Tanzania Adventure in Missions: New Things and Challenges

Well, today I learned how to play a new game!! Net Ball!! This afternoon, after a nice nap, I went to the Morogoro International School to run and I had been told that a volleyball team met at 5pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays to practice, so I was hoping to make some new connections through that. However, after running, I got the the volleyball court just before 5pm and no one was there. So, I waited for a little while, but no one showed up. So, I decided to do 6 more laps around the soccer field and head back. I was kind of bummed. But, as I was passing the school on my way back to the house, some of the students called out my name from the field "Madam Christina! Madam Christina! Come play with us!" So, I went over to see what they were doing. I found out that these girls get together every Tuesday and Thursday in the evening to play Net Ball at the school and they asked me to join them. It was SO much fun!! I made some mistakes, but it was really cool learning how to play! The goal is to throw the ball to your team mates across a court all the way up to a goal where someone shoots. But, because they only had half a court, my team just had to make 10 passes in a row to get a goal. It may sound easy, but it was not. In the end the score was tied and we all went home very happy! YAY!!

School is going well. My classes 6 & 7 are WONDERFUL!! I've really got a rhythm going with them and I feel like they are making good progress. In contrast, class 5 is digressing at an alarming rate. Today, I was grading their work from Friday and Monday and I was horrified at what I was seeing. After grading three students' books, I was ready to throw in the towel and just not even look at the others. Almost none of the students completed any of the homework that I had assigned and the grammar was appalling. I will have to re-teach the concepts again more slowly I guess and hope and pray that the students gain some form of understanding. *sigh*

Also, much to my dismay, I have discovered that there are HUGE cockroaches in Tanzania, just like at home. This morning I was cleaning up my room and out of the corner of my eye I caught something crawl under the bed. I knew what it was immediately and I ran for the shoe. The vile creature made its way across the room, but I was not able to get it before breakfast. But, after breakfast I found the huge nasty thing feigning death next to the fridge (I guess it could feel my hatred and desire for its death from the other room). I took my chance and pounded it with the shoe and then threw it in the toilet. Unfortunately, the water is off again, so I couldn't flush it away...*sigh*...at least it's dead... :'(
What makes is so incredibly ridiculous is that I'm more terrified of that cockroach than I am of the swarm of bugs that dive-bombed me while I was showering last week.

In general, I'm doing well personally. I'm trying desperately to catch up on sleep because I missed out on so much the first week. I didn't sleep except for maybe an hour during my 24-hour travel here and I only got about 2 hours of sleep the first night here (because of the time change, not for lack of exhaustion) and I learned the first week that jet lag is a beast. The heat, of course, doesn't help and even just sitting around in it in the afternoons is wearing on the body. There's no air conditioning and the water doesn't always work (meaning some days it's only on for a few hours), but I don't have problems with that. So far, I rejoice at any new interaction that I get to have with others because it means that I'm beginning to formulate real connections here. I've finally gotten in contact with other American missionaries that Matt told me about and I will be joining the for Ultimate Frisbee some Saturday. (Not this Saturday because I will be going to the Rock Garden with the family because we didn't go last weekend due to the funeral). I'm figuring out things slowly, reading a lot (I've finished almost 4 books since leaving the states) and I've nearly filled up 1/5 of my journal that is actually bigger than most journals (I'm wishing I had brought more than just 2 now).

Well, for now, I'm going to leave you with some pictures I took of students at the school:

Class 7 working hard!!