Saturday, December 16, 2006

Back to the Mountains

Today is my last day in Dar es Salaam. I've had a really great week, and it's pretty cool to be in a setting that's pretty much the opposite of where I usually am, just because I'm one who likes variety. Having said that, I am looking forward to getting back. The main reason is the weather. It is hot in this town. And I mean really hot. It's quite humid too. Of course in a country like this, there aren't all that many places that are air conditioned, so the heat can be pretty oppressive. It's always lovely to wake up in the morning damp because of your own sweat through out the night. Fortunately I've been staying places with nice showers. It's also going to be nice to just take it easy, because I've been moving at a pretty fast pace all week and keeping busy. I should have at least a couple of days to relax at home in the cool weather. Of course, it likely will be raining back home, but that'll be ok thanks to my new purchase of rubber muck boots. Now wading through ankle deep mud and across small rivers to get to town will be no problem.

In about a month I'll begin teaching again. Things will start at the school before that. I think it will be a lot easier now that the students and I are used to each other. I will work very hard this year with few breaks, but as much fun as I'm having now it's not what I'm here to do. I still have Christmas and New Year's and a short PC conference before all that, so I'll just have to get all of my rowdiness out of my system I suppose. It'll be good to be back to things, actually. I have a good life at Kongei.

That's my short post for a dull day. Have a good weekend.

3 comments:

Dalen said...

youre inspirational. i understand how you feel about having fun, but looking forward to getting back to the reason why u are there. people used to always ask me if I was having fun last year. I told them I was happy to be doing work, but fun wasnt the right word.

i tell alot of people about you. they ask me why i didnt join. then i laugh and tell them i didnt want to commit two years. this makes little sense since I am in my 2nd year of americorps.

thought of peace corps have crossed my mind now. i would need a woman soulmate who wants to do it to though...of which i can think of about 3 people who might actually be down with that idea. crazy.

Merry all holidays day, --DAlen

Andrew said...

Thanks man. Yeah, of all the people I know you're probably the one who is most suited to PC, at least as it is in Tanzania. Give it a shot, even without the woman. There are a lot of good ones here to meet. Hope you had a good Christmas. Happy New Year.

Anonymous said...

Hey Andrew,

Just letting you know that I still read your blog :-) Sounds like you are having an awesome life changing (or at least perspective changing) experience over there. Like Dalen said, its very inspirational.

Hope you had a great holiday season and happy new year! Good luck with your final year!