Day 52- eating pizza rocks, rain is no longer a friend, and packing wet clothes is still not cool

Wednesday, June.22nd, 2011
Song of the day: Just the way you are- Bruno Mars
Youtube it!

So just quickly checking in before I head to bed. I just finished packing and we leave for our bus around 5:30 in the morning. Its just after midnight and I just finished packing.
Today we had pizza for dinner which was delicious! I finally got around to cleaning my clothes today and then half way through their drying outside stage it decides to rain.... I do not know what you think about rain... but it sure was not cool to see my clothes wet again. I had to pack some of my clothes damp... which is not my favorite thing, but it is higher on the list of acceptable options. Certainly higher than "go without any clothes".
I will have to post this blog when I get back  because I am truly exhausted and need to get some sleep before the adventurous nine hour bus ride to Arusha. Happy day!
Goodnight.
Moriah

Day 45- Day 49: Jellyfish sting in the waves, scored trip to hospital because of malaria scare, and laundry that never gets done.

Song of the Day[s]: Owl City-Hello Seattle
Youtube it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flPwGj7O6FU

Wednesday, June. 15th, 2011-Sunday, June.19th, 2011
What is better than jumping waves in the Indian Ocean with Mike? A jellyfish joining in the fun, that is what! After feeling the sting and rushing out of the water, Mike kindly offered to save my life. What a noble gentleman, I'd say. Those four small words seemed to linger in the air. Those four small words held so much meaning in them... I was not sure what to say. We locked eyes as he said those words one last time, "I'll pee on you", and I knew I could not decline. What a glorious expression of selflessness, hope and long suffering.
After the tossing around of mixed emotions I accepted Mike's offer to save my life. I think he was a little shocked when I accepted the offer, because he did not rise to the challenge. His heroic gesture was righteously exposed for what it truly was and left him embarrassed and my arm still in pain. GREAT!
I managed to make it to the bar where I received help from the bartender. After "applying the liquid" to the sting I noticed there was green pulp scattered on my arm and a sweet aroma that brought back the long lost memories of high school Friday night parties. Good times! What was this liquid I used? Why it was juice from a lime of course! Just as acidic as urine and not so repulsive! I will be logging that away into my memory bank for the next time a jellyfish joins in my fun and some guy wants to play hero!
Now, as for malaria... well I have been dealing with a small amount of sickness these past few days, which had me in bed for most of the day and achy all over. Late one night, while a group of us sat downstairs around our dinner table I received a phone call from Jennifer. It was long past 11:00pm, so it seemed a bit odd. She let me know her husband, Joel, was at the hospital with malaria and they wanted me to go to the hospital right now because we had the same symptoms. Well, talk about catching me off guard. Nothing like a good life-threatening disease scare in the middle of the night while in Tanzania... I did not freak out or start to panic... just went upstairs and got my things and a little money. I think the interns around me were more frightened then I.
Joel and Jennifer returned to the guesthouse with our driver and Nicole and I hopped in, excited for the new adventures to come! Not exactly. Nicole was convinced I had malaria. I on the other hand was not too sure what to think of it all. Before we left on the adventures to TMJ hospital I sent a quick email to a few loved ones about the drama... Figured if I died... at least I warned them! *grin*
The hospital was like nothing I had seen in Canada before; It was empty. I requested a malaria test and she asked me for 3500 BUCKS!! Good thing I got travel insurance... because that was a hefty price to pay for them to prick my finger... Doctors out here are so pricey... There goes my debt-free life! Woah is me and all things sad! Alright, alright, alright... so it was 3500, but that is in Tanzanian Schillings.... which is just over 2 dollars... Phew, I'll survive this experience with .50 to spare! And I won't even charge BCAA...
While I sat and waited as the women held my fate in their hands... I thought it appropriate to send the other interns some "heads up" text messages and I knew they were sitting at home anticipating the horrid outcome. After reviewing my options of possible consoling messages I went with this one:
"It's official, I am pregnant!"
Somehow, the twisted, confusing, unrelated, and totally not appropriate message seemed... fitting. I chuckled to myself and thought it was best to tell Nicole, as she seemed a bit on edge. She did not laugh as much as I did, but was happy and shocked when the doctor told me I did not have malaria. Phew! I'll live! And it only took 10 minutes to clear the worries. Good thing, cause I think Nicole could not handle the worry. Too much stress for one night!
I considered sending a real text this time and letting them all know I was okay, but it did not seem as fun. The responses to the first text were amusing to say the least, so I decided I would play a bit more with this before admitting the bland results.
On to other things... as you all know, I do my own laundry by hand wash. Sadly that is not a button I press on my highly efficient washer machine... no, not quite. There are no buttons to push, unless I am wearing a blouse... and this "washer machine" gets tired a lot quicker than any electronic man made machine would. I never realized how strong my washing machine at home was... kudos to the machine! I truly love and miss thee! Anyhow, back to the reality of my life... Laundry piles up here and as exciting as it sounds to wash my clothes and feel all self sufficient, it gets old real fast! Almost two months of hand washing has taught me a few things, all of which make me more grateful for what I have at home. So, if you are avoiding washing your clothes... what is the one thing that finally makes you do your darn laundry? Is it the odor from your articles of clothing that smells like 10 day old sweat? Is it the splash stains from last weeks dinner? Is it the up close and personal car rides with the other interns where there is no missing ANY "scents"? Naw, I have sprays for all of that. The only thing that forces you out here to wash your clothes is the realization that you are on your last pair of underwear. YIKES! This is the only thing that forces you to clean your clothes and even in the process, we all[yes even the girls] pause and consider the once repulsed thought of inside out underwear.... Have no fear, we all end up caving and washing our clothes! So, I better do my laundry tomorrow... commando is not an option.

My time is short here. I have 13 days left before I leave and head back to Canada... Unfortunately, after the 22nd I will not have access to my computer until the 30th, as we are all taking a trip to Arusha for a week. Still a few days to write about, so keep coming back... Thanks for reading and I hope you all have enjoyed thus far! Again, thank you to all the generous and loving people who have helped me to make this possible. This volunteer adventure has been nothing short of a life changing experience! God bless!

-ILML13

Day 43- Work, confusion and a little thing called last minute changes...

Song of the day: Black Eyed Peas- Just Can't Get Enough
Youtube it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrTyD7rjBpw

Monday, June. 13th, 2011
I woke up this morning at 4am! I was a little sleepy considering I had fallen asleep just after midnight, but I was happy to be able to talk to my little brother over Skype! At first it was just two webcams and my mic and their typing. Randomly in the middle of the conversation I started to hear their conversations even though they said they had no mic! That was a great surprise for all of us! I was able to hear my little brothers adorable voice! I do not care how tired I was... That was worth the lack of sleep. I was also able to talk to Dad, Pauline and my oldest brother!
I chose to stay in bed for the Skype call which seemed harmless, until my older brother had two guys over and everyone thought it would be fun to have them get on cam and say hello to me. Oh good! The most awkward part of the day! What a good first impression! And.... moving on...
Went for a walk this morning with Karisa and then left for internship placement. We get there and no one is there... shocking right? No more than 30 minutes into my work and Mary and her son, Donald, walk in. I am a little baffled, but happy to see them.
Still waiting on Donald to give me some definite info on the project in Bagamoyo. I did manage to discuss a few things and things should get finalized this week! Which is good since it should be happening NEXT week. haha
Jesse, Olive and I went out for lunch at a local place. We had some rice and then the fried bananas in the sauce and meat. It was delicious! I really must learn how to make this stuff so I can cook it at home! YUM!
We had a meeting today with Mary and Brian after lunch and discussed what tasks have been accomplished and what areas or projects need more time spent. The meeting was much needed and so I was grateful that we all could make it out. There is a broad meeting happening tomorrow, which Mary invited us to attend. It caught me off guard and had to rearrange things for tomorrow so I could attend. The children from KidzCare are coming tomorrow afternoon and the meeting is right smack dab in the middle of the time! It would not be too big of a deal if it was not for the fact that both Jesse and I are cooking dinner tonight and it is suppose to be an early dinner. Last minute planning is so not my thing... especially when I have to rearrange already planned out things. Hakuna Matata!
I am not feeling too well today, again. This whole sick thing is cramping my lifestyle out here. Especially since I only have 20 more days here until I return home! I end up low energy for most of the day and wanted to sleep when I am not out of the house. Ugh! Not a good way to end my time here. I will be signing out from university radar soon and shall have a few weeks of freedom before I return back home. Hopefully that means I will feel well enough to actually explore Dar and see some things I have not had time to see yet. Also, we are leaving for Arusha on the 23rd of this month.
So dinner tonight was Chips my Eye and unfortunately I have no appetite to eat it. So I am going to sleep nice and early. Canucks game at 3am!
Picture of the Day: Our Professor showing us how studying is done! As you can see the book is upside down. This picture was meant as a joke, but after being in Tanzania for 43 days I can see a deeper meaning to this picture. It is to do with cultures. Both the Canadian culture and the Tanzanian culture on a broad spectrum want to do the same things, accomplish the same tasks, experience the same life experiences but none of it is accomplished in the same manner... I feel like this picture depicts the confusion I had for my first month here. I was here experiencing the culture and trying to understand it all, but I found myself frustrated with the way things were done here. My outlook on this culture was similar to reading a book upside down; difficult to understand, confusing and downright frustrating. It was not until I embraced the differences and changed my viewpoint on their culture that I was able to understand and even appreciate the culture, flipping the book right side up.

Goodnight!

Day 42- small is sometimes better... honestly!

 Song of the Day: Pink- I Have Seen the Rain
Youtube it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNzUCkf9VLo

Sunday, June. 12th, 2011
Today was not a very active day. A few of the interns went to Bagamoyo for the day, but I was not one of them. Nicole[the newest babysitter from the university... YAY] and I went to Kunduchi to get some work done... and maybe a little vitamin D too.
That is really all that happened. We talked and had some good heart to heart... We sweat like we were doing Bikram Yoga for 3 hours straight. haha It was a great day!
I wish I had more to talk about, but it was full of the same old stuff I do every week. Something cool though! 3 weeks TODAY I will be IN Canada... HOME! Bittersweet thought...
KD for dinner... HEAVENLY!
Picture of the Day:

The view from where I was working! Do not worry... I spent time on that beach after so it was only a tease for so long!
Kwaheri rafiki!

Day 41- Cheza!

Starting a new thing... I select "shuffle" on my ipod and the song on there is the song of the day... Should be fun! Song of the day: Wiz Khalifa- "Black and Yellow"
Youtube it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Vcy1g6b0lg

Saturday, June. 11th, 2011
We went to KidzCare again! It feels like I have not seen the kids in so long! I was truly excited to see them. I felt like a child trying to go to sleep on Christmas eve...
Both Mary and Rob picked us up! The vehicle was packed! Five of us interns and Mary and Rob... We had to use the trunk seats. Mary and I volunteered to sit back there and I quite enjoyed it. I was able to discuss the fundraising I will be doing when I return to Canada for the orphanage as well as the curriculum I was wanting to create for their little primary school. She was excited for it all which only reenforced my excitement!
All the kids are out of school right now so we played from morning until late afternoon! We also got to meet Dennis, a great guy who is Tanzanian and comes to volunteer his time with the kids every weekend after he works/gets trained all week as a mechanic. I have heard so much about him and was very happy to meet him. The kids love him and he is very friendly!
Today was the most difficult day to leave. One of the twin boys wrap hugged me and while I had him in my lap he put his forehead on mine and looked into my eyes telling me not to go. I told him I had to and he had a bit of a fit, telling me to stay. It was hard to look into his beautiful innocent eyes and tell him I had to leave. In fact, all of the kids were very huggie today when we were saying goodbye. They were hanging on much longer than usual, not wanting to let go. To be honest, I did not want to let go either. I wanted to throw my own fit and demand to stay...
Reluctantly, I finished all my hugs and then we left. The kids chased after our car like they always do and I could hear their adorable voices yelling "BYYYEEE!!!!!!!" as we drove off.
I guess I expected it to get harder... but still...
On a happier note! We are planning to have the children over to our house for dinner and to watch The Lion King! Should be fantastic!!!

Picture of the day:

Two of the girls playing in the sand making a town with big houses. It reminded me of myself when I was their age. I used to always build cities in the sand and then use twigs and leaves to decorate the buildings!

Until we meet again, thank you for reading!
ILML13

Day 40- Karma is not funny sometimes...At least I am alive though.

Friday, June. 10th, 2011
I cursed a lion the other day. Full out laid down some major hate. He felt it too... I know it. Course this wasnt in person really... or should i say this wasnt in animal.. it was a game i played. What a bad choice for a game! Two minutes after showing up to Mwenge market... guess who shows up! Thats right. THAT lion... alright well maybe not THAT one... but just my luck a lion shows up. The first thing I think to myself is "Shoot I should not have cursed that game lion.." Followed by the logical screams and running for my life. Well this lion must have heard my thoughts because out of everyone it chose me.... singled me out. UGH. Why me? WHY! Was it my blonde hair? My white skin? My screams? What a horrific moment... realizing the lion is singling you out! Out of all the 40 some people and I am the one he chooses. So what better way to run away then to trip half way through it and face plant into the dirt. Oh GOOD! The lion wasted no time! The moment he was close enough he took a good bite out of my toe.... It was all so shocking I could not even scream. Someone must of scared the lion off because after the one bite he suddenly ran off... When the men found out the lion had taken my toe they ran after it and killed it. Beat it up with their bare hands! Just ripped that fat cat apart and then returned my toe to me. Loads of blood... confusion... but in the end I was at the hospital and the doctor managed to somehow reattach my toe... and it just is bandaged up. Well... at least my pedicure was not ruined! Not even chipped! I am grateful for that!
So, I tried to upload a picture of my toe, but as fate would have it... it stopped working for me! I have been trying to upload the picture for 20 minutes... oh well. You get what I am saying...
Just tried again... and low and behold here it is..

Day 39- Two small bread balls just do not do it for me for the whole day...

________UNDER CONSTRUCTION__________

Day 38- Games learned in Africa! Whether you want to or not!

Wednesday, June. 8th, 2011
Happy day! Some times you just have to shrug off things you will never understand. Africa is a great place to learn the talent...
1) If you correspond through email with a Executive Director of a NGO company and set up a meeting to discuss what the NGO does... bring a two paged, single spaced list of questions you want answered. If you did not have time to do so, then make sure to at least bring a pillow or a pot of coffee.
2) When you show up for a meeting that was previously arranged, do not be baffled when they have no idea why you are there.
3) After getting past that 'bump' in the road and you sit down to have your meeting with a "Charles"... do not be surprised if people who work in an office WITH Charles tell you they do not know a Charles and give you a confused look. Do not let them make you feel stupid for not bringing your laptop to look up the emails because you are second guessing yourself.
4) And finally, under NO circumstances should you be shocked/jaw dropped/stunned or in awe when a gentleman walks into the meeting and introduces himself as "Charles".
What you should do if pull out that piece of paper... start to ask your questions and see if you can stretch that meeting out to 30 minutes without falling asleep. Good times! Make a game out of it and you just might be able to stay awake... maybe.

In other news... Canucks played poorly on Tuesday at 3am[Tanzanian time of course]... Still going to win the cup though!
Bye 

Day 37- Tanzania was once called "Tanganyika", ATMs deserve a place in the museum, and roadside ice cream ROCKS!

Tuesday, June. 7th, 2011
HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESSE!!
And so it begins... The week. Jesse and I showed up to our internship placement in the morning only to be locked out again. This time it went too long. We gave up after a good while and got a ride to Slipway where we did some work at a coffee shop and looked around some of the shops. We also went and got some MUCH NEEDED pedicures at a shop I have been in correspondence with for future entrepreneurial training options for locals here through a Canadian charity project. The pedicure was fantastic, I really wished it would not have ended. The ladies did a phenomenal job.... almost as good as my pedicures I normally get at home!
Jesse and I decided to go visit the National Museum of Tanzania!

 The museum was basically an office building, a church like building, and a shed/shack type makeshift. It did not even look like a museum... our driver had a hard time finding the place! I think he stopped and asked about 6 people along the way every few minutes. It only cost us 2600 tsh to enter because we were foreign students! Score! 

 Sorry about the glare from the glass... I tried my best..

 Yep. That is right... An ATM is in their museum. This was Tanzania's FIRST ATM from 1994... Amusing what ends up in their museum here. I have selected just a few more photos to share, as I find some interesting and some just hilarious...

 INTERESTING!: A bicycle made out of wood! About 98% of this bike was wood. The seat is wood, the handlebars are wood, the poles are wood... even the wheels are wood! The only things NOT wood is the chain and the stuff that turns the chain. COOL!

HILARIOUS!: In case you cannot read what the card says I will type it out for you. "In many countries mollusks are processed and canned for human consumption. Shown here are processed and canned molluscs." That was no spelling error on my part... That is straight up original quoting going on there! This is in their museum... do not ask me why... I just do not get it. Amusing though...

After our wonderful adventures at the museum we returned back to the guesthouse, getting some ice cream along the way from a man on a bicycle. It was good ice cream and really helped to cool me down. Hot day...

Until we meet again... Kwaheri ya kuonana! [In English: Goodbye until we meet again]

Creatures worth noting!

A cute little bird that we think was injured. It never flew away from us and we were inches away! It was amazing! Looks like a pretty parrot, but clearly not! haha

creepy ants here! These guys are found eeeeeeeeverywhere. And I mean, everywhere. On our counters in our kitchen is the most annoying area... you have to be careful you do not put your food down without cover. I can almost guarantee we all have eaten a few of those guys in our food/drink. Yummy protein!

These guys are loud and everywhere. They run around like they own these streets... Crazy!

Day 36- Just another manic Monday... Wish it was Sunday! Cause That's my fun day!!

Straight up coolest thing ever. Mole Rat. Naked. I did want to vomit when I saw it though... Enjoy!
Monday, June. 6th, 2011

The beginning to a new week! I could hear the lyrics to the song "Manic Monday" by The Bangles begin to quietly play as we drove to work in the morning. I would be lying if I told you I was happy the weekend was over. Each new day, though always full of joy, has a lingering sorrow that is quietly felt in the heart. 
My time here is flying by and often it feels like I have done nothing yet! I find myself spending more time in my room, alone, then I have in previous days. I am grateful for the time, as it helps me to reflect on this past month and attempt to plan my next... 26 days!
And so, another day comes and goes and I continue to feel comfortable. I do not know if it is the sunshine, the people I live with, or the amazing food, but something here makes it feel like home. As I examine my fingers on the keyboard, I note the number of bites scattered along my fingers. Three. Three small bits that cause a certain amount of frustrated attention each day. I would see it as an improvement because of the small number; However, as I glance at my calves I am reminded of the seventy fresh bites. I should probably consider using bug spray... Maybe...
I power went out today at home. Now, it is never a happy moment when your fan suddenly stops and the heat settles back down. If you sweat even with the fan and air conditioning on, then you can imagine the fear when the electricity goes out. It is no joke out here. It is a face that is a little too repetitive for my liking. But enough of the negativity, life out here is really amazing.
From early morning jogs on the beach with the sun rising in the distance, to fried bananas with beef and gravy... this place is where your outlook on life will inevitably expand and if need be, as most of ours are, changed.
Volunteering at WFT today was good. Mary has returned, finally, and she shared her chicken and fried bananas with us; a much appreciated peace offering! I was able to review Donald's proposal he gave me and it looks great! It sounds exciting and I think I will be able to be a part of the big event before I return to Canada. We are going to have a meeting soon to discuss the details! I'll tell you all about it soon! I just want to see what he has planned before I make any big announcements!
I also received a phone call form my grandfather, with contact numbers for family out here in Dar that I can visit! I was so excited to hear from my grandfather and his wife! Minutes after I got off the phone with them I received phone calls from family members out here in Dar and have plans to meet up with Michael [a brother of my grandfather's wife] on Friday! He wants to show me around which will be refreshing to experience Dar from a Tananian's point of view! 
Dinner tonight was breakfast style! Jesse and I made french toast and fruit, which was fantastic! I shall drift off to sleep early... so I can wake up at 3:00am to watch the Canucks game!

Beautiful Things I have purchased here!

Day 34-35 Do I talk to myself and then deny it? Naww!

Saturday, June. 4th, 2011-Sunday, June. 5th, 2011
Hello hello!

This past weekend consisted of little excitement. I am sad to say... life is not always glamorous out here! I mean... I am not ALWAYS spending time with orphans and volunteering at a NGO that empowers marginalized women... and I am most definitely not always being exposed to new cultural differences. It is just starting to feel like my life, my home, my place... Or it did this weekend.
Why we did not do anything of excitement or importance you ask? Opposition in all things! How can there be excitement without boredom? How can I enjoy the culture if I do not dislike it first! haha Okay, that is a joke. Sort of. A bit, at least... For the most part.
If I were to pick the highlight of my weekend, I would definitely say it was Mike's new bathing suit purchase. I helped him pick it out and even fronted him the dough for it! Well worth it!


We did find a new restaurant to eat that. It is in the shape of an ark, no joke! And it has delicious pizza [...hmm this is new]! When we first entered the restaurant, I wondered if they would have enough tables for us. We were a group of fourteen at the time and though the restaurant was empty... the available tables were few. We did manage to get us all around the table though. Up until my pizza arrived I had been feeling quite nauseous and water was not making it any better. Pizza made me feel better, go figure!
After our dinner we walked next door to Shooters Bar or something along those lines and found ourselves a little karaoke machine! Remember the last karaoke we went to where I was mistaken when believing we would BE the party? Well... on this night we really were THE party. After our first song, people starting getting up and leaving. I was not sure if it was because of how good we[by "we" I mean Alex] were singing or if they were honestly just ready to leave. Either way, after eight minutes there we quickly became the majority. It was a pleasant change from being the minority for the last month! I never knew what it felt like to be a constant minority and with such a large gap that seeing another mazungu on the street actually made me want to dance over to them and greet them. That is right, I have fallen victim to this embarrassing display of excitement. Ashamed? Yes. Still excited? Unfortunately.
Moving on... I am happy to say there have been no more random old men displaying themselves in public! Or at least not anywhere I was. However, there is a guy who runs the street that has been talking to us and walking with us for the last two mornings. The other Tanzanians give him some weird looks, most with huge grins. He is polite and so we do not fear bumping into him. We saw our policeman today! He is no long positioned by the bridge, but just past it on the other side of the street. I was happy to see him and I like to think he was happy to see us too!
A contributor to the bland weekend was the departure of Jodi and Andrew early Sunday morning. I miss them already. I called her tonight and pretended I was returning her "missed call" just so I could hear her voice! haha Jest! I actually did think I had missed her call. The time stamp matched up and I had missed a total of four calls. The only thing not matching up was the date and the fact that the four missed calls were from the one number. Oh well! Got to talk and hear about her first day on her safari!
There is not much else to say. Interesting weekend? Meh... it was a weekend.

OOPS!! CANUCKS WON WITH AN OT GOAL BY BURROWS!!! WHO AM I KIDDING! THIS MADE MY WEEKEND!!!!
Gnight!

Day 33- Why did that man have to ruin my beautiful sunrise beach run... why? *burn my eyeballs*

This morning was a good morning. Cali boy, Daniel, joined us for a run on the beach! It started off quite nice, until we were stopped by a river like body of water. Knowing the likelihood of unspeakable amounts of waste sitting at the bottom, we declined Daniel's naive request to walk through it. Unfortunately, the alternate option he had in mind was walking along side this water until there was a narrow enough section where we could jump over. We agreed, thinking it would not hurt to check it out. Well a good 10 seconds into the adventure and we were regretting our agreement. We were knee deep in mud! KNEE DEEP! Okay, not quite. More like a good inch, but it sure was disgusting. Daniel did not seem too bothered by the mud, typical boy, and so with each new step we took a chunk of mud added to our runners, making the walk that much more difficult.
Four minutes in and Karisa and I had had enough. We petitioned our pleases by stopping. Bad choice. Wrong choice. The only thing worse than walking in this mud was NOT walking in this mud. We sunk and it was not very pretty. All sides of my runners were covered in mud... all the way up. In the end our petition paid off! We turned around and returned to the normal beach area and started our way back. The ocean water and a random stick helped to eliminate about 70% of the mud suctioned to my runners. The rest just tagged along for the remainder of the run!
The run back was beautiful, refreshing and it almost seemed pleasant... until the unthinkable happened. I do not even want to talk about it. So.. just know it ruined the run and probably the rest of my trip!
---------CAUTION! DISTURBING CONTENT TO FOLLOW----------
Alright, fine... you want to know? ICK. Alright, so there was a particular OLD gentleman that felt the need to take off his pants right in front of us on the beach... and I guess commando is the usual because I was ready to vomit. Got it? Yeah, not the way I wanted to end my run. Thankfully we still had a good 10 min stretch to go and we booked it past him. THE END!
=============================
Not really. After our run, Karisa and I walked down to the local market and picked up some fresh fruits and cucumber to make a lunch and bring to the beach with us. We had pancakes for breakfast! They are like crepes... a bit thicker. SO GOOD.
The beach was good. We swam laps at the pool and then spent most of our day in the shade. Our food was so delicious we had to talk about it for five minute intervals all day! haha That could be a stretched truth...
We made time to read and then, sleep. Heat sleep is never satisfying. Just inevitable.
Now for dinner from Andrew and Jodi... YUM!
Kwaheri!

Day 32- "True love is almost as rare as tanzanite"

Thursday, June. 2nd, 2011

I woke up late today. It never feels good getting up late. 8:22am I jumped out of bed and went for breakfast. Watermelon and a piece of toast never tasted so good! Oatmeal sealed the deal- I was set for the morning.
A group of us went to slipway to check out the shops again and show Andrew them.
Did not stay long, but we did have enough time to grab some good ice cream. Before we left we stopped in a gem store to look at tanzanite and as we were leaving the gentleman handed us their promotional leaflet. Across the top read " True love is almost as rare as tanzanite"! What a beauty! Good sales pitch, no?
We made our way to Sea cliff; Sienna and I helped Jodi pick out her tanzanite stone and custom made ring that Andrew was getting her. It was exciting! Again... another thing I wished I was experiencing! haha jokes! sort of!... ok it was not a joke. What girl does not want a ring from a boy they love?
Before returning back to the guesthouse we had lunch at one of the hotel restaurants. It was a delicious avocado and prawn salad which was fantastic!

The view was beautiful from our balcony seating, with white cap waves lining the ocean view!

Came home and I caught up on blogs and changed my rooms from a shared room with Deanna to my very own.

Had dinner with two American volunteer guys at Boona Banna who just showed up in the last few days from Georgia. Good fun! Yona, who is one of our drivers, showed Mike and Karisa how to make traditional Tanzania pilou rice and some yummy shrimp and then stayed and ate with us. It is always enjoyable having guests for dinner.
That pretty much sums up my day!
My peach of the day: catching up on my blogs!
My pit of the day: waking up late... ick!

See you all later!

Day 31- white caps make for a beautiful day!

Wednesday, June.1st, 2011

Unfortunately, we had to cancel our trip to the KidzCare orphanage for a few reasons. Although I was disappointed that I would not be able to spend time with them... it was still a really good day. Probably one of my best moments out here... selfishly, that is.
Early in the morning I got my business done... serious business! haha And then for the first time in quite awhile, a large group of us went to the beach. We went to a nice resort and it was refreshing. We all have been running around with our internships and sometimes the only time we get to see each other is at dinner before people start to collapse into bed. There were a few that still have to go to their internship, which was unfortunate, but it still was a great day full of sunshine, a nice breeze, a beautiful beach... and for Mike and I, white capped waves!
Another particularly exciting part of today was Andrew [Jodi's boyfriend/our new babysitter] arriving in the morning and joining us at the beach. It was cute to see how excited Jodi was to see her man who she has not seen for a month. For a moment it made me wish I had someone to come visit me! Who am I kidding, I've been wishing that this whole time! Feel free to book a flight and come see me... anytime... honest! <3
So, Andrew is great. He fits right in with our group and I hardly notice the awkward moments when he has to change all our diapers....


Sorry, bit of a joke... hahaha I made a funny! So yeah, we are getting babysat, but it really is not that bad. It is just an addition to our group.
We ate lunch at the restaurant in the resort and there were a few complications with the waiter forgetting things ordered, mixing up orders, etc. With my order he told me I had to choose something to go with my Indian dish, which I chose rice... thinking that it would come with it. Apparently not. An extra 3500 tsh was on my bill and as I was discussing the bill with him I found myself annoyed and frustrated, as I was not the only one who had mix ups. He ended up telling me he did not want me unhappy and so he would take it off. The manager had already been over to our table earlier for one of the other interns, requesting they fill out an evaluation card in regards to our waiters service so I could tell he was on thin ice.
Amongst my frustration, I stopped and realized the guy was trying hard and was just not succeeding. In my self-righteous smug moment I was arguing over a miscommunication due to a language barrier. I was retracting my desire to give him a tip because, through some unfortunate series of events, I had to pay an extra 3500 tsh. Seemed petty and so I paid my bill without mentioning a word to the manager who took my money. And then, I returned to our table and gave our waiter a tip and thanked him for his service. Who am I to not thank someone for their hard work just because it did not work out the way it is expected to? Life is not always about rewarding the people who do things perfectly. People may fail by our standards, but that does not mean they failed. Remember that Albert Einstein quote? It does not fit perfectly, but it makes you think.

After lunch we returned to the beach area, noting the tide had come in. The water was warm like a swimming pool and even in some spots almost as warm as a bath at home! Mike and I took to the water and started to jump waves! Where we were walking was a pretty cool spot, with waves coming at you from left and right and exploding in the middle. It was one of the best times out here as of yet, diving into the waves and letting them pull us with them. It was exciting to feel the power from the waves tossing you around like a little rag doll as you try to not gulp salt water. At one point, the waves pulled me out past where I could stand and the waves were pretty big, making it difficult to make it back to the shallow area. Mike had to pull a David Hasslehoff and rescue me! We continued jumping waves and caught a really great wave that hit us pretty hard, knocking Mike's shades into the ocean never to be seen again. haha He was pretty bummed, so we spend a good 10 minutes looking for them before we continued our wave crashing adventures!
Ever had a sand fight? Makes for a big mess! As if we did not already have enough sand on us!
The beach day ended shortly after. We returned home and ate hamburgers and salad made by Joel and Jennifer. Delicious!
After dinner we meet up with swissie at the Irish pub for karaoke night, bringing along our new intern friend who is from Cali. We call him jewie. He is out here doing an internship with a company and is staying where we are too. Swissie is on a year contract out here in construction, and we met him because he was staying here for awhile too. He has his own flat now one minute away. We meet a lot of cool people!
Karaoke was great, and when we first arrived it looked like we were going to be the party, but by 10:30 the wazungus piled in and we had a great night!

Day 25-Day 30th

May 26-May 31

I am going to have to sum up these days all together. Unfortunately, this lifestyle does not make for enough time to write each day... or if it does, I have yet to master the skill.

So... Thursday we had all of the Boona Banna kids over for mac n cheese and to watch "The Lion King". It was a lot of fun and they loved the movie. We taught them peaches and pits and it was so cute for them all to tell us their peach was to have dinner with us all. Cool kids! Near the end of the movie our Massai guard came in and watched a bit of the movie!! Anyone know about the Massai tribe? They are a nomadic tribe... so it was pretty funny to see one watching our movie that we projected on the wall. I also had a great talk with Cherie that I think I needed.
Friday was... great! Everyone went to the beach and I stayed home all alone and spent some time on the roof, read and tried to catch up on some course work. It was nice to be alone. That is one thing I miss out here! Having time to yourself is a rarity and usually does not last very long. In the evening we attended a play put on by HOPAC kids and faculty as a fundraiser for a playground(its a school). It was the sound of music and was so well done! For a moment, I forgot I was in Africa... lol It also reminded me how much I appreciate theatre and miss going to plays. That is on my list of things to do when I get home!
Saturday we went to slipway and spent a little time with Cherie before she left for Canada. Not all of us went, which is good cause I did not want to share my ice cream with everyone. :) Just kidding. The second half of the interns when to the play today while we were out and then in the evening everyone went out to watch the football game. I again stayed home and tried to work on course work.
Sunday was a good relaxing day. Again, course stuff... tried to take it easy and catch up on stuff I could not do during the week.
Monday was a good day. We showed up to volunteer at WFT and found ourselves locked out. We rang the bell, knocked on the door loudly with no response. After 10 minutes we decided we could call our driver back and go to meet up with the girls to do some work at slipway. Well, our driver was almost there when suddenly the guy opened the gate for us and so we had to go to work. Net sticks sucked. No one was there all morning. Brian did show up around lunch time and took us to the Bonjour gas station where there is this little red box burger joint and the burgers and fries were soo good. *note* They have these "line ups", if you can call them that, that to the blind eye would look like a disaster with no order whatsoever... and yet somehow there is order and it is fair. No idea how they do it! But koodos to them!
Tuesday we went to work again. This time we were only locked out for 5 minutes. Net sucked. Uber bad! We could not do ANYTHING. It was a not so successful day... in comparison to our "productive" days...:) but thats okay. It was all good. Orphanage day tomorrow! :) good thing too! I miss them

There we go. Summed up!

Day 24- Who knew bonding could happen in a pool of sweat

Wednesday, May 25th, 2011
KidzCare Orphanage Day today!

It is always an exciting morning, when preparing to go visit the kids. Today we were able take four of us interns: Karisa, Kara, myself and Jesse. It was Jesse's first time today, so I was excited to introduce the children to her and to see what she thought of her time.
It was a rainy morning and I wondered what games we would play with the kids if we had to stay inside. I was not keen on getting wet this time around; I think the rain is bumming me out. It can get cold when it rains and I do not fancy the chills!
I always enjoy our rides to the orphanage because Mary has a great deal of stories and information to share and I enjoy the opportunity to be enlightened. She was discussing her travel to the south, in the near future, to visit the two rural schools they have running down there. She was invited myself and any other interns that are interested to take the journey with her. It sounds like it would be an incredible experience! I definitely want to go with her and I am pretty sure our risk assessors will "okay" the proposal!
Listening to Mary talk about what they have done and how they run their organization, I realized how much I wanted to be a part of it, if even something small, and help in some way. I was able to discuss with Mary my interests in assisting her organization and she was grateful. She told me the biggest need for funding was in regards to education. In the orphanage, she had five kids that would be going to secondary school next year and the cost is high. It costs $1000 USD/per kid each year. We are currently discussing options for fundraising and ways I can do so back in Canada.
We were all brought to the house, while Mary walked a little girl to the nursery school. We went in and found that the children from the hospital were staying there. Although Mary only has 15 children that live there permanently, she houses children who are recovering from surgeries done at the hospital. There was a boy and a girl who both had a full leg cast on one of their legs and we went over and said hello. The casts were bare, with only "Habari" written on it. So we got a marker and drew pictures on their casts and the kids started to laugh. We drew the sun, a soccer ball, a butterfly, a star and a smiley face.
I noticed a few of the children running around and we soon found out all the kids were home from school today. We were not sure if it was due to the rain, but we were happy to see them all!
Before we started to play with the kids, we walked over to the nursery school to talk to Mary and see where she wanted us. We were split up and Jesse and Kara stayed at the school while Karisa and I went back to play with the kids at the home.
Because it was raining, we were sitting on the porch playing and talking to the kids when we were suddenly escorted into the eating area and being fed. We were just about to play a game with the kids when it happen, so we decided we would quickly eat. A few minutes later, Jesse and Kara arrived as they were called for Chai time too. We all sat and ate and then made our way back to the kids. Thankfully by this time the rain had stopped, so we went out into the yard to play games. We played the same games we had played the past times and it was a lot of fun.
As we took out our cameras to start taking pictures, the kids decided they were the photographers and requested our cameras, to which we gladly complied. They ran around and took pictures of everything. Going through our cameras after, I found it interesting to see the world through the eyes of the kids. What they took pictures of and what they saw as important or interesting enough to photograph amazed me.

I found it amusing that within only a short while the kids taught themselves how to take the classic North American photo of themselves... you all know the ones I am talking about. Turning the camera around to face you and clip! That is John(he took the picture himself), he is fifteen and appreciated my ipod music that he and I listened to today! We also spent time collecting all the gravel in a huge dirt pile... we filled 7 garbage bag sized bags of rocks/gravel. It was a good two and a half hours of work in the sun... but I felt like we bonded. He is one of the children who has been a little reserved with us interns, so I took the opportunity to spend some one on one time with him and have a somewhat successful conversation with him. He understands and speaks English quite well in comparison to the rest. He is a hard working kid, but I often found him look back at all the children playing with the other interns and I wondered if he had a choice of doing this job or if it was a responsibility...
Half way through the day I felt so exhausted, along with a lot of the children and a couple other interns. Most of us ended up passing out on the couches and floor in the house for a while. One of the kids snapped a picture of Kara and I sleeping. It was not on my camera so I will see if I can track it down on the other intern's camera to upload it here.
It was exciting to see the kids take a game it showed them last time we visited and put there twist on it. Hopscotch! It was awesome now they changed the rules slightly. And the hopscotch itself took up the length and width of an SUV. lol We have a lot of fun with the kids, and shortly after the games the kids started to play with our hair. They swarmed around us all and started braiding in all sizes. It was a fun experience. For the first bit the girls just ran their fingers through my hair, it was nice. I wondered how often they had felt hair like ours, or if they had at all. I wish they had long hair that I could braid for them... I even had a boy, Abraham, braid my hair.
We continued to play games and by the end of the day(two hours later than was planned to leave... African time lol) Abraham came and gave me a hug and sat next to me with his arm around me. It was adorable and I thanked him again for braiding my hair. He grinned, quickly jumped up and started to redo all my braids until I had to go.
Hugging the kids good bye today was the hardest for me... I knew this would happen, but it does not make it any easier. At least I have another month with them...

I love these kids so much! I can hardly wait for the next day to go visit me! <3


A awesome quote I just heard that I wanted to share with you!!

"Everyone is a genius. But if you judge a fish on its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing it is stupid." - Albert Einstein

Moriah

Day 23- who needs electricity at work? pfft! Electricity is for chumps!

So... no electricity at work=work from home. I can appreciate that...
Something that you might have noticed if you've been following my blogs is I have been going to the orphanage a few times. Well, Cherie has asked me to take over coordinating trips out there. I was so happy when she asked me to because I am loving my time with the kids. So we will be going to the orphanage again tomorrow. I am setting up to see who wants to go for the day.
Today was not much of a busy day. There was an article in the newspaper talking about the reports done for DRC [Democratic Republic of Congo] of women who were raped. I was estimated that ___(misplaced the article.. i will fill in ASAP) women were raped every two hours. DRC is known as the capital for rape in the world. Regardless of this fact, the article discusses the inaccuracy of the research, due to in part, that there are women who claim to be raped to receive free health care. In Democratic Republic of Congo, rape victims receive free health care while other women with health needs have to pay. These women do not have the luxury that us Canadians do, where health care is provided by the government and a doctors appointment does not empty the piggy bank! Although this article questions the results of the research done on rape stats in DRC, it in no way makes light to the reality of life in DRC.
Rape is just a part of life, even though there are laws prohibiting forced prostitution, and human trafficking for sexual exploitation with penalties up to 20 years of jail time. Out of the reported incidents, so few are actually investigated. This reference only the victims who courageously report the crime. What about the women who remain silent? Not to mention there are rape victims who end up killed as a result. Their violations go unheard.
In Democratic Republic of Congo, women are seen as property and the men, even boys, are brought up to believe that they have the right to force intercourse on a woman for their own pleasure. Rape is used as a weapon of war, with the most vulnerable victims being females.
Talk about the lowest of lows, when it comes to women's rights! These women do not even have choice or control over their own bodies and what it is used for. It is tragic to learn that the young boys in DRC are told they have the right to a woman in this way.
These women have no choice, but to accept rape as a part their lives. Like the article states, DRC is the capital of rape in the world! What a terrifying way to live, fearing the inevitable, inhuman actions of the male population of your country. It is estimated that 400,000 surviving rape victims are living in DRC currently.
I'd like to know how many criminals, who are in jail, are in for rape! What is the point of making laws for security and justice, if your culture teaches you to do the very thing the laws prohibit?
That is all the time I have to talk about this subject at the moment... because honestly... It makes me sick. However, it is worth looking into further and comparing it to the stats from Canada... or Tanzania.

It's not always good to be called an angel

May.12^th, 2011

First things first! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY ADORABLE, BRIGHT AND ENERGETIC LITTLE BROTHER WHO TURNS 7 TODAY!!! Hope it is amazing and you remember how much I love you! I’ll bring you a present home from Tanzania!!

So, it has been a few days since I have written. This lifestyle quickly gets busy and power is a luxury item. It was day two for our Kiswahili lessons! Our teachers are awesome and they make it a lot of fun. It is  

First off, some things I have learned while I have been out here for 10 or 11 days are:

·         *Toilet paper comes in blue and pink out here. Who would have thought?

·         *Toilets flush with the strength of a tidal wave, while the water in a shower drips out!

·         *Cold showers are the coolest thing since ice cubes… they are also not voluntary!

·         *Drainage is nonexistent. When it rains, the vehicles swim in “puddles” of water at least a foot deep!

·         *The power going out is as common as the sun rising

·         *Love at first sight is something they believe in here

·         *Driving into oncoming traffic is NOT counterproductive!!

·         *Sidewalks are for buses and any other vehicles… oh and yeah, pedestrians too

·         *There is no such thing as "the right of way"

·         *Seatbelts are optional if you are not in the front seat...

·         *Hit and runs are encouraged here...[I will explain below]

·         *A cloudy morning means a hot day

·         *A blue sky morning means a cloudy day

·         *Oranges are green here

·         *When you order chicken pizza... there is a 50/50 chance you might end up with just a whole chicken instead

·         *Tanzania's idea of saving electricity is to take one week and turn off all electricity in the city for 16 hours/day.

·         *In Tanzania you get your milk on the shelf, not a refrigerated section… That’s right! The milk can last as long as juice sitting on the shelves!

·         *Sugar cereal is $13.00 USD a small box [example: Lucky Charms, Nesquik, Reeses Cups]

·         *It is more common that an ATM will steal your money than a stranger standing behind me

·         *Most common female names out here are: Mary and Maria! Been here 10 days and I know 5 Marys and 3 Marias

·         *Rush hours are 6:30am-9:30pm [estimates… it can be longer]. For 90% of the time you are pretty much in a traffic jam.

·         *If your flax seeds are moving on your multi-grain cracker it is just added protein

·         *Tanzania calls their margarine/butter like it is: Fat Spread

·         *Pay-as-you-go EVERYTHING! Seriously. 

        *Tanzania’s slogan: Hurry up to Wait! 

*****NUMBER ONE INTERESTING FACT ABOUT TANZANIA [so far]: Moriah is pronounced “Malaya” which in Kiswahili means “Prostitute” or “Angel of the night”. SWEEEETTTT…[sidenote: I have started to introduce myself as “Maria” now]

I have been doing some editing with my placement and will be attending a African Wedding with Mary from Womens Fund Tanzania. I purchased a dress from mwenge market for about $14 dollars. I have been sick the last few days and I have no idea why. I am pretty low energy and I think I am dealing with some culture shock.

I’d write more, but I am pretty tired and I need to get up early tomorrow morning.

Moriah

Day 22- Productivity is a myth, aloe vera is my best friend, and Japanese food is killer in Dar!

Good afternoon students, teachers, ladies, gentlemen and the little people in the back...

Today I'd like to talk to you about how my volunteer day went, how aloe vera helped me through some heated moments, and why Japanese food deserves a golden star out here in Dar.

As a young child I always had a dream... a dream that soon became my reality here in Dar. I have always wanted to find a myth... and today is the day I found that myth! Productivity in Dar es Salaam. If anyone tells you they were being productive.... first question you need to ask is: "Are you in Dar es Salaam?" If the answer is yes you know their previous statement is not true and its an illusion. You do not believe me? pfft... you bring me the guys from MythBusters and we can talk...

So I forgot to mention to you on my Zanzibar trip I got sliiiiightly burnt on my back while snorkeling. oops!! Thankfully I have dear intern friends who aloe me all day er' day! All good! I <3 aloe vera! Saves me from myself.

So at work today we were expecting a productive day. It does not hurt to have expectations... as long as you do not actually expect them to happen. I can appreciate hard work.... and I can accept that bosses do not show up to work all day. I actually love hard work, truly! This lack of productivity has been my #1 most frustrating part of the culture to adapt to. I have accepted it... it is all good now. Not really, but I can deal!

We went for lunch with Nikki and Olive to the Japanese restaurant again and I got this cold noodle veggie dish that was heavenly. Truthfully, I have never tasted a more delicious dish in a long time! On the way back I learned some good information that will help to save me a few hours every Monday! I can buy all my internet time at one time and just activate 7500 at a time and all of it can be loaded by meeeee. Oh happy day! It is like the clouds had cleared, the rain and stopped and the heavens opened up! Okay... maybe not that exciting, but I was happy to save myself a lot of time and do something for myself.

Other than volunteering and lunch, I did not get up to much. I mean, we went home and did the whole dinner thing, socializing and to be honest.... sleep. Sleep is so important out here because the heat tires you out really quickly, so if you do not get enough sleep you could end up passing out unintentionally. Not really my cup of tea...

I wonder what tomorrow holds for me... I'd like to think productivity...

zanziBAR... some night life they have! haha

 What could be better than seeing the sunrise while on a plane? Not many things! The plane ride to Zanzibar was a grand total of 15 minutes if you including the getting on and off the plane. It was like a roller coaster ride with a killer view! Yay for turb!

 We love ZANZIBAR!! The airport is about a quarter the size of Abbotsford Airport! lol love it! Off we go to find the inn we are staying at! yes!

 Uhh... it is somewhere around here... Alley after alley we were trekked around looking for our inn. We found our inn but some guys in the inn decided we should stay at a different one. So they trekked us over to "Adam's Inn" and tried to convince us this was better than "Princess Salme Inn" to which we said "Hawezi Kana" [not a chance in hell] and we went back to Princess!

 There was a lot of mixing up of rooms and reservations and fun stuff like that! After only a couple hours... we were all sorted out, paid up and walking into our rooms of magic... It's always good to feel like a princess in Stone Town...

How perfect is this! Our beds are so close to each other that if either of us roll off our beds... we will not fall to the ground! Perks! You cannot tell by the picture.. but there is a good sized ledge that we have to jump off of to get into the room... oh yes, it is luxury to the max! haha The beds were super comfy and I loved my shower head! It was actually over my head and warmish water came out! Heaven!!!

When we got there we walked around and looked in all the shops. This area is mega wazungu[white people/europeans] area and way to over priced! You can tell it is touristy because things I can get for 1000 tsh they were charging 8000 tsh-15,000 tsh. I bargained with them for some things, but I decided Dar is where the purchases are at!
So, what is the worst thing to forget when going away for the weekend? Any guesses on what I forgot? UNDIES! Yeah, grand! As if I want to go shopping for undies in stone town... YIKES! I had to skip our stone town tour to go shop and thankfully Jodi came with me! The stone tour I hear was amazing! They visited the slave market, saw a castle and some really old and beautiful architecture! We met up with them for dinner at a awesome restaurant. We sat on pillows on the floor and I had a really good veggie curry! It was an expensive restaurant... [in comparison to our prices back in Dar] I think I spent almost 20,000 tsh which is like $13! Yikes! Pricey food!
Day one is done!
Day two consisted of the following!:
-SPICE TOUR!!
-first we took a boat ride to prison island were we fed tortoises which ranged from age young[umm 10?]-185 and visited the ruins there.

-snorkeling in the Indian Ocean where we saw zebra fish, nemos, clown fish, these neon blue fish and 50 other kinds I could not tell you the names of them!
-returning on a boat ride back to Zanzibar Island and went for lunch at a local persons house. We sat on mats outside and ate the usually Tanzanian/Zanzibar food... the bananas and then the rice and then a few other cool things. Food tastes so good here! mmm YUM!

-Went around the forest and saw all the spices they grow there!
Anywhere from nutmeg, lemon grass, iodine, cinnamon, vanilla, cocoa, jasmine, tumic, etc. I cannot remember all the spices, there were so many! 

This is a guy that came around with us and our tour guide and showed us the spices, etc. That is nutmeg right there. Fun fact!!: Guys here will feed their wives nutmeg because it gets girls excited... LOL I found it amusing that the guide told us AFTER he gave all of us some nutmeg to taste... hahaha.
This guy was also #2 for proposals for me. Good times!

After the whole tour that took all day, we went for dinner to celebrate Kara's 19th birthday! We danced a bit to a live band, but quickly learned there is no such thing as night life out here in clubs or bars or anything. We just wanted to go out and dance for a bit, but even when we moved to Livingstone's where they had a dance floor AND a live DJ... we were still the ONLY people dancing... weird. Oh well! We arrived home just after 11:30pm and a few of us still stayed up on the rooftop for a bit. Good times!
End of day two!
Sunday May 22nd!
We woke up, checked out, and went to a local market for shopping They have a few thousand fabrics to choose from and the prices for a meter are CRAZY cheap! So that was fun, and then we walked through slave market until we ended up at a cafe for lunch.

Then we went back home... To Dar

The end!

Day 18: Dinner with Guests!

Hey hey Guys,

I tell you, this whole blogging everyday is becoming the devil. There is so many things we do in a day, that at the end of the day I am SERIOUSLY dragging myself to bed. I am over a week behind, which has never happened yet. I guess its good to do everything once.
So thuuuursday of last week! That was the 19th of May. It was full of working on paperwork and shopping. If you could understand how long it takes us to get from one place to another, you would understand why an entire morning can consist of doing ONE 30min shop. It takes about an hour to get to the place and an hour home. The place is an hour WALK... that is how bad the traffic here is. I will take pictures of it from my roof. Next time you are stuck in an traffic jam out there... just remember the traffic I described out here and you will not feel so bad.
So today was a sad day! Even with all the happiness that comes from each day here, our first intern leaves for home tomorrow! Nicole was here for two weeks and returned home for her young daughters medical appointments at children's hospital. So, this was our last dinner with her and thankfully Cherie, Alex, Nicole, myself and.... oh gosh another person [hahah that is what i get for not writing for a weeeeeekkkkkk] went for drinks to say goodbye at slipway! It was such a good day, but we were all sad to see Nicole leave.
Jesse and I had cooking duties today, which was great! We had two CIDA interns join us for dinner and one of the kids from Boona Banna. We made a pasta salad and an amazing veg salad. Both were great, everyone loved it and Olive and Nikki [CIDA interns] brought african donuts for dessert.
These bad boys are huge. Think of a tim hortons donut with a hole in the middle and chocolate icing with sprinkles on top. Got the image? Okay, now supersize that donut and those are African donuts out here! Huge goodness! YUM!
After dinner we watched some clips from a debate on aid for Africa. Two were for aid and two were against, both amazing! It really opens your eyes to understand the pros and cons of aid and how it can enable negative results. You should check it out if you are interested and have time!

This is one of the debates that is FOR aid in Africa:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WClqi4Yr3Ys
This is one of the dates that is AGAINST aid in Africa:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enDmHgJC4eY

The whole debate is worth watching. It gives you a better perspective on aid to governments in Africa! If you do watch them, post and let me know your thoughts on the debates! I would love to hear your thoughts!
The boy who is 16 years old from Boona Banna [Lynus] enjoyed the debate and was happy to learn that we were aware of the corruption of their government and how the government treats him and his people. The boy is highly intelligent and a real go getter. Boona Banna is an orphanage of about 7 or 8 kids. Most are older kids in their early teens who have some heart breaking stories.
We sent the rest of our food with Lynus for the Boona Banna kid and called it a night!

Nicole and I hanging out for the last time :]