Week 1

I have been at the Tumaini Secondary School, they changed from the One Stop Center, for a whole week now. The kids are amazing and never cease smiling. Today I came back from looking at the Dar es Salaam University and the boys were all playing soccer, laughing and falling over.

I have been taken around Dar lately by my new friend Abdi who I met on the plane. The first night we went to Sea Cliff, a rich neighborhood in Dar and went to eat at a beautiful hotel. Our seat over looked a cliff onto the beach. Last night we went out and played pool. It is nice to get to see the night life and activities around the city as well as work with the kids. This weekend everyone wants to take me to the beach. I am also probably going to go to the history museum, which has lots of cultural art as well as displays about ancient tribes and their practices.

I am trying to learn Swahili. The word I hear the most is mzungu. Mzungu means white person. The young children in the village yell it when I walk past. The teens whisper it and laugh. I am really interesting to people. The truck drivers slow down to stare when they pass me and honk their horns. There are more white people in the city, but very few, maybe none, where I live.

Please excuse all spelling errors. I only have a short time using the computers and the keyboards make it difficult to type.