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!
Thank you! *PLEASE* be safe(r). I want to hear about that clinic. We miss you.
ReplyDeleteMiss you too!!!! I "aww"ed when I got the e-mail notification that you commented :O Stephanie Ford and I are in town waiting for Dr. A to pick us up for the next half hour. We skipped class today to visit another AIDS clinic, where we got to talk to an accountant, a psychosociologist, a social worker, an economic developer, and the Italian nun in charge. It was great! They even gave us printouts of the attendance over teh past few months. We learned so much that we still have headaches... and it's been a half hour. Ask me questions and I'll try to answer! Or else I'll give you a copy of my senior sem when I"m done with it. Or both.
ReplyDeleteAlso, we went to Deus's church on Sunday! He invited us into his house, which was quite nice, and we bumped into the lady who spoke with us at the first AIDS clinic. It's been wonderful :)
I will think about it and try to condense questions into a couple so I don't waste your internet time...will come back to that later. In other news, Sodexo had to halve the amount of spinach they were buying on a weekly basis because so much of it was going bad due to being uneaten. No one is working out and everyone is getting chubby because there is no one to embarrass people into lifting weights. The freshmen girls are pining to the point they are creating new lonely facebook pages about it. Meanwhile all the history professors are looking inexplicably jolly.
ReplyDeleteAnd I miss your hugs. Be safe! Keep writing with lots of details so I can creep and occasionally facepalm. Love you. :)
Dear JC,
ReplyDeleteThe purpose of having a blog is to write on it so your friends can stalk you. How's life in Tanzania?
Sincerely,
Bethany