Beach fun at Pangani

4:45am is never a nice time to get up...especially if you didn't get to bed until after midnight!  That said, with the hope of a lovely ocean getaway we were all up and ready for the 8 hour drive to Pangani, on the north coast of Tanzania.  I had a spare seat next to me in the van (it sounds like I'm on an airplane!) so snuggled up and read about instructional and transformative leadership.  Yep, assignment writing time :(

I didn't go last year, and this year there were a lot less people - only 3 carloads of kids, tents, and cooking supplies.  Once we arrived I set up my tent and then went in search of the promised wifi (assignment due in 2 days - I had looked at reviews to make sure there was wifi).  Alas "wifi" was about as slow and ineffective as wifi can be...eek.  So, I went next door to a cafe/accommodation place and begged use of their internet.  They said I could come back tomorrow and use it for the day...hooray!

So, my first full day at the beach looked something like this:

2000 word essay in 9 hours straight from start to finish....Praise God that it happened because I usually need so much more time....I really didn't leave this position the whole day.

Did I mention that it was crazy hot? Mid 30's during the day but so humid and then only getting down to high 20's at night.  Thankfully the next day it was time for snorkeling and a trip out to the disappearing island (a sand bar that is submersed when the tide comes in).

looking back at our campsite

ready for some snorkeling!

Beautiful clear water!

Disappearing Island

The last night was even more ridiculously hot so I was up at 5am to go for a dip in the ocean (which is like swimming in warm whale pee), and take pics of the beautiful sunrise.

Perfect time for a swim :)

So that was our fun beach adventure.  Here are some more pics of this beautiful place.  Now to motivate myself to smash out another assignment and get ready for school going back in less than a week!

Love this gal :)

Heri ya Chrismasi!

This is my second Christmas in Tanzania now!  It is hard teaching right up until Christmas rather than having that wind down time where we can go crazy with Christmas crafts, games etc.  We did however make life a little Christmassy with Christmas stockings once again!

This year I have also decided to bake something special for each students' birthday.  Unfortunately for me, there are 5 birthdays in December so lots of baking!

Sadly too, Kamilla, our student from Norway left to return home....so an excuse for even more cake!

The day after school finished, we were back at school for the Global Effect Christmas party.  This is a chance for us to thank all the local staff that work as cleaners, guards, teacher assistants and gardeners for the organisation. 

Sharon and Nice - the beautiful ladies who clean at our school

My job: craft with these cute kiddies

Grace's gorgeous girl Laura :)

All the Teachers and TAs

Yummy Pilau for lunch!

 Next, was a pretty special present: A visitor!!!!! Sacha is in Tanzania for a month - first visiting me, then travelling around, then back for another visit when school starts.

Airport selfie! I'm just a bit excited....

Some of the teachers organised a party for all the teacher assistants.  We played games, and enjoyed lots of yummy food.

With my sista Grace

It's been so nice to have Sacha stay!  And also good that I get to say hello again before she heads back to Aus.  Apart from endless chatting (mostly me, I think I've missed Aussie conversation!) we went on a coffee tour.  The guide was so sweet and insisted we take photos of every part of the process.  I feel we know enough to start our own plantation now!

Kili finally came out to say hello!

Picking coffee beans

Drying coffee beans after the shells are removed

Removing the skins (I have no muscles!)

Coffee getting roasted

Coffee grinds ready to add to water

Time for a cup - I didn't have the heart to tell
him I don't like coffee!

 Christmas eve was once again time for the Carols by Candlelight service at church.  I love the atmosphere so much, but it is a bit hard to take photos!

Back again to church for the Christmas Day service. I love being a part of this congregation.

Finally, the day ended with a yummy dinner at Marenka and Heiko's place.  They had two other families join them as well - one with 4 kids and one with 7!  So many kids but still lots of fun...and some pretty amazing food (the lack of pictures is because I was too busy eating!)

So beautiful and creative!

Josua knows the best place to be: at the dessert table!

So that was Christmas!  Tomorrow we leave for a beach trip with some of the Global Effect people.  It's an 8 hour drive and we are leaving at 4:45 am!!!  I'm looking forward to some ocean time!

God's blessings

Happy Thanksgiving from Tanzania......

Hooray for another loooong weekend!  Nope, I'm not American, but I'm more than happy to have 2 extra days off for Thanksgiving :)

Time to recap some events from this month:

I have met some koalas (animal day at Hope)

We had parent teacher interviews.  One parent insisted on filming the whole thing on her iPhone (really hard to talk to someone when they have their iPhone in front of their face).  I'm unsure why, since her child and husband were both there too.  I can just imagine it being played back at family gatherings :(

Another interview involved a game of charades, as the child wasn't there, and the Korean family speak very little English and are only just learning Swahili.  I think we managed some form of communication, but it was a rather long 20 mins!

I went out to dinner with this lovely family too, and received the most unusual gift of my teaching career so far: Sanitary pads....just passed casually across the restaurant table with the phrase, "Medium is your size?" I have since had a second packet.....I think they are my suppliers.


This weekend I went with Marenka and her family to Marangu to picnic and swim at the waterfall.  Swimming under a waterfall has to be one of the most relaxing feelings in the world!  Spending time with lovely friends makes it even more special.

This weekend we also went to visit Cici (a local lady in our Bible study) at her newly established preschool.  She is doing an amazing job running everything herself - what a special lady.

God's blessings!