Things That Have Made Me Smile

So the last two days have given me many reasons to smile. On Sunday I went to church up the hill from the Orphanage, and I was one of three white people in the whole place, out of about 500 people:) Didn't understand a word again, but that's ok! There was a 15 minute break during the middle of church which was weird, and during offering everyone filed up to the front and dropped in their money. So after church there was a a choir contest with 24 Tanzanian Choirs. They sounded so beautiful! Don't worry I recorded some of them. After church we had lunch with some people there and I saw my first goat being roasted (wasn't done in time for us to eat darn....) and ate real sugar cane. It was so awkward because you just chew on it and then spit if out...kind of felt like a cow:) Sunday afternoon was nice and full of relaxation. I got back to the orphanage and the babies were sitting outside playing! It was so nice to get to enjoy the warm sunshine with them outside! Then I helped feed the two year olds again, which is always a joy! haha. Then yesterday....it was my first day helping out at the primary school. THAT WAS AN ADVENTURE! Screaming kids running around, saying teacha teacha, pulling on you and climbing on you!

The first class I helped Ariel and Aimee with was pre-1. There were about 50 kids ages 3.5-6 in one classroom. They were writing FAT,NAP,LAP in their assignment books and practicing cursive C. At 3.5 years old? That seemed a bit crazy to me...Then we sang songs and I did my best rendition of Itsy Bitsy Spider in front of everyone and messed up the words, it was classic:) Then we had Chi...Tea Break. I had the best roles i have ever tasted in my life! They tasted like funnel cake. It was a nice treat in the morning when it was 60 degrees and drizzly out. Then we went to the Standard Three room which has ages 9-11, and we taught writing and religion. For writing they read a short english picture book like Arthur's Great Adventure for example and then they answered five questions. Lesson of the day, Tanzanian children don't know what the word favorite means:) For religion we are teaching them to memorize the books of the bible. So we started with the first 12 of the Old Testament. It was priceless to hear them try and pronounce Deuteronomy. HAHA:) Loved it, they were trying so hard. Then we had lunch which was much needed, as i was starving by then. After lunch was absolutely insanity....There was no plan, 70 kids in one room and 3 american girls in charge.....We sang a lot of songs and our voices went horse:)

Then Ariel walked me home and we carried her laundry down to the orphanage, we tried to put it on our heads to fit into the culture, but it was an epic fail:) Then there were monkeys in the trees right outside my bedroom! I hear a ruckus as all of the three year olds were running outside and screaming monkey in swahili. It was so surreal. AND THEN....after being rainy and cloudy all morning, when I was walking Ariel back to the main road, we saw the top of mt Kilimanjaro in all of it's glory, clear blue skies and not a cloud around. It was breath taking!!!! and of course i didn't have my camera....hopefully there will be other opportunities to get a good picture of the mountain. So...yes many things to smile about in the last couple of days!

Thanks for all of the prayers and messages! They for sure keep me going. And if anyone would like to send me some McDonald's via FedEx, that would be much appreciated! Take care and God Bless:)