Mwalimoo

I really need to pace my internet time better, i never have time to write this blog! annyway. Im growing to love the poli poli concept here - esp as it applies to teaching - chai (the mornign break where you eat sweet potatoe, pray and drink uber sweet tea) only ends whn you have had at least a few helpings, regardless of whether children are in calssrooms or not. obv we try to be as punctual as possible, but its enver a good idea to offend the terachers by explainging that its lesson time now! So now i've been miss cait for a whole 2 weeks! Im teaching form 6 with my pally Lizzie (for all those of you who know, lix is so like Deborah its untrue!and debs,in reply to the email im learning swahili dam fast!). I teach 60 children in a room with a hole in the wall for windows and door and a broken blackboard - prtetrty much a typical image of a v basic school. The kids are FAB! so ful of nergy and absolutely love english lessons (kn idea why since we're only doing grammer at the moment - papa you may laugh, i also swear i didnt have any grmamar knowledge in me!). had some hilarious homeworks to mark yesterday, tyhe classics being: What did you do at the weekend? My Cat pooed. We've taken over from a teacher called Gibson - legend and a half!hes vg at english and has invited us to his for meals etc, generally just being relaly freidnly. Today i saw my first caning - i felt so physically sick i hadf to leave the room. not much else to say about it apart from it was really horrendous to watch.

This week saw the beginning of Nkoaranga choir, art club, football team, netball tournament and recorder club (nightmare!). All the children hang around for hours after shcool anyway so its easy to get them involved - i think having muzungoo here is still such a novelty that wthey're up for anythign we offer.

This place is a haven for gappers.we live just next to a group of aussies and there are csome canadians at the hospital down the road as well. Its apparently the oldest hospital in Tanzania, set up in the 30s. Next week we're going in to learn how to do vaccinations so we can help out!

Must go now, off to plan out easter roadtrip to Kenya :) will plan my time better next week and write mroe!lots of love to everyone xxxxxx

The luxury is no more...

Have you ever slept under a tin roof during a thunderstorm? Mums idea of ear plugs turned out to be legendary!! So to continue where i left off.. we spent some of our 'holiday' period visiting the various schools where we're based..all pretty simular in size and filled our expectations of being ridiculously basic and under-funded. In Tanzania (like other African countries?) Primary school are state fuinded whilst seconday is private - the primary school where im teaching has 1200 pupils, only 10 of which per/year end up at the neighbouring secondary as its so expensive. So now we are all moved into our little house beside Nkoaranga School. My generic impression of this region being baron and dusty has been swept away by the incredibly lush landscape. Nkoaranga vbillage is on Mount Meru, and views up and down from here are just SO GREEN!!! A small enclosed garden surrounds the house with our own mango and banana trees. The house itself has its own definition of charming..but really it has everything we need (a little water dribbles from the tap everyday and electricity for around 40 minutes per day - the genius of candles).
The children in the primary school are hilarious, so very full of energy. Not starting actual teaching un til monday, but as of then i'll have form 6b (8-10 yrs officially but some older kids who have been held back a few years) to control. Some of the secondary school girls (which is literally just next door) set up a netball teram last term with no court and makeshift nets, but i umpired for them today anyway (fran you'd love it, footwork all over the place!) and we're hoping to get as involved as possioble in sports etc asap. The school day seems to be about 12 hours long so theres certainly plenty of time for it!\!

More will follow next week when i become 'Miss Cait' (not a chance anyone could pronounce CaitlinLove lots xxxx

Karibuni Tanzania!

Its so impossible to explain the combination of people, scenery, heat, smells and general way of life here - although 'Poli poli' would be a fairly accurate attempt! (slowly, slowly in case your kiswahili is not that up to scratch). Everyone and everythign is just so chilled - the two most comon responses to 'i come from engl;and' are ' oh, but the climate is so terrible and it is so busy all the time!'.
Our first 4 days here fitted the polipoli idea really well - the 'outpost hotel' in Arusha is made up of abour 12 log cabind set inside a botanical garden with a pool, bar and restaurent in the middle. It seems to be a pretty common base for people climbing kili/ going on safari to the serengetti/ngorangora. As if you need to go on an official safari here! literally after 5 mins of leaving Nairobi airport we saw 2 zebras roaming ona strip of land by the main road; as we continued on the one (and only?) road between kenya and tanzania (on a 'minibus' with no windows and our bags thrown on top), 2 giraffews brought us to a halt as they casually strolled accross the road. For these first fwe days we've been living such an ex-pat lifestyle: Swimming, sunning it up, drinking and eating out with our rep and her husband who is the coach for the tanzanian rugby team ...HELLO! Bizarre living such a lifestyle in this country, although you cant really complain at the decent showers! totally run out of time, loads more to say but it'll have to wait for next week :)