Hamjambo?

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Means how are you all?
So. . . . I have now been at language training for 2 weeks and have only 1 week to go before I am set loose on the poor, unsuspecting Tanzanians!! We have covered a lot of stuff in the 2 weeks, although I’m still probably only able to converse properly with a preschooler!
On Wednesday we all went to a nearby market to practice our language and bargaining skills - we were given T/sh 1000 (don’t get excited, it’s about $1!) and we HAD to buy something. Imagine how awful it is to be forced to shop! I didn’t do too well because I got gossiping and forgot to collect my change at the first place! (It was only about 30c, but still!) At least the teachers had some idea of my personality by then so I don’t think they were overly surprised! However, I managed to successfully bargain for and buy a pair of shoes and a lovely piece of material to be made into an outfit for under $10!
After our marketing experience we had a picnic down at a nearby lake - it was lovely and peaceful with lots of green bush around - reminded me a bit of NZ.
On Friday, for the last part of class we were assigned a local worker to converse with for no less than 30minutes (in Swahili obviously). That was the point at which I suddenly realised how much I still have to learn! My partner was lovely, but the conversation mainly consisted of huge amounts of giggling (mainly me), lots of apologies (also me) and about as many ‘no problems’ from my poor partner! I think 30 minutes was a bit long because I ran out of things to say (I hear you laughing, but it’s true) and could only find inane sentences in my notes such as ‘your cat is playing with my dog’ - thought that it would be good to end the conversation before it fell to that level! It was a great practical experience though and I think we are going to repeat it this week. We are also going to be going to a local orphanage to speak to some of the kids so that will be cool (it’s actually quite nice to get out of the complex here and there - imagine living at school for 3 weeks!!!)
On Saturday a group of us went on safari (photos included). We went to the closest park to the college which has lots of forest, but not a wide range of animals. We saw heaps of giraffes (the first one when we had only driven about 50m past the gate!), also zebras, baboons, warthogs, buffalo and waterbuck. Unfortunately we didn’t see any hippos or elephants, although we did see some elephant dung (not overly exciting to be sure!). It was a pretty rainy day and although it was a bit misty at times, the views were amazing.
Sunday consisted of a trip out to Monduli with a group from here - some on a different training course - to have a look at the Maasai market - I was actually able to help some of the guys with their bargaining! Later on we went to the cinema to see ‘Die Hard 4’ - I am constantly amazed by how realistic these movies are! However, we did laugh a lot! (Not so much when the power cut out 5 minutes before the end though!)
I have now bought a car and hope to be able to pick it up this week - should be fun considering the driving here!
Gotta go, homework to be done - tonight I am translating a story about students in a classroom! (at least that’s what the picture looks like!)
Catch up later,
J

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Photos

baboon
If you look closely you can see her baby in her arms.

warthog
cuter than they sound!

view of Mt Meru
well, at least the bottom part!

crater view
this crater is known as 'little ngorongoro'

Comments

[Rach]

The Memories!!!
Glad you are having fun and enjoying the beautiful sights. How did you find the baboons??