10 thoughts so far

1) one second you think you'll never stop sweating. The next you think it'll never stop raining. This is a land of extremes.

2) walking through a Tanzanian town is like walking across the UT campus with Erin Shelby (Mueller) - you have to stop and talk to EVERYONE. Greetings are loong - inquiring about everything from how you slept to how your cattle is - almost to the point of ridiculousness.

3) you feel like a celebrity in the van with everyone waving at you as you drive by.

4) the people here are BEAUTIFUL. Every child is incredibly adorable and most of the women could be models - such bone structure!

5) I miss cheese. Jenny - you would die here with the lack of cheese. I've already decided that I want Mexican food and a big bowl of queso when I get home. Speaking of Mexican food! The other day I was teaching the parts of the body. Apparently, in Swahili, butt is "taco". So I explained that in America, tacos are food! We eat tacos! They thought that that was the funniest thing imaginable! So i've decided to bring in tacos for them to try! Conveniently enough, I will be here on cinco de mayo! So we will do taco tuesday. :)

6) I am much more rigid and structured than I ever realized. I just thought I was organized! The "hakuna matata" lifestyle here is another way to say slow and disorganized - but maybe happier??

7) the local busses (for short rides in the area) are called dala dalas. They are vans that they cram as many people as possible in. It's not uncommon to see a dala dala with five people hanging out the side door bc there is already 25 people inside. It's like a clown car!

8) Poverty is an incredible beast. I do not have a solution for it. People here work SO hard (especially the women) and can never break through. The average family income in a village here is 15,000 TSH/ month. That is about $11.25 USD. Plus even though in Tanzania they aren't dealing with the same magnitude of HIV/AIDS or civil war that other African countries face, poverty still persists. How do we fix it? They are so dependent on the land. When there is no rain, there is no food and there are starving, poverty-stricken people.

9) the power has gone out 5 times in 9 days. TAB. (that's Africa baby)

10) I had assumed that native Africans would resent colonization and missionaries. I was wrong! Most people here recognize that without these interventions, the 100+ tribes here would still be fighting and there could never be peace in Africa.

...and a bonus

11) Tanzanian radio is full of American power ballads from the 80s. I can't get enough Bryan Adams!