Karibuni Tena

Phew, long time, not update! Sorry people, i've been incredibly busy dealing with a lot of things the past few weeks and just now am able to inform you all of my shenanigans. First off, I believe the weekend after my last post was my incredible weekend in Zanzibar. So, we were able to stay in a 5-star hotel on a MASSIVE discount. It was absolutely the most gorgeous place i've ever been. I shared a room with my best friend Amber the whole weekend, and all we did was relax, read, and enjoy the beach, not to mention our morning yoga sessions. I collected so many shells, I have an entire bag of them coming home with me. It was amazing just being in paradise with 30 of my new good friends. I could not be happier about that weekend. Even though I did spend almost two full days on a bus and ferry going to and from Arusha...Alright, onto new topics. We've had our schedule changed up quite a bit, since we are no longer teaching at Musa Primary because they are starting testing to move onto the next grade. Our last day was so sad. For 10 minutes, the whole class was being super quiet and we finally asked "Why is everyone being so quiet today?!" and they responded "Because you're leaving us!". Teaching was a wonderful experience and it feels great to know that we made a difference in their lives somehow. So now, we are focusing a lot of our energy on site work, which is essentially hard labor. I've gotten quite good with a pick-axe. We're working on a huge garden in the back area which will be full of delicious vegetables for everyone on site to eat while also enforcing their ideas on sustainability. I can't wait to see what it looks like when it's finished. We've also continued tutoring on site. I've been having a lot of trouble with Miriam the past couple weeks. On Thursday, she was mad about tutoring so she walked over, grabbed her notebook and ruler and threw them on the floor. I'm running out of ideas on getting her to open up, so i'll be talking to the mamas in the house to see if they can help me. Anyways, that's about all for the past couple weeks, 1 week left and then i'm home! It's so close! I love it here, but i'm definitely going to be ready to come home and see all my friends and family again. Love you all, see you very soon!

PHEW!

So since I haven't been able to update this for 2 weeks, i'm cutting out a lot because I have 12 minutes of internet left. So last week we went to climb Langai, the active volcano. Well, me being the avid hiker I am, I turned around about 1/4 the way up because it was such a ridiculous hike and we still had another 5 hours (which ended up being 7, by the way). I think that i'm pretty satisfied with my decision because everyone that finished it said it was the hardest thing they have ever done in their life. At least half of our group was crying at some point. Apparently at the top, it was essentially rock-climbing, only it was nothing but loose rocks. A girl actually got hit in the head with one. Our coordinators are never doing that trip again because they thought someone was going to get seriously injured or killed. Soooo yeah I guess I made the right decision?

We also went into Kisongo market last week to buy food for our mamas and fabric for skirts and such. While we were there, someone got caught stealing. All we could see what a giant swarm of screaming men. James explained to me what happened and said that usually they're killed when the police do not get there in time. Fortunately, police arrived quickly, but I definitely had a few nightmares from that situation.

Teaching is going well at Musa Primary, i'm teaching standard 6 which is around 12-15 years old. Amber and I were placed in the same teaching group (go figure) so we have a lot of fun being silly with all the kids. We also started a girl's club after school just so we can get all the girls talking about their feelings and what they think about their role in society. There's still so much discrimination here that just gets passed off as culture and therefore there's nothing wrong. A lot of girls are stuck fetching water or washing clothes while their brothers are playing soccer. A lot of massai do not allow their daughters to move past primary school because it's time for them to get their dowry, get married and start having children. Even female circumcision is pretty commonly practiced in the Massai tribe. We're really trying to get them to talk about this stuff and seriously consider what they want to do with their life and what they're willing to do to get there, because they have a LOT of obstacles in their way.

Things are great at the homestay, I absolutely love my family. My mama is hilarious and reminds me quite a bit of my mama back home, only it's harder for me to get her jokes since they're in swahili. Sayuni, the young one, is adorable as all hell and I want to take her home with me. Andrew is still pretty quiet, but we recently discovered that he's very good at english and simply won't speak english with us. Zawadi is completely brilliant, she is the top student of her class amongst 4 schools in her village, and yet she's stuck going to the worst secondary school in the village next year. We're talking with John this week about it to see if there's a way we can get her sponsored or get her a scholarship. Anyways, 1 minute, gotta go! Love you all, can't wait to see you all when I get back!

Week 2

Hello again everyone

Sooooo, end of week 2. Let's review. We spent a lot of time at our school, Mateves Secondary. After spending time here, I will never again complain about our educational system. The classes are crammed, there's only 1 textbook per class, I still have yet to see a mwalimu (teacher) anywhere. We have 3-5 kids at our homestay every night and they want to learn so badly, but they simply don't have anyone to teach them. There are kids that are in upper grades in high school that still do not know how to solve X+3 = 4. Nobody explains anything and they are the ones that suffer and get sent back in school to fail over and over again. This country needs a total overhaul of its educational system. Anyways, enough of my rant. In addition, we started tutoring at the OHS site. I am tutoring a girl named Miriam in math. She is incredibly smart and excited about subjects that she knows, but she's also very hard on herself and I find myself just trying to get her not to shut down at problems she doesn't know how to solve. Hopefully i'll be able to improve her self-confidence a little bit over the next few weeks. Anyways, it has been a pretty quiet week. We're doing a hike tomorrow and then next weekend we're going to Lingai (sp?), an active volcano. We're gonna spend the night in a campsite nearby, spend the next day exploring, and then we'll do an 8-9 night hike so we can watch the sun rise in the morning. It's supposed to be incredible so i'm really looking forward to it. It's kind of strange that time moves slowly and quickly at the same time here. It feels like i've been here for such a long time, but it also feels like i've done so little and I know there's so much more left for me to do over the next 6 weeks. So that's my story, I won't be able to check in for another two weeks as I will be in Lingai, so I will have TONS of stories for you all when I return! Hope everyone's having a great time back in the states!

Love,

Nicole

Week 1

Hello all!

It's the end of week 1, and I have so much today and only 6 minutes to do it. I moved into my homestay on Monday, with Mama Zawadi and her 3 kids. Her oldest daughter is incredibly smart and motivated to do well and she hopes to move to America one day. Andrew is 7, he is pretty shy but he's a good kid and he's always playing with the other kids in our boma (housing area). Sayuni is 4, and she is just the cutest little girl on earth. She's pretty shy and doesn't say much, but she loves to jump around and chase us. Last night we got her to say "I go to sleep" in english. TOO CUTE! Also, we started teaching on Thursday to a class of 15-18 year olds. They're very rowdy and silly but when we need them to focus, they're very attentive. I'm really looking forward to spending time with them. They already know quite a bit about HIV/AIDS, however it is clear there is still quite a bit of work to be done. Yesterday, our group went to the one heart source site to meet all the kids. They're all very different but very fun to be around. Lastly, today we did an 8 mile waterfall hike which was spectacular and I will be posting pictures when I get back. Welp, 1 minute left, gotta run. I'll try and update you all more next weekend!

Arrival

Hujambo!

Hello everyone, I made it safely and i'm now officially on the opposite side of the world. Long day of planes, two spent about 20 hours on planes all together. We got back to our hostel at about 3am, passed out, and had some tasty breakfast in a restaurant downstairs. I'm really loving the food so far, they have all kinds of juices and foods that you weren't normally see served in the US. We spent the morning wandering local markets. Everyone wants to sell you their stuff, so we pretty much get forced into their booths and bombarded with offers to give it to you for SO CHEAP. Fortunately, there's lots of cool stuff so i'll be bringing back lots of presents! We're all going to be at the hostel until Monday so we're checking out the city for the next few days. There are so many kids around! And a lot will just walk up and start shaking hands and putting your arms on their shoulders, it's so sweet. I can't wait to get started with our work and I hope to keep this updated somewhat regularly since the internet cafe is cheap and close to our hostel. I hope you're all having a wonderful time in the good ol' US of A and I can't wait to tell you all more about my trip!

Asante!

Getting Ready

Hujambo!

I've just finished packing my life into boxes since my dad will be moving me into my new apartment while i'm in Tanzania. Everything is ready to go, i'm spending time with my parents tonight and getting up bright and early tomorrow morning for my 9:45 flight. Although i'm starting to get the jitters, I know i'm making the right decision with this trip and this is exactly what I need to be doing right now. For anyone reading this, i'm not sure how often i'll actually have internet access, and therefore posts may be few and far between. However, I will try my best to keep you all updated on my trip and tell you about all of my amazing experiences. Best wishes to all of you and I hope you have a fantastic summer, I know I will!

-Nicole