I'M HOME!!

So glad to be back.

Friday 7/12/13

Today we went out to this small island off the coast called Bongoyo. We loaded up in this teeny tiny boat and went out to the island.

When we first got there Carol needed to sit in the shade and rearrange a few things. She pulled up a chair and sat under a little shade thing on the beach. This guy came up to us after having been there for a bit and told us that it cost money to rent the chairs and the shade! Ridiculous. We left that area.

We found a trail and hiked from one side of the island to the other. Then we found another trail and hiked across the island in another direction. At that end of the island we found a beach that was completely covered in coral. It was so cool!

I'm pretty sure that this whole island once was a coral reef because it was covered in this rock that looked like it was once coral. We hiked back along the coast and then it was time to go.

Wednesday 7/10/13

We went on another Safari today. It was part walking, part driving. We got to walk around for about an hour and a half in this big clearing. We could get as close as 20m to any animals out there. There are no lions or other carnivorous animals in this part of the park so we were safe. Plus we had an armed guide with us.

We only saw water buffalo and pumbas on our walking tour, but it was still pretty cool.

During the driving part we saw tons of baboons. This one is cleaning its friend.

This is like multiple trees that got brought into one. The fig trees here are parasitic so they just attach to other trees. You can drive a car under this! Crazy.

We saw a few herds of giraffes which was pretty cool because all of the ones we saw yesterday were solitary.

 Flamingos! They are bright pink under their wings so it looks really cool when they take off. Also I didn't see tons standing on one leg. I don't know if I saw any...

 We saw a ton of Colobus monkeys right at the end. This little baby was so cute! It kept trying to climb the tree and grab the leaves. There were tons right on this tree. They got in a fight and ran away right as we were leaving.

Safaris are super cool.

Tuesday 7/9/13

We are now in Arusha! We took a 9 hour bus ride to get here, the last hour or so was on a dirt road so we were very excited when we finally arrived.

We went on a Safari! It was so cool. Kirsten and I could hardly contain our excitement.

The safari truck has a pop up top so we could stand up and see the animals while we drove.

We saw some warthogs. Did you know that they really do get gas like in the Hakuna Matata song? Funny animals.

There were so many zebras everywhere.

We got to see elephants super close! They were right by the road so we just parked and watched them eat.

We also got to see a few giraffes. They are beautiful.

At the picnic area there are tons of these really cool birds and monkeys. One walked like two feet in front of Kirsten and me!

We heard there were lions over the radio so we went to go see them. They were leaving the area right when we got there but our guide knew where they were going so we caught them on the other side of the river. They walked right by our car! One of the lions looked right and Kirsten and I. It was so cool.

We saw elephants wallowing which was pretty fun.

There are a ton of really cool and colorful birds here. Its like an ornithologist's paradise.

On the ride there and back we saw tons of Maasai villages and huts. There were tons of Maasai boys out herding their cattle and goats. We saw boys as young as 5 out herding. Usually they herd in pairs, but other than that they are on their own.

Saturday 7/6/13

What an adventure we had today! We went out to this small village called Chamwino. The people there grow up playing music. Its just like learning to read, its something everyone does.

When we got there we were greeted by the village chairperson and we were taken on a tour of the village center. Apparently Tanzania's first president lived there for three months and helped build the village. Everyone loves him so this was a pretty big deal.

We went out to the place where we would hear the music. When we got there we were greeted at the road by all the women playing drums and singing. They led us through the weeds to where we would watch the performance.

A girl read us a letter in Swahili and then it was translated by Baptist. They welcomed us, told us a donation would be greatly appreciated and said that if we wanted to sponsor one to go to America and learn English it would help them all our a lot. Then the music started.

This wooden log is one of their instruments. They rub what looks like wooden spoons against it and it makes a cool noise. They tuned it by putting dust on it.

After the music Carol and Boyd wanted to make a donation. All donations have to be in public because other wise someone will probably just keep it to themselves. They also count the money in front of everyone so they know exactly how much was received. It made all of us very uncomfortable, but we understand why they did it.

After that they invited us to eat. We went into this little hut and they had a mat on the floor that we sat at. Some one came around with a pitcher and a bowl so we could wash our hands. They gave us plates with rice and meat. The rice had a really good sauce on it.

I was amazed by how good it was. The meat on the other hand was super gristly. They had some milk they were giving to people if they wanted it, but it was super thick and chunky, so I passed. It was so kind of these people to feed us.

The person who set this whole thing up is a professor up at UDOM. He did his masters thesis on Kigogo music so he was over there a lot. They gave him a live rooster and he brought it home with him in the car. 

If this isn't the best picture you've ever seen, I don't know what is.

This was definitely an experience I won't forget, one of the best of the trip.

Friday 7/5/13

Baptist's radio station was sponsoring an American Idol sort of thing for Dodoma. He invited us to come and watch the auditions. They had to be good at singing/rapping, dancing and DJ-ing. Most people rapped, only a couple sang. The dancing was not what you would expect, it was like the super awkward stake dance bob up and down sort of thing. And then a few too close couple dances. All in all, the dancing was pretty awkward. We didn't see any DJs.

Today was our last day at the children's home. I will miss those kids so much! They are the cutest.

There was this boy there who was helping his special needs sister do all of the activities. It was so cute, you could tell he really loves her and she was so happy to be included.

We made chocolate chip cookies for the kids and the teachers. They all loved them!

While we were waiting for our taxi to come a bunch of people were admiring my CTR ring. They were explaining to me what it means to wear rings on certain fingers. I guess by wearing it on my middle finger I am either engaged or looking for a boyfriend, they couldn't decide which. A little boy said "You are looking for a boyfriend? I will find you a big boyfriend!" then he did eenie minie moe and chose one for me. Funny boys.

The kids love doing the Virginia Reel!

Bunk Bed

Carol had the kids write their names

Thursday 7/4/13

We went to the Children's home again. These kids are so cute. I will definitely miss them. Carol got permission to snap a few pictures.

We played the newspaper game with them using their names. It was supposed to help us learn their names, but most of them have cool African names so it was almost impossible to even say them. I did learn a few of the names though.

 We did some girls camp/oakcrest table slapping games with them. They love rhythm so they love anything like that.

We did about 5 minutes of Yoga.

At the end we did some of those hand slap games. We taught them at the beginning of the week, but they love them so much they keep wanting to do them. They all want to do them with Kirsten and me. At first it was because we were the only ones who knew it, but now they just like to do it with us.

This is Hawa. One of the few names I learned. She knows a bit of English which is very helpful.

Since it was the Fourth of July we had to celebrate. Kirsten and I paraded around the house, we watched fireworks on Youtube and we got flyovers all day since we live next to an airstrip! Other people didn't seem to celebrate that much. I wonder why...

Tuesday-Wednesday

We went to the Shukurani Children's home again on Tuesday and Wednesday. On Tuesday we played a ton of active games like friendship tag. It is so cool to see how the kids can catch on to what I am teaching them even though we only speak a couple words of each other's language. We played the monkey in the tree game and Shafri obviously was my partner again. There was another girl named Suzy who wanted to be my partner too so I just ended up carrying them both. I am so sore now!

My friend Shafri.  What a character. I got some pictures off of their facebook page.

On Wednesday we split into two groups. Carol's group did rhythm games and mine and Kirsten's group colored pictures. I had initially planned for them to color pictures of themselves with their names so I could learn them, but I don't think the message got across.

I made the mistake of drawing a picture of Superman for Shafri. After that I was coloring a picture of an elephant and this girl watched me the whole time. When I was done she picked it up and walked away with it. After that I was drawing pictures for everyone. It was fun though.

Shukurani Arts Group - Acrobatics Performance

These are the kids we are working with. The balancing routine starts at about 3:30. Don't miss it!

Monday 7/1/13

We went to the orphanage today. It was so awesome! We started with the cup game. It was slow going at first, but they got it and we did it all together and it sounded so cool.

After that we did some square dancing and do-si-do-ing. We all had partners. Mine was a boy named Shafri. He was about 10 or 12 and he was so funny! He would get a serious look on his face when he bowed and do-si-doed and then he would go crazy when we did the swinging. We were supposed to change partners but he never let me.

We did another game after that with partners. Shafri was obviously my partner again. It was monkey in a tree, bird on a perch, baby in a cradle. I don't know if you know that game. The last partnership to do the action is out. Shafri and I lost in the final round.

We did a hand slapping game but the kids didn't catch on very fast and they got kinda frustrated. A couple of people got it but everyone else gave up. After that we made rain. It was pretty cool. We had to go through it twice because they weren't quiet the first time through.

We were getting ready to leave and I saw this kid shuffling cards in this weird way. I showed him how I shuffle with the bridge and all of the kids were amazed! I tried to teach them, but their cards were so beat up it was pretty difficult even for me. Tomorrow I am going to bring some of our cards and we'll try again. They all wanted to learn.

They all walked us out to our taxi and said goodbye. I can't wait to go back tomorrow!

Sunday 6/30/13

We had church today at our house. Kirsten and I made some tacos for lunch because they had never had Mexican food before. No one knew what to do with the shells and they didn't eat much. Baptist told us that taco means bum in Swahili, so that's probably why.

We had a meeting with an Italian girl named Franchesca. She has contacts with schools and orphanages here and so she was able to get us in to volunteer at an orphanage here. We met her at a bar; it was weird to be in a bar, especially on Sunday.

After our meeting we went to the orphanage. When we walked in some kids ran over and gave us hugs. They were all so excited to see us. They got some chairs and set them up for us and then they did a performance. It was a traditional African dance and it was so cool! Part way through the boys did some acrobatics and they balanced 7 people on one person. It was craziness. Then they did more dancing and singing.

Afterwards they all introduced themselves to us. Franchesca knows Swahili so she told them that we would be coming for the next week and they were all so excited. They don't know any English so it will be interesting to try and communicate with them.

We have two hours to fill on Monday and who knows how much for the rest of the week. There are about 40 kids ages 3-18 so if you have any ideas of activities we can do with them we would greatly appreciate it. They are an arts based school so they do a lot with theater, music, dancing and art but they would probably enjoy anything. I am so excited to work with them!

Oh and sorry for the lack of pictures, they won't let us take any at the orphanage without permission.