Friday, May 31, 2013

May 30, 2013- View of Mt. Kili

This morning, a group of us were walking to class when all of a sudden there was Mt. Kilimanjaro's peak.  It literally appeared to be floating on top of a cloud.  Pictures seriously do not do it justice.  In person, the mountain is such an incredible view.  I have no other way to describe it other than it is massive and beautiful.  This morning, I tried multiple times to capture its beauty with my camera; but I've come to the realization that it is not possible to do so.  We all ran to the fourth floor of KCMC to get a better view, and ten minutes later we could see the majority of the mountain!!  It was no longer a floating mountain top coming out of a cloud, but two of its three peaks were perfectly visible.  We were able to see Kilimanjaro (the main peak) and Mawenzi (one of the smaller peaks).  It was awesome!!

You can see the top of the main peak in the background!!

Kilimanjaro (the bigger peak) and Mawenzi (the smaller peak)


Today was presentation today.  The first group presented on the brain drain and the issue of medical students in Tanzania leaving to find work in the US or other developed countries, leaving Tanzania with a low number of healthcare workers.  My group presented on globalization and its effect on the nutrition transition.  The third group gave a presentation on cervical cancer.  My group presentation went well, and all the other presentations were interesting and I learned a lot.

This baby is so cute!!


When Adrienne and I got home from class, we were both soo tired.  We decided to just stay in the house and hang out with mama and Delke (I’ve decided that is his real name).  Delke kept trying to take over my camera and my computer so I gave him my phone and entertained him with some games of fruit ninja and angry birds instead.  Mama served Kahawa (coffee) and I brought out some Pirouette chocolates (those hazelnut/chocolate/wafer stick things).  I offered one to mama, and she thought I was giving her the whole container… so, there went my pirouettes.  I was planning on giving them to the kids, haha, oh well.

Mesha, this 21-yr-old who has been over to the house a couple times, came over again tonight.  This whole week I haven’t really been sure of who he is, so I bombarded him with a lot of questions tonight.  His English is really good, which is not the case with a lot of people here, so I asked him about that.  He went to an international school in Tanzania and went to college to learn how to be a tour guide.  None of the other kids speak English because it is no longer required in schools.  It is now only an option to take an English class (equivalent to taking Spanish, French, Italian, etc. as an elective in our high schools and universities).  In addition to being a tour guide, Mesha also does trade work in Arusha.  I also asked him about sports and other things (he said Futbol is the most popular sport to watch in Tanzania, woo!) Conversing with Mesha was nice, and I actually learned a lot about daily life and customs here!  We talked for about an hour until mama served dinner, which was Chapati and leftover lentils from last night.  Chapati is a popular food here, and I’d describe it as a cross between a pancake and a thick crepe, but 10x more delicious. 

After dinner, I did insanity and then Adrienne and I just sat in our room and talked because we didn’t have any homework to do! 

I forget her name but she's one of my favorite kids!

Also, I'm going to start including the highlight of each of my days.  Highlight of today: My incredible view of Mt. Kilimanjaro!!

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