Jambo Means Hello

Prior to my trip my mother asked if I had practised any Swahili. I replied with "Jambo means hello," little did she know I picked up that tidbit years ago thanks to a book my Auntie had entitled Jambo Means Hello! We used to read it all the time when we went camping. Of course my Swahili knowledge goes further than that; on my first day one of the local volunteers asked me if I knew what "rafiki" meant and I replied without missing a beat. He wanted to know how I knew- my reply? "I've seen The Lion King!" It is also to thank for my understanding of Simba  (lion), Asante Sana (thank you very much) and of course Hakuna Matata (no worries/problem). I'd  like to think I was off to a good start!
Feeling exhausted, my would have been power nap turned into a full blown nap going through both lunch and siesta time. I got up and ready in time for our first official Swahili lesson.
During our first lesson we covered basics for self-introduction. By the end of it we needed to recite our names, where we are from, our nationality, where our  placement is and our volunteer role. It was pretty good.  I'm finding Swahili a lot easier than Thai. I'll keep you posted, sawa?
(Sawa? Means okay? And then you say "sawa," which means okay.)

Mimi ninafanya kazi Hope Haeva

That is Swahili for I work at Hope Haeva. Mimi ni mwalimu - I am a teacher.

At 7:30am this morning we headed out for our placements.  This week I'll be in the baby class and when Karen and Maddy leave I'll take over the Four Year Old classroom from Karen.
It's been a while since I've worked in daycare - that was back in Halifax 2001-2005. I must say I'm aging like fine wine! But I digress... it's been a while since I've been in a class full of one year olds! I actually think I worked with 2 year olds in Halifax, but I could be wrong.
Anyways, I expected energy and these little lovebugs  delivered! They went above and beyond my expectations of high energy.  When talking to my darling sister about my day I believe I told her they were adorably cute and equally energetic.  I've already made some friends... teacher friends, you know the ones I mean!
The students began their day with a review of body parts and numbers to 10. After that... the real fun began. Apparently the babies typically spend most of their time playing outside.  You might remember me saying it's chillier than I expected. I'm not the only one who feels that way! My adorable babies are bundled up for winter!  One little girl had on a big pink, bubble jacket which she kept on all morning. Many other students had on heavy sweaters or tights or sweat pants under their uniform. One of the teachers had on a turtleneck! So due to the "cold" weather it's not seen to be a smart choice to have the babies out on the playground. Quite a few of them already have runny noses and are taking cough medicine to fight their colds. At one point I had to save my sweater from being used as a tissue by a particularly charismatic yet tricky little boy! Note to self: take an airborne in the morning.
Instead of outdoor play, the students played in the classroom... unfortunately there weren't any toys or materials, just one foam mattress, a few wall charts and a TV.
At 10:00am, which is actually called 4 o'clock Swahili time (more on that later), the children had a snack break. We went over to the dining room and they all had a cup or bowl of uji (porridge). Porridge is pretty popular out here, it's offered every morning for breakfast at Home Base. I haven't tried it yet, it reminds me of Cream of Wheat and I'm more of an oatmeal kind of girl.
After snack the children went back to class and the teacher put on a DVD which reminded me of an ESL Sesame Street.  You could tell which songs they preferred! A handful of students napped on the mattress while their friends either continued watching the show or made their own fun running around the perimeter of the room. I was the centre of some attention, as a kind of life sized doll.  The babies enjoyed touching (and at some points pulling) my hair, looking closely at my pink sand necklace, investigating my motion sickness bands and clothing. The most popular item was definitely my glasses! I meant to bring my all black frames but I have my black and gold ones so I don't blame the children for being distracted by them.
Evarist, the owner and director, had all of the volunteers in for a tea break. Apparently this is something he does most days.  He wants us to go home with a true taste of Tanzania. Today we had chai and a muffin very similar to pound cake. We talked for a bit before heading back to our classrooms.
The morning ended before I knew it. Papa John picked us up first then we made two other stops on the way home.  I realise I haven't introduced you to Papa John! I'll need to do that soon.
I was pretty busted after the morning so I took a nap before our scheduled siesta. What can I say?  I was tired so I slept, seems logical to me 😆😆
Time will tell if this was a good choice...

Orientation - 17 July

Dear Reader,
You'll be pleased to hear I slept well under my princess canopy (aka mosquito net). I woke up earlier than necessary at 5:00am so I checked my messages and did some reading before drifting back to sleep.  Breakfast was at 8:00am so I was able to get some rest before I needed to get ready. 
Breakfast was yummy - we had omelette style eggs simply called eggs, a pastry similar to a donut but better, boiled sweet potato and fresh local bananas.  We also had fresh mango and passion fruit juice- delicious! You're missing out on that one for sure.
After breakfast we had a full group introduction including all CCS volunteers, CCS in- country staff and local volunteers. As volunteers can choose their placement length there's a good overlap - this group's placements range from 2-7 weeks. After all introductions were made the new volunteers stayed behind for orientation with Mama Thea and George. I won't go into detail as it was a very thorough orientation meeting.
Orientation was followed by lunch.  We saw (and smelled) our chef Andrew cooking it while we were in the tour of the house.  We had beef stew, rice, lentils and veggies. Another satisfyingly tasty meal!
After lunch we met with our placement partners. I was pleased to meet Evarist, coowner of Hope Haeva Daycare. Evarist and his wife Haika started the school three years ago. Haeva is a combination of their names. He told us all about the history of school as well as their schedule.  I'll fill you in on that later.
I'll be volunteering at Hope Haeva with a family group that came on the same day as me- young Ben, his mother and grandmother. We'll be joining Karen and Maddy, a mother daughter duo who have already been volunteering at Hope Haeva for 2 weeks. This will be their last week. 
Once all formalities had been taken care of we headed into town.  I withdrew some Tish  (Tanzanian shillings) and picked up a pair of Moshi pants since it's a lot cooler than I expected and I can wear pants to work. We priced a weekend safari then stopped at the grocery market.  I picked up some hand soap as it wasn't provided in our bedrooms. I have been leaving my bar soap at the sink and carrying the container to the shower but for about  $2 USD I got a bottle of soap that will last longer than my three week placement- well worth it. I also topped up my snack supply with some cookies, banana chips and ice cream.
As mentioned it is cooler than I expected so grilled cheese and mushroom soup was a welcome dinner.  We also had pumpkin, green beans and onions and salad. Have I mentioned I'm pleased with the food? 😉
It was a full day with the promise of an exciting morning ahead so I decided to get everything ready and have an early night!

Here

On our descent for landing I admired how all I could see was grass and trees. So simple yet so beautiful. I thought to myself that I've never seen anything quite like it and a smile grew across my face as I realised - I haven't set for on this continent before; Welcome to Africa!

Safe and Sound

After almost 24 hours of traveling I've settled into the Home Base in Moshi, Tanzania. It's one of those places off the beaten track you'd never randomly decide to come for vacation but already I think I'm going to love it here - provided the mosquitos and lizards leave me alone!
I had a short tour of the main parts of the house, claimed my bunk and unpacked some of my belongings. I've met two roommates so far.
It's almost time for dinner then I'm going to try and have an early night so I can be rested for tomorrow morning.  We gave breakfast at 8:00am followed by orientation.
I look forward to sharing more information with you tomorrow! 

Off I go!

At 12:48pm Bermuda time my flight pulled away from the gate at JFK. We were scheduled to leave at 11:15am NYC time (12:15 Bda time) but apparently the aircraft was late arriving into JFK. I was tired for some reason, which may work out because it's currently 6:50pm Tanzania time.  After I eat and take my malaria tablets I should be able to sleep. 
Back to the flight business- this time I'm traveling on Qatar Airlines for my first time.  One of these days I'll be able to fly in luxury with those enviable bed seats but for now I'm in economy class with the normal folk ☺. I was not thrilled to see that I somehow had a middle seat (aka the worst seat ever for solo travel) but thankfully the window seat was empty so I shuffled over when the cabin doors closed, giving myself plenty of leg room.  My compression socks are on,  Swahili learning app and dictionary ready to go and I have no shortage of snacks thanks to my dear friend, Danielle!
Well, we're in the air now, I've chosen my first movie and soon it will be time for lunch/dinner. Here's to a smooth and safe flight!

In-flight Update

My watch says 6:10pm, which means it's ten minutes past midnight in Tanzania. I was sleeping.  But as you can tell, now I'm not.  😕
The reason being there are some cute little children two rows ahead who have NO IDEA that we're meant to be sleeping right now.  I wish their parents would clue them in on why it's so dark and why the flight attendants have asked them to leave their window shades closed (more than once).
On the upside, they really seem to be enjoying the flight.
Alright, I'm going to try for more sleep. Oh, wait!  I meant to tell you, I'm currently somewhere over England. Shout out to my family across the pond!  🇬🇧 👋 Hiiiii guyssss, love you!  😘