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)!!!