July-October

The past few months have been a whirlwind! In July I was hiking Mt Hanang, attending an Education Project Review, and having bus adventures. In August I went to COS conference and had my friend Katwren visit me. In September I started the extension process and went to a VAC meeting. In October we had the elections but the incumbent won..though everyone around me wanted Chadema to win.

PCV Talent Show Performance

Here is the video of our Single Ladies performance for the Girls Empowerment Talent Show. We basically made the routine up 2 hrs before the show, inspired by Glee. :) If you have Facebook the quality is much better.

Single Ladies Performance

Wasichana wanaweza tena!

We had the 2nd Annual Girls Empowerment Conference at my site! Here are some pics:

Mbeya Girls Conference 2010

It's Been a Month

Well it's been a busy month, I was barely at site and when I was at site, I was helping with the Girls Empowerment Conference. For two weeks I went to Dar and Tanga to help with the PC website and with various PSDN (peer support and diversity network) trainings. Tanga looks like a neat town and hopefully I will get the chance to visit it once more later before I leave here. When I got back we got right into the Girls Empowerment Conference..our 2nd one in Mbeya and the last one before I COS (close of service). This year was less stressful due to the fact we had done it before and there were more volunteers to help out. I definitely am glad that we did it again, and sad that this is the last one. More on it later with pictures!! :)

Changing Again

New plans:
Dec 1st- Close of Service- official end date of Peace Corps Tanzania
Dec 2nd-18th- India to see grandma and relatives
Dec 18th-25th-Michigan to see parents
Dec 25th-Jan 18th-Australia: NYE Sydney, Tasmania Overland Track, Cairns Great Barrier Reef.
Jan 18th- back to Michigan
After that...who knows! :)

pears and more pears

So I am currently making pear and guava wine..we'll see how that experiment goes. So far when I take the bucket lid off it smells like wine. :) The pears here are more like the Asian pears in the States (crisp and not as fragrant). The guava though has a nice smell, right now it just smells like fruit. The funny thing is in swahili pears are pears and guava is mapera...it almost sounds the same when you are at the soko (market). I remember when I first got to site I mixed the two up..when asking for pears I got guava. We shall see as weeks pass on. This is my first time making wine at site, no initiative till now.

Changing Plans

I will be now leaving TZ Dec 1st..but going to Australia Dec 16th-Jan 18th- my last continent..yippee! :) So my 30th bday will now be spent in TZ and I will have completed my 7 continents plan at the age of 30.