Good morning teacher

Being blond with blue eyes and pale skin, I stick out here like a sore thumb. This means I get lots of attention from kids especially. Kids aren't afraid to stare at something new and interesting and they yell "mzungu" or "wazungu" (whiteperson/ people) when I pass. Eric (roommate) and I walked down our street the other night and a group of kids started running after us yelling, "good morning teacher" repeatedly. Never mind that it was after 6pm and neither of us are teachers.
There are some social norms in the US that are completely lacking here. I would like my mom to know that it's not rude to burp here, eat with your hands, or pick your nose. It throws me off a little when I'm talking to someone and they start digging for gold up a nostril, but I'm getting better at keeping the conversation going. When you meet someone or run into a friend and you shake hands, you keep holding hands as you talk. Even 2 guys can be found holding hands walking down the street or standing around talking. People here are just very casual and very friendly.

My Australian roommate, Eric and me

There is a school up the hill from us and we walked up to their playing fields the other night to watch some soccer and play frisbee. We didn't dare join the soccer game as it was obvious these kids were very serious about the sport. We did throw a frisbee around and it didn't take much convincing to get the kids hanging around to join us. Pretty soon we had a circle of about 20 kids throwing the frisbee around and laughing hysterically as they threw it into the ground or over a head. The play fields had a great view of Mt. Meru too.Eric showing the kids how it's done

I had Friday off for the celebration of the Zanzibar revolution. I believe this is when Zanzibar joined Tangynika to form Tanzania. I spent some of the weekend with Erik, Bernice, and Nashesha and attended a birthday party for Nashesha's friends where I met many ex-pats. Many of the adults are the children of missionaries who were out here the same time as my grandparents. Bernice's parents were also in town and I had fun hanging out with her family. They're very happy people and even if I don't understand what they're saying, I enjoy listening to them laugh. I went to the central market in Arusha with them and it was quite an experience. I don't think I'd go alone and I didn't see any non-locals there. It's very stressful. When you arrive, there are boys wanting you to pay them to watch your car and others who follow you around with plastic bags, wanting you to pay them to carry the food you buy. The first covered area has the produce, the next area has dry goods like beans, grains, and these tiny fish that are dried and you eat them whole, and the third area has meat and fish in big freezers. I was worried about drawing attention to myself with my camera, but I did snap a couple pictures.Today I ran into my aunt, Naomi, at church and she's leaving for the States tomorrow so I joined her family for lunch. The Simonsons send their greetings to all the Rowbergs.

I braided Nashesha's hair to be just like mine.

Don't we look like twins?

Nashesha jumping rope