Pretty Awesome Weekend

So the weeks here are tough. Learning swahili with a little bit of studying swahili and trying to speak as much swahili as possible mixed in. Oh yeah, and a little bit of swahili flash-card quizzes in the free time.

But the weekends.......that's when the week is redeemed (sp?)! Last weekend I went to this confirmation party for the daughter of my Baba's brother. We were there from like 12pm to 9pm, I kid you not, and it was full of music and dancing and food food food and a lot of trying to talk to others. They treated this little girl like she was queen for the day, and everyone was really decked out. It was so nice that hardly anyone took notice of the mzungu (white person) and instead focused all of their attention on her. Everyone in her family got up and spoke to here (about what, I have no clue) and was giving her gifts. It was great. The three beers my mama insisted I drink helped a lot as well, especially since they are about twice the volume and average 5.5% in alcohol. But I couldn't be rude, I was being culturally sensitive!!! I also got to talk to these teachers about the tanzanian education system and about how they like it when people come to tanzania to teach.

This weekend was also amazing. It was Eidi (sp?) the Islamic holiday to celebrate the end of Ramadan, so we had both saturday and sunday off from training. On saturday I went to my Mama's sister's house where we spent a really long time just hanging out with the fam, watching pretty bad tanzanian movies, and an american thriller called "prey" which takes place on the Serengeti I think. Then we watcher wrestle-mania, RAW, and I was horrified that this is what they think of when they think of america. I made a point of telling them it was bad american tv....The only downer of the day was this creepy relative who kept taking my picture, which happens sometimes when I'm walking down the street (thank you cell phone cameras) but had never happened so blatenly in someone's home. I never thought I would feel like a rock star in the peace corps...

Anyhoo, when we got home from lunch around 4:30pm I was playing guitar in the living room and these neighborhood kids wandered in and I ended up playing a little joni mitchell for them and trying to teach them guitar. Another good reason to bring a travel guitar, its kid sized! Then I got them to teach me the tanzanian/african anthem and we were singing it. It was awesome. I also got my sis to take all of our pictures, and they loved seeing the digital image. The children here are the saving grace of the nation and the most obedient you will find. It was the best day. That night I went with my fam to a restaurant, where we got a big plate of pork and some cooked bananas. mmmmmmmm.

So today? Internet and cleaning, and, oh yeah, a little swahili.