Morogoro

So our "Spring Break" of sorts we have spent in Morogoro, which has been a good change of scenery. We got to spend tons of time with Mario because in TZ Easter gets 3 public holidays, so he had Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday to just hang out. The only sort of exciting thing we did was visit a waterfall and climb on the huge rocks along it. We saw some boys swimming in the pool under part of the waterfall, and they were using the huge rockface as a waterslide, which both looked super cool and painful.

Otherwise we've just been bumming around. Morogoro is cooler now than it was in January, but it still feels like MN in July when the sun is out. The difference is that it actually cools off at night. Emily and I are going to welcome Magulilwa's cool, dry weather with open arms. Having to reapply sunscreen all the time is not only annoying, but just gross. We're greasy, sweaty, and dirty for most of the day, every day. I can hardly believe I got used to feeling this gross all the time when I lived in Dar.

So after we head back, we'll start teaching again for a week and a half, but we will leave Magulilwa on May 12 (to visit Mario again on our way to Dar), so not a lot will get done. The school calendar is pretty stupid that way, but oh well. Hopefully it'll be a good final period. See you all soon!

Midterms

Well this week our students finished up midterms so now we're on a "spring break" of sorts. Supposedly they'll open the school next Wednesday, but Emily and I are banking on students not showing up until at least the weekend, which is when we'll head back.

We're going to spend the vacation in Morogoro with Mario again, which should be fun. It's getting into the "winter" again now, so hopefully it won't be so painfully hot (it's only 3 hours outside of Dar and barely cooler). This is the last time we'll leave Magulilwa until we leave for good! It's so crazy to think about.

On Wednesday (the last day of exams), we played a soccer game of boarding versus day students (I played with the boarders... we lost, but only got scored on AFTER I was out..). I asked Emily to bring my camera because I really hate taking pictures, but I love having them afterward, so she forced me to take a picture with all of them which was great. One of the notorious guys, George, encouraged everyone to strike a pose "kama Ulaya," like Europe. haha. I also got a couple good small group ones of some of those notorious players, including one of Crazy Charlie on the captain's shoulders. CC said I should sell the pictures in Minnesota. I expressed doubt that anyone would want to buy them ;)

Leaving

Yesterday we told all of our students we were leaving. I explained to my Form I class that they all needed to come back from Easter break early because I'd be leaving a week after that (we all know they otherwise would wait two weeks to show up and maybe still will). They asked where I would be going, and when I said the U.S., they all gasped. One girl said in Swahili "We will all go!" It was the cutest thing.

Then I had class with Form III, reviewing for their midterm. So once again we had to do "if clauses" and Normal Charlie (as opposed to Crazy Charlie) said "If Teacher Eliza was fat, she would look good."

Of course I said, "You mean I don't look good now, Charlie? That's not very nice." So he changed it to "she would look better." Hahaha. Then we told Form III and they were all sad, too. We took pictures with each of the Form III classes, and then some smaller group ones with the boys doing ridiculous poses. I'm going to miss them.

The White People

Well yesterday the white people came, and I guess they're only staying three days, but they did bring us chocolate! A ton of it!

Yesterday was hilarious for so many reasons. We weren't super excited about the WP coming because we didn't know them, but everyone expects us to show them around and stuff because we have this unspoken white people bond, or something. So, we didn't go out of our way to greet them. We had class with Form IIIA while they were touring around, and we would make comments to the kids like "Who are these white people?"

At one point, they looked like they were walking toward our classroom, and we said, more to each other than the kids, "Oh no, they're coming!" They all laughed at us, and asked if we were afraid. I just laughed. But later, one of the kids said "Madame, they are coming. They are in that class now." And when I looked confused, he said "I thought you were afraid." Hilarious! He was warning us in case we actually wanted to run away!

Then, we were reviewing "if" clauses, and one of the kids, Vicent, wrote "If the headmaster was tall, he would be crazy." Now, first of all I just laughed because it's a funny statement, but then I asked him why the headmaster would be crazy. Now, Vicent is a tiny kid. His voice hasn't changed and he's seriously I think 4'5" and really giggly. So, when I asked, he immediately starts laughing and says because tall people like Walter (a notorious Form IV) are crazy. So I asked him if all tall people, and by extension me, are crazy, and he between fits of laughter "Somewhat." I had fun the rest of the day telling other tall people what he said and they would all run after him.