The Never Ending Week.....THURSDAYS

Wow so where does one start when they haven't posted to their blog in over a month. I figured I might as well finish with what I started and explain my other days of the week. I really need to get better at this blog thing. There is so much that has happened since October 27th, but I think I may just have to do a few short blogs to catch you all up on things.

Thursdays

The end of the weeks start to get a little slower for me as far as classes go. This is a good thing for this time of the year. I find that by the end of the week I am exhausted from being out in the sun so much. I start my day off like any other day in the 6th grade homeroom. They are currently trying to plan their Christmas party that will be on Friday. We told them they are completely in charge of planning it, so we shall see what they end up doing.

I then spend about an hour and a half planning for the next week. I have 9th grade from 9:15 - 10:40. This was not a big deal at the beginning of the year, but now that it is getting to be so hot I have had to get a little more creative with the double period. The last few weeks we have been doing some Taebo in the music room. Most of the kids have actually enjoyed it and I think it is a great option for here in Dar in the middle of the summer.

I then get to jump to the primary end of physical education. I have Kindergarten from 11:15 till 12:00 and 1st grade is from 12:30 till 1:15. At first I wasn't so sure about teaching these young kids, but they have grown on me. There is just something about doing the hokey pokey and the chicken dance with these students that has made me love them. I also enjoy being able to teach them to do the basic things like skipping, gallopping, and jumping and landing. The smile on their faces when they are able to do something that they were not able to do before makes it all worth it.

By the time I clean up from teaching those classes, I usually have about 30 minutes till the end of the day. I usually try to finish up my lessons for the next week during this time or catch up on the grades I didn't get finished before. On Thursdays right after school I have about an hour just to hang out and make some use of the internet. I then meet with two other teachers to help plan Sala Sala kids club that I help with on Mondays after school.

After that I usually don't have anything that is scheduled each Thursday night. There are some Thursdays that I will go out to eat, but for the most part by Thursday night I am exhausted.

So that is my Thursday :)

WEDNESDAYS

Wow so I didn't do so well on my challenge. I guess I have a bit of an excuse in the fact that I got sick that week, and never picked it back up again.

So now since it has been over a month later, I will pick up with my Wednesdays.


Wednesdays are my lighter days, which is kind of nice considering Tuesdays are so crazy. On Wednesdays I have homeroom at 7:30 with the 6th graders as we do every morning. The class is growing on me. It is taking me a little bit to get use to teaching middle schoolers, but I think God is helping me in that department. After homeroom I have some time to do some planning for the next week and enter grades into my computer for classes. I then have 9th grade from 9:15 to 10:40. Today I was teaching them different types of frisbee throws. I then taught them how to play ultimate frisbee. It took a little bit for them to completely understand it, but after they got it most of them seemed to enjoy it.

I then have another break, which I now have decided to use as time to work on curriculum. I have been tasked to start coming up with curriculum maps so I am planning on trying to do that as much as possible in my free time on Wednesdays. At 12:50 till 2:15 I teach an 11th and 12th grade elective class. Today we were doing some more things with speedball. We played outside for half of the class, but the sun was too instense to stay out for the entire class period. The rest of the class we played indoor speedball.

On Wednesdays after school we have a staff meeting. Each week a different teacher is in charge of leading a devotional time and prayer. We then split into meetings for the elementary and the secondary to cover the business end of things. Last week it was my turn to do the devotional. I decided to talk about trust, since that is something that has been on my mind alot lately. I had one of the staff members do the trust fall and then talked a little about how God calls us to not only trust him in the big things, but also the smaller things of life. He may also call us to trust him in ways that we don't expect.

My day is then officially over. I usually try to go for a run on Wednesday afternoons, since my evenings tend to be fairly open. I plan on leaving school shortly and going for a nice run this evening.

TUESDAYS

Well it is now Wednesday, but my Tuesdays are so busy that I didn't have time to post yesterday. My typical Tuesday is wake up at 5:00am and leave my house by 6:30 or so.to walk to work. On most mornings I get to see an amazing sunrise, but yesterdays was just amazing. I then one again have prayer at 7:00am and then 6th grade homeroom. After that I have about 45 min to plan and set up for the day, I then start out by teaching 5th grade. I then have another small break, before I go for the rest of the day. I have 6th grade, and then a lunch break, but yesterday we had a meeting to discuss things that we can do to manage one of the classes better. I then have an 1hr and 30 min class with a few 10th graders and finish the day with 7th and 8th grade.





Normally I then have soccer practice after school with my U11 boys team, but last night I had a prayer meeting with SIL. Once a month they change the prayer time at the office so the SIL HOPAC teachers can go and have a time of prayer with them. It is good to catch up on what is happening around Tanzania in terms of Bible translation.





We have also just recently started Tuesday night T-Square night. T-Square is a little outdoor resturant that sells meat for cheap. It is also just good to get out for a meal and be able to sit down and chat about how are week is going. It is also very cheap so that is nice, although last night we found out they just raised their prices so that was a little disappointing.





On the way back from T-Square we decided to walk to buy luku (electricity). Now this is a very interesting process, which is always amuses me when we have to do it. So each house has a power box in it that you can plug number into, and on the power box it tells you how much electricity that you have. As it starts to get low you have a number that you have to take, along with some money to the luku place. In the past we have done this no problem. We just walk up to the little window and hand them the money and the number. Well last night I think everyone needed luku. We stood in line for about 45min and experienced some very interesting things as we stood there. We were going to walk home, but decided that we no longer had the energy so we got a bajaj. Our bajaj that we got was great, because as we started off he began to blare music. It was one of those moments of yeah I actually live here :)





So yeah that is my Tuesday pretty much a nonstop day but good things along the way. Hopefully in the next few days I will have some good stories to tell about things in the classroom. Today is not as busy of a day, which I am thankful for because I started not feeling so well last night.

Sunday and Monday

Alright so I failed on my first day, but I will catch up. Last week was a tough week for me and by the weekend I just felt like I needed some time away. I decided to go and hang out at the beach all day on Sunday. I went with Stacy Cawley, while her husband went to church with the kids. It was so nice just to relax and share about our weeks. I also spent some time just resting and reading. After church Dan brought the kids over and we had lunch together. Then we all went swimming together. It was great to play with the kids in the water. We also had the chance to watch some fishermen pull in a huge net. It was quite the process. I wish I would have had my camera, but it was back on the beach. This beach is amazing because during low tide the water is probably out about a half mile, so you get to walk out into the ocean. It almost looks like you could cross to an island that isn't far away, but think it is farther than I thought. After I arrived home I decided to continue my day of rest and hang out in my room watching a movie, and skyping some people. My Sundays are not all like that, but it was a much needed complete day of rest.

MONDAY
My mondays are not my busiest day so it is nice to have time to prepare for the week. I get up around 5:00 am on Mondays and try to be at school by 6:15. There are two boys that I open up a tiny little room for that has like 3 sets of weights that they can use to lift on Monday, Wednesdays, and Fridays. I usually spend some time catching up on emails or reading the newspaper online. At 7:00am a few of the secondary teachers meet together for five minutes or so to pray for the school day and any pressing things. I love starting my day out on the right foot and getting into the mindset of how can I serve the kids today. I then have a few minutes before homeroom. I am one of the homeroom teachers for the 6th grade class. On Mondays we have a secondary school assembly. We do worship together and have a speaker. Our theme for the year is Plugged In. We are challenging the students to think about what they are plugged into and how that influences the choices they make. We are then taking that and trying to give them ways to be plugged into God.

After assembly I have about 1hr and 30min of planning time, which I try to organize at least my Mondays and Tuesdays. I teach 6th - 8th grade for 40 min each on Mondays. They are a fun group, but it has been a challenge for me to teach middle schoolers. They are growing on me though and God is teaching me how to just love them right where they are at. Today I also spent alot of time inputting grades into our new online grading system.

On Mondays after school I go right to Swahili lessons from 2:30 till 3:15. I need alot of help in the Swahili department. I am not finding enough to practice so that doesn't help anything. After Swahili I go right into helping to set up for Sala Sala kids club. I will put more about this in my newsletter next month. It is such a privelage to work with these kids though and just be able to love on them for an hour and 30 min.

So that is my typical Monday. Every other monday night I meet with my housemates for a Bible study. Tonight happens to be the night for that, so I should start heading home.

Goat Races and a Challenge

I have been reading over the blogs I posted and I have realized they are mostly about what I have been doing on the weekends. I realize that I haven't really given you any day to day specifics or what is going on inside the school, so I am giving myself a challenge to blog every day for one week. I am going to start on Sunday October 2nd and continue through till Sunday October 9th. I am hoping then I can give you more of a glimpse into my everyday life here and not just the weekend experiences.

All of that to say I figured I have to tell you all about my experiences of going to the goat races last Saturday. That is right GOAT RACES. It was quite the experience. Ali Price, Winston Ly, and I decided to take a Bajaj to the goat races. It is always an adventure when you decide to go somewhere and you are not really sure where it is, so we hopped in a Bajaj thinking he knew where he was going. Well he didn't so he dropped us off to another Bajaj driver, who also did not know where he was going. After driving for a bit he stopped at a taxi stand and ended up paying them to tell him where to go. We eventually arrived safe and sound, but just a little hot and sweaty. The goat races are a fun raising event so there were lots of little tents with food and other things to do. It was very much like a fair type atmosphere. We got there when they were doing a little parade to judge customs and hats. There were people dressed in all types of customs and hats. The goat races themselves were great entertainment. They would parade the goats into the track by carrying them and then place them behind the starting block. Then on the go signal they would let them go and all the guys would run after them. It was a very fun Saturday afternoon activity. I will let the pictures tell you the rest of the story.

HIGHLIGHTS OF MY WEEK

The first highlight of the week was babysitting Adah and Micah. My housemate Ali and I volunteered to keep the Cawley's kids one night this week so they could get out by themselves for a couple of hours. They thought we were doing them a favor, but really I think we may have had more fun. It was so much fun to just spend a night with them and get lost in a kids world for a bit. We played on the playground at the school, and then took them back to our house. Micah then helped me make mac and cheese for dinner (it was extra special mac and cheese from the States). After that we ran around outside our house playing ball with Micah, and I think our guards thought we were a little crazy. Then we had some popcorn and Micah read a book to us. I am glad we could give the Cawley's a night out, but it was just as good for me to be able to play with the kids. I have been missing playing with my nieces and nephew so that was a help.

The next highlight of the week and maybe the best thing since being here happened today. After church today I was invited to go for lunch to the other single female teachers house, along with the Pastor from my church and his family. I had an awesome meal, great fellowship, got to hold a little baby, and also learn how to drive a bajaj. Yep, thats right I drove for the first time since being here in Tanzania. Marie, a teacher at HOPAC, owns a bajaj and volunteered to give me some driving lessons. So a couple of us went out with her today to learn how to drive. It was so much fun. It is very much like driving a motorcycle. The hardest thing for me was driving on the opposite side of the rode. A couple of us took turns learning how to drive and we had a blast. Who knows maybe I will have to buy one for myself :)

Here some pictures from both experiences!

Micah being an excellent helper.

Adah just enjoying playing with the box.

YUM..this is the real stuff!

I am driving and Marie is instructing :)

Fun afternoon of driving for all..don't ask why
I am at the top of the hill and they are at the bottom.

We survived !!!!!!!

Enjoying DAR

After four weeks of training and one week of teaching a few of us decided it was time to get out and experience a little bit of Dar last Friday night. So three of my housemates and I decided to try an Ethiopian restaurant that was highly recommended by others who live here. It was a great to get out and relax at a fun place. Of course we had a little adventure in finding the place as our driver didn't know where it was, but we thought we had an idea. Well turned out it wasn't where we thought it was, but no worries. We called the restaurant and got directions and eventually found it. It is becoming the norm to have everything be a great adventure here.


Our awesome food
me, Ali, Kara, and Sarah
They even served popcorn with the tea :)


Then yesterday we got the chance to get away again and hang out at an island. It was a much needed day of relaxation. I had fun reading, journaling, swimming, and resting.

HAVEN OF PEACE ACADEMY- FIRST WEEK OF SCHOOL

Well I survived my first week and day of teaching. Yes that's right we had a full week and one day of classes and now I am enjoying two days off for holiday. It was a much needed break after a very full week.

So a little bit about the Haven of Peace Academy that I learned in just one week. First of all the school is very, very, very, diverse. I don't think I could put enough verys in there to explain how diverse it is. This includes the students, teachers, teachers assistants, and other staff here at the school. Our students and teachers represent over 30 different countries. This can be fun and challenging all at the same time. Along with representing many different countries our students also come from a variety of backgrounds in culture and religion. I am very excited to have the opportunity to teach in a school that has such great diversity and I have the freedom to share my faith in my teaching.

The second thing that I loved was the beginning of the year assembly. We started Monday off with a whole school assembly. It was fun to have everyone together in one place and start out the school year with some encouraging words from the director of the school. It was also great to sing worship songs together as a whole school. It was a great way to start out the school year as one united body.

It was very interesting to feel like a new teacher again and feel like I didn't really know what I was doing. As always it takes time to adjust to a new position and really get a feel for what you are doing and how you are going to go about doing it. As far as my schedule I am teaching K, 1st, 4th, and 5th, one time a week for 45 minutes each. I then have 6th - 8th grade three times a week for 40 minutes a class. I also have 9th and 10th grade one time a week for 1 hour and 30 minutes each. Finally I have two elective classes; one for 10th grade and one for 11th/12th grade each for an 1 hour and 30 minutes a week. As you can see learning names is going to be lots of fun and keeping my schedule straight the first couple of weeks is going to be interesting. I am fairly sure that I will not get bored though.

So that is a little bit about the school and my first week. I had many laughs throughout the week as I navigated being new and learning the ins and outs of teaching in a different culture. The best part of my week was the kids asking me if I was a professional kick boxer. At the start of each of the classes I allowed the students to ask questions about me so they could get to know me a little better. The first day one of the students asked me if I was a professional kick boxer. Of course I said no, and kind of just passed it off, until the next day when I got asked again. I then asked them why they were asking me this. It turns out they were told that I was a professional kick boxer and they were all scared of me. If I would have been thinking I would have run with it, but I guess it was good that I was honest. They still haven't figured out who started the rumor.

PIZZA IN TANZANIA

For the last few days my housemates and I have been discussing making pizza for dinner on Saturday night. We were ready for some home cooked food and looked forward to eating in our own house. We of course could not do this with out some adventure along the way. I am finding out on a daily basis that making plans here is next to impossible and if you do plan to do something you need to plan for something to be changed within that plan.



Our pizza making adventure started on Friday, when we did our grocery shopping. We decided not to go to the bigger store that is about a 30 minute drive away, so instead we stopped first at a duka (these are small stores along the road). Most times at these you tell them what you what and they get it off the shelf for you. This is difficult with limited Swahili, so I decided it was just easier to walk behind the counter and get the things myself. We were able to get most of the things on our list at this duka, which was nice. We got back into our tuk tuk and then had our driver drop us off at Africana Junction. This is a very busy intersection, so we are standing there with all of our bags, deciding where to go next.


We then continued our shopping trip by getting on another tuk tuk and heading to a gas station called Engen, which is also a "larger" store. Here we were able to pick up some more things that we had on our list of food for the week. We also almost had all the ingredients for pizza, but were not able to buy cheese. We then went back to Africana Junction and walked around some small vegetable stands and bought some fruits and vegetables. We were then each carrying three or four bags. I decided to walk back to the hotel that we were eating dinner at that night from where we were with my housemate Emily, so the other housemates loaded onto a tuk tuk with the 10 or so grocery bags to head home.


We now had all the ingredients to make a pizza, except for cheese :) I was very excited for Saturday to come. Well Saturday afternoon came and I started to make the pizza crust, while my housemate Sarah started making homemade sauce. After I finished making the crust I figured I should attempt to turn the oven on since this was our first time using the oven. It was a good thing that I tried to turn it on, because after about 30 minutes of trying to make it work we figured out that we were not going to be able to get it to work. Oh yeah forgot to mention it was now about 5:30 and we had some friends coming over to eat pizza with us also bringing the cheese with them for the pizzas.


Well not eating the pizza in my mind was not an option. The couple coming over was just moving into their house and did not have an oven. My thoughts at this time were spinning. My first thought was to build a fire outside and cook it over the fire. I figured that would take a long time so the back up plan was to call some other missionary friends I met in training to see if we could use their oven. You have to understand for me to call anyone on the phone is a stretch and now I am calling to see if we can use their oven. Well they said yes, so we packed up the pizza sheets with the dough on them, and the sauce. We walked 10 minutes to the main road and three of my housemates got on a tuk tuk and headed to the other house to cook the pizza dough. I went with my other housemate to pick up the cheese at our other friends house. There we loaded in the car they are borrowing with the cheese and headed to the place we were making the pizzas.


It ended as a successful event. Although a long drawn out process, we were all very happy for the pizza at the end of the evening. I realize this is long, but this whole process made me realize that gone are my days of essentially doing anything quickly. I can no longer call up the local pizza place and have a pizza in 20 minutes. I must say in this process it has made me realize how much I take for granted in the U.S. How I don't think twice about when I switch my light switch on in the morning if there will actually be light, or when I walk into the shower and turn it on if there will actually be water. If I go to my oven and turn it on I am not thinking about if it will work or not and when I want to do laundry I throw it in the washer and forget about it. This is Africa has run through my mind many times in the last few weeks, and now when I have the above mentioned things it is exciting. When we arrived home last night from our pizza adventure, we walked up to our front door and I was very excited that we had electricity. It is the small things in life here that create great excitement and make you realize how blessed you are. It was great to end the evening watching a movie with my housemates and realize how grateful I am for the opportunity I have to serve God here in Tanzania. Life may not always be easy here, but there will always be adventure around the corner :)

Putting the cheese on the pizza :)




Pizzas are finally cooking

My housemates Kara and Emily waiting for the pizzas to be done.

GLIMPSES INTO MY LIFE IN AFRICA

WOW.....it is amazing that I have been here for over a week. I feel like I have experienced so many different things here already and the best way for me to explain them is through pictures. I hope that these pictures give you a glimpse into what life has been like for me in the past week.

Because of the Lord's great love

we are not consumed,

for his compassions never fail.

They are new every morning;

great is your faithfulness.

Lamentations 3:22-23

It has been so awesome to sit by my bedroom window in the morning. The picture above is the view from my window. As I watch the sun come up over the ocean it has been a great reminder of God's love for me and how His mercies are new every morning. It has been very helpful as I go through long days of training and also continue to adjust to life here.


THEN THERE IS THE TRANSPORTATION........

After the peacefulness of watching the sunrise, I get to ride on one of the above vehicles. My training is taking place at a hotel about 15 minutes from where I am living, so each morning my two housemates and I walk down to the main road and hop a ride on one of these tuk tuks. They are a great way to get around here as they do not sit in the traffic. I sometimes feel like I am on an amusement park ride, as we may go off the road, down the middle of the road, or on the complete opposite side of the road. I do enjoy the open air ride and the adventure. It also a good way to wake yourself up in the morning.

This is a picture of my new work place. The door on the left is to the Physical Education storage room. The other areas are the boys and girls locker rooms. I also have a separate office that I am very excited to say has windows and a door that opens to the outside.

One of the first nights that my housemates and I were in our house we decided to try some passion fruit. I love that I can walk down the street from my house and buy a great variety of fresh fruit for a couple of dollars. I am not sure that passion fruit will always be my choice, but there are plenty of other options.


The picture above is of me holding a can of popcorn. Yes all is good in my world, because I have popcorn. It was good to sit down on Sunday evening with a big bowl of popcorn, after a full week of training.

I hope that gives you a little taste of what life has been like for me so far here in AFRICA.

WELCOME

LET THE ADVENTURE BEGIN.........

In just over a month I will be moving just outside of Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania to teach at the Haven of Peace Academy. I am hoping to use this site to keep you updated on my life in Tanzania. I am excited to be going out surrounded by such a group of supporters and hope that I can use this site to show you how God is working in my life and in the lives of those around me.