just a little one...

The BEST thing that happened to me today? I got a ride to the train station at 10:20 and said hopefully, "Well maybe the 10:19 train will be running ten minutes late because of the rain?" Everyone in the car laughed at my optimism but guess what pulled up at exactly 10:29! So I got to celebrate my friend Amanda's birthday AND my 8 year NY anniversary after all...

I'm back...

So, after some gentle prodding from a few people, (apparently someone actually reads this thing) I'm blogging again....
It comes at an interesting time as I'm on the cusp of what has proven to be a very contemplative two days for me. Writing at 1 am on September 12 puts me at this strange moment between September 11--which is a weighty day on its own--and the 12th--which is the anniversary of my move to NY in 2000...a moment fraught with introspection and self-evaluation most of which I'll spare you...

What I can share is this.... As I sat on the sofa the other day while a late summer storm battered my windows listening to some music and knitting, I just had to shout out to my friends Bini and Dominic, who just moved here from Germany, "I love my life!" Early on in Tanzania, God was speaking to me about when Jesus said "I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly." (John 10.10) That this is what I am really living and having... a full and abundant life! I am so thankful for it! I find myself being grateful for the huge things and the simple things and just when I start to get crazy about something that's not going my way, I'm thrown a giant dose of perspective and can find a way to be thankful for and even enjoy, for example, the three hours it is taking me to get home from work these days..... (OK.. sometimes....)
When annoyances like that are tempered with things like the awesome lunch I had with Kelly and Kelly today, our imminent Urban Camping adventure (more on that later), and the flood of great things God is about to unleash on the city, I can truly say that I am so happy to be here, now.....
(but I still might move to Chile.....hahahahahahaaaaaaaaa)

Wow, It's been quite a month since I last posted. As I sit here backstage at the theatre where I'll be working for the next six weeks or so, It seems like a hundred years ago that I was standing in front of a classroom in Morogoro...and it feels like yesterday.
The last couple of weeks in Tanzania were wonderful. At least in hindsight. I have some vague memories of being really frustrated that the students were getting lazy and unfocused (It happens to everyone at the end right?) but like I learned from Oprah, we don't get much from holding onto the bad memories but we get a lot by keeping the good ones! The English school graduation was great. We had some skips and bumps but everyone took it in stride and the students did such an amazing job! They all gave little speeches and I was so proud of them. One woman in particular, Bilha, said more that day than in the whole time I knew her! She went on and on all in English and I was sooooo proud! Her husband came from Dodoma (about a 5hr bus ride) and it was great to meet him and everyone else's families. Kanuti's speech was so funny! You should have seen me blushing when he told everyone "My teacher is so beautiful. I love her very much and she loves me." I wish everyone could know this guy! He was truly a blessing to me.

It was hard to say goodbye to everyone but at the same time I had such peace about going, like it was really the right thing to be doing. I built such great friendships with so many people and I'm confident that they will continue wherever we are in the world. I had a great send off with Bev and the American team accompanying me to Dar. We visited some kind of touristy places which was actually kind of nice as I could pick up some souveniry type things that you couldn't really find in Morogoro.

After saying goodbye to Tanzania I had another fabulous two weeks in Norway. Ive never been at this time of year before and it was WONDERFUL. I arrived on the longest day of the summer and spent part of the time in Levanger where it never got dark! It is always great to be there and spend time with my friends there. Because the real foundation of our relationships is Jesus, it never seems to matter how long we are apart, we just fall back in like we are together every day. I am so grateful to have people in my life who consistently challenge me in my faith and encourage me to grow closer to God.

It's actually a little bit scary to be home now. I feel like I have changed so much in the past year. God has done a lot in me and it's strange to be coming back here such a diferent person. I don't have a lot of friends here who have the same values that I have and I have to say that I don't want to go back to being the person I was. God has good plans for us, I know that and I don't want to miss out on any of them!

YWAM Morogoro: Smashing stereotypes with reckless abandon...

Sometimes I am literally awestruck by the utter badness of our singing.  I mean, we’ve been singing in class everyday for the last three months and I’ll just say it hasn’t gotten any better than the first day.  The next time someone tries to tell you that all black people have rhythm, just send em my way....Now, I am fully aware that when you’re stuck with ME as a music teacher, you have some challenges to overcome.  But the chances of me being the best singer in a group of six people are like one in a kadrillion.  We’ve got one or two songs that we’re pretty good at (the one in that video is probably our number one hit) BUT we’ve learned thirty so....anyway,this is all at the front of my mind because the students are leading the praise and worship meeting on monday and well...I’m a little nervous about it!

I guess there’s a lot to say since the last post...there was no connection last weekend so I couldn’t update.  I lost a student!  Anethi had an interview for nursing school a few weeks ago and then didn’t come back one weekend.  Her nursing school began and she left without really saying anything.  It was a bit of a shock for everyone but it is a great opportunity for her so we miss her but we are happy she is doing well.  She came by the school this morning topick up some things she left behind and it seemed like this was a good choice for her so.... 

We are getting all ready for graduation around here... only one week of teaching left and then one week for exams and practicing for graduation.  It’s really exciting and I’m so proud of all the students.  In these past few weeks even those who are a little behind are making great improvment.  It makes me wixh we had another month together to really work on it!  But everyone is hoping to come back for the second level school that will happen in July.  They are still looking for a teacher so there’s something that could use a LOT of prayer.   YWAM Tanzania is really good about equipping Tanzanians to do the work we do here but in this case, Unlike most of the schools we run on the base the English school really is better if it is taught by someone who speaks English as their mother tongue.

My good news last week was that I have a job when I get home!  I will work on a show with the same theatre company I was working with when I left last summer.  They are awesome people and I am so excited to be hanging out there for another

 couple of months.  The bad news?  I arrive in NY on the 9th and the job starts ON THE 9TH!  so I’ll be a bit shattered but hey there’s a Starbucks downstairs right? 

SOME PHOTOS!

Yesterday I took the class out to lunch at my favorite cafe.  The owners speak English so it was a bit of a field trip really and they all got to practice ordering their food in English.  We had a great time!

...Here is  Bilha enjoying her first can of soda ever!  We usually

 get soda in glass bottles here...  And I got a package from my mom  couple of weeks ago and turns out? Bubble wrap is fun in ANY language!

AND the grossest story of my week?????  I walked out of the dining room the other day with my coffee (a rather valuable possession around here) and as I was walking to the "dishwasher" (a table with three basins full of water)  something fell in my cup!  now most of the time I'd just fish it out and go on drinking (like i said... valuable) but this something looked a little strange.... "what is that???" I said and Pauline came over to look...."Oh," she says matter-of-factly, "Looks like an insect gave birth."  And yes, there floating on the top of my beloved morning coffee were 10-15 newborn praying mantis... pretty interesting in any other situation but floating on top of my only caffeine for the day....not so much.  I fished em out but I couldn't bear to take a drink..... there are some things about home I am REALLY looking forward to.....

Sorry it’s been awhile but last weekend, the grandfather of the guys who run the internet cafe passed away so they were closed all weekend for the funeral.

On a brighter note though, one of the things that I couldn’t share last week was that one of my students, Joyce, became a Christian! 

So a week of funny stories!!!!  Somehow, Timo, the base leader, found out that in English “hot” is the same as beautiful.  People are very free and generous with compliments here so you should hear him running around the base: “Good morning! You are hot, my sister!”  Bev and I have tried to explain that really it’s a little bit shady to say this to all the women you meet but he doesn’t seem to mind!

On Monday we learned about weddings in class and we were talking about dowries.  It is common practice here for a man to give a dowry for his fiancee and when Kanuti heard that we don’t do this in America, “Oh, I think I will go there!” he was practically on the next plane!

To learn about birthdays on tuesday, we had a birthday party complete with Pin the Tail on the GIRAFFE and presents and cake!  Yes that’s right I baked a cake!  I’m sorry, did you hear me? I BAKED a CAKE.... in AFRICA!!!!  If you haven’t fallen down dead from the shock, I’ll also tell you that it was even GOOD!  Most of you will realise that the “in AFRICA” is nowhere near as impressive as the “I BAKED a CAKE”  I explained to a friend this morning that at home, I’m the girl who brings plastic cups to the party.  But our little celebration was loads of fun...

I’m leaving Tanzania one month from today.  I’m getting a little bit more mentally prepared for it but emotionally I’m still a bit of a yoyo and I go from being tragically homesick and thrilled about getting back to really sad about leaving my new family here... but I guess I should be used to that by now....

So I’m freaking out a little!!!!

Six weeks from today I am leaving Morogoro!  I’m so excited for what lies ahead but I’m not so ready to leave!  

I had a great day on Friday though!  A few weeks ago I met some other missionary families and when they heard that I work in theatre at home they got very excited.  They are all homeschooling their kids and they get together every Friday and have someone from a different profession come and talk to the kids about what their job is like.  So Friday I went to their meeting and shared about Costume Design and theatre in general.  It was a lot of fun (and I hope a little interesting).  As you can imagine not too many people in my line of work come through Morogoro.  I often have a hard time explaining to people here exactly what it is that I do and how it is possible to make money doing it.  There is no concept of professional theatre here so most people end up thinking I am working in a factory making clothes...It was really good thought to talk about what my job is like and what some of the challenges are of being a christian in my world.  A couple of the older girls especially were really interested and I think I’ll get together with one of them a couple of times before I leave for some drawing lessons.  

I’ve also been sending a fair amount of time playing chaperone for a couple of my friends who are about to announce their engagement.  The rules here are incredibly strict on starting relationships and there is no “dating” like we know it.  It pretty much goes like this.  A guy thinks that he might want to marry a girl so he goes to the base leaders and asks for their permission to talk to her about it.  If they think it is good and what God wants, he is allowed to pursue her.  If she is interested, they both have to get letters of agreement from their parents and their churches.  If everyone agrees, the leaders will then announce that the couple is engaged!  But once he has made spoken about his intentions and especially after the announcement, they are not allowed to be alone together!  So I have been spending a lot of time with the two of them mostly just allowing them to spend time together.  We joke that I’m like a character in a 19th century novel and after we watched Miss Potter a few weeks ago, he’s started calling me Bibi, swahili for grandmother because of the old lady who was the chaperone in that film. I do my part by casting dissaproving glances at them every now and then and joke about bringing along my knitting everytime we make plans to go somewhere.  At first glance the whole thing seems ridiculously strict and awful but the truth is that everyone involved is praying their way through the entire process and I can see that there is some wisdom in it.  There is a lot less unecessary heartbreak.  That being said, if I’m honest, I’m glad it’s not my culture! 

here's a video of the class during our singing time.

Fifty fifty

Tanzanians LOVE this phrase.... How are you feeling? fifty fifty.  How was town? fifty fifty.  This week I am "fifty fifty."  Things have picked up a bit from last week.  Yesterday was Bev's birthday so we celebrated by going to a hotel in town!  For 3000 shillings (about$2.50) you can go and swim in the pool!  We took Bebe with us (who doesn't know how to swim) and apart from one tiny near drowning--mine AND Bebe's--we had a GREAT time!  It was a real blessing for me as school this week was a little tough.  I'm getting a LOT of blank stares these days and I'm having to go back and re-teach things from three and four weeks ago.  It's really frustrating at times.  I just want them to understand and I don't know how to make it stick!

As usual, here I am in the internet cafe utterly unable to recall all the funny and interesting things that have happened to me this week so I think I'll wrap this one up... this week I'll have to write something everyday so that I'll have good stuff for next time...