3/19.10

3/19/10
Internet is more difficult to come by than I thought. I have to catch a ride and go 20 miles to Arusha to find an internet café. I can’t post pictures now because it takes up too much bandwidth, but I will post them when I get home. So far I’ve gotten some great shots of the kids and the village.

The kids at the school are talking to me more and more. Lately they have been approaching me to talk instead of me having to go up to them. Everyday it seems I have a new favorite student. They are so kind, welcoming, funny, sweet and bright. So far, I have interviewed five students. A lot of them wish to be engineers, doctors or teachers. I started noticing that they make this strange gasp/hiccup noise when I talk to them. At first I thought it was because they were offended at something I said, but then I realized that it is their form of politely nodding or saying “uh huh” when someone is talking.

Yesterday we went to ISM, the International School of Moshi, to watch a play. ISM invites Orkeeswa to a play or event about once a year. We all piled into four buses and drove about 30 minutes. On the way, the kids all sang songs, which I guess is what they normally do on bus rides. I was blown away by the ISM campus - large buildings, running water, lawn, flower gardens. I guess this is a school where the wealthy people from all over the world who live in Arusha send their children. The play was based on the American movie “High School Musical”. All the kids in the play had different accents. It was interesting to see the kids from Orkeeswa try to make sense out of it. Their lives are completely different from the lives of the kids who attend ISM, and the play was very American. I think they enjoyed it, though.

I’ve met some awesome people here. Scott and Lisa are a couple that I am living with in the staff house and they have been helping me learn the ropes. They have been here for two months and are volunteering at Orkeeswa for a year. They moved here from southeast Alaska. I also made a buddy named Ben who is a lot of fun. He is a college student from Boston who is here for three months doing research on sports teams.

I am hoping to go on a 1 or 2 day safari but it is really expensive, especially if I go alone. There is a guy named Rafa who works with IEFT who is going to help me find a group to go with.