Hi y'all!
Just a quick update of my time here...tomorrow will be a month since I arrived in Tanzania - time is such a strange concept when having such a different experience! In a sense I feel like I've been here for ages, but each week goes by so quickly.
I have been continuing with my volunteering at NOCET most mornings, looking after the 2 year olds. I love going up there to such a friendly, homely place. At times I find it difficult to come up with new ideas for the children and the energy to keep them stimulated without them pulling my hair. But generally a fun couple of hours is had by all! I have stayed for lunch a couple more times. I also cooked them an 'Aussie' lunch on Friday...I always feel a little bit stuck when people ask me about Australian food. It was also a bit of a tough decision as the 'stove' that I had was a small camp stove with charcoal and/or kerosene. After a bit of discussion with MotherDearest back home, I decided to make them damper and pumpkin soup. After not being in the kitchen for couple of months, I wasn't very switched on with the soup, making it far too watery. But I think it was enjoyed by all anyway.
After lunch, I stuck around at NOCET throughout the afternoon, and was able to help the older children who live there with their homework. There are 5 of them who are between 8 and 15 years old, and they are a beautiful bunch of personalities and so eager to improve with their schooling. I also spent an hour or so kicking around an Aussie football with a couple of the boys which was a bit of fun!
Other than my times at NOCET I've been going out at night, perhaps a little bit too much, both throughout the week and on a Saturday night.
Last Saturday Susie who also lives at the hostel arranged to take the children from her school on safari to the local Arusha National Park. After being informed that a BIG bus had been arranged, 6 more of us from the hostel said that we would come along... The 7 of us got a taxi (5 seats) to the school, only to arrive and see the teachers loading all 51 children into a 20 seater coaster. We were going to try to arrange an emergency extra car, but in the end decided to persevere and fitted all 61 of us into the bus for a fun day out!!! As we left the bus driver cranked up the African pop music and every single child and adult was singing 'Sawa Sawa Sawa' at the top of their lungs. It was a bus full to the brim with such excitement! It was certainly a cosy few hours driving - an hour into the park, and then another hour or so driving through. Unfortunately, it was really dense so we didn't see a lot to start with - some giraffe off in the distance and eventually some zebra just before we stopped for lunch. We pulled up at a picnic place on a big lake, and there were a few car loads of tourists also there. As the children unpiled from the bus a lot of the the tourists took photos of them lined up as though they were animals - it was horribly irritating! After our lunch stop we continued to drive, passing by a huge flock of flamingos in the distance, and lots of baboon and warthog. Despite the bus driver telling us that he knew where he was going we ended up missing a second big lake which is the normal hangout for the elephants, which was a bit disappointing as that was one thing that most of the children were really excited to see. Anyway, all in all I think it was a great day out for them, even just for the excitement, and proved to be enough to send every one of them to sleep on the way home!
Last week I also was part of a FlashMob that a group of us from the hostel put on with a few local dancers from one of the nightclubs. I had gone along to watch a couple of practices but had not joined in as they had all been practicing for a good few weeks and I'm an awful dancer anyway! But, with 2 practices left, I decided that I would give it a shot as the girls agreed to catch me up on the dance! We put it on in the middle of town - in the middle of a roundabout - as East Africa's First Flashmob. Despite not quite getting it right a lot of the time, it was a load of fun! There were definitely a few locals who knew that something was going on beforehand, but I think otherwise it was something completely different for Arusha. The idea behind it was to raise awareness, and hopefully funds as a result, for the Ujamaa Children's Home - a small orphanage that Carley, the hostel owner, has set up.
Although I haven't done a lot more sightseeing over the last fortnight, I've been thoroughly enjoying life here. There is certainly a much slower pace than at home - I love to simply sit back and soak up the energy of the place. I was saying to Mum earlier today that there is such a content and welcoming feel to the place. It is not until I stop and have more than a passing conversation with individuals that you realise the stories and struggles that every single one has had.
I hope that all is well with everyone at home. Glad to touch base with you all - would love to hear any stories from any of you!!!
Lots of love, always. xox
