Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Thanksgiving


Our Thanksgiving center pieces thanks to Laura, Luke and Nikki

Wow I didn’t realize how long it had been since I did a blog post. A lot of changes have occurred but then again it feels like more of the same. Nov. 12-19 we did a homestay with a TZ family. We were all a little nervous about it before we arrived but we had no reason to be. God had found us the perfect home. It was a mother whose children were are grown and moved away from home. She had plenty of space we had two bedrooms and each had their own bathroom. We thought this was wonderful to have more space. We could also hang out in the living room. The kids had plenty of space to play and they enjoyed hunting for the cats.

The kid's current room
On the 19th we moved to yet another place. It is similar to a hotel. We have the suite so it is 2 rooms and one bathroom. We no longer have to sit in the dark after the kids go to bed. They have their own room. We are starting to get tired of the small space and living out of suitcases but the end is in sight. There isn’t as much for the kids to do here so we are playing lots of games with them. We are now in town so we can walk to the market whenever we need something and it doesn’t take all afternoon.

Friday is our last day of Swahili lessons. Monday morning we leave for Dar es Salaam and then Tuesday we go to the beach for a few days. We need a break from learning, culture and need some fun. We also wanted to do this before Laura leaves on Dec. 11 so we are all excited about it. We might be able to do some snorkeling.
Our current home
After our mini vacation we will house sit for a family going home for Christmas. Mid-January we have our last training before going to Musumo. It is 3 weeks of cultural training. That ends Feb. 3rd and then off to Musoma.

Our first Christmas decorations
I’ve included some pictures of our new place and our 2 Thanksgiving celebrations. One is here with the rest of the group and the other was on Sunday at another family from America. The food was fabulous. It was the first Thanksgiving meal we ate outside.
Homemade Pie and Ice Cream!!!!!!!!!!
Happy Thanksgiving and thank you for all your love and prayers.

Sunday, November 6, 2011

Isimila Stone Age Museum

Nov 6, 2011

Dear Mrs. Gable and class (and of course everyone else can read too)

We went to Isimila Stone Age Museum yesterday. We thought of all of you while we were there. They showed us stone tools that were used around 3500 BC. We tools like rock axes, spears, hand hammers, knives and sling shots. Once we saw these tools we walk through a large gully, or small canyon. Luke and Nikki had fun finding all kinds of rocks. There were also huge pillars that were created from wind and water erosion. I’m sure you guys would have loved exploring it. Check out the pictures to see what it was like and to see the rocks Luke and Nikki found. Nikki was disappointed when we got home because she realized she had lost her rose quartz. Hopefully we will be able to find more to replace that one. I tried to include a bunch of pictures so you could see what it was like. Luke and Nikki loved climbing around.
Luke, Nikki and Laura did ask if they could the rocks. It was ok as long as they weren't any of the stone tools.
Sorry the pictures are out of order but I had problems uploading them.



Luke's rock collection from the Isimila gullu

Luke's rock collection since arriving in TZ

Learning about the rock tools

Going down into the gully


Chameleon

Chameleon

One afternoon last week Nikki was playing on the playground when she saw a chameleon. Nikki came and told the rest of us. The chameleon was on a stick so Laura picked it up and brought it up to our banda (cabin). After watching it for a while Laura decided she wanted to hold it. Luke held the chameleon after Laura. Luke said it felt like a bunch of tiny fingernails touching him.

We then put the chameleon down in some green grass and green leaves to see if it would turn green. It didn’t but it did change to a lighter color of brown. While we were watching it eat a bug about 6 inches away. The amazing thing is all 5 of us actually saw it. We then saw it eat 2-3 other bugs. We even got two of them on video.

While we were all huddled around this chameleon and aweing over it eating bugs one of our neighbors walks up and asks us what we are looking at. Fortunately she thought it was pretty cool too and took a few pictures. I must admit if someone was walking by and saw they probably would have thought we were watching something more exciting or exotic. We all thought it was pretty cool.