Date: 2005-02-14
To: The Click heard Round the World
Miles today: 0.0

Valentines Day- February 14, 2005 Today it happened. You know, whenever I travel, after a bit of time, something happens and all of the sudden, everything is normal. I feel perfectly at home, and feel like I have lived here forever. Well, it happened this morning. I was in the van with all of the other volunteers headed towards our placements when all of the sudden I felt it. I looked around and it was......normal. Women with giant bunches of bananas on their heads, Dala Dala buses with men hanging out of every window, goats in the road......it was all normal. It feels like I can spend the rest of my time here really being here, rather than being a tourist. Does that make sense?Anyway.......... Happy Valentines Day! Today we went back to work after a wonderful weekend, and I asked Sarah and Jessica if we can make Valentines Day cards with the kids from the school. Students at Mill Creek HS and my friends Amy and Andy have donated construction paper and crayons and I think it would be a great way to share the day with the kids. After everyone agreed, Mr. Masawe came over to our side of the building and I asked him to explain what Valentines Day was to the kids. In the midst of all of the Swahili, I could hear him saying, "I love you mama, I love you baba", and having the kids repeat after him. This man is so awesome! He told the kids to make the cards and to go home and tell their parents that they loved them. How great is that!?It may seem like a small thing, but because of the donations by Amy and Andy and the orchestra at Mill Creek HS, these kids were able to do something they very rarely get to do. In fact, they each got TWO crayons to color their cards with instead of one, and believe me, that was a big deal! Many of the cards had 1,2,3 and Aa, Bb on them cause that is what we have been working on, and they were so proud. They worked on them all morning, and then we took them up to keep them nice until the end of the school day. In general, the kids were a little wild, but I think the excitement of the colored paper and crayons were just too much for them! It was great! After leaving, Christy and I grabbed some lunch and went to the internet cafe. This has become the favorite thing of all the volunteers. We would rather be doing this than just about anything! I really miss home and my friends and family, so it was a great way to spend an hour. After going back to the house, I took a nap, and woke up to a dinner invitation for Valentines Day! The two young men from Georgetown that are here have invited all the ladies out to dinner, their treat. Isn't that sweet! So we all got dressed up, which in my case meant that I put on some chapstick, and headed downtown. Supposedly, the Kinderocco Hotel has wonderful food, so that is where they took us. We climbed five flights of stairs to a wonderful roof top cafe and watched the sunset over Kili while sipping wine. Ok, ok....I know that I am in a third world country and that this is not what you had in mind! Trust me....it is not what I had in mind either!!! The funny thing is, after waiting over two hours for our food, Christy and I had to taxi back to the house because she was expecting a call from her husband. So she and I never did eat, but we enjoyed a nice evening out with the other volunteers anyway! After a quick dinner of Snicker's Marathon bars, we called it a night and tucked ourselves under our mosquito netting. I hope that all of your Valentines Days were as wonderful as mine! Love, AnnaPS"Please tell your friend how grateful we are that she is sharing her tripwith us. Also ask her why people don't attempt to treat the water that'sthere? I thought chlorine killed about everything?"As for the water, I am not sure that I can answer it. The locals have no problem with the water at all, but like so many other third world countries, foreigners definitely do. I think it has to do with all of the different stuff in the water which they are used to but we are not. I was planning on bringing my filter, but we were told that it would not be 100% effective against all the critters in the water here. Luckily, they provide us all the bottled water we need, or I would be in serious trouble!! So far, knock on wood, I am the only volunteer that has not gotten sick, so I am happy with the way things are! I really appreciate that ya'll are reading my journal! It helps me feel closer to home! Oh...and the coolest thing!!! All these young volunteers are planning on climbing Mt. Kiliminjaro and they are all asking ME for advice! The funny thing is, when you climb Kili, you hire porters to carry all of your stuff, so it has GOT to be easier than the Whites!!! Take care all!!! Love, Anna aka Mud Butt"When all is said and done here at the ending of the day, I look out on this world and it still takes my breath away...""Robin's Song" Small Potatoes