I am in Zanzibar. It is cool. I will tell you about it when I am not paying for internet time. Zanzibar is too cool for me to sit on the internet anyway.

This is Epiphany. Indescribable in words. But maybe, just maybe, you'll get a sense of her exuberance. Most joyous child I've ever met.

I'm sitting next to Eliza in the computer room as the kindergartens play with the paint program. Did I mention how much I love that kid. She is so sweet, such a beautiful child. She's drawing a face, white outline on a green background with long blonde hair. She started putting blue streaks all down the girl's face. I asked why she was crying.
"She's not crying. It's just raining on her face."
The kid next to me on the other side has drawn three faces of different sizes that look remarkabley like monkeys.

Afterschool today we're going to dinner at Artemis' place. She's one of the grade 1s, their family is Greek so they've apparently been wanting to invite Zoe (and by default me) over for a while. It'll be fun, but some small part of me would rather the evening at home.

This morning I had grade 2 swimming followed immediately by the grade 4s. Both classes went really well, we're getting into a good rhythm. The kids know what to expect now, and are showing such improvement already. I am getting a ridiculous tan from all these hours in the pool. Silly really.

Tanti Aguri Gammi

Savana, Lucy and I didn’t get to sleep until three in the morning. We didn’t talk about anything all that specific, they just brought up teenage girl kind of stuff. It felt a little weird actually, to be playing that kind of role for them. Shouldn't have really, given Cath is the same age, but still. Anyway, we had a fun time, I had answers for some of their questions, they gave me a rundown of the social acrobatics of their class. Quite interesting actually, because many of them have been in the same one class with the same kids since they were in kindergarten. They were telling me that most of the boys were at the same maturity level that they were at in grade four. Funny that. An international tendancy perhaps?

Went over to school to try and skype call home. Took me about an hour and a half to get the connection working, and there was a huge delay in the line, but hey, got to say happy birthday to my little sis, so it was worth it. We basically just ended up taking turns talking, because my responses to her questions would get through to her a couple of minutes later, by which point she would be talking about something completely different. But that's ok. It's all about hearing her voice.

Walked to the Afrikana junction with the intention of getting a biketaxi. I shall have to explain what they are to you. Takes about fifteen minutes to walk there, and just as I got to the corner Cindy drove past with Kezzie and asked if I wanted a lift the rest of the way. That was neat, I haven't been on one of the bikes yet, and they can be a little intimidating. It is very rare to see a white person on one, let alone a white female, so you get a whole lot of attention from everyone you ride past.

Leah’s party. Kids flattened. Bumped heads and bleeding lips. Island adventure story. Went home feeling a little drained. Too little sleep, too much day/sun, not such good food, predictable result I suppose....

For I have learned to be content

God has blessed America.

*Note: This theme came from Youth group, it was the discussion topic for the night, and my thoughts on the matter shall be coming soon...

Why drive when you can walk?

I went by myself to Mbezi Chapel again this week. It's only a ten minute walk, and really a pleasant way to start off a Sunday morning. I don't think I even wrote it up properly the first time I went, (in my second week here) but the service is done entirely in Swahili and last time I understood a grand total of about three words. Well, today I could actually get complete sentences every so often, enough to vaguely follow the general idea of it. Neat!

Afterwards I went with Suzy and her dad to their place again, where Ruth had prepared lunch for us. (Zoe had gone to Vineyard today, so arrived later with Karen's family). Spent the afternoon playing with the kids and trying to windsurf. Fun stuff.

Aaah, Eliza is such a gorgeous child. She is absolutely beautiful both in character and looks. Every day at school she runs up to give me a hug. She's not demanding, just so amazingly sweet and friendly.

If you could see through my eyes

The five of us from the compound (so without Brandon and Rachel) drove to Slipway today. Slipway is a local market sort of area, a whole series of stalls and little shops selling bead work and carved pieces and artwork and clothing and all sorts of traditional Tanzanian crafts. It's a lovely place, I really like just wandering through there, but you tend to get a fair bit of attention. Not so much because of being white, it's an area catering specifically for white tourists, but simply because they want you to buy from them, and for that you need to be looking at their stall in more than a general context. This photo is of one of the Slipway artists working on a set of name plates in Tinga Tinga style. The artwork here is amazing, I have great admiration for their technique.


We had lunch at a place on the wharf. I gave some of mine to a stray cat. He wasn't as skinny as the cat that hangs round our place, funny that. I have a feeling he picks up lots of scraps from people. We were just leaving when I heard my name called out, looked round and it was Aishi and Dorothy and another friend of theirs. Had a bit of a chat to them - they were in town to sit practice examinations.

I look at Dorothy, and I see a tall, beautiful, native Tanzanian, star of the soccer team and a hardworking intelligent girl. She has two sisters, one who graduated last year, and Angela in grade four. Her father works at Hopac and by this has put the three of them through school. Her older sister won a scholarship to Harvard last year. Dorothy is likely to do very well too.

They don't have running water at home.

See what I meant when I said Hopac was an unusual school. To be offering not just an education, but an education at the level where students can compete internationally, is a pretty amazing thing.

The whole Slipway trip had taken longer than we thought, (correction, longer than we hoped. We're way past the stage of honestly expecting an excursion into town to take less than six or seven hours all up), and Zoe and I were due at the O'Neil's for dinner, so we decided to drive straight there rather than go home first.

Apparently it was the best day of Tommy's life. Makes you feel good hey. Played Yahtzee, In a Pickle, kids went to bed, chatted to Steve and Denae...