click to enlargeTHIS UPDATE WAS SUPPOSED TO GO OUT ON MARCH 10TH, BUT WE'VE BEEN WITHOUT INTERNET SINCE THEN . . .

Hi everyone!

I promise you that even if the following update doesn’t make it sound like I ever do any work, I do work every day during the week; I just get to do a lot of fun stuff at night and on the weekends! The school design is moving along; Frances and I have pretty much finalized the basic classroom unit that will be replicated. Benja did all the filming and basic editing for the next Mambo Jambo music video, but I’ve spent some time cleaning it up and making sure the lip-syncing matches up, so hopefully it will be on YouTube and Facebook soon!

A few Wednesdays ago a large group of volunteers went to the Irish Pub for Karaoke Night (see picture collage). I did not participate, but I have it all on video! Two weekends ago, I went to my favorite beach, White Sands, on Saturday and then on Sunday I took my boss’ kids (Kimi, Rosie, and Houstorn) with one of the other team leaders, Minna, to the local water park called Wet ‘N Wild (see picture collage)! It was a blast; the kids are fearless so we went on all the slides together and having the baby with us was a good excuse to play in the kiddy area. This past Friday we were hoping to go bowling and out to dinner for one volunteer’s last night celebration, but we discovered the bowling alley that I loved going to last time is gone! I was devastated, but we still went out for dessert and to the casino that’s in the same complex.

“Pub quizzes” (testing teams in a bar on general knowledge and pop culture and the winning team gets a round of free drinks) are very popular in Europe (do we have them in America?), so the team leaders try to create something similar for a group activity to do once a week. We usually do it after dinner at the volunteer house, but I suggested that we truly make it a pub quiz by going to our local bar and including locals on our teams. We tried it last night for the first time and it was very successful and fun.

I may be going to the capital of Tanzania this coming weekend to help out with the Art in Tanzania/Mzuka Records Dodoma Talent Show. Art in Tanzania has been organizing talent shows throughout Tanzania to discover new talent for the record label. We should call it “Tanzanian Idol”!

I hope all is well with you! Picture collage attached!

All the best,
Moriah