I bought a cat and other news

Hello all,

Well, I'm getting to the 6 week mark which is absolutely crazy. Things have gone so fast but they also have become strangely normal.

Last week Stephen visited and it was tons of fun. We went to Zanzibar, the movies, the beach and shopping, and it opened my eyes a little to remind me how rugged my life here is. Its also so nice that someone will understand a little bit when i get home. We took the craziest 3-wheeler ride ever. Three wheelers are the mini-taxis here. They are like motorcycles with seats in the back, or something. I will take a picture. Anyway, we took one home from the airport after flying to Zanzibar, and it literally swerved through all of the traffic and then went up on the bumpy sidewalk and sped through massive crowds of people, barely missing them as it honked its way through. Oh, Dar.

This week we have spent a lot of the time getting classes organized. Essentially, we need to have a midterm, paper, presentation and final for each class all in the next 2 weeks. But, we've only had a few real lectures in each class, there are only foreign students in the classes and the teachers are not very excited about it all. Its especially weird calling and texting teachers. I have yet to work out 3 of my classes.

Natalia and Megan both got Malaria this week. Its not as big of a deal as it sounds. But they still feel sick :( So, Julie, Tony and i went to go get tested to be sure. (Tony has malaria but no symptoms) and they (the dispensary) had a bunch of new kittens whose mom had abandoned them. So, today, I went to the tailor and asked her if she wanted a cat, and she was like, "sure, bring it here," like it was no big deal. So I went back to the clinic and got a kitten and brought it to her and her niece/daughter. The cat cost me $1.80.

Alrighty, off to bed.

With Love,

RQ