Mikumi Safari!

This past weekend was our safari trip to Mikumi National Park. It was awesome! I finally got to add some pictures so be sure to check them out. We saw a lot of elephants, giraffes, zebra, antelope, hip-hop-hippotami, wildebeest, buffalo, and two lions. We actually only spotted the lions because of the big giraffe carcass in the field that they were protecting, but we got to go right up to within like 30 feet or so of them. It was great, much cooler than any zoo I've ever been to, that's for sure.

Pretty much our whole group went, so we took two buses there. It was only like a 2 hr drive from Morogoro. We stayed at a hotel just outside the park, so it was nice to all be able to hang out past 7 pm which is when it usually gets dark and people have to head home. And you can see from the pictures, there was a pretty fantastic sunset that night which looked incredible from within the park. Definitely felt like we were in Africa.

Other than that, teaching has still been going well. I find that I'm never really able to get through everything I planned to the day before, but it's definitely better to go slower and be sure the students understand than to stick to the schedule suggested by the syllabus, at least I think so. Definitely something I can work on though so I can manage class time better at my permanent site. I try to incorporate group work and games as much as possible to keep the students interested, though they usually are anyways, since they are math/science focused, rather than arts. But still some days just seem to go over better than others. They're very well conditioned to memorizing and using equations, but if I ask them what the answer means, I usually get a lot of blank stares. A few are very smart though, it's tough, at least for me, to gauge a good speed for the whole class to keep everyone interested and not lose too many at the same time. The best thing to do is to be patient, and also well-prepared for each class though I think. I'm definitely learning plenty myself everyday.

Last week we had our mid-term tests, both written and oral, for our Kiswahili learning. It's crazy that we're more than half way through training! Next week is our last week of internship teaching, then we go to shadow and live with a volunteer for week, all over the country. We find out where we're going on Friday, and I think two people go to each site. Then we come back to Morogoro for a week and a half and it's time for swearing in! It really is going fast. I can't wait to find out where my permanent site is though. Rumor has it they have already picked our sites but are waiting a couple weeks to tell us in case things change with the schools or whatever.

I got to hang out with my host family baba yesterday, pretty much for the first time, since he's always very busy, and he was telling me that he has a lot of family in Moshe, which is near Kilimanjaro. He wants to take me on a trip there to visit before I leave, and even offered that I could stay there if I ever go to climb Kili! I told him I really like hiking and such, and he said it was very beautiful around there, and lots of waterfalls, so I'm really excited. Hopefully I can go soon!

That's about all I have time to update on for now. But check out my new pictures and send me email updates on how everyone's doing back home if you get a chance. Baadaye!