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!

Hellos and Goodbyes

A big hello to the most gorgeous baby girl!  Baby Favor is already very popular, but thankfully copes well with all the attention.  Francis and Vicky are amazing parents and she is already growing so fast!  Finally I have a reason to buy cute baby clothes at Memoria.  This girl is going to grow up so loved and cared for.  

Only a week old

Nap time on my knee

Celebrating Baby Favor

The result of some fun Memoria shopping...
one for now, one for when she's bigger

It fits!

Then there are the goodbyes.  Marenka and her youngest son Josua have left for Germany to welcome another little bub!  I'm so excited for her family, but sad that I won't see then again before I leave for Aus.  I love the way they have welcomed me into their family and I will miss family nights!  Thankfully, we are sisters in Christ so will see each other again in the future.

One last time watching Fireman Sam!

Another goodbye has been farwelling Semi as she goes back to Korea.  She came into my class about this time last year and could hardly communicate in English.  Thanks to her bubbly attitude and carefree nature she has done so well!  The class are really missing her funny personality.  They are hopeful she will be back in Tanzania sometime in the future.

Cheesecake for the first time in nearly 2 years!

General ramblings

Once again it's been a while between blog entries...oops! I'm determined to post at least once a month for the rest of the time I'm here, because I know how good it is to be able to look back on memories.

Speaking of looking back, I will be moving back to Australia in June this year.  My original commitment was for two years (until June this year), and I did consider extending a further year for a while.  Leaving here will be heartbreaking as it really has become home.  But God has given me a vision to use education to change the world - at least one small part of the world anyway.  I want to use education to raise up students who are critical thinkers and world changers - leaders filled with compassion who will go on to do great things for God and their country.  Students who do more than learn from books but are truly in touch with their local community and are given the highest standard of education possible.   I want to be able to discuss with an individual student their dreams and aspirations and then teach what they need to know to achieve their absolute potential.  A very fitting quote:

Amen!  Teaching at Hope has been a special part of my journey, but not a perfect fit for someone who wants to change the way education is done.  I am filled with so much love for my students though, and having a cruisy job has allowed me to study which will be great for the future.  So, the best is yet to come!

Enough passionate education talk....what else has been happening? Study has been a bit crazy as I'm doing double the subject load now.  My original finish date was June 2018, but in returning to Aus I want to finish by February 2018 in time for whatever is next.  I have had some crazy weekends smashing out 2000 word essays in a single day (and passing, which is rather miraculous!) Despite the pressure, the content is really thought-provoking and I'm loving the course.

The weather is getting hotter and hotter, and the students in my class (+ me!) are struggling to concentrate/stay awake/not leave sweat marks on everything we touch.  The school is fundraising to get fans in our classrooms, which in total will cost about $2000.  If you want to donate, let me know!!!

Time for some photos. This last month we spent a week ignoring the textbooks and hosted our own Science Fair!  It was so fantastic to see the students go from choosing their experiment, designing and conducting it, then presenting their findings in an interesting way for parents and younger students.  They learnt so much from the process, and were so professional in explaining their projects to others.  Proud teacher moment!

 To finish, here are a few pics of this wonderfully crazy bunch of kids, taken by Sacha when she visited:

Aussie adventures

 It has been soooooo nice having Sacha visit!  We have visited a few cafes, been on a few adventures, and also spent a week doing school.  The kids were so happy to have a visitor, and Sacha even filled in for the art teacher!  One adventure was to Maji Moto, a hot spring about 1.5 hours out of Moshi.  We had to arrange a guide to take us (the road is not great) and Kara and Alyssa joined us too.  I've been before, but it was definitely on my list for a second visit.  Our guide took us a different way than last time, and stopped often to show us the sites.  There are heaps of Baobab trees so it was nice to see them close up....and of course our guide took photos. I'm happy to play tourist for a day :)

Baobab tree with a huge hole

Photo of us in hole...of course!

Kiddies getting a bit curious as to why white people keep hopping in the trees......

 Finally we arrived at Maji Moto!  There are heaps of little fish in the water that eat the dead skin off your feet.  Last time I couldn't stand it, but I've now decided it's quite therapeutic.  I couldn't take any photos, but at one point I had 20 little fish nibbling on each foot.  I'm quite satisfied to know that there are several fish swimming around with little tummies full of Leesa :)  Thankfully, our food was quite a bit more tasty - Chips Mayai, which is an omelette with hot chips in it.  So tasty!

The best place for Chips Mayai

 A beautiful place with beautiful company :) It was sad to say goodbye to Sacha, but not long before it's Tassie time for me anyway.  Who else is up for a Tanzania visit????