****NOTE: in the last entry I mentioned that you would probably have to wait until I am home in a month to see more of my pictures on a different website...well I have discovered that to upload all of my pictures to a website works MUCH better than trying to upload 8 pictures 1 by 1... So, pretty soon I will post a website where you will be able to check out literally ALL of the pictures I have taken!!!
Tuesday February 26th
Class went great today as I went from 8-12 and got 2 lessons finished!!! I was feelin pretty good when I went to lunch at noon and was looking forward to my afternoon off. I caught up with some more e-mailing (still not totally done yet), worked out a little, and took a nice shower before dinner. Last night I went to the common for the first time (in the evening) and it was nice because a couple teachers were just watching some news on TV and I was showing Godfrey the Wartburg website and International student admissions and such…then I came back and did some studying and I don’t even remember what else- but I only managed a little more than 7 hours of sleep unfortunately.
Wednesday February 27th
I overslept breakfast for the first time- therefore I ate in my room…not a good start to the day already. Usually morning devotion is always great to start out the day- with all the students and teachers gathered and people sign up to do a morning devotion with a song whenever they want to. However, I do not enjoy it when some of the teachers will do a devotion and it’s just, okay- here is a few verses, let’s say “Baba Yetu” (Our Father) and finish our song… I know and understand how important it is to hear scripture, but when they just “throw” a few verses out and say, “Here’s the Word of God for today- that’s all,” or “the text explains itself” I get frustrated because I want to say- What does it mean to you??! Even, if it’s just 2 sentences! I spent a half and hour taking the test for Lessons 40-45 and then ran back to my room to grab my bag and went out to the car to meet PH, Luka, and Moreto, who also came with us! We took off about 8:50am, and I was already super tired, so I tried to rest a bit- but it only took maybe an hour to get to the village today. We arrived at 10am to probably one of the most “progressive” Maasai villages around (according to PH). The church we drive up to is made of red brick and a dirt floor and some wooden benches. We are brought plastic lawn chairs in the shade of some trees outside where we chatted with the other evangelists for a while before tea and maadaazi (sweet bread-like mini donuts, in case you forgot)! The first sacrament is definitely one of my favorite parts of any village visit day…I also love the liturgy that goes along with the sacrament of Communion! :) I was thankful for chai to come so I had something to occupy myself with ( I decided not to read as I thought it would be a little disrespectful)…but more than I bargained for because as soon as the food/drink was brought- along with it came Tons of flies… oh my…I have never been so annoyed with flies in my life! And for some reason they liked to make dive bombs into my chai… therefore Luka called my chai a “swimming pool” for the flies…except that I had to pick them out. PH helped me- but I think there was a total of 8 different flies I picked out! Haha but Maasai chai is just so excellent so of course I finished it!
Then we walked around the area from about 11:15-12:15 and I saw what PH meant when he said “progressive” village. (One could also interpret “progressive” as “modern”). The main or head Maasai elder (man) is pretty “rich” and therefore not all of the houses are made of mud/dung with the thatched roof… we visited an area where there was a building- with electricity, and about 8 separate small rooms. A woman showed me inside and brought me to her room at the very back end. Not much communication was needed- just some exclamations of “safi sana!(very nice)” from me! She showed me where she plugs her cell phone in and also how she shuts off the light at night. Instead of walking over to the doorway to turn off the switch, there is a cord from the light in the center of the ceiling all the way down the wall to her bed- so she can just reach up and shut it off! Also, out back of the house…these aren’t just “outhouses,” as there is actual plumbing, so a working toilet!!
For the next hour/ hour and a half we sat around chatting- mostly Luka, Moreto, and myself…inside the church for a while, then it became too warm so we moved outside in the shade where PH was registering for baptisms. The guys asked me how come girls/women in America do not have shaved heads and I explained that unlike here, a bald head is not considered a sign of beauty…so therefore, women in America grow hair!
The service began about 1:45-2pm and lasted until 5pm as the choir had many songs. There were also 13 babies and young children baptized and it was just a packed service again so therefore communion took longer also.
One of the things that still amazes me (I have mentioned this before)- is the great clash of tradition and modernity when I see the Maasai talking on their cell phones… and especially when cell phones ring in the middle of a church service…even coming to East Africa out in the middle of the bush, cell phones still are not turned off (the rich elder’s phone went off twice)!!
Before we exited the church, one of the Evangelists auctioned off a few small bottles of juice with biscuits that were brought for the offering.
Of course, after the service is over and everyone is outside, I cannot get very far. PH and Luka go to collect the things from the altar, Moreto goes to talk to some Maasai men, and so I’m left alone with the crowd of girls and this time even the mama’s all surrounding me like I’m this spectacle…which, in a way, I am to them. But of course they are trying to speak to me in Swahili and they don’t understand when I want them to go slower- or even if I take a second to think about what they said they all laugh and think I don’t understand- when sometimes I do, but it just takes me a minute. (sigh) oh well- such is life I guess…I’ll keep trying my best!
Finally, after maybe only 10-15 minutes Luka came over and told me that we needed to eat. There were only two separate bowls so Luka scooped a ton of rice into the bowls (one for PH and one for me)- and then he had to put like 3 chunks of goat meat on mine along with a lot of sauce. Now- here’s the thing- the sauce always adds great flavor, but when you have to use your hand it is MUCH more difficult to roll the rice into a ball to eat as it just falls apart. Also- it’s not that I don’t not like goat meat-but typically there is SO much fat on it and that is definitely a texture no-no for me- and also, when you have to just pick it up and practically tear it the meat gets wedged in your teeth like you wouldn’t believe- maybe this is one of the reasons why men eat separate from the woman… I don’t mind being an “honorary man” most of the time, but this is one instance where I would definitely rather be more “petite” about how I am eating the meat! :) Again- I do my best…and whatever is left over- rest assured-will always be eaten after we’ve left!!
We took off about 5:45pm and on the drive back I was able to see another beautiful sunset (when there weren’t too many trees in the way). I really have not been able to see any because where the school is located- we are really tucked back into so many trees. We returned about 7-7:30pm and I did a little more catching up before I crashed for the night.
Thursday February 28th
Roger gave the morning devotion today on John 11:20-27 in which Jesus says “I am the Resurrection and the life-he who believes in me, though he dies, will love forever…” He was a Baptist pastor at home in Ohio, and it was his first devotion…of course I appreciated someone actually talking about what it means (their own interpretation) as opposed to just reading it :) Class went well- Ancy is super encouraging and I don’t feel like I have to be so hard on myself! Today was SADLY Sister Aileen’s last day and I will dearly miss her- especially as she has always been in the study gazebo next to me the whole time! I think I have mentioned that she literally laughs before she can say words, and her laugh is super contagious and I love it…it makes me laugh! So I got some videos of her laughing today!! When I was videoing her after tea break, her teacher-Godbless (23)- came in and set his chair down and hit a couple modeling poses before he got embarrassed! It was a great video!! :)
I stopped my lessons at noon again today- so I was free all after lunch. I had a pretty important e-mail home to write and that took most of my afternoon. I went to tea for a few minutes at 4 pm- we had popcorn for the snack and they make it excellent here! Then before the volleyball game at 5pm Jan braided my hair!! She just told me today that she braids- and I was excited because I have been trying to do even easy braids and I am helpless! I also miss having my hair braided- and it’s cooler! I will have to take advantage of her services the next 2 weeks!! :)
Anyway, volleyball was excellent fun!! Lars (Norway) bought a volleyball when he was in Dar es Salaam last weekend and so this week he planned a game for the language school students as well as the teachers if they wanted. We had about 12 people- along with some other secondary school guys that joined in. I was the only girl on my side and Emily (12) was the only girl on her side. Her dad, Roger played also…and Harold is just great! He continues to surprise me as he was moving all over the court to go for the ball, and has a mean serve as well! We only played from 5-6:15pm (about 4 games) but Harold decided to be the referee for the last 2 games and did a wonderful job!! A few of the lady teachers came to watch, and some other secondary school boys did as well! Jan played a couple games, and teachers that played were Godfrey, Godbless, and Mcharro. Godfrey had never even played before but he caught on very quick! And I mentioned before that Godbless is a basketball player…which means he fits the stereotype of being one because he is super tall (he’s gotta be 7 feet!), therefore he was obviously VERY good at standing in the front near the net to spike! I just enjoyed it so much because it was some physical activity outside-with the mountains as a nice background setting- (then again, to me, mountains make a nice background setting no matter where I am!)- and people of different cultures and races were just having fun playing a few simple games of volleyball together!!
We had dinner (with bananas for dessert!) so I was a happy camper!! I finished up some writing and went to bed at a decent hour for once!
Friday February 29th
Sister Aileen left this morning. Sad day :( And then, Jan decided to move into Aileen’s gazebo…I wish she wouldn’t have so I would have had an empty place to gaze at in Aileen’s absence… but, one can’t hold on forever. LJS truly is a “station” with people coming/leaving... my lessons went well until 12pm- and then after lunch Jan helped kick my butt in gear about my laundry and convinced me to finally just have Elidui- the laundry guy- do it… it would only be 1000 shillings. So she helped me gather all of my clothes- it was a lot because I had only washed some things by hand a couple weeks ago. During the afternoon I rested and worked on catching up in my blog…I’ve been behind this week so I apologize!
I went to tea about 4:10pm and chatted with Jan, Sofia, and Julie for about 20 minutes, then Julie and I ended up talking for the next hour and a half and at 6pm when everyone else started showing up for dinner, we hadn’t moved from our table! She (and her family (from Ohio) in general) have been such a blessing and I have always longed for an older female mentor. I think mentors are super important to have-as it is good to have someone else’s opinion besides your parent’s…however I have never found a married woman in her late 20’s/early 30’s. Anyway, we were able to talk about marriage (as she and Roger married at 20), and faith (her family is Baptist) and struggles and she opened up to me about her childhood/young adulthood living with her family… I was feeling very refreshed after dinner, and then Jan and I decided to walk down about ½ mile to the other end of the school- by the secondary school and volleyball court where there is a small duka (store)… I’m glad I’m finding out about these things now that I am leaving here in 2 weeks! haha We were able to buy COLD soda for about 35 cents! A 350ml bottle! I had something called Spar-letta…. It is the same as the soda “Squirt” to us Americans!! So we walked back and chatted with our sodas, and then when we were almost close to our rooms we run into Sofia and MeeHa who were out for a walk…so we all chatted/laughed for a few minutes as it grew dark! It was now about 7:15pm and I was going to get my laundry off of the clothesline outside but it was gone, and we realized that Eliudi had put it inside to continue drying. So he took all of my clothes back off the outside line, and put them all back up again on the inside line…so much work, even if it is his job. Well, we spotted Eliudi walking by for dinner so we caught up with him and I apologized…and then I started to explain in English (as he speaks English)-but he and Jan encouraged me to use Swahili, and I said ohhh fine- I don’t think I know how to say what I want to say but I tried…it was pretty good-haha. What’s great is that most of the workers know English so they are SO wonderful about being incredibly patient while we struggle to practice with them and to answer their questions- but that they can explain in English what they said helps me to understand better! I’ve mentioned this before- but it really is excellent…and I don’t feel as “stupid” practicing with them, as it’s SO important to practice actually speaking the language- it’s the BEST way to learn…
Finally, about 7:30pm I came back to my room for the night feelin pretty good! I chatted online for awhile, and did some more writing…. I am also trying to work on a very short mid-term paper but I think because it is just a summary of what I’ve learned/experienced so far I am finding it harder to write as it’s So hard to summarize and be specific, therefore I have been putting it off!! I went to bed by 10:45-11:00 so I could get sleep before going to the market on Saturday…
Happy Leap Day!!! :)
Trusting Him,
Alana :)
Class went great today as I went from 8-12 and got 2 lessons finished!!! I was feelin pretty good when I went to lunch at noon and was looking forward to my afternoon off. I caught up with some more e-mailing (still not totally done yet), worked out a little, and took a nice shower before dinner. Last night I went to the common for the first time (in the evening) and it was nice because a couple teachers were just watching some news on TV and I was showing Godfrey the Wartburg website and International student admissions and such…then I came back and did some studying and I don’t even remember what else- but I only managed a little more than 7 hours of sleep unfortunately.
Wednesday February 27th
I overslept breakfast for the first time- therefore I ate in my room…not a good start to the day already. Usually morning devotion is always great to start out the day- with all the students and teachers gathered and people sign up to do a morning devotion with a song whenever they want to. However, I do not enjoy it when some of the teachers will do a devotion and it’s just, okay- here is a few verses, let’s say “Baba Yetu” (Our Father) and finish our song… I know and understand how important it is to hear scripture, but when they just “throw” a few verses out and say, “Here’s the Word of God for today- that’s all,” or “the text explains itself” I get frustrated because I want to say- What does it mean to you??! Even, if it’s just 2 sentences! I spent a half and hour taking the test for Lessons 40-45 and then ran back to my room to grab my bag and went out to the car to meet PH, Luka, and Moreto, who also came with us! We took off about 8:50am, and I was already super tired, so I tried to rest a bit- but it only took maybe an hour to get to the village today. We arrived at 10am to probably one of the most “progressive” Maasai villages around (according to PH). The church we drive up to is made of red brick and a dirt floor and some wooden benches. We are brought plastic lawn chairs in the shade of some trees outside where we chatted with the other evangelists for a while before tea and maadaazi (sweet bread-like mini donuts, in case you forgot)! The first sacrament is definitely one of my favorite parts of any village visit day…I also love the liturgy that goes along with the sacrament of Communion! :) I was thankful for chai to come so I had something to occupy myself with ( I decided not to read as I thought it would be a little disrespectful)…but more than I bargained for because as soon as the food/drink was brought- along with it came Tons of flies… oh my…I have never been so annoyed with flies in my life! And for some reason they liked to make dive bombs into my chai… therefore Luka called my chai a “swimming pool” for the flies…except that I had to pick them out. PH helped me- but I think there was a total of 8 different flies I picked out! Haha but Maasai chai is just so excellent so of course I finished it!
Then we walked around the area from about 11:15-12:15 and I saw what PH meant when he said “progressive” village. (One could also interpret “progressive” as “modern”). The main or head Maasai elder (man) is pretty “rich” and therefore not all of the houses are made of mud/dung with the thatched roof… we visited an area where there was a building- with electricity, and about 8 separate small rooms. A woman showed me inside and brought me to her room at the very back end. Not much communication was needed- just some exclamations of “safi sana!(very nice)” from me! She showed me where she plugs her cell phone in and also how she shuts off the light at night. Instead of walking over to the doorway to turn off the switch, there is a cord from the light in the center of the ceiling all the way down the wall to her bed- so she can just reach up and shut it off! Also, out back of the house…these aren’t just “outhouses,” as there is actual plumbing, so a working toilet!!
For the next hour/ hour and a half we sat around chatting- mostly Luka, Moreto, and myself…inside the church for a while, then it became too warm so we moved outside in the shade where PH was registering for baptisms. The guys asked me how come girls/women in America do not have shaved heads and I explained that unlike here, a bald head is not considered a sign of beauty…so therefore, women in America grow hair!
The service began about 1:45-2pm and lasted until 5pm as the choir had many songs. There were also 13 babies and young children baptized and it was just a packed service again so therefore communion took longer also.
One of the things that still amazes me (I have mentioned this before)- is the great clash of tradition and modernity when I see the Maasai talking on their cell phones… and especially when cell phones ring in the middle of a church service…even coming to East Africa out in the middle of the bush, cell phones still are not turned off (the rich elder’s phone went off twice)!!
Before we exited the church, one of the Evangelists auctioned off a few small bottles of juice with biscuits that were brought for the offering.
Of course, after the service is over and everyone is outside, I cannot get very far. PH and Luka go to collect the things from the altar, Moreto goes to talk to some Maasai men, and so I’m left alone with the crowd of girls and this time even the mama’s all surrounding me like I’m this spectacle…which, in a way, I am to them. But of course they are trying to speak to me in Swahili and they don’t understand when I want them to go slower- or even if I take a second to think about what they said they all laugh and think I don’t understand- when sometimes I do, but it just takes me a minute. (sigh) oh well- such is life I guess…I’ll keep trying my best!
Finally, after maybe only 10-15 minutes Luka came over and told me that we needed to eat. There were only two separate bowls so Luka scooped a ton of rice into the bowls (one for PH and one for me)- and then he had to put like 3 chunks of goat meat on mine along with a lot of sauce. Now- here’s the thing- the sauce always adds great flavor, but when you have to use your hand it is MUCH more difficult to roll the rice into a ball to eat as it just falls apart. Also- it’s not that I don’t not like goat meat-but typically there is SO much fat on it and that is definitely a texture no-no for me- and also, when you have to just pick it up and practically tear it the meat gets wedged in your teeth like you wouldn’t believe- maybe this is one of the reasons why men eat separate from the woman… I don’t mind being an “honorary man” most of the time, but this is one instance where I would definitely rather be more “petite” about how I am eating the meat! :) Again- I do my best…and whatever is left over- rest assured-will always be eaten after we’ve left!!
We took off about 5:45pm and on the drive back I was able to see another beautiful sunset (when there weren’t too many trees in the way). I really have not been able to see any because where the school is located- we are really tucked back into so many trees. We returned about 7-7:30pm and I did a little more catching up before I crashed for the night.
Thursday February 28th
Roger gave the morning devotion today on John 11:20-27 in which Jesus says “I am the Resurrection and the life-he who believes in me, though he dies, will love forever…” He was a Baptist pastor at home in Ohio, and it was his first devotion…of course I appreciated someone actually talking about what it means (their own interpretation) as opposed to just reading it :) Class went well- Ancy is super encouraging and I don’t feel like I have to be so hard on myself! Today was SADLY Sister Aileen’s last day and I will dearly miss her- especially as she has always been in the study gazebo next to me the whole time! I think I have mentioned that she literally laughs before she can say words, and her laugh is super contagious and I love it…it makes me laugh! So I got some videos of her laughing today!! When I was videoing her after tea break, her teacher-Godbless (23)- came in and set his chair down and hit a couple modeling poses before he got embarrassed! It was a great video!! :)
I stopped my lessons at noon again today- so I was free all after lunch. I had a pretty important e-mail home to write and that took most of my afternoon. I went to tea for a few minutes at 4 pm- we had popcorn for the snack and they make it excellent here! Then before the volleyball game at 5pm Jan braided my hair!! She just told me today that she braids- and I was excited because I have been trying to do even easy braids and I am helpless! I also miss having my hair braided- and it’s cooler! I will have to take advantage of her services the next 2 weeks!! :)
Anyway, volleyball was excellent fun!! Lars (Norway) bought a volleyball when he was in Dar es Salaam last weekend and so this week he planned a game for the language school students as well as the teachers if they wanted. We had about 12 people- along with some other secondary school guys that joined in. I was the only girl on my side and Emily (12) was the only girl on her side. Her dad, Roger played also…and Harold is just great! He continues to surprise me as he was moving all over the court to go for the ball, and has a mean serve as well! We only played from 5-6:15pm (about 4 games) but Harold decided to be the referee for the last 2 games and did a wonderful job!! A few of the lady teachers came to watch, and some other secondary school boys did as well! Jan played a couple games, and teachers that played were Godfrey, Godbless, and Mcharro. Godfrey had never even played before but he caught on very quick! And I mentioned before that Godbless is a basketball player…which means he fits the stereotype of being one because he is super tall (he’s gotta be 7 feet!), therefore he was obviously VERY good at standing in the front near the net to spike! I just enjoyed it so much because it was some physical activity outside-with the mountains as a nice background setting- (then again, to me, mountains make a nice background setting no matter where I am!)- and people of different cultures and races were just having fun playing a few simple games of volleyball together!!
We had dinner (with bananas for dessert!) so I was a happy camper!! I finished up some writing and went to bed at a decent hour for once!
Friday February 29th
Sister Aileen left this morning. Sad day :( And then, Jan decided to move into Aileen’s gazebo…I wish she wouldn’t have so I would have had an empty place to gaze at in Aileen’s absence… but, one can’t hold on forever. LJS truly is a “station” with people coming/leaving... my lessons went well until 12pm- and then after lunch Jan helped kick my butt in gear about my laundry and convinced me to finally just have Elidui- the laundry guy- do it… it would only be 1000 shillings. So she helped me gather all of my clothes- it was a lot because I had only washed some things by hand a couple weeks ago. During the afternoon I rested and worked on catching up in my blog…I’ve been behind this week so I apologize!
I went to tea about 4:10pm and chatted with Jan, Sofia, and Julie for about 20 minutes, then Julie and I ended up talking for the next hour and a half and at 6pm when everyone else started showing up for dinner, we hadn’t moved from our table! She (and her family (from Ohio) in general) have been such a blessing and I have always longed for an older female mentor. I think mentors are super important to have-as it is good to have someone else’s opinion besides your parent’s…however I have never found a married woman in her late 20’s/early 30’s. Anyway, we were able to talk about marriage (as she and Roger married at 20), and faith (her family is Baptist) and struggles and she opened up to me about her childhood/young adulthood living with her family… I was feeling very refreshed after dinner, and then Jan and I decided to walk down about ½ mile to the other end of the school- by the secondary school and volleyball court where there is a small duka (store)… I’m glad I’m finding out about these things now that I am leaving here in 2 weeks! haha We were able to buy COLD soda for about 35 cents! A 350ml bottle! I had something called Spar-letta…. It is the same as the soda “Squirt” to us Americans!! So we walked back and chatted with our sodas, and then when we were almost close to our rooms we run into Sofia and MeeHa who were out for a walk…so we all chatted/laughed for a few minutes as it grew dark! It was now about 7:15pm and I was going to get my laundry off of the clothesline outside but it was gone, and we realized that Eliudi had put it inside to continue drying. So he took all of my clothes back off the outside line, and put them all back up again on the inside line…so much work, even if it is his job. Well, we spotted Eliudi walking by for dinner so we caught up with him and I apologized…and then I started to explain in English (as he speaks English)-but he and Jan encouraged me to use Swahili, and I said ohhh fine- I don’t think I know how to say what I want to say but I tried…it was pretty good-haha. What’s great is that most of the workers know English so they are SO wonderful about being incredibly patient while we struggle to practice with them and to answer their questions- but that they can explain in English what they said helps me to understand better! I’ve mentioned this before- but it really is excellent…and I don’t feel as “stupid” practicing with them, as it’s SO important to practice actually speaking the language- it’s the BEST way to learn…
Finally, about 7:30pm I came back to my room for the night feelin pretty good! I chatted online for awhile, and did some more writing…. I am also trying to work on a very short mid-term paper but I think because it is just a summary of what I’ve learned/experienced so far I am finding it harder to write as it’s So hard to summarize and be specific, therefore I have been putting it off!! I went to bed by 10:45-11:00 so I could get sleep before going to the market on Saturday…
Happy Leap Day!!! :)
Trusting Him,
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