I didn't fall off the face of the earth

As you can probably tell, I'm running very behind on updating my blog, but I have been uploading pictures so I guess that makes up for my disappearance from here for the past few weeks. It's been a crazy couple of weeks and I can't possibly go into detail about each of them, so an overview will have to suffice for now. I think the easiest way to organize everything will be to give the link where pictures can be found and then give an explanation of some of the happenings.

http://www.facebook.com/p.php?i=1515420026&k=SXGU35R4U6YMZ1B1RE5YR
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These 3 albums are from my spring break trip to Tanga, Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar that I've already written about. Sorry I've kept you waiting.

http://www.facebook.com/p.php?i=1515420026&k=36E65WS6VY6MZ1B1RE5YR
This album is from the 2 days after I got back from Zanzibar, before I started classes. I got back from my spring break trip and was beyond exhausted. I wanted to spend the next 2 days before classes sleeping, but some friends from church had invited us to go to some waterfalls below Mt. Kilimanjaro the next day. I decided to go with them and had a great time. The waterfalls were great and we were accompanied by an entourage of children the entire time. The only downside was that we got not one, but two flat tires on our way out, but thanks to the kindness of some passersby and the diligence of our friend Jacob who drove us around, we made it home safe and sound. It was a little disappointing that we went all the way to the trailhead of Kili and didn't even see the top of the mountain as it's covered by clouds about 95% of the time.

The next day we went to church and discovered that the sermon would be cut short because there was going to be a wedding at the end of the church service. A Tanzanian couple that had started coming to this church had decided a few months ago to have their wedding during church so that they could keep the costs low and all their friends would already be there. The ceremony was beautiful and we ate and celebrated afterwards.

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The next weekend, I went on a homestay that was arranged by our music teacher. We were told that we were going on a Maasai homestay, but learned later that the families we stayed with were Maasai by heritage and called modern Maasai, meaning that their grandparents lived in Maasai villages, but they now live in the city and bridge Maasai culture and modern African life.

Though unexpected, it was interesting and my family was great. I shared a bedroom with my "sister" Regina, her 2 sisters-in-law and her mother-in-law (I think the term in-law means something different here, but I never figured out exactly what it means). The other bedroom held Regina's 2 brothers-in-law and then there was a small living room that connected the two bedrooms. It was a small home, but I never felt cramped or uncomfortable in the space. The bathroom was a short walk through the neighborhood and was shared by her neighbors. I spent about 90% of the time at home eating and during meals, Regina's family would ask me questions about America and of course, Barack Obama. Regina's brother came over for dinner on Sunday night and I was so impressed with his knowledge of American politics and other world news and it turned into one of the most interesting conversations I've had in Africa.

We spent most of Saturday hiking up and down a huge mountain to a waterfall. The waterfall was beautiful, but the hike was pretty exhausting. We had a great time and I loved hanging out with all of our hosts together. I was so tired when I got home, but had a great weekend and plan to go visit my host family again.

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These photos are from 2 of our photography excursions that we've had so far. The first excursion was a hike to (yet another) waterfall. We walked through a small village outside of Arusha and ended up getting some great shots. We met our guides grandmother who was 102 years old and took pictures around her home and met quite a few children that shouted "Mzungu!", the word for white person, every time they saw us. I've gotten pretty used to this though as it happens almost every time I leave my apartment.

The second excursion was on a nature trail around Lake Duluti and to a game sanctuary and lodge where we saw some animals including the most gigantic porcupines I've ever seen!

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These photos are from my trip last weekend to Moshi where we watch the last traditional Chaga music group perform. They were incredible. They wore hats made from Colobus monkeys and played drums that had to be thrown up in the air as they were hit to make the right sound. I ended up getting sick the next morning (outside of a church... delightful), but am feeling better now. We were also taken to Mwika College, a small school off a few very long and bumpy roads that is in the process of becoming an accredited college. A friend of our music teacher's, Pastor Masuki, that teaches music and theology at Mwika showed us around and we spent most of Sunday with his family.

It has certainly been a very busy few weeks. As you may or may not know, the other students and I have been having a lot of issues with our program and its director. I have loved being in Tanzania, but have had more frustrating moments about the program than I would care to count. The executive director of Arcadia's study abroad came to check out the program last week and we had meeting with her where we explained all of our issues. The meeting did not go well, but she arranged a follow-up meeting that went a little bit better and we have more meeting this week, with our program director and some "mediators" to try and solve a semester's worth of problems. Can you sense my optimism? I thought not. Anyway, we'll see how it goes and I'll keep you posted on that. I'm doing my best to ignore the issues of the program and enjoy Tanzania while I can, but hopefully we can fix some of them before I leave.

This past week was made even more difficult by the news that my grandmother, Nannie, was in the hospital. She passed away on Monday night and the funeral was this Saturday. She was 90 years old and lived an incredible life. I wish so badly that I could have been in Indiana with my family, but I was surrounded by my friends here who were nothing short of incredible in their support and understanding.

I have been learning a lot of lessons this semester, most of which have been lessons I never expected to learn in Africa. I'm doing my best to enjoy my time here and challenge myself to go out and do as much as I can in my last 6 weeks here.