random stories from Tanzania!

Hey Everyone!

So this will be a quick email before I leave for my two week travel time tomorrow!!!! My group is going hiking in the mountains and to the beach to swim in the ocean. Yeah, it should be amazing :) Sorry..this email is really just a bunch of random stories and events!

Everything has been going pretty well but one of my friends on the trip passed out and hit her head on the cement floor and cracked her head open a few weeks ago. It was pretty bad but she recovered really really quickly and is doing really well now!

Our floor...the sober floor of the dorm...:) has broken a sink...Leah was dancing...a shower water dance! and she fell on it and the entire sink shattered! We have also broken the toliet seat cover. A few days ago, I broke my mosquito net and after fixing it and being very proud, I accidentally locked ALL my keys in my closet! Can we say oops??? Luckily (and also kind of scary) our doors don't lock well and Anna and me were able to unscrew the entire lock and get my keys back out. My roomie Amy has also been able to pick our outdoor room lock! Yeah...something to think about :)

A few days ago I was waking up and Amy was talking to a guy outside our window...yes..it's pretty easy I guess to walk along the outside of the building! But luckily he was just coming to wake-up Zack!

Last night we had a dance party on the roof! It was the most amazing night EVER! Just imagine 20-30 American students dancing and singing on a roof in Tanzania under the moon/stars/sky while looking at the city lights. It was incredible! (though maybe not as good as those Backstreet Boy dance parties at Luther :)) But we were just hanging out with all these students singing songs like "ain't no mountain high enough" :)

We have been so busy. I have had no time to type or journal it seems! I started teaching at the local primary school. The students are adorable. I am teaching them English. I am the sole teacher for my class but there is a woman that comes and watches and helps the students understand things. So far I have taught them opposites and sang songs with them. It was cute because I saw one of my students outside the daladala and he was like hello teacher!

The university is good. We lost power last night and we had no water for awhile at the same time. That was interesting but fun because it all came back on and then we had our dance party! Also we had accidentally turned our sink faucet on when the water was off and when we got back to dinner, the water had come back on..so there was water gushing out of the building (there are holes in the side of the building to let water out) and we were like..hmmm..that looks like our floor! When we got to the bathroom the whole floor was covered in water, but we took a broom and swept the water out!

Our group is still doing well too. Even after a month we can still hang out which is good! We were all pretty sad to have to say goodbye for our travel time because we have been together 24-7 for the past month! It was cute, everyone was almost crying last night saying goodbye!

I definitely think about everyone back home a lot! Its cool because I will see something and think of one of you and have to tell a story. So I am sure that some of you are already "known" by my friends here!

A few days ago there was a revival church thing going on here and Pastor Isaac found me on the way to class and wanted to know if I was a born again Christian and if I was I could join the family and be with them. Yeah...:) luckily I had to get going!

Oh yeah..there are SO many cats around campus...SCARY! :) I am trying to be brave and not freak out like I do at Luther..but it is hard and another girl in my dorm just got scratched by one..EEK! But at least there are lots of monkeys to look at too!

Okay...that's all for now. Keep the emails coming :) I love them!!! And the snail mail has been amazing too! You have no idea how exciting it is to get a letter...i got two yesterday and I made everyone at the table listen to me talk about them :) Even this guy Mark who I had just met!! Anyways..I will write when I get back from traveling probably. That is also when classes start!! Love and miss you all!!

amanda