Moments I'm not likely to forget 3/1/08

There is just too much to tell and too little time, so I'm thinking a little list of moments from PC service will be an effective/entertaining (hopefully) way to tell people about how things are going. Questions welcome. Enjoy:

There are moments I'm not likely to forget, like when:
-I was invited over to a woman's house, only to find her cooking in the pitch black with a candle balanced on her head, while she nursed her baby. All at the same time! Multitasking is owned by women.
-I almost said "good ovening" to the cows that slept in one room of her house. I mean, everything looks the same in the pitch black!
-My students came to an extra class...all of them.
-My students actually handed in the homework
-My students did well on the homework
-We had a lab, they all showed up, followed directions, and asked questions...and hopefully learned something too
-I got lost hiking in the woods, and the path disappeared, and after 45min I stumbled into a lone house on the mountainside where the bibi (grandmother) welcomed me in, gave me a pineapple, and sent me on the way. She was like "Where did you come from?!?!"
-15 children accompanied me through town, all wanting to hold my hand. It was protection better than the secret service.
-I met The Oldest Woman In Tanzania (said to be 114 but prolly only 110-ish). Blind and bed ridden, she has a great sense of humor although, remembering who she's talking to?...not so much
-I got asked by my students if "flying solo" instead of having sex is ok. I mean....you got to do what you got to do....
-A mama came up to us with sun dried fish from the lake in a plastic back, pulled them out, and ordered us to eat them (which we did...like a candy bar....but not the eyes)
-I got a bike lifty (with my helmit on, Salome!) and watched a 7 year old with wood extensions on his feet to reach the petal drag at least 40 gallons of water up a hill. And then regretting every time in my life I have ever complained about doing a chore for my mother.
-I woke up with 39 bug bites on my face
-We ran into a herd of camels
-We got stuck in the middle of a lake in a boat that was leaking, and had to (shamefully) get toted back
-I was waiting for a dala and it took FOREVER (don't believe the locals when they say "right now", it means an hour and a half) and I ended up making the duka-owner sing "Missing my baby" while I played guitar.
-my new friend at the YMCA offered her one-year-old son to me in marriage (girl, I can't wait that long!)

That's it for now, more later! Peace

The fight against AIDS

So this week we spent at conference in Moshi to learn Aids education. I was pissed to miss school (not as angry as my students who had to take tests in my absence) but it ended up being a really educational, extremely motivating experience.

PEPFAR, our presidents emergency plan for aids relief, has a liason at PEACE CORPS to teach us about how to educate and get grants for teaching ect. So about 20 pcvs from the north and south got together, each bringing a tanzanian from their school. I brought Eva, my next door neighbor and an incredibly intelligent woman. She speaks like 5 languages and is always a good time to hang with. Point being, it wasn't as awkward as I thought it would be, and the whole week was a mix of cross-cultural exchanges and high school sex ed. We also got to know the girls who go to school/work at the YMCA here, where we had the conference. By the end of the week we were like "hey, there are about 40 young girls between the agest of 17 and 21, we should really teach them for practice" so we had two sessions and it was awesome. The first one was more lecture, but the second one we had group discussion in Kiswaenglish and they really opened up. Teaching sex ed is totally not as hard as I thought it would be, if you suck it up, and doing a condom demo is not nearly as uncomfortable as watching one (thank you sarah, I will hold your banana again any day). I feel totally motivated, and can't wait to go back to lomwe and spread the info there as well.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank american men. You are well informed, respectful (for the most part) and overall pretty responsible people. In experience, you always understand when a girl just says no, and that is pretty freaking awesome. so thanks for that. I would also like to thank all the R&B/Rap songs which mention female pleasure in their songs. Never thought I would be thankful for that, but if you come here you realize it is not even on a guys mind. So brag it up. And lastly, thank you R Kelly for your R&B opera "trapped in the closet". Its perfect for AIDs education as well as personal entertainment. Don't bust it until you try it. Hell, in 300 years, it could be like puccini.

Peace