conversation

Me - "It looks like a beautiful day today!"
Shosho - "no. no its not. visitors think a day like today is nice, but it is not."
Me (thinking to myself) - i dont know what to do with my face....[as i look at the sky awkwardly]
End of conversation....

Mornings

So, being at university and not having a class before 11:00 I became very used to late nights and late mornings.  That is not the case in Mtakuja! The power usually goes out in the evening therefore not worth the hassle of staying up and walking around.  The other reason to hit the sheets, remains with the basic fact of everybody on the school campus is up and going at 7.  We usually get up at 6 or 6:30 to start our yoga and exercises before the heat sets in which is a great start to the day! buuuuut the rush is on because the teachers start singing at 7:30. yes everybody, they have an early morning singing session. Sometime the songs are nice and comforting but every other day there is a certain teacher who thinks he is John Meyer or something.  He belts out and lets loose. Lets just say because it is a religious school nobody says anything to him. :/ I just laugh (to myself of course ;) ).  Then we make our way out to the veranda where we drink our coffee, eat our breakfast, and take a good ol' gander at kilimanjaro! i think that if i actually used my brain and thought about it before climbing, I would have been a bit nervous haha oh well. CHECK!!

TIP #5

When speaking swahili, dont confuse NinapEnda wewe (i like you) with NinapAnda wewe (i would like to mate with you) hahahahaha

TIP #4

alwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaays. always. always check your bed before you climbing. taranchulas like to sleep there too.

TIP #3

(those who know shosho will love this one)
IF YOUR GRANDMOTHER TELLS YOU TO EAT THE FERMENTED CREAM BECAUSE IT IS NOW "CHEESE", JUST SAY NO.

TIP #2

Don't sit with your feet under the desk at night as you might have a 7 inch poisonous centipede crawling around the floor...

TIPS!

Okay. so instead of writing about every single encounter I have that is funny or scary, I am just going to post tips about how to avoid!

TIP #1:

Always keep your muscles warm in case you have to jump off the "porcelain throne" away from a spider the size of a bagel!!

week 2

Hi everyone!!
So this week has been marvellous! I started at Marangu but shosho and I made our way back to the Secondary School of Mtakuja in the middle of the week.  As soon as we descended from the slopes of Kilimanjaro we could feel the heat as it radiated off the dry earth.  We had quite the time in Moshi as we made our way from the bakery to the small grocery store and then out to the school.  I was sitting in the back seat as Obedi (the driver and accountant for the school) asked if i had a drivers license.  Then he pulled over and welcomed me into the driver's seat. I was a little nervous because #1 it was Moshi and if you have ever been in African traffic you know that there are no rules and #2 in Africa one drives on the left hand side of the road.  Anyway we ended up making it to the school while incurring funny looks and shouts of MZUNGU! (white person) A truck in front of us had a cargo of 20 men who were all smiling and encouraging me to go faster.  Overall a good time :) When we arrived at the school we settled in and made ourselves at home. as the week continued we planted flowers and vegetables in the dust of the gardens.  Luckily with the school owning the only pump and well system within 20 miles, we were able to give the seeds hope!  Shosho and I have also fixed the shower, photographed Kilimanjaro, baked a cake!, and set up a sister school in Germany!! We are moving along on the solar project and shosho is becoming quite the internet wizard.  Just kidding :) today she learned for the first time that the internet was compiled of more than just "the email".  Quite a shock to all the staff as the now 7 of us looked up a recipe for frosting.  They had no idea that the internet was also a TV, information supplier, photo gallery, etc. Tomorrow we are going to research all of the castles that shosho used to live in as a child and we will be starting to record the story of her heart wrenching yet fascinating life!!!
PS. Zanzibar in 8 days!!! so excited to kite surf!!!!

Marangu Hotel

The days have been wonderful at the famous Marangu Hotel at the base of Kilimanjaro with the cool breezes and lovely vegetation.  Now I am back at the secondary school in Mutakuja where it is hot yet beautiful! the trip through moshi was hot and crowded but we were able to get the food needed to last us a while in the village!  Shosho is feeling better and is now able to walk with the help of a masai foombe.  The atmosphere is of course wonderful and the people always inviting.  I love it here with all my heart and will be treasuring these months to come. Shosho and i have started to talk about our past family history and it is very interesting to know about all the people that i am related to!  but most importantly we are just having a blast together and are going to get the school solarized!!!

Finally here!!

So I got here yesterday and there was a silly mix up with the arrival date and time! So when I got to the airport after 3 days of flying, I had nobody to pick me up.. Never the less I found some interns working at the local HCMC hospital that were american and I got a ride from them. We were literally driving around in the African bush with no idea where to go at midnight :) it was rather funny. So to ask for directions we stopped a local man riding his bike.  yes he had been drinking so his swahili was a little hard to understand but we had no other choice for directions. There was no room in the car for his bike so we just left the boot open and held the bike while we drove. a bit of a bumpy ride... But we made it!! oh thats not the end of the story. once i arrived to a very dark Mutakuja Secondary school I found out that my bibi (grandmother in swahili) was at a Marangu Hotel for she was sick. So i slept in the teachers room which was quite the experience, and drove to marangu today. It is a lot cooler here for it is on the base of Kilimanjaro and a lot better of an environment for bibi.We immediately started to plan out what the school had in store for the next 4 months. We are going to plant all the seeds i brought,  maintain the tree plantation, remake the chicken coup, start another section of garden, and most importantly try and convert the whole school to solar energy!!! going to be a tough and taxing few months but totally worth it :)