i'm awful at keeping up on my blog

I think the title explains how I've dealt with this blog for more than the past year. I'm leaving Tanzania on Wednesday. Back in the states in a couple of weeks.

dago

Wiffle ball has been a bigger hit than I imagined it would be. Dago is a smart player - he hits for contact and pitches for accuracy. I've built up a pretty good team here. The sad part is they will never play against another team. Ever. I'm proposing a new save Africa plan for these poor starving orphans who just want to play wiffle ball. I'm thinking if I can get Oprah, Bono or Clooney aboard and I start getting pictures of the really dirty malaria kids, then the wiffle ball saving African orphans dream could one day come to fruition. I'll soon put up a link where you can donate your money to this amazing organization.

game day

The Chinese paid for 80% (about 55 million US$) of the new National Stadium here in Tanzania. We caught a game between the the best team in the country vs the best team from Egypt. Tanzanians (and probably most sub-Saharan Africans) hate Egyptian soccer for the same reason most Americans hate watching soccer - because they fall when they're flicked and act like they've been shot with a rifle. Real Africans don't fall on the field. The Tanzanian team didn't fake the fall but they lost.

The stadium was beautiful. The hallways, the bathrooms and the seats are all like you'd find in a new American stadium. The only thing lacking is the concession stands. Americans go to a ball game and are only truly comfortable when there's a frank and a beer in their hands. Tanzanians are happy enough to be at a ballgame.

the hole

When the local kids get really annoying I lock them in this cage for a day or three. They shape up pretty quick when they're released.

the hike

This is the second time we hiked to the top of the mountain in my back yard. It's about five hours up to this point, which is a volcanic crater about 500 meters south of the peak. The students like to run all the way down - 2 hours. I couldn't bend my right leg by the time we made it to the peak. I had to limp down - 4 hours.

look up

Lucas is seen here trying to show a student the sun.

looking cool

About 2 out of 25 of my students on the hike figured out how to use the binoculars correctly. And about 25 out of 25 my students needed pictures taken with the binoculars. This one is funny because they're trying to copy Lucas' picture but they have no idea what the pointing means.