hey all sorry about the long delay. internet has been funky . so...
last night we all went to the rocks on the river to watch a beautiful full moon. just impossible to describe so I will leave it to picture s.
we spent three days at ruaha game park and got mock- charged by a bull elephant, which was one of the best moments of my life. getting charged by a tusked bus is rather awe- inspiring. we saw lions too, and birds, cuz that's Eli for you. in two days we visit the maAsia, which will be awesome. can't wait to dance with them, which is basically jumping up and down for hours on end. CARDIOOOOOO!!! also, rugby in an hour.
also the people here never cease to entertain. a businessman just pointed out some "wazungu wazuri" girls to me and asked whether I liked white girls or black girls better.his wife was there too.
as for Swahili, I'm still plugging away with Deus. he's a great teacher. oh, and today I both wrote a poem and got rejected from Rochester medical school. very productive. I would like to have a keyboard right now. I shall try and post again soon! love you all, write me stories!
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Friday, February 8, 2013
Pythons, Horses, and Retroviruses
Crazy days been had people. Kelsey, skip the next paragraph.
Today, I went to the barn at 6:30 AM for horseback riding. Kim, consummate horser that she is, came along. at the top of the hill, she nearly stepped on a python. We freaked for a second, investigated, and then Shera Moyer, picked it up. It was decided that we would drop it into the back of the class behind Eli (Dr. Knapp) during his Bio lecture. As he finished talking about human remains discovered at Tsavo, which were left behind by man-eating lions, the girls burst out screaming and climbed on tables as the 7 foot python wriggled into the room, having been released by Chris and Shera. Kim got it all on film. Everyone calmed down, and the snake was fondled lovingly by the class, before being thrown into the river to resume its normal life.
Now we're in Iringa, for our somewhat weekly trip to the city. Stephanie Ford and I just got back from touring a local AIDS clinic. A wonderful counselor (but not Almighty God or the Everlasting Father) named Happy freely spoke with us for an hour, answering any questions we asked. Afterwards, she introduced us to the other staff, and George took us on an unrequested tour of the laboratory. It. Was. Awesome. We also walked to the other AIDS clinic nearby, and an accountant named Gilbert invited us to come back in the morning to meet all the other staff. This was after I had promptly offended him by explaining why I had come, rather than asking him his name and introducing myself. I am a terrible American. Ah well, I'm learning.
Deus, one of the night guards, has been a wonderful Swahili teacher to me, and I've taught him a smidgen of English in return. He's one of the local Wa-Hehe (hay-hay) people, and we sit down to swap language for about an hour almost every night. It's made me pretty good at Swahili for an mzungu from Houghton, but I still speak like a one-year old. At this rate, I'll be pre-teen level by the time I leave! That's actually an exciting prospect. I'm starting to think I might return in my doctoring years.
I also dropped 3 letters in the mail today: a letter to "my kids" from ACO, a letter to my family, and an open letter to Houghtonites, which shall arrive in Ted's mailbox, so hit him up for it when he gets it (sorry Ted). I'll try and write more letters, but my time has been surprisingly short... probably because of all the Swahili.
Anyways, life is good here, the trees are beautiful, the animals are amazing, the culture is friendly, and everything in nature bites, stings, stabs, or tastes good, and sometimes combines those traits in surprising ways. Love you all!
Also, my address is PO Box 934, Iringa, Tanzania. If you write me letters, I can read those on campus, where my time isn't as limited, which is nice. Kwa heri!
Today, I went to the barn at 6:30 AM for horseback riding. Kim, consummate horser that she is, came along. at the top of the hill, she nearly stepped on a python. We freaked for a second, investigated, and then Shera Moyer, picked it up. It was decided that we would drop it into the back of the class behind Eli (Dr. Knapp) during his Bio lecture. As he finished talking about human remains discovered at Tsavo, which were left behind by man-eating lions, the girls burst out screaming and climbed on tables as the 7 foot python wriggled into the room, having been released by Chris and Shera. Kim got it all on film. Everyone calmed down, and the snake was fondled lovingly by the class, before being thrown into the river to resume its normal life.
Now we're in Iringa, for our somewhat weekly trip to the city. Stephanie Ford and I just got back from touring a local AIDS clinic. A wonderful counselor (but not Almighty God or the Everlasting Father) named Happy freely spoke with us for an hour, answering any questions we asked. Afterwards, she introduced us to the other staff, and George took us on an unrequested tour of the laboratory. It. Was. Awesome. We also walked to the other AIDS clinic nearby, and an accountant named Gilbert invited us to come back in the morning to meet all the other staff. This was after I had promptly offended him by explaining why I had come, rather than asking him his name and introducing myself. I am a terrible American. Ah well, I'm learning.
Deus, one of the night guards, has been a wonderful Swahili teacher to me, and I've taught him a smidgen of English in return. He's one of the local Wa-Hehe (hay-hay) people, and we sit down to swap language for about an hour almost every night. It's made me pretty good at Swahili for an mzungu from Houghton, but I still speak like a one-year old. At this rate, I'll be pre-teen level by the time I leave! That's actually an exciting prospect. I'm starting to think I might return in my doctoring years.
I also dropped 3 letters in the mail today: a letter to "my kids" from ACO, a letter to my family, and an open letter to Houghtonites, which shall arrive in Ted's mailbox, so hit him up for it when he gets it (sorry Ted). I'll try and write more letters, but my time has been surprisingly short... probably because of all the Swahili.
Anyways, life is good here, the trees are beautiful, the animals are amazing, the culture is friendly, and everything in nature bites, stings, stabs, or tastes good, and sometimes combines those traits in surprising ways. Love you all!
Also, my address is PO Box 934, Iringa, Tanzania. If you write me letters, I can read those on campus, where my time isn't as limited, which is nice. Kwa heri!
Friday, February 1, 2013
Hey all!
So I'm here in Tanzania, one week in, sittin in an Internet cafe in Iringa. Our home campus is beautiful, and for class we listen to Eli and Dr. A, and sometimes read books, but mostly play volleyball. This will change. I started work on my Senior Sem too :D So.. .let's see...
Day 1 and 2 we spent at Lazy Lagoon, which was an island paradise where we lived in huts, played on the beach, saw a sea turtle (dead), a blowfish (dead), and many other fish and starfish (not dead). Was glorious. Then we spent a day at a game park and saw (deep breath)
giraffes, elephants, wildebeest, warthogs, impalas, sausage trees, hippos, and a bunch of other stuff!
Now we're living in lovely little huts (kibanda) practicing our Swahili so we can speak with people around here (Tunasoma Kiswahili kwa sabubu kusema na wato wanata hi), and generally having a great time :) (rock climbing, volleyball, NAPS, campfires). I wish I could talk to all of you, or at least e-mail all of you back, but there's so little time!!! Just know I love you all, I miss you, and I'll try and send out at least a communal snail-mail letter. Kwa heri!
So I'm here in Tanzania, one week in, sittin in an Internet cafe in Iringa. Our home campus is beautiful, and for class we listen to Eli and Dr. A, and sometimes read books, but mostly play volleyball. This will change. I started work on my Senior Sem too :D So.. .let's see...
Day 1 and 2 we spent at Lazy Lagoon, which was an island paradise where we lived in huts, played on the beach, saw a sea turtle (dead), a blowfish (dead), and many other fish and starfish (not dead). Was glorious. Then we spent a day at a game park and saw (deep breath)
giraffes, elephants, wildebeest, warthogs, impalas, sausage trees, hippos, and a bunch of other stuff!
Now we're living in lovely little huts (kibanda) practicing our Swahili so we can speak with people around here (Tunasoma Kiswahili kwa sabubu kusema na wato wanata hi), and generally having a great time :) (rock climbing, volleyball, NAPS, campfires). I wish I could talk to all of you, or at least e-mail all of you back, but there's so little time!!! Just know I love you all, I miss you, and I'll try and send out at least a communal snail-mail letter. Kwa heri!
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