Bagamoyo and Saadani Game Reserve and some to Zanzibar. But I decided to go to the orphanage today for the morning and afternoon and I am really loving having the hostel all to myself. It is so quiet- amazing!

I'm sorry I have to make this posting so short. It took me a while to get the photo's uploaded and now I am almost out of internet time. But expect a longer post tomorrow with some service reflection. :)

Namaste!

Progress!

Today, progress was made! Like yesterday, today we broke into three smaller groups to work on English skills. I had the middle group, those who knew the alphabet in order (the abc song) but didn't know the letters by themselves. When we finished lessons for the day yesterday, the kids had the capital letters down cold. I was so amazed at how quickly they caught on when they had more individualize attention (though I shouldn't really be surprised because this is similar to the work I do in Memphis). I was rather afraid that I was going to get there today and have a lot of what they learned yesterday forgotten. But that was not the case, thank goodness! We breezed through our review and made it to the lowercase letters which they got really quickly so we ended up playing some matching games. They were so proud of themselves too. After each time they would match two letters together (example- p kubwah and p ndogo) and I would say ndyo (yes) or mbezi (good) they would get a little smile and I swear they would stick their chest out a little bit. It was so funny and cute and makes all the bad so so worth it. Whats really cute is that most of the kids I'm working with are boys and they are tough little men outside of the orphanage, always acting tough in front of the other neighborhood kids, but once they are inside the walls of the orphanage all they want to do is sit on my lap or play with my hair or talk to me (albeit in Swahili). It is fantastic.

Oh, also, the Malaika donor family came today for a visit. They are an older couple from the Netherlands. It was great to talk with them and see what motivates them to give money to an orphanage so far away. They also seemed really interested in what I think about Malaika and my experiences at the orphanage and in Dar. When I took the kids out to play for the afternoon, the family and Amita (the orphanage mom) were talking about building a new building for Malaika which is so desperately needed! It was an exciting day.

Like I wrote in the last post, I have been feeling really lonely and not really part of the group of friends forming at the hostel. But, last night I got home from work late and was greeted by everyone wondering where I was and asking me how my day was and saying they wanted to take me out to celebrate my birthday. So we went to a little bar (a big porch with a thatched covering and beer) to have a few drinks and get to know each other. It was a lot of fun and super memorable.


So things are on the upswing. I'm beginning to feel a little more comfortable and a little bit more like I can do this. Thank you everyone for your kind words, I really appreciate them. :)

Until next time,

Namaste!

So it has been a few days since I have written and a lot has happened.

I am so tired. I expected to be tired but I didn't realize how exhausted I would be at the end of every day. I wake up early to leave by 8 (there are 12 other people in the hostel, almost all girls, and only two bathrooms. It takes a while to get ready). Walk 1.5 miles, fight to get on a dala dala, ride for 30 minutes in a very very very cramped van, and then walk for another 1.5 miles. By the time I get to the kids I am hot and tired (even though it is winter here, the days are still brutally hot) but my day has really just started. They have lessons until 12:30, lunch until 1:30, a small nap and then we play outside until 5. Around 5, I leave, walk, dala dala and walk. I'm very very tired every day.

On top of the tiredness, I'm very homesick. Those of you who know me know that I love to travel and that I travel a lot and though I was expecting to miss my family, I didn't think I would miss them as much as I do. Last night, I texted my mom and dad saying I wanted to come home. But, they wisely told me that I could do this and I don't think that I actually do want to come home (I mean I do eventually), its just hard not being able to communicate at all with anyone and being utterly exhausted all of the time.

I decided to stay in Dar and work at Malaika instead of going to Bagamoyo. The kids are great but the past few days have been frustrating for both them and me. My first few days here, Emily (a volunteer who had been working with the kids for 7 weeks) told me that they knew their alphabet and were learning words to go with each letter (for example two days ago, the letter of the day was P and the kids learned pig, pencil, plate, pen, etc.) She had been going through the alphabet that way and thought that the kids were following along (to be fair, so did all of the volunteers and the staff at Malaika). But, two days ago, I was sitting with one of the kids and I started singing the abc song. A few of the kids started to sing along but stopped after the first few letters. That caught my attention so I went to the alphabet chart and pointed at the letters and asked them to say what letter I was pointing to (sema tadfadhali). Almost all of the kids (all but two) couldn't get past the first four letters. That was a huge shock to all of us! So yesterday, I figured out a plan to get them reading 3 letter words by the end of my 6 weeks. Now I know this is sort of impossible and maybe ridiculous but the kids are really smart and I think they will be able to do it if we keep on task and have few interruptions. Today we worked in three small groups, each group at a different level. I think this worked very well so hopefully we will do this tomorrow.

Today is my birthday and when I came to work this morning Amita (the house mom) and all of the kids were waiting for me outside. I came up to the front door and they started singing Happy Birthday, gave me hugs and presented me with a birthday cake. It was amazing and so appreciated. I cried (of course) and got a second round of hugs from the kids. Marianna even gave me one of her markers as a birthday present (this was a huge deal). Also, Taz, one of the older kids, found out that he was sponsored to go to America to play soccer for few months coming up. According to Amita, he will be leaving in the next month or so. So, lots of reasons to celebrate today!

This might be one of the hardest things I have every done in my life. I'm so torn because while I miss home so much, I am starting to fall in love with these children. They are the cutest and sweetest things ever and it makes it so much harder to know that in a while I will have to leave them and return to a country where I have clean water, am guaranteed food and clothing and have a luxury like air conditioning. It is so hard to think that Modi and Yosini and Dula and others will leave the orphanage with little chance of getting any higher education ( "higher" including high school and university) or job and will regularly get very sick and not always be able to get and find medicine to get better. These simple things are just ripping me apart. I really wish that every one of you could be here with me, experiencing what I am experiencing because it is so, so hard to put it into words.

I'm having trouble uploading pictures but I am going to figure it out soon so expect a post in the near future full of pictures.

As always, I really appreciate your comments and please keep me and the kids of Malakia in your thoughts and prayers.

Namaste!

Still in Dar....

So I thought I was going to Bagamoyo today but I'm still in Dar. I went back to the orphanage Malaika (which means angel in Swahili) today and had a great time. Two volunteers who have been here for quite a few weeks left today so the kids sang a beautiful song to them. It was really sweet and both the kids and us volunteers were teary.

I had a good conversation with Alexis yesterday about the Bagamoyo experience. She left Bagamoyo after one week and finished her two weeks in Dar. She said that she was by herself in Bagamoyo (no other volunteers had been there for a while) and that the accommodations were really difficult for long periods of time. I'm not looking for the Ritz-Carlton but I need to be mildly comfortable (and I really mean this is the mildest sense) while I am there, especially since I'm going to be there for such a long time. Also, the teachers in the school that I would be working with don't really care about teaching the kids- they don't get there on time, they don't have lessons, sometimes they just have the kids color and other times they let school out after a half day. All of this has left me really hesitant about going to Bagamoyo. I have had two really great days working at Malaika and I love the staff and kids there. I talked to Marley (one of the program staff people) this morning and asked if I could be switched to the Dar site. I didn't really get an official answer so I'm kind of unsure about where I am going. If I go to Bagamoyo it will be tomorrow and I will start work in a week. This week is apparently a holiday week in the schools which is another reason why I'm hesitant to go up to Bagamoyo. So I think, all in all, a move to the Dar site at Malaika will be for the best; my talents will be best utilized by the kids and staff at Malaika.

We had a really large group of people come in last night/this morning. Four ladies from Denmark, two guys from Virginia (the just graduated from High School!! so young!) and a woman from NY. Another young woman, Emily, came back to the hostel last night after climbing Mount Kilimanjaro (affectionately called Kili). Her pictures are amazing and I'm kind of jealous. It costs a lot of money (she spent about $1100) and you have to be in fairly good shape. So the next time I'm in Tanzania (which I'm sure will not be too long from now) I'm going to climb the mountain.

Anyway, the two boys and the woman from NY came with Emily, Jill and I to Malaika today and I think they had a good time. I think they were really nervous especially since when we got in the dala-dala this morning, the driver was fixing the engine and when we were trying to leave the money taker had to push the dala-dala to get it going. But, in the end, we got there safely. During nap time, Emily and I took a walk around the area near the orphanage. It was hard stuff to see. Mountains of trash, some of it burning (because they don't have a waste system like the U.S, that is how trash is dealt with) and some of the trash being picked through by kids and women. The houses are hard to describe; they look like they are going to fall down at any second and are filled to the brim with different family members. According to Emily, one of the areas we ended up walking in is not traveled a lot by muzungu's (white people) so we got a lot of stares by older gentlemen and women and we were followed by kids who got a kick out of it when we would turn around and smile and wave. We ended up stopping in a fabric store where I bought khanga fabric to make a bag and a skirt. There is a tailor down the street from the hostel who made Emily, Jill and Alexis (who left at 5 this morning) some dresses, shorts and bags. I will drop off the fabric tomorrow (since she is closed on Sundays) and pick it up in a few days.

All in all, the first few days have been really interesting and eye-opening. A lot of the things I thought I knew and understood are being changed by people I meet and things I experience. But, I guess that is part of why I came on this trip.

Also, thank you to everyone who has commented on this blog. Its a really great feeling to know that people are with me on this journey. I really appreciate every comment so please keep them coming. :)

My internet time is almost up, so until the next time,

Namaste!

I blessed the rains down in Africa.....

Mom, I should have listened to you. Even though I was told it never rains in the non-rainy season, today it rained. Not hard, but it would have been nice to have the umbrella you suggested to bring. :)

The past 24 hours have been chesee kama disi (that's crazy like a banana for you non-Swahili speakers out there). Last night, I was talking with two of the three friends we made yesterday, Alexis and Jill, and Jill said that there were going to be fireworks at the American Embassy. About an hour later, we hear loud booms out side and ran down the main road and saw some fantastic fireworks over the palm trees. We were shouting and clapping like crazy muzungu's! It was great.

Jill had one more day at work in Dar so she invited Alexis and me to come with her. It was really fun. She works at an orphanage with about 30 kids. We played outside, counted to ten, practiced our ABC's, colored, etc. They taught me some fantastic Swahili words that I'm sure will come in handy in Bagamoyo.

We only worked a half day at the orphanage and went back to the hostel for lunch. Lunch was ....interesting. We had ugali which is a dish the consistency of dough but made out of porridge (I think)...its hard to explain. Anyway, its basically tasteless but there was a really great mixture of vegetables and chicken in a great sauce to pour over it along with cabbage. And just fyi, we eat with our hands so that goodness for hand sanitizer!

After lunch we headed to the carvers market by tuk-tuk!. Which was so so cool! Tons of carved wood products- really anything you could want and so beautiful. I'm getting better at bartering and asking for the rafiki (friend) price not the muzungu (traveler/white person) price. I even learned some Swahili bartering words.

A little about the hostel- its nice by Dar standards. Four bedrooms and two bathrooms, a nice living room and a fairly good sized dining room. We have someone who cooks our meals for us (the ugali and sauce today and chips myeye yesterday). The showers are cold water showers, as are all showers and it actually has sit down toilets! Its really luxurious.
Alexis stayed in the home that I will be staying in and she said that its a little more rugged in Bagamoyo. Most of the homes are mud huts and the house I am staying in has a squatter toilet and a bucket shower. All laundry is done by hand and one of the girls said she only washed her clothes once in the 6 weeks that she has been here. Its going to be an interesting 6 weeks but to be honest, its still a lot nicer than what many of the people have in Bagamoyo.I leave tomorrow (I think) for Bagamoyo and will start work on Monday. After talking with the girls today, I am so excited and (almost) not nervous.

So a little earlier, I mentioned the dala-dala's and the tuk-tuks. Dala dala's are minivans that they fill with so many people. Coming home from work today,I think we had 25 people in our dala dala. Its a little scary as they drive millions of miles per hour. But its a good, cheap and reliable way to travel around the city. Alexis said that in Bagamoyo everyone walks so I have to get my dala-dala experience in now. :) Tuk-tuks are motorized bikes with a cart in the back. Riding that today was maybe the scariest thing I have done in a while (other than flying halfway around the world by myself). They are so small and they feel like they are going to break at any point. But again, cheaper than a taxi and reliable, so what can you do.

All in all, the first day has been really good. I'm excited for whats to come and so thankful to be here.

Namaste, all!

So, I'm actually here!

It is kind of hard to believe. Yesterday I went to sleep and woke up in London. Today I go to sleep and wake up in Dar es Salaam. Goodness gracious, me oh my.

Dar is everything and nothing like I thought it would be- strange how that works out. The flight to Dar was uneventful. I had an exit row seat which makes everything better and I watched tons of movies again (and of course got no sleep). I finally fell asleep with four hours left in the plane trip and when I woke up two hours later, the sun was starting to rise and we were going over Serengeti National Park. It was absolutely beautiful. Amazing. As we approached Dar and we got closer to the ground, I got my first glimpse of what Tanzania actually looks like- the homes and other buildings, people walking, etc.

So I had a minor freak out again on the plane but not because I was nervous about the trip but because I was convinced that the pilot was going to land on a dirt runway. I would have bet money on that but at the last minute a small strip of pavement appeared. Since Dar is the largest city in Tanzania,I expected the airport to reflect the city's size. Nope. It doesn't. Though the people are very friendly, the airport is very very small (like the size of an American Regional Airport- for those living in Naples, a little bit larger than the Naples Airport) and rather old. I was nervous about going through customs (what else is new) but it was fine and both of my bags got here safely (another worry). I went outside the airport where I was supposed to meet my ride and initially didn't see anyone. But after walking through a lot of very eager taxi cab drivers, I found who I was looking for. I don't remember his name (i'm sad about this but not beating myselfup too much because I was functioning on very little sleep) but he was extremely helpful. He told me that the driver was on his way and to wait at the benches. About 30 minutes later, another gentleman whose name I forgot collected me and even carried both of my bags for me (seriously, a nice guy). We drove 30 minutes through Dar to get to the hostel. The city is a mix of old and new, poor and less poor, modern and not. There were dala-dala's everywhere crammed with people. PS- crammed in America is not the same as crammed in Dar. Think a bus no larger than a mini van with like 20 people in it. Its tight. There were women carrying baskets of fruit on their heads and men and women with bikes full of things to sell. Its really hard to describe other than its amazing.

When I got to the hostel, I was given a quick tour and then slept for about an hour when another nice gentleman (I admit, I'm horrible with names....) came to talk to me about Safari's and other tours that he runs for IFRE and another student volunteer program, Cross Cultural Solutions. I got a great price on a three day safari ($145 per day all inclusive- amazing!) and its going to go to all the places in the Northern Circut that I wanted to go to (Mom and Dad, all the places that that couple we had dinner with went to, I will also be going to). After setting that up, I took another nap, missed lunch and woke up to the sound of two young women. The two ladies, Alexis and Molly have just finished their volunteer time and are getting ready to leave on Sunday. Both were in Bagamoyo so I'm excited to talk with them more. Right now, I'm sitting in an internet cafe with Alexis (she is only going to be a sophomore in college, so Kristina you've got two years :) ).

I'm not too sure what tomorrow is going to bring but I think thats how it goes here. I got to learn to be a little more laid back and just go with the flow. Sunday morning we make the hour drive to Bagamoyo where I start my project.

Because I miss hugging the people I love, I want you, anyone who reads this blog, to go up to someone you love today and give them a hug and tell them you love them. Well, I guess we should do that everyday.

Until later, namaste!

Sleeping in the prayer chapel

So now I have been in the London airport for 7.5 hours and I have to admit, though it is a large airport, I'm sort of bored. I don't want to spend too much time sitting down in a chair reading or people watching because I know that in only a few hours I will be sitting and fidgeting in a chair for 10 hours. So I have been wandering around terminal 4 looking at the shops and the goings-on of the airport. I did discover a prayer chapel and quiet sitting room that has bed-like chairs in them- perfect for sleeping. I had a great little nap until I was woken up by a little child shrieking and mother shushing quite loudly and the child pounding with its two fists on the door. Not the best way to wake up but a satisfying nap nonetheless.

So my impressions of London is that people are very polite here (I appreciate that) and that driving on the other side of the road is crazy! So I knew that people in Great Britian drove on the other side of the road but after a long, long flight I had sort of forgotten. I was quiet suprised and I'm sure I audibly gasped when the bus I was taking from Terminal 5 to Terminal 4 started off driving in the "wrong" lane. That's a way to wake you up!

Tomorrow I arrive in Dar and start working shortly thereafter. I have to disclose that I had a little freak out, panic moment on the airplane, thinking to myself "what in the world am I doing!? this is crazy!" I'm sure that if at that moment I could have been on the phone with the pilot, I would have said "turn around. It doesn't matter that we are halfway over the ocean, turn around and drop me off at Southwest Florida International Airport..... please (you have to add the please for politeness sake)!" But then I calmed myself down thinking that if so many friends and family have faith in me that I can do this, then maybe I can do this (and it would have been impossible for me to get the pilot to turn around...).

I have no doubts that this is going to be difficult and I will have moments when I want nothing more than to be around people and things that are familiar but I can do this. I can do it because for the past few weeks or so whenever the voice of doubt started to fill my head, another voice overpowers the first voice saying "the grace I have bestowed upon you in baptism is sufficient." God's grace is sufficient and amazing and keeps me going when I want to curl up in a ball of worry. It doesn't matter if I doubt myself because my friends and family don't doubt me and God never doubts me. So in that, I have the strength and courage to keep going on this crazy adventure!

I should sleep in prayer chapels more often. They bring me clarity. :)

namaste!

PS- it's raining now, just fyi.
PPS- Mom, I remembered to take the malaria medicine today! :-)
PPS- Mom, Dad, Kristina and Lauren- I miss you all already. Kristina, have a great time in NYC! Catch a ball for me and be sweet! Mom and Dad, drive carefully up to Tallahassee. It's a holiday weekend and you know how people can be. ;) Lauren, congratulations on moving in to your new apartment! You have no idea how proud of you I am and I can't wait to stay there when I drive back to school!

Holy Moly.....

...I'm in London!


So yesterday evening my parents and I made the ridiculously long drive to Miami International Airport (I mean, its only 2 hours but it always feels like forever!) and now, 12 hours later I am sitting at a computer terminal at London's Heathrow. How weird is that!

So, my flight. I was actually nervous about this flight. Not so much the actual flying part of it, but if I was going to have enough leg room. I know, I know, crazy thing to be worried about (and believe me, I'm worried about a lot more things that just that) but even though my legs are not that long, they are still long and I get figgity really really easily. So, being the overly anxious person that I am, the night before the flight I selected my seat very carefully. Well it turns out that the seat I selected that I thought had more leg room than some of the other seats actually didn't have more leg room. But thats fine, I can deal with that as long as no one sits next to me (hey, I like my space!). Well for quite a while, it looked like there was not going to be anyone sitting next to me. In fact, the airplane looked really empty. However, in the last 10 minutes the flood gates opened and tons and tons of people got on the plane. A woman and her child sat next to me and I thought I was destined to sit still for the entire flight. But then, I turned around to look behind me and I see an entire row that is open (the row with four seats in the middle)! Well, what luck I have! So I wait until I hear the captain say that the doors are closed and then I pounce (I think this is a very appropriate word for how I actually looked and moved) into the row behind me before anyone else could move. So, it was nice- I had two seats all to myself (two young women ended up sitting in the far two seats, but that's cool) and was able to spread out and move around. Also, great thing about British Airways is their entertainment system. Now, I have flown internationally quite a bit and I have experienced lots of different entertainment systems, most of them leaving a lot to be desired. But this one was amazing! I wanted to watch every movie that was being shown and they had some really great television shows also. Needless to say, the 8 hours flew by.

So now, I am sitting in the Heathrow airport with 2 minutes left of my internet time. The next time I write I will be in Tanzania! Crazy!

PS- just for information, the exchange rate is really bad in London. $20 exchanges into 7£! Wow definitely didn't do that!

Namaste!

Eeek!

24 hours from now, I will be two hours into a flight to London! I can't believe it!

So yesterday I packed. What an experience. I tried really hard to pack everything into the one pack but alas, it didn't all fit. So now I have a very full pack and a full duffel bag. I'm just really glad that I don't have to deal with the bags until I get to Dar es Salaam.

So tomorrow, I am off. Excited, thankful, nervous, hopeful, anxious, happy, lucky, so many things! Please keep me in your thoughts and prayers and keep in touch!



PS- Mom, Dad, Lauren and Kristina- I love you all so much and I will miss you like crazy!! Don't worry too much, Mom, I will be fine, I promise. :) LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!

Two and a half days!

I can't believe that I leave in two and a half days! It seems so surreal!

I just got back from the Presbyterian General Assembly in California (for information on the actions of the General Assembly, please see http://www.pcusa.org/ga218/ ......just in case you're interested), and I have spent the day washing clothes and organizing everything that I'm bringing. Since I'm only bringing a pack and a small tote bag for the air plane, I have to be very intentional about what I am bringing and what I am not bringing and that means organization and planning. Mom is coming home from work early today so that we can spend the afternoon trying to figure out the best way to pack everything. It's not so much that I have a lot of clothes and personal items that I'm bringing (quite on the contrary) but I have a lot of stuff to bring for the kids that I'm working with. But, it will all fit somehow...it has to. ;)

I don't even know what else to say- I'm so so excited and apparently that has taken away my ability to form sentences other than I can't wait for this adventure!

namaste!