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