Funny Litle Tidbits

So, I thought I would share some funny little tidbits with y'all that I hope will make you laugh.

So, aside from being asked if I was Celin Dion, or someone else famous, I receive a lot of attention because I am white. When I am walking by myself, (usually because I'm going to the International School), the people will call out "mzungu, mzungu" which means "white person". Hahaha!! Can you imagine being in America and every time you see someone of a different background, calling it out to them? "Black person!", "Hispanic person!", "Arab!", "Asian!". Haha. Also, it's particularly interesting to pass a particular place (I'm assuming they make bricks there because there are so many bricks laid out on the ground and piled up), but the will call out "I LOVE YOU!" I'm not really sure how to respond to that....LOL. I just smile and wave to be polite and then keep walking.

The next thing that makes me smile (and I wrote about this on facebook), but it's so funny at school how all of the children call me "madam". They are so well trained that as I enter the classroom and student will call "stand up" and then all of the students will stand up and say "We are standing up. Good morning Madam." And to that, my response is "Good morning class, how are you?" Then they say "We are fine, thank you. And, how are you?" to which I respond "I am fine. Thanks
you. You may sit down". And, anytime they want my attention they call "Madam!", "Madam!", "Madam!" On Friday, the students get to play sports, so I was playing frisbee with some of the students and any time they wanted to throw the frisbee to me or wanted me to throw it to them they would call "Madam! Over here!" It makes me smile! :D

Well, just a little update on my life here. This morning the family went to a funeral or ceremony for someone in the church who had a brother who had passed away. Although I was invited to join them, I felt funny about doing so seeing as I did not know the family or the man who passed away. I just hope that didn't communicate the wrong message that I don't care or something. I don't know...I think I would've felt funny either way, going or not going.
So, I read a bunch this morning and cleaned my room. You wouldn't believe how much dirt has accumulated on the floor (and then, maybe you can). After cleaning, I read for a while. I'm SOOO glad that I brought my Kindle with me. It really makes things so much easier because it doesn't take up very much space and I can download books whenever I want to!! This afternoon, Nathan and I watched Howl's Moving Castle after lunch and then I read some more. At quarter to 4, the pastor and I went to town where we made a few purchases. I have really wanted to buy a dress that is similar to what the locals wear. I didn't bring very much clothing (not even enough for one week really because I sweat so much that I don't like to wear my skirts more than once before washing them), so it's nice to have something else to add to the wardrobe. Funny enough, the majority of the clothes that I brought are blue or orange and the dress that I bought is blue. So, I guess it fits right in, but I'm feeling like I need some more color in my wardrobe. many of the women seem to just purchase stretches of fabric and wrap it around themselves, so I might see into buying something like that. They have such BEAUTIFUL fabrics here and I would like to have a couple things that are so colorful to wear. Pastor and I also went to visit the house of a child who has not shown up to school for the first two weeks and he wanted to see if everything was OK. She lives in old Morogoro which is a much more run-down looking area because it is older. The houses are much smaller and it kind of made me sad to think about children who grow up there as opposed to nicer areas, or really compared to kids in America. Idk, it just got me thinking a lot.
On the way back, I had to stop and pick up some more internet vouchers because I used up the package that I had bought already (I think it's because I had to download some things, such as the Rosetta Stone Program, and I bought some books off Kindle, and I think that used up a lot of the internet usage I had purchased). However, now that Matt has told me how to work the internet, I feel much better because now it only costs me about 10,000 Tsh for about 1 week's worth of internet. So, somewhere around $6. I guess that's not too bad?

Well, I guess I'm going to wrap this post up now!! Church tomorrow!! :D

"Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life." Psalm 23:6

May the LORD bless you and keep you,
Christine