Catching Up

Dear Everyone,

So I don't remember the last thing I wrote :) so sorry if I repeat anything or leave anything out :)

On Monday or Tuesday we went to an orphanage and then to a hospital. It was really interesting because at the hospital they had up to 8 people in a room and their families were responsible for bringing them food for meals. The orphanage was really fun. The kids were adorable! As soon as we came in they ran to us and wanted to be held and carried. This one boy I played with (pictures on facebook) started to cry when he thought i was leaving..but luckily we didn't leave for a little longer so it was okay for awhile.

Then we went to the crater. It was INCREDIBLE! (trying to use different adjectives :)) but no it really was. We saw hundreds of lions and zebras. The lions were right outside our windows. We had to roll our windows up so they didn't jump in! We also saw bamboons..adorable :) especially the baby ones and we saw a few elephants in the distance (anne i have a picture for your mom..though its kind of far away) and lots of other animals too. It was amazing..all of us kept going..WOW..is this really happening!

Then on Thursday we left for a Shamba (spelling??) for 3 days. It was a lot of fun. We camped outside their house..no showers..i forgot my toothbrush :) so no brushing teeth or washing face...wore the same clothes all three days..during the day and for bed :) we were sooo dirty when we got back today that we all took really long showers and i brushed my teeth a few times ;)

At the shamba we met and lived with the family there..they were sooo sweet..they have three little kids who are adorable..so friendly! And we had amazing food and discussions with the village people who would come by at night. We also went to a primary school to do some work on the windows but when their only hammer broke we had nothing to do. Then Zach, Kristin, Wendi, and I decided to go into a classroom and start teaching English! The kids loved it and so did we. We taught them head, knees, shoulders..song and a few others..everyone was jumping around and laughing.

Then we went to a secondary school to talk to the students about HIV/AIDS. It was really interesting because students aren't supposed to talk about those things here, especially not at home. We expected the students to know more then us because it is such a big deal here but they didn't. The students thought that wearing condoms would kill the man, that only women had AIDS and only if they wore short skirts, and that open mouth kissing spread the disease. We tried to teach them some stuff, so that they could know how to really protect themselves.

At that school the boys were crazy! One told me that he loved me very much and that he would follow me to America. A few others gave marriage proposals to some of the girls :)

At night we had people from the village come over and talk about politics and life. It was interesting..again..no one likes Bush :) and it was interesting to see the way the elders would argue..last night an argument went on for 30 min because our guide called the first president of Tanzania a dictator..and the elder got mad and they kept going back and forth in Swahili and we had no idea what was going on!

The family we stayed with was amazing! AMAZING. They truly welcomed us into their family..they threw flowers at us when we came and left as they screamed :) They gave us hugs and kisses and wanted pictures and email/home addresses. We were all so impressed with how they welcomed us. That is the amazing thing so far about Tanzania. Here everyone truly does consider everyone else to be their family and they treat them that way. Our guide Steven was telling us how they usually don't have uncles or aunts or cousins..everyone is a brother, sister, mother, or father. I really like that concept a lot!

Today was our only free day..after we got back from the Shamba. So we have all been packing, showering, emailing..etc. It has been relaxing :) Wendi and me got our dresses today from our homestay mom. They were so pretty. I absolutely love it. She picked out a green print with zebras for me and when we wear them we definitely feel like we are really from Tanzania! Now I want to have more dresses made before I leave and so do the other girls :)

Tomorrow we leave for Dar. It is about 8-9 hours there. We are taking a bus. We have been told that Dar has up to 4 million people which would be crazy compared to small town Albert Lea and Decorah! It will be fun to see where we will be living for the next 4 months though and to see the University. It is supposed to be really hot there and super crowded and busy!

I haven't got my pictures to work yet..to put on the web but I will try and send a few with this email! I love and miss you all alot and I will talk to you soon! Hope everything is well in America!!!

amanda

Salama

Dear Everyone,

So I am officially in Tanzania. Everything went well to get here. Our flight from Minneapolis took off a little late so we had a lot of down time on the plane but otherwise it was good. Everyone from the trip flew out of Minneapolis besides Zach and Amy (she missed her connecting flight and had to come a day later). All the people are really nice so far.

For the next week or so we are going to continue to live at the Danish Center in Tanzania. It is really nice. We have running water, flushing toilets, showers, our own mosquito nets :) and the food is amazing. We are busy for basically 14 hours a day we figured out. Which is good because we stay busy but by the end of the day, everyone is exhausted and I think that's when the homesickness starts to kick in for everyone.

We have done a lot of stuff already. Yesterday we visited a coffee shamba (farm) and we watched coffee being made from the seeds being picked from the bush to the coffee grinds being boiled on the fire. Then we got to taste the coffee too. It was pretty sweet...even though i don't really like coffee :)

We have also been to the markets a few times. They are crazy. It didn't feel real. I felt like I was watching a movie or staring at a picture. There are so many people around and everyone is yelling and coming up to you. In one of the markets we had guys telling us they loved us and one asked our leader Terry if he could marry one of us for 100 cows. Luckily she said we were all engaged :)

Yesterday we also visited an AIDS clinic. It was interesting. We didn't get to hang out with anyone there which was disappointing but we are going to another clinic today, so hopefully we will be able to interact more there. We also watched a graduation ceremony for 10 orphans who graduated from tailoring school. That was amazing! The girls would dance and sing and they had three rappers who would rap in Swahili.

Today we went to church in a local village and then to some houses to visit with the people. It was amazing. The family I went to was the most amazing family I have ever met. They were so generous and sweet. They made us an entire dinner (even though we had just ate) and it was made from everything on their farm. Then the mom said she was going to make Wendi and me dresses as her gift to us. We were like..no..thats okay you don't have to go to all that trouble but she insisted. It was a lot of fun. They had some young children we played with, we saw a baby lamb that was born yesterday, we toured their house, and we talked politics for an hour or so.

To say the least, everyone I have talked to in Tanzania hates President Bush. What is amazing about it is that they have amazing reasons to support that belief. They aren't just crazy people who say I hate Bush but can't say why. The father talked about Bush being similar to Sadam and how he has ruined the world and he uses religion like opium. The man was so intelligent it was crazy. He made Wendi and me feel stupid about our own country because we didn't know all the stuff he was talking about!

It was also really interesting because the father works at the place that the Rwanda war trials are being held and he told us all about that and said that if we have some free time he would set it up so we could come to a trial. Everyone in the group is really excited for that but we don't know if we will have enough time to come back.

The driving here is CRAZY. No joke. We have decided we can't look at the rode when we are driving somewhere because it is too scary. Cars are always passing each other and honking and the roads are filled with bikers and walkers. We are pretty sure we are going to hit someone before we leave. We drive around in these little buses/cars. We fit 11 people in the backseat! It is crazy. The roads are so bumpy with potholes that we fly around in the backseat. But it is an adventure!

Yesterday we ate at a local restaurant. It was funny, because they had American music playing on the radio station so we listened to some Jessica Simpson and some other people and we were like..WOW..we know this stuff :) It is like we are back home!

Then it was really funny cause one of the girls went to the bathroom and she came back pretty quickly and she was like..yeah..so there is just a hole in the ground. So we had our first experience with drop toilets. It wasn't that bad though and we all had to take pictures! To say the least, it is pretty obvious we are tourists still :)

I miss everyone a lot :) (That should make you all feel very special:)) but things are good here besides that. It is still a little weird though to have people treat us differently because we are white. Everyone likes to move over for us and talk to us and its hard. At the graduation ceremony an entire row of people stood up to let us sit down because we were white. We want to be friendly and respectful but at the same time we don't want any special treatment because we all know white people are not better then anyone else. But everyone was right, the people of Tanzania are amazing. They are so down to earth and generous and they are teaching us a lot about life in general.

I was going to try and keep these emails at a longer distance so you guys didn't have random emails taking up your accounts :) but i will probably write a lot in the next two weeks because apparently this is going to be our best chance to email for the whole 5 months! Hope everything is well with everyone in America.

Kwaheri!
amanda

Kwaheri!

Dear Friends and Family,

    This is my first blog entry as I will be
flying to Africa tomorrow. I am really excited
to go because I have been waiting for this day
for months. I never thought it would really get
here and tomorrow I leave. I still have some
packing to do tonight and a few more goodbyes
to say, but then I will be ready for this adventure to
start.
     I will fly out of Minneapolis tomorrow around
3:15 pm to Amsterdam. The flight should take about
8.5 hours and it will cover around 4000 miles. I will
have a four hour layover there and then I will
fly to Arusha Africa. That flight should taken about
8.5 hours again, covering around 4000 miles too.
Arusha/Dar-es-Salaam will be about 8 hours ahead of
Minnesota time so we will get there at 8 pm
on Thursday.
     I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who
has sent me cards and money and helped me get ready for
my trip. I really appreciate all of it and everyone's
wishes and blessings. I am definitely going to miss
everyone alot but I know I am going to have the trip of a
lifetime.
     I should be flying with some of the other students
from my trip if they are flying out of Minneapolis, so it
will be fun to meet the other students not from Luther.
There will be ten students total in my group. We will spend
the first two weeks traveling and visiting a local tribe,
an orphanage, a hospital, some parks, and going on a safari.
Then we will travel to Dar-es-Salaam where the university
is located and we will be there for the rest of our trip.
I should be flying back to the states around December 19th
with my friend Miller who is in the peace corp in Namibia.
     I hope everyone has a great rest of the summer and a
great fall. I will be thinking of everyone alot. Please feel
free to keep in contact with me. I will have internet access
when the power and internet is up and running. I will also be
updating my blog when I have a chance. If anyone wants to send
me letters my address will be:

Amanda Rose
c/o Mrs. Mabel S. Kaaya
LINKS OFFICE
Box 35091
University of Dar es Salaam
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, East Africa

     Thanks again to everyone who has helped me with stuff
over the past few months! I will write again soon when I
have arrived in Africa :) Kwaheri! (goodbye)

Love,
Amanda