I don't think anyone still reads this but if some people do... I am now back in MN after a great time in Berlin visiting Lucie. We saw a bunch of the sites in Berlin and the world cup trophy. I'm still kicking myself for leaving two days before the wc started! But i was ready to go home so it all worked out. I then went back to CA for a week which was nice. Tom came home and the family went up to Nevada City to see our cousin Tim graduate from highschool! that was crazy, but a lot of fun. I didn't do too much back in Berkeley, I really wasn't home that long at all, and the time went by a lot faster than i expected. i did get to an A's game which was great fun. I'm sad I won't be able to go to more of their games this year, and the Twins games suck b/c their in the dome.
Anyway, now I'm in Minnesota for the summer. I am hoping to get a job as a camp counselor, and hoping to play as much soccer as possible. I don't know if i'll keep updating this, as i'm no longer in tanzania, so if you want to get in touch with me, send me an email!

I'm still in switzerland, and i'm off tomorrow to berlin to see lucie! Today, lynn and I wandered around bern, a very pretty old city, the capital of switzerland. My time here has been wonderful, filled with lots of cheese, chocolate and good times. The three girls are great, lots of fun, although I don't understand anything they say (they only speak german). I've added some pictures, of the girls lynn and I. The girls are Anina, Livia, and Fabia, verz cute!

I am now in switzerland with Lynn, Carli and their three beautiful daughters. My last day in TZ was fairly typical, I showed Jamal around downtown, ran into Mwandale (a rather well known wood carver who was verz good friends with some people in my group), and spent way too long sitting in traffic. The weirdest part was taking the daladala from campus to mwenge. Normallz at mwenge, there are a ton of people and it is filled with daladalas, taxis and shop/stands. This time, it was empty, and there were bulldozers and such there instead. It turns out they are redoing the whole thing, so they moved everyone out and switched the main daladala stand to mwakumbisho, which caused traffic to be even worse than usual (it took us an hour and a half to get back from downtown at 2 in the afternoon).
Anyway, i took the 9:30 pm flight out of Dar and arrived at 6:30 this morning in Zurich. I then took the train to bern and met up with Lynn. We spent the day around the house and then walked around Friebourg. I had visited Friebourg before, 11 years ago, so everything was vaguely familiar. It was a bit cold, but not too bad, a nice change after TZ! So far i have eaten lots of cheese, some chocolate and done laundry in an actual machine, and there is even a dryer! Okay, gotta run, takl to you all later

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!