Blogs from Moshi, North, Tanzania, Africa - page 4

Only 2 days left at our Step Up Nursery school placement. Sydney has been teaching small groups this week. She read a book called Greedy Zebra and had the kids draw pictures. Yesterday they played number bingo. In my classroom yesterday was almost overwhelming. The teacher of the baby class was absent so we had 50+ kids in our room. The room with actual sitting space for maybe 35. There is no electricity and no space to do much in the way of movement. So the kids sat and the Teecha read the books usually used in the baby class (which they repeat page by page), and drilled alphabet and numbers. At about 10:30 I saw him check the time on his cell phone and put his head in his hands. I decided to ask ... read more

Hujambo, My thighs are burning today - yesterday I used squat toilets (hole in the floor) several times and then we hiked down several thousand feet to a river for viewing a waterfall. The hike down - slippery, and muddy was challenging but the hike up is what did in my out of shape thighs! We went off in the direction of Kilimanjaro and visited a Chagga tribal museum saw a hut that would have been used by their Chagga ancestors. The circular hut is divided in half - one half for family and one half for livestock. 3 cows and 4 kids plus parents in a 12' x7' space. The house is built of sticks and grass. The center of the house is the firepit. There are 2 beds - the one closest to the ... read more

I was so disappointed when I published our blog from yesterday. We have intermittent internet and Syd and I had written for over an hour to give you a taste of our first day experiences – the writing was brilliant (!) and nothing had been saved except the beginning of the first paragraph.Arg! Our M-F routine is up at 6:00 (OK, 6:30 for Syd), have breakfast(usually eggs, fruit, oatmeal and juice) and be on the vans at 7:30 as we head out to our assignments . Often we are awakened earlier by the sounds of roosters, dogs barking and perhaps the Muslim call to prayer at 5:45. The main streets in Moshi are paved but the side streets are another matter altogether. I find that my Kathmandu experience prepared me well for much of life in ... read more

We are settling into Africa. The rhythm is much like Hawaii . The people are sweet. The native Moshi folks talk about how cold it is and work in winter coats while we sit in short sleeves or perhaps wear a long sleeved shirt. We are not far from the equator so sunrise and sunset are both about 6:30.The roosters crowed and a monkey chattered to us as we fell into sleep last night. The presentation from the tour company last night was awesome. There is such an abundance of wildlife in Tanzania – 17 National parks. We learned that we won’t make it to the Serengeti – it is a 7 hour drive just to get to the gates and at this time of year we would have to spend a second day driving to ... read more

Hujambo! It's a beautiful blue sky morning and we are headed to DIA with 3 fifty pound suitcases and lots of excitement. Yesterday when attempting to checkin online I was told I had to call United. Then, the nice agent informed me that we hadn't paid for our tickets. I had a moment of disquiet and then I remembered to breathe. I called our travel agent and was told that all is well. We are hoping that this is our biggest airline story! This morning all is well and we're ready for blast off. Sharon Last night we had a wonderful early fathers day dinner with the family. Then we called our loved ones one last time to say our "see you in three weeks!" I talked to mom and dad, the sister, and my bestfriend. ... read more