Chantal Abroad

Karibu! This week was somewhat less eventful. Sunday night, Fr. Jaimy took us out to a restaurant for Thanksgiving dinner. Fr. Mathew returned to Songea on Monday, as did the two teachers we were missing our first week here. For us, Monday was a difficult day at school. The children would not listen and we felt quite frustrated. The week did get better, and we got Friday off, as it is a holiday in rememberance of the first Tanzanian president's death. We went into town and bought me some material and hired a tailor to sew me a skirt and blouse, as I have already managed to stain some of my clothing... imagine that! Saturday, we got to spend the day with 80 more sponsor children, making cards, playing, and having lunch with them. Afterwards, they had a short programme for us of dancing, singing, and a skit. Today I wore my new outfit to mass. We went to our usual 7am mass. I also went to the children's mass at 11am, which I enjoyed immensly. I'll have to do that again! So that was the week. Hope yours went well. Karibu, tena!

Here are a few musings for you:
*Green toilet paper-softer on one side, pimpled on the other, and very, very green. Why? Beats me.
*Perma "tan"-My feet are permanently 'tanned' as we are currently in the dry season. It is very dusty here and the earth is very red. It gets into everything. No matter how hard I scrub, my 'tanned' hue never quite goes away.
*Kids putting things in their mouths-Children here put everything, anything in their mouths. Broken balloons, candy wrappers, pencils, erasers, paper, bark, leaves, sugar cane, fingers, money, their school uniforms... it seems they are always chewing on something.
*Killer mosquitoes-You know how mosquitoes at home are quite aggressive and big and loud? Although mosquitoes here are to be avoid due to the diseases they carry, they are actually quite passive. They seem to stroll, as do Tanzanians, to get from place to place, and are definitely quieter.
*Food-We eat very well. We are eating a lot of rice, eggs, potatoes, pasta. We get some vegetables (peas, carrots, cabbage, tomato) and some fruits (pineapple, mango, papaya, banana). We have the luxury of eating chicken or beef whenever we wish. We drink loads of tea. Dad's favorite treat is to dissolve a soan cake (a gift from one of the India nuns) in a cup of hot full cream powdered milk. My favourite is having peanut butter and banana on bread with a cup of sweetened instant coffee and a little cocoa powder.