Yesterday (Thursday) we visited a traditional healer high up in the mountains of Arusha. It was really cold and damp up there so I’m glad we aren’t living in homestays up there. It was interesting to see the traditional healer in practice as he had hundreds of powders that were basically ground up plant roots and such that he claimed could cure anything. The woman that we saw him heal said she had chest pain and foot pain so he proceeded to give her one powder to mix with water [...]

Yesterday (Friday) we had a free day so we traveled into Arusha town to do some more shopping and explore. Town is very dirty and very crowded so it is very exhausting to spend time there. I’m glad we live outside the city a little bit. Since there are so many people it is hard to take pictures because I am scared my camera will get stolen. When we were in town we went to the Maasai Market which was a quieter area where a lot of souvenirs and our [...]

Yesterday after class Mama taught Erin and I how to do laundry. They do all their laundry by hand in buckets and scrub with their hands. It wasn’t that hard for the first few pieces of clothing that we washed but I can’t imagine doing it for hours. Everything is just then hung on clothes lines and sometimes ironed. They iron in case any bugs or mosquitoes have nested in the clothes. 

Next to our school there is an orphanage called the Cradle of Love that we pass every day on the way to school. Yesterday after class we stopped in to see if they needed any help and to check it out. Everyone was very welcoming so we went in the back and hung out with the babies for a few hours. All of the babies were under 2 years old or so and there was at least 40 of them. I only saw about 4 staff members so that were [...]

This weekend was my first weekend with the family. It was interesting to say the least. Friday night we were exhausted so we just played with the boys and had dinner. They eat dinner a lot later here. Normal time for dinner is around 8:30 PM. Lunch is normally around 1 PM and breakfast is around 8 AM. There is never any snacking in between meals. I think I am finally used to the eating schedule, although at first I was ALWAYS hungry. The food is really good but I [...]

Today we visited St. Thomas Health Center in Arusha town. It is a private health center so it is a little bit nicer than public health centers. There is no insurance in Tanzania, so for health you just pay after you receive a service. The center that we were at specialized in gynecology. We got a tour of the center and than observed some some nurses giving vaccines to newborns and some laboratory work.The owner of this health center, Dr. Msuya is our instructor for the medicine portion of our [...]

Yesterday (Wednesday) our group went to Arusha National Park. It was a lot of fun but the roads were very very bumpy. We were gone all day. We saw many animals—zebras, giraffes, cape buffalo, baboon, columbus monkeys, water bucks, water buffalo, warthog, dig-digs, flamingos, and bush bucks. We did not see any lions or elephants on this trip but we will when we go to the Serengeti. Our driver was very knowledgeable about the area as he use to be a tour guide. When we returned from the National Park [...]

Today was my first full day in Tanzania and the first time I really saw anything in the day light. You have to remember that it is winter here so daylight hours are limited. We started our day around 7 for breakfast. On our schedules it said that breakfast was from 7-8:15, so naturally my roommate and I showed up right at 7 only to find that no one was at breakfast. It was another half an hour or so before anyone showed up—life is so relaxed here and nothing [...]