Walking, walking and more walking...

Last year, when our school was at a more central location it was so great to walk home after work - kind of a time to wind down and think about things, whilst enjoying random kids wanting to practice English, occasional random guys professing their love (really) and every boda driver beeping to see if I need a lifty.  Speaking of guys professing their love, it usually goes something like this: "Can I have your phone number? I love you.  Do you live alone?"  My response: "I live with my husband.  He is an angry man.  He does not like me talking to other men." Haha...I have come to think of it as an acceptable (and very effective) form of lie!

Anyway, I didn't realise how much I was missing this time, especially with my head full of both study and school.  I decided earlier this month to see how far it is from our current campus to home and with a few short-cuts across fields it only takes one hour!  So, my new routine: get up early in the morning, run up the road, get ready for work, then catch a boda (motorbike) to work (It only costs TSH3000 - about $2).   After school I leave straight away (at 3:15!) and enjoy a relaxing walk home.  Even if I don't run in the morning because of rain or a bed that is too comfy, I still love to make my own way to work.  I have realised that I am quite an independent person who needs a lot of alone time.  Rather than having the director pick me up and drop me off from work with the other teachers, these small freedoms have become such a blessing!  

Here are some pics from my walking adventures.  I love meeting and greeting the same people each day :)

Kili coming out to say hi :)

Not long after these photos, the rainy season got rather intense!  Alas, I had to go back to car travel some days :(  Last year, the rainy season meant a few days of heavy rain each week, but this year ha been crazy with rain pretty much every day.  This is a good thing though, especially for the farmers.  About three weeks later I took some more pics and the landscape is so green in comparison - and also a whole lot more muddy!

So much mud!  But, it's not raining so I'm stubbornly walking anyway.  

This is the same river as above - but now with a bit more water

Beautiful Jacaranda trees dropping purple flowers everywhere

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Kili floating in the sky - this I will miss so much

 I also attempted to get a pic on the boda boda but it's rather difficult to do in a subtle way!

Can you see me in the mirror? Haha...photo fail

Rainy season at last!

It is now only two months until I leave Tanzania.  When it starts to get this close, it's hard to not do a countdown, even if I'd prefer to not think about it!  The weather has changed a lot, and it's now the rainy season.  This means a crazy amount of rain, which turns all the dust to sticky mud.  I love how heavy the rain gets though - it really is a beautiful time of year.  

The rain pouring down at school

With the colder weather comes the flying termites!  Our classroom had a recent invasion over the weekend.  I don't really get how their life-cycle works, but they flap around like crazy, then drop their wings and crawl away/die.  It's a bit gross really!

We finally got fans in our classroom which was good for the last few weeks of hot weather before the rainy season began.  This last quarter has been quite hard for the class, with very few days off.  Also, they are teenagers so most often they come to school looking like it's killing them to be out of bed!  That is one big difference I've noticed between teaching younger kids and teaching high school - with younger kids it's trying to calm down their crazy energy whereas with this group at least it's a constant battle to inject some energy and keep them motivated!  Food seem to be a good motivator:

Phases of the moon with Oreo biscuits

Building models of atomic isotopes with M&Ms and Tic Tacs

 Here are some other pictures of the class, because I can never take enough!

Our pom-pom catapult competition

A spare 15 mins, and they have made a golf club
and are playing mini-golf.  I love their creativity!

Beautiful Faatimah with her book buddies

The students are so used to cultural diversity they don't even get how special this picture is!

This photo is from a while ago but still special - running
the 5km with these two beautiful girls

We have been on holidays for 10 days now, and go back to school tomorrow.  It's then only 8 weeks until school is done for the year.  Balancing school and study has meant that holidays are for assignment writing and not much else!  This break has been particularly stressful, with one assignment due 3 days into the holidays, and another due 2 days after that.  It was honestly crazy - 4500 words in 4 days.  I hardly knew what to do with myself once I finished!  Mogli was not much help:

Soon after this pic, he was lying across my computer in a desperate attempt to get attention!  That's all for now - time to get my things organised for school tomorrow.

God's blessings on your week!