The beginning of the end...

Explanation: self-explanatory :(


Thursday March 13th

I was so thankful that Godfrey did the morning devotion for me because then I did some more studying before I took my written test on Lessons 1-30 from 8:45-9:45am and I felt pretty good about it! I am glad that I checked it over a few times! I decided to wait until Friday morning to take my oral test so after tea at 10:30 I caught up in writing, packed for the night in Dar, and took a shower before we left about 1:30-2pm. I read and dozed off all the way to Dar es Salaam (2.5 hours away). We stopped at a bookshop because PH had a few orders of boxes of Bibles to pick up. Then they drove me all along the coast/harbor so I could see the Indian Ocean for the first time, the US Embassay, and some ships, oil, containers etc before we went to check in at the Catholic guest house. It was nice to see some of the city since all I had seen of Dar was the airport at night. We dropped our things off about 6 and went to have a soda and then at 7:30pm we ate some dinner! From 8:30-9:45 I worked on some writing and tried to take a short nap but it was Real toasty in my room. We left about 10pm and drove to the airport to wait for my parents outside of the baggage claim! My parents and also my dad’s good friend from college, Daryl (who lives in MN) finally came out about 11:15pm…with ALL of their luggage!! Then, it was a challenge to fit it all in the car-but of course, Luka made it happen! We drove the short 15 min drive back to the guest house and then I went back to my room by 12-12:15am and had two small pieces of DARK CHOCOLATE…oh my was it a heavenly taste!!! :) Then I went to sleep (in my sweat again, as Dar is hotter than Morogoro) as I would have to be up in only 5 hours…

Friday March 14th

We left at 5:40am and packed in the car for the 2.5 hour ride back to the school…Luka, me, my mom and my dad all squeezed in the middle seat. It went by fast as Luka and I chatted in kiiswahili a bit to practice for my oral speaking exam later in the morning! I was feeling so chipper and I do not know why…maybe the lack of sleep made me giddy…maybe I was excited that my parents/Daryl were there because I could show them how much kiiswahili I had learned-somehow that gave me confidence because the rest of the day I could somehow speak very well. We arrived at the Seminary about 9:10am and hung out with our luggage outside of the car waiting for Israel to come and get the key. I think I had extra confidence because I was the one that knew what to do and my parents were dependent on me! Anyway, PH had a large meeting to go to at 9 and he mentioned that it was a large church meeting so all the new pastors would be there and some evangelists! I was SOOO happy that my parents got to meet Pastor Isaya and also Pastor Malaki!!!! I couldn’t stop smiling… it just meant SO much to me to have my parents/Daryl see the exact place/meet the same people that I have been living with, traveling with, and worshiping with for the past 2 months! :)
Finally, I got them to their rooms and then we went to tea at 10am where they met most of the “students”- all the kiiswahili language learners like Lars and Kjesty, Roger and Julie, Jan, etc! After tea at 10:30 I walked them to the classroom we meet in every morning and showed them the beautiful study area with the study gazebos that were my classroom :) Then I stayed to take my Oral Test…I had to read about a paragraph story and understand it and then I went to find Chuma and Mama Josephine so they could ask me questions. Well, they asked me a few questions on the story and then they gave me some words that I had to make into sentences and give opposite meanings for and I had to know a couple Swahili proverbs that we learn in the lessons! It went really well and maybe they were “impressed” because they kept saying “Safi sana” (very nice) after I would answer!
They gave me my written test back and I almost fainted…a 98%. I made two of the tiniest errors on 4 pages! Gosh…needless to say I was incredibly shocked and stunned…and it didn’t hit me until I walked into (more like leaped into) the main classroom next door and it was noon-all the students were at lunch and all the teachers were hangin out in the classroom and I said “Nimemaliza!!!” (I have finished) and I said I got a 98 with a huge grin on my face and I will never forget the smiles that broke out across their faces and the congratulations they gave me…Ancy even gave me a hug!! Then I started getting emotional and as I left the classroom to walk back to go to lunch I was by myself and tears just started coming…Julie was just in front of me and I ended up catching up to her and I said- I don’t even know why I’m crying, I just never expected this…it means so much to me…probably more than other A’s that I’ve received over the years. And then what hit me was the reality of my finishing…I was done…I didn’t know time could fly by so fast… I went to pick up my family and we went to lunch and chatted. They rested/organized a bit for another hour or so and we were going to take the dala dala into town but we were already past the time I wanted to leave and I decided it would be best to try not to squeeze 4 more people into one of them so I called Godfrey’s taxi friend who has driven us before…I somehow asked him in Swahili to come pick us up @ the Seminary and then all the way into town- about 10-15 minutes to the Morogoro Hotel we chatted in kiiswahili! I talked and he talked and I literally got the entire conversation except maybe one or 2 sentences! We talked mostly politics- about Obama and why he didn’t like Bush (I’ve discovered this to be a commonality amongst most Tanzanians I’ve heard who talk politics…they do NOT like Bush and are definitely for Obama)!! Anyway, I also didn’t know how I lasted the entire car ride and understood/talked in the language…again- maybe I felt like I wanted to show my parents that I have learned something/done something while I was here! Haha
Well, we arrived at the Hotel and spent from 3:45-6pm there. I was able to read and lay in the sun/relax for a while-as well as finally swimming in the pool for 15 minutes (since I had a swimsuit now)!! My parents took a couple quick dips and that helped them to cool off because they have been roasting their first 24 hours in the country!! *Unfortunately, this past week has been the hottest temperatures that I have even seen since being here!! Looks like they didn’t bring cold but rather warmer weather! My mother is having an especially difficult time!! Oh- also, about 4 young Tanzanian women were swimming. They go to the University in town and so I also talked some Swahili with them also! They knew some English too so we used both languages!
I took a quick shower at 6pm and then we walked about ½-3/4 of a mile on a pretty deserted gravel road up to the Rock Gardens. We passed the camel out front @ the rich Arab’s house and we passed Vivian and Ralphs house that I had been to a few weeks ago! We finally made it about 6:45pm and met Jan and Sofia there…it was getting dark quickly so my parents and Daryl and I took a quick look at the Rock Gardens-which is really just a rock fall with water coming down it- pretty though. Well, then we decided not to stay for dinner because Daryl doesn’t eat meat and that’s really all they served and they didn’t have menus so we all go back out to the front to try to decide what to do. Well, we decided on Dragonieres but then we tried to decide how to get there and who was going to call a Taxi. Thankfully, just as we were speaking a taxi literally drove by us and turned around as Sofia caught him. By this time, Godfrey had joined us therefore we squeezed ALL 7 of us into a taxi ( a car made for 5 total people).
Dragoniere’s was a good choice and it was a good time though my mom and Daryl were very exhausted (understandable)! It was fun to have Sofia and Godfrey- my family and Daryl really enjoyed them! Godfrey was telling us some stories/jokes. His English keeps improving! I had a Hawaiian pizza again! By the time we took a taxi back (two different ones this time) it was already 9:30pm and we were getting up to leave at 5:30am for yet a Second morning in a row…WHEW!!!

Saturday March 15th

Woke up about 5:15am and met the rest of the crew outside in the dark. There would be 9 of us going in Grant’s car. My parents and I had the middle seat and then there are two bench seats facing each other in the back so Luka and Wes were on one side and then Kristin and Jessica were on the other. We got to Mikumi National Park about 7am but before we were even in the park, we saw SO many elephants/giraffe close to the Paved road! Then we drove around inside the park for another hour and a half- until about 9-9:30am and saw the main animals in the first hour!! It was a good quick trip and we were back into town by 11am! I had Grant drop us off in the center of town. We went to the bank so my parents could get some shillings and I showed them the supermarket I always went to (last time going there)…then we walked the few blocks to the market. It definitely is another world in there…and for the next hour and a half my mother and I went to almost every shop with the different cloth in it as she needed gifts for people and I was looking especially for my same Kanga with “Mungu ni mwema” on it as I had gotten the other made into a dress! Well, I had to read all of the kangas and some I could understand and some I couldn’t so I was trying to help my mother find the right colors and a decent saying so that she could use them as gifts. So we ended up buying like 7-8 different ones…or I mean I ended up buying as of course I did all of the bargaining and buying :) But, I was happy to! It was good practice! It sure was hot…but somehow God has made me less aware of the intense sun/heat (when in the sun) or just made me adapt somehow…and inside the market the rows are so skinny and there isn’t much airflow so my dad and Daryl were pretty warm following us around! They were good sports though! I promised them soda and ice cream lie ahead…
Around 1:30 we walked about ½-3/4 a mile through town over to Ricky’s ( I really made them work up an appetite)!! It’s been good to walk today and yesterday as we need to do some practice walking/exercise a little as we climb Kilimanjaro soon!!)
Ricky’s was great-I was glad to share with my family! Of course the same short Maasai man served us. I learned his name today (Laiser) as it would be the last time I see him-we chatted a bit and he was surprised that I was not coming back! Anyway, I had a pepsi float and some lasagna and my mom ate my salad and dad and Daryl had some mango ice cream! We took a taxi back to the Seminary so I had another chance to chat with the driver…found out that he has been driving a taxi for 20 years in Morogoro- wow. We returned about 3:45pm and I relaxed a bit before stopping over at Elizabeth’s house again to have her make yet some more adjustments on my clothes and then I went over to play Volleyball. It was just me, my dad, Lars, Godfrey, and a couple secondary school boys but it was still fun! After dinner it took me the rest of the night- quite a few hours to finish up my resume and essay and get it sent in. I am applying to be a Hunger Justice Leader for the non-profit org. Bread for the World (www.bread.org)! 75 people ages 18-35 from across the country will be chosen by April 1st for an all-expenses paid trip to Washington D.C. June 14-17 for training!!! It would be a wonderful opportunity/experience and I would learn so much that I could take back to my community! We’ll see what happens!!


**Sunday March 16th we went to a village: Lulenge It was great!!!
Monday March 17th I gave the morning devotion and said a good-bye/thank you to everyone that I wrote in Swahili…then Dad, Daryl and myself went to another village today: Kwambe. It was Excellent!!! Full cars both days: Sunday was all wazungu (white people) as Kristin, Jessica, and Wes joined us…. Monday was full as we had evangelists and pastors with us!!

To Inform You:

I just do not have time to write about the two village experiences yet: a first for my family!! I am unfortunately wearing out as Ive only been able to sleep 5.5-6 hours the past 4 nights…and tomorrow morning (7:30am) we leave for Zanzibar!! It is a beautiful island off the coast of Tanzania (10 miles). We will take a ferry there tomorrow late morning (Luka is coming with) and the next couple of days we’ll be visiting Stone Town, going on a Spice Tour, and laying on the beach and snorkeling in the warm Indian Ocean! Then on Thursday afternoon we’ll take a ferry back across and wait at the Guesthouse until 10pm again when this time my boyfriend Paul is flying in!!! Friday we will leave early in the morning to drive back to Morogoro to meet PH to head to a village for the day and then after we will go to Dragonieres for a late dinner before coming back to pack Friday night! Saturday morning (22nd) we will have our own personal driver bring us (8 hours) up to Arusha (northern Tanzania)!!!

At least Ive caught up a little and you know what’s going on the next few days…it will be tough to write much now, but I will try my best sometime after the next couple days!!!

For now, I wish you a very blessed week…the time is getting even shorter- not too long before I’m back in the States already!!!


with much joy,
Alana :)