Last Day in Dar

So we finally move up north tomorrow! Kate finished up her two years of service and left last night, it was a hard goodbye. It was hard for her to say goodbye to people that she had been forming very close relationships with over the past two years, and it was hard for us not to feel a little bit of jealousy that she was on her way home to spend Christmas with her family. Tomorrow morning we leave to go to Lushoto for a four day retreat that I think it much needed by everyone. We need a little processing time to soak in everything that has happened in the past two weeks and spend some time preparing for the next two years. After the retreat we finally will head up to Moshi, my new home! I am so anxious to see where I will be living and to meet Fr. Ballige, our in country support person. Not only is he a clinical psychologist, but his first name is Bonaventure! Meant to be! He is also very excited to meet us and has even asked how often would be too often to invite us over for dinner, so it will be great having someone in Moshi to help us out with things.

Our days here in Dar have been filled with meeting new people, making new friends, learning to cook Tanzania style, adjusting to the heat and trying desperately to learn Swahili. We have also made it to the beach three times, which has been amazing. The Indian ocean is absolutely beautiful. Its a killer commute, it takes us about two hours each way in the crazy crowded dalla dalla, but it was so worth it. My favorite beach was called Kipepeo Beach, which means butterfly beach. It was a little tropical paradise, the warmest water that I've ever swam in. For Kate's last night in Tanzania we went to the beach with a group of about twenty people. We spent all morning preparing for it, we peeled a 50 pound bag of potatoes and made a charcoal pit in our yard so we could fry a bucketful of chips and bananas. We spent the evening swimming and then sat around to eat all of our treats and drink sodas (they drink a lot of soda here, its a social thing that I'm still trying to get used to) and all stand up one by one to say our goodbyes to Kate. It was very touching and so much fun. It was a great group of people and I'm a little sad to be leaving them to go to Moshi, but hopeful that we will be able to make good friends up there as well.

Most exciting part of today thus far... the purchase of an Obama khanga! A khanga is a piece of cloth similar to a sari that all of the women here wear, some of you saw the one that I had at home. They have really beautiful patterns and sayings on them. This particular one has Obama's beautiful face in the middle of it and two pictures of Africa on either side of it. It is pretty fabulous. I'm hoping to be able to post a picture sometime soon.

Rumor has it that there is a convent in Lushoto that sells cheese and honey and berry jam, all rarities here in Tanzania that I am pretty excited about purchasing.

The other day there was a fire in the house next door to us. Nicholas walked into our living room and told us about it, and we all went outside to carry buckets of water over to help put it out. There were crowds of people watching all over the place, it was a big event but everyone was calm about it. When we handed the buckets to the men fighting the fire, they were more concerned about letting us know that they would return them to us then they were about taking them into the house. We watched as they carried a woman out who had passed out from the smoke. There had been a big party going on in the house and a few hours after the fire, the music was back on and they were back to celebrating. We spent a lot of time afterwards talking about how differently the sitation may have been handled in the States. Everyone acted so quickly and efficiently, and even though they experienced a considerable loss they continued on with the celebration of the day anyway. I would imagine that in the states it would have been a more chaotic event that absolutely would have ended the festivities of the day. People here are much more laid back about things. I've learned to appreciate "Tanzanian time," which means that everything occurs at least 20-30 minutes later than its actually scheduled to. It works out pretty well for me.

I miss you all and I hope you're enjoying the holiday season! We sat around singing Christmas carols last night and drinking peppermint hot cocoa, but its difficult to get in the Christmas spirit when its 90 degrees and there are palm trees everywhere. Next time I write I'll be able to tell you about my new home!