It hit me that I am officially halfway through my time in Tanzania, and honestly, that makes my heart hurt. It is mindblowing to think that for the last year and a half, I have been anticipating this trip, and just like that, it is going to be over.
However, with that realization, I am reminded about why I am here in the first place.
Up until last week, I taught about 13 students in a small classroom while the other 20-30 students (the number of students we have on any given day can vary a lot) were educated in a larger schoolhouse on the property. However, when I arrived at work on Monday, I was told that I would now be teaching all of the children English in the larger schoolhouse for the remainder of my time here. Let me tell you, being in charge of 30+ children under the age of 6 is without a doubt the hardest thing I have ever done. I love my job, and I love my students, but wow this change has been tough!
My new (and much larger) class.
Serving porridge to the school.
After Tuesday, we began to settle into a routine and I have actually managed to get a better grip on the kids which has been great. On top of that, listening to them properly using the English that I have been teaching them is the coolest thing I have ever experienced. They are so proud of the work that they are doing, and I am so proud of them.
On Thursday, my house mama (and the founder of SASA Foundation) informed me that we would be going to a meeting instead of going into school that day. Assuming it was a meeting with the heads of another school, I dressed in my typical school clothing and headed out for what I expected to be a brief and relaxed meeting. I could not have been more wrong. We pulled up to a large building and a guard proceeded to do a bomb sweep of our car. From this point on, I gathered that the meeting we were about to attend was going to be a bit different than I had expected. We arrived at the conference room and ended up sitting down and hearing presentations from a variety of program leaders and legislatures of the status of climate change in Tanzania. Although this was nearly the last thing I expected to be doing in Tanzania, I was honestly honored to be able to attend this open-table and learn about the impacts of climate change on a place and population that I have come to love so dearly.
After the meeting, I headed to a cooking class at Projects Abroad headquarters and I learned all about cooking traditional Tanzanian food with people from all over the world!!!
Preparing our meal!
Eating our Tanzanian feast!
This week was much different than many of my weeks here, but it is just another reason why i love living here. You can never quite expect things to go the way you had planned. Even once you have finally developed a sort of routine, it can change in an instant. At first this drove me insane, but I have grown to love it, and it is going to be something that I will miss dearly when I get home. Tanzania has kept me on my toes, and that is just another thing that makes it so special here.
Heres to another amazing week!
Song of the Week: Rearview by Bad Suns