brilliant weekend!!!

K....before i go on about my weekend, just have 2 add one thing....
cant remember when it was but the other night me and cat decided to boil the teatowel to get rid of all the germs so we cooked tea and used the left over water that we'd boiled but not used to put the teatowel in....then we all went to bed.....what a mistake!!! Woke up in the morning to find that the teatowel had soaked up all the water and set on fire and burnt down to ashes in the pan!!! obviously not very funny now cos it could have been quite dangerous but was funny at the time...plus i had a crazy mashed up dream that night then my whole family had been forced into trying to kill me and that they had locked me in the living room and i had to try and get out without getting caught so i set fire to the house so they couldnt see me through the smoke! scary!!
anyway....eee....iv had such a good weekend....it was nice cos it has felt just like a holiday...very needed i think!!!
went to masai camp on friday for grace's (one of the past volunteers who are still here) last night but she was ill so she didnt come out!!! haha! met this really cool masai guy called george in maasai camp and got a photo with him!! haha...im friends with a maasai warrior!! anyhoo......went to colobus for 70's and 80's night, it was dead so me and sky had fun sliding across the dance floor!!! hehe!!
saturday afternoon we all had a good lie in...well deserved i say!! went into town to charge up items and went to via via to charge my phone fully so i could speak to pops and jonny!!! : )
saturday night we did absolutly nothing, stayed in, cat and adele cooked a beautiful meal for us all....potato chips (!!!) and cabbage and carrots then fruit salad for afters!!! slightly better looking than mine and ellens mash, omelette and carrots the night before althogh we did all come to the conclusion that they were both equal in taste!!!
yesterday....man, what a day!!! Met this big group of south african last week at colobus and saw them again on friday night...they mentioned that they were playin cricket on sunday as i mentioned that we were planning to go to one of the local hotels to go swimming on sunday. so...they invited us to the hotel they were going to...they picked us up yesterday at about 8:30am and took us to this hotel where we all dumped our swimming stuff by the pool and headed off to the cricket stands to watch the game...i actually quite enjoyed doing this!! which surprised me!! they payed for everything and, when the game was over, we had a bbq!! mmm...sausages!! then we all went for a dip and us girls went in the sauna...what luxuries!!!! we had a couple of drinks and stayed there to watch the rugby...and tha twas when they brought ice cream to the bar!!! Ooo..i nearly cried!!! hehe!! so altogether it was a really good day...they took us home at about 11:30ish. Despite the fact that we were all absolutly shattered...we were all also absolutly starving and, seeing as iv developed a ne found obsession with everything with garlic butter (!!) i made us all garlic bread and soup!!! : ) what a finish to a very pampering day!! it was so nice though, cos us girls had a really good day together, it was the first time when we've been out alltogether pretty much all day and all night and im so glad i was put in this house cos, in my opinion, we've definatly got the best bunch!!!
anywayz, gotta go, will tell you all about the cute little orphanage we are regularly visiting maybe tomorrow and that we taught the children the hymn "from the tiny ant!!" (those who went to littleborugh CP, you should know what i mean!!)
love u all tonz and tonz and miss u loads,
al xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

so...continued!!!

so....where was i?!......
oh yeah...
after much commotion and lots of flailing of heads 2 find the damn thing (our headtorches were all attached to our heads!) we found it on the inside of the curtain so tessa went outsided and shone her torch through the window...then...from OUTSIDE she said..."err...guys...i think we need to come up with a plan"!!! well...DUH! her plan was that one of us put our hand underneath the curtain and catch him (christ!) but obviously..that was never EVER gonna happen! so we got a tupperware box and caught him in that...me and cat (the heroes!!) were carrying him outside and almost walked right into this masai man who was quite obviously thinking "crazy mzungos" so...in the midst of all this stres and commotion...cat stopped to have a conversation with him!! WOT?! "jambo!! habari?!" (hello...howr u?!) crazy girl! we let him go then RAN back into the house!
literally about two minutes later mnaz turned up (who was originally harassin me but has now declared his undying love for felicity!!) (or felista as she keeps telling people cos they cant pronounce felicity!!!) we sat down to normality and cat said she could hear this dripping noise...we opened the door to discover that our toilet had leaked ALL over the place!! the cistern had decided to start filling itself up again but just not stopping!! we had to go next door and get Mr Msovu who came round and told us that the handle was broken (bollocks!) so he turned the tap off outside and said he'd call the plumber (again) in the morning! the plumber came the next day and told us the valve thingymbob thing was broke so we had to get that fixed!! that bloody toilet is more hassle than its worth...!! id much rather have a longdrop....we have to get water from the river everyday to fill that thing up so we can flush it!!!
Me and cat were just wandering up our little vumby (dusty) road the other day and walked into this old man who started enthusiastically shaking our hands...he asked us something in swahili, luckily, cat, being the boffy one (love u darlin!!) knew wot he said and replied with my name is catherine (in swahili...cant be arsed writing it!) then i did the same and he was dead impressed!! then he said that he was the village chairman!!! think we're having a government official week!!!
by the way....before i continue....everything is the other day cos i cant remember wot day it is today never mind wot day things happened on!!!
anyway....walking up the road again with the girls and saw a he/she bull cow that appeared to have udders and man bits!!! that had obviously escaped the butchers or the slaughter house thing...it had lines all over it!! :S ewwww!! anyway... this guy was chasin it up the road we kept having to run every now n then when it came our way!!! only in africa....!!!
the plumber seems to have warmed to us a lot...perhaps its becuase hes been round so much in the last two weeks but hes invited us all around to our house for tea!!!
i had a really shit lesson yesterday...the whole class (3A, obviously) were just being horrible!!! got really mad with them but couldnt do anything!! again im going to stress how CRAP mama Philis is!!
Also....i think i need to stress how crap my cooking is!!! I did make egg fried rice successfully!! (yes ma and pa...all by myself!!!) but i made, like, WELL too much rice!! hehe! we had to have rice pancakes (random!! but surprisingly nice!!) AND rice pudding twice and we've still got some left over!!! oops!!!
Also...just want to say...Mama Kavishe is AMAZING! yesterday when i was feeling really poo...she got my phone number and sent me a msg saying "please smile alice, i am not happy if you are not. i love you!" Aww bless her!!! then she sent a kid to the house with a little note saying please come and see me so i can make u smile!! awwww!!!
Chai time....which has become a highlight of the day is now highly amusing...ellens teacher (who calls me ellen and ellen alice!!) is cool...today she was asking me about religion and was soooo shocked to hear that i dont follow one!! oops maybe not the best thing to say...ah well, im not pretending! then she was asking if i was engaged (cos i wear a ring on my engagement finger...saves a lot of hassle in the street and at night) but i said no...she wanted to try one on so i passed her the one off my engagement finger and she kept saying no, no thats your boyfriends ring so i took the ring off that jonny gave me and said...no...thats my boyfriends ring!!! heehee! she asked how old he was so i told her and she was horrified! "too old too old" she kept saying...then she says she going to set me up with her son called peter whos 20.. she actually said "he's very black...do u like black men?!" i couldnt believe it!!! i didnt know wot 2 say but she then put the finger back on my engagement finger and asked me to marry her son!!!
anyhoo...best go, not got much time left and gonna chat 2 jonny 4 my last 5 mins! :)
everybody needs 2 check cats site out in case iv missed anything....www.getjealous.com/catherinesilk
also, apologies 2 my momma and poppa and sisters 4 not writing back...this blog took an awful long time!!!
promises that i will next time!!!
PHEW, im up to date!!!
Love u all BILLIONS!! miss u loads...jo and jonny, if u read this, get ur arses in gear and come see me! :)
love u all and miss u tonz,
al xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

k...so much to say...so little time to do it!

Note to self.....if im going to come on the internet so much to check my emails (which by the way are not very regular! come on guys...just split it between u all, one every week off each of u on different days would suffice i think!) i must update my blog more regularly! seeing as iv completely given up on my diary (sorry...its just so much hard work!) im kinda relying on this blog to remind me of my adventures!
so.....weekend of the 10th feb! err....in brief....we all went out on saturday night to masai camp...me and flik (the hardcore ones!) stayed out and went to colobus (a night club) but the others went to one of the other houses 4 showers etc! Me and flik had a sleepover at ours...martyn, jon, dave and jess! very fun! :) then sunday, we just slept.....ALL day...kinda reminded me of bein at home with jonny! lol! :)
Our toilet got fixed on sunday...the plumber came round and fixed it! Woop! i nearly cried! then it rained REALLY hard (as it is doing now by the way!) and we got water! it was finally all coming together....our toilet was fixed AND it was filling up with water!
this week we've been back at school, mama philis made me teach on my own cos shes a lazy poo and cant be bothered! her class are HORRIBLE! :( none of them listen to me and im beginning to give up on them! :S i wouldnt mind if she warned me about what i was teaching so i could make lesson plans (as we all know...Proper Planning Prevents Poor Performance!) but she doesnt even do that! i have to ask her for books to teach out of and shes not told me where they're up to or anything! :( my other teacher is COOL! shes lovely and says she'll teach me swahili if i can teach her english in return!
monday was highly amusing for me and cat....we both left the house for school and saw Mr Msovu (the deputy head and our next door neigbour) wearing this very dashing beige shirt with blue and brown checks on it....then to our surprise...we also bumped into this female teacher wearing the exact same shirt! the funniest bit was when we sat in the staffroom for chai and there was EIGHT people in the same shirt! hahaha! mustv been some kind of school uniform...im thinking of getting myself one! hehe!
Iv developed a discipline order with Standard 3A (3B are fine and my teacher never deserts me! mind...she is pretty damn harsh...she keeps punching them in the head!!!) it goes....
1) shout at them
2) make them sit at the front of the class on the floor
3)make them stand at the front of the class with their head in a circle that has been drawn on the board!!
4)draw two circles for their hands aswell!!
5)send them out (absolute extreme cos they're almost definatly gonna get caned off someone if they get caught stood outside my class!)
its pretty effective though...im still refining it!

Oh my god....this whole teaching thing though....honestly, it drains you! if any of my teachers read this EVER....im so sorry for being such a shit! (apart from mr marshall!!) its so tiring an it makes it worse that one minute ill be absolutly fine and the next i will want to burst into tears! quite strange really....feel like iv got constant PMT!!! hehe!

so....valentines day...thought id feel quite poo, there's only cat in the house that doesnt have a boyfriend so i thought we'd all just kind of mope around for a bit but not at all! had a celebratory valentines disco...was possibly the best disco iv ever had!! decorated the bedroom doors with a love heart tissue each and put my ipod in fliks speakers...got cats flashing headtorch out (legend! i shouldv got one of those...they make for endless fun!!) and danced to the YMCA, oops uspside your head, the timewarp, los ketchup song, the macarena (both the original and the chipmunks version!), and the cha cha slide!! I taught the girls the teasers version of YMCA!! didnt think the fact that cats dad is a vicar could get any funnier till i saw her doing that!! haha!! cat recorded it all and we all have photos so dont fear!!

The other day...me and cat had wandered into town and were just sat outside here (the patisserie) waiting for a taxi...next thing we know two police cars drove past with their nee-naws on....this worried me slightly as i had noticed that i hadnt seen one police car since arrival so to have their nee-naws on, it mustv been pretty serious...then...on followed a whole load of big blacked out landrovers with flags and flashing lights on them! we noticed that everybody had come out of their shops and stopped to stare so cat suggested we should stand up like everybody else in case it was the president...it turned out...it was!!! very exciting indeed!!

also, we've worked out that the grill is not broken so iv been living off toast and peanut butter!!! woop!

anyhoo, later on that evening (fri night) me, flik, tessa and cat were sat n the living room (adele and ellen had gone to moshit with all the girls from tessas house) eating our mugs of custard (!!) when tessa pointed at a big black thing on the wall and said "whats that?! it just happened to be the enormously large cockroach that we had seen on wednesday evening!! so...knowing that we couldnt do anything about it till it came down off the ceiling we just carried on (cautiously) as normal with our conversations! however...to our dismay..the cockroach FLEW!!! since when did cockroachs fly?! this one did!! (mind u...we did call it christ...maybe thats got something to do with it!!) oh my god....i have never been so frightened in all my life...it was like a small bird!!!

ARGH!! writing my little fingers off now...3 minutes left...sorry guys what was later called 'the night of the lflying cockroach' will have to wait till next time im afraid!!! sorry 4 the terrible spelling...im wrting on a keyboard with arabic letters on it...good job i know where the letters are supposed to be!!

will wite soon...luv u all tonz and tonz xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

ok.....movage innage continued

where was i?!.....
oh, yeah, hmmm...aidy, dont think u quite got the rest of the story!.....
after going 2 shoprite 2 stock up on everything and then having 2 push the bus up a hill (with 3houses-worth of shopping on it!) because the battery went flat (photos 2 follow!) we managed 2 get 2 the house...
we are fully moved in now....electricity-less and, currently, toilet-less! :S the water is working sometimes, we havnt managed 2 get it 2 w0rk yet so we are sending kids down every day 2 get us buckets of water from the stream! we do have a flushing toilet which is quite posh in african standards but when we arrived we opened the lid and there was worms swimming in the bottom of it...then....2 our further disgust, we lifted up the toilet lid and we had a swarm of flying ants infested in it! Wooo! also, the flush doesnt work so we've had NO toilet! :S i wont go in2 further details.....! lets just say....me and felicity found other means (the school longdrop) and i puked outside it! mmmmmm...that was a nice experience!
Cat has since broke the toilet lid so now the flying ants are infesting the whole house! (:S)
The first night was possibly the funniest thing iv ever experienced, as predicted, sat in the living room...all five of us with candles lit and headtorches on! Cat has a flashing headtorch so we had a mini disco with fliks music and cats strobe light-esque flashing headtorch! highly amusing!
i was ill for the first couple of nights (no details necessary) so i didnt have much 2 eat but our evening meals have been....interesting 2 say the least!.....the first night we eat pasta with tinned tomatoes and raw carrots, 4 lunch we've been popping in and out so my regular lunch is bread with marmite and an applke for afters, although i did buy a pack of cup a soups for a luxury...(sorry ma!) the second night we had uncooked rice with baked beans but i didnt eat that cos i was at the peak of my illness! last night me and flik cooked up the rest of the rice in a chicken stock cube and added a bit of cheese on the top! mmmmm....!
going 2 go 2 shoprite again 2day and get all our veggies....i said id cook roasted vegetables....theyv got sweet potatoes and everythin! :)

i had pasta and bacon 4 lunch which was quite nice!

anyway, started in the school on wednesday, im in standard 3 which ranges from 8-11 year olds. the local mzungos (whites) are obviously very popular with the kids and everybody wants 2 hear us say hello! my teacher is the headteacher (mama phyllis) and she is the most USELESS blob (fliks choice of diction) i have ever come across! she was CRAP! she wrote a phrase on the board (my name is ........., i am ...... years old, i am in class three) and then made EVERY child (yes, all 72 of them) repeat the phrases one by one! Oh my god, i nearly died of boredom! I then sat in standard 3B aswell, which was marginally better! breaks consist of drinking something called chai in the staffroom and getting quizzed off the teachers mostly on our swahili! I like the chai...its like really milky, really sweet tea but everyone else thinks its vile and they still have 2 drink it! hahahaha!
i took a photo of the family in today and passed it round...this one little girl nearly fainted with excitement! will probably start teaching on my own as of monday seeing as i went 2 mama phyllis 2day 2 remind her that we had a lesson and she told me she had things 2 do so i was 2 go in2 the class and mark the work they did on family this morning....i proper kicked ass! she is possibly the most unorganised person in the world! she just doesnt turn up 2 the lessons sometimes! oh...i witnessed my first caning 2day aswell...not pretty...they have massive wooden canes! :S

me and flik discovered last night, whilst having an in-depth conversation about life with cat that her dad's a vicar and that she went 2 grammar school and her bro went 2 private school, payed 4 by the govt because her dads a priest! i laugh everytime she says bless you now! hahaha!

which, by the way, is LOADS! it is soooooo dusty...i think i underestimated it when the past volunteer girls said at the pre-departure course everything would get dusty...its just a good job we have a washer woman 2 do our washing every week! :)

anyway, i gotta go again, running out of time! i think iv covered everythin......apologies for spelling mistakes and stuff, typin like CRAZY!

i luv u all and miss u all loads! luv al xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

im in!

Alice In Tanzania
hi everybody! cant write much, iv left it till last minute! sorry! got LOADS to say tho so will have 2 split it up n tell u the rest another day! hmm...where 2 start....well, im missin monday out cos nothin really interestin happened al though we did go 2 this orphanage n got attached 2 all the little kiddies! WELL cute! might bring one home with me!.....yday we moved in2 our houses....was a bit hectic but the kids were more than happy 2 help take our bags inside and get us some buckets of water....jees they look so scrawny but they can carry a hell of a lot! right, im really sorry ladies and gents but my time is about 2 run out! you'll have 2 wait till fri 4 the next post! ee...youv missed out, i was gonna tell u about the toilet and everythin! :) it can wait till fri, dont worry!

spk soon, please keep emailin me cos i miss u all loads!

Personal messages:
Aidy im completely disappointed in u, u spend all ur time on the computer, u set this blog up 4 me n u still havnt mangaed 2 write a comment or email me...god, u must really miss me....mind, you've been occuppied by other things/people i heard! :P

Jonny i hope ur ok, get ur ass in gear and get on msn more! and get on a house phone so i can ring u cos i cant ring ur mobile...or better...ring me! its only 70p a minute! :) i miss u xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

luv ya'll! xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

jambo!

first official diary entry!!!

Ok....ill start from sat cos fri we just arrived at the lodge we're staying in and had a swahili lesson then eat and pretty much just went 2 bed at bout 9ish (our time).

Saturday 4th february

god, it feels like iv been here 4EVA already! its very hot, hotter than we've been told it was going to be and there's a drought so it's a bit hit and go about the rainy season this year...they havnt had rain 4 2 years now, like kenya! :S 2day we visited 3 of the accomodations....the first was enaboishu (en-a-boy-shoo) which is where the 3 current volunteers are staying 4 another couple of weeks. It was cute...very small and obviously a bit of a doss house 4 the local boarding kids and children of the teachers because we went in and the girls were sat there with kids draped all over them! it has electricity though and is very close to my school...which is handy! :) which brings me nicely to the second house we visited....the sekei (s-kay) house...my home. its bigger than the enaboishu house by a long way...it has no electricity but running water which is a bonus and a proper shower with a shower head and everything! we were quite reassured that there was so many locks on the door until we saw the smashed window and the bars over the window and began to think that maybe we should have been a bit worried! its cool tho, tiny kitchen, mads said shes going 2 try 2 buy us all a cool box 4 each house, which is nice of her! We then visited the st.margarets house and met the founder of the st.margarets school and orphanage....she was soooooooooo lovely! :) the house was beautiful...big house, with a garden, electricity, running water! after all this tiring work we did, we went into arusha 4 a little guided tour off the 3 current volunteers who showed us where 2 pick up post and send post, where the patisserie is (for phone calls home, emails) and the majority of us bought tanzanian sim cards! went out last night after we got back and had another swahili lesson...went 2 a bar called masai camp 4 something 2 eat and 4 a few bevvies...ended up just me, felicity, and the 3 current girls gettin drunk in the masai camp then goin 2 a club called colobus! well good night...feeling it 2day tho...im knackered!

Sunday 5th february....today

Went to another house 2day....nkoaranga (n-ko-ranga)....also abolutely stunning! its miles away from anywhere...but theyv got banana trees in their back garden and theyv got a cow! hehe! the owners of the house have just moved out of it so that the new volunteers can move in! How cute is that?! Anywayz...had the afternoon off this avo...wanted 2 go in2 arusha and use the net cafe cos this computer wont let me use hotmail but we went 2 the market instead 2 have a look. just been bummin around after then; writing letters, reading, writing my diary! Everybody is sooooooo welcoming here!

anyway, really gotta go, 2minutes left 2 send this damn thing on the slowest computer EVER!

luv u all! xxxxx

Alice In Tanzania

Alice In Tanzania

Lo everybody from Dar es Salaam! Very hot, very tired and pretty bewildered! :S not really sure how 2 feel at the mo, sat in an internet cafe in Dar airport, just had a 10 hour flight, n our plane doesn't leave for arusha till 1:30 so we've got ages! my ears are hurtin n they still havnt popped! :( hope everybody is ok n u all had a good night last night! (u know who im talkin 2!) I luv u all n ill write again soon....probably this afternoon! U better log on soon tho! mwah xxxxxxxxx