Tanzania Trip 2

So far things have been very busy in Tanzania! There are nine volunteers staying with the Kimaros minus myself(3 from Canada, 2 from England, 1 from Norway, 1 from US, and 2 from Germany). There is also a group of 14 teenagers from the US doing a program through various high schools across the country. They will be leaving this Sunday and then a new group comes in for 10 more days. I have gotten to know a few of the high school kids, we have been running a few times in the morning. They are on a different schedule then the volunteers because there are certain things they have to do with their program(cook their own meals, attend swahalli lesson etc).

A few nights ago all the volunteers, high school kids, and Kimaro family had a big BBQ. At breakfast time there were about 10 chickens tied up in front of the house, and by lunch they were plucked and sitting in the kitchen ready to be grilled! Christian( the second youngest son) made a bet with me that I can't kill a chicken, so I've got that going....I will keep you posted.

Sunday night was the World Cup Finals. Avi, a volunteer from Canada really wanted to go out to watch it, and the rest of us were on the fence about going out. We ended up going and I am so glad that we did. We went to a local bar with Ray(the Kimaros cousin). It was packed there were no places to sit and pretty much everyone was standing up for the game. A few people had those obnoxious horns that you hear throughout the game on TV and they kept blowing into them throughout the night-many people were annoyed but I thought it was funny and a part of the atmosphere. I decided about 5 minutes into the game that I would cheer for the Dutch, but when they lost I wasn't too upset. The bar went crazy there was a group there from Spain, that went nuts, it was a really fun atmosphere, and I am glad that we decided to go out to watch it. How many times will I be in Africa to watch the world cup?!?

My first week here David(the oldest son) and I have been working on the Living Water Newsletter, that gets sent out about every 4 months. I am almost finished with, and then I should be able to post it when we are done. I have also been working in a variety of classrooms at two different schools. Once I get the newsletter done I will be able to focus more on some writing and reading projects, which is what the family wants me to spend the majority of my time doing here. The volunteers have also been working on homework help after school, and making sure all the kids get their homework done. It actually amazes me how many of them take the initiative to start their homework with no adults asking them to.

I have really enjoyed meeting all the volunteers. We spend our evening sitting around eating dinner and talking about whats "normal" in the various countries that we live in. One of the boys from England, Tom, asked Sachie(the other volunteer from the US) and I if Oprah is like the US version of the Queen. We started cracking up, and then that started a whole group discussion on how more people probably like Oprah than the Queen. It is really interesting to hear about different cultures and to learn their views on Americans (that we are fat, and that Bush sucks.....but we already knew that :) we spend a lot of our nights discussion the differences in our cultures, and were we grew up, and stereotypes that people have on other cultures, it is very interesting!