Hamjambo!

What a great experience it has been here in Tanzania these last four days. The weather is fabulous: warm during the day and cool in the evenings. And its very green here at the bottom of Mt. Kiliminjaro. The mountain is visable from many different vantage points here and it's stunning. Too bad I can't upload photographs.

I have started my teaching job at St. Theresia secondary school and am loving that too. The students stand up when an adult walks in the room and when they answer questions, and they also escort you to the teacher's room, Your books in hand at the end of class. They are courteous and polite and seem genuinely happy to have foreign teachers. I'm loving the respect you get here as a teacher and as an elder.

I am teaching two levels of English (9th and 10th graders) and Civics. There is one civics book that the other civics teacher and I have to share. Of course the students don't have any books. In my English classes between 25 and 40 students share around 8 of the readers and grammar primers; that's the most frustrating aspect of teaching here-- the woeful lack of resources.

All of my 28 co-volunteers are wonderful people to know and I am learning a lot from them as well. The food at the base home is sensational. Mostly vegetables and lots of salads and wonderful stews and I have quickly learned to like Ugali (the corn-based staple) too because the sauces are so delicious.

This weekend I am going with a few others to spend the weekend at a Masai village. We will meet and eat and dance (!) with them and help them with their chores. I can't wait. I have always been drawn to the Masai because they are such tall people. I think my ancient ancestors must have come from this rejoin.

Our computer at home base is very slow and we are only supposed to use it to conduct quick business, so I am here in town today using a very fast computer for about 50 cents an hour. We have lectures and Swahili lessons in the afternoons after our placements so there hasn't been a lot of time to get into town, but the pace will slow down in two weeks and then I'll have more time to post.

Right now I have to grab a cab back home for Swahili class, so Bedai for now.