Orphans and Presidents

Hi everyone!

I will begin by answering the questions from my mother (who signed her comment JQ because she thought I would be embarrassed of her...which I am NOT!)

The woman sitting outside my window must live in this complex, and she is usually just chillin’. We greet her when we enter the dorm, and sometimes she talks to us when we wash out clothes on the porches. The mosquito net is fine, and usually I am so sleepy I don’t even notice it. I am working on more photos. :)

Yesterday I went to an orphanage to volunteer which was tons of fun. They have 60 kids (I met kids ages 1-15) there and they were so excited to have new people to play with. I spent about 2 hours just chatting and playing. It is a great place to practice Swahili because they don’t speak English but they also don’t care if you make grammar mistakes. I also set up a chance to teach Drama at an elementary school next week. Should be really fun (and the school is taught in English which makes it easier for me). Today we went into the center of town to shop for kangas and ketenges (special African cloths) but there were so many it was overwhelming. I bought one. A friend here also found us cloths with the face of the 1st president of Tanzania (a huge hero here) which is awesome and funny. I’ll include a photo of it when I can.

Swahili classes are going well. Our main teacher doesn’t really speak English which is frustrating for when we try to clarify things, but we have another teacher also who is great. I am learning, which is all hat counts. We have a test every Friday (tomorrow!) so I need to go study.

Miss you all.

RQ