Ma-lu-la

We moved in to our new village last Sunday, and spent the last week getting accustomed to the new-ness, different people and spent many, many hours teaching. The differences between the two villages are great. Last time, we were in a lush, green almost jungle-like village up at the base of Mt. Meru, and this time, we're in a vast valley that goes on for miles and miles and miles. I've been told that we can see Kilimanjaro from our village, but it's been cloudy and raining every day, so I can't confirm the rumors yet.

November is the season of the "light rains", and boy, they were not kidding. Except, I'm not really sure how "light" rain was defined, because there have definitely been a few nights this past week where I was sure there was going to be a flash flood and I would have to pick up my stuff and climb on top of my house. Or maybe that was my malaria medication speaking.

I'm living with a family of three(ish)...Mama (joisi) and Baba (godlove) and their baby (fabi). My mama's little sister (happiness) also lives with us, but she almost seems like more of a housegirl than a sister. I found out that my Mama is only 24 (geez!!) and my Baba's 30. They already have a 2 1/2 year old boy who's adorable. I think he might be afraid of me though, because he's been pretty timid in getting to know me. They're a very sweet family though and have been very good to me. I'm learning to accept the awkward silences as a normal part of my experience, because my swahili only goes so far. But I have learned that I can get along pretty well with "oh's" and "ah's" and giggling and nodding my head. I just get myself in trouble when they ask me a question. I wish I could watch myself be so gloriously awkward with my family...it's really comical.

My new house also has no electricity, even though it was clearly designed to one day support it. The unfortunate part is that it is not set up to allow any sort of good light into the house at night from the moon, or even that much sun during the day, so it's a pretty dark arrangement. at night, my room is pitch black, so I have to tuck myself in carefully under my mosquito net so I can ease my paranoid fears of having a cockroach land on my face. which really isn't that irrational...we've got cockroaches and mice and who knows what other kind of bugs running around...I keep telling myself that the two cats we have (who are adorable) are taking care of business, but it's hard to believe that when I walk into my room only to find a huge cockroach perching atop my pillow.

My poor mama probably thinks i'm the biggest wimp in the world...I called her in one night to help me get a roach out of my room, and she just giggled at me then smushed the thing against the wall and threw it outside. I can barely squish a bug with my shoe, let alone be able to do it with my hand! oye...

But so far so good. We're teaching at two primary schools, one of which is about an hour walk away. I keep managing to time things perfectly and be outside walking from here to there just at the peak of the rain. But I kind of enjoy it. It's a quieter village though...no more kids swarming us in the road or Masai women carrying their loads on their heads. I can walk for a half an hour and not see another soul. But the view is breath-taking and the people I do come across are extremely friendly and inviting. I've eaten more food in the past week...I don't think they realize that I can't fit that much food into my stomach!! Even our schools will offer us snacks or chai in between classes...it's ridiculous.

I've got to run soon, but before I do, here's my embarrassing story of the week: The other night I was hanging out in our living room with my Baba...we were listening to the radio, but mostly sitting in silence for what seemed like an eternity, waiting for dinner. After awhile, I realized that I really needed to use the choo, but I've had night-time choo issues since I arrived at my homestay and discovered that the choo's the place where all the roaches hang out at night. So, I was trying to figure out what to do. It started raining again, and with the tin roof, it was impossible to think of anything else...except the sound of rain and how much I had to pee. I couldn't go somewhere outside my house, because my mama was in the kitchen cooking and would be able to see me drop-trou outside of the choo, and plus, it was raining, so I made a mad-dash for my room and ended up relieving myself in a zip-lock bag. Not one of my finest moments, but seriously, you have to make do. I never would have thought I would be using one of my zip-locks for that purpose when I purchased that pack back at Costco. Oh, fun times in africa. Hamna cheetah. :)

So that's all for now. I'll write more hopefully next weekend, but I might be heading out to Moshi, and don't know if I'll have Internet access. So we'll see. Bye for now!