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.