My room

I am finally getting around to publishing pictures of my room. The internet hasn't been working again

this week. Well, at least it hasn't worked for people using PCs; the Mac people always seem to be able to connect without problems. It is

something I don't understand but I've come to expect as normal! This is where I will be living until I move into Morogoro this summer. I wish I could say that the door leads into another room that is mine to use, but unfortunately it is the bedroom next to mine. Most of my time is spent in the common room or outside so the space hasn't been an issue. My lovely mosquito net even made it into the picture. The net has worked perfectly until last night. I am not sure if the 2 mosquitoes that visited me during the night found the small tear in my net or if it was user error that allowed them in! At first I thought I had escaped being bitten because I wasn't covered in itchy welts. Then I looked closer and noticed my arms are covered in small red dots where they got me. Praise the Lord for anti-malaria medications!

I also had my first semi-solo trip in Morogoro. I went with some of the other language students to and from town, but we seperated for awhile once we arrived. It gave me an excellent opportunity to practice my Swahili. Just about every taxi driver and piki piki (motorcycle taxi) driver stopped me to ask if they could take me somewhere. I also had a 'fun' new experience riding the dala dala home with Luke and Ben. My foot fell asleep because it was crammed between a bag of something (rice I think), the man across from me's foot and the wall. When it was time to get up my sandal was caught and I tugged and tugged before my foot was free but my shoe was stuck. Needless to say I was attracting quite a bit of attention. I ended up having to sit back down, pull my shoe free and walk off without putting it back on! The picture shows the inside of a dala dala although it does nothing to show the number of people that squeeze onto them. The one in the picture has 'seats' for 18-20 and then people stand in the aisle too until there isn't any room left. Where I'm standing to take the picture is the bench seat. The only reason this one is empty is because we were the first to begin filling it for the trip out of Morogoro a few weeks ago. So today when my foot was caught I was sitting almost exactly where I was standing for this picture. Lu was next to me on the bench with 2 people squeezed up next to him but at least we had seats. Standing is tricky with the starts, stops, speed bumps and lack of handles to hold onto. You basically just lean onto all of the other people standing and pray no one loses their footing! I am getting used to it although there have been a few instances where strangers faces were pushed right up in mine that were uncomfortable.

Should we go left or right?

Yesterday I went to church at Sanga Sanga. The village is only a few kilometers from my school. Unfortunately that is as the crow flies....there aren't really any direct roads to the village. Rob had only been to the village once, using a road that we thought was closed. In spite of this, we were the lead car for our caravan. The pictures show a crossroad of sorts that we came to. I think it is a good example of what the roads look like throughout much of this region. As you can see neither road seemed too promising. The trip ended up taking us 3.5 hours. Thankfully because we were taking 2 cars it was not necessary to cram as many people as possible into Rob and Linda's car. It has been raining so there were areas of road that were muddy. It was a fun trip but there were definetly times when I wondered if we would get stuck or get a flat tire, like we did last Sunday. There is a reason that Tanzanians wish each other a safe trip before traveling; driving for any distance can be dangerous.

When we neared Sanga Sanga I caught my first glimpse of the Barabaig. The Barabaig wear distinctive red or black clothes and are cattle herders. We were all excited when we saw 2 people waiting just outside of Sanga Sanga to greet us. A church is in the process of being built. So instead of meeting in a building, benches from the school were carried outside under some trees. While we waited for church to begin the Barabaig men of marrying age gathered together in a group. They began singing. Slowly a group on young women in ceremonial outfits began coming into the square. They gathered across from the men. The men will sing and jump to attract the attention of the women. It was amazing to see how high they were able to jump. After awhile some of the women began jumping too. I was told that the young women will return home to discuss their marriage prospects with their family. I am not really certain what happens after that. The ceremony was stopped early for the church service. Afterwards we were served dinner. This time there were some spoons, but unfortunately not enough for everyone. I am still trying to master eating rice with my hand. I tend to make a mess and leave a pile of rice around my feet! It is also nearly impossible to get the oil from the sauce off with water when I'm finished. I was one of 3 single women in the group. During dinner one of the village elders mentioned that he would be honored if one of us would stay in the village and marry his son. We were given the added incentive of having the entire village convert to Christianity if one of us stayed. As thrilling as that prospect was, we all quickly piled back into our cars for the trip home. We were able to use the approaching storm and darkness as a reason for our quick departure. We were a short distance from Sanga Sanga when we came to the first fork in the road. After driving in circles all day no one really remembered which was to go. Josh and Rob got out to try and look for tire tracks. Unfortantely the rain had already removed them all! Thankfully we were able to find our way back towards the sisal plantation near the school. Once we got there Rob was able to direct us towards the road crossing the river in the planation. It was the same road we had not taken that morning. As we approached the bridge I learned why. Just as we were about to cross Rob says, "I hope the bridge will hold us!" These were not the most encouraging words I'd ever heard. Praise the Lord the bridge held us for all of us to cross. The short cut allowed us to make it back to the school in just over an hour, which we were all very thankful for.

Hi! I arrived safely in Tanzania just over a week ago. I have heard it can take about 1 hour to upload 1 photo...so it may be awhile before I have a lot of pictures online. A new friends has promised to show me a faster way this week. Tanzania is such a beautiful country. The people are very friendly and welcoming. I feel blessed to have the opportunity to to be here. The Lutheran Junior Seminary is about 3 hours from Dar es Salaam and it is 6 miles outside of Morogoro. It is amazing how much the area has grown in the last 2 years. My Swahili class begins this afternoon. I actually thought it started this morning. I woke up excited to start learning. I walked over to class with some of the short course students who have been here for a few weeks. They had been teasing me about how excited I am. I have even turned down an overnight trip to Mikumi (the nearest national park) because I do not want to miss the first 2 days of class. So we get to the classroom and have morning devotions together. Then they leave for their individual lessons. It was then that I learned class does not actually begin until this afternoon! While it is a bit of a disappointment I am glad to have the opportunity to be online. The Internet was not working for the last few days.
Yesterday I went with Rob and Linda to one of the village churches. It was a fun experience. We had 13 people stuffed into their jeep. We were so crowded that Pastor Leonard had to take the piki piki (motorcycle taxi) out to the village instead of riding with us. I was excited to see Leonard again. When Jessica and I visited 2 years ago his daugher had just been born. He gave us the honor of naming her. I hope to make it to his village soon to see her and the rest of his family. There is something amazing about music in Tanzanian churches. The only instruments were a bucket and a homemade cymbol, but the music made from them was incredible. The cymbol was a piece of wood with 3 pieces of metal at the top. It was played with 2 sticks. I wish I had taken my camera along so that I would have a picture to share.