Sunday, November 30, 2008

Back to Dar...halfway through the second trimester

Last Wednesday Charlie and I took the bus back to the big city of Dar Es Salaam. It is strange to think that this is already my third trip to the city, and I am finished with the first half of my time here in this country.

We came to the city last Wednesday because Charlie's dad and uncle were coming for a visit! They flew in on Friday evening late at night. We also met our bennie friends that are staying in Imiliwaha on Thursday afternoon, and our Johnnie friend Dave Sexton who just finished training with Peace Corps and traveled to his site on Friday, where he will be living and teaching for the next two years.

We were able to have an Americanized day on Thursday in celebration of Thanksgiving...more to come on that in a future post (Sharing Culture Part 2...) but all in all, the last few days it has been exciting to see some familiar faces and be able to show them around the city a little bit. Yesterday, Saturday, we took a trip to the beach here in Dar. Br. Barnabus drove us in one of the monastery cars. We took the ferry across to the peninsula and then drove to Sunrise Beach resort where we had a delicious lunch and then swam in the warm Indian Ocean. (There will be pictures in a future post of the McCarrons in the sea!)

This morning Charlie and his dad and uncle took the bus back to Hanga, but I decided to remain in the city for a little while longer. Though it is hot, so hot that i am literally dripping with sweat just walking around, or even just sitting on the steps of the Cathedral waiting for Mass to begin this morning, my air conditioned room and cool shower is quite a luxury every night. It has been fun eating a variety of food (lebonese, indian, pizza, hamburgers) and seeing more of the market. And I cant leave the city until I have some help from one of the brothers to fix my laptop. It doesn't seem to want to charge lately.

Sorry for the absence of pictures in this post. Due to my laptop's power issues, and the reformatting of the laptop I have been using in Hanga (which had ALL of my pictures on it from the last two months) I dont have any available to post right now. But there are plenty more from sorting through the donations of books and other things last week...from the beach...from Thanksgiving dinner in Dar...so stay tuned!

When I arrive back in Hanga sometime this week I hope to begin work painting and doing other improvement projects around my Primary School. It should be a welcome break from teaching, and a chance for a little more hands-on improvement of the school grounds! Pictures to come from that too :)

Thanks for reading. Happy Advent!

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