Just checking in!

Hello readers!!
We had a couple minutes with an Internet provider, so we wanted to be sure and let you know we are still alive and well.

Living on the Island has been great! We have an amazing house with an even more amazing house keeper, Pascalina, who has been cooking us amazing food and helping us to translate at the school.Near the house is also, Inno and Vero who's late Uncle lived in the home. They have 3 beautiful children, Veronica, Ian, and Ivan, who are too much fun to play with! We took them to the beach the first afternoon and they had so much fun jumping and playing in the water. Inno, their father, shared with us that they come to the beach near their home all of the time, but the kids have never once gotten in the water that far! I think it's safe to say we wore them out because Veronica slept through dinner that evening.

Outside of our home is a small "pub" that serves beer, wine, soda, and our favorite Fanta and Serengeti. We have made friends with many of the locals and learned last night while drinking with them that they were so shocked to see such warm and welcoming "Wazungu" (white people) around their place. We taught them a little English and they shared some familiar kiSwahili terms with us. Among our language tutoring, Amber became the bartender for the evening. Amani and her sat behind the bar and fulfilled orders given by Ziada. It was a great way to relax and unwind after many long days at the school.

Today we met with the Ministry, which is basically the department of education in the Tanzanian Government. We were joined by Christopher, Pascalina, and Mama Ella. All of which we have yet to introduce you too. We shared with the Ministry our ideas for future visits and discussed with them what they thought about our proposals. They agreed to talk to the government about some possible support in housing and transportation next year. All together the meeting was very successful and it is safe to say we have assembled a wonder team that we have decided to call K.A.T.S (Kansans and Tanzanians Support.... AUTISM). We plan to establish ourselves as a non-profit organization to help set up a more productive Autism Unit in Dar es Salaam that is equipped with a comprehensive curriculum and some form of a Vocational Training Workshop for students who are too old to attend school.

Our experiences thus far have been superb. We have ridden on the "Dala Dala" a form of public transportation, visited Wonder Workshop (a working place for disabled individuals to make a living by producing and selling awesome sculptures, jewelry, and other souvenirs out of recycled material), visited Tinga Tinga (classic African artwork shop), taken the ferry back and forth from Kigomboni and Dar, tried Ogali and shared many many laughs together! Among the attractions we have seen we have also met so many great people that are so willing to help us explore what Dar has to offer.

We are heading to Zanzibar on Saturday morning and then off to Arusha for our Safari on the Terengari.

Though we are missing all of our family we are excited for our adventures to come. Hopefully we will have Internet at our hotel in Zanzibar so that we can check in again.

Nakupenda! (Love you)