“Who the #$!! let the cat in here!”

"Who the #$!! let the cat in here!"

This week found Lisa and I, well, a little frustrated with Swahili. It felt like our brains had taken a bit of a safari and said "we'll mail you some postcards." Toward the end of the week we were working on how to tell "Swahili Time"…which is a lot like my sister Noelle's time…about 6 hours off. Anyway, we are reading these sentences in Swahili which say things like "Mr. Jones went to the market at 6:15 and then he went to dinner at 7:00." Pretty rich stuff. It sounds easy, but it was like pulling teeth for us and the other two in our class, a really nice couple from Germany. You know on Dumb and Dumber when he is reading and it sounds like "will hos…will hos.. will host. Tuha…t..heee…the…" Yeah, it was like that. Anyway, at one point our friend Rosi was trying to read a sentence and the word for "until" is mpaka….which is really similar to cat, which is just paka. Anyway, Rosie is reading along a sentence like "Saa mbili na nusu mpaka saa tatu…" when all of a sudden her husband, Klaus, says under his breath "Who the #$!! let the cat in here!" Ahhh….just what you don't need to hear when you are looking for something to distract you anyway!

Skyping with Parents

One of the joys this week has been using a program called Skype with our parents. For instance I tried calling my mom and accidently got her at 5 am her time. Then, "something was wrong with her sound" and so Lisa and I had to type our responses to her for an hour because she couldn't hear. Or, sometimes for fun she would ask us yes/no questions. My dad refuses to stand in front of the camera…but we know he is there because every now and then he shifts his weight a little too far to his right and we catch a glimpse of his arm. Jeff and Kim (Lisa's parents) have taken to Skype like a duck to water. Unfortunately, our internet connection is really slow here, so every now and then they will be talking and then just freeze. Then, after about 3-5 seconds the screen "fast forwards"….right along with their voices and animations! It is really entertaining for Lisa and I…can't really say that Jeff and Kim enjoy it that much! We are, however, really thankful for such a media so we can keep in touch!

Market Experience

One day last week we were able to attend a local market near Usa River, home of our campus. Our assignment was to buy something speaking in Kiswahili and then get information on prices of other things. It was great! I bought an orange and some carrots and Lisa bought some oranges and tomatoes. Most of the produce was sold in small piles, called a fungu. Lisa was a better negotiator because her pill only cost 300 TSH (Tanzania Shillings) while mine cost 350 TSH. We also found a section of the market where you could buy clothing. Shoes, pants, shirts and undergarments for men, women and children all over the place! It was a bit overwhelming to push your way through the crowds. However, we later went to a store in Arusha and compared prices. It will be well worth our time to learn how to navigate the street markets if we want the better deals here! They were probably ½ the price, at least! Plus, at one point, someone bumped my arm, fist pumped me, and said "what's up my homie." So, that was a real plus too. My personal favorite shop was the "Yankee Wear" with a picture of President Obama painted on a sign with the word "Yank" under it. It appears they really like him down here (for real). Today, we even saw a Kanga (cloth wrap) with him on it!

Happy Birthday Seth

I turned 29 this week! Thanks to everyone who wrote kind words on Facebook! We went out for milk shakes. It was a good day. Now I celebrate my age by taking Ibuprofen when I wake.

Rehabilitation Center

One thing we have really enjoyed visiting while we have been here is this rehabilitation center for children and young adults with handicaps. It is just across the road from our campus. One of the other Kiswahili students, Hinrike, works there and introduced us to the place. In addition to helping improve the lives of these young people, they also make some AWESOME milk shakes.

Happy 5^th Anniversary

On Friday, Lisa and I celebrated our 5^th wedding anniversary. Thanks again for everyone who sent us kind wishes on this special day. We are so romantic…we watched a movie with some friends and went to bed early so we could get up and go on a safari!

Safari to Lake Manyara and Ngorongoro Crater

We finished the week by taking a quick safari to some incredible lands. Saturday afternoon we arrived at our camp site, swam, ate and rested. That evening we went to Lake Manyara. It was awesome to be so close to elephants, birds, and many other species. We even saw a lion hidden in a bush but couldn't get a great picture. That night we slept in tents in a campground and prepared for an early morning. This morning (Sunday) we awoke and had breakfast of eggs, chipati (pancakes), sausage (hot dog), fruit and of course coffee by 6:30 AM. We arrived at the crater by 9:00 AM and were treated with hyenas, lions, several antelope species, zebras, warthogs, elephants and at one point a cheetah. In fact, we thought the cheetah would chase a family of warthogs because the warthogs were heading right toward the cheetah. But, alas, life prevailed and the cheetah just stayed where it was sleeping. My favorite part, besides all of the wildlife of course, was when a monkey stole another tourist's Pop-Tart right out of her hand from the vehicle WITH THEM STILL INSIDE! Even though we froze this morning, it was a fantastic end to the week.

To see all of the pictures from the safari, go to http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=233375&id=658766625&l=0944c0d2e2