Field Trip!

My last day in Ayacucho was probably the best! This morning, we all went back to the prison and took some of the children out for a day of fun. These kids rarely see the world outside of their prison cell so everything was new and exciting. Each volunteer was in charge of one kid and I got the cutest little girl named Ruth. She’s 2 years old and is a little Dora the explorer! We piled in the van and headed to the zoo and it was really the best day ever! The kids were so pumped and everything they saw was so exciting for them. The zoo here is a little lacking but they had lions, lots of birds, monkeys, and the biggest hit of the day… squirrels. I’m not quite sure why the lions were looked over and the squirrels got so much love but apparently they are quite exciting. Ruth held my first finger with her little hand and looked up at me with the biggest smiles all morning. It just melted my heart. Of course, she crashed as soon as we got back in the car and I was reminded of how wonderful an adorable, sleeping child can be. Of course, I was also reminded that I am not in good enough shape for a toddler because my arms feel like Jell-o and I’m EXHAUSTED! The only part of the day that didn’t make me smile was taking her back to the prison. She’s such a vibrant little girl and she deserves a princess bedroom and stuffed animals and Disney movies. She should be learning the words for trees, and grass, and instead she rarely ever sees those things. I can only hope that she will go to a loving home and get the education she deserves. With any luck at all, the cycle will broken, and Ruth will grow up to be a wonderful woman.

Locked up abroad…

If anyone has seen the show “Locked up abroad” on TV, then you will have an idea of what the past couple of days have been like. Thursday, I went to the prison here in Ayacucho to spend time with the women that are locked up for drug trafficking. I can’t really explain what it’s like other than absolutely wretched. Most of the women who are imprisoned there were caught carrying cocaine. Typically, we think “how stupid do you have to be?” but these women are all victims of an impossible situation. They live in a country where the economy is kept afloat by the drug industry, they are, in most cases, very poor and have little to no way of supporting their children. In a desperate attempt to support their families they agree to carry cocaine from point A to point B for as little as S.100 (approx. $30). In most cases, they never make it to point B and instead find themselves facing a 15 year sentence. The prisons here work a little differently than those in the States in that the women still have to find a way to make money to support themselves while locked up. They are responsible for their own food, clothes, soap, etc. The worst part is that, if these women have children, they live in the prison with them until the age 4. Once the children turn 4 years old, the authorities come in and literally rip them from the mother’s arms. The kids will sometimes go live with family but are often sent to the orphanage as their fathers are likely locked up as well. So Thursday I woke up and found myself walking the halls of the prison having just gotten to second base with a female guard who was checking me for God knows what. I had to walk through the male section of the prison to get to my destination and you can only imagine what kind of comments a short, blond woman received walking through those halls. Luckily, it was all in Spanish so I don’t have to actually know what they were yelling. The day was as inspirational as it was sad. I met a woman names Roxanna who is locked up because her drug dealing husband left her in a house full of Cocaine. He, of course, ran off with her 3 older children when she got sent to prison in his stead. Along with her came her 3 year old son and to top things off, she’s pregnant. She is making as much money as she can knitting scarves and socks that are sold in town. However, as a new prisoner, she hasn’t really learned the tricks of the trade yet and is having some trouble making enough to support herself and her son. As I’m leaving tomorrow, I don’t have time to place an order with her but I am going to talk with the staff here at CCS and see if I can put in a mail order for a few scarves. They cost S.15 (about $5) each and I’m sure that an order of 3 or 4 scarves would keep her comfortable for at least a few weeks. In addition to Roxanna, I met Carmen. She’s 33 years old and has been in jail for almost 10 years. She has used her time in prison to really get her life together. Not only has she taught herself a good amount of English, but through correspondence courses, she has put herself through law school. All she needs to do is pass the Peruvian equivalent of the Bar exam when she gets out and she will be able to practice law and fight for women like herself who were in the wrong place at the wrong time. It’s truly unbelievable what these women are going through and walking through their 15x15 ft. cells (which sleep up to 10), my eyes were really opened to an impossible situation. I wish I could stay on in Peru a while longer and work exclusively with the women. If I come back, I know exactly where I need to go.

Last day at Los Chiquitines…

This past Wednesday was my last day at the Kindergarten and we decided to go out with a bang! We had a couple of fellow CCS volunteers come in and do a presentation for the kids on hygiene. It was a really great presentation and the kids were hanging on every word. They started by teaching the kids how and when to wash their hands and then moved on to how and when to brush their teeth. They had an activity where the kids partnered up and put different color paint on their hands, they then switched partners and combined the different color paint. The paint, they explained, was like germs and could spread and make them sick. They totally loved it and loved watching the water turn different colors as they washed their hands. The teeth brushing experiment was also a crowd pleaser – one of the volunteers ate an Oreo and then showed all the kids how it was stuck in her teeth. She then brushed her teeth in front of them showing them how to do it. They got a huge kick out of it! After the presentation we had a little fiesta. Erika and I had bought a big chocolate cake which we brought in and all the kids got to have a piece. A few of them knew we were going to have a party and they wore their little party dresses. It was really cute. The teacher put on music and the kids all paired up and danced off their sugar rushes. It was a really wonderful last day with them. Since I didn’t get to spend more time with these kids, it’s only natural that we didn’t develop closer relationships. However, I really feel like I was able to teach them something and that is what I came down here to do! Also, we successfully convinced the teacher to move the “pee bucket” outside and if that’s the only thing that sticks, I will still feel like I accomplished something!

Llama face…

This weekend was spent hiking in the Andes Mountains. Sidenote – hiking at 14,000 = no breathing. I’ve been extremely light headed for two days! Other than not being able to breathe, the weekend was fantastic! Saturday we went out to a town about an hour away called Huanta. We hiked up into the mountains and saw a beautiful waterfall – it was really relaxing! On Sunday we did a Llama trek through the mountains. It was pretty incredible. First off, the llamas don’t really do anything, they are just sort of there but it definitely makes the hike a lot funnier! We hiked for over 2 hours and just when we thought we were about to arrive at Mordor, we stumbled on an adorable little town and A LOT of llamas. FYI… Holy Llama poop. It was everywhere! I’m fairly certain I’m going to have to boil my hiking shoes.

Kindergarten Update and a couple of challenges…

My second week at the kindergarten went well. The kids really seem to be learning the information we’re teaching which is always encouraging. They’ve learned to say and identify the parts of the body in English as well as numbers 1-10. It’s very interesting how different these kids are from the kids I taught in Tanzania. While I have definitely connected with them on some level, they seem more hesitant to trust me than I expected. In TZ, the kids immediately wanted to get to know me, play with me, and interact as much as possible. Here, the kids are much more aloof and with only one more week left with them, I really hope I can make a better connection. I’ve also noticed that the kids here are much more violent. I know boys will be boys, they’ll wrestle and play rough no matter what – but even the girls hit each other and have even tried to hit myself or Ericka when they don’t get their way (i.e. letting them run out into the street.) The last couple of days we have noticed that they try to push the envelope and think it’s funny to do things when we tell them not to. In turn, we’ve decided to just ignore them and they immediately stop having gotten no reaction out of us. Most of the problems we’re having would end up solving themselves if we were able to stay longer and I’m sad I won’t be able to see them grow and learn beyond next week. Another issue we have at the school is hygiene. It’s actually pretty heinous. The biggest problem is the “bathroom”/”toilet”, and by “bathroom” I mean the corner of the classroom and by “toilet” I mean a bucket. Luckily, a group of CCS volunteers that have been here for a while have put together a personal hygiene presentation for kids and we’ve asked them to come in this week and teach the kids how to wash their hands, brush their teeth, and with any luck we can get rid of this toilet/bucket situation!
On a happier note, they LOVE arts and crafts time. On Friday, we made sock puppets which were a huge hit! Ericka and I spent approx. 2 hours gluing tiny eyes onto socks that may or may not have been clean. The kids had a blast though!

Trip to the Coast…

This weekend, my fellow volunteers and I took a long weekend to the Peruvian coast! Since Monday was a national holiday and no one had to work we were able to leave Friday and return Monday night. It was a whirlwind of sightseeing, adventures and lots of riding in the van! It took 8 hours to get from our home in Ayacucho to Ica on the coast. Ica is most famously known for the HUGE sand dunes there and it did not disappoint! We spent Saturday morning riding dune buggies and sand boarding down the huge dunes – it was pretty badass. After the dunes we went to a pisco distillery. Pisco is a local liquor made from grapes… unfortunately it tastes like tequila so I stopped tasting after my first try. Ick! Saturday night we drove two hours to Nasca. Of course, it was Halloween and we had to do something “Halloween-ie”. On the way we stopped at a “Witches village” where we met with a witch doctor. It was definitely a fun Halloween activity; however, it would have been infinitely better had the “Witch doctor” not been wearing khakis and a button down and listening to the Spanish version of “Yankee Doodle” on the radio. He should have at least had a few shrunken heads or something! We spent Halloween night in Nasca (where we saw a number of Michael Jackson costumes) and woke up bright and early the next day to fly over the Nasca lines. No one really knows where the lines came from – there are rumors of everything from aliens to the ancient Nasca people putting them there themselves. It was an experience I definitely didn’t want to miss but I will NEVER do it again! Planes built for 10 people are no bueno! I get car sick riding the backseat so the small plane thing didn’t go over so well for my equilibrium! Monday morning we got up super early and drove to Paracas, a small town right on the beach. We took a boat out to a little island on the coast where we saw hundreds of sea lions, penguins, and pelicans. It was definitely one of the cooler experiences I’ve had here in Peru and makes me really want to go to the Galapagos islands! All in all it was a very cool weekend, full of very cool experiences. After the 8 hour drive back, I was very happy to be home and very excited to get back to work with my kindergarteners!

Quinua and the Wari Ruins…

Yesterday afternoon my fellow volunteers and I went up to a local town outside of Ayacucho called Quinua. It was the most adorable little town I’ve ever seen – exactly what you would expect an old South American town to look like! Quinua is a pottery town so there was lots to see and a lot of opportunities to shop. Unfortunately, I already have enough to bring home and couldn’t forsee getting a small child-sized terrecota statue of Jesus back to the states, so I stuck with a small llama shaped candle holder. FYI – every time you read the word “llama” from here on out, it must be pronounced “yama”. Not only is it correct pronunciation, but it is infinitely more entertaining.
We got rained out of Quinua, and by rain I mean bullet size hail, so we made our way over to some local Wari ruins. The Wari date back to before the Inca’s and while the ruins are nothing compared to Machu Picchu, it was cool to see pieces of a little known civilization.
All in all, the highlights of the day were seeing a tarantula cross the street and finding real turquoise in the ground!

A new group of kids to love…

I’m very happy to have ended up teaching kindergarten here. While I would have loved helping at the Wawa Wasi, I wouldn’t have gotten to teach nearly as much and I, of course, wouldn’t have gotten to meet these adorable little nuggets! My kids in Tanzania, I’ve found out, were pretty advanced for their age. The kids here speak no English so I really get to start from scratch. Luckily, I’m teaching with another volunteer named Erika (who happens to be from Bethesda) and we are really working well together. So far, we’ve taught the kids the parts of the body, colors, and have started with numbers, the alphabet and fruit. Today, we made masks as a fun activity for learning the facial features. Afterwards, we put on music and had a parade around the school with them and they really got a kick out of it. “The itsy-bitsy spider” is also a HUGE hit. We’re practicing everyday and are almost performance ready. Look for us at Carnegie Hall pretty soon!

The soul’s home…

Ayacucho is a small city in the highlands of Peru; about 9, 500 ft above sea level in the Andes Mountains. The people here speak the local language called Quechua as well as Spanish. The name Ayacucho is Quechua for “The Soul’s Home”. I’ve only spent a few days here but I already feel like the name is appropriate.
Our first few days here have been a whirlwind! The people here are some of the friendliest I’ve come across and the other volunteers are all really great. The trip here was definitely a long one pacified by the man on our flight to Miami who serenaded us by playing “Oh Susannah” on his harmonica. No, seriously. We had an 8 hour layover in Lima during which we perfected the art of sleeping in the airport. By the time we got to Ayacucho it was about 7 AM and we were completely exhausted. Our program director, Rudy, lives on a farm outside of Ayacucho and kindly invited us to spend the day relaxing there. It was pretty wonderful, even after having to wade through a river to get there. We laid by the river, read, talked, got to know each other, and had a nice relaxing first day on a South American farm.
On Tuesday we started our volunteer work and for some reason when I went to the Wawa Wasi (Quechua for “Baby House”) no one was there. Instead, I joined another volunteer at a kindergarten and had a wonderful time. We work together really well and the teacher was so happy she asked me if I could stay. Of course, I was happy to help so the rest of my volunteer work will now be teaching English to 4 and 5 year olds. Even though they are the same age as my kids in Tanzania, they are much further behind so we definitely have our work cut out for us!
The language barrier here is very intimidating. I might be the only person in the world who never took Spanish in school and my Italian is only helping me to mispronounce everything. Luckily, a lot of the other volunteers speak very well and have been helping me out! I’m actually glad to have the experience teaching English to Spanish speaking children because I know that my future as an ESOL teacher will be filled with the same challenge. I’m really learning how to effectively communicate with the kids and they get a kick out of hearing me try to speak Spanish.
This weekend is the annual “Day of the Dead”, a holiday in which people honor their relatives and friends who have passed. Since all of our work sites are closed on Monday, we have all decided to take a long weekend and go to the coast for a little sand boarding, dune buggies, and a flight over the Nazca lines! We’re also going to take a boat out on the pacific to a little island to see penguins and sea lions!
More to come…

My Ayacucho volunteer placement...

With my trip only 10 days away, I finally received my volunteer placement! I'm very excited that on this trip I will have 3 volunteer placements! 3 days a week I will be working at a local Wawa Wasi (Quechua for "Baby House"). These government funded day care centers were created to give impoverished, working parents a safe place for their small children to spend the day. The children range in age from infancy to 4 years and will no doubt be totally stinking cute :) I'll be there to help with the babies, play games with the children and hopefully help develop some early English speaking skills. The other two days of the week, myself and another volunteer will visit Los Libertadores public school and Mercedes public school for girls. Los Libertadores is located about 15 minutes from where I'll be living and comes with an enormous challenge - there are 800 students for only 15 teachers. Mercedes is an all girl public school and is considered one of the largest in Ayacucho. With over 1,000 students, Mercedes is both a primary and secondary school and offers "workshops" for students in the areas of making clothing, arts and crafts, and other academic subjects.
I'm very excited to be able to lend a hand in what I'm sure will turn out to be an amazing community of people. I'm a little nervous about my lack of Spanish speaking skills (and by "lack of" I mean I speak NO SPANISH!) I'm hoping that my willingness to help and my enthusiasm for learning will overcompensate for the language barrier.
Here's to a new and exciting challenge! See you on the south side!

A long over-due reflection and a look forward...

Its been 2 months since I've returned from Tanzania and yet it feels like last week that I decided to go on the trip! I've almost been avoiding this blog post because I didn't want to really admit that the adventure was over but I owe it to myself to bring that chapter to a close and to start a new one. Thinking back on this summer, I can't believe it was really me that got to do all of these amazing things! I went on safari, I spent a weekend in Zanzibar, I hiked on Mt. Kilimanjaro, and took an entire summers worth of showers in cold water! Most importantly, I got to immerse myself in a culture completely different from my own and become a part of an amazing community of people. I was able to lend a helping hand and become a part of something much bigger than myself. I learned so much more about myself than I ever could have imagined - I am certain that the people of Tanzania taught me much more than I could have ever taught them.
I just re-read my blog entry entitled "My pre-departure thoughts and hopes..." and was very pleased to find that I achieved every goal I set for myself and then-some.
Going on that trip was the biggest risk I had ever taken and it ended up being the best decision I ever made.
Now it's time to remember the summer of '09 as the best I ever had and to move forward. I leave in 14 days for my second volunteer trip with CCS to Ayacucho, Peru. This time I have my best-friend Laura to share the experience with and I couldn't be more thrilled! I am hoping to use everything I have learned this summer and to open myself up for another incredible learning experience.
Thank you to everyone who has followed me through this journey - I hope you'll join me as I take on a new continent! Look out South America - Elyse and Laura are on their way!!!

P.S... Check out Laura's blog "Lost in Translation" - there is a link on the right of my page :)

My babies :)

It takes approx. 6 months to load pictures on this computer so this is probably all you will get until I get home! Things at the school are going really well! The kids have learned their numbers up t0 50 since I've arrived and have of course accumulated numerous art projects to take home on their last day of school. Bridge goes on holiday starting this firday the 31st so I only have 2 more days with the kids. I'm certain to loose it! Next week, Mama Minja is having students from other schools who are also on holiday come in for extra tutoring so I will get a chance to work with kids up to age 12. It should be a big difference from my little guys! Since Friday is their last day of school, I'm preparing cards for each of the kids with their "school picture" inside which I will give out at a little "graduation ceremony" of sorts. Only 3 of them are starting primary school in the fall so most of them will be back for their second year of Nursery School/ Kindergarten but it will still be fun to celebrate the end of their school year! I'm going to stock up on PiPi (swahili for candy) so I can get them nice and hyper before sending them home to their parents :)

Picture Day!

Picture day at school is apparently an American tradition but I think it's a good one! The kids here don't often get pictures of themselves and I noticed in the past few weeks that whenever I take a picture of them they want to look at it immediately. I thought it would be fun to have a picture day at Bridge where each child could get their "school picture" taken. Today was the big day and it was so cute! Each of my 11 kids came out one by one to pose for their picture and they were so excited. I used my own digital camera and I have put the pictures on an external hard-drive which I'm going to take to the kodak store in town to have developed. I plan on making each child a card out of construction paper which says "Bridge Nursery School 2009" on the front, with their picture, name, and age on the inside. I'm really excited about it and so are they. Next week we are going to do an entire class picture which I will print and give to the head teacher Mama Minja (who has declared herself my African mom and has offered for me to live in her house so I can come back and teach). I really love it here and am so sad to think of leaving in 2 weeks. It's hard to believe I have already been here for a month! There are things I miss about home but leaving here will be unbelievably hard. Life here is very different but it is a place in which I have found myself very happy.

Kilimanjaro Coffee Hike

This past Sunday, 5 other volunteers and I went on a coffee plantation hike on Mt. Kilimanjaro. It was so fun and so cheap – only $25! Our guide, Oscar, was born and raised on the mountain and his family has grown coffee for generations. Oscar is only 23 and the youngest son in his family. He took us to his family home where we met his sisters and nieces and nephews (they were adorable!) and he took us on a tour of the coffee trees on his property. We made coffee with no electricity and totally from scratch! We picked the beans which look like berries, cranked them through a machine to get the shell off, washed them, dried them, pounded them to get the skin off (like peanut skin), sifted them, roasted them, pounded them into powder, boiled them in water and voila! It took well over an hour but it was a really cool experience and it was the best coffee I’ve ever had. To make things even better, Oscar had never heard of Starbucks. It’s a beautiful day in the world when you meet someone who has never heard of Starbucks! After coffee and lunch we hiked from Oscar’s house down through the mountain where there is an amazing waterfall. It was over 300 ft. high! The hike was so beautiful – you could see forever off of the side of the mountain and as we were hiking back we passed by a funeral where people were singing hymns in perfect harmony. It was a very cool moment. Apparently I don’t work my butt muscles too much though because I was very sore when I woke up Monday morning! I’m going to have to take up hiking when I get home – I’ve never hiked so much as I have since coming here and it’s a really good workout! It’s probably not as cool to hike in Maryland as it is in Africa but I’m willing to give it a try. Before we headed back down the mountain, Oscar thought it would be fun to stop off and try Banana Beer. It’s a Tanzanian specialty and is much nastier than it sounds! Basically, people brew it by themselves from fermented bananas and finger millet. You drink it the day it’s brewed and to make things worse they serve it by taking an old dirty(ish) bucket and dunking it in an even bigger, older, and dirtier bucket. I don’t really know how to describe it except that it’s sour and grainy from the millet. There are huge chunks of it floating around. It kind of looks like and has the consistency of cream of wheat with the flavor of old, stale, sweet beer - I’ll just leave it at that.

Bridge Nursery Update

So I haven’t written much lately about my wonderful nursery school kids and I wanted to give you all an update. I can’t really describe what teaching here is like. After coming from a brand new school at home with unlimited resources and a fully stocked and brand new facility, its eye opening to work at a place where having sharpened pencils is a treat. I didn’t realize how much I took advantage of luxuries such as having a Xerox machine down the hall or an electric pencil sharpener. That being said, Bridge nursery is much better off than many of the nursery schools in Tanzania. It’s a concrete building with outdoor plumbing. There are no windows or electricity but the weather is warm enough here year round that it doesn’t really matter. It does get pretty dark in the room on rainy days but other than that I don’t really miss having florescent lights. The kids are pure joy. I have eleven students – two named Rose, Witness, Winstone, Gabriella, Salma, Sabra, Honest, Zadock, Anolld, and Hagai. They are all between the ages of 4 and 6 and are all on different intellectual levels. Both Roses and Salma are very bright and ready to start primary school next year. They know the alphabet very well, can do basic math, and can do a little bit of reading. They can count pretty much to 100 and do most of their work completely on their own. There such bright little girls and they love school, it really makes me smile. The rest of the group is a little bit behind them but they are also a little younger so I have confidence they will get there. Children aren’t particularly encouraged to be creative here which I think is such a shame so I have taken it upon myself to include a good deal of arts and crafts which they are loving! I’m using the crayons and construction paper that I brought nearly every day. We did self-portraits the other day and then I cut them out and taped them to pop-sickle sticks to make masks – the kids ate it up and were so excited. Today I gave them all construction paper that I had drawn their names on in bubble letters. The kids colored them in and decorated them and we’re going to put them up on the wall of the classroom. I did one myself that says “Teacher Elyse” so they will have it to remember me by when I leave (which I can’t even think about!) A couple of weeks ago I had them trace and color their hands which I then cut out and made into a big tree with their hands as the leaves. I hung it up in the classroom and they loved going up to find their hands on the tree. I think this week we will make puppets but I’m not exactly sure how I’m going to pull that one off yet. Tomorrow I’m testing the kids to see how much has actually sunken in. In Tanzania they have to test into Primary school and if you don’t pass the test you basically stay in Nursery school until you do. It isn’t unheard of to have 9 and 10 year olds in Nursery school. The 3 girls I mentioned earlier are sure to pass but I think the test tomorrow will be good preparation for them. Since I’ve been here I’ve taught a good deal – mostly numbers (30-50), and counting by 10’s to name a couple. The teacher that’s there likes to teach reading because the kids don’t understand my accent sometimes and it’s good for her because she learns as well as she teaches. I’ve only had to correct her spelling or pronunciation a few times – she’s pretty much fluent which I am very grateful for!
I know I’m no t supposed to pick “favorites” but I have one little girl named Witness who just breaks my heart. I love her so much. If Tanzania was open for adoption I would be bringing this kid home in my suitcase. She pretty much can’t stand to not be holding my hand all day which drives the other kids mad with jealousy. I just don’t have enough hands for them all to hold. Witness came running up to me today as I was leaving and gave me a big hug which she does several times a day but this time she gave me a kiss on the cheek and I almost cried .She is just so sweet, I can’t stand it!

“I almost peed my pants” doesn’t begin to cover it…

I often use the phrase “I seriously almost peed my pants”. I use it to describe how funny something was or how badly I was startled. This time, I can’t impress how serious I am! We all know I’m not the biggest fan of the camping, being dirty, bugs, etc. but I’m trying to broaden my horizons and try new things, damn it! I was really looking forward to “being one with nature” and all of that and now that I’ve had my authentic camping experience I think I’m good for a while! Saturday night after dinner we were all pretty much exhausted and freezing so we decided to head to bed really early. I grabbed my flashlight since it was pitch black and started to head to the bathroom which was, of course, all the way across a huge field on the other side of Africa. I was mostly concerned with not stepping in one of the giant piles of animal crap so I wasn’t really paying attention to what was in front of me until I, no joke, nearly walked into a zebra. I flashed my light up just in time and saw an entire herd just hanging out in our campsite eating grass. This was the first of many “I almost peed my pants” situations I had that night. I made it back to my tent and drifted off to sleep relatively quickly despite the early hour, the freezing cold, the herd of zebra, and the herd of drunken Europeans yelling loudly in various languages. I would say I fell asleep around 9. At around 2 AM, I awoke to something loud outside my tent. It was definitely a sound I had never heard before – I have no reference for wild African animal sounds. The wind was blowing our tent pretty fiercely as well which in a half-asleep state of mind translated into stampeding elephants. My tent mate and I slowly worked up the courage to peek outside and found only grazing zebra about 2 feet away. I’m mildly OK with the Zebra being there but this is also the point where I remember that I have an open bag of cookies in the tent with me and something sounds suspiciously like warthogs in the distance. I convince myself it is probably just someone snoring and I try to go back to sleep. The wind is whipping, the zebra are munching (loudly!), and the snorer/warthog is getting louder (and possibly closer?). Of course, I now realize that I have to pee. Obviously. I’m regretting the two cups of hot tea I had before bed to keep me warm! I’m lying awake, trying not to think about the increasing pressure of my bladder when the snorer/warthog sound definitely sounds nearby. Now I’m freaking out. You would think not having open containers of food in your tent on safari would be common sense but apparently I didn’t get that memo. By this point it’s nearly 3 AM and I absolutely have to go to the bathroom. I make the very wise decision to trek to the bathroom and take the bag of cookies with me to throw them away. At least then they won’t be in my tent, right? I grabbed my flashlight and my shoes and ventured out. This time I am careful of both piles of poo and grazing zebra and I’m moving slower than molasses for fear of startling something and causing a stampede. I’m flashing my light ahead of me, checking things out, when I see two huge yellow eyes staring back at me from 30 or so feet away. So there I was, in the middle of the African wilderness, surrounded by God knows what, being watching by any number of flesh eating predators, about to actually pee my pants and holding a bag of cookies. I actually laughed out loud at the absurdity of my situation and then I did the only logical thing I could think of. I said “Oh hell no!” dropped the cookies, and booked it back to my tent. I didn’t get to pee until 5:30 when the rest of the camp woke up at which point I found my abandoned stash lying in the field right where I left it.

Asante Sana, Squish Banana

So now for my crazy African Safari blog. After leaving the Maasai village on Friday we headed back to our campsite which was just your typical fenced in camping area. It was no different than any campsite in the US and I was secretly relieved. I slept really well for it being my first night in a tent since I was 16 years old. We woke up before the sun and hastily ate breakfast so we could make it to Lake Manyara as early as possible. The first animals we saw were tons and tons of monkeys and baboons. I couldn’t stop saying “Asante Sana, Squish Banana” like Rafiki in “The Lion King”. The monkeys are actually pretty annoying and one actually jumped into the front seat of our truck at one point later in the trip. I was pretty much over them after the first hour. Luckily, we soon saw tons of giraffes, elephants, zebra, buffalo, impalas, flamingos, hippos… basically everything aside from large cats since there aren’t too many of them near the lake. The best thing we saw that day was a Mama elephant with her baby. They crossed the path right in front of our car and the baby was really curious so it stopped and poked the car with its trunk while its mom patiently waited on the other side of the road. At one point she poked it with her trunk to hustle it along and it got all playful and started to jump around. I’ve never seen anything so cute! I got it on video and I’m so glad I did. After lunch we drove up to Ngorogoro crater which is a caldera pretty high up in the mountains. It was a really clear day so we could see all the way across the crater to the other side and it was beautiful. We set up camp on the rim of the crater and this time it was no fenced in campsite. As soon as I saw the piles of animal crap two feet from my tent, I knew it was going to be an interesting night. It was so interesting, in fact, that it deserves its own blog entry and so I will just skip to Sunday morning. We set out early again and since we were up at the top of a mountain walking through clouds, it was pretty cold and wet. We drove down into the crater and immediately saw Wildebeests, Zebra, and Buffalo. A few cars ahead of us said they saw a couple of cheetahs but they were camouflaged and lying down in a ditch so we couldn’t make them out. We drove around and finally saw what we were looking for – two female lion’s right on the edge of the road with two baby cubs. I couldn’t believe how close they were! Soon after that we saw a whole den of female lions hanging out on a hill and within minutes came across a fully grown male lion with a few females lounging around a recently killed buffalo. There were hyenas and jackals all circling around the kill, trying to get in on the action but the female lions kept running them off. We watched them for a long time; it was like watching animal planet live. We headed back up to pack up our car and as we were waiting to leave, two huge elephants wandered right into our campsite and started drinking from the well. It was a very groovy weekend and I even though I’m not much for the camping; I would do it again in a heartbeat!

Crossing boundaries...

This past weekend a group of 9 of us went on safari to Lake Manyara and the Ngorogoro crater. Because we have to squeeze the trip into a weekend, we didn’t really have time to the Serengeti which is about 6 hours away. In a way, I’m glad. Our trip was much more authentically “African”. We were picked up by our guides Emma (pronounced ee-mah), and Funk, and our cook Good-Luck. FYI, Those are their actual given names. We left Friday afternoon after school and drove about 2 hours south to the Lake Manyara area. Friday night was the coolest night I’ve ever had. After dropping our stuff off at our camp site we drove out to a local Maasai village. We got there just as the sun was setting behind the mountains and were welcomed to the village by the tribe who were singing and dancing. I could just sort of watch in awe for a few minutes, marveling at my very own National Geographic moment, before one of the ladies came up to me and put her large beaded necklace around my neck and pulled me out to dance. It was surreal to find myself standing in a primal village, holding the hands of women whose traditions and way of life have lasted since the beginning of mankind. I was intimidated and excited and overwhelmed. The Maasai children were running around like all kids do, imitating the movements of their elders. It was very dusty out there and the kids were filthy with flies all over them but somehow it made sense and I couldn’t imagine them any other way. They aren’t sad or neglected, just living a different, more primitive way of life. In a lot of ways, I feel they will grow to be happier and wiser than a lot of the freshly bathed and formally educated kids I know. I, of course, got plenty of pictures and the tribe women really enjoyed having their pictures taken. Like most women, they had to see each picture after it was taken to see how they looked in it. I guess some things will never change. I won’t ever forget that night and I’m infinitely glad I was able to experience it.

Let's play catch up...

It’s been awhile since I’ve been able to write – I’ve been crazy busy! Last week was blur but it was really fun. Things at the Nursery School are going well. The kids are really starting to speak English well - the older kids hardly speak Swahili at all when they are at school, even to each other. It’s so fun to hang out with the kiddies everyday! They’re really sweet.
Last Wednesday we took a little trip to the Marangu waterfalls. It was super fun! We had to hardcore hike down (and then up!) a really steep mountain. I felt very outdoorsy! The waterfalls were beautiful, as was the hike. We also stopped at a blacksmith and we went down into these old caves that were dug by the Chaaga Tribe. The caves were kind of nasty – very full of bugs and very muddy. We had to crawl on hands and knees. It was definitely an experience!
This past Thursday was one of the most fun evenings I’ve had since I’ve been here. A few of the other volunteers are working at an organization called TAFCOM which stands for Tanzanian Organization Facilitating Community Development. TAFCOM basically helps set up sustainable community initiatives so that people who have no means to provide for themselves are able to learn a skill that will enable them to get a job. They also support an orphanage for children whose parents have passed due to HIV/AIDS, and they work towards women’s empowerment by providing them opportunities that help them get out of oppressive situations. This past Thursday the volunteers at TAFCOM put together a really wonderful fundraiser that we all went to. It was 10,000 TSH (about $8) to get in and there was a live band, great food, and a bunch of vendor’s selling their crafts, jewelry, etc. They also had something called “Fill This Bowl” which cost 5,000 TSH (about $3.50). By purchasing a “Fill this Bowl” you could provide porridge for an orphan for an entire month. It was a really wonderful idea. The event raised about $1,000 which doesn’t seem like that much to us but will go so far in a country this poor. I had a really great time and it was awesome to feel like a valuable member of this community. I really love being here as a part of the community and integrating myself into the culture rather than coming in as a tourist and taking from the little resources they have.
I’m about to go learn how to make Batik (a form of African fabric painting) so I’ll have to finish catching you all up later – I have CRAZY stories from this past weekend’s safari!
Kwaheri!

Counting my blessings...

Today was the sort of day that forces you to evaluate who are you, what you have, and what you can possibly do to change an impossible situation. Myself and few of my fellow volunteers went to a local village about 5 minutes from where we live to visit the homes of people suffering from HIV/AIDS. I can't possibly begin to describe what it was like. We met with a woman that goes by Mama Sarah and she might possibly be the most incredible woman I have ever met. She is the leader of a group of people, all of whom are HIV positive. Mama Sarah is infected herself yet she gives everything she has to support her community of sick and dying people. We met a great deal of people, most of whom are women, who have lost everything that they ever had due to the disease. The first house we visited was a stick and mud hut with no windows, electricity, or running water. She was in her 60's, has lost her husband and children, and is left sick and weak to care for her grandchildren. She was forced to send some of them to an orphange and one was adopted by a local family. All she is left with is a falling down hut and few pictures of the family she has lost. Her situation is no different from any of families in the 6 homes we visited today. It is customary in TZ to take a gift when you visit the sick so our group stopped at a local store and stocked up on things such as soap, flower, sugar, bread, and other essentials that these people have no way of buying. It took everything I had to hold it together but I still couldn't not cry. Many of the people we visited were so grateful for our gifts that they shed tears of appreciation. Every single person we visited talked about their faith and how even though they have nothing, they know Jesus will come for them - they are just waiting. I knew coming here that I would see things like this, but I could never have been prepared to experience it first hand. Before today I thought of TZ as a place I could cross off of my list of places I wanted to visit. Now, I know I will come back to do anything I possible can to help. I feel so moved and so ridiculously blessed for things I have always taken advantage of. Count your blessings and hug your family, because so many people don't have either.I am planning on visiting Mama Sarah and her community at least twice a week while I am here and I am already brainstorming ways I can fundraise back at home. If you have any ideas, please let me know!

Approaching Zanzibar...

I'm sitting in a bungalow on the beach in Zanzibar off of the coast of Tanzania. It's even cooler than it sounds! This place is what the Caribbean wants to be when it grows up. We all got bungalows on the beach with four-poster beds that have big, long, mosquito nets - they look like princess beds. Our hotel has a really great outdoor restaraunt/bar right on the water and every night theres a DJ and dancing. It's truly paradise. Unfortunatly, we're only here for the weekend but it will be nice to get "home" and back to work. I have alot of upcoming posts which should be up by the middle of this week so keep your eyes peeled.

My challenges...

I have always considered myself to be a very independent person. I like to think that I can make anything a reality. I have realized that in order to truly be that person, I have to test myself and push the limits. This experience is truly that test. Before I left I stated that I hoped to be completely out of my comfort zone and boy am I ever! The food is very different but fresh and I will learn to love not eating processed, boxed, and microwaved nastiness! We have one computer for about 30 people and the internet is very slow – if you know me at all you’ll know I’m on my computer probably 60% of my day, so being cut off from “media” as my Dad would say, has been a welcome shock to the system. My crackberry can be added to this category. The power goes out A LOT so electricity is hit or miss and I haven’t had a hot shower since I’ve been here. My mom was laughing at the airport because I was talking about going on Safari where we’ll be camping out. The idea of me camping in Africa was one no one ever expected! All of this sounds pretty negative but it isn’t. This is a part of my journey here. I set out to challenge myself and every aspect of this experience is a welcome challenge. Nothing worth doing is easy! I realized my freshman year of college when I left home for the first time that my family is VERY important to me. I love them more than I can possibly say so not being able to share this experience with them is perhaps my biggest challenge. Every second I see or experience something that makes me want to pick up my phone and tell them all about it! I have to actively try to not think about what I might be missing back home or I know the homesickness will kick in. So far, I’ve been in pretty high albeit, exhausted spirits. The veteran volunteers have all said the first week is the hardest between the culture shock, orientation, and the fact that everything is new and different. I feel pretty good about my experience so far so I know that once I get passed this initial week and settle into a routine, I will be elated at the adventure I’m in! I’m starting to get used to sleeping in a mosquito net and so far I haven’t been bit (knock on wood)! When I see the way people here live, how modest their lives and living conditions are, how few resources they have at their disposal, I feel unbelievable blessed. This is a very surreal place… I don’t know how else to describe it.

My first day teaching...

This morning I arrived at Bridge Nursery School for my first day teaching. I have the 4-6 year old class and they are TOO STINKING CUTE!! My name is too difficult for them to pronounce so instead they call me teacha. The woman who runs the school is named Madame Mary and she is truly remarkable. She has been a teacher her whole life in government schools in Tanzania and started Bridge School when she retired. In Tanzania, primary school is taught in Swahili and secondary school is taught in English. Unfortunately, since students typically don’t learn proper English in primary school they are unable to go to secondary school. Bridge Nursery is an English Medium School which means everything is taught in English. This way, the children learn English right from the get-go and have a much better chance of receiving the education they need to succeed. I was blown away by how much English the children speak! They are so eager to learn and excited! Today I helped the kids with basic math (don’t laugh!) and it was so wonderful. Tomorrow were going to work on writing the alphabet and maybe do a little coloring too :)

My first few days...

I don’t even know where to begin! My journey to Tanzania started at 1 PM on Friday June 26th when my mom took me to the airport and I didn’t arrive until 9:00 PM (about 2 PM EST) Sunday June 28th. I had a 2 ½ hour window to make my connection in Amsterdam so of course my plane took off from D.C. 3 ½ hours late. I had to spend Saturday night at an airport hotel in Amsterdam and take the next flight to Kilimanjaro the next morning. It was a very long, lonely night! As soon as I walked in the front door of the CCS homebase I was greeted with a big hug from Mama Lilian, our house “mother”. She is a wonderful woman and really takes good care of her volunteers! My first two observations were that the stars are too numerous to comprehend – truly unbelievable, and the air smells sweet with woodsmoke, even if slightly tainted by gasoline. The sounds here are amazingly different than anything I’m used to – I’m woken every morning by the call of a rooster (around sun-up) and he continues to sing through 7ish. I don’t like him very much. In addition to the rooster, there are pigs, dogs, babies, strange birds, Muslim chanting, and of course the crickets. On my first morning we were broken up into teams and given tasks to complete within the village. My team had to go to a local house (more like a mud hut) and buy sugar cane using only Swahili (God bless the phrase book)! We walked up to the house where a young girl was washing linen in a bucket and asked for sugar – her mom then came right out with a machete and asked us to follow her. It was really intense. Needless to say we got our sugar cane and didn’t lose any limbs. The rest of my days have been filled with Swahili lessons, a trip into town (I can’t understand how these women balance so much on their heads!), and of course my first day at my volunteer placement! I could go on forever but I will dedicate other entries to my first day teaching as well as a lecture we got today on the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Tanzania. This weekend, 11 of us are going to Zanzibar! I’m super stoked. We got a bungalow on the beach so were going to celebrate July 4th in style! Next weekend were all going on safari to Ngorogoro Crater and Lake Manyara with a brief stop to visit the Masaai tribe! That’s all for now, leave me messages! I miss everyone so much!

Pre-Departure thoughts and hopes...

I’m sitting on my bed with everything that should be packed splayed out around me in organized chaos. It hasn’t quite sunk in that I’m leaving in less than 4 days. When I started counting down to this moment it was four hundred and something days ago. I was hardly the same person that I am now and I’m certain that six weeks from now I’ll be a different woman than the one sitting here watching “Golden Girls” in a pile of travel sized toiletries. To say that I’m excited isn’t quite the whole truth. I’m elated, nervous, confident and absolutely terrified. I made this decision over a year ago because I wanted to see the world; to travel and collect unique experiences. Now that this adventure is so close, I find myself in a different place. I’ve spent the past year learning where my strengths, weaknesses, and passions lie. I’ve learned that there is no better way to learn than to teach and I know that I will learn more and get more out of this experience than I could have projected. I’ve been told by several people that I can’t change the world – and maybe they’re right. I know I can’t change the whole world and everyone in it, but I hope I can have the opportunity to change someone’s whole world. I hope I can teach a child to write their name or help a child learn to read. I hope I can be a friend to someone who needs a companion or an extra pair of hands where hands are needed. I hope I find myself completely out of my comfort zone and I hope that I will eventually feel at home. I hope to make new friends, new memories, collect new experiences, and come back with a better understanding of how I fit into a global society where different languages create bridges instead of barriers.
I understand and appreciate that I’m about to embark on a once in a lifetime journey and I know without a doubt that I couldn’t do it without all of you. Just by reading this you’re showing immense support and I can’t thank you enough. I hope that you will continue to check into my blog, I will do my best to update it as often as possible. Please feel free to leave me messages or drop me an e-mail at l8egrace@hotmail.com. As excited and ready as I am, I know I will find myself homesick at some point or another and will find great comfort in reading your encouragements!
Asante sana!

My Volunteer Placement!

I depart in just 18 days... it seems unblievable! Today I received my volunteer placement from CCS with details on where I'll be volunteering for my 6 weeks in Tanzania. I couldn't be happier with my assignment. I'll be teaching at Bridge Nursery School just outside of Moshi. My students will be ages 3-5. I've never taught kids that young before so I know it will be a wonderful challenge. Here is the description of the school given to me by CCS...

Mission and Needs of the Partner Program
Bridge Nursery School started in July of 2008. It is an English Medium Nursery School, which is run by a board of directors. The school is situated in Moshi municipality in a shanty town area near the International School of Moshi. It is about three kilometers from the town center. The school has two female teachers and 11 pupils aged from 3 to 5 years old. The subjects taught at the Bridge Nursery School are Mathematics, English, Art, Singing, Stories and Games.

Volunteer Activities/Duties of Caring for Infants and Children
· Teach English and basic mathematics (counting, addition)
· Teach games and songs (singing action songs are great: Hokey Pokey, Head Shoulders Knees and Toes, etc)
· Asses the development and progress of students (help create testing procedures)
· Organize projects and activities for the children.
· Work with the teacher to develop pre-school activities and materials that can be used for years to come (using creativity to create things with little supplies and modern equipment)
· Participate in cultural exchange with the children and teacher

Goals of the Partner Program
Long-Term
The long-term goals of this partnership are to provide quality education for the children of Kilimanjaro, to encourage an exchange among teachers in order to gain new teaching and learning methodologies, and to improve students’ and teachers’ facility with the English language.

Short-Term
Each volunteer’s short-term goals may include: establishing relationships with students and teachers, engaging in meaningful cultural exchange, preparing and implementing creative lesson plans for all of the above mentioned subjects, and to provide an opportunity for formal and informal English lessons.

Ideas to Bring with You
· Please begin brainstorming ideas for activities for your placement. Be sure to review the “Activity Bank” section of the Placement Guide you received in your Welcome Packet for suggestions and ideas from previous volunteers and in-country staff.
· The Home-Base has a well-stocked Resource Center with locally purchased supplies and materials such as crayons, paint, paper, and glue that you can use at your placement. Please do not bring supplies with you.
· People will be very interested in learning about you and your life so it would be nice to bring “show and tell” items, such as photos of your family and things representative of your daily life.


Work Attire/Dress Code
· Skirts below the knee for women and loose pants or khakis for men (No shorts or jeans)
· Short sleeves or polo, knitted-type shirts (No thin-strapped/strapless tops)
· Sturdy sandals, tennis shoes or sneakers
· Clean clothing without stains, tears, or that drag on the ground
· Please be sure that all tattoos are covered.


Things to Remember
· Keep a positive, open-mind.
· Interact with children and teachers.
· Be patient, flexible, creative, friendly and respectful.
· Try to observe the routine as much as possible during your first week.
· Take initiative – plan activities in advance and always ask how you can help.

I couldn't be happier with the assignment I've been given!
As always, more to come!

OUCH!

I just got back from getting all my immunizations... my arms feel like a combination of jello and pin cushions but now I can no longer contract Hepatitis A, B, Typhoid Fever, or Yellow Fever. I also got a script for Malaria Pills and a generic antibiotic for "Traveler's Diarrehea" - as fun as that sounds, I think I'll take them:)
The Doctor was fantastic! His name is Dr. Samuel Williams and his practice is called "Catonsville Travel Vaccines". I highly recommend him if anyone is traveling to a far away place. He gave me a whole personalized folio with health information for Tanzania including tips and helpful hints for everything from insect repellent and sunscreen, to symptoms of serious illnesses to look out for.
Getting my shots was the last piece to the "getting ready to travel" puzzle! All thats left is to shop for everything I need (I'm really looking forward to that part!) and of course packing my butt off!
In about 3 weeks I will find out where my volunteer placement is... I'll be sure to post all the info!
Bye for now ;)

Exciting News!!!!

On Friday afternoon 3/27 I enrolled for a 3 week volunteer program in Ayacucho, Peru!! I'll be there from 10/25 - 11/14!!!! Cross-Cultural solutions offered me an alumni discount as well as a discount for traveling during an off-peak time and I couldn't pass it up!
To make things more exciting I'll volunteering this time with my Best-friend Laura and we'll be staying on in Peru for an extra week or so to travel around and see the sights - Cuzco, Machu Picchu, etc.
I'm super stoked to be adding one more chapter to my "book of adventures"!
More to come...

The airfare has been purchased!

Hey everyone! Only 109 more days until I depart for my Tanzanian adventure! I can't believe how quickly it's coming up. It seems like it's only been a few weeks since I made the decision to teach abroad and now it's almost here!
I purchased my airfare today so now it feels really real. Here's my itinerary:

8:50 PM (June 26th) - 8:00 AM (June 27th) from Dulles International to Amsterdam
10:20 AM - 7:45 PM(June 27th) from Amsterdam to Kilimanjaro, Tanzania

8:50 PM (August 8th) - 7:00 AM (August 9th) from Kilimanjaro to Amsterdam
1:15 PM - 3:40 PM (August 9th) from Amsterdam to Dulles

I went to a local travel agent to help figure out my flight since it was such a huge distance - I don't know why Southwest doesn't just fly to the Serengeti :) The agent was a huge help! My flight was about $250 and 3 layovers less through him than anything I could find online so I'm super excited!
Next I'll be sending my passport off to get my Visa and then I'll be getting all my crazy shots (Yellow Fever, Ebola??? I guess I'll find out!)
More later...