Dear Friends and Family, Another Thanksgiving is rapidly approaching and we know how busy everyone is at this time of year. Please know that we wish you all a very happy day and we'll be home for the next one. In the meantime we will host, as we did last year, our local celebration. We expect 13, but we'll feed whomever shows up. The menu stays the same (you can check out last year's blog) with 1 major improvement: pumpkin pie! Theresa went home for her brother's wedding last month and returned with the pie fixings and tins. So, as everyone [View Full Entry]

---

---

In the heat of the day, it feels as though my skin is melting off of my body. But I'm not complaining, I know that soon enough I'll be back in NYC shivering, wishing for a good sweat. I'm spending a few days in Stonetown before I head north for some beach time. I arrived here yesterday, exhausted after my early morning balloon ride, rising up with the sun over the Serengeti. (It was spectacular!!) I had a nice rooftop dinner under the stars at my hotel lastnight, and then went to bed nice and early. While I was eating (yummy [View Full Entry]

---

---

To go to the Serengeti we had to split up into 4 jeeps and leave the truck behind in Arusha. It was a long enough drive to the Serengeti so we stopped off at the Ngorongoro crater for our lunch and a few photos. Lunch was difficult as there were some black kites in the area that wanted our food just as much as we did. On the way we also had an unexpected break when one of the 4 wheel drives broke down. We found some Masai men to build us a new part for the vehicles suspension out of [View Full Entry]

---

---

Jambo! That's Swahili for hello. Since you last heard from us, we crossed the border into Tanzania. Had a comfortable taxi ride from Kargona, Malawi to the Tanzanian border. Just 11 people and 9 buckets of dead fish in a Nissan station wagon. There are some of the funniest named shops in Malawi, here's a classic we saw in Karonga. It was a bakery named "Jesus Rose and So Does My Bread" Bakery. To funny! Anyway we got to the border and exited out of Malawi, no waiting, no problems. Then walking over to the Tanzania side we needed to change [View Full Entry]

---

---

This past Friday, we put together a girl's football match between the preform girls (the class I teach the most) and the form 1 girls. Well, what a showdown it was. The competitive side of me came out in full force although I know absolutely nothing about coaching soccer but unfortunately, the preform girls lost in a sudden death shootout. It was overwhelming to see how the girls responded to the excitement of the game and having their peers watch them, especially the boys. I was blown away by the boy's excitement and positivity in cheering on their girl counterparts. School [View Full Entry]

---

---

The middle of October, 2009 brought the end of my first term of this school year, 2 teacher-in-service days, and Denia! My sister came to visit me for a quick but wonderful 10 days, during my week off from school, and together we terrorized (read: photographed and sang to) the Northern circuit National Parks of Tanzania. Denia arrived on a Thursday evening, and we had a quiet night in together, catching up and letting Kibo get to know another one of her Aunts. After work on Friday, we did a little tour of Dar and that evening we went out for [View Full Entry]

---

---

In the center of Moshi, there are many volunteers and tourists so seeing them on the street is very common. However, when you go into the residential areas, there is sometimes great excitement from the children on seeing a "mzungu" (white foreigner). Most will automatically assume that you are a teacher and many "wazungu" - the plural form of mzungu, are called mwalimu (teacher). Many of the children have had experience with volunteer teachers in Moshi urban, but that quickly drops off when you enter into Moshi rural and once you get outside of Moshi district in the Kilimanjaro region, thei [View Full Entry]

---

---

Four volunteers including myself went on safari to Ngorongoro Crater today, and saw lots of great animals! Elephants, lions, hippos, zebra, hyenas, wildebeests, buffalo, gazelle, ostrich, crowned crane, flamingos, warthogs, jackals, baboons, and a serval cat. Here are a few highlight pics! [View Full Entry]

---

---

Habari Rafiki? Today I will start publishing photos that I have taken from various spots in Tanzania. I will start off with a picture I took while on safari near Lake Eyasi, on a visit to the Hadzabe tribe. I had heard contrasting opinions about visiting the Hadzabe, whether it was in their best interest or not to have outside influences enter into their lives. After visiting, I am not opposed to visits. They are a very friendly people and quite fond of their lifestyle. What is threatening them is loss of habitat for the animals that they depend on for [View Full Entry]

---

---

We schrijven deze blog vanuit een internetcafe in Arusha, het toerisitisch centrum van Tanzania. Het veldwerk in Lushoto zit erop. De laatste week dat we er zaten was vrij mager op het gebied van water en elektriciteit. Door het aanhoudende droge seizoen was er weinig water in de rivieren waardoor ook de nationale watercentrales moeilijkheden hadden. Hierdoor zat het hele land zonder elektriciteit. Maar wonder boven wonder begon het op onze voorlaatse onderzoeksdag plots te regenen en konden we net voor ons vertrek naar arusha het licht terug aansteken en weer genieten van een warme douche. Al [View Full Entry]

---

---