Merry Christmas

I originally titled this post Happy Thanksgiving, but because of problems with the Internet I haven't been able to post till now, so it is now Merry Christmas. A lot has happened in that time, but I wanted to keep the post somewhat short so I'm jumping around a bit. I had a good Thanksgiving for being in Tanzania. I met up with some friends I have met in Songea and had a little party. There were people there from 6 different countries (Italy, Croatia, USA, Canada, Cuba, and Tanzania) all in this little part of Tanzania. It was a blast getting to meet a lot of other volunteers.

So, I have finished teaching for the year. The students are wrapping up their final exams and I am grading almost 150 math and English tests. Tons of fun! We have been very busy with different volunteers coming from Italy over the last month. Two sets of volunteers from Rome working in the Dispensary have come and one Vet from another school will be here for the next month and a half. It has been pretty neat to meet so many different people from around the world in this little village in Africa.

Last weekend we went for a hike to the nearby mountain and on the hike up we saw about 10 monkeys playing in some trees. It was neat to see them from so far away. On the way back, however, I was running ahead of the group and about 25feet in front of me four big baboons jumped out of a tree and ran across the road. As a continued along with a big stick in my hand I could hear them all hooting and hollering from somewhere in the woods. Needless to say I hurried up on through and thankfully was not chased down!

On another interesting note I attended my first cow slaughter a couple of weeks ago. So far I have seen a chicken, goat, and now cow go under the knife. Here in Tanzania though things are a little less humane than they would be in the US I think. The cow was already sick and could not even stand so it was brought in on a cart. The man who butchered the cow had on no gloves or shoes and began cutting its throat with a knife, only to find out that the knife wasn't quite sharp enough, so he stopped went outside sharpened the knife and finished the job. Words can't really describe it I don't think.

A couple weekends ago I visited the house of a student for the afternoon. It was quite the experience. As an honored guest they had prepared food and bought a soda for me to drink. The family all sat on a couch and me in a chair, and they all watched me eat and drink and refused to eat themselves. AWKWARD! After I finished I toured around the village and visited their farm. I even did a little work and ate some freshly grown fruit. The houses in the village are all pretty bare with no electricity. In fact, most of the village was gathered in front of one house that has a generator and were listening to music.


On Sat I leave for Dar es Salaam and then to Zanzibar for a little over 2 weeks. I will celebrate Christmas and New Years there on some of the most beautiful beaches in the world. Not a horrible place to be away from home. It's really hard to imagine that it is Christmas time though. Here there are no Christmas trees, no music, no lights, I can't tell the difference between this month and August! I think Zanzibar is a bit more of a tourist place so maybe it will feel a little bit more like Christmas there.

Well, I am continuing to work on updating the website and need to get back to work.

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and wonderful New Year. I will be sure to update on my travels when I arrive back from Zanzibar.