lots of randomness

I feel like there is a lot going on here in Arusha but I never know what to write about. Its like crazy stuff happens here but I am so use to it and expect it here that it doesnt phase me anymore. There are some funny stores that I will try to put into words for ya'll to understand and hopefully get some enjoyment out of but first I'll update you on my work here.

I taught a few PE classes this week and started off with basic motor skills. None of the kids new what a skip was and it wasnt that easy to teach them but we are working on it! I find that basic things we assume kids know, they dont here. Left vs right is a challenge, opposites is a word they dont know, etc. On Friday I was left in charge of a standard II class (equvilant to US grade 3). The teacher left something that she said would take over an hour but only took about 10 min so I had to think quick as to what else to do. I decided to work on their creative skills as they are never taught how to use them here and therefore never learn to use their imagination (again something I assumed all kids did). I read to them Where the Wild Things Are (remember finding it in the storage closet we cleared out the day before) and then gave them paper and crayons and asked them to draw their own wild thing. Out of 12 kids, one child did this. They weren't sure what to do and wanted to trace from the pictures in the book or trace something else entirely. When I gave them pages from coloring books to color one of the girls had a 'connect the dots' page and I realized she didnt know what to do (again something I never thought about teaching someone) and when I tried to teach her she could not grasp the idea. I asked the kids if they wanted to do their homework in the small time we had remaining before tea break and they said 'oh no homework is for home, classwork is for class. we cannot do homework now.' Its so often I find that things are done in such a strict way that they cant straw away from it even when you tell them its okay.

As for the kids... I often spend the afternoons when we are at Kisongo waiting for everyone to be ready to board the bus to go home playing soccer or something of that nature with the kids. It is a lot of fun and always interesting when I am in a dress or skirt. Teacher Trisha and I are always receiving notes or pictures from the kids at both the center and school and have started a collection on the wall in our room. There is one baby at the center named Zawadi (Kiswahili for 'gift') who is 2 years old and is so spunky and just loves life. She comes running at me when she sees me which of course makes me smile. The kids here are all so great and I wish I could tell you stories about all of them. Helena, Hawa, Lazaro, Witness, Joseph, Queenie, Namnyaki, ah... okay one of these days I will share a few of their stories as to why they are here but no time for that today.

Aside from teaching and playing I spent some more time mending uniforms this week, cleaning out a storage closet, made some poster/drawings for classrooms, found a load of puzzle pieces and spent a night trying to see if any went together and actually made a puzzle (no luck so far). Trish and myself keep finding random tasks to do in the evening to keep ourselves busy and hopefully be productive.

On Friday it did take us over 2 hours to get from the center in Ngulelo to the school in Kisongo which should be about a 20 min drive. We were traveling by dalla which meant we took one, walked through town, took another. The second one we took stopped in Kisongo and our school is about 3km past it and the bus was suppose to be going to Monduli which is way far past it. The driver said he didnt have enough passengers to drive past Kisongo (there were 5 people on the bus) and kicked us off. This is the second time that has happened so I did some good natured yelling at the driver because he was suppose to go further but it didnt get us anymore. We ended up having to walk- in the hot heat and dusk- eh... story of my life in Africa. haha

Chicken on the Bonnet- This week one of the family members we live with, David, who is 25 and kinda the one in charge of volunteers took us out to this restaurant for dinner. It gets its name because 'bonnet' is what they call the hood of a car and during the day the place is a used car parts shop or something of that sort and at night they grill out on the street and turn the sidewalks into a restaurant. I was a bit skeptical but turned out to be great food and so much of it so I hope to go back before I leave here.

Usa- There is a town here called 'Usa' which when I saw it writen on dalla-dallas thought it was USA and said 'well heck they are gonna drive me back home!' Turns out there is a town called 'Usa' pronounced Oosa. Still makes me smile when I see it though.

I swear someone could write a book about experiences on dalla-dallas (or matatus) or have a picture book photos of all the misspelled words on signs here. As for dallas- I have been on them with chickens and goats. They are to seat about 15 people but usually around 25 people on them. Because of this I have gotten incredible close to complete stangers but it doesnt seem to phase me anymore. A guy hopped out the window one time because he was tired of waiting in the traffic. Oh I cant even think of all the crazy things that happen on them! As for spelling errors... There are def a lot more here than in Kenya and its understandable because English is not fluent here but they still use it and as for the westerners- it gives us something to chuckle at as we walk down the streets.

Beef Burger- Today we went out for lunch and since we never eat meat during the week we ordered beef burgers and what they brought us was not beef, pretty sure it was a veggie burger. We asked the lady and she said 'no, no this is beef we just put veggies with the beef, we dont sell veggie burgers.' Interesting concept but yea it was not beef! We couldnt stand to eat them and when she came back to take our plates she yelled at us for not finishing!! haha.

The Kiswahili vs. English is still something that makes everyday interesting. Whether it is people trying to talk to us on the street, the difficulty it took for us to get cold sodas the other day, the conversation to order a dress from a fundi (tailor) in town today (I am interested to see what it actualy comes out to be), or having the same conversation with someone three times. I am picking more of it up and find myself saying Kiswahili words in English conversations.

Well this may very well be the longest post so far so I will try to update more often so that doesnt happen again. Please let me know if there is something you want to hear more about or anything you want me to write as I dont know what is interesting to all of you. Much love to all and cannot wait to see most of you in December!