Lasting Impressions

How do I even begin.  This trip has been such an incredible adventure.  From going on Serengeti safari or traipsing through Arusha National park to teaching precious children how to subtract with double borrowing, this trip has been such an amazing blessing and experience.

The biggest impression that will last forever are all of the faces and the culture of the Tanzanian people.  Simply walking on the street, you are able to notice the pole pole lifestyle and the hakuna matata life philosophy.  There is so much respect between everybody which amazes me since there are 120 tribes that all accept each others differences.  There is so much unity between the people.  No matter what tribe you come from, young and old know the Tanzania Anthem.  Going on our weekend adventures really showed me how proud the Tanzanians are about their land and how proud they are to be called Tanzanians.  However, walking through the markets you notice that the Tanzanians have little personal pride.  The hakuna matata lifestyle allows relationships to grow and invest since they all work together.  For example, a vendor in the market could watch his neighbors shop and continue to help his neighbor shop instead of ushering people into his or her own shop.  This creates a family unity that is also shown inside of the classroom

During our time at Assumptions there wasn’t any bullying going on that I saw!   Being in Standard II, the children really work well together, look out for one another and share!  This sense of unity and acceptance by all in the classroom is a huge necessity and one thing that I now can visually picture.

Arusha, Tanzania will always hold a special place in my heart.  It has helped me grow professionally and personally as I was able to really dive into the culture and lifestyle of a Tanzanian.  Africa may be third world but in my book, but I believe that in some aspects they are better off then we are.

Well in one hour I will be  saying farewell to my home for the month of May.  Bitter sweet!  Sad to leave all of the precious faces and people that we have met but excited to see the ones who will be waiting for me on the other side of the gate <3

Mt. Kili

I am a little bit behind on my blogging but I wanted to let you know that I am now a successful Mt. Kilimanjaro climber and expert Masai market trader :)

Yesterday (Wednesday) we took the day off of school to go climb Mt. Kili which is the tallest free standing mountain!!  If you have been keeping up with my safari you will know that I am pretty excited about this.  Our professor hooked us up with a 9,000 ft day climb up the mountain.  There are many different routes to get to the summit.  However we took the Marangu or “Coca-cola” route because it is the most gentle trip for unexperienced climbers ;) However, this 9,000 ft trail/climb was exhausting!!  The rout is judged as 3 hours to the camp and 2.5 hours back down.  We crossed the starting line feeling pretty confident.  Booking it because we were so excited!  This was very short lived because after 20 minutes of hustling at 10:30 in the morning, already developing an intense case of back sweat...it was time to go “pole pole” (in tanzanian that means slow slow) especially since it would take 3 hours to reach the camp!  The guides in the back were even getting out of breath haha So I decided to lag behind and enjoy the beauty!  

We were seriously walking through a rainforest!  No joke.  It was so beautiful!  I still can not get over how huge and grand the trees were.  The trees were covered in moss and twisted and turned in all sorts of directions.  I felt like we were walking through the jungle of Tarzan.  It was so neat and defiantly not what I was expecting to find in Africa.  We saw saw of blue monkeys and waterfalls as well.  The climb was pretty intense...there was a path which was nice but there were some definite steep parts in the trip.  Oh, and there are seriously man eating ants!!!!!!  Shannen and I stopped to take a water break at one point.  We set our back packs down.  We stopped and drank for probably 20 seconds when all of a sudden I feel a pinch on my foot.  And sure enough...ANTS!  This was the second time that I have gotten attacked by ants and it is seriously terrible.  These ants swarm your feet in a blink of an eye, and are really buggers!  They practically clench your skin so you cant brush them off!  One ant found its way up into my pants which added to the adventure.  We eventually made it up to the camp a good half hour after the first group :)  I didn’t think I was that out of shape, but the air really is thinner up there.  It was hard to catch a breath and even when you would take in a deep breath, it felt like you didn’t get any haha Cant imagine what the summit would feel like!

We had lunch up at the camp then ventured to a little crater that had a great view point of Kili :)  After this, we started our descend down the mountain.  The climb down probably took 1.5ish hours and I was sooo impressed that we all made it to the top after seeing the terrain that we climbed up.  It was quite the accomplishment and I am excited to say that I have climbed a mountain ;) haha  The ride home was pretty quiet as we were all so pooped!  It was a blast!!

Today, we did not go to school also because the students have been doing their monthly examinations at school.  Since we were not teaching, our professor allowed us to take the day off to go to Shagga.  Shagg is such an awesome place that employs physically disabled Tanzanians.  Shagga started with a couple of Tanzanians that noticed that people with disabilities had limited opportunities of work and life which is detrimental to their survival.  Therefore, they started a small business where they created an environment for physically disabled people to come and work.   At Shagga, the workers do all sorts of unique crafts.  They blow glass, make fabric, make their own beads, sewing, aluminum molds, jewelry ect.  The vibe at Shagga was so positive and warm and the people loved what they were doing!  It was awesome to see that people noticed a need and did something about it.  Another neat thing that is cool about Shagga, is that they make a lot of stuff out of recycled materials.  Schools, businesses and safari companies donate glass wine bottles or paper to Shagga where they are able to melt down these pieces for glass to make beads or glasses.  Shagga also gives back to the community schools to aid students with disabilities.  Shagga is an awesome and uplifting place!

We also got the opportunity to go to the Masai market :)  After today I am an expert trader ;)  For example, I was able to trade an unopened anti-diarrhea medicine, for a soap stone hippo.  Good deal.  Or a Colmen 10 pack capsules that turn into towels when wet, for a soap stone bowl.  Good deal.   It was a ton of fun and it made me realize how much people just want to talk and build a relationship.  I pretty much had all of my souvenirs that I wanted today, so my goal was to just get rid of my stuff.  The tanzanian way of life is very pole pole and hakuna matata, which I love!  It was very evident today at the market.  I found that when you are not in a hurry and just talk to people, they create a bond which is actually precious.  They could care less about what they are selling really.  I think it is just nice to have somebody new to talk to haha  But then you get the crazy vendors that want you to trade your iPhone for a Tanzanian flag.  Crazy!

Well tomorrow is the last day of school for us :(  These kids are so precious!  We will see how it goes!

Much love!

xoxoxo

Bringing up the rear ;)

Half way point 

Beauty!

Love this!

Naked Day!

Boy, do I have a story to tell you all!  I know I posted last night but this story is too good, disturbing and down right wrong that I just had to share. So as a precaution...

WARNING:  YOU MAY BE SCARRED FOR LIFE.

So, after coming home from school today a group of 6 of us decided to walk into town to run a few errands.  Go to the money exchange, pick up somethings at the grocery store and book store.  No big deal.  It was a beautiful day today and we didn't even have street vendors trying to hassle us. It was an enjoyable time...

However, we were headed to the money exchange, when a man came up to us and we were anticipating the words "Rafiki, Rafiki!  My paintings.  I give you good price" to come out of his mouth. Instead, he pointed in the direction that we were headed and said "Its naked day", and continued walking away from us.  We were so confused by this, looked at each other and wondered 'oh boy, what are we going to be walking into this time.'  We would later know that this statement was a joke.  We took two steps and behold....

there was a women buck naked, walking in the middle of the city street! Buck naked.  (I am boged out just writing this!!)  With her bleach blond hair and her thick Tanzanian body she was strutting her stuff right down main street.  We tried not to look and just keep our eyes looking ahead, but it was so bizarre.  But wait, it gets better...she starts walking toward us!  And of course, being Mozungus and the only white person in town, she now had competition with the amount of fame that she will receive.  We didn't want anything to do with this situation so, we pick up the pace and booked it to the money exchange.  

As we pass the women, we walk about 10 feet and notice a tank top laying in the street.  We walk another 10 feet and we notice that there are a pair of pants laying in the street.  We walk another 10 feet and there were a pair of shoes laying in the middle of the street which only means that this woman had planned to strip and strut!

We reached the money exchange place laughing and not believing what we were seeing!!  Was this a normal activity in Tanzania??  We had no clue but were left scarred with a permanent impression of a Tanzanian women.  SICK haha  

We made our exchange and started walking back up the street to head to the grocery store.  At the top of the street, there is a round-a-bout with a clock tower in the center of the courtyard.  As we were getting closer to the round about, there were tons of people lining the street who had stopped to watch the happening.  Luckily, the woman had put her clothes on by now.  We couldn't tell if the police were there, but what we did notice were all of the laughs that came from the mouths of the spectators.  That confirmed that this sort of thing was not typical.  Thank Goodness!

So we quickly bolted into the store and continued with our to-do list.  

I can now add Naked Day to one of my lasting impressions of Arusha Tanzania.  Oh Joy :)

Home Sweet Outpost Home!

I just got back from my last Tanzanian weekend excursion :(  Kind of bitter sweet!  We spent the weekend in the outskirts of Arusha, camping and hiking the foothills of Mount Meru.  

Saturday morning we packed up our room and left for Arusha National Park in the early am.  We did not really know what to expect but we entered Arusha National Park and went for a game drive where we saw some buffalo, zebra and giraffe.  Since we have already been to the Serengeti, these animals were not all that impressive ;)  We then went for a four hour hike around the foothills of Mount Meru in the Arusha National Park.    This hike was not what we were expecting!!  It was a very steep climb where we hiked uphill for a solid two hours.  “Climb every mountain, far as I can see....”  haha Thats definitely what it felt like!  It was suppose to be a hiking safari but the only animals that we saw were buffalo and supposedly a snake eating a dik dik.  Luckily, I did not see the huge snake!  We also saw a spring waterfall and a sweet tree that covered our path.  The climb was very intense but the walk down was even more extreme.  We walked for a good hour down hill walking on a rocky road.  Since the hill was so steep, the walk down was nerve-racking as rocks would sometimes slip from under your feet. It was a great hike and a great Pre-Kilimanjaro climb :)

After our hike however, we continued with a game drive around Arusha National Park.  I was so worn out that I feel asleep in the car as we toured around the land.  Apparently there was a big pool of flamingos, I woke up for a brief second to look out the window.  Saw the Flamingos and was very surprised that they were more of a white/ faint pink color.  The 30 second view was good enough for me haha  We then drove to Mama Anna’s farm house which was tucked at the top of a super bumpy road at the top of a hill.  

Our tents were all set up for us and they were sooo cute!  They were teeny tiny, only big enough for two people. The only thing on our agenda that evening was sitting around the campfire, listening to stories from our safari drivers.  It was nice to enjoy the evening and hang out with one another just chatting.  From where we were staying at, we were able to see the snow on Mount Kilimanjaro on one side and Mount Meru on the other.  It was such a clear night for some star gazing as well :)  

It was a lateish night but I was super excited knowing that breakfast wasn't until 8:30...that meant sleeping in!  However, I didn't quite realize that living on a farm meant rooster calls at 4:00 and Cow mooing at 5:30.  So much for sleeping in haha The morning was filled with another hike around the hill that Mama Anna lives.  One thing about the Tanzanian people that I am noticing is how proud they are to be a Tanzanian and how proud they are about our land.  After going on a 4 hour hike the day before, I definitely did not want to go on another hike!  My buns were tooooo sore! Haha  But I went on another 2.5 hour hike to a view that overlooked Arusha and the National Park.  It was gorgeous!  Baba, Mama Anna’s husband I believe, told us everything we eneded to know about the land!  He was telling us about all of the different local medicines found in the plants that could help cure anything from pains to diarrhea.  This is very fascinating and I am a huge fan of the natural remedies.  

When we got back to the house, the program also consisted of us honey and coffee making.  The honey making was so neat to see!  They have stingless bee’s here in Africa.  These bee’s did not look like regular stinging bees.  They were fly sized and kind of looked like a cricket with wings.  Baba, hollows out a log and hangs it in a tree with a small hole for the entrance.  The bees find this hole and start making their honey comb.  We got the opportunity to open one of these logs!  When we opened it there was sooo much honey!!! It was also nice to know that even though bees were swarming around, they could not sting :)  I tasted the honey straight from the honey comb and it was delish!

After this, we learned about the process of making coffee.  I learned that making coffee is a very long process!  The coffee bean grows on bushes that when ripe, they turn red.  They then pick these seeds and put them in a hand crank machine that takes off the outer shell.  When they take off the outer shell, the bean is white in color and very slippery slimy. They then have to allow the beans to dry for three days.  After three days, there is yet another layer that develops on the bean.  They pour the beans into a hand masher and mash up the beans to get the layer off.  Once this happens, the woman do this neat flipping thing (its hard to describe, its kind of like throwing up pizza dough)  where the wind blows away the layer that you don't want.  Then it is time to roast.  They roast the beans over a campfire in a cast iron pot.  Roasting only takes about 10 minutes, but you need to constantly stir the beans.  The roasting smelled so heavenly!  Once they are all brown...whala!  Coffee!! :)

It was a very enjoyable weekend but I am so glad to be back at the Outpost!   I can not wait to get home home though, lay on the beach, and just relax!  This has been a great trip because we are really living up Arusha, Tanzania, culture, people and activities to the fullest but I can not wait to just sit and relax haha

 Well this is the start of our last week here in Tanzania!  One week from today I will be home with the ones I love :)  

xoxo

Bittersweet

We are already half way through our week.  It is flying by and it is so hard to believe that we are leaving in 10 days!!  This is crazy!  We are just starting to get settled into the culture, schools, teaching and life in Arusha.  Now we are going to be leaving, so bittersweet.

As mentioned before, we were all extremely bummed that we were not climbing Kilimanjaro which we were hoping for. GOOD NEWS:  WE WILL BE CLIMBING MOUNT KILIMANJARO!!! After lots of researching and phoning, Lisa (our GVSU professor here), was our hero and discovered a way for us to climb :)  I am so excited!!  Since our schools are having national testing next week Tuesday and Wednesday, we will be doing a day climb on Wednesday :)  Woot Woot!  In addition, Lisa got us a deal that it will only cost $44 to reach Base Camp 1.  9,000 feet :)

Last night, we invited our teachers to join us for dinner at the Outpost!  It was great to have an evening to get to know them a little bit better outside of school.  In our GVSU class we have been talking a lot about culture and education here in Tanzania, and how they relate.  Research shows, that most of the teachers never had a desire or calling to become a teacher, but rather they had the perspective that becoming a teacher is solely a job that they needed to have in order to survive.  Many of my peers have seen this with their teachers in their schools that they have been placed with.  After talking to my teacher last night, I am extremely blessed that I have been placed with someone who has a heart for teaching and children.  It is not just a job for her, but rather she takes pride in her teaching abilities.  Neema always wants to learn better practices from us and other books that she reads.  She is awesome!  My favorite Tanzanian :)

 I love teaching at Assumption Primary School!  The teachers are awesome, and the students and I are starting to bond. I am not going to lie, I love it when 10 kids are “fighting” over my two hands to hold...they are so precious!

Not much has happened this week so far, just putsing and keeping busy :)  Tomorrow we have a Soccer game after school between us and our Safari drivers I believe, which will be extreme. Haha  We will be headed to Arusha National Park to go camping this weekend.  Definitely looking forward to that and good old Chicken Schnitzel at the Blue Heron Friday night. Hope all is surviving without me back home haha

Much love!

xoxoxo

P.S- Here is a video of me teaching this past week:)

A breath of fresh air

Hello All!  I just got back from yet another crazy busy adventure in Marangu.  The weekend was jam packed with some high’s and low’s on the excitement level but it was really great to get out of the city for some fresh air!

Saturday morning we left for the city called Marangu where Mount Kilimanjaro is located with the much anticipation of climbing to the first base camp on the mountain.  After our 4ish hour venture toward the city, picking up our guides along the way, we made it to the start of the climb.  Our guides were so knowledgeable!  It was seriously one of those history tours, where they would tell you everything you needed to know and everything you really didn't really wanted to know about the mountain itself and the people who have climbed it.  (Papa Lou would have been in heaven this entire weekend :) )We made our way to the actual gate and were COMPLETELY LET DOWN when they told us that we were not hiking the mountain.  We had our hopes up super high for this adventure and have been preparing for it all week!!!!  We found out that it would cost an additional $60 to do the three hour climb to the first base camp and a 2.5 hour trip down...however it was too late in the day to start the adventure :(  This really put a damper on things but wait, our day gets even more less eventful. 

So our next adventure that they wanted us to see was to see coffee bean plants and drink some fresh coffee.  Thinking we were going to a coffee plantation where we will see the entire process of how they make coffee, we drive up to the first Catholic Church started by missionaries in Marangu (which was beautiful!).  After we learned about the history of the church, our guides take us down a hill from the church and point out four bushes of coffee bean plants.  Four. Bushes. . . . It was pretty comical haha  Not to mention that there was a african wedding going in the catholic church.  Which was really neat to see but was totally uncomfortable to watch because it felt like we, Mozungos, were infringing on such a happy day haha  We didnt want to steal the brides thunder!  There were three brides getting married that day.  If Reid were here we may have gotten in on the African Wedding :)  There were lots of shouts and singing by the audience as they lead the brides to another hut where they signed the marriage licenses.  It was so joyful!!  (Getting very excited about our wedding!)  

After we witnessed the African wedding, we went into another common room on the church grounds where we had some fresh brewed coffee.  Thats right, I had a whole cup of coffee and loved it!  Granted, I put three spoonfuls of some awesome sugar, but still.  I am a Tanzanian Coffee fan :)  However, I had to go to the bathroom all night long!!!! Haha

We also did a mini hike around the foothills of Mount Kilimanjaro where we saw a Chagga family. Our walk up the hills consisted of walking over a super sketch bridge where you could only walk in the middle of the bridge and the bridge was crooked at probably a 30 degree angle.  It was nuts!  Walking through the forest was very beautiful and tropical!  It was crazy to climb and find a family from the Chagga tribe right in the middle of nowhere.  The Chagga tribe was the main tribe in the Kilimanjaro area.  The way of leaving is very interesting.  The huts that they live in was made out of dried palms where when made into a hut, the palms keep the home cool and also protects it from the rain.  The grandness of the home is only as big in diameter as the man (hut owner) when he lays on the ground and stretches his arms up.  This hut is extremely small!  A cow, calf, 5 kids, husband and wife spend their nights in this hut.  It was crazy to see how in todays day of age, people still live like this.  One of the kids had a super snotty nose, so Devin gave her a tissue and the child didn’t even know how to use one.  It was like she had never seen one before.  Devin had to teach her how to blow her nose.  It was crazy!

After the visit with the Chagga family we went to our hotel for the evening.  We have been spoiled on our lodge stays that I rate this hotel a 2.9 ;)  It was a adobe looking lodge that was kind of weird to see in africa but we spent the evening around a bonfire that they made for us!  It felt like we were in Michigan again :)  A Bob Marley looking Tanzanian, Steve who worked at the lodge, came out to chat with us and gave us some free entertainment.  He pulled out a guitar that was missing one string and played us one of his original songs.  His song was called paradise and it was so good!  Any producers or entertainment guroos out there, there is so much raw talent in Africa!!!!  So, we spent our evening singing tunes, bonding and relaxing with one another which was much needed!

Sunday morning we woke up early to start off our day with a hike for a picturesque view of Mount Kilimanjaro.  It was soooooo clear out that we were able to see the top of the mountain which was pretty cool to see!  We hiked back down from our view and passed through a grave where the first Chagga man who climbed Mount Kilimanjaro with Hans (the first german that climbed mount kilimanjaro).  It was kind of wierd that they took us there, especially because it was right in somebody's yard, but hey, we saw the Chagga mans grave and his two wives grave. Woop woop ;)

However, we then went to see a waterfall (cant remember the name).  It was awesome!!  The stream comes from the top of Kili so it is crystal clear but super cold!  After a long hot morning of hiking, we needed to cool off!  So, I experienced my first swim in a waterfall.  It was pretty awesome :) 

After this we went to a blacksmith where we were able to help do blacksmith stuff with the Chagga tribe.  It was very interesting, and they have super interesting methods of keeping fire going!  I can’t even explain it through writing haha We then walked to a Chagga Cave.  Which really wasnt a cave but more like a tunnel.  During the 1700s I think, the Chagga tribe and the Masai Tribe were at war with one another.  In order to keep their women and children alive, they built these tunnels under the earth which was 4 meters under the ground.  It was kind of sketchy but I decided that I may only be able to have this opportunity once, so I went down into the tunnel.  It was soooo dark and the man only had one little flashlight and a latern for the 6 of us.  It was soooooo cool though!  The tunnel was probably only 3.5 feet high at most parts and the rooms were probably 4.5 feet tall.  The tunnel stretched for a long while where 60 people were able to stay in the tunnel.  It was crazy!  They also made a kitchen that was under the ground where they had a chimney that went up to earth.  It was crazy!!  What a life that must have been!!

To conclude our trip, we went to this super sketchy place where the men made banana beer.  I tried it and it was super disgusting!!  It had so grainy.  They don't even bottle it, they just poured it into a jumbo plastic cup where we all had to share.  It was a unique experience thats for sure!

Now we are back at the outpost and I had the most delicious ice cream for desert!  I have never experienced vanilla ice cream like this before in my life! Haha  So I guess our weekend started out as a bit of a bummer but progressively got better.  It was a very enjoyable but busy weekend!  Living up Africa thats for sure!

Love to all!

Xoxoxo  

P.s  if you have any questions....please ask!  I would love to answer :)

Flew by

This week has gone by so fast!  It is already Friday night and we are headed out to another adventure tomorrow morning to spend the weekend in Mount Kilimanjaro.  This week flew by as we have only had three days teaching in the schools!  On Wednesday we got a huge greeting from our kids as we entered into the classroom.  All 47 students were shouting ‘good morning teachers!’ so loudly that we could feel wind hit our face haha  The other teachers missed us just as much as well!  Our days are so jam packed with school at Assumption, Swahili lessons, GVSU class, going to the orphanage to play on Wednesday evenings and squeezing in some market shopping time when we can.  I go to bed exhausted every night!

I am starting to enjoy the life and environment here in Arusha.  The Tanzanian motto in Arusha is ‘pole pole’ which in english means ‘slow slow’, where there is no rush and ‘hakuna matata’ is definitely present.  The life here is simple.  Walking everywhere has become so enjoyable.  The early morning walks to school is a great way to wake up to in the morning!  Our walk to school has become much less terrifying as we see the same people in the same spot every morning!  Internet has been in and out here, which is kind of frustrating but it just adds to the experience of a simple life I suppose.

I am getting much better in my bargaining skills today.  Three girls and I, went to a Masai Market today and we got some awesome deals!!  It was a lot of fun :)  In the beginning I was a sucker for just paying for what the people wanted it for not thinking that the prices were that jacked up.  Today we were walking away from people and the people would run after us giving what we wanted.  It was pretty great!

Not much has happened within the last two days other then we have taught some great lessons if I do say so myself!  It has been great to have the students have the look of understanding when they finally understand something.  There are definitely differences between schools in the states and in Tanzania!

Anyways, we are headed to do a day climb in mount Kilimanjaro in the morning and I am super excited about it!  Not quite sure what else what we will be doing this weekend, hopefully have some time to just relax :)

Much love!

xoxo