Back in Dar, Back to School, Back to the Goat Races

After safely arriving back in Dar on July 16, I've slowly been getting back into the swing of things. I had a few relaxing weeks, bonding with Kibo, hitting the gym, and sunbathing poolside, before work started up again in the beginning of August. We had a week of teacher in-service, and then the kids arrived!
I have an absolutely lovely class this year. We added a fourth Grade 5 in the last minute, so I went from having a full class of 24 to a smaller class of 19 students. I have several new to English students, and other varying degrees of language abilities and learning capabilities, but all in all the kids are absolutely adorable and their excitement to be in school makes every day enjoyable and successful.
Kibo is now almost 9 months old! She continues to be an excellent puppy, and everyone that meets her falls in love with her (I swear I'm not just a proud mother exaggerating...). She sits on command, and can generally follow other commands, except when there's something yummy to be scouted out by her amazing nose. It tends to distract her in the yard, around campus, and during puppy class (to my embarrassment).
I've been lucky enough to have 2 visitors here so far! Kim came through right when I arrived back, in order to help me celebrate my birthday. I am now officially the big 2-6. Kim got to meet some more of my friends here, through drinks, dinner, and various other forms of celebrations. THEN, Kim went off to Arusha for her research, and Nico came through for a night en route to seeing Kim. It's always fun to show off my city, and Nico was a very enthusiastic and easy going guest, for all 12 hours that he was here!
Now that my life and job are back in full swing, so are the social activities here in Dar. Between birthday parties, dinner parties, trips to the water slide park (yeah, that's right, featuring a live singer that's tunes included those of Enrique and Seal), and trips to the gym, I've also been back to the Dar Es Salaam Annual Charity Goat Races. Another successfully hilarious day at the races this year. Some of the teachers here had "purchased" a goat, which they named Mr. Miyagi's Konyagi (Konyagi is the local gin here, that just tastes like burning), and they all dressed up in karate uniforms. Their goat won his race! Goat races, always a good time.
As you can see, life is good these days. I'm enjoying work and play time, and am now focusing on the big vacations coming up (as one does when one is a teacher)... so look forward to a post in October about my CLIMB UP KILIMANJARO, a post in November about my class field trip to the National Parks again, and a New Year's post about my adventures through South Africa! So many great things to look forward to yet again!

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