Quick Update and Pictures

Hello everyone!

Here's a quick update:

I'm back in Sumbawanga right now because last Friday I got sick again (stomach problems). The doctors think I have an amoeba, so they started me on medicine Saturday. My record so far is taking 10 pills with breakfast. Don't worry, as of last night I'm only down to 6 pills. Haha. I am feeling a lot better already. I don't know how long I'll be here ... we'll have to wait and see.

Other than being sick again, things are going very well and I'm loving it here. Here are a few pictures! (Sorry they are out of order).

Picture #1 = Me, James, and 2 of his students at a soccer game.
Picture #2 = Me, Br. Msomi, and Fr. Salvatory (they are goofballs).
Picture #3 = Pius ... my favorite student at Laela.
Picture #4 = Me, Dan (James's roommate) and a few of James/Dans students joking around.
Picture #5 = Me and Adolfina. She is a Form 4 student at James/Dan's school. She is probably one of the nicest girls I've ever met.
Picture #6 = Some of the children in Fr. Ndasi's village.
Picture #7 = Typical African scene .. I see scenes like this everyday.

Back at Laela

Hello everyone! I'm officially back at Laela. I can't believe I was gone for almost 2 weeks! Since I wasn't able to post much the last 2 weeks, I figured I'd recap by giving you a few excepts from my journal entries. That way you have a better idea of what I experienced the last 14 days. So, here are are a few random paragraphs from different entries:

Feb 3. Wednesday 7:30AM
I made it to Sumbawanga. I am now at James/Dans place. I still don't feel god, but it is really nice to be with people who know me and care about me. The drive here was beautiful - it yet again reminded me of why I'm here in TZ. Time to go get ready to go to the doctor with James and Br. Mwanjoka.

Feb 4. Thursday 8:15AM
I have malaria. They found 6 parasites in my blood. They gave me some dawa (medicine) that I'll take for the next week or so. It kinda stinks because the meds are making me feel even worse because they're killing the parasites. I almost fainted in mass this morning.

Feb 6. Saturday 10:30AM
It's been one month officially since I arrived in TZ. I have learned so much and experienced so much already - time i just flying. One thing I am really enjoying is the amount of time I've been able to read, reflect and talk to people about life. I feel like I am becoming such a better person here - even if it's just because I don't sit around and fill by brain with useless information from the TV. Even though it's really hard to be away from home, I know this is where I'm supposed to be. I'll never get these experiences back. As Donald Miller says in Through Painted Deserts, I'll never be in the same place, with these people and these colors. So, I better enjoy it and experience it while I can, right?

Feb 7. Sunday 5:10PM
Right now I am sitting on James/Dans porch. The sun is shining and setting behind the mountains. It just rained so everything looks green and fresh and renewed. It is so beautiful here. I just want to sit in the peace forever.

Feb 9. Tuesday 8:10 AM
Still here in Sumbawanga. I don't really know what I'm going to do today. I really want to take a hot shower, but I'd have to heat up a bucket of water to do that, so we'll see.

Feb. 11
I'm about to go play volleyball with James and some of his students. I'm starting to get to know his students pretty well...I'm kinda sad that I'll be leaving soon.

Feb. 14 Sunday 9:15Am
Happy Valentines Day! It's only 9 in the morning and I have already had one of the best Valentines Day ever. James and I woke up at 6:00 this morning to go on an 8 hour hike. We had a quick breakfast, grabbed some snacks for the road, and headed out. To start off, there was a beautiful sunrise this morning. As James said, it was God's Valentines Day gift to us. We hiked for 2 and 1/2 hours and are currently sitting on top of this mountain called Mbizi, which is maybe about 7,000ft above sea level. The hike wasn't too hard until the last 30 minutes, which was straight up hill. The weather is perfect. The sun is out, but it is partly cloudy so it's not too hot. There is a perfect breeze too. Let me try to paint a picture of what I'm looking at right now: In front of me I am looking down on Sumbawanga. It looks so far away from here. Other than the town, I can see for miles and miles with no sign of civilization. It looks like this random town placed in the middle of absolute no where. All around me are mountains next to more mountains next to more mountains. Everything is green and lush, with tress scattered everywhere. The grass is tall and a light yellow/green. The tress are dark, forest green. It looks like something right out of a photograph. God gave us such a beautiful world to live in!

Feb 15. Monday 5:00PM
I was supposed to leave for Laela at 3pm yesterday, but (because T.I.A. - this is Africa), we didn't end up leaving uni ll 10:45pm, which got me back here around 1:30AM. I am so exhausted because I had to get up at 6:00 this morning to go to school.

Well there ya have it folks! The next few weeks will probably be a little less eventful. Send me an email updating me on your life! Much love

Sarah

P.S. - Kimmy and Bret (and Cole) - I will be thinking about you guys and praying for you these next few weeks! Be sure to let me know (and email me pictures) when you second little bundle of joy is born!!

Update

Hello everyone!

I can officially say that I have survived malaria! I am all done with my medication and feel 100% better! Right now I am still in Sumbawanga with James and Dan. The plan is for me to return to Laela this weekend sometime, so I can start teaching again next week.

I am both excited and little sad to be leaving Sumbawanga. The past two weeks have been really fun. It has been nice to stay with James and Dan, and have friends to hang out with. I have gotten to know some of the Monks here very well also. They are absolutely fantastic, and they have been so welcoming and taken such good care of me. Many of them have told me that they don’t want me to leave! They said they’re going to tell Msolwa (the headmaster and Laela) that I am still sick so I can stay here for another week, haha. They are so great. I’m sure I’ll be coming back to visit often.

I’ve felt better for the last week or so, so let me give you a little idea of what I’ve been doing all day since I’m not in Laela teaching! I’ll go to church with James in the morning (if I get up in time), then I’ll go to breakfast at 7:15 with James and the Monks. Breakfast is always bread (sometimes they have peanut butter!), and tea or coffee. After breakfast James will had off to school, and I’ll come back to my room and get ready for the day. During the day here are some things I spend my time doing: I study Swahili. I read. (I’m on book number 3 since I’ve been sick). I walk into town and go to the internet (it’s about a 30 minute walk). Sometimes I’ll go visit James at school … I know a lot of his students and many of the teachers there now, so I’ll go visit with them for a while. School is over at 2:30, and then its lunch time with James, Dan and the Monks.

This past week the students have had sports tournaments every afternoon at 4:30. Every class will play a different class in soccer, volleyball, and netball. (For example, yesterday Form 4 played Form 5 in soccer …Form 5 won). James and I have been going to the fields in the afternoon and we’ve been able to play volleyball with the students (and a few other teachers). That has been really fun! We are usually there until dinner at 7:00. After dinner James, Dan and I usually read, study, play cards, or watch a movie on Dan’s computer.

So, that’s what I’ve been doing with my time the last 2 weeks! Minus the fact that I was sick, it has been very nice and relaxing. While I will be sad to leave, I am excited to get back “home” and back into the swing of things at Laela. It will be nice to start teaching again.

There have been some requests for me to post some pictures, so I will try to do that soon! Other than that, life is good here in Tanzania! Hope to hear from you all soon! I love getting long emails – just throwing that out there!

Karibu Sana, Malaria

Sorry I've been MIA for the last week. In case you were wondering why, here it is: I have Malaria.

First off, let me start by saying: DON'T WORRY EVERYONE, I'M FINE.

I'm currently in Sumbawanga with James and Dan and I am almost done with the medicine the doctor gave me! (I'm almost cured!!). It really hasn't been that bad. Yes, I've been feeling sick all week .. but I haven't thrown up since I started the medicine and I've pretty much just been sitting around watching movies with James and Dan everyday ... so it's not all that bad! Haha.

I don't know when I'll start teaching again. All the monks want to make sure I am feeling 100% better before I go back, so who knows ... I could be here well into next week! It's nice they're taking such good care of me. And it's nice that I don't have to worry about teaching for right now ... the headmaster of my school also told me to make sure I stay here and get better. :)

I don't really have time for a longer post ... but I just thought I'd give you an FYI on my whereabouts and make sure you all know NOT TO WORRY!

Sarah

Oh - ps - the story behind the title "Karibu Sana, Malaria." Ok, so the word Karibu means welcome (sana - very much). I honestly here the world Karibu at least 50 times a day. It could be welcoming me to dinner, welcoming me into someones home, welcoming me to the internet cafe...etc. Well, James and I were talking with one of the monks the other night about Malaria, and after a while the monk was like "Well, Sarah, welcome to Africa. Karibu Africa. Karibu Malaria." It was pretty hilarious. So ... KARIBU SANA MALARIA to me! Hahaha :)

School!

Hello all!

To answer some of your questions, here's a better description of what school is like! (I love all the questions, by the way!)

-The students are very respectful. They greet me with "Good morning, madam" every morning. They stand up when I enter the classroom. If they see me walking with a bag/purse, they carry it for me. THey are great. They were super shy the first few days ... but now they are starting to warm up a little. We've been playing Simon Says in class using English classroom instructions (such as stand up, sit down, write this down, etc). They really like that game, I think, and I can se some of them starting to come out of their shell. A lot of the time when I'm teaching I feel like I have to act out what I'm saying. (For example .. if I say "she walked quickly," I will walk around the room quickly). I feel like I"m an actress sometimes. I try to be funny, but sometimes I think they are just laughing at me not with me. Haha, oh well!
-The other teachers here are pretty nice. I am the only female teacher, however there are 2 female workers here. One is the typist (yes, with a typewriter), and one is a libraian (I think). I have been playing volleyball with a few teachers and students after school everyday, and that is really fun. It's nice to be able to laugh and goof around with the other teachers.

Well thats about it for school! One month down (almost), 5 to go! Here is a random list of things I've done so far:
-played volleyball with teachers/students everyday.
-used a machette to (try to) cut the grass with some students out on the soccer field. I was horrible at it. It was pretty hilarious.
-Used a hoe and helped cultivate corn with some of the sisters.
-killed 2 (hockey puck sized) spiders in my room.
-killed 2 bees in my room.
-ran screaming when i saw a mouse in my room this morning. The whereabouts of the mouse is still unknown. Don't worry... I made my favorite student (Puis, this really really nice 14 year old boy), come and try to help me find it this morning. It's probably nesting under my bed somewhere by now. Haha!
-watched a pig hang from a tree and saw its blood and guys drain out 30 min after it was killed. This was in Sumbawanga with James and Dan. Now THAT was fun to see. (I'm being sarcastic, in case you couldn't tell ..)
-not showered for 3 days in a row ... I think thats my record. Now bad, if you ask me.
-Showered with ice cold water.
-climbed a fence with James in order to take a short cut
-ate dinner in pitch black (Hakuna umeme).
-seen a bird that looked like it was spray-painted blaze organge. No joke - that was its color. It was the brightest bird i've ever seen. It was really sweet!
-ate fist with the eyeballs still intact. Didn't eat the eyeballs, though - YUCK.

That's about all I can think of for now!

Hope all is well in freezing MN! :)

My life here in Laela

Hello everyone!!

Life is going well here in Laela. Ijust started teaching today - more on that in the next post. For now, I'll try to give you a picture of what life will be like here for me for the next 5 months!

6:05am - Wake up call from the church bells
6:45am - Mass. The church is about 25 steps from my front door. It is even closer here than at home in MN (if that's possible).
7:15am - Grab some bread and tea/coffee for breakfast.
7:30am - Walk to school. The takes about 5 minutes (maybe). I walk past the convent (which is about 20 yards away), through some corn fields, and across a tiny stream (where my "bridge" is a peice of wood that lookds like a balance beam).
7:30-2:30 - At school. Here is my teaching schedule:

Monday - 9:20-10:40
Tuesday - 12:30-1:50
Wednesday - 8:00-9:20 and 11:20-12:30
Thursday - 8:00-9:20
Friday - 8:00-9:20

Thats it! During breaks I plan lessons, study swahili, talk with teachers, or socialize with the students. How school works here is all the students in Form 1 (which is equal to freshman in high schoool .. the age I teach) stay in the same classroom all day. The teachers go in and out according to what time they teach their subject. My "desk" is in a large room with all the other teachers desks. The room has desks, a tv (which doesn't work becuase there is hakuna umeme-no electricity), and a large map on the wall. Pretty simple. We have a break at 10:40-11:10, which consists of tea and some bread for the teachers. Lunch is at 2:30, and I can either eat at home with Fr. Leonardo or at school with the other teachers.

2:30-7:30 - sometimes I will stay at school and talk with the students/other teachers. Sometimes I will walk the 20 min (also through corn fields) to the internet cafe. And sometimes I will walk the 25 min into the village (not through corn fields this time, haha. I pass a lot of houses made of mud, bricks, and straw, though).
7:30 - Dinner with Fr. Leonardo. Dinner is usually rice, chicken/some sort of meat, in some sort of soupy sauce, and (if I'm lucky) 'chipsi' - or fries.
7:30-9:00pm - Read, journal, study swahlii, etc. I usually sit in the "living" room at the parish house becuase I don't have electricity in my room. The parish house is about 10 steps away from my front door. We share a cortyard.
9:00 BEDTIME!

Well there ya have it! Questions? Comments? Concernts? Let me know! What I do on weekends will vary, but I'll keep you posted on those! Please, keep sending me emails and leaving comments! (Aparently I accidently said you should be discouraged from doing this in my last post... but I meant to say you should NOT be discouraged. Don't worry, that is fixed now!)

Miss you all!

As Fr. Ndasi says, I am now officially a 'villager'!

Sarah Samaki (Sarah 'Fish')

Time to go

Hey everyone!

So, I am leaving Sumbawanga tomorrow. It's official. Time to leave and start my work in Laela. I am both excited and very nervous at the same time. Fr. Ndasi will stay with me for a week or two, then I will be on my own. I was talking to James about it, and we both came the the realization "WOAH- I won't be in Sumbawanga anymore" at the same time. It will be very nice to settle down, to start making connections, and to get a feeling of "home" again.

Hopefully I'll still be able to come back and stay in Sumbawanga on the weekends. I'm sure I won't come every weekend, but enough to still stay connected with the people here (the monks at CHristu Mfalme - where James and Dan live). They are so welcoming and nice.

In other news, James, Dan and I were talking about good ol' American sports .. more specifically football .. more specifically the Vikings. James and Dan decided (and I'll probably tag along too if I'm free), that we are going to find someplace to watch the Superbowl if the Vikings make it. Now, at home, this would be no problem. But here, in rural Tanzania, it could mean up to a 20 hour bus ride! Most likely we will end up in Mbeya, which is about an 8 hour bus ride (if the road conditions/whether is OK). Fish-side of the family: you should be very proud. Making an 8+ hour trip to watch a football game!?! Haha. Please be sure to pass this along to Grandpa Fish (Jame or Dad or whoever talks to him first). Should be quite an adventure if everything works out!

Well thats all for now. I have no idea how often I'll be able to update this thing at Laela. Apparently there is Internet, but who knows it if will work. So it might be a week or two till you hear from me. (This should NOT discourage you from commenting/sending me emails!!) :)

Tutaonana! (Goodbye)

Sarah