The end is coming

So a lot has gone down in the last week. We taught a lesson with our real partners, found out where we are placed, had some placement issues, made an SPW calender, wrote a song, said goodbye to Clare and soon (on Monday) we will be saying goodbye to eachother.

The lesson with my partner Neema went ok, it wasn't great because SPW had some trouble finding students for us and we didnt teach until about 2.30pm and we hadnt eaten so we were all grumpy and the kids were tired and bored (they had to sit through 3 of our lessons) so weren't very co-operative but it was not too bad. It will be better in placement when we get a set timetable and can prepare our lessons better and have a close we know.

So after our lesson we headed back to the Baptist Centre to find out our placements!! This was a big announcement because we would find out which volunteers we are going to see each month and those we wont see until September (or holiday in June). We also found out if we will be teaching in a primary school and a secondary school or just a primary school. Soooooooooooo......Neema and I have been placed in Ludewa about 7 hrs south of Iringa and on the border of Malawi! Apparently at night if you walk up the hills you can see the lights in Malawi. We will be teaching in Mdidili Primary School and Lugarawa Secondary School and apparently, although miles away, this is one of the easiest placements (logistically) as it has electricity and even an internet cafe! I feel so spoilt and I think we were given this placement because we are the youngest pair. Even so Neema wasn't very happy about leaving the Iringa region and at first refused to come but SPW was able to make her feel more comfortable about it and now she is "a little" happy haha. I'm sure she will warm up to it once we get there. Ludewa is in Njombe region and the other volunteer pairs who are the region are Vicky and Rose, Elizabeth and Adella, Marie and Aisha, Aaron and Dennis (my nearest neighbours and the only other vol pair in Ludewa), Josh and Omary and Val and Julianna. So they are the vols I will be seeing at most monthly meetings but I'm not going to see the others until June. It's quite sad :( This is our last weekend together. On Monday the Njombe crew are heading down to Njombe town (about 4hrs south) to do our placement shopping and meet representatives from our villages and then on Wednesday we'll be heading off to village.

Other than that serious stuff we decided to make an SPW girls calender so we spent yesterday doing photo shoots! Some of them are really funny! There are 11 of us so we each get a month and then December is a group shot. My shoot was up a mango tree eating mangoes (because I'm the token monkey!). It was lots of fun and we're going to send the photos off to be made into a calender, so keep your eyes out for it!!!!

Ohhh and our program manager, Clare, is leaving!! She is the glue that holds us all together!!! She has been here for 3 years and was planning on leaving at the end of this program year but has put in her resignation now. I don't blame her, its hard work doing the job she does but it's still sad. We wrote her a song to the tune of Living on a Prayer (altered to be "Living without Clare") and performed it at the local bar last night! It was pretty amusing.

So thats about it, im FINALLY off to placement! Another part of the program is ending but its really beginning. I'm about to begin the part I really came here for and im shit scared! Wish me luck!!!

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