A little of this a little of that...

I feel that I am getting a good feel for the lifestyle and Tanzanian culture here.  Since most of the kids are gone we have been doing a lot of activities that the locals do.  For example, we hiked to a beautiful waterfall.  It was probably the sketchiest hike I have ever done.  I was walking along the narrow ledges, looking down to the steep ravines freaking out a little bit, but the kids we were with were running down like it was nothing.  One of the local boys started following us and was running down with a machete so calmly!  Anyway the waterfall was incredible.   The water was a  bit chilly but I still waded in it a bit.

With the kids gone it is a great time to fix up the school.  All of the volunteers have scraped and repainted the blackboards in each of the classrooms.  They look amazing now!  We are also painting one of the walls outside that has the Peace Matunda song and prayer on it.  I prob wont be here for the completion of that but it will definitely be an improvement from the green algae all over the wall.

Bella, Kaaya's cousin who does cultural tours, celebrated his birthday.  He dressed up as a Rasta Rooster.  It was hilarious.  All the girls from Peace MAtunda came down and we celebrated with a fruit and veggie cake that he wanted made.  It was a fantastic celebration!  We also celebrated Jenni's last weekend here.  She is going home after 9 months of being here.  So in light of that she requested that we all dress up like Safari Animals and go out on the town.  We had the big 5 and some other random safari animals.  I was a Zebra!  The tailor had come up a week earlier and we gave her a bunch of fabric to make dresses, one a zebra print.  So I had my dress and I painted my face with black stripes!  It was so awesome.  Everyone looked great and boy did we get stared at.  Kaaya came as our Safari guide, trying to keep us inline.  Good Times!

Bella, being the do it all guy in Tanzania, got the "good@ coffee beans from a friend.  10 KG of coffee beans, worth 60,000 shillings.  Which isnt that much money but it was supposed to be just for Jeni and I...  There is soooo much coffee!!!!  We started making it a few days a go and still havent finished.  Normally you have to de-shell the beans but that would have added an insane amount of hours onto the task.  So we roast them first, until they are almost black and then it is pounding time!  I am very excited to drink coffee that I actually made with my bare hands!  wooohoo

Another cultural experience I had was buying, slaughtering, and eating a goat, Fred.  We all went to a market and Jeni picked out a beautiful brown goat.  The next day we all watched as Bella slit Fred's throat, collected the blood, to make soup of course, and continue on butchering it.  I have great video of the whole process.  It is amazing how the took off his skin in one piece.  They also ate the kidney's right out of him!  Listening to his ribs crack and watching them break his legs apart was crazy.  I held hone of his hooves!  And surprisingly he tastes delicious.  I didn't eat too much but it was yummy!  Great experiences I am having here.  Oh, and I got Bella to cut off his chin hair so I can attempt to make a bracelet ! hahahah

Again, sorry this is so random.  I haven't written in a while and thought I would update all of you eager readers on my time here.  I am headed off on a Safari on Sunday for 4 days!  I am so pumped to see so many animals form the Lion King!!   Then I am headed to Zanzibar for some island relaxation and hopefully home after!!

Miss you all and I hope everyone is great!  Happy Fathers Day to all the Dad's and Grandfathers out there!! Love you all

Where have all the children gone....

So it is Holiday time for the little munchkins.  we didn't think many of them were going home but it turned out most of them were.  I walked one of the older girls home today. It was very interesting to see where they live.  This girl had a one room house made of wood that she share's with her 2 brothers 2 sisters and her mother.  She has an out house, a cow, and a few chickens.  I asked the coordinator if they kids get excited to go home and her response was interesting.  she said that of course they want to see their families but they have so much more opportunities for things at Peace Matunda in the orphanage.  she said some of the kids will eat maybe once a day.  They will be crammed in their house with many family members.  At Peace Matunda they get fed 3 meals a day, they have their own bed and can play with the other children.  It is interesting to think about.  I should clarify that their are only 2 actual "orphans" according to the U.S. (kids with no parents).  The rest of the orphans at the school have family but they are to poor to care for them so the stay with us!  The kids who stay at the orphanage (Amanai House) are amazing.  The older girls and boys cook and clean a lot.  They could be in the middle of a movie or playing and as soon as they are called to do chores they hop right up, without whining or complaining, and do what they are supposed to.  It's awesome.

It is such a bummer that their are only a few kids left to be with but the children in Standard 4 class (10-12 yr olds) have school in the morning.  I am going to go help and see what goes on in their class.  We might take them on a field trip to the museum in Arusha.  Otherwise we will be having a lot of intimate field trips with them.  Its all good.

Interesting Fact:  tanzanians start their day at 6.  So 7 am is 1am- 8am is 2- 9am is 3am  and so on.  totally confused me a few times.

I had wine here!!! Jeni, the volunteer coordinator, was bumming all the kids left and we got to talking about wine so....we had a wine night.  It is not very common here but we managed to get some decent wine and it was delicious.  I miss vino.

We took the older girls and boys and went to the Tangeru market on Saturday.  We bought them some sodas and wandered around the market.  I bought more fabric  OBVI!!  It is all so beautiful and sooo cheap I can't resist.  Plus, the tailor was coming and I needed some fabric for a few dresses she is going to make and for so cheap.

All is well here.  I absolutely love it and wish I was staying longer but I will be out of money :(

Miss you all.  Hope everyone is super duper! :)

First week of Holiday!

We are trying to get the kids in a routine while they are on holiday.  So every morning we are doing mini lessons with them and guess who gets to plan them!!  MEEE!  I am excited to finally be doing some teaching.  I found that a lot of the learning done here is rote memorization.  When I was asking the kids to give me the sound  a letter makes they couldnt, they just gave me a word.  Anyway it is interesting trying to use some of the stuff I have learned on them.  They are very eager to learn and love have class with Teacher Danielle so I love it!
We will be doing school work with them for a few hours every morning.  I am also working with one of the older girls who has trouble reading and writing.  Good stuff all around!

There is a lot of down time during holiday so we are taking small groups of kids up the street to get soda and treats.  They love one on one time.   As we were walking up the hill we saw Kilimanjaro!  It was a very clear day and I have been looking for it everyday and we finally saw it!! So exciting.

Last night we were introduced to Banana Beer.  I had 3 and definitely was feeling it.  They have a lot more alcohol in them than normal beers at home.  They were yummy though.

Heading out but will write more soon!  Just a little update!