Thanksgiving 2018

We did celebrate Thanksgiving here.  I was blessed by my teammates once again.  They have been here long enough to figure out how to do things right :)  They knew the best place to order chicken so that we could have some poultry with our Thanksgiving feast (turkey is a little bit harder to come by and probably not as tasty).  Sara brought pecans back from the states on her last visit so that she could treat us to truly special Thanksgiving desserts.  My teammates spoil me!

I was in charge of salads.  Don't the edible flowers really make
my very ordinary salad look fancy?  There is a Dutch woman
that we order some vegetables from, and edible flowers are one
of the things on the order list.  In USD, a container costs
about 50 cents.  What a deal!

One of my teammates had family visiting, so they pitched in on making sides too.  When it was all brought together we had: Kaka's chicken, naan, mashed potatoes, stuffing, salads, and slaw.

The Thanksgiving Feast

And then came the real treat...dessert!

Pecan Pie, Pumpkin Pie, and Carrot Cake
Oh my!

I'm betting we'll only have desserts like this about once a year.

A night truly filled with thanksgiving for all of Gods many
blessings was topped off with a full moon and a surrounding
of Angels' Trumpets

We went around the table that night sharing what we are thankful for in the order of the alphabet.  I just so happened to be sitting where I got D and M.  How lucky is that?  I got to share that I am thankful for my Dad and Mom :)  I was also thankful for many Thanksgiving cards that I got to open and enjoy on the day.  The weather outside certainly didn't make it feel like it could possibly be Thanksgiving and I was far from family and friends and I didn't run the Turkey Trot that morning, but the cards really helped make it feel more real and made me feel loved and connected across the miles.  I had no shortage of thanksgivings to God to celebrate that day.

By the way, the nationals here cannot believe that pumpkin spice is such a craze in the states.  Apparently none of them like pumpkin, so they think it is so weird.  Haha!

To introduce my teammates to one of my family's traditions and treat them for a change, I put on a hot dog and s'more night the Friday after Thanksgiving.  We've been doing it as a family since 1998, so why should living in a new country stop me from continuing on and sharing the fun with others?

It started with making my first batch of homemade marshmallows in my new home.  They were a success!!!

I brought the gelatin from the states, but everything else was
available right here in country

Thankful for Peggy's candy thermometer

Just vanilla for the first batch

Then I found acceptable hot dogs in the store, which was great.  We don't have Oscar Mayer or Ballpark, or Nathans :)  I wasn't able to find hot dog buns, so Sara offered to make homemade buns.  Let me tell you, you have not had a hot dog until you've had one on a homemade bun.  Mmm, mmm!

Our Eagle Scout built a mighty fine fire

Sisters getting to roast together

Notice the length of their sticks.  These are the ones that I had a couple of the kids help me get from the trees.  Little Denis (1st grader) was eager to help and was up in the tree before I could blink.  The sticks they got for me are long enough, but do require you to be close enough to the fire that you get a little warm.  Phil did not find them acceptable.  He went and cut down his own...

Now THAT'S the way to roast a hot dog

 He then proceeded to find a long piece of wood to toast his hot dog bun too!

 My boss is quite the man of ingenuity :)

Then it was on to s'mores!  We don't have graham crackers, but we found some other oat-y cookies that sufficed.  One of the types of cookie had a thin layer of dark chocolate on one side that actually worked really nicely for a s'more.

First roasted homemade marshmallow in TZ!

Toasted on the outside and gooey all the way
through.  Nicely done!

That night I found out that my work permit was approved.  Another huge answer to prayer and yet another reason to be thankful and celebrate!

Hash #3

Hash #3 was definitely the most adventurous so far!  My teammates and I actually co-hosted this Hash with a doctor that lives just up the mountain from us.  We can't host one at our place, so he provides the location and the trail and we provide the bites (that's what we call snacks here).  It was a Hash to remember!
Not long after we started, we were already in a bunch trying to figure out where the trail was and where we were supposed to go.  About that time it also started raining pretty hard.  We were almost at the point of giving up and turning back when we heard "on-on", which means that someone found the trail.  So off we went, not letting the rain stop us.  Boy was I glad that I didn't turn back.  I would have missed out on so much fun!  Because of the rain, I don't have as many pictures as I would have liked to share, but I still got some good ones.  Enjoy!

Just before the down pour, already a little unsure
if we were on the right trail

There were 2 options - Good Hashers or Better Hashers
Everyone chose Better, so I went along and
became a "Better Hasher"

Down into the valley, a little slick

Looking back up for a different perspective

Going down into the valley meant that we got
down to the river.  This was just the first of many
water crossings.

I had to have one selfie to capture how much
fun I was having :)  Can you see happiness on my face?

Seemingly endless amounts of Angels' Trumpets
I remember saying that I felt like I was in the
garden of Eden

I just thought it was an adventure until we got to this water crossing.  Our option was either to shimmy across on the log or walk through the river.  I didn't want my shoes to be that wet, so I opted for shimmying across the log.  Again, so happy with my choice!  It was beautiful and so much fun!!!

The other crossings made us thankful for bridges

Yay, I see another bridge coming!

I guess it can be trusted? ;)

At least 4 or 5 of the crossings were hopping
from rock to rock, like you see here, and trying
our best to not fall in.

We all made it back!  We were a little wet and muddy, but nothing a shower won't fix.  The memories, the sights, and the experiences were totally worth it.  And then we got to enjoy bites.

The bites were quite a hit - samosas, carrots and
hummus, chips and guacamole, watermelon,
popcorn, cookies, and chocolate cake. Yum!

The School

We are blessed with a beautiful school campus here, and this post will take you on a tour of the various buildings and areas. 

The day students enter through the gate and are greeted by our friendly giraffes.

Yes, we have our own roundabout with friendly giraffes.
My school buildings are on the left and the college is on the right.

 As students come around the roundabout to head toward the dining hall for breakfast, they can catch a good view of the mountain on a clear day.

This is standing at the roundabout looking north.  You can see
the construction of the science labs and the corner of the
Junior Secondary School building.

As the students walk down the drive, the first building they come to on the left is the Junior Secondary School building.  This building has 4 classrooms, a science lab, a library, the art room, and teacher prep room, and two offices.  My office is one of those offices, so this is where I come to work every day.

As they continue down the drive a little further, they pass the Primary School building on the left.  The Primary School has 6 classrooms, a library, an office, and a teacher prep room.

 Behind the Primary School is our sports court/PE/recess area.  The tennis net is usually set up on the court, but there is also a basketball goal and a volleyball net could be set up instead of the tennis net.  There is an open field area where you can almost always find students playing soccer for recess.  And then there is also some playground equipment like monkey bars, swings, seesaws, and tires to climb on.

Can you believe that view?

Continuing on down the drive, the next building is the dining hall.  All students (residents and day) are served breakfast and lunch here.  The resident students also eat dinner here and use it as an area for playing board games and card games when it's not a meal time.

And the last building that students come to is the Pre-Primary School building.  This school building has 5 classrooms, a library/teacher prep room, and two offices (currently being used as the clinic and a space for extra academic support).

Inside the PP3 classroom, which would be the equivalent of
a kindergarten class

Pre-Primary students have their own play area so that they don't
get run over by the big kids :)

 That gives you a bit of an idea of the layout of the campus.  Now what does the school day entail?

After students eat breakfast in the dining hall, the school day always begins with an all-school assembly.  We all meet on the tennis court for the singing of a national song, prayer, reciting of the week's Bible verse, and any announcements that might be needed.

Students are lining up to march into the morning assembly

Pre-primary students are in purple uniforms
Primary students are in dark blue and khaki uniforms

The marching and singing are led by our excellent drummers.
Different student are assigned to this desired duty each day.

After morning assembly, all students go to their classrooms for Bible study with their classroom teacher.  Everyone across the village - teachers, students, mothers, and all other village staff - studies the same book of the Bible at the same time.  There are daily lessons written for every level and role: Pre-primary students, Primary students, Secondary students, Mothers, and staff.  Right now we are all studying 1 Thessalonians.  There is also a hymn for each week, so I enjoy walking past the classrooms during this time to hear the students in the various classrooms singing away.

Once Bible study is completed, the remaining periods commence.  Pre-primary students (ages 3-5) attend school for a half day, going home after they eat lunch.  The primary students (grade levels 1-7) attend for a full day of twelve 40-minute class periods.  We are blessed with many useful resources for teaching and learning and have a very good Christian classical education curriculum for all grade levels and content areas.  I have seen already how much the students are benefiting from such a quality education.  They are opening up many doors of opportunity for their futures.

And just for the sake of providing some perspective, this is a government school that I happened to get to see on Hash #2.  The classrooms had desks that likely have at least two, if not three, students sitting at each one.  There was simply a chalkboard and chalk in each classroom. 

Seeing this made me all the more thankful for the learning environment and the resources that God has given us here in the village so that these precious students are able to grow and flourish.

Hash #2

I was able to participate in another Sunday afternoon Hash.  This one was completely different from the first one.  We drove up the mountain a bit to the home of one of the members.  The route marked out for us was all on local foot trails up and down the hills, crossing rivers and passing waterfalls.  It was beautiful!!!  I had so much fun getting to see more of the mountain side and getting to hike, which is one of the things I miss from Colorado.

What was even better was that I had prayed that morning that God would provide me a new friend that day.  When I arrived at church that morning, there was my new friend!  Isn't He so faithful?!  There was a girl visiting for the first time and looked a bit lost, so I invited her to sit with us and we became fast friends.  She's here from Norway for a 3-month social work internship, so she won't be around for long but that's okay.  After church, I told her about the Hash that afternoon and she was excited to join us.  One thing I really enjoy about living internationally is that you can connect with people from all around the world and end up doing things that you would probably never do in your normal context.  After only knowing each other for a few hours, she was in a car driving up steep, bumpy, dirt roads with me and Phil.  Gotta love it!

Beginning the hash through the lush mountainside 

Over the river and up we go!

My new friend!  A great adventure buddy!

Through the corn field

Look at the waterfall!

Can you tell I was having fun?!

Our 2nd tallest mountain in the distance

This water crossing required balance

At the finish of our 4 km Hash, we enjoyed time at the host's house.  Kabobs, watermelon, and popcorn were provided as bites.  We finished up just in time to catch a colorful sunset!

Machweo (Sunset)

You can barely tell that the mountain was breaking through
the clouds for the reflection of the sunset.

A great end to the weekend, ready to start another week!!!