Hey all, sorry about the long time since the last post.  Just so much going on.  Let's see...

After village homestay, we went to Ruaha, where we observed 2 mother lions, a male, and 3 cubs playing around on rocks and making adorable growl-meows and suckling noises.  You never see something like that, and we observed for a full half hour. It was great.

The next morning, Nate Cronk and I woke up to a troop of about 35 baboons outside of our tent, playing in the river bed.  All generations were there, from a hairy old male to 4 black babies that looked like their faces were smushed.  A bull elephant also came within 5 yards of us that morning.  Good times.

Since then, we've been back on campus studying.   We had the first annual Livingstone-Stanley Games, and split the whole campus into two teams for the whole of Saturday.  It ended in a draw, but Frisbee was undisputably handed to the Livingstones at a score of 9-1 (I was a Livingstone).  Soccer and the uphill race went to the Stanleys, and everything else involved less running, so myeh.  Although watching Mama Barb chug a soda and Sari Ann spew out 12 marshmallows during Fuzzy Bunny was pretty darn great.

Tomorrow we leave for our village homestay with the Safwa in Mbeya region. We'll be in the most traditional setting for the next 9 nights, eating ugali and sardines every day probably.  Can't wait.  There'll probably be  ahuge village soccer game as well.

Anyways, I just sent a letter off to Houghton (Lois, this one's for you!), so that should tell a fair few stories.  Really it's been a fairly slow week of studies since then.  I'm going to go visit Magnus the woodcarver now.

Mom, I'll try to give you a phone call sometime soon.

Love y'all.  Sorry this is pithy.  Ain't enough time in a day yo.

-JZ

town stay

today is the end of town home stay.  it was great.  i had almost no Swahili practice cuz everyone speaks English so much better than i speak Swahili.

drew and i stayed with Edwin, an ex-farmer/agriculture professor who runs a bakery out of his home now.  he's currently 67.  he has 5 children the youngest of whom is 28.  they all live in townsave one, and 3 visited while we we're there.  Edwin was a gracious host, and the always-on tv informed me of all the misery i had been uninformed of.i endeavor to forget it quickly.

i also met a wood carver named Magnus, who is a blossoming entrepreneur in love with Andrew Carnegie.   he took me to his house, feed me ugali (my kindle auto corrected to Idaho, hahaha), and introduced me to his girlfriend and daughter.  we spoke of business and women and politics very similar to my conversations with Edwin.  i also bought my mommy a present from him (see mom!  i got you a souvenir!)

in any case, if the faucets of heaven calm down soon, I'm visiting the hospital to find out the exact aids regimen in place here.  my  knowledge is far more technical now than when i started, and i feel proud of my efforts as a budding medical anthropologist.

love you all!!

hey again!!   so since last time we visited the Maasai  and many adventures were had.  kel is receuving a letter with mostofthe details.  the Maasai  were super_welcoming abd taught us how to dance and spent about three hiurs if Q&A with us.  the best question from their end was whether or not we had sex with our dogs.  slight misunderstanding about sleepingwith our pets i suppose.

on campus (the shire) things continue muchas they always have: easy classes, good soccer games, and more Swahili.  we get to bust ut iut for real with our homestay in town this weekend.  I'm going with Andrew Letourneau if any y'all know hin.

also we ate ugali (rice porridge the consistency of mashed potatoes, and we learned it is, in fact, culturally sensitive to eat with your hands here and lick your plate.  score for me!

On the literary end, i wrote 6 pagesof senior sem, 3 poems, and have read 2 novels, along with countless pages if aids research.  also kindle can type via squiggle  awesome!  send me emails and letters!  i Will try to respond.  feel free to request info.  love y'all!