Happy 4th of July USA!

Still no plans for what to do today for the 4th. Sunita was invited to a Tanzanian version of a wedding shower last night. She said it was fantastic! Shaina and I took out Ally and Allen for some food and drinks. On the way there we ran out of petrol on a hill and Ally and I had to run to a nearby station to fill up a water bottle. Once our car, a Fiat "Panda", had a taste we were good to go. I thought that the restaurant was going to have to ask us to leave; we were laughing so hard! Ally and Allen are a riot! The four of us were in tears for two hours!
I guess you may be wondering about the luggage situation... Two nights ago I dreamed the same dream three times in a row (not usual for me). I dreamed that they arrived with my bag but nothing was in it. "I thought you were just missing your bag," they said, "here's your bag!" Funny dream, huh? No, I'm not psychic, and that's not what really happened. I'm happy to say that yesterday at about 5pm Ally drove up in the Panda and said, "WE HAVE SIX BAGS!" We heard that we had some bags, maybe four or five, but not SIX. We went crazy!!!!! Thanks to all of you who sent good wishes for us to receive them in a timely matter. I'd say that getting them here in 3 days was pretty good! (Here's where the story gets good!) Allen and Ally started taking the bags and packages out one by one. I saw the two boxes for Global Outreach! I saw the black box for our program! I saw Stan's bag! The next bag that came out was super wrapped in tape, rope, and garbage bags. We opened it up... it was Shaina's bag!!!!! Unfortunately TSA must have used a knife to cut through and search her duffel bag (guess they don't know how to use a zipper). It was a bit musky and damp but it was all there. The last bag that came out was wrapped in a similar fashion. We opened it up. (By now you can probably guess that there's something wrong with my bag right?) IT WASN'T MY BAG!!!! I was fortunate enough to be given a duffel bag full of medical supplies for a local missionary. That's right: medical supplies. We now have absolutely no clue where my things are. Uhhh... Hakuna Matata, I guess. Fortunately Shaina bought a sweatshirt in town that she's letting me wear. (Remember, it's really cold except for an hour or two in the afternoon when it gets pretty hot. The temperature change must be somewhere around 45 degrees.) The sweatshirt has a huge label on the front that reads: PHATFARM. I'm walking around Iringa in a Phatfarm hoodie. Allen and Ally say I look like like Eminem (great...) So if you're sending wishes for the arrival of our bags, Thank You! (but can you make sure that you pray for the right ones?)
After our eating and laughing extravaganza, I was taken to my new house. Because we got back late, about 10pm, I had to bribe the guard with 1,000 shillings to let me in. I'm now staying in the bishop's house. It is farther away from Sunita, Stan, and Shaina and isn't nearly as nice as the compound that I was staying in before, but it does have "mostly" hot water. Staying in the bishop's house is another honor I have been graced with. There aren't as many roosters either, but there are bells. (I know what you're thinking... How nice to be woken in the morning by church bells!) These aren't softly chiming bells. These are loud endless bangs that go off every morning at 5:30. Still, it gets you up and ready for your day.
I'm still working on my Swahili and we're almost done with the pre-program setup. Always something interesting happening.... I love Tanzania!

Jambo Rafikis!

The newest on the luggage is that 5 out of the 6 bags "may" have made it to Iringa. Fingers (and toes) are crossed. Last night we ventured out and met some locals at a few nearby establishments. We even stopped in for a bit to listen to a musician perform at the Lutheran church. Beautiful music! (although we didn't understand a sing word) We retired early and I was fortunate to be greeted in my room by a spider the size of my hand (slight exaggeration...)
When we woke up this morning at 5:30 (thanks again roosters!), we made made our way back into town and had the most amazing breakfast: omelet, sliced beef, bread, fresh tomatoes, and the best coffee ever (no brown water this time!). I was stuffed for the low price of 3,500 shillings (about $2.50). We walked the town for hours and made it back to our room just in time to find out that my room was rented for the night. I packed up right away. Where am I staying tonight? Your guess is as good as mine. In Tanzania, details like that just aren't that important. I'll find out when I need to.
We headed to Kitchingari to continue our work on the program. It's coming along fabulous! Lookout Tanzanian heads of schools! The highlight of the day, and the trip in fact, was being able to have a connection via Skye with my girlfriend, Kerri (I miss you!). The connection was great and it allowed me to see my puppy for the first time in a while (I miss you too Hurley!) It looks as though we're headed out for some more food, probably more ugahli (a corn "substance" similar to grits. Pretty tasty when you cover it in pepper sauce, yum! Hope everyone is doing well back in the U.S. This will be the first year I'll miss fireworks for the 4th of July. We'll have to think of something here...

Iringa at last!

Habari! Where to begin? Let's see... When we woke up in Dar Es Salaam we where greeted by Ally and Victoria (a former student of Stan's). We had a nice breakfast, so Shaina and I thought we'd walk it off. The streets were alive and bustling. Unfortunately, Shaina was pickpocketed from her backpack. What did they take? Money. No. Passport? Nope. Worse... her top of the line, filled to the brim, IPod. I felt so bad for her! We have only the clothes on our backs and now this. Hakuna matata though! We only had a few hours of sleep in our hotel, The Blue Pearl. I mentioned before it was nice, and it was. However, I hadn't noticed yet that I had no running water in my room and my AC was broken. Luckily, Shaina let me use her shower, and I spent the night with the window wide open, praying that mosquitoes skipped my room that night. It was still nice to get a few hours in a real bed. Okay, so we were off to the bus.
The bus ride was interesting but looooooong, very long! Ten hours in another box. (Paula, you were right! The street salesmen had the best cashews ever!) On the ride, we saw a dozen baboons running right next to the bus, various Tanzanian tribes right out of the textbooks, and landscaping that my words could never do justice for. Still a little tired (by a little, I mean exhausted) both Shaina and I were asleep when we passed giraffes and impalas. Hakuna matata though... we'll have plenty to see in Ruwaha.
When we arrived in Iringa, it was late but the town was still busy. We're high in the mountains. It's cold, in the 40's, and my jacket is in my suitcase (still lost). Our journey to our final destination was over. In all, we had had been in transit for over 60 hours. Stan, Ally, Shaina, and I were greeted in Iringa by Lucas, Angelina, Allen and Sunita. The team was all together now. I was very taken back by Lucas, the head of school who visited Saint Stephen's last year. He gave me hug after hug, grabbed by hand and didn't let go until we walked to a nearby restaurant. (In Africa, men commonly hold hands. It's a sign of respect and friendship.) I was very honored.
Our meal was fantastic! Curry chicken, garlic steak, lots of cawaha (coffee)... I'm actually going to gain weight on this journey! We arrived at our accommodation. It is a small room with two beds with mosquito nets and a bath. Simple, perfect, home for now. We even had a chance to meet our neighbors, three mid-twenty students from Germany. Katherine is working in Africa with an architect. She kindly made some fresh cookies for us. Neals is working on his doctorate, studying the relationship between farmers in Tanzania and what effects cell phones have had on them. Anika is working with the Lutheran church in a local orphanage. Meeting everyone like this has given me the feel of staying in a hostel. I love it!
I read myself to sleep and awoke promptly at 5:30. That's when the symphony of roosters filled the air. Of course, no hot water for a shower today. Who needs it with clothes that smell like these? Shaina and I were walking the city by 7am. We had more cawaha at a small cafe. The coffee here is all instant but surprisingly good. This time the water we were give was yellow-brownish and had floating "stuff" swirling in it. It was piping hot though. Besides, after adding our instant coffee you could hardly tell anything was out of the ordinary. (Don't worry Mom... I'm sure we'll be fine... We need our coffee!)
We then walked around the markets for a couple of hours. It's a shopaholics paradise. Art, clothes, trinkets, all handmade and inexpensive. We happen to run into Ally and he helped get us to an ATM so that Shaina could get a dress. She's felt out of place because no women wear pants here. She was sized and fitted. The outfit should be ready this afternoon. It was amazing to see the women dying, weaving, and sewing right in front of us. Their products are intricate, colorful, and well made. It's like nothing you can find in the US.
After shopping, we piled in a "bus", a mini-mini-van that took us to Kitchingani School. Listening to hard gangster rap (Lil' Jeezy I think) blasting on the radio, I counted 16 people in all in that "bus". Kitchingani is the school that our team will be presenting at. We had a look around the internet lab and just received word on our luggage. We are being told that two of the six bags "may" have made it to Dar Es Salaam. I guess it's a start. Well, that's all for now rafikis!

Tanzania at last!

We've been in transit for over well over 30 hours! We had four barely eatable meals on three planes that made four stops. I got a lot of rest and we arrived safely in Dar Es Salem. We were greeted by Ali, a 26 year old native who is passionate about Tanzania. Perfect right? Well, not exactly... NO LUGGAGE! Not a single bag made it to Dar! Hakunna Mattata though... no worries! We made it to our hotel, a beautiful place that allowed us to sample some of Tanzania's finest beverages before we retired to our room. It's about 3:00am and I'm already stoked about our eight hour bus ride to Iringa in the morning. Until then...

Almost Off!

Here it goes... Just past 6am and I'm almost done packing. Still tired from the camping trip and a string of mini-vacations, I am indeed ready to catch our ride in a couple of hours to TPA. Sleep? Who needs it? We have a 24 hours trip ahead of us with plenty (a 5 hour layover) of planning time at JFK. The team seems pumped and we're ready to go! Thanks for coming along for the journey!