Phew! We did it.

Yesterday was the last day of the first term.  It was a very busy few weeks getting ready to close school.  Students had exams in all of their subjects.  That meant a lot of editing, copying and grading.  The students were also responsible for doing a lot of cleaning and yard work in preparation for leaving. 

On the last few days we had an Academic Meeting where we discussed the performance of students and started to think through a plan for addressing strengths and weaknesses in the second term.

Then the afternoon of the final day of school, there is an awards ceremony.  The students who were ranked 1st, 2nd and 3rd in each class are called up to the front to shake hands with the teachers.  Then those students get to drink a soda in celebration of their accomplishments.

Today, most of the students will leave for home.  We won't see them again until mid-July.  It has been a whirlwind first term and we are all excited for some rest. 

Race Day!

Today was our official 5k race.  When the girls started running in January, they couldn't even run 1 mile.  They have come so far.  They were so excited. 

We had to delay the start a bit because of heavy rain.  But eventually the weather cleared and we gathered everyone at the start to send them off. 

It took about 24 minutes for the first racer to cross the finish line. Goodhope's mother is one of the madams at the school who supervises the children on the weekends and in the dorms.  After crossing the line, Goodhope collapsed into her mother's arms and let out a few tears of exhaustion.  It was really sweet.

The rest of the girls trickled in over the next 10 minutes or so.  Trevor ran with the girls so I could take pictures at the finish line.  He ended up cheering on the last two finishers who held hands throughout the final stretch to encourage each other.  Such great teamwork!  They crossed the line to the chants of all the students at the school.

We had cookies and a t-shirt for the top three finishers.  But we also had all the runners over to our house afterwards for a soda and a hot dog.  And to celebrate the end of the term, we have the DJ coming back tonight to play music.  All in all, a great way to end the semester.  The students wrap up classes next week and we won't see them again until mid-July.

 

 

A Long Walk for Tea

Yesterday, May 1, was a holiday so there was no school. My running group decided to use the morning to do some walking since we have been running really hard the last few weeks.  I suggested that they take their mandazi (aka sweet buns) with them so they would have something to eat along the way.  That became quite controversial.....because apparently, you can't have mandazi without tea.  Eventually, they settled on taking both the tea and mandazi with them. 

I wanted to find a cliff that Trevor had been to before.  I thought I know basically how to get there.  But it turned out to be much harder than I had thought and I was lucky that one of the students lived around there and knew where we were going.

The girls kept picking fruit from yards along the way despite how many times I told them that when you are wearing shirts that say the name of your school, it isn't a good idea to pick fruit from someone else's yard....but none of the home owners seemed to mind. 
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When we got there, it was worth the effort because it was a peaceful setting and a beautiful view.  Today it is back to running, but it was nice to have a little break.

Bunk Beds and Mosquito Nets

I think our sleeping arrangements are a good representation of our comfort level living here in Tanzania.  When we first arrived, we all slept together in the same bed huddled under one mosquito net.  We slept those first few nights (maybe even weeks) exhausted from traveling and jet lag, terrified of mosquitoes and generally every sound we heard.  We would watch movies in the middle of the night under the net sometimes because one or all of us couldn't sleep.

But as time has gone by, sleeping arrangements have changed.  We have two bedrooms.  In the main bedroom, there are two beds put together under a large net.  In the other room, there was a small bed with a small mosquito net.  Slowly, our sleeping changed to me and boys sleeping in the big bed and Trevor sleeping in the other room.  Then at some point, Nino started to sleep a little better and Trevor and I started trading off having solo nights in the small bed.

But a couple of weeks ago, I asked someone to make us a bunk bed for the small room.  This was because I'm finally comfortable with the boys sleeping in the other room and ready to really settle into the house (almost 9 months after arriving).

Here is their new bed fitted with mosquito nets....

Side note, wives often get excited when their husbands bring them flowers or jewelry.  I can't even express how excited I was when Trevor brought home a new mosquito net for the big bed a couple of days ago.  We have had a net that was a little too small and impossible to keep tucked under the mattress.  I've fought with that net every night for 9 months.  The new net if fabulous, fits perfectly and is the perfect gift!  Thanks Baba. 

Feeling Yucky!

This was a rough week for the Mercado/Kearneys in Bukoba.  Nino got a terrible rash on his face.  We are pretty sure that it is impetigo but it sure did look terrible.  We are lucky to have a doctor and nurse (Les and Kristine) in the family that are only a Skype call or email away to help us diagnose and treat illnesses.  Going to the doctor here is really tough for us.  They don't seem to be able to give us much by way of specific information.  And I can't tell you how may times we've been told that drinking cold beverages is what is causing our illnesses.  (Doctors here seem confident enough on that one that maybe I should do some research)  But it seems that with antibiotics and ointment, he is on the mend.

I've also been sick this week.  It feels like I had strep throat although all the doctors were able to say was that I had swollen tonsils.  But regardless, I was totally knocked out for 2.5 days.  When Trevor and I first started dating, I was pretty amazed that he was willing to chaperone for more than one field trip for my sometimes tough to manage students in NYC.  But this week, he went above and beyond by actually teaching all of my classes for three days.  He is a rock star! 

We've hopefully rounded the corner and we'll be feeling fine very soon!

A Morning on the Beach

My running club has been working hard the last few months preparing for a 5k distance.  As a special treat, we decided to head into town this morning to run on the beach.  Walking into town isn't as easy as it seems.  It takes about 45 minutes and it a steep downhill.  You also have to worry about cars and motorcycles and bicycles along the way.  It had been raining all night but the storm seemed to pass so we headed out. 

This is the view of Lake Victoria from the top of the hill as we set out.

 After getting to town, we headed to the beach to run.  I wanted the girls to experience the challenge of running on sand.  They didn't do much running but it completely wiped them out.  In this picture, you can see the top of the hill that we walk down to get there.

 These three are pretty consistently the top three runners.  The one in front is especially fast....

 After the beach, we walked to the Walkgard hotel for some snacks and drinks.  We had samosas and chips.  The girls even got to watch some cartoons while we waited for food.

 It started raining while we ate so we tried to wait it out.  But it didn't look like it was going to stop anytime soon.  So eventually, we had to head up the hill in the rain.  We were soaked by the time we got to the top but everyone had fun regardless.  I convinced them that walking in the rain was better than walking up the hill in the hot sun.  Some of the girls picked giant leaves and used them as rain hats. 

After leaving at 8am, we got back just in time for lunch at 1pm.  It was a great morning!

Arusha

We had a meeting in Arusha so we decided to extend our trip and spend the Easter holiday there.  It was a fantastic trip.  We went on a safari with our colleague, Elizabeth, who lives in Nairobi. 

We also got to eat some amazing food, rest, relax and do some touristy things.  One of the highlights was a trip to an art village called, Shanga.  It is an artist community that is dedicated to providing employment and other opportunities to the disabled community in Tanzania.  We were able to see the artists at work making all kinds of crafts and we ate a delicious meal.

Some other highlights:

A restaurant with mushroom risotto and a bonfire:

On the way back to Bukoba, we spent a couple of nights in Dar and got to visit our favorite shopping center with a playground for the boys.