Week 2

Half way through week 2, and I'm still kickin! :) Some updates on whats been going on this week...

This Sunday I went to church at Arusha Community Church which is a non-denomination Christian church that was great. My professor's mother actually was one of the founders, so it was neat to go. It felt good to have a community to worship with again, since I haven't been going to church recently. It was refreshing to see so many nationalities in 1 church and it brought me back to remembering that the church is the body of people, not the actual building that stands. After church I was invited to go out to lunch by one of the other teachers at ISM who I ran into there. He and I, and some of his friends went to an awesome pizza place called Massai Cafe to get some food. It was fun because the other teacher is from Wisconsin, and other than he and I, everyone else at the table was from a different countries. Just a crazy experience to be sitting with 8 people, representing 8 different countries...all eating pizza in Africa :)

The start to the week went well. I started teaching math this week full time and feel good about it so far. There isn't a ton of resources to use, so I've been struggling a little bit but I think once I get in the swing of things it will be easier. We're starting a classroom economy so a lot of my math will be focused on that! I think it will be really fun though, and a great experience to have teaching.

Yesterday, my cooperating teacher drove me home and I got a taxi from a street near her home. I did it all by myself, negotiated the price from 10,000 tsh down to 5,000 tsh and went on my way. I know it's a little step, but a little step towards feeling more comfortable and a little thrill bartering the prices! :)

The one downfall of the week is that I have seemed to misplace/lose my phone. If it doesn't turn up by tomorrow, I think I'm just going to buy a new one on Friday and taxi into town to pick one up. I think it fell out of my pocket getting dropped off on Sunday after lunch :(

Other than that, today I was able to Skype with my family for the first time. I don't miss home too much yet, but it was good to see their faces. Also, this upcoming weekend is my birthday. Laura and I are headed to Arusha National Park to do a walking safari up Mount Meru for the day on Saturday and then I think all of the roommates and I are heading out to dinner. We might even go out for the first time with a friend whose Tanzanian rugby player that works at the school. He would take good care of us and make sure we're safe, and maybe we could celebrate with his teammates, the National Tanzanian Rugby team :)  Either way, I think it will be a birthday to definitely remember.

That's all for now :) Hope you're all surviving the bitter cold back in Minnesota. I hear it's pretty ugly.

<3

PS...I forgot to tell you I SAW A MONKEY!!! The other day at the pool, a monkey walked RIGHT BEHIND us. Only in Africa right?!!? :D

Survived the First week

Well, I survived my first week! :) It's a weird feeling, but it feels like I'm just supposed to be here! It's obviously not the same feeling as home, but I am getting more comfortable day by day. My cooperating teacher, my students, my classroom, the house...everything is so great. I start teaching math on Monday already, and will add one 1 subject a week until I go full time for a few weeks. My cooperating teacher has faith in me that I'll do well, so she wants to throw me in there as soon as possible. I suppose that's a good thing, but kind of scary! We're having a low key weekend and doing homework, grading papers and laying out at the pool :) I think we might go to a friends Rugby game, I'm heading to church tomorrow with some people from school and hopefully make it to the market.

It should be a great weekend. Hope you are all surviving the bitter cold of MN. I'm putting on a couple pictures of my house, and the oasis called Safari Lodge that is 2 doors down from me (and where we spend a LOT of time when we're not at school) :)

Out my bedroom window

Side View

Gorgeous flowers in the front yard

The front of our house 

Laura and I laying out on the porch

Awesome trees and always sunny

Safari Lodge. :) Laura is in this picture if you look closely. Pretty much the best place ever. Vacation for 3 months..yes please :) 

Morning tea

Our living room 

My Bedroom with GIANT bed!

I just really liked this flower :)

Hope that gives you a little taste of where I'm living. I'll post more pictures soon. 

<3 

Bugs and me don't mix...

2 slugs, 3 salamanders and 1 GIANT cockroach later. I don’t know if I’m cut out for Africa.

Ok, so maybe that was a little dramatic, but me and the scary bugs don’t mix well. It was quite the sight to see last night, 4 girls against 1 cockroach in the bathroom. The cockroach won, and Laura and I convinced ourselves that the bug just went back outside vs. is hiding somewhere to attack us in the night. Laura saw it when she walked into the bathroom and after her yelping, the other 3 girls were in the bathroom trying to problem solve what to do! I got up on the bathtub and used a coat hanger to try to shew it back outside, and we thought it worked. We all cheered, but then, I turned my head back to the window and it was sitting there again, staring at me as if it were about to jump at me. I screamed...louder than I have in quite some time. And THEN, our roommate Jess said that for every cockroach, there is another 1,000 hiding near by…like in the walls. I guess scary bugs are part of the package when you come to Tanzania, but seriously. I think if people were watching, they would have been highly entertained.

We found a slug on Brit and Laura's window, they were pretty nasty. The salamanders aren't so bad, but they're fast little buggers! I opened up my closet this morning to get ready, and the little lizard ran across my closet door. I almost had a heart attack. I feel as if there may be cockroach situations to come, or at least more encounters with terrifying small creatures, I won’t cross my fingers. 

Besides the bug situation, it’s great. Jess and I made steak, cut up some potatoes, and green beans for dinner. It was good to eat a full meal, since it’s been a hodgepodge of things lately. The steak here isn’t processed like it is at home, so it was actually really good. We went to a grocery store with the first automatic doors I’ve seen so far and got some groceries yesterday. The store had an amazing bakery, so we got some great fresh bread and bran muffins. Food is fairly expensive here if you buy things that are shipped in, which is most everything I’m used to in the states. Luckily the bread was only 2,000tsh, or about $1.50.  You can find most produce at local dukas, or stores but we’re still trying to figure out where sells the best stuff. I’m sure it will just take some time.

Now I'm at the lodge down the street on the wireless, sitting in my swimsuit after school. It's about 80 degrees here. I hear its -20 in Fargo :) 

<3 

My First Day :)

I’ve known that I’ve wanted to be a teacher for a long time, and have been looking forward to student teaching ever since my first day of college. I always thought of what my first day would be like, and I never imagined in a million years that I would be in Tanzania, Africa. The day began with my alarm going off at 5:30am, made some oatmeal with mango in it, and walked out the door 40 minutes later. We greeted our guard at the gate and us 4 roommates waited at the outside of the gate.

As I looked down the street, it was a picturesque scene. Women carrying buckets of water or other goods on their heads, a few stray runners, elderly sitting out in front of their stores beginning to cook whatever they were selling that day and beautiful African children walking to school in their uniforms. There was a steady flow of cars and motorcycles driving down the bumpy, rocky, dirt road and the smell of garbage burning filled the air (they typically burn the garbage here as opposed to recycling or putting in a dump). The trees were full, lush and green with beautiful flowers as if they were coloring the scene of a developing country’s road. In addition, place 4 Muzungu (white) women standing in front of metal fence, looking nervous and out of place, while hoping not to miss the bus on the first day of school.  

Luckily we didn’t miss the bus, and our yellow van with zebra covered seats (yes, zebra covered seats) came bumping down the road to pick us up. He drove us about 20 minutes to school with the other children, and by the time we were there my stomach was in knots because of the nerves. I met my teacher for the first time who I think will be fabulous. I’m eager to learn from her because I think she will have a lot to show me.

I met the children who were fantastic. They were quite the bunch of kiddos. I have P 5/6 which is the same as 4^th and 5^th graders in the U.S. These children are from all over the world including Canada, Madagascar, France, Sweden, Tanzania, Kenya, USA, England, Switzerland and I’m sure others. I wish I could record the classroom when we’re having a discussion because all the accent are fantastic. The students are respectful and listen like I’ve never seen before in the states. They seem open to a new teacher and are extremely kind. Today was full of great kids, lots of introductions and a full day. I’m definitely ready for a nap. I really think I’m going to fall in love with this school, the staff and the students. I’m looking forward to begin the actual teaching part !

<3 

Safe and Sound in Africa!

Hello hello! :)  I'm here in Africa safe and sound, and it has been a crazy past 5 days. I'll fill you in on the major events, I don't think you need to hear all the details!

We flew out on Wednesday, the flight was terribly long, and we finally arrived in Kilimanjaro at 9:30pm, payed 100$ to get our Visa, and walked straight through customs. Tanzania supposedly doesn't have very tight security! We picked up our luggage, walked out the door and our driver Musa was there to meet us. He is one of the drivers for ISM, the school I'll be teaching at.

The House: We live in an area of Arusha called Ilboru. It's a nice area where many ex-patriots live. We live in a gated home, with a man on duty 24/7 to open/close the gate and make sure no one gets in. There are about 4 men who rotate this job, and they are all so great. The house inside is great, totally comfortable. We have a kitchen, running water and electricity. The outlets are different, and I may have had a slight problem with the electricity...because the outlet plug shocked me...really badly..I felt the shock waves for like a half hour. Haha...don't worry Mom and Dad, I'm ok...and I learned my lesson. Other than the outlets, and the cold showers that Laura and I took the first 3 days (because we didn't know there was a water heater) the house has been fantastic.The outside of the house is especially amazing, I feel like I'm on vacation because it is so lush and green. It's amazing...I started summer 3 months early!

 The first full day we were there Musa picked us up and we went into town to get cell phones, groceries, and exchange our money. Arusha is an international town, but we are still stared at because we're white . Little children wave and yell "Muzungu", the word for white person. So far, the people have been lovely and there haven't been any problems. We haven't ventured far by ourselves quite yet, or without a Swahili speaking man with us, but I'm sure we'll muster up the courage to go to the markets and walk around soon.

While taking a 4 hour nap after our excursion with Musa, Eanna, the head of the school called on my cell phone and invited us over for dinner We have been nothing but welcomed from everyone in the school, and it was wonderful to meet some of the people we'll be working with. After dinner, we we're exhausted. It's been tough for me to adjust to the time schedule.

We were able to meet the 2 other girls who are living with us yesterday. They just got back from a Safari and their pictures were incredible. The girls seem great, and I'm excited to get to know them better. It will be nice living with 3 others while we're here. The food has been fine, havn't had much of an appetite because of the time I think, my body isn't quite sure what to do! The two things that have been fantastic though are the mangoes and bananas....100x better than the states.

 Other than that, it about wraps it up for now! Oh, I forgot that we found this amazing place! It's called Safari Lodge, and it's a hotel for people traveling through. It's AMAZING. Only 5,000tsh (about 3 dollars) for a day pass to the pool and free internet. That's where I am now. We've been laying out for the past 5 hours, mostly in the shade just enjoying being outside, reading books and talking. It's so gorgeous here. I think this will definitley become a new favorite hang out. :)

Tomorrow is the first day of school, and hopefully I can get back to the computer early this week to talk about the school and my first few days. I'll also hopefully be able to charge my computer to put up some pictures. Until then! 

<3

In Amsterdam

Hello Hello. The first leg of the flight is over, Laura and I are sitting at a Starbucks in Amsterdam, using a half-hour of free internet. The flight was non-eventful, except for the few tears I shed 7 hours in. More than anything, I'm exhausted. I couldn't sleep a bit on the plane, am feeling sick to my stomach and my body is wondering what I'm doing to it I think. Laura helped a ton, and reminded me this is probably the worst part, the first few weeks. Putting our bodies through getting acclimated and everything else will be tough. As most of you who know me well know, I cry when I'm tired..and pretty much everything else...so I'm sure there will be lots of tears here and there!

Our flight leaves at 11:05, currently it's 7:30 am here ( meaning it's 12:30am MN time) We have a few hours to hang out, we've been debating going to get a beer :)

Regardless of the tears, I'm excited and I know I'll be 100% better once I land in Africa...make it through customs...get my luggage...am picked up from the airport...and make it to where I'll be staying. Ok, so there might be a few more tears shed before the "day" is officially over. Until then, hope you are all sleeping well in the states!!

<3

You're Mountain is waiting, so get on your way!

Well, the day is here. Last night I packed my two 40lb+ bags, (1 giant backpack, and 1 suitcase.) I tell ya, I look like I know what I'm doing! I slept better than expected last, said some tough "see ya laters" over the phone, and hugged my mom and sister goodbye morning. 

I'm meeting my travel partner Laura at the airport at 12:30. Then my flight takes off at 3, heads to Amsterdam and then to Kilimanjaro, Tanzania. I arrive at 9:30pm, on January 13th....I think the time difference is about 9 hours. I'll try to update as soon as I can, and when I get settled in. Please keep me in your thoughts and prayers as I start this journey.

P.S...When I woke up this morning, I read my favorite book, " Oh the Places You'll Go" by Dr. Seuss for a little inspiration. It was scarily applicable, so a few of my favorite stanzas are below :)

Congratulations!
Today is your day.
You’re off to Great Places!
You’re off and away!

You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself any direction you choose.
You’re on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the guy who’ll decide where to go.

You’ll get mixed up, of course, as you already know. You’ll get mixed up with many strange birds as you go. So be sure when you step. Step with care and great tact and remember that Life’s a Great Balancing Act. Just never forget to be dexterous and deft. And never mix up your right foot with your left.

And will you succeed?
Yes! You will, indeed!
(98 and ¾ percent guaranteed.)

Kid, you’ll move mountains!
So…be your name Buxbaum or Bixby or Bray or Mordecai Ale Van Allen O’Shea, you’re off to Great Places!
Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting.
So…get on your way!

It's Go Time

Alright, time to get serious...

First Aid kit...check.
Malaria/Cipparo/other meds...check
Shoes...check (is 6 pairs too many?)
Snacks for plane....check
Books for plane....check ( Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis, Waiting for Superman:How we can save America's failing schools...and The Case for God by Karen Armstrong. I might bring along A Girl with a Dragon Tattoo for kicks as well)
Clothes set out...half check
Clothes actually packed....definitely not check
Clothes for plane ride picked out...check :)

SOOO....I have kinda a lot done, right? The actual packing part is really the main dilemma here. Hopefully my wonderful mother can help me tonight after me and my sister's joined birthday dinner :)

Happy Monday! Only 2 days left!
<3

The difference of one....

I sat on my couch tonight watching a special on NBC about a medical missionary team in Haiti. While watching it, I was flooded with memories of being there almost 6 months ago now. I miss the kids, our translators, the orphanage, I miss the kindness of the people, I even miss the damn goats (even though they were loud and obnoxious). On the NBC special, the newscaster asked the head of the mission team about how difficult it must be for a team to enter, stay for a short while, and then leave. The mission team leader responded with one of my favorite stories, the starfish story. 

While walking along a beach, an elderly gentleman saw someone in the distance leaning down, picking something up and throwing it into the ocean.

As he got closer, he noticed that the figure was that of a young man, picking up starfish one by one and tossing each one gently back into the water.

He came closer still and called out, “Good morning! May I ask what it is that you are doing?”

The young man paused, looked up, and replied “Throwing starfish into the ocean.” 

The old man smiled, and said, “I must ask, then, why are you throwing starfish into the ocean?”

To this, the young man replied, “The sun is up and the tide is going out. If I don’t throw them in, they’ll die.”

Upon hearing this, the elderly observer commented, “But, young man, do you not realise that there are miles and miles of beach and there are thousands of starfish all along every mile? You can’t possibly make a difference!”

The young man listened politely. Then he bent down, picked up another starfish, threw it into the back into the ocean past the breaking waves and said, “It made a difference for that one.”

Call me naive, or ignorant to think that I can make a difference as one person. Maybe I'm too optimistic for my own good, but I truly believe that with the grace and strength that God gives each of us, we can and do make a difference. There may be miles and miles of poverty, destruction, hunger, violence, and evil that seems overwhelming and unmanageable. One person can't assume they can fix it all, but everyone has the ability to throw at least one starfish back into the ocean. 

                                                                                  <3 

4 Days

4 Days until Africa. Holy Moly.....remember that to-do list a few posts ago? Not enough is checked off of it. Definitely haven't started packing yet. But it's tough to pack to travel to Africa for 4 months...what the heck do I even bring!?

The past few days have made it easy to forget that I'm leaving so soon. Two of my closest friends came down from Fargo to see me one last time before I left. We went to the Shout House with dueling pianos on Thursday night. On Friday, we saw Black Swan (seriously messed up...but intriguingly good), drank "greenies" ( a staple drink in ne minneapolis) sang Karaoke, and spent most of our night at Gastoff's, a german bar with crazy beer! It was a blast to be with them, and so good to be reminded of how thankful I am for friends like they are. It was sad to see them leave this morning. Sad because I won't see them for a while, and even more sad because now I have to pack...and have no more excuses!

Although, speaking of excuses, my head does kind of hurt. I think I'll watch the pixar classic UP, and then pack a little later ;)

Oh well, it will get done...it kind of has to! only 4 days away!!

<3

::Under Construction::

I decided to change the look of my blog before I left for Africa. So...I've spent the last 2 hours trying to play with this whole Blogger thing. It's been a lot of wasted time, and needless to say I still have work to do. (Britta...I wish you were here to help me!!)

How the heck do I get my top picture to fit so I can see my coffee cup...it worked before! I want the header smaller, the text below larger...BLAH!!

Needless to say, I'm frustrated and it's 1:15am...woof. As much as I hate going to bed with half finished jobs, it's gonna need to happen tonight.

Goodnight...

<3

Thanks 2010, but now on to 2011.

It's 2011...really? I feel like I JUST got used to writing 2010 on checks and papers, and now it goes switching around on me again! It's crazy how fast the time seems to fly by, and it seems to get faster and faster as the years go on.

In re-cap, I wanted to share the Top 10 Things in 2010 I did...

1. Spent time working in the mission field in Haiti after the January Earthquake
2. Made life-long friendships with my 15 teammates who accompanied me to Haiti
3. Named an orphan who was nameless...David is his name
4. Ran the Fargo Half Marathon and set my personal record
5. Ran the Big Sur Half Marathon in Monterey, CA and completed a 3 year old goal of mine
6. Spent the summer student teaching ELL students and loved every minute of it
7. Completed my last class of my college career
8. Said goodbye to Fargo, my home for the last 4 1/2 years and moved back to the cities
9. Picked up yoga as a hobby, and unfortunately fell out of the habit
10. Became stronger in my beliefs and made huge steps forward in my faith walk with the help of a community of friends I found far to late in my college career.

So those were some of the highlights of 2011...Here is a list of the Top 10 Things I Will Accomplish in 2011...
1. Go on Safari
2. Have a life altering experience while living in Tanzania Africa for 4 months
3. Graduate college
4. Run my 4th half marathon (maybe 5th if I'm feeling ambitious...mini triathalon possibly??)
5. Begin my first year of teaching and dedicate my heart and time to my students
6. Make a list of 11 Books to Read in 2011
7. Make yoga a part of my weekly workout routine again
8. Continue to grow in my faith, become part of a church and/or small group to get linked in with a community of believers where I will be
9. Become debt free!
10. Spend time loving on others as I Am loved.


So there is it! Some of the things I plan to do in 2011, I think it seems pretty reasonable. None of these are crazy life changing goals/resolutions but I think it's important to think about direction to ensure you're bettering yourself, and the people around you. I feel good about 2011, and am lucky enough to start off the year with an adventurous trip to Tanzania. 8 days away!!

<3