Greetings from Tanzania

"No, life cannot be understood flat on a page. It has to be lived; a person has to get out of his head, has to fall in love, has to memorize poems, has to jump off bridges into rivers, has to stand in an empty desert and whisper sonnets under his breath... We get one story, you and I, and one story alone. God has established the elements, the setting and the climax and resolution. It would be a crime not to venture out, wouldn't it?" -Donald Miller

Hello everyone! I've just finished my second day of volunteering at LOHADA and took the crazy Dalla-dalla minibus with way too many people towards town to get on the computer and check in. Things are going well so far, still trying to learn my way around and get acclimated to everything... I'm pretty much on my own during the days, so I am making the best of my time and trying to learn a lot.
My host family is very nice, they are very busy and are always going but I see them every night for dinner at 8 or 8:30. Tanzanian's have a different eating schedule and diet... We have bread and tea for breakfast, Ugali (maize / gritty / hard porridge) for lunch and dinner is either rice ("Wali"), noodles, a bread called Chapati (reminds me of a corn tortilla), or a dish they call Bananas - small banana like things that taste like potato's in gravy. Needless to say our picky eater is having to be adventurous and go with it, so I've tried everything but the Ugali lunch because I have not been served it, yet!
In meeting with the director of LOHADA yesterday "Mama Wambura" she asked me to work on a few projects during my time here. I am now working on creating educational "visual aids" for the kids and to post in their classroom so the wall isn't so bare. I will mostly be serving the smaller kids, 6 and under so I am using numbers, animals, colors and need some ideas from all of my teacher pals about useful hygiene pictures?! They want the kids to learn about washing their hands and brushing their teeth, etc but keep in mind this camp has no running water or electricity at the moment.
This morning when I arrived it was during the kids play time so I jumped right in and had a wonderful time! The kids were so excited to have someone to play with :-) It's really quite amazing how well you can get along with little people who don't understand you and you can't understand them, but we managed!? We played on swings and the kids took turns jumping on me and having me swing them around by their arms... they loved it and couldn't get enough! We ended with a very nice rendition of the song "Heads, shoulders, knees and toes" which was so cute! They seem to be fascinated with my hair, I don't know if its because it is blonde or long or different, but they really like it! I've made several little buddies already and can't wait to post pictures! Many of the Internet places dont have USB drives :( but I will keep searching!
I better run to catch my dalla dalla back to the house...
Thanks for all the prayers and love and hope to have more updates soon!

Xoxo,
Mandy