So, this weekend was packed with all kinds of
cultural activities. On Friday, Kjirstin and I went over to the pastor's house
early so that we could make chapati. We arrived a bit late to make the dough,
but we told the recipe (so, I hope I'll be able to make myself some). However,
we did get to roll out the dough flat for cooking and I got a chance to cook
the chapati in the pan. It was SUPER exciting! I hope that I'll be able to make
my own chapati in the future! Maybe even the near future. We've officially
bought ourselves a kerosene jiko and a pan so that we can cook food for
ourselves at our house! YAY!! :D
Here're some pictures from making chapati:
On Saturday, I woke up early and went running. Then I returned home and
was expecting to have some time before John came for his piano lesson. We didn’t
get to have our piano lesson on Friday because Class VI was taking a friendly
exam with another school in the area. It seriously amazes me that Class VII has
hardly been graduated for a month and already the pressure is being put on the
upcoming Class VII to perform well. I just hope that the students will be able
to withstand all of the pressure that is going to be put on them. Anyways, due
to the exam, we re-scheduled for Saturday after he and the other members of
Class VI met for an extra class in math and science. But, surprise, surprise,
the plans got changed and the extra class was canceled. So, when I returned
from my run around 8:30am, he was already at the house ready for the piano
lesson. I quickly showered and got him set up with the keyboard. I gave him
some music, so he could have a chance to practice on his own while I continued
getting myself prepared to meet the day. Then, we had our piano lesson and
afterwards, Kjirstin and I went with him into town to spend the day/night at
the children’s home where he is living. I’ve been there once before over the
break from the census (which I have previously blogged about) and it was really
nice to have a chance to go back.
When we first arrived, the students were having their hair shaved because they have to keep it so short for school. Thus, we didn't see too many of them a first. We got to talk to a lady they call their Aunt Bupe, as they all filtered in. She's studying journalism here in Morogoro and we talked about school and what she's interested in doing with that. When there were many students in the room, they broke out the "Line up Four" game (which is just like "Connect Four") and we played that for a while. At about 4pm, we finally had lunch, and I was QUITE hungry at that point. I have a picture below of me eating the food in true Tanzanian style: meaning, with my hands. Yes, that's right, kids here DO get to play with their food, and so do I! ;)
After lunch, I pulled out the DVD's that I brought. Of course all of the boys wanted to watch the superhero movie: Captain America, and all of the girls wanted to watch the Disney princess movie: Tangled. We started with Captain America, but had problems with the sound (which we thought was a problem with the DVD itself), so we tried Tangled. We were still having problems with the sound, so Kjirstin and I fiddled around with the plugs on the Tanzanian DVD player until we got it right. Thus, we watched Tangled and when that one ended they wanted to watch Captain America. After two movies, I was tired of sitting, so I broke out the scotch tape and we made ourselves a Four Square court outside. When I was a kid, I played Four Square a LOT and my friends and I had invented so many different types of games, not just regular. It was SO much fun teaching the students how to play them all. We were smiling and laughing the whole time! When it got dark, we went back inside and Kjirstin and I had time to just sit around while the kids were doing chores (or something else, I'm not really sure). At random times, many students would all leave together to go do various things, but I never found out what everyone was doing. Around 8pm or so, we ate dinner which was quite similar to what we had for lunch, except we had pilau (spiced rice) instead of ugali (stiff porridge). After dinner, we watched Mulan and then it was time for bed.
I think I would have slept well enough, but we had one small problem: there was a Muslim wedding going on across the street. This meant that music loud enough to wake the entire city of Mandeville was blasting just feet from us. The only reason that it got turned off was because it began to rain sometime around 3:30am. I have to say, it was a pretty rough night and I still woke up around 7am!! The kids were getting ready for church, and Kjistin and I had down time to eat and hang out before we left for church. It was SUPER cute, all of the kids were pretty much dressed in matching clothes. This meant that most of the girls were wearing the same dress and most of boys were wearing the same shirts and pants. We all left the orphanage together at about 9am and walked about 20 minutes to church. I'm sure we were quite the sight! The church service was very nice and very modern. They had quite the set up with a band and the choir was quite large compared to ours. They sang some songs in Swahili and others in English. The pastor preached in Swahili and there was a translator. It was really funny to see how excited the translator got. He was putting just as much emphasis into what he was saying as the preacher. And I'd have to say that was one of the most charismatic preachers I've ever seen. Overall, the service was quite different from ours at the Methodist church. The order of events was a bit different and it lasted for 3 hours instead of just 2. But, somehow, that didn't bother. I wasn't bored at any point and I wasn't completely exhausted by the end. I think I've built a stamina for these extended programs they have here. Overall, I really enjoyed it and it was nice to get to experience another church here in our area. I hope that I get to return sometime in the future!! But, I do have my responsibilities at our church with the English Choir and also I'm going to be preaching this coming week.
After church, we returned to eat lunch and I played more Line up Four and Four Square with the kids until it was time for Kjirstin and I to leave for the prayer service with the other missionaries.
In other news from Tanzania:
Please pray for rain! There is supposed to be a short rainy season during the month of October which basically has not happened at all. Thus, people are very worried about the water shortages we might face if we don't get rain. Already, they are rationing the water and usually it's off all day and only on in the evenings (starting around maybe 5/6pm). It has been on all day today which kind of weirds me out a bit, but I'm very thankful for sure!
Also, please pray for Class IV. They will be starting their national exams tomorrow and these will determine whether or not they get to continue on to Class V. Like the Class VII exams, we will not be allowed to go to school or even enter the school compound while the tests are being administered.
I think that this is all for now! It's been quite a crazy weekend, but now I have a five day break, so I'm looking forward to getting much needed rest and also finishing my graduate school applications!!
May the Lord Bless You and Keep You,
~Christine
When we first arrived, the students were having their hair shaved because they have to keep it so short for school. Thus, we didn't see too many of them a first. We got to talk to a lady they call their Aunt Bupe, as they all filtered in. She's studying journalism here in Morogoro and we talked about school and what she's interested in doing with that. When there were many students in the room, they broke out the "Line up Four" game (which is just like "Connect Four") and we played that for a while. At about 4pm, we finally had lunch, and I was QUITE hungry at that point. I have a picture below of me eating the food in true Tanzanian style: meaning, with my hands. Yes, that's right, kids here DO get to play with their food, and so do I! ;)
After lunch, I pulled out the DVD's that I brought. Of course all of the boys wanted to watch the superhero movie: Captain America, and all of the girls wanted to watch the Disney princess movie: Tangled. We started with Captain America, but had problems with the sound (which we thought was a problem with the DVD itself), so we tried Tangled. We were still having problems with the sound, so Kjirstin and I fiddled around with the plugs on the Tanzanian DVD player until we got it right. Thus, we watched Tangled and when that one ended they wanted to watch Captain America. After two movies, I was tired of sitting, so I broke out the scotch tape and we made ourselves a Four Square court outside. When I was a kid, I played Four Square a LOT and my friends and I had invented so many different types of games, not just regular. It was SO much fun teaching the students how to play them all. We were smiling and laughing the whole time! When it got dark, we went back inside and Kjirstin and I had time to just sit around while the kids were doing chores (or something else, I'm not really sure). At random times, many students would all leave together to go do various things, but I never found out what everyone was doing. Around 8pm or so, we ate dinner which was quite similar to what we had for lunch, except we had pilau (spiced rice) instead of ugali (stiff porridge). After dinner, we watched Mulan and then it was time for bed.
I think I would have slept well enough, but we had one small problem: there was a Muslim wedding going on across the street. This meant that music loud enough to wake the entire city of Mandeville was blasting just feet from us. The only reason that it got turned off was because it began to rain sometime around 3:30am. I have to say, it was a pretty rough night and I still woke up around 7am!! The kids were getting ready for church, and Kjistin and I had down time to eat and hang out before we left for church. It was SUPER cute, all of the kids were pretty much dressed in matching clothes. This meant that most of the girls were wearing the same dress and most of boys were wearing the same shirts and pants. We all left the orphanage together at about 9am and walked about 20 minutes to church. I'm sure we were quite the sight! The church service was very nice and very modern. They had quite the set up with a band and the choir was quite large compared to ours. They sang some songs in Swahili and others in English. The pastor preached in Swahili and there was a translator. It was really funny to see how excited the translator got. He was putting just as much emphasis into what he was saying as the preacher. And I'd have to say that was one of the most charismatic preachers I've ever seen. Overall, the service was quite different from ours at the Methodist church. The order of events was a bit different and it lasted for 3 hours instead of just 2. But, somehow, that didn't bother. I wasn't bored at any point and I wasn't completely exhausted by the end. I think I've built a stamina for these extended programs they have here. Overall, I really enjoyed it and it was nice to get to experience another church here in our area. I hope that I get to return sometime in the future!! But, I do have my responsibilities at our church with the English Choir and also I'm going to be preaching this coming week.
After church, we returned to eat lunch and I played more Line up Four and Four Square with the kids until it was time for Kjirstin and I to leave for the prayer service with the other missionaries.
In other news from Tanzania:
Please pray for rain! There is supposed to be a short rainy season during the month of October which basically has not happened at all. Thus, people are very worried about the water shortages we might face if we don't get rain. Already, they are rationing the water and usually it's off all day and only on in the evenings (starting around maybe 5/6pm). It has been on all day today which kind of weirds me out a bit, but I'm very thankful for sure!
Also, please pray for Class IV. They will be starting their national exams tomorrow and these will determine whether or not they get to continue on to Class V. Like the Class VII exams, we will not be allowed to go to school or even enter the school compound while the tests are being administered.
I think that this is all for now! It's been quite a crazy weekend, but now I have a five day break, so I'm looking forward to getting much needed rest and also finishing my graduate school applications!!
May the Lord Bless You and Keep You,
~Christine
 |
| Me eating my ligit Tanzanian food in a ligit Tanzanian way (meaning, with my hands). Aka: beans, and ugali, a cooked veggie and a bit of meat. |
 |
| Playing "Line up Four" with the kids (yes, that's what the box says, not "Connect Four") |
 |
| Teaching the kids how to play four square!! |
 |
| Four Square! |
 |
| The choir at the Calvary Assemblies of God church that the kids attend with their "grandmother" |
No comments:
Post a Comment