What a site to see!!!

 At the end of our 2 hour hike through the Usumbara/Irente Pointe Mountains we were all in need of a bia beridi (cold beer)

 Zebras hanging out under an acacia tree

 The group minus Rusty in the Poachers Tree at Taragire National Park

 Up close and personal with a female Simba!

 Yawning Simba! Can you believe how close we were??

Zebra bottoms (This ones for you Mom :))

Jambo Bwana

I'm not sure why blogspot is acting up but I will attempt to tell youna little bit about our safari adventures.... We reached Tarangire National Park two days ago in time to drive a short 2 hour evening game drive. We managed to spot a pack of lines and got within petting distance to a male samba! The girls who were enjoying the sites and sounds of their first safari were thoroughly impressed with the up close and personal sites of the zebras, elephants, wildebeests, giaffes, antelope, dik diks, baboons, and much more! After an eventful drive we headed to the beautiful Sopa Lodge for a quick shower and then a delicious 4 course meal including dessert with ice cream which we had all been missing. Then it was time for bed because we had a busy day ahead of us. We continued in through Tarangire spotting yet some more lions and cheetas and ending our time with a box lunch and a few pictures at the hollow poachers tree. Next it was on to some bargaining shopping at a large souvenir shop and then on to Boganvilla Resort for a one night stay. The resort impressed us all with it's pool, massages, cold beers, and wonderful dinner! An early night was in order again because we were heading out early for the Ngorogoro Crater. It was a short drive to the ascent of the crater and before ascending we stopped at a Maasai village to view some authentic dancing and handmade crafts shopping. Since Marilyn and I had seen it before we decided to bow out of the home viewing and children's school... Needless to say a lot of the tourist trap goes a long way! We were anxious to get into then crater! It was again breathtaking to be surrounded by the beautiful mountains and spot lions, flamingos, hippos, hyenas, zebras, and more among the desolate lands of the crater! It was so much fun seeing Efream spot the lions and hyenas. The only thing missing was spying the few black rhinos that roam the plains of the crater. After another yummy box lunch we began our journey back to Arusha. Along the way another souvenir stop was made and a short stop to give some Maasai boys our leftover lunch food for a snap shot of them in their traditional cercumsition (sp) face paint and attire! We made it safely back to the Impala where our journey in Tanzania first began. The plan this evening is to eat and then do major packing! Tomorrow we are saying goodbye to Amber, Mindy, and Ellen in the early morning as the restnof us don't leave until evening. We will meet back up with them in Kenya before heading for a layover in London and then on to Dallas. The ones who leave later have been invited to fix a late lunch at Efreams home to meet his daughter andnfix his family traditional American food.... Cheeseburgers and cheesy potatoes!!! We have had sooooo much fun! The trip has been a breezy and we have truly enjoyed each others company and all the sites and adventure tanzania has had to offer us! We are anxious to return to family and can't wait to share personal stories and pictures! Look for one more post about our adventures home! Xoxo

From the mountains to SAFARI!

I'll have to make this quick as our internet at the Safari Lodge is extremely spotty!

2 nights ago, we spent the night at the Irente Cliff View Lodge! It has amazing scenery overlooking the Usumbara Mountains. The young girls and I took a 2 hour hike with a guide named Joseph. He took us all over the mountains, up and down, and all around! We got to see some of the most breath taking views and even met some kids that had caught a monkey and had it on a leash! The little stinkers wouldn't let us capture a picture unless we paid!!!

We then enjoyed a meal and headed to bed for our early morning 6 hour drive towards Arusha and then it was on to Safari.

After stopping in Arusha for some snacks, money exchange, and phone minutes we made the 2 hour drive towards Taragire National Park. So far we have seen giraffes (twigas) zebra (punda milia) wart hogs, ostrich, water buff, wildebeest, and up close and personal LIONS (simba)!!!!! Today we are headed out for an early morning jaunt around Taragire and then heading off towards Boganvilla Resort after our box lunches :)

Picture are to come as soon as we have some good internet connection!
Stay tuned!
Badiah (BYE)

Water Falling!

After ending our last day at SEKUCO with a certificate ceremony we headed  out to Muller Lodge for a peaceful lunch among beautiful landscape and friendly company. Efream and I played pool (I got my butt kicked) and we all enjoyed some cold beverages :) After we filled out tummies, it was off to the waterfalls for some hiking and adventure!

Upon our arrival, many many kids greeted us with warm smiles and Jambo's. Efream informed us that the 3 older boys would stay back to watch the car while the rest would join us on our hike to make sure we got there! We began our climb, with Marilyn on Efreams shoulder (what a gentleman). After about 20 minutes we arrived at the most beautiful clearing with large rocks to climb on. The boys showed us how to jump the rocks and climb over to where the waterfall was. I took the first step onto the platform near the waterfall and landed smack on my butt due to the slipperyness of the boulder! Bruises were no doubt in my future! We took many many pictures, hung around with the local boys and then headed back to make sure our car was still in tack. On our way, the boys pointed out a couple of camelions that were really neat to see up close! Though we had wonderful local tour guide children, we had no idea what was in store for us when we returned to the cars. Earlier we had given the children "pi-pi" (candy) but decided since they were so cute and nice we needed to offer them some money for guiding us the waterfalls. We got back to the cars, which were still in one piece, but MASS CHAOS arose when we began to give our shillings to those that helped. It was as if every child in the village came down to our car. Looking back, I guess we all would be running to a car handing out money no matter where we were! The children got in fights with each other, tears were shed, but we attempted to make it as fair as possible and all were happy upon our departure. Tired and no doubt hungry again, we headed back for a bit of rest and then met for dinner at the hostel.

The Beautiful Lushoto, Usumbara Mountain Waterfall we hiked to!.... notice all the boys up top!


The group decided not to make plans for breakfast since there was no need to get up at a certain time. AJ and I stayed in the room and enjoyed breakfast bars and hot showers and then met up with Marilyn, Valerie, Mindy, and Ellen for some more Kitange (fabric) shopping. We checked around for several tailors to make us skirts by tomorrow and landed ourselves at a wonderful little shop that was willing to make us each one for 10,000 shillings (7 America Dollars) by tomorrow! So excited, we headed back to the hostel to meet the others and head back to the Irente Children's Home! After our 3 days of teaching at the college, I was now equipped with an empty suitcase and ready to take Husaini', my favorite little orphan boy, home with me! Efream seems to think I probably need some padding (which I've already informed him I've bought enough Kitange' for that, and that we should look into getting some sleeping  pills :) for the poor guy) (Picture Below!) We were all so excited to get back to the babies! We stayed for 3 hours listening to Mama Endamu's stories, playing with the children's, taking them on walks, feeding them there porridge, and making plans to sponsor them in the future!

Husaini! My new intelligent, hilarious, African Child!


After many hours of play, we headed back down the mountain for some regrouping and then decided to head back to the restaurant, of which we got kicked out of just nights before, for some dinner and drinks! This time we were a bit more tame, but managed to liven the place up a bit with our African Folk Music :) We had lots of fun reliving some of our adventures from our travels this far and ended the night with some singing and story telling.

Tomorrow we are leaving the Tumaini and heading farther up the mountain to Irente Viewpoint Cliff Logdge for a one night stay and then heading back towards Arusha for the beginnings of our Safari! At the lodge we plan to climb to the viewpoint and take pictures at the cliff and under neither the cliff in the caves of Irente! (Pictures to come, we promise!!!)

Until next time, we are glad you are all tuning in to hear about our adventures! We are having such a great time and enjoying each others company beyond a doubt!

Kwaheri! Usikumwema (Goodbye and Goodnight!)

Pictures!!!!... more to come!

Back to School!

We arrived at SEKUCO (Teacher Training University) just in time for their morning devotion and a very interesting and eye opening presentation about the college and its growth since it first opened in 2007. They began with a meer 128 students and are now up to over 2,000 in their 5 year! It was quite impressive to see and hear about their growth.... more to come on their "growth"

At 9:30 we began teaching our group of alumni and staff about TouchMath. They were very interested in our hands on math approach and many shared that they could see themselves using this with their primary and secondary students.

We broke for tea throughout our session and then had lunch and a break around 1. Back to teaching we went, this time about "books in a bag". Beginning with a brief summary, we then broke into 5 groups to work with the students on the different books in a bag activity. The students enjoyed our story "Chura na Jongoo", which was translated by our favorite driver, Efream! They loved the drawings made by our videographer Rusty and also enjoyed sharing more "tales" that they heard growing up. We collected their stories and are planning to make more stories for the "books in a bag project" we hope to get up and running in the coming visits :)

Following the afternoon session, we again had a tea break and got to visit with some of the students about their personal experiences. Marilyn and Valerie chose to meet with Mama Munga (the provost of the University) while the rest of us were ropped into going on a tour of the "new" addition (lecture hall) to the college.... this would be where the further converstation of growth comes in.... Little did we know that we would be walking through a MAJOR construction zone... WITHOUT hard hats! Needless to say we were scared to be walking through would looked like a disaster zone! There is NO WAY, OSHA, in America would have let us in to tour the building. We tried several times to make an escape without prevail! We had had enough fun we when we reached the 4th floor so told the manager our drivers were here and it was time for us to go. They showed us out through a small concrete opening. We had to crawl under a tunnel of wood pillars and climb down a rickety ramp construction of basic plywood. I was shaking, while holding on to AJ's arm, making our way to safe ground! 

After a looooong day of teaching and touring we decided on a local hotel/bar for dinner. Bia Baridi (cold beer) was most necessary at this time! We all made our orders of adult beverages and waited the long while it typically takes at restaurants here. After all, we are running on "Africa time". It didn't seem like long, but we managed to make it through 3 rounds of beverages when dinner arrived. Making quite the hoopla, the manager asked our driver Efream to step outside with him. Upon his return Efream shared with us that the manager has asked us to either quiet down or move to the bar where it is a little less formal.... OOPS!!!! We were soooo embarassed so finished our drinks and headed out chuckeling! Tired and full we headed to bed... not long after we layed down, however, AJ =frantically began looking for her Ipod, which was no where to be found. I called Efream and we made our way back to the hotel/restaurant to locate her device. No luck! We then drove back to our hostel and searched the room.... SURPRISE! It was right where it should have been in her bag, where she ALWAYS keeps it :) Shut eye could be had by all now.

We are currently at the University on tea break and waiting for our lunch to be served. This morning we taught the students about the 5 pillars of Literacy. It was interesting to hear the discussions that it sparked from our students. It seems there is quite a difference in identifying sounds in the Swahili language compared to the English language. The students had fun making our story from the previous days into comics and also learning about several ways to teach their students about letter and sound recognition. 

After lunch I will give my presentation on behavior management and discuss with the students the best way to approach changing or altering problem behaviors! On tap for tonight is to eat at our hostel (where they don't serve alcohol) so hopefully we will not get kicked out! Then catch some zzzz's because we have an early morning for our last day of teaching tomorrow. We are having a great time and the weather is beautiful. Currently the sun in shining the skies are clear and the temperature is about 65' in the scenic Usumbara Mountains!

Until next time! We miss you all and have been glad we are able to stay in touch with internet and cell service!

KWHERI (Goodbye)!!!

"Goodbye Goodbye Goodbye"

Today, we had a day full of Irente Adventures!!!!

Most of us started our day with with a warm bucket shower at the Tumaini Hostel (YAH FOR WARM WATER), while others were busy breaking beds ( ;) Kari... oops!). Then we headed out for the Irente Children's Home (Orphanage) where we were asked to join them for their morning prayer to listen to them sing and share their room updates. We were then invited in to play with the children. It was fun to see some of the same children from the previous year!

After play time, we headed in for Chai and Popcorn with the head of the school. They welcomed us with traditional song and dance. AJ was brave enough to join them for their last song!

It was then off to the Irente Rainbow School where we were greeted by many excited children. They were jumping on us, shaking hands, and exchanging Jambo's with all of them. Soon after our arrival the students were called in for porridge and bananas. We helped serve and then kids greatly enjoyed being filmed and having their pictures taken. They are mesmerized by the cameras and Rusty's video camera! The students ranged from 2 and 1/2 to 15 years old. After morning porridge we played with the students, handed out balls we had brought, and tossed Pipi (candy) to the children. Some of us were practically mauled by the young ones who were eager for candy. The suckers were a hit! For us Wazungus (white people), the jewelery made by the students with Autism and intellectual needs were a hit! We spent a few more minutes playing in the school yard and touring the Ng'ombe (cow) and Kuku (chicken) houses before saying our goodbyes. During our goodbyes, Kari was bitten by one of the young boys at the school... not one of todays finer moments!

Next on our agenda was the Irente School for the Blind! This was a quick stop but a memorable one! First, we were greeted by a young man (16 years old) who was born normal, but burned after falling into a fire when he was 4. He was extremly welcoming and invited us into the school. Before heading out for a tour we were serenaded with a Swahili and English verse of "Jesus Loves Me." It was one of the most touching moments thus far! The 9 of us were then taken on a tour of the school, including the dorms, creative workshops, and braille classrooms.

Off for lunch we went! Making our way through the beautiful rainforests of the Usumbara Mountains, we landed ourselves at the Irente Biodiversity Farm! First stop on this stop was a fresh lunch equipped with homemade Rye Bread, Tilsit Cheese, Avocados, Cucumbers, Tomatoes, Carrots, Green Peppers, Jams, Whipped Butter, Soft Spiced Cheese, Passionfruit Juice, Sweet Bananas, and Tanzanian Coffee. Talk about YUUUUMMM! Favorite meal this far! So yummy and among some of the most beautiful scenery! Next was a tour of the farm to show us the alien and indigenous trees around the mountains. Of course, at the end, we had to do some shopping :) before heading back to the Irente Children's Home!

The children were so excited to see that we were back to play. Only this time, we had plans to listen to the head Mama story tell some new stories that we plan to turn into "books and a bag" project to use with our University Students in the coming trips :) It was so touching to see the children sit around and listen to the Mama tell stories of Leopards and Chickens :) I even attempted reading our currently "book in a bag" book to one of the older children. They were extremely wound up after story time, so we ran around with them and sang songs before heading back to the hostel for the evening. One of the students continuously sang us a song... "Goodbye Goodbye Goodbye" waving his hands in the hair and displaying a HUGE smile on his face. It was hilarious! Videos to come!

Our evening is being spent eating dinner at the hostel and catching up with family via phone and internet!
  

ROAD TRIP!

Just a quick update before we head out for our 4 hour drive to Lushoto where we plan to spend the next 5 days teacher training at SEKCO University!

Yesterday we left the town of Arusha around 9 after a filling breakfast and headed for one of our most favorite locations, "Shanga Shangaa" workshop where we were able to see the new and exciting things being created by locals that are either dead, mute, or blind. They make everything from blown glass to paper necklaces right in front of your very eyes!

We enjoyed a wonderful lunch along the River Side and then managed to do some major damage in the gift shop :) It was then time to head for Moshi where we would be staying in a Lutheran Hostel for the evening. Of course, a bathroom stop was needed and we met the most beautiful little boy names Baraka who entertained us with his 2 year old dance moves. He was especially fond of Amber's Iphone! We continued on to Moshi and made it just in time to see the wedding party arrive at the Church Hall next door. It was equipped with Royal Blue Satin bridesmaids dresses and a full brass band!

Hungry by now, we made uploaded and made our way to the outdoor BBQ restaurant where we enjoyed some Maji (water) and soda (no beers this time since we are at a Lutheran establishment), however we did get to take park in some beef Somosas (one of our favorites from last year)... basically wontons with a chopped beef filling! We sat around the table for a while sharing stories and then decided to call it a night around 9pm.

This morning we are up early for the remainder of our journey to the Usumbara Mountains where we will visit the Rainbow School for special needs children, the Irente Orphanage, and the Irente School for the Blind. We cannot wait to get started with our students at SEKCO and we hope that you tune in to hear about what Lushoto has to offer!

Take care! Until the next internet cafe is found.... Kwheri! (Goodbye)

Safe travels!

After what seems like several days of travel we have finally stepped foot on Tanzanian soil for the third year in a row! Those who have visited before are more than excited to be back and the first timers are wide eyed at all of the new sites, smells, and sounds! Now let me explain how it is that we made it safely yet again.... The 9 of us (Marilyn, Valeria, Nicole (veterans) and Amber, AJ, Ellen, Kari, mindy, and Rusty) met on Wednesday July 26th at 11 am at the ever to busy ;) MCI airport for our first short flight to Dallas. After a short layover with Ben & Jerrys and some candy snacks we loaded the plane for our first 9 hour flight to London. Bring the Olympic season, we met many travelers headed to the games for various reasons. Most of us were seated near each other so it was nice to get to visit during the long flight. Marilyn got into a bit of an altercation with a gentelman wanting to switch seats with his wife. He was a total jerk throuout the flint and managed to wake her up mid sleep to use the restroom, stating "it would be routine, so get used to it!!" needless go say we were all ready to deboard and make our quick connection to Kenya! Some of us needed one final sip of Starbucks before boarding :) The next 9 hour flight proved to be a quick one since most of us spent the majority of the time snoozing! Landing at 9 pm we headed for the visa desk and baggages claim. I was longing to be horizontal at this stage of travel... Being this exhausted is not how I envisioned spending my 24th birthday!! We made our way to the Kenya Comfort Hotel and without much hassle were able to catch some zzz's before our 7:15am pick up! Day two.... Or three.... Or....??? At this point we had all lost track and had to remind each other what day it was. Back to the airport we went. We had several hours to kill before our final flight to Kilimonjaro Airport in Tanzania so we enjoyed some window shopping, African soap operas, and some cafe'. Before we knew it we were back on Tanzanian soil and ready to reunite with our favoritest tour guide Efream!!! I was especially excited to see Efream because I had a gift for him that I have been looking forward to giving him since we left last year! Also routinely we made it through customs and baggage claim in no time and were greeted by Efream's warm smile and embrace! Awww.... Back at last! Efream was sporting his USA K-state t-shirt I sent to him and his family months after our last visit. We loaded up all the luggage andnheaded out in two jeeps to the Impala hotel where we planned to stay the night before heading out to Moshi and Lushoto. After checking it, pulled Efream aside and presented him with the brand new netbook that we brought for him! His response was priceless "ohhhh I think I'm dead!!! Holy moly thank you sooo much!" This response has already made my trip worth while! The group headed to there rooms to unpack and then met for lunch on the patio of the impala! The weather is beautiful here and we are enjoying the cooler, jacket weather! I cannot wait to share our adventures with you! Stay tuned!

Preparations!

In exactly one week we will be well on our way to Tanzania for yet another adventure! This year there will be 9 travelers!!! Including our videographer Rusty who will be documenting our every move :) veterans Marilyn, Valerie, and myself (Nicole), along with undergraduate education students Mindy, Amber, AJ, Ellen, and Kari.

The last few days we have been meeting to gather and pack up materials. We are set for 3 days of teaching at SEKCO, teaching training college, and a few days in the local schools. Those of us who have experiences the Lushoto mountains before cannot wait to get back to the crisp mountain air and the wondrous sites on Safari. We are excited to share our experiences with the first timers and are confident they are going to love Tanzania as much as we do.

Until our travels on the 26th, get excited to hear about our adventures this year as we travel through Dallas, London, a night in Kenya, and finally Tanzania!!!

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