Sunday, March 9, 2008

Pizza and a Pool!

Explanation: Friday night @ Dragoniere’s and Sunday afternoon @ the Morogoro Hotel!



Friday March 7th


Well, today I didn’t wake up until 7am, so therefore after breakfast I took a shower (missing morning devo unfortunately)-but it had been a couple days :) Then Jan and Sister Paulette and I met PH about 9am and we took off! Jan braided my hair in the car before we picked up our first passenger: Luka, an evangelist. We picked up a couple more evangelists- including a very well-educated man named Paulo who is from this area but is going to school way down in Mbeya (Southwest Tanzania)- on the way and we only had to drive down Secondary Road for maybe 20 minutes, and the village was basically 200 feet off of that road!
We arrived about 10:30 and after a few minutes, we followed PH, Isaya (an evangelist), another evangelist, and Lukas (a young Evangelist who will start Form 5 & 6 @ the Secondary School here), across the road to a Maasai boma where we preceded to go into the literal boma (a circular enclosed area for the cattle when they are not grazing). Paulo and PH pointed to a piece of stick sticking up through the dirt as supposedly an important man died and was buried in this spot. *I apologize, but since it has been a couple of days I do not remember the details right now!
Then a woman showed us into her house-which was more modern than most typical Maasai houses as there was a few different rooms…and even tiled bathroom floor (of course the toilets were holes in the ground (but it was plumbing nonetheless))!
We continued walking back across the road to the church where we sat for a while…well, the 3 of us women sat on a bench a few rows back from the men and we tried talking to a couple young boys-about 7 and 10-but they were being incredibly shy. The men were talking up front, and I’m not kidding-but about another 4 Evangelists showed up (all of them I have seen previously). A few more small children come in to hang out and many Mamas come to greet us. One Mama had a baby that was 2 months old and she was very kind and invited us to come follow her to her house! We got stopped halfway as another Mama and some more children came over and we took a couple of pictures. Jan got to hold the 2-month old, but a little child took my hand and we walked the rest of the way to this woman’s house ( typical one). We ducked to get in through the entrance and then 5 of us stayed in this little area near the door (for light). Jan, Sister Paulette and myself sat on chairs and there were about 4 children hanging out in the doorway. The two mamas were standing near us and asked us questions about America-like is it far away, and can we take a car here? They also wanted to know right away if we had watoto (children) and we’re of course just shocked with eyes wide open…we all answered bado (not yet). I don’t think they knew Paulette is a Sister! Anyway, then they asked us if we wanted maziwa (milk)-and I’m immediately reminded of the one village that had the sour cottage cheese consistency of milk and I say to Jan that I will not drink it. Jan says yes and they pour a mug of milk for Jan as she said she would try it. Well- it actually looked like milk so I agreed (reluctantly) to try it and I took the smallest sip possible. It was okay- the consistency was fine and it had a smoky flavor to it.
It was almost noon so we figured we should get back for the first sacrament! They followed us out of the house and I was able to chat with a couple children and take some pictures.
When we arrived back at the church all the men were finishing their chai so I thought we missed out- but I also knew that guests were always served…so sure enough, after about 15 minutes, some cups were rinsed and brought to us (along with bottles of water). We were joined by about 7 other children who were all sitting on the bench behind us and playing with empty plastic bottles.
Some of the Evangelists and PH went outside under a tree to start Baptism registration, and the others prepared for the service. The three of us slowly were joined by more and more women as they came. The children all moved to the other side of the church (there ended up being at least 40 children total at the service).
We listened to the choir sing a few songs before the service officially began about 1:40pm. The girls choir sang some songs, and then because there were so many Evangelists there was a men’s choir that also sang!!!! About 13 baptisms occurred, and I was able to take Sister Paulette up to the front to watch (and therefore get some good pictures also)! After the sermon and communion came the offering. The men’s choir sang a song, but many women came up and started singing as well- it was great! I have a wonderful video clip of this! After we ended the service outside there was some soap and candy to auction off…then the fun started…goodness I have never seen a group of kids so selfish when it came to a picture. They all of course wanted their pictures taken alone, and the children would push against their neighbor and point to themselves and say “ME! ME! Picha!) Jan and I had taken a few right away of just some Mamas and their children, but once the many other children had lost interest in their candy they ran over and wanted to see pictures and it wasn’t good enough to take a group picture as they wanted individual ones…well-I only did a few before I said- Inatosha (Enough)!
Finallly it was time to eat. We each had a bowl of rice and a couple pieces of potato, but no silverware-therefore it was back to using my right hand again!
I was chatting with some of the Evangelists after eating…and for the first time had to practically be dragged out of a village as everyone else was in the car and PH was backing up and honking the horn-then they pretended to leave without me!! haha So I ran over quickly and we left about 4:50pm!
We dropped off the 3 men and proceeded on to home. We returned about 6:15pm-just in time for dinner…but we were waiting for MeeHa and Sofia and Kjersty (Lars’ wife) to get back from town so we could go out to eat for MeeHa’s last night!!
Kjersty drove us to Dragoniere’s-a restaurant in town. Now, this place I have known about as Sofia has sad that it has good food and serves pizza on the weekends (they have a nice stone oven to make pizzas)! Other Americans have also recommended it…well I was so surprised when we turn into this gate and I see these red and green lights-and a nice grassy lawn…and a whole LOT of Wazungu (white people)! Kjersty was meeting a table of girls- most of them Norwegian-so it was just Sofia, Jan, myself, and MeeHa. We ordered some drinks and Jan and I got pizza-Sofia had fish-and MeeHa had what she called a “folded pizza.” It’s really a calzone, but she says it’s too hard to say so she calls it a “folded pizza” instead!! The pizza was excellent-I ordered Hawaiian! :) It was a great night of conversation, and I learned a lot more about MeeHa’s life and what she has done. She has been working with YWAM (Youth With a Mission: a non-profit org) for 25 years…I found out that she is 46!!!! I couldn’t believe it! She has worked with prostitutes and transvestites in New Zealand and she has worked in India (possibly somewhere in Europe…well-her husband of 12 years is from the Netherlands so she has lived there a short time)…and now she and her husband have been living in Nairobi, Kenya doing church-planting among Maasai villages there! It really is fascinating! She is just the cutest person and I will miss her deeply!!! It was just so crazy to see so many white people in the same place…Sofia said that she didn’t think that there were this many white people living in Morogoro! There was a table of young Europeans (Sofia’s and my age)- guys and girls- next to us…but we didn’t know where they were from. There were some other tables around us with middle-aged couples as well. Anyway, the pizza was Excellent and the atmosphere was great! I think I’ll take Paul and my family in a couple weeks :)
I was disappointed that they didn’t have the chocolate dessert tart so when we got back to the school finally-at about 10pm-Sofia gave each us a small bar of Milka (brand) milk chocolate along with a milk chocolate ladybug! She had received a large package with a lot of candy in it from Germany and I was SO thankful that she shared some! I ate it all when I got back to my room! I was trying to get some things ready for the mountain climb in the morning- as I was supposed to get up at 5:50am to leave but it was already 10:30pm and I was so tired.




Saturday March 8th

I woke up at 5:50am and I just felt my body telling me not to go all the way to the top…so I texted Godfrey and told them to go without me (it was just him, Mcharro (another teacher), Blaise (a language student from Congo), and another former teacher).
I slept for another 30-40 minutes before getting up and going to breakfast where everyone was surprised to see me since I had planning on climbing all day. Anyway, the group that was going only half-way left after breakfast about 7:50am. I went with Emily(13-Julie and Roger’s oldest daughter) and Lars and his son Simon, Harold, and three lady teachers: Ancy, Merena, and Agnes.
We started climbing about 8:15-8:20am. It was an absolutely beautiful day…and today was clear so I could see so much (compared to the first time I climbed when I could only see fog)! We took a break in some shade after about an hour and so Simon could eat some Pringles :) Poor Lars-he was carrying a backpack, as well as Simon on his shoulders more than half the time! The road as our path was slowy going uphill so it did get tougher- but then we got into some “rainforesty” area where we were finally among the banana trees again! We came to a point where we didn’t know exactly the best way to continue, but luckily a man who was cleaning a house decided he would come with us and show us the way to Morningside (the half-way point)!! We continued for a while until I see this great waterfall (this time we went a different way so I didn’t see this in January when I climbed). We were able to hike down to the top of it- which was just a lot of flat rocks, before the major part that went over the edge! It was so wonderful to hop onto the dry rocks and take pictures. About 5 young Tanzanian? Guys (maybe late teens, early 20’s) came on to the waterfall as well, and then Emily and I find ourselves standing with one of them for a picture. Then they all took turns standing with us… they just wanted a picture with the wazungu (white people)!
We continued walking, and we were about 20 minutes from Morningside but Harold was too tired to continue so he said he would wait for us! The rest of us made it to Morningside and the view was definitely wonderful…it was hard to believe that there was so much beyond the wall of fog I was only able to see the first time @ Morningside! We rested for a few minutes, and Emily and I split my last granola bar which was just enough to refuel my energy for the hike back down!! We picked up Harold and continued back down. Harold didn’t think it was going to be this difficult, therefore he didn’t even bring water!! It took us 3 hours up and a good 2 hours back down!
We spaced apart on the way down as me, Emily, Lars and Simon walked faster and made it down to meet our driver before everyone else. For the next 15 minutes we went over to the small duka (store) and Lars bought 4 sodas for us, and I bought a couple large waters for everyone…including for Harold and one for the 3 ladies. I also bought a small banana!
It was about 2:10pm when we started on the way back and on the way I had the driver let me and Emily off across the street from Rickys because we were meeting Jan and Sofia there! They had been shopping in town all morning and I was thankful they were still there as Emily and I were hungry! I had some “strawberry cake” and a couple scoops of Pistachio ice cream (VERY good), and we also split some Lasagna! We all took a taxi back at 3:30pm and the rest of the afternoon until dinner I looked up a couple different websites on Zanzibar (the island just off the coast of Tanzania)! I learned so much about it-which is good because we will be going in one week and I wanted to look up about the history and culture and also what to do!!! It’s an incredibly beautiful island with white sand beaches, and I can’t wait to sit on one- and also do some snorkeling in the WARM Indian Ocean!!! :)
After dinner I looked at some more websites for a bit and then chatted online for a very long conversation! I didn’t get to bed until real late so I decided that I would sleep in through breakfast and just go to Tea at 10am!


Sunday March 9th

Sure enough, I didn’t get to bed until about 1am so I slept until 9am before getting up to work-out and shower before tea at 10am. I went to tea and found out that Lars and Kjersty were taking their kids Leah and Simon to go swimming and Sofia and Jan as well. Well, I was planning on getting things done today, however there was no power (therefore no internet access), so Sofia encouraged me to come. I ran back to my room to grab my book and some study material and jumped in their car at 10:30!!
There are two outdoor pools in Morogoro- one is at The Oasis Hotel and one is at the Morogoro Hotel… the one we were going to (Morogoro Hotel) is nicer I guess! Gosh, when we entered the gate and parked and walked inside I was like, yeah-no kidding!! We paid $4 to swim and then we walked through the restaurant area (which had a super high ceiling) and looked out at the pool area. I don’t know why I was so surprised that there was a nice pool and many umbrellas with tables and chairs…and even about 7 different plastic lawn chairs that one could lay on to sun!! I guess I forgot about all the nice places I was able to stay at/see when I was a tourist in the North 4 years ago! Maybe now I just appreciate this “luxury” more??!
Anyway, there were about 4 other young Norwegian women (Kjersty’s friends) sunbathing already when we arrived. I didn’t bring a swimsuit to Tanzania and so I just wore shorts and a sports bra! It was so nice to be able to read a little and to do some sunbathing! It was nice and relaxing! A couple tall guys (looked American?) showed up and did some swimming as well.
We ordered lunch and I had a pineapple Fanta and rice with pork schnitzel!! It was great!! Some more people showed up around 1pm- and a group of white people (my age- maybe American?) were eating in the restaurant.
We stayed until about 3:20pm and then we drove over to Ricky’s Café and had some ice cream as Lars had Kjersty had promised the kids some. We finally returned about 4:30pm and I tried to figure out how to make a visible photo album so you can all see pictures (at least from January-as there are many)!! I have been writing ever since dinner…whew! I think I am caught up!! Now I have to study as I think that I am taking my final test tomorrow…but good thing they are only giving me a test on the first book (30 lessons)!

PH and Luka left yesterday at noon for a long (overnight) trip to a village 4 hours away or so... I’m anxious to hear how it went!!!


It’s been great to hear from some of you~ pole sana (sympathies) for the cold/snow that continues to pile up! Good News though…Spring is officially less than 2 weeks away!!!
I pray that you continue to grow and remain optimistic as I know that this time of year can be especially grey and dreary!!


resting in Him,
Alana :)

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