Monday, December 31, 2012

2012: Looking Back


I’m all about the highlights. Which is precisely why my 2012 tribute is going to cover the 12 most exciting adventures from the year, one month at a time! Are you ready to relive this crazy, awesome, fun-filled year of my life with me?? Perfect…


January
I finished student teaching! And received my college diploma! I suppose this should have a highlight of the year…I officially became a member of the real world. I had such a good time (most days) teaching at Case High School in Racine, and I can certainly say that I’ve chosen the right profession. I absolutely LOVE teaching math, and finishing up my education in time to stand in front of my own classrooms of students has been a dream come true!

February
It’s safe to say that my highlight for February was meeting a really wonderful guy and going on my first date with him! And I’m sure you’re all wondering, I believe Daneric and I went to Ron’s Place for our first date to share a lovely dinner together. And the rest is history, as they would say… Having him in my life for the past year has been truly amazing, and we have shared some great times together! Now that 2013 is here, I actually can’t wait to see him again. I look forward to one of those straight-out-of-the-movie-scenes in the airport when I come home…hint hint :)

March
While my 7th graders presented a different challenge everyday, taking my first job as a long term substitute at Gilmore MS was certainly memorable. I specifically remember loving every morning because my classes were so wonderful and my students respectful, engaged, and cooperative…and then hating every afternoon with my unruly 7th period class that I maybe had one successful day with during my entire time with them. It was a learning experience for sure, and we all made it out alive, so I suppose what doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger!

April
I think it was about April that I officially moved from TENT to JAM. Maybe I shouldn’t admit that I was really actually living there, but it’s true. And no offense boys, because I really loved living with you, but it was quite nice to be in the presence of females again.
May
ROADTRIP to Oklahoma! Certainly a highlight! Driving to Pawhuska to see the lovely Ashley Allison and the Kane family was wonderful! Then stopping in Des Moines to move my brother out of college was another great adventure!

June
I ran a 5k! WHAT! Considering I haven’t run in the past 5 months, it seems like quite the feat to have actually run 5 whole kilometres! Thanks St. Mark’s for hosting it, and thanks to Daneric for running along side me the whole way!

July
Thank you to my crazy roommates and friends for throwing me the best surprise/going away/we’ll miss you but have fun in AFRICA party ever! Jenny kidnapped me in her car, took me to the train station to pick up Emmy, they blindfolded me, and drove me to the party where everyone surprised me! It was so great and I can’t wait for another party when I get home! Hint hint again…:)

August
Hmm…let’s see. I moved to Tanzania. Enough said.

September
School Started! I simply LOVE my students! I love school. I love love love everything about teaching. September was a good month for me.

October
While life in Muyenzi and at Bukiriro Secondary School continued to be wonderful, our trip to Kigali, Rwanda was a highlight of October. Not only did I add another country to my growing list of places I’ve visited, it proved to be a very refreshing, relaxing weekend with good food, electricity and hot water! Revolutionary.

November
Thanksgiving in Mwanza with Marisa and Lindsay proved to be a lovely time. In reality, the mashed potatoes I ate for dinner on Thanksgiving really topped my highlights for the entire month. But when you live in the bush and cook on a charcoal jiko, eating mashed potatoes is a real delicacy.

December
With the end of exams, the Muyenzi Road Show began, as we began our 34 day adventure through 4 countries. So far, my favorite place has been Zanzibar, but riding a camel, climbing Kilimanjaro, visiting Mombasa, going on safari, and spending New Year’s with friends have all been wonderful highlights!


With all the grand and exciting highlights of 2012, I cannot wait for all the adventures that 2013 is sure to bring! I hope that all of you can look back on 2012 and appreciate all of the great memories you have and all of the wonderful people you met.

..............................................................................................
Follow your heart, lean on Jesus, and never give up on your dreams!

Friday, December 28, 2012

Marriage Proposal



Being a white female in East Africa, I have heard my fair share of pick up lines in the past few months. And if 100 shillings for every time I’ve heard “I love you” I would be verging on rich. Sometimes I get annoyed by all of this, because really who wants to hear this when you’re walking down the road to eat dinner. But sometimes these encounters make for really good stories, like now. We reached a whole new level of affection on Christmas Eve, when I was sitting in the front seat of a Matatu heading to the grocery store. We were stopped, so obviously this would be the right time for a man to stick his head in the window to strike up a conversation. What began like any other normal conversation quickly turned when he introduced himself as “Sharobalo,” which might work for other wazungu, however we are well aware of the meaning: cool kid meets punk meets well-dressed meets somewhat cocky male. Right, that’s certainly not your name sir, but that would certainly describe you well.  As if this wasn’t enough, the conversation took a drastic turn when I said I was a math teacher in Tanzania. He was quite impressed that I was a mathematician, and informed me that although he was very bad at mathematics in school, he did very well in all the other subjects. This was immediately followed by the craziest thing I’ve ever heard…are you ready for this??

“I had a dream one day that I would marry a mathematician. Will you marry me?”

 ……. Umm no I don’t think so, but thank you for asking Mr. Sharobalo. ”But you are a beautiful girl, what do you say? It’s really my dream. We would compliment each other well, and you would make me so happy”… At this point the whole bus was laughing, the bus driver included because it was probably the most ridiculous conversation he’s heard in a while. And while I wasn’t in the mood to be talking about marriage, I was also dying of laughter because it was the most absurd request/pick up line/marriage proposal I’ve ever heard. 

Never a dull moment.

Thursday, December 27, 2012

My African Christmas



For the past 22 years, Christmas has been a celebration of Christ’s birth with family and friends. It has been filled with candy canes and frosted cookies, trees beautifully decorated with ornaments and multi-colored lights strung across houses, stockings stuffed on Christmas morning and powder white snow covering the ground. Hot chocolate, snowmen, ugly sweaters, gift exchanges, caroling, Salvation Army bell ringers, and rejoicing at Church with a community of believers are always part of this holiday season. 

It is a wonderful, beautiful, joyful season every year, and to be completely honest, I miss every part of it. As I sit outside my room in Diani Beach, Kenya to write this, everything is the wrong color, everyone is speaking the wrong language, there are no lights or pine trees, and Santa has certainly not made it to this part of the world.   Instead of white, I see lush green trees; instead of English (or Swahili), people are speaking German here; instead of pine trees, I’m looking at a giant Baobab tree; instead of reindeer, there are monkeys climbing around; and instead of “Merry Christmas” it’s “Happy Krismasi”. It all feels so wrong. Yet, my calendar is still trying to convince me that it is in fact December 25.

And while it all feels wrong, I can find comfort in knowing that people all around the world are celebrating for the same reason: Jesus Christ is born! What more do we need than to simply celebrate that our Lord and Savior has been born to save us from our sin and death? When I focus on this, nothing else matters. With or without a Christmas tree I can still be joyful for His birth!

However, I do miss having a community of family, friends and fellow believers to rejoice with. Because we are spending a few nights on the coast, we are unfortunately miles from wherever the nearest church may be, and in reality, I’m thousands of miles from the community I would like to be with back home. In the most literal sense, I am clinging to Jesus as I simultaneously rejoice and cry out for strength. While I have no doubt that God has called me to Africa to be His hands and feet, it’s at this moment that I need his peace and comfort because the reality of not being home for the holidays is quite difficult.

In reading Luke this morning, a story I have heard and read many many times, I have a new appreciation for the reality of Christmas.

“While [Mary and Joseph] were in Bethlehem, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in swaddling clothes and placed him in a manger, because there was no room available in the inn. And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid, I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.’ Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom His favor rests.’” (Luke 2: 6 – 14).

I can’t help but think that Jesus was born into a life similar to that of Muyenzi. Actually, Bethlehem was probably more of a happening place than our village, but no water or electricity, being laid in a manger in a stable amongst the goats and cattle all sounds so familiar. While I normally would feel sympathy for their circumstances or guilt for having been born into “so much more,” I feel none of that this year. I have been happy with my simple life in Muyenzi; it just is what it is. So I can’t turn on a light; I’ll use a candle instead. So I don’t have a stove; good thing I can cook on charcoal. So I don’t have running water; that’s what buckets are for. So the market is 7km away; that’s why God gave me two legs. I promise you, it’s really not that bad. While I might not choose this life for myself, I can still find joy and happiness in the simplicity of it all. However, without Christ by my side every moment of every day, I don’t know if I would feel the same about all of this. And it is for His presence and saving grace in my life that I rejoice this year.

Saturday, December 22, 2012

The Muyenzi Road Show Begins!


The Muyenzi Road Show has officially begun. Literally this means that Muyenzi (Marisa and I and all of our random belongings) have hit the road with full speed and are surely a show to see.

I must admit that Marisa is much better about this whole vacation blogging thing, so for more stories check out tanzania365.com. But I suppose it wouldn’t hurt for me to share a few stories of my own as well, as well as daily highlights!

Tuesday December 18
We left Zanzibar in the afternoon, taking the ferry back to Dar for the night. Luckily for us, we found a really nice hotel right next to the bus stand…and when I say really nice, I am mainly referring to the hot shower I took for the first time since leaving America.

HIGHLIGHT: a very long hot shower

Wednesday December 19
The bus to Arusha left bright and early this morning, and we travelled for 12 hours across the beautiful Tanzanian countryside. Having a seat to myself made the 12 hours fly by, and overall it was a pleasant day of traveling. When we got into Arusha, we wandered around for a while, found a cute little ice cream shop, and ate dinner at a very fancy yet inexpensive hotel where we were able to watch the news!

HIGHLIGHT: Catching up on real world happenings.

Thursday December 20
In the morning, we attended the final hearing at the UN International Criminal Tribunal for the Rwandan genocide. For years, the UN has been hearing cases, 71 in total, of people involved in the genocide of 1994. On Thursday morning, the verdict of the final case was presented, and the man was charged with 35 years for genocide crimes, incitement to commit genocide, and rape as a crime against humanity.  Here’s the BBC article summarizing the case: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-20795808

HIGHLIGHT: witnessing history in the making

In the afternoon, we took a Dala Dala to Meseroni Snake Park to take a look at all the different African snakes, birds and crocodiles. We even held a snake and baby crocodile! How crazy is that?? We were also able to ride a camel! Well, really I just got on and walked in a circle, but still…We also met a man from Minnesota who is teaching in Dar es Salaam, so that was very exciting as well!

HIGHLIGHT: The whole Meseroni Snake Park experience (including transportation) cost 8000Tsh. Or $5US.

In our wondering around town, we saw posters for Via Via CafĂ©, which was apparenetly hosting a live band and karaoke night on Thursday. Did we attend? Oh certainly? Did we make new friends? Why yes. Did we participate fully in the evening’s activities? Of course. When we first got there, we were a bit skeptical, because there weren’t many people there initially. But clearly, we were just ahead of the party, because once the band started playing and the karaoke kicked off, it was certainly a party. We met a group of guys from Australia and New Zealand who had just finished climbing Mount Kilimanjaro in a “save the rhino” effort that included wearing a rhino suit on the entire trek. We sang some good karaoke with them before shaking our skeletons (as they like to say in Zanzibar) on the dance floor. It was a really fun time, and it was nice to make some new friends too!

HIGHLIGHT: Shaking our skeletons!

Friday December 21
Although we had limited sleep because we were out late the night before, we got up, packed our bags, and headed to the bus stand to catch a coaster to Moshi. While the 1 hour trip took 3 hours, I paid less than $2 so I can’t really complain. We spent the afternoon doing a little shopping, eating delicious Indian food, and booking our Kili adventure for Saturday. Also, the hotel had free wi-fi, which meant that the evening was devoted to precious internet time, but considering the lack of any connecation in Muyenzi, it was certainly wonderful to spend at least 2 hours on facebook!

HIGHLIGHT: definitely the wifi!

Saturday December 22
What did we do today? Oh, just climbed Mount Kilimanjaro. No big deal. While we didn’t have 5 or 6 days to devote to climbing to the summit of Kili, we did have one day. Our Australian friends had wanted to give us the name of their guide, but unfortunately we forgot to get his name before we left on Thursday. So we just booked with a company we found in the guidebook, and our guide showed up at our hotel this morning for our adventure. Come to find out, Erick had in fact been the guide for the “save the rhino” group, and none of could believe that we all randomly know each other. He was an awesome guide though, very friendly, and a wonderful leader up to the first base camp. We hiked for three hours up to the first camp, which is 2770 meters above sea level. By the time we got there, it was really cold and starting to rain, but thankfully we were taking a brief stop for lunch. Unfortunately the rains did not let up, and since I lost my good raincoat in Kigali, I had decided to tough it out if it rained…worst idea ever. Especially when you consider we descended 2 hours down the mountain in the pouring rain. Somehow I was able to laugh through it all, but a little word of wisdom: if they tell you to bring a raincoat, DO IT! One day, I will be prepared, and then I will actually climb to the summit!

HIGHLIGHT: Getting to skype with my parents and my roommates! And of course, climbing on Africa’s tallest peak J



There you have it! A brief glimpse into all of our adventures thus far! Check out my fb for more pictures, as well as Marisa’s blog for more stories. We are heading to Kenya in the morning to spend Christmas on the beach, so stay tuned for more travel excursions from the Muyenzi Road Show.  

Saturday, December 15, 2012

Zanzibar = Heaven


We woke up bright and early Wednesday morning to catch the ferry from Dar es Salaam to Zanzibar. It was a two hour journey on a very luxurious boat, across the bluest water I have ever seen! We’ve spent the past three days here on this gorgeous island, and it has been absolutely amazing! I’ll give you the highlights:

1. Watching the sunset from a balcony over the ocean while drinking a very delicious tropical drink from a coconut! Beautiful!

2. Eating delicious FOOD! Indian curry, Italian Panini, American Hamburger, Mango Smoothie, fresh Passion fruit juice, Chocolate ice cream, Tanzanian rice and beans, traditional skewers at the night market of chicken, beef, shark and octopus?!...it’s all so good!

3. Getting a massage! Heavenly…and much needed after a 32 hour bus ride sitting on a bucket…(but that’s a story for another time perhaps)

4. Visiting Prison Island and seeing giant tortoises! We took a wooden boat to a nearby island to see a colony of ancient tortoises, some over 150 years old! It was also a beautiful morning, which was great for exploring the island and taking pictures of the breathtaking beach/ocean views.

5. Stumbling across a local art studio in an old fort, and making friends with some of the artists. Marisa and I have been back a few times, to buy handpainted postcards and for a drawing lesson! Chande, an amazing artist, offered to give us lessons, so we went out and bought some paper, pens, and a postcard of a Zanzibari door to draw. I was so impressed by his ability to teach us how to draw a very spectacular door, not so much my drawing ability, but it was so cool! He was so great, and we took him out to lunch afterword as a thank you. Stone town is a very popular tourist destination, but it I’m so happy we were able to find this gallery and make some new friends!




6. Partying it up reggae style in the fort Thursday night! It was really random, kind of crazy, but totally worth the experience. It’s nice to be able to get out and do things at night…much unlike life in Muyenzi.

7. Enjoying local food at a night market on the ocean. Vendors are everywhere selling skewered meat, chips, fish, banana/nutella/peanut butter crepes, and the food was really tastey! You should all be proud, I actually ate shark and octopus. CHIZI!! But not bad, not bad. The octopus was a bit chewy for my liking, but it wasn’t as bas as I anticipated considering I could see a tentacle…

8. My poor toe is healing very well. Marisa stepped on my bad toenail in the taxi in Dar, completely ripping the toenail off and creating a painful bloody sad mess of a big toe. Thankfully I had packed antiseptic, gauze, and tape, and fellow volunteers offered to attend to me and fix me right up! While it is still quite painful, it’s healing positively. And considering how the nail has been dead for quite some time, this is probably for the best. I’ll thank her one day…

9.  Saturday was a day well spent at the sandbar with fellow volunteers! It was the most beautiful place I’ve ever experienced, and it was a gorgeous day! I managed to avoid sunburn, and although my toe did not appreciate the sand or the water, I still enjoyed a relaxing afternoon. Ethiopian for dinner was a great end to the evening!

10. Here’s a glimpse of the beautiful sunset J