Guys. Seriously.. Thank you for all the encouraging words on the blog. It’s awesome that y’all are enjoying this, or at least pretending to. Either way, thanks and please know they certainly motivate me to continue writing.

That being said, sorry for not writing in a few days. I get sleepy and distracted. Deadly combination. Right and also been busy hiking to a waterfall.

Today is… Sunday Funday. For sure. We took a “nice walk” to a waterfall- of course I already forgot the name- but it was super tall and super beautiful ((I have such advanced vocabulary at 11 pm, don’t I?)). This “nice walk” that Ali suggestedturned out to be a 5 billion feet hike all uphill on crazy terrain, covered with rocks and mud and roots and chameleons. Clearly exaggerating a bit but in all honesty, it was SO beautiful and definitely worth the ‘walk’ (Thanks, Ali.) We had about 12 children and 2 older villagers accompany us, acting as “guides”..

I use that term loosely because I think they were just laughing at us folks struggling to reach our destination.

Ya. I know. You could fill fuel at least, like, 23 slip n slides with that bad boy. Naturally, a handfull of us got in. It was breathtaking in both aspects of the word; I went completely numb in about 5 seconds. Know that feeling when you’re so cold you can’t breath? That one. Then you look up, left, right.. all around you… and realize “I’m swimming around a waterfall in Africa.” How bout that? AWESOME and quite invigorating. I really can’t stress how incredible this whole adventure was.

I think we all swallowed about 10 gallons of water going under the fall… oops. Surely it’s clean.

As much as I want to go on and on about this adventure, no pictures or words will be able to depict how amazing the experience was.. except maybe getting mobbed/scammed by some hooligans in the village. But our brave leader Ali settled everything, no worries. So yes.. beautiful.

I need to find more synonyms for: amazing, beautiful, and incredible.

Until then I shall continue using them excessively.

Ok I admit, I may have a little bit of a terrible memory and struggle to remember things (I blame the concussions… humor me.), but I shall try to remember the other high points of this weekend.

Friday at Kili Kids was SO much fun.. and terribly exhausting, as well. The majority of the day was spent acting as human jungle gyms..

..as well as playing soccer and tag. These kids have got a LOT of energy. Us old folks? Not so much. Especially not after hours of weeding and re-locating rocks (it’s a lot more strenuous than it sounds!!). The children are wonderful as ever.

I’m still working on getting all their names down.. as terrible as that sounds.. but it’s difficult!! Hopefully I’ll learn them all by the end of next week.

SPEAKING OF NEXT WEEK, 4 or 5 of us are going to Zanzibar. Does this not make anyone else think of that song (you know the one, extremely inappropriate) “What’s your favorite dish? I won’t make it but I’ll order it from ZANZIBAR!”

Back to KiliKids. I believe our mamas are sending a care package soon (so wonderful) with outdoor games and maybe even Twister so we can try to incorporate more English and help them with their English lessons. I don’t think I’ve mentioned this, but in the lower grades, schools teach Swahilian. Then in the upper grades, they are taught in English. Does this not sound like there’s something wrong here? Oh right and apparently get kicked out of school… FOR GOOD… if they don’t pass the test at the end of each year. How are these children, who live in poverty and aren’t fortunate enough to attend an extremely posh school, supposed to succeed when they don’t even understand the language? I don’t get it. But it’s crazy even just through the games and hanging out that we’ve been doing this week how much they seem to pick up on or at least feel comfortable practicing… Hopefully we will have a profound impact on them in that realm. These kids all deserve a chance, and it’s so unfair, this system that the government has implemented. Moral of the story: be grateful for the opportunity you have to become educated, and take full advantage. (As I say amidst my scattered writing and run-on sentences.. oops.) Oh and also come to Tanzania if you want to teach English 😉

… I apologize for the rant/preach. Obviously I don’t live here nor do I know enough to comment on the subject. But from what I’ve seen, heard, and experienced… well, anyways.

Slight transition here: kids to partying.

Friday night we went to a bar called Glacier to celebrate Tadhg’s birthday. It was SO much fun!! Started a dance circle, of course… these people got moves. Most of us? Not so much. Actually I’m really just speaking for myself…. Kaitlin does the robot SUPER well. And Lorna can do a mean Irish dance (not sure what the proper term is for it but it’s AWESOME)… barefooted, of course. And I’m pretty great at being a child.

This bar had a lot of other volunteers/ some locals our age…it was pretty awesome. Made me feel like we were back in Athens. …Kind of. Except they really could use a William Ryder, Bruha, or Kenny Powers bartending but whatevs. Chocolate shots?

Gosh I’m going picture crazy, sorry.

Saturday we were all a bit… sleepy.. so we went to a delicious lunch at a place called Union in town. Pizza was fantastic. Afterwards, Chels, Ailsa, Frita and I visited the art market. It was SO awesome.. there were about 8 tentish things set up full of paintings, carvings, and other nick nacks. I traded a nice man my sunglasses for a picture (sunglasses complements of Bad Manor, thanks) and he asked if I could bring him back some trousers next time we visit in exchange for a large-sized painting? Well OF COURSE I can bring you some trousers, sir. I like the way you do business.

Shoot thought I had a pic of my paintings but I haven’t uploaded them yet.

If it gives you any indication of how exhausted we all were, *someone* looks at the clock last night and says, “Oh my gosh it’s already 8:30! I can totally go to bed!” And so it was.

Right then Sunday is today and I already explained that.

PAULO murdered a mouse. He is one of our night guards and also a Maasai warrior. (Seriously). And happens to be the happiest man alive. So here’s a play-by-play (please don’t read this if you love little mice or hate blood): Chels and I were sitting outside, enjoying our evening, said hello to him (Paulo, not the mouse) as he walked into the kitchen. We hear a ruckus coming from inside. As we stroll over to investigate, a little crittle scampers out, followed by Paulo (our hero) quick on his heels (do mice have heels?). Um basically then he stepped on him, picks him up by the tail- all the while, Chels and I are screaming like little girls (IT WAS VIOLENT AND THERE WAS MICE BLOOD), turns to us with a huge smile on his face, gives us a thumbs up and says “Mouse!” I wish I had a picture but actually I really don’t. So meanwhile, Mr. Mouse is still squirming so I asked Paulo to kill him so he wouldn’t suffer. Poor mouse. Don’t mess with a Maasai warrior. He’ll getchya.

Gross I don’t want to end my entry on that note soo here are a few more pictures 🙂