GODDAMNIT I JUST DELETED MY ENTIRE BLOG ughhhh ok im over it here i go again, its goign to be a little rushed but oh well.
"ay jamani!" i love this phrase--apparently it means "oh my goodness" or something along those lines, but i hear it about 20 times a day, usually from tanzanian mamas who are surprised when i great them in swahili. Ay Jamani ...I finally got to climb a Boabob tree! yes to me--these things are epically massive and so impressive; i had many a hand helping me down.
I happened to have just had a glass of delicious white wine before coming to this internet cafe..why? Because there just happens to be a cheese and wine store next door, owned by a middle-aged ex-pat Frenchman named Leonel, who just happened to offer me a glass on the house as he smoked his cigarette while his co-worker finished her cheese fondue-an that is how the French do it, even here in Arusha, TZ. Man I cannot wait for next semester.
Village work is going great. we just got hte ball rolling on a Peer Educator Program, in which 10-12 of the class's best students will be trained to be community educators in HIV/aids education. We essentially train these kids how to teach the curriculum the way were taught in orientation, ensuring the sustainability of SIC's work after the volunteers leave the villages. I would say that tanzanian students generally have a greater respect and maturity for their studies than American high school students, so working with them has never been a challenge. Its really neat actually to see them stoked and eager to learn.
I did laundry for two hours the other morning..be impressed. A couple shirts, pants, kangas, and a sweater (finally! that thing was getting bunk) and a few bloody knuckles later and I was a happy camper. Youre actually not supposed to get raw knuckles from doing laundry, so essentially I was scrubbing wrong the whole time. Oh well at least I am clean!
Jena and I are in town for the weekend, so last night we went to this delicious Syrian restaurant-the best falafal I have ever had--smothered it in hummus. Fried hummus dipped in hummus. Its been too long. Village food is lots of beans, rice, parachichis (avocadoes), ndizi (bananas) and mandazis (little fried-doughnut-delicious-things). I think I overloaded on teh parachich and ndizi the first month, because I haven't been able to eat them for a few weeks now-but no worries mama! i am being fed very well.
ok must get back! tonight we staking out chinese food--you would be pleasantly surprised at the large variety of good restaurants in Arusha!
love love lvoe
emmanuelle
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Friday, June 18, 2010
Pics of Ilkiding'a!
Yes, this IS my home!
I told you Ilkiding'a ward was beautiful. Jena took this pic on our walk back home from visiting a village where we had to watch a teaching and give back constructive criticism. The pic above is of our favorite Mama; she owns the shop (duka) were standing in; she sells tea and donuts. nom. Sometimes I watch the World Cup in there on the 10 '' tv they have hanging on the wall, with the rest of the neighborhood football fans---Cameroon owned that game against Japan, what a sad ending.
Kids are so inventive! yesterday I saw a hoard of them with jump ropes made out of tree vines. Soccer balls made out of a bunch of plastic bags tied into a ball with rope is popular too.
I hate missionaries--sorry if youre reading this and are offended---they come in with a van, drop off a bunch of useless toys (balloon animals and plastic balls), preach their bullshit and then leave. I hear "give me my money" and "give me a present" from 50 kids a day as a result. Its all these kids know, so you really cant let your frustration get hte b etter of you.
love lvoe love!!
Emmanuelle
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
hello friends
I came in town for the day to bring a volunteer to the clinic--turned out to be a bacterial infection, not malaria--hoorah! although malaria is super easy to treat anyways--$4 for some pills and the symptoms are gone in a few days at worst.
The villages we are working in are b-e-a-utiful and remind me a lot of the countryside in France. The volunteers are spread throughout six villages, and to get to each one I walk through fields of corn and tomatoes--its so neat, I looooove it. Some homestays are pocketed on grassy slopes that i have to cross river beds to get to. We are staying in a rented house in teh first village, complete with large grassy lawn--electricity but no running water. Sometimes Ill come home in teh afternoon to a hoard of small children playing in the yard-other times the children will be replaced by grazing cows. hahaha its great. The kids call my frisbee kipepeo (butterfly!) and they love it, which makes me very happy. Daily work has consisted of walking to homestays (an hour walk to the farthest one?) to bring supplies and talk with groups when small problems arise.
---I ate eggplant and LIKED it! the vegetables are so fresh
---every morning Jena, Glady and I get hot milk for breakfast, straight from the neighbor's cow, for 40 cents a liter. Its so neat
---Last night I successfully carried a 3 gallon bucket of water on my head. Usually our cook (who lives across the street) boils water for us at night to shower. Last night he was busy so I decided to go--I asked a little girl to show me where to get it and soon Jena and I had 10 small children following us to the water source with their own buckets--which turned out to be a river 15 minutes away and down this steep, muddy embankment. balancing it on your head is actually much easier, because there is no way in hell i would have been able to make it back up the hill and all the way home carrying this heavy bucket. My skirt was drenched and my feet were filthy by the end, but i was a proud mzungu when we finally made it home.
---Kids here work so hard! as soon as youre able to walk youre set to work. The littlest one on my water-fetching journey last night couldnt have been older than 3 or 4. Of items that are balanced on heads by children, I am most impressed by the enormous stacks of firewood. All of the cooking for the family that lives across the street is done by two 10 ten year old girls.
TZ is great and I am a happy gal.
Emmanuelle
I came in town for the day to bring a volunteer to the clinic--turned out to be a bacterial infection, not malaria--hoorah! although malaria is super easy to treat anyways--$4 for some pills and the symptoms are gone in a few days at worst.
The villages we are working in are b-e-a-utiful and remind me a lot of the countryside in France. The volunteers are spread throughout six villages, and to get to each one I walk through fields of corn and tomatoes--its so neat, I looooove it. Some homestays are pocketed on grassy slopes that i have to cross river beds to get to. We are staying in a rented house in teh first village, complete with large grassy lawn--electricity but no running water. Sometimes Ill come home in teh afternoon to a hoard of small children playing in the yard-other times the children will be replaced by grazing cows. hahaha its great. The kids call my frisbee kipepeo (butterfly!) and they love it, which makes me very happy. Daily work has consisted of walking to homestays (an hour walk to the farthest one?) to bring supplies and talk with groups when small problems arise.
---I ate eggplant and LIKED it! the vegetables are so fresh
---every morning Jena, Glady and I get hot milk for breakfast, straight from the neighbor's cow, for 40 cents a liter. Its so neat
---Last night I successfully carried a 3 gallon bucket of water on my head. Usually our cook (who lives across the street) boils water for us at night to shower. Last night he was busy so I decided to go--I asked a little girl to show me where to get it and soon Jena and I had 10 small children following us to the water source with their own buckets--which turned out to be a river 15 minutes away and down this steep, muddy embankment. balancing it on your head is actually much easier, because there is no way in hell i would have been able to make it back up the hill and all the way home carrying this heavy bucket. My skirt was drenched and my feet were filthy by the end, but i was a proud mzungu when we finally made it home.
---Kids here work so hard! as soon as youre able to walk youre set to work. The littlest one on my water-fetching journey last night couldnt have been older than 3 or 4. Of items that are balanced on heads by children, I am most impressed by the enormous stacks of firewood. All of the cooking for the family that lives across the street is done by two 10 ten year old girls.
TZ is great and I am a happy gal.
Emmanuelle
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