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!