Alice In Tanzania

OK, hi everybody!

Again, sorry I havn't updated for a while, although, I see it as a good thing...I'm no longer coming into town EVERY day to check the post in the vain hope that somebody might have sent me something :( or coming to use the internet to check my emails! YEY! And anyhoo, I dont think that many people check this anyway, momma and poppa and kate and, perhaps ruth sometimes...ah well, i'll appreciate it when i get home i guess! Also, apologies for the people who do read my blog that i havn't managed to figure out how to post any photos on it yet, I'm workin on a new site where i may be able to post photos...this blog site is hard work...kinda wished id gone with the same one cat's with now but, again, ah well! You have to make the mistakes to learn from them! Hakuna matata!

It's now the 27th june, despite what my blog site my say it is! Since i last updated, loads of stuff has happened!

I'v now finished teaching, aswell as the after school club (or tuition, as the kids called it!). On the subject of the tuition, me and cat had a good few sessions with them...they got a little tired of the book i fear so we decided we would teach them english by playing games with them and using the good ole technique of listen and learn! Pictionary went down a treat...they knew what 2 do and knew what most of the words were...we had; farm (cats idea...dont think id be able 2 draw a farm!!) but they mostly drew farmer, cockroaches, giraffes! Girls against boys obviously!! We taught them how to play wink murder, which was highly amusing!! We had them all stood up on their benches and cat had chosen both a detective (to stand in the middle) and a murderer. She played it slightly different to how i used to, where nobody knew who the murderer was. This, however, was a little too confusing particularly for me, as i was playing with them and was surrounded by 30 children all blinking at each other and nobody dieing! In the end, cat told me who the murderer was and told the boy to wink at me, which he did and i demonstrated what we were to do. It was a sort of drama exercise aswell, we were trying 2 get them to make the loudest, most dramatic death they could...after all, thats what makes the game so fun! So i did...i screamed as loud as i possibly could and thrw myself onto the floor where i clutched my neck choking! It was one of my personal bests if u ask me...the children didn't agree! I looked up, mid-death only to see half the children running around the classroom like headless chickens wondering what to do, with a look of only what i can describe as pure panic on their faces! oops! hehe! After reassuring them that i was faking and that i wasn't possessed or, in actual fact, dieing (!) we tried to play again where we ALMOST managed to master the game! They mastered the die when somebody blinks at u but they were all still blinking at each other and the detective didnt have a clue what was goin on! It was definatly worth the try though, if just to see their faces when i did my 'death'!

My last day at school was...eventful! Mum and dad came to meet us at the house (more to come about what we got up to together) and we all got to blowing up balloons! By the time we had finished we had a living room full of balloons! I mean, literally, the floor was covered! So we took charlottes mozzie net off her bed (she left it behind!) and put all the balloons in that so we could carry them to my classroom. So me, mum, dad, ellen and flic went to my classroom to start our party. Mama Kavishe had got the kids to put their tables around the edges of the room so there was a big space in the middle. I had lollies from england that the rents had brought out 4 me and the ipod on the speakers (which turned out to be very quiet compared to the noise of 75 VERY excited children!) and just emptied the balloons on the floor...man, it was carnage!! The kids all jumped from the other sides of their tables into the middle of the room and, whilst screaming and cheering, they spent five minutes actually physically fighting over the balloons! One thing iv learnt out here is that children are not taught a) how to share or b) how to be polite (to mzungos at least!) One kid had about 4 in his hand and was fighting this other child with none! Had a game of musical statues with them with me, flic, ellen, mum and dad and mama kavishe as the judges; i think that has to be one of the highlights of this whole trip. they had such a good time (i hope!) and they were so well behaved...then the winners got an extra lolly each. Just before i left i gave them all a pen and a pencil each, said a very quick and very emotional goodbye to them all and left!

Then it was off to ellens class, whos younger than mine...that was even crazier!!! They were screaming and running around the place!! ellens teachers were almost as excited as the kids!! hehe! She had all this party blowy things (cant remember the names) and balloons and those furry things that u can stick 2 your clothes and stuff! She cried bless her!

After that, the last stop was mine and cats party with our after school club. Again, one of the highlights of this trip...playing over-under with balloons with them! We split them up into 4 teams and taught them how to play...they sort of got the drift aswell! cat gave out her sparkly pencils to them and they each got a pen aswell. It was one of the best days iv had since being here, just seeing the kids so excited and pleased and happy made me happy too. After a long and hard 4 months of teaching those kids I finally felt like they were MY class.

That evening we went for a staff 'do' at a local bar;a great end to a great day. Mr Lizer, one of the teachers at sekei gve us a little speach, in swahili (for the teachers) and then in english for us. We had a meal and then a few drinks and then headed off to meet our friends who, those of us who went to Zambia, met in Livingstone....

So the Dar lot, (being Mel, Elly, Craig and Brendan) all of whom are volunteers in Dar es Salaam, (hence the 'Dar' lot!) who had put us up with shelter when we visited Dar in April, came to stay with us for the weekend. We took them out to Masai camp for ellens last night out with us all :( and had a VERY heavy night!! Man, it was heavy! I was off to Kenya for a wedding that i had been invited to the following day so i stayed at my friends house and off we went the next day.
The drive to Kenya ws long but fun and the views of Kili as we were drving through Moshi were AMAZING! I'v never seen it looking so beautiful. When we arrived we got ready and went pretrety musch straight to the wedding. This wedding was in the middle of a national park, surrounded by bushland, Chantal and Pete got married. The wedding was so beautiful, and Chantal looked gorgeous. Then we headed off to the other side of the rock for sundowners. It was all very sophisticated and completely stunning! We went back to the lodge for a big meal, speeches etc and partied till dawn : )

Sunday i arrived home and our house and a few others went out for a meal to say bye to Ellen who left the following day.

On the Monday, i got up and jumped on a plane to Zanzibar to meet mum and dad where we were having a weeks holiday in, what was supposed to be, the sun! Although it rained for the first day, we managed to fit a spice tour in stone town in and the weather was awesome for the following 3 days so we did snorkelling and dolphin swimming (!) with dolphins in the wild..it was perfect. Ma and Pa went home on the Sunday, we all flew back to KIA (Kilimanjaro International Airport) which is where i said goodbye to them..It was so nice to see them and im glad they came out. It was nice to see familiar faces from back home so thanx rents : )

Since I got back i havnt really done anything interesting. Went to watch the rugby on saturday, Tanzania vs Uganda...21-8 up at half time and they lost 23-21 : ( it was a very close match and enjoyable to watch aswell. It was a heavy night after that but i think i must have eat something funny on friday night becuase i kept being sick so i went home early : (

Anyway, I have finally come to the end of this very long blog! Tomorrow me, cat, rosie and flic are off on holiday for two weeks; Usambara mountains first then Zanzibar (yes, again!) for a week. On our way through Dar to Zanzibar we'll be dropping Rosie off to go home : ( and us 3 will head on. Nungwi first then Stone Town for the Internationl Film Festival of the Dhow countries for a couple of days. Then back to Dar to drop Cat off, and from there just me and flic, the lonesome two will head back to Arusha. I only have three days left here before I have to head back to Dar (again!) and jump on a plane...to England. so...the 16th july. Book it in your diaries folks. Man im gonna miss this place. Me and Justin and whoever i can muster up who fancies it are coming back here this time next year. Jutins gonna organise it, he has land in the masai land so we can stay there and his mum owns a holiday inn out here. I cant wait already and i havnt even left yet!! Will update maybe once or twice if i can whilst im away.

Love u guys, al xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

P.S- just wanted to say.... HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELLEN!! WE MISS U GUYS, CHARLOTTE, ADELE and ELLEN, cant wait to see u girlies, love u xxxx

P.P.S- OH MY GOD, iv just worked out how to post photos on the site! Iv been tryin 2 do that 4 EVER! Havent got time now...will do it soon tho!!