It's Been A Long Time

I've been realizing recently that I have in fact been in Africa for a long time. When I left the Giants had just won the Superbowl, Republicans other than John McCain were trying to be the next President, and the east coast was just about to be hit by February snow storms. Now, though I am a little behind on news, I hear that the sun is coming out from time to time. As for me, I have filled 9 gigabytes of memory cards with pictures, and we wont even get into how much film I have used, acquired an awesome farmer tan, learned a smattering of Kiswahili, and fallen in love with about 120 Tanzanian children.

I have also learned several important things since I've been here as well:

1. The three most important things for teaching in Tanzania are a red pen, stickers, and the ability to know when it is and when it is not a good idea to let kids make mistakes.

2: Australians are pretty cool people.

3: Applying for financial aid from a third world country is really really hard.

4. Digital cameras are not meant to be taken apart by a small pocket knife.

5. My level of skill in soccer is exactly the same as that of the average third grade student in Tanzania.

6. Most Swahili words are really fun to say, for example, duka la dawa is way more fun to say than pharmacy, and Kuku may be the best word for a chicken in the entire world.

7. Going on safari, something I originally hadn't thought much about doing, turned out to be about the best thing I have ever done in my life and I cannot express just how much I think everyone should try to do it.

8. Several skills that everyone should have in life include; a good knowledge of playing card games, basic camera composition, and the ability to say a proper good bye.

9. Africa is much more like home than you would think. You find all types here, and once you get past your initial culture shock it turns out to be more familiar than you would have imagined.

That last one, for those of you who are wondering, is a picture of Andrea asleep on my lap at the Kili Kids Orphanage.