Heri ya Pasaka!

Happy Easter to those who celebrate it. This past week was spent marking exams and also deciding on whether or not I am teaching bachelor degree classes. Also this coming week is the last week of lecture and next week finals! Though I am teaching bachelor degree classes starting next week, which means no real big break this year except for a week in August (where I plan on going to Victoria Falls in Zambia but have not finalized that yet) and a few weeks in December (where I may climb Kilimanjaro). The Saturday before Easter I visited Matema Beach for the day. It was an interesting trip up where I rode in an ambulance Land Rover (they had room). Along the way the driver stopped to show cocoa pods and palmero (a type of grapefruit). Cocoa pods once you open them up have a sweet, slimy candy like lining around the beans. So I sucked on a few and spitted out the bean. The bean is bitter and did not smell like chocolate. The water was warm, but unfortunately not clear enough for snorkelling though they say during the dry season (from June-Oct) and January/February timeframe has clear water and warm weather. If you ever do stay in Matema I recommend you stay at the Luthern Beach Center (it seemed cheap though cold showers I am told). I had a nice latte and some pizza at the Beach Center. It was great to have real coffee again. To go to Matema take a dala from Mbeya to Kyela and if you arrive before noon you can take a bus from Kyela straight to Matema about 7500 TZ shillings at most one way. The nice thing is that it is possible for me to head to the beach and back in a day or weekend! :)