Lushoto

I know it has been awhile since my last post and I apologize. Since my last post we have moved from Dar up into the mountains in Northern Tanzania to the town of Lushoto, which for the first week we were here the internet would not work and we are a good 30/45 minute walk down the mountain to town to get the internet. The climate in the mountains is crazy different from Dar. Dar=Africa hot. Lushoto on the other hand is like early spring in Arkansas/Oklahoma, cold int he mornings then it gets kinda warm in the afternoon and then once the sun sets its cold again. The first week here was jam packed with sessions on teaching english and learning Swahili. We did get to go on a hike int he mountains one of the first days we were here it was BEAUTIFUL (there are pictures at the end of the post from the hike).

The real fun in Lushoto came this weekend. All 15 of us in the program got assigned different home stays from friday afternoon until Sunday. Let me first just say i have not had the best home stay experience, many of you know the stories...lets just say i was kind of jaded about the whole sitch, but I was going to go along with it cause what can you do? So Friday rolls around and Sabean (the huge German lady who owns the guesthouse/runs the swahili lessons/called me culturally insensitive the first day here) tells me and 3 other girls we are going to follow this small child into town to meet our families. An hour later we arrived in town only to find out my family was not meeting me there and i was going to ride a pikipiki (dirt bike/public transportation) to their house. I dont even question it at this point adn hope on with my skirt on and all my bags. When I got to the house the parents and i ate a traditional Tanzanian dish of Ugali, which is basically some grain water and flour, fish (I'm talking tiny fish with heads on them) and spinach. Whats fun about this meal is that you eat it all with your hands and you eat your body weight in the tasteless ugali AND Tanzanian's only eat with their right hand so I was forced to make it work. After the massive "snack" the parents turned e TV turned on CNN and left me just hanging out. I was alone for a good 3 hours just hangin out until they finally arrived home jsut in time for dinner which was more ugali, fish and spinach. I almost vom bombed during the meal.

The Next morning I awoke bright and early and while I was eating breakfast mama came up to me and informed me she was going to go for a few hours and that i should go "look at the environment." So after breakfast I looked at the environment for a good ten minutes before getting bored and attempting to walk to town to use the internet only to remember it was no power Saturday in Lushoto. The family had a son my age so we got to talking and he gave me some swahili lesons in retrn for me telling him about American music. In the end he decided we should get married and live at his parents house (my second marriage proposal of the trip). the Rest of hte evening was uneventful. The next morning though HUGE EVENT. I woke up at around 5:30 to the daughter frantically calling ehr parents to the main room. I had no idea what was going on until mama came into my room and infomred me they had been robbed the night before. The thieves took the TV, DVD player, speakers, food, 2 cell phones, and the little kids books for school. Now you might ask how did they get robbed? Well the answer is this house didnt have any windows just some chicken wire over the windows covered by a tarp, so the thieves cut threw the tarp and came into the house and walked out the front door with everything. It was an eventful morning. I then got to go to church which was an experience. These people get DOWN at church they were dancing and screaming and carrying on for 2 hours, all the while i was completely clueless as to what was happening.

We only have a few more days left in Lushoto before we all go our separate ways to our sites for the year. The more I hear about my region the more excited I get, its just going to suck leaving the whole group because everyone is so much fun. Thats All for now I will update more later about my first day of the teaching practicum later along with the pictures because my internet has slowed down and i cant upload them.