This will be my last post from Tanzania! I'm leaving Arusha tomorrow and Dar es Salaam on wednesday night. I can't believe it, i'll be going home so soon.
Arusha has continued to be wonderful, still lots of amazing food and lots of soccer playing and beautiful hikes. The other day we went to a gradutation lunch at someones house and they had two zebras in the yard! They had wandered into the village during the drout and the villagers were going to kill them so the family took them in and lets them roam around their land (they have a lot of it). It was pretty cool, we were able to get about 10 feet away from them, jamal almost fed them out of his hand. pretty cool animals.
I have finalized my plans to switzerland and berlin, and I can't wait to meet up with people. I haven't seen Lynn for years and visiting Lucie in berlin should be real sweet. I also really cannot wait to get home and see everyone. Although it feels like i just arrived in Tanzania, it feels like I haven't been home in ages.
Anyway, hope summer is treating everyone nice! kwaheri from Tanzania

Well I've spent the last few days in Arusha having a wonderful time. I'm staying with Elliot from Macalester who grew up out here. Another friend from Macalester, Jamal, is also visiting. We've done a bunch of really cool things including hiking up some big hills, seeing colobus monkeys and visiting Tarangire National Park. It's been very relzxing and very different from my time in Dar! Elliot has a ridiculously cool house, and his family is great. His mom makes almost everything we eat including cheese, bread, jam, icecream, peanut butter, juice, and probably another bunch of things that i'm not aware of! They have a lot of land so they grow a bunch of stuff, and it is all delicious.
Anyway, tomorrow we might go paragliding, we'll see!

Well, I am officially done with my junior year of college. My paper is finished, and now I am just relaxing and enjoying the loud religious chants coming from the church down the street. Most of the group left last wednesday, only two students are left and the directors family. I am mostly hanging around in the city until i head up to arusha to hang out with elliot, and a few days after i get up there, Jamal is coming to visit so it should be a right big party.
Tomorrow I'm planning on heading to the beach for most of the day which should be great. I'm going with Sander, the other student left over here, and we plan on playing lots of football and I may eat a burger. Although, because I might soon be missing african food, maybe i should just eat some ugali and nyma, or wali na maharage... we'll see.
In other news, I think i may have lost my flash drive, which was not only rather expensive, but also had my paper on it and more importantly a bunch of bonga flava (kiswahili hip-hop/rap type music). I hope it turns up soon. ON another note, I am currently buying my plane ticket to germany, i'll be there the 4 of june through the 7th, at least if the internet doesn't time out on me which happens every 5 seconds.
Anyway, I'm tired and going to head off to bed, hope everyone is doing well!

Hey ya'll, well my program is truly winding down. Most people leave next wednesday although I am in Tanzania until the 31st. It really is ridiculous how fast time flies, and I'm not only talking about the time I've spent here. The 11th marked ten years since my mom passed away and I really can't believe it's been that long. My dad recently sent around some pictures, one of which I included above. Such a very long time ago! that was from 1968. I honestly don't know how to react to 10 years, it's a helluva long time. I think i've adjusted rather well, but i don't know that I can really judge that. What can I say is that I have been pretty lucky in many other ways, I mean how many 21 year olds can say they have lived in Iceland and Tanzania??

I am currently hanging out at my directors house. tonight we had our final dinner where we talked about our posters and ate delicious food. Now only 5 of us are left (well, actually 6, but michelle is asleep on one of the couches), but we've managed to have quite a good time. The only problem is getting home which is the biggest pain in the ass ever. If i haven't menitoned this before, jasmine and i live on this huge hill and walking up the hill at night is rather dangerous, meaning get home at night sucks. In the beginning of the trip we could catch a taxi home from UDASA, but lately there have been no taxis and we have to pay some guy to walk us home! ugh... We may end up just sleeping on the floor here, it's more fun than dealing with drunk tanzanians and scary bridges.
Anyway, that's life here. I can't believe the trip is pretty much over. After wednesday I will hopefully be hanging out with Elliot from Macalester in Arusha (where he lives). I don't really know what is going on with that, but it should be a good time even if we only hang out in arusha. After that it is switzerland for a week, and I may split that in half with a trip to berlin to visit lucie, that would be real sweet! anyway, hope everyone is doing well!

Well I am now 21 years old, how ridiculous is that? I celebrated "african" style (not really) with a bottle of Zanzibar Delight, a pretty gross cocunut rum or something, it has the cooolest commercial which is the main reason Jasmine bought it. For the actual day (may 3rd, for those who were not aware), I did not really do much, just hung around and tried to digest the end of the shinyanga trip. In the evening, the group had one of our wednesday dinners, and we had a delicious cake for both mine and sara's birthday (her's was about a month ago and we've been celebrating it for most of that time, although I'm not exactly sure why). After dinner, and a few drinks of Zanzibar Delight, which is the Spirit of the Spice Island, we headed to udasa to have a beer or two. It was pretty fun, despite the hundred mosquito bites i got on my ankles and feet. It was all fairly low key and overall a good night.
Now I am supposed to start working on my final project. So far I have sat around thinking about it a lot, but have yet to put any of those thoughts into words. Maybe after this I'll start that (probably not).

In other news, the end of the tournament in Shinyanga was pretty crazy. I got to play soccer which was fun, except that most of my teammates had never kicked a ball in their lives. Luckily there were only a thousand people or so to observe all of this. The men's championship game was immediately after our game, so the stands were filled. The fans were very loud and highly enjoyed laughing at the game. Anytime someone missed the ball, the entire stadium would crack up. I was the only one who had actually played a bit, so anytime I was able to control the ball or do anything, a the crowd screamed in surprise. It was a bit overwhelming, and there were quite a few "she plays like a man" comments, a fitting end to the week! Before the game, Kikwete spoke which was kind of fun. I didn't understand it at all, but I got to sit in the jua kali for 4 hours listening to him! I also got to sit about 50 feet away, woo hoo. the next day i flew home, and I saw kikwete again at the airport, his plane was leaving at about the same time.

But now I am back in Dar, and very happy to be here! THe trip was a great experience, but overwhelming at times. Oh and I did see another white person, the day before I left, funny how much I noticed that! Anyway I gotta run.