Updates!!!

It has been a while since I have had good blog posting so I thought I would take some to share everything that is going on over here in Tanzania. This will be a hodge podge of things all together from the past week and what I have been feeling.

This past weekend we went to Bagamoyo. It is a small town about an hour up the coast from Dar es Salaam. It used to be a main location for the slave trade. Our first day in Bagamoyo we took the time to spend the day at the Indian Ocean! It was a lot of fun. The beach had picturesque views of the ocean with white sandy beaches, and clear water. I did go swimming in the ocean, but since the tide was out we had t walk 400m in or to get to water that was only up to our waist. That night our professors from Luther College took us out to dinner at a very nice and westernized hotel where I got a cheeseburger. :) On Saturday we got a personally history lesson from and toured some ruins of an ancient mosque and grave site of many Arab sultans. It was very interesting and really meaningful to learn about the slave trade and history of Tanzania, but also being able to experience the ruins and slave houses first hand.

Where I am living:
I am living in the dorms on campus. I currently share a om with another girl from the LCCT program, but once classes start I will be moving in with a Tanzanian roommate. The rooms are pretty big considering I am in Tanzania. We also have balcony views of the city of Dar es Salaam and the Indian Ocean.

The food here is starting to get better because I am learning more and more what I am ordering . . . at first the only thing on the menu that we could understand was wali maharage, beans and rice. So I had beens and rice for the first week in Dar, but I have recently expanded my selection to fresh fruit, ugali, spinach, and many others. Last night I was being daring and I ordered fish, which ended up being very small dried fish in a tomato like sauce over rice. I tasted it and ate mostly the rice, but it was still rather fishy.

My main struggle over ere right now is finding things to do. At home I am always busy and am running around with tons to do. With my day going from 6am to 10pm. Here it is more laid back with a lot of free time. I don't know how to relax so I have to try to keep myself busy or else I think to much about how long I still have here. I have been really blessed though with a very supportive family and friends. I know that I will succeed during my time over here and in th future because I have the support of my parents, family, and friends. I can't help but feel so spoiled with loved and I have been thanking God everyday that these people are in my life.

Today was my first day of teaching at Milimani primary school, where I help out in an English class. I didn't do much teaching today, mostly observing and asking questions of the teacher. The teacher and I walked into the classroom he handed me the chalk and said “Introduce yourself, I have to go take care of something.” I was a little scared because I don't really know how much English they understand and I don't really know any Swahili. After a brief introduction about me and snow. The teacher came back and had the student present their speech they created for homework. Only abut a tenth of the class had theirs finished and the teacher didn't really care that the others did not do it. I am getting the sense that the students who want to move forward will, and those who are struggling will fall behind and not be able to continue their education. Out of the 120 some students in standard 5 only about 30 will continue to secondary school. These number are rather shocking, but when I looked around the classroom there were about 60 students and 10 books. The resources are not here for children to succeed. Students that do not have money don't get an education. There is no help for students once they fall behind, and no help for development issues that can hinder their education. It will be interesting to learn more about the education and what is being done to help students so they are not left behind.

I think that is it for now. I will try to keep you all up to date.
Miss you all!!