2/10/14 - 2/14/14

2/10/14 

• an early monday morning call from mahumi - not so great. going to school with 50 cent playing = so great! so many f- and n-bombs being dropped. my personal favortie of the morning was ‘go shorty. it’s your birthday. we’re gonna party like its your birthday...”. 
• no timetable was posted on the bulletin board in the workroom this morning. so that meant none of the teachers knew when any of their periods were. i had written my down in my notebook or i wouldnt have known either. there is no pattern at all so it isnt exactly easy to remember. i dont know what happened to the current one but they whipped out an older one and we’ve been rolling it. my periods are the same.
• Azim Muhammed asked eva this morning- are you on duty? she quickly replied no! why are you asking. he then told her that she was early. yolito. 
• were going to the SERENGETI this weekend! we are all so pumped, ready, and excited. who’d a thunk i would be living so close to the serengeti?? no big deal. we’re just going to hop on over to the seregneti for a little weekend excursion. then we’ll be half way through february. its unreal. we say it a good bit here... we are not wishing the time away but we do want it to go by quickly. 
• its ‘cold’ this morning. all the teachers, especially the women, are all bundled up in their jackets. their hands are also pretty cold when shaking them too. 
• got to go home early today! was home by 1:00! its was great. I was locked out of the house but i got a chill workout done in the courtyard and just enjoyed the day. 
• had lots of interent time today because it was just so fast. 

2/11/14 

• i actually did get cold this morning. guess thats what i get for talking about it not being cold the day before. and pretty much exhausted today. slept awfully sunday night. 
• just a huge week. mom and katies birthday and the serengeti. 
• i’m still waiting for my dress. it was supposed to be done friday but eva wasnt at school because she was preparing the food for the get together last friday. 
• it was a decent day teaching. students were pretty quiet and didn’t understand at first but we got it going. i didnt have anything to do in the afternoon so i just hung out with stream c for a while. they were copying notes for another class and didnt want a dose of math so i just entertained and enjoyed their company. then i visited a form 1 class. it was great. so funny. here are a few of the random questions we talked about. 
• If I had ______ a banana, I would give you one. 
• they asked me to solve simultaneous equations. i solved it algebraically first and got a round of applause and ‘wo-ows’ and then they asked me to solve it algebraically and the congratulations ensued once again. 
• what lotion do you use? what soap do you use? what religion are you? How old are you? how many are in your family? can you tell use your biography? can you sing for us? dance for us? can i have your watch? can you give me a gift (pronounced jift) from america? why are you smarter than us? can i fly with you to america? can you explain masturbation? how do i get a pen pal from america? you are so beautiful. more beautiful than us? who is the current pope? 
• on a random note, not that everything i write isn’t..... there is no personal space here. people practically sit on top of you. they get super close to you to talk. use your arm rest on your chair (if you have one) 
• the school bell rang at 2 today. school bell = someone taking a rock and hitting it again an old tire rim. school isnt supposed to get out until 2:30. but it actually rings early frequently. who knows why...
• i have so many mosquito bites. they really dont bother me but my legs are pretty much covered. they also dont really heal up / disappear here. so i think it is just the accumulation of them. I have over 50 on just one leg. and i can put my hand above my right ankle and cover about 20. its impressive. 
• after school today, there were just two teachers left in the workroom. i was just sitting there chilling and a female teacher told me to fix my skirt and that ‘it is our culture’. she said students are always looking at how teachers dress. coming from a teacher that never really talks to me and seeing that i have seemingly fully sunk myself in the culture it got the blood pressure going. 
• i was waiting... and waiting... and waiting... to leave today. at 2:30 i was told that mahumi was still in a meeting and it would just be a little bit. then at 3:15 i texted him that i was leaving to walk. he called me and pretty much said no and that he was finishing the meeting. then a little after 3:45 we were finally able to leave. long day. we brouth eva with us and we went to the tailor and she was finishing my kitange. it was neat to be able to watch her finish it and just sew in general with the manual machines there. its a little boxy  but i had no clue what i was getting anyway. i really like it. i like the pattern and the color. 
• got to facetime it up with mom and jane today. got some crazy info about the crazy storms running through there. yucky.... 

2/12/14 - moms birthday and kitange day

• so everybody loves loves loves the kitange. napendeza sana- i like the way you look. you look very nice. you are looking good madame. you look very smart today. not sure i need anything else for anybody and everybody to be attracted to me but the kitange definitely did it. i was told that i had to get more and that it is much better than the clthes i wear. i have to admit, i love it. its pretty fun. 
• it was another 50 cent morning -- ‘i stay out on the town - i smoke that good shit.' 
• we stopped for gas on the way to school. i just thought it was worth mentioning that they have someone work the pump here. you pay from the car and the person pumping plays the game where you try to stop it on a certain number. mahumi says gas has gotten really expensive and he doesnt even fill up a quarter of a tank at a time. i told him we pump our own gas now and he gave me the high pitched ‘aeh’ and a little laugh because we have to get out and do it. 
• talked with lammick, the discipline master, today and found out it is 15,000-25,000 tsh per month to rent a room in a house. there are a minimum of 4 rooms in a house. maybe normally 4-8. 

2/13/14 

• crazy day. dont remember what happened at school but i got to walk home. well actually i got to walk half of the way home. mahumi was waiting for me by his friends store, which is across from the KMK lodge, where we had out get together. there is a new immigration office there and apparently they want my info. guess i stand out a little on my walk home... i was sitting there waiting for mahumi and a couple men kept insisting that i come sit by them. i finally did and got out all the swahili that i could then 2 of the men that had been listening to me broke out a little english. he proceeded to ask me what religion i am... one of my most despised questions here. they are very legalistic and pretty cut-throat/ argumentative when it comes to religion. being a christian is not really a thing here. you have to have a religion/ identify with a certain part of christianity. it really makes me mad sometimes that even those who have many of the same beliefs, who were saved and love the same god, etc can be so separate. also they have no concept of nondenominational churches. anyways, one of these guys starting talking to me about religion and i eventually said that i go to a methodist church at home. he proceeded to get in an intense argument about baptism and how it is done and how the way the methodist do it is wrong. just frustrating. 
• then i got home to get an email from the travel company that i booked my big 21 day safari with. travel plans keep changing and falling apart. basically, there was a lot of drama, mistakes, and craziness that went on but the moral of the story is that the trip that I was planning to depart on on june 15th is not leaving and the tour date i am actually booked for is june 29th. there is no way that is happening. she gave me many more options to think about. nick and amber were the best and we were able to talk it out and in the end i am really happy about the new plans. we went back to the drawing board and i thought of the things that i absolutely had to see. so without further ado and without a little fear/ hesitation that more curve balls will be thrown my way.... I am planning to go to victoria falls and cape town over spring break (the beginning of april). then after the end of service, nick and i are planning to do kilimanjaro and then finish off the time in tanzania with a trip to zanzibar. these were my must dos and i think the plan i have in the works now is perfect. 

2/14/14 - happy valentines day! 

• serengeti, serengeti, serengeti today!!! sooo excited. i cant even wrap my mind around being there and seeing all the animals in their element. 
• also its valentines day so the love fest has been ramped up. i got asked to be sylvester edwards, the academic masters, valentine companion. awwww yeah. lol. with 4 students kneeling in the room waiting to be punished, i gave him some solid valentine advice. 
• got many flowers from the bush in front of the staff room from students. one student gave me the top to his red pen. and i got essentially a blow pop from one of my students. they were really cute about it. 
• one the note of love/ boyfriends/ girlfriends... that is not allowed at school at all. at all. also girls cannot wear earrings or makeup or anything that will distinguish them. 
• walked half way home again where mahumi was waiting for me. made it back to the house and got things packed up and ready. the car showed up early and off we went!!!