This is long so bookmark this puppy...Since Mtwara..LOTS

Mtwara continued
So Mtwara…so Heidi pumped me full of no bake cheesecake, booze, and packaged noodle meals and I was in seventh heaven. We took a trip to Lindi to visit Mitch and Sean and we had a grand old time.We managed to score a ride with some South African expats who were on their way to Zanzibar. They took us to breakfast and paid for us. Then they boarded a plane to Dar and their driver took us all the way back to Lindi. Sweet. Only an hour and a half. Sweet. Lindi was pretty kickass. Some of Heidi's British beekeeper friends met up with us in Lindi as well as Andy Long, another PCV in the area. Mitch and Sean live in massive houses. Somehow Sean was able to get his school to refurbish his house to the max. He has a wire fence all around the house. Really safi sana. He has a dog named Hilton who has his own room to crap in. Gross. Mitch has two dogs named Cope n Hagen but they suddenly died and he is convinced someone poisoned them. Mitch has a habit of making enemies. Mitch has lots of time on his hands so he makes craploads of mango wine. We drank our full of it as well as the beekeepers homemade brew of honey beer and then set sail for dinner. Lindi has this fabulous bus stand that at night turns into this food fest. I bought baby lobsters and fresh fish while everyone else got chipsi mayai (eggs, and potatoes). My seafood kicked arss. Then we went to Santorini which is a beach that has tables set along the water and you just drink your hearts content. Heidi and I came fully prepared and had our bathing suits and spent the rest of the night drinking beers while swimming in the ocean. I was convinced I saw phosphorescence. But she claims I was wrong. Mitch's wanker German expat Doctor friend came to join us, but since he was a wanker I stayed in the water. The boys came in and out of the water throughout the night and we eventually we ended up looking like beached whales when the tide was low. We finally left and tried to argue (or Mitch argued) with the taxi drivers about getting all seven of us into one taxi. The taxi driver even said 2, 000 and Mitch argued and told him "NO 4, 000"…drunken Mitch. So we caught a lifty instead from one of Mitch's neighbors. We were all running and we had to jump in the pickup and one of the beekeepers managed to jump in and bounce out of the pickup. I laughed hysterically needless to say. We went back, chatted some more and slept. All in all a pleasant time in Lindi. Then Heidi, Andy, and I headed back to Mtwara on public transport. We had yet again another hideous bus ride, standing most of the way for many an hour. That night Heidi invited her Babu over and we cooked and ate our hearts content. Andy donned the Easter bunny ears and kept me entertained. The next day we futzed around, bought a turkey for Thanksgiving, and chilled at the beach. We then came back to Heidi's house to find three more arrivals of PCV's from Singida. We cooked, ate, and drank and laughed tons. We cooked a garlic herb turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, cranberry, beignets, and pumpkin roll with cream cheez frosting (the kind that Natalie's dad used to make when she had b-day parties). I was in charge of the turkey of course and it was succulent as well. Too bad I forgot that I was rubbing Garlic Salt and not just Garlic herbs into the bird. The Bird was damn succulent but damn salty. Oh well. Heidi's neighbors stopped by as we cooked and made puzzles. At one point I wrapped Jimmy's head in white butcher paper and made him look like a giant jeanie/Osama Bin Laden while Andy wore the bunny ears. Bless these boys, they do anything we ask. Then Denise and Rich finally arrived that Easter night from their hideous 3 day trip on bus to Mtwara. We ate, laughed and I said my farewells that night since I was gonna be heading to Dar the next day to see Alicia. The next morning I embarked on my 14 hour journey to Dar. It was a hideous bus ride. The big guy next to me was basically pressing me against the window. My head hit the window so hard. It was a pain.

Dar es Salaam
Finally in Dar, I attempted to find a taxi to take me to the American Club to see Alicia. The taxi driver had no clue and ended up taking me to the US Embassy. The security guard was checking all underneath the car and all for bombs and took my name to report somewhere. Great here I was travelling illegally for two weeks and I finally get busted by this. Luckily nothing happened and we stopped at every embassy to inquire how to get to the American Club. Finally I reached when everyone was leaving. I went back and stayed with Alicia at the PCVL (PC Volunteer Leaders) House. They were harbouring me illegally.The next day we futzed around Dar and eventually just made it back to the American Club to eat brownie sundaes, cheeseburgers, watch movies, and swim.That place is amazing. We meant to go see eth Passion of Christ but never made it. Oh well. Someday, someday. Heidi and the rest of the Mtwara crew headed back to Dar but their bus took 48 hours!! Then they got busted in Dar by PC and are all on probation. Next strike for travelling illegally and they go home.

Songea
I then made way to Songea the next day and headed straight to Babu John's. They had food all waiting for me and we chatted. John had had enough of my dog Mila and said he could not stay there again. Oh well. Such is life. We then made way to Namabengo. It was pretty funny considering that our dala dala was packed to the max and the police officer from our village (who resembles Baloo from jungle book/tail spin) knocked out the window with his arss. Nice.

Back home in Namabengo
The next day was our staff meeting and I was horrified to learn that none of the Form II's from last year failed in Biology. Clearly, Mr Benjamin is a good teacher and they do not need me as a teacher at the school. I felt all out of sorts and felt like I had big shoes to fill. I am almost certain I will have some kids fail in Biology this year. So thus began me feeling like "Why Am I here"?? I then spent 4 weeks straight at my site. Melanie, VSO from Songea, and Agnes, a girl from Minnesota doing a 3 month work stint at a TZ dentist's office, came to visit me one weekend. It was nice. We cooked, ate, went hiking, and chilled. I Was also Teacher On Duty (TOD) for one week. The TOD is responsible for everything for that week. Roll call, enough food for students, discipline, medical, etc…it was a stressful week but I enjoyed being IN CHARGE. The students know that I do not know most of their names or faces so I am sure they took advantage of that. I did reversal of work roles and made the boys fetch water and mop the floors and let the girls cut the wood and grass. This was pretty funny. Needless to say I had to switch it back to normal for the water and wood. The girls were just too slow and they need lots of food for the kitchen or the kids were not gonna be able to eat. I could not live with that burden. A new teacher, Mr. Micao helped me a lot which was really nice.One week I let the girls braid my hair and let them look at all of my pictures. I told them they could not take any but lo and behold somehow took this fabulous picture of Amy and I (the first picture in my book). I was livid and the girls braiding my hair helped me track down the culprit. The girl denied it and I realized she was hiding it in her wrap around skirt.I quickly yanked off her skirt and one of my students and her got into a fight. It was pretty crazy and ME the teacher just watched. I got my pictures back and walked out. I could not believe what had just happened. During these 4 long weeks I went through so many emotions…Am I needed here? Do they only see me as money? What kind of difference am I making?So then my two closest groups of friends (the sisters and the daughter of Mamma Fat)all asked me for money. The daughter of Mamma Fat asked me for money so she could go on vacation. The nerve. I went about answering her in a round about way. The nuns really needed the money and how could I deny them when all they do is take care of me and pump me full of maandazi and give me rocks to scrub my feet. Then the man whose two daughters I pay to go to school told me I needed to pay last years bill that he failed to pay. I told him no. Last Year was not part of the plan. Then the headmaster and I were talking and he was bringing up all of the things the school needed and I asked how he thought he was gonna get all the money to do these things and he of course looked at me and said "I KNOW SOMEHOW SOMEONE WILL HELP TO GIVE US THE MONEY"…So you can see why I was wondering if I am just the mzungu with money to the people in my village. I started to feel if only I lived in a straw hut in the Samoan islands then I would be more of a "True Volunteer".So then I went to Songea for a weekend after a long 4 weeks. Still no email. Spent the night at Melanie's one night and cooked a big meal for the other volunteers in the area. Mark, PCV, finally said "You know even if you lived in a straw hut, you would still be the rich Mzungu"…so those words helped me. He said he was gonna everything he had to help his students perform well on their national exam. At the end of the day, he did give up his family and friends in America so we are by no means "living a cushy life" here. Talking it out was good. Neil and Caroline and I started to talk about "Fame" and Leroy and I thought about my sisters and I were so obsessed with Fame. The next day I headed back to Namabengo and began my two week countdown until In Service Training and my two week holiday. That Sunday, May 16th is the International AIDS Candlelight Vigil. My health club and I had organized an event. We had ukimwi (AIDS) buttons made for everyone and signs all around the school. My students put on plays, sang songs, did dances, etc. One of the teachers gave a speech, and I had given every student a candle to light. We then had a moment of silence and did a candlelight march around the school grounds. It was truly amazing. All the male teachers came out to support me. They all thanked me for bringing this special day to everyone's attention. It was really special. On May 16th, 2004, I finally felt like I gave something back. The next day I helped my students finish the ghetto volleyball net we had been working on and thus volleyball has become the new loved sport at my school amongst the students and teachers. This too helped me feel good. I even taught my littler baby next door Bitware how to play. I get a little competive with volleyball and have to tell myself "Vicki, just let them have fun…chill out". Our school football and netball teams took a trip to our headmasters old school to play some matches.The school had scrounged the money to have a dala dala and an open backed pick up haul about 60 of us to Nahimba. It was pure chaos to watch the pick up. The kids were all scrambling inside and it was overflowing. The truck attempted to drive and it looked like it was gonna tip over much to my horror. We finally kicked out some kids. I was the DJ in the dala dala and played Mr Nice for my kids. Good times. So net ball is like basketball but no dribbling. Our girls totally kicked Nahimba's ass. Every time there was a goal the kids all stormed the court. A beautiful site. A tradition that America should take up…way cooler than cheerleaders. Our boys not so well. The best was when each school had "March Offs" and the kids from each school would circle the field singing, doing bootay dances, and eating large stalks of sugar cane. Have you ever eaten fresh sugar cane. It is so yummy and refreshing. The teachers got some chicken (kuku) and ugali for dinner and we made the long trek back to school. Anna, my fellow single female teacher, and I made plans to check out the Namabengo village disco that Sunday. We never made it, but someday, someday I will go.

I stumbled upon a lovely village family that was good friends with Tom, the PCV oobervolunteer who lived in Namabengo before. They were really great and tried to teach me the art of eating sugar cane no knife. I promised to visit them every night, but have not yet.School was winding down and I trucked on with my participatory methods of teaching. One day I was teaching my Form II's about Food preservation and passed around a jar of jam. I saw them all sticking their fingers in it. Poor kids they would do anything for sugar. I finally had enough when I saw my 4 foot tall Health Club President stick his pen in my jar. I took the jar and asked him "Do you like jam" and he said "Yeah' so I proceeded to put the jam into a paper and then smear it all over his little head and hair. It was pretty funny and he is a buddy of mine so he did not get upset. If I tried that in America I would have been sued. That is the beauty of teaching in the third world. You have full reign. I then was teaching my Form III's about substance abuse. I wrote various scenarios for them and one was how a kids mom gave him money to buy vegetables to eat and how he used the money to buy cigarettes instead. When he started to suffer from Night Blindness since he had no Vitamin A in his diet his mother then realized that he was not using the money to buy vegetables. She stopped giving him money. He then was addicted to cigarettes and stole money from his friends. His friends then caught him and beat him to death. By the way when some is a thief, they beat them to death in this country. So yeah, my students had fun with performing a skit to that scenario.These are the Vicki teaching methods. Say what you want about them, but it was a realistic scenario although it sounds rather far fetched to the Western eye.

Did I mention that I have become a sex ed teacher in Kiswahili. Pretty ironic to say the least. My health club is full of questions and I explain to them how both guys and girls can masturbate and what have you. They inform me that 2/3 of our students are having sex. Geez. They did a school wide pregnancy test and one girl was pregnant. She went and had an abortion and came back. But abortion is illegal and they let her back. Yet they will kick someone out for good who keeps the baby. The boys get off scot free while the girl who busted her arss for 4 years and is about to take the national exam gets pregnant and is not able to take the exam and 4 years go down the drain.I don't know. This system is confusing and sad. We Westerners really do have the world in our hands and don't appreciate it or know it. These kids might sell their bodies so they can finish school only to get pregnant and never have another chance. Scholarships?Loans? Family members who can help? These factors do not play into their lives. Their parents are farmers and only have enough for their family to eat.What do they do?How do I play into their lives?? To be the rich Mzungu with a dog who eats better than most of the humans in my village. Wow.

One day my counterpart walked into my health club meeting and told me that I needed to take the kids to Kilimanjaro. I went off on him later and asked him where he thought I was gonna pull that money from "My arss"?. He knew had no business and apologized. He got the kids all excited about a trip so I think I might make a trip to a safari park with them. Have to figure out the funds to do this though. I might need some help from you all in that case.
My dog continues to be precious and well loved by all especially my little babies next door. I love my kids. They wash my clothes, ask me for candy, look at my pictures a million times, and make biological field trips to the river for me to gather specimens (freakin elodea is not easy to find).

I continue to be close with the nuns and relish my friendship with them. They are like sisters to me. I am so thankful to have them. My teachers are all in all pretty cool and quite humorous when I can understand them. I have been over to several houses for dinner but have yet to have someone over since my house is always a mess.

My students are pretty awesome and truly angels. Poor kids…English. Why!!!! DAY BY DAY. They know me really well and even know things I am gonna say before I say them. I think my class for them is really just play time and I am okay with that. I truly have to master Biology more. Anyone have Biology for dummies?? Send it my way. I do think teaching is my calling, but I really need mastery of the subject. But they say that if you can teach something then you really know it. So I guess I know it.

So these poor kids and their food. They eat ugali (stiff porridge) and means. No oil or anything else is added but water. One day I ate with them and ate their food and realized how crap their food really is.I then saw a girl with a bag of sugar and asked her what she was gonna do with that sugar. She then stuck her face in it and ate the sugar plain. Poor kids they would do anything for flavor. No wonder they ate my jam, They eat pure shiot.. The food they make us teachers is with oil and onion and more quality ugali.I dig the food they give us.

So I tried to introduce movie night to my kids and was gonna watch some Health videos, but none of them worked. So we resorted to watching cartoons and a really racey Biblical version of "Samson and Delilah"..Arlington would have had a fit!

So the Wednesday before the weekend I was gonna head out to IST, Charles, pcv, showed up at my house late at night. I immediately asked "What happened with my family?". He told me that my family that been trying to get hold of me for a long time and could not. They then contacted Peace Corps headquarters in DC and then DC contacted TZ. PC TZ then harassed Charles to come and find me since I cannot be reached in Namabengo. I of course wondered what could have happened for this to be so urgent. I immediately thought horrible thoughts about what could have happened to mom and had a horrible many hours until I could head to Songea to make the call. I taught my classes that day and left Namabengo packed in case I was not returning for a long time. I said my goodbyes and gave my students a cryptic answer as to where I am going. All I could say was "I don't know". I then headed to Songea and called India. I talked with mom and all was fine. I swear, it was pure agony up until that point. Mom and my sisters simply wanted to talk with me. Geez. Don’t ever do that to me again!!!!

So that night I went to dinner with Melanie and stayed at Babu's. The next day just chilled and spent the night at Melanie's and had a girl night. We did face and foot masks, painted our nails, etc. Really nice. I wanted to groom myself since I was about to see all my PC crew in Morogoro for IST and then a wedding in Zanzibar. The next morning we made sausage, banana fritters, and French toast. That night at Babu's we made shepherd's pie, homemade custard trifle, and peanut butter fudge oatmeal cookies…I swear all I eat is ugali and beans in my village and then come to Songea and eat like a queen!!Tough Life I know. Babu's houseboys cleaned my clothes and shoes for me…bless them. Then the next am, one of his houseboys walked me all the way to the bus stop and I headed on a 10 hour trip to Morogorro.

IST
I stayed with Avi and met up with some PC people for beers and food. The next morning we made gorgeous breakfast burritos with chapattis, cheese from Njombe, Sausage from Songea, and what have you. Amarula and Kahlua in our Nescafe instant coffee…freaking posh. That night we met wit hall of our PC crew for IST. We were all staying in the Tanesco (Electricity utility company) compound for a week. They had a dining hall with kickass food, tennis, volleyball, and basketball courts, a track, a bar, and a roof for us to have infamous parties. That night we had Peace Corps prom. All the people were supposed to be wearing 80's and gaudy gear. The boys looked tacky and the girls looked good. I looked like "Elvira/Mrs. Munster/Mrs. Adams" in a lacey, black plunged neck number cut short of course. It was great to see everyone and dance, eat, and laugh, Dan, Dave, and I were reunited but not really the same since Dave is now dating Lauren and dating always changes friendships with other people. We had a bus bring us back to Tanesco and Me and a few PC's headed to the roof to continue the party. The girls were all cold so Rich opened up his backpack and gave out all of his clothes. Pete eventually took the shirt off his back and gave I to someone. I had nothing so Pete gave me his pants. I of course put them on and walked back to my room to sleep. Anyone else who came to the roof that night found poor Pete in his boxers. Bless him. The next day we began all of our PC sessions. Blah, blah. Afterwards we all hit the athletic fields and attempted to do sporty things. At night we would do dinner and then hit the roof. Peter started to bring crates of beer to the roof and we had fun times laughing and talking. I had taught Andy and Heidi the R-MWC "Beaver Song" back in Mtwara and now it has become our PC "Theme Song". Nice. Throughout the night Andy would just scream out "Beaver 1, Beaver 2". We had stimulating conversations about if Altoids do really work and about shiotting in general. I thought going to a woman's college we talked about crap a lot, but it no way compares to the PC. We have a new take on it with pit choos and all. Finally since we dropped several bottles from the roof, we decided to abstain from large parties on the roof. I was in such a state after not getting a whole lot of sleep and with my liver swimming in Konyagi that I did some stupid things 1) Alicia and I were "Pssss" some of my friends to get their attention and did not notice the Tanzanian standing there. He thought we were "Psssing" him. A few minutes later he came to our room pounding on our door wanting to talk with us. Yikes!! I finally shewed him away telling him that I had been Pssss the white people not him. 2) We have two African Americans in our crew, Sean and Charles. One morning, I was walking to the bathroom and saw a black male and waved. I thought it was Sean. He waved back and I asked Sean". He shook his head no and I was in such a state that I screamed, wrapped my hands around my eyes,and ran away. I know I am a freak dog. 3) One day after leaving the toilet, I went into my room and started to undress. I shut the curtains and tried to open my closet door. The door was locked. I was so angry. Did the maids lock my closet door. I started to pull on it and nearly broke the door. I then tried to use my key and opened to the closet to only find Heidi's 12 kg box of goodies that she dragged to Morogorro for all of us to eat. I started to laugh because I realized that I was in the wrong room. Heidi's hears my chuckle from outside and is wondering what I am doing in her room. She finds me in her room partially undressed. How funny.Those were my moments of deliriousness.
The final night in Morogorro, we all watched a slide show Avi made of our last 9 months in country (illegal travel and all). Afterwards, we all headed to where we had PC Prom and had pizza or in my case a bottle of Konyagi. Dan, Jimmy and I all had one bottle each of Konyagi and were hysterical. The whole crew was hysterical. The place Dragonairre's had karaoke but only the Beegee's and Abba. Andy sang "Dancing Queen" and managed to incorporate
Beaver 1.." into it. We were all a site. Good times, good times. All in all, IST was a blast but a weird time too. We all had 3 months to get used to each other back in Arusha and now we only had 1 week to do it all over again. Relationships have changed, people have changed, blah, blah. Some people who were lonely at their sites came to IST expecting to find all the answers. Some did and some didn't. Some might be going home. Glory came back. She was med-evaced to America after watching her students and teachers beat a thief to death. This was quite traumatic and she went home and is now back at a new school and stronger than before. I am glad to have her back. Alicia is at a new site in Tang and I think she will be happier there. She misses our Songea crew though. But it was good to talk and know that everyone else is going through what you are going through. We all feel like people want money. Andy put it best when he said "What would you do if a bunch of rich aliens invaded your country" I would say "Nipe (give me) Flying Saucer" ….that was the most profound thing I heard. That statement has given me a new perspective on life here.

Dar
The next day most of us embarked on a journey to Dar Es Salaam. Ryan and Joe had to go back to Mwanza. We ate lunch at Subway and said our goodbyes which was sad. Since I am not gonna be at Mid Service Conference because I will be in the USA, I will not see them probably until we are done in a year and a half. I will try to make a trip before to see them. After Subway hit the American Club and talked and laughed. Then saw Starsky and Hutch at the movie theatre. The Theater in Dar is nicer than most American movie theatres. The next day looked for French pastries for b-fats to no avail and went to a South African fast food chain place called "Steers"…bizarre. I ordered a latte and eggs.

Zanzibar bound
Then our scuba diving Zanzibar bound crew set said on a five hour slow boat to gorgeous Zanzibar. John and Emily, two of our PCV's, fell in love and were getting married in Zanzibar, Peace Corps Wedding!!!! None of us wanted to miss the joining of these two especially since we all saw them fall in love. So we had two groups of scuba divers, different companies. Charlie and Meredith, PCV's who live on Zbar, were our lovely guides and took us to their places. My scuba crew stayed with Charlie at his house along with 4 other people. That night we went to the gardens which was like the Bus stand in Lindi w\ millions more kinds of seafood. I ate barracuda, conch, lobster…Drank some sugar cane and lime juice. Nectar of the Gods. The next morning Charlie was so sweet to make us all pancakes. We then headed out for our first scuba lesson. Still exhausted from the week before, we were pretty sluggish. We grabbed Chinese for lunch and swam in the pool with all of our equipment. I think the instructor thought I was eth weakest link since I had a hard time snot rocketing the water out of my goggles. Sufi was our instructor and a lovely Zanzibari at that. He finally switched my goggles to a smaller size and I never had a problem again. That night we all met up at Meredith's house to cook dinner. She had to grab more people from the port so everyone but Dan, Denise, and I went to Charlie's to chill. Us three went to the beach at Meredith's and watched the sun go down. Amazing. Some old dude started to play the harmonica for us. Some more of our crew showed up and we tried to wade through high tide to make it back to Meredith's. It was rather creepy, walking in the dark, with warm water up to our thighs, but yet with bits of phosphorescence in it. I held on to Dan the whole time. Bless him. More people had invaded Meredith's house and we ate fresh fish and what have you. The crew for Charlie's house headed back and we hit the sack since the next day was gonna be tiring as well. We had to take quizzes, watch videos, and go into the pool again. Denise was feeling really ill and couldn't dive anymore.I still felt like the weakest link in our crew. Oh Well. That night was the Boys Bachelor Party and the Girls Night Out (Without the Bride since she had family responsibilities). I went home with Denise to change. I too felt really ill. I left Denise and met the girls at Mercury's for dinner (named after Freddie Mercury who was born in Zanzibar. According to Sandy, he is Iranian). I could not eat a thing but enjoyed our girly conversation of top 5 lists in our PC crew. The Boys meanwhile had played video games all day, followed, by dinner and drinks. We were all going to meet up at the end of the night at a place we had to ourselves.The girls were all exhausted and did a bar crawl only not to drink at any. We hit the Sweet Easy which is like a major Wazungu tourist hangout. We scrubby PC people all wondered how these tourist backpackers could look so damn good!When I was a backpacker I never looked that good. We ended up at the Dharma Lounge and awaited our guys and the groom to arrive. Suddenly with the arrival of the boys, we all started to drink and had a merry time. Since I was diving, I could not have to much. Zanzibar is a really awesome place. The little streets are filled with vendors selling batiks and all, little streets like Spain, gorgeous people, scenic views, lovely music, awesome beaches, plenty of things to do…I highly recommend Zanzibar. I cannot believe PC put me in a country where paradise is so easily accessible.So then the next we all set sail, but Denise, to do our ocean diving. Really nervous but really excited. Matt ended up not being able to pressurize and bleeding from his nose. Alicia had a hard time too and nearly cried. I was the only one who was okay and somehow was no longer the weakest link but like me being the Billy Goat in Skye and Old Rag, I became a fish in the water. Too bad I had a hard time with buoyancy and kept on crashing into the beautiful aquatic life when I was adjusting my mask or looking for my scuba buddy. We were based on a gorgeous boat with a rooftop deck and we relished every moment. I saw so many little creatures and was seriously reminded of Finding Nemo.Afterwards we headed back to Zanzibar and take our exams and all. We then hired out a dala dala to take us all the way to Matemwe for the wedding festivities to begin. Matemwe was amazing and set off far away from the touristy part of Zanzibar. Emily's parents were able to come over and paid for all of us to eat all meals (50 total) and half of us to stay at the bungalows there while the remaining crew stayed at beach houses further away. Absolutely amazing.
Wedding craziness…Tanzanian style
The opening ceremonies started with John carrying a pack of goats to the door of Emily's parents room with all of us following carrying torches and lanterns. Emily's Dad opened the door in a Massai outfit and John offered him the goats for one of his daughters hand in marriage. So the dad brought out everyone but Emily and John declined. Finally the dad brought out Emily and John said "That is the one, that is the one I want to be with". The dad then said "But she is worth a cow and goats". So John surprised him with an actual cow as a gift from the villagers. We all chanted in the darkness "Ngombe, ngombe, ngombe " (cow, cow, cow). John and Dad signed receipts for this business transaction and we all cheered. How great! We then ate like fiends and headed to the beach for a 90210 like bon-fire. The place had a huge pit and surrounding it were rope long chairs arranged in a circle. Emily's mom had brought all the fixins for smores and there was an open bar so we were in 7th heaven. Good times, good times. That day Emily's sister had thrown her a shower and a Zanzibari woman had h\done henna/mehndi for all the girls and taught them a dance. They did toilet paper bride and ran into the ocean afterwards to rinse away the toilet paper.Slept like a babay that night. The next am it was just Alicia and I heading to diving since everyone else was sick in our group. It started to drizzle, which does not happened and the waves were very rocky. Our first dive was a disaster. I finally got a hang of the buoyancy thing and eth instructor let all the air our of my jacket when I was not ready. I went crashing down upon some Fire Coral or "Stinging Sea Fern". My leg was on fire for the rest of the day. I still have scars. Alicia could not pressurize and cried in pain. The Swedish girl got motion sickness. A disaster. Our last dive into a sunken ship rocked out and we had a blast. Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous. The Danish guy's meter was incorrect and he ran out of air so we had to do an emergency ascent and we set back. We are now PADI certified. Boy was I tired.Alicia and I were biting our nails hoping that we would make it back to Matemwe in time for the wedding. We got there in time but no time to change. We wore our bathing suits and kangas to PC Wedding while everyone else looked safi in flowing dresses and what have you. They had the whole village on one side playing the drums. Then cushions for seats set on each side of the banana leaf archway. Charlie, the best man, was wearing a Punjabi. John rode in on a donkey and waited. Then we saw Emily being carried like a Goddess on a board by 4 Zanzibari men and with women chanting behind tossing flowers.She looked amazing with little shells in her hair. The men set the board down and Emily walked down the aisle and her and John were joined. It was so beautiful.Hard to say, but the most beautiful wedding I have ever seen in my life. She also had a massive henna tattoo on her back and hands which looked great. We all joined them in a champagne toast and I ended up almost choking on a sambusa (samosa). Sean nearly did the Heimlich on me and I stopped him.I felt so bad. I had to walk away and make myself vomit in order to breathe properly. Charlie, the best man, came over and took care of me. Bless him.He had enough stuff to worry about. Then some people brought me water as Charlie tried to brush my hair back. Then a coconut fell out of a tree and almost killed me. I am really cool 1)Stinging sea fern, 2)Sambusa, 3)Coconut. I was okay and went back to my room to change. Heidi then runs up to my room with her face all flustered. Since she is the snackmaster she had gobbled up some special brownies that the boys in the houses had made unaware that they were special. They thought she knew. So needless to say Heidi kept me entertained the whole wedding night with her giggles and rosy face.We all hit the wedding dinner frenzy and ate, then danced. The band was like a Tanzanian Polka-Band. For real. They even played "How much is that Doggy in the Window"…I barked of course. Open bar, dancing, laughing, picking up Kurt and Marigny and putting them on shoulders since it was their birthday, good times. During the bands break we managed to put good music in and Heidi played all of my songs for me "Living on a Prayer","Every Little Thing She Does is Magic", "Devil Goes Down to Georgia","Brown Eyed Girl". At one point we were shooting water guns, tossing water bottles around like it was Spring Break Daytona…craziness. It was a gorgeous night. Emily and John said their farewell and we well continued to party on the beach and what have you. The next day we all had a lovely breakfast and received the softest rolls of toilet tissue as our parting gifts. Awesome.

Back to Dar
I then headed back on the seriously bumpy fast boat to Dar with many others. Even my stomach of steel was having a hard time. Poor Glory puked her brains out and I held her head back and chucked the puke bag into the Indian Ocean.That night we had dinner, played pool and retired. We had three girls in our room when it was only a double. The night watchman knew and came to tell us we were in trouble. I hid in the closet. We then called over to Kurt, Kevin, and Andy's to see if we could go there instead. They said no because they had a drunken mad man outside their door who might attack anyone who came. The hotel threatened to call the police if we did not get another room. So I did and left at the buttcrack of dawn for Songea the next am.

Back in Songea
Mel and John had pancakes and beer waiting for me when I came back. The next day I chilled here and met a woman in town told me that my neighbor died two days before. I did not believe here and assumed she meant the mother of my neighbor.

Sadness in Namabengo
I came home that night to find my neighbors house empty. The student who was living in my house when I was away informed me that my neighbor Mamma Mwakalago, the mother of my babies and friend of mine, had died because her lungs collapsed. I lost my shiot and could not believe it. I was so gutted and felt so alone. My babies were not coming back either. They are gonna stay with their grandparents while their father returns to Namabengo. I think they should come with him and I can help take care of them with their house girl. She did all the work anyways. I would do anything to see those babies again. I now know what motherly love is like. So now I have spent one lonesome week in Namabengo wishing I could hear my babies voices again. My dog Mila became independent when I was away for two weeks and now roams everywhere and sometimes I find him in the girls hostel.

School ended the first week in June when I was at IST. Then Form II and Form IV’s had to stay an extra 3 weeks for extra teaching. So now I ma back teaching 8 hours a week. My counterpart had graded most of my exams for which I am eternally grateful, although I have a feeling his method and answers might be different than mine. Teaching is good and I am not gonna let it stress me out. Been hanging with the nuns everyday and am happy I still have them when all else fails. Next Saturday I head on my journey to Zambia's Victoria Falls with Melania for my week and a half of vacation. We might even hit the Okavanta Delta in Botswana. We might to go micro-lighting over Vic Falls. So excited. So if anyone wants to call me they can try next Friday 06/26 or Saturday 06/27. After that I will be out of commission until 07/04th. Then I will return to Namabengo on 07/08.

At the end of the day I am happy. I have a good life here. Sad about my neighbor. Sad about my kids. Sad they will grow up without a mother. Sad I cannot bake them cakes anymore or hear them say “Woof, woof” to Mila. Will focus on my students. Looking forward to receiving letters (don't stress about packages folks, letters are the best). E-mail is back in Songea after a near 3 month downtime. And I will be back in America come December!!!!Those ghetto V souvenir rolls of film had better be developed!

So yeah, my hair is staying short. I did a poll at IST and all like my hair better short. They say it brings out my face. Nice. Good bye long hair. Hello Halle Berry (unearthly according to Victor)!

If you want to see pictures go to Avi, Jessica, or Charlie's website.

Anybody want their students/kids to be penpals with my kids?? How about any of you being penpals with my fellow teachers?? Please let me know if you are interested.

I am now going to work on a grant to build some toilets and a well at my school. Good times, good times.BTW I have a porcelain hole in the ground for my choo, 3 hours of electricity every night, running water every other day in my house, and a cd player…pretty nice. Gonna go back to Babu’s and have some awesome pilau w/meat for dinner, have stimulating conversation with him and Charles, maybe watch a movie and rlax. I don’t really want to be in Namabengo today so I am not going back. Tomorrow I will. I don’t have classes tomorrow so I am not gonna stress.

Day by DayXXOO Mamma Mila