Happy New Year!

Oops, I've certainly slacked off in the updating sector -- sorry! Since I last posted I've met my new neighbors (all nice but especially excited about a young woman my age), graded tons of exams and been frustrated with paperwork, seen new areas of Tanzania, been to Paris to see my family, met Brian's parents, been to a PC seminar where I got to hang out with friends I hadn't seen in a year, enjoyed my warmest birthday ever, and started teaching again. It's been busy! But very nice, too :)

I got a lift into town today from a church car, with a nun and a father. After the nun asked where I was from and I said America, she asked if I was from Minnesota. Even after more than a year here, still a surprise! She then listed all the Minnesotans she knows (including 2 girls who volunteered at an orphanage south of me who I met while they were here) and told me about how one day she wants to go there. When I told her I was from New York, she thought I said Norway. . .

I feel like a number of students have a better understanding of math after last year, which is a wonderful feeling. Overall grades above Failing went up a lot, which is definitely partly due to my starting to give homework grades, but even in class I feel like more students are participating and even correctly solving problems ;) This year I'm continuing with my students from last year (probably, I still have to track down the teacher who suggested we "share" teaching forms 3 and 4, which he probably meant as me teaching both), and despite numerous frustrations from school and PC, seeing my students again this year brought a big grin to my face.

So I'm currently teaching math and planning a Boys Conference (like the Girls Conference but for Boys, so we'll do HIV/AIDS education and stigma discussions as well as sexism and women's empowerment stuff), still working on getting a health club going and getting students to use the library, and musing over a possible climb of Mt. Kilimanjaro with some students and other PCVs. I'm still hoping that the logistics of a math club and the school garden work out, but not sure...
I ate my way through Paris with my parents and Alyssa, eating bread and cheese with red wine for the majority of my meals. Falafel in the Marais, sweet and savory crepes, and a traditional French bistro also made appearances :) Not too many chocolate shops, but I definitely checked out a number of museums. Thankfully they brought me lots of warm clothes and my green winter jacket, or else it would have been even harder to get me out of the gorgeous, comfortable apartment. Unfortunately, I accidentally got into the cab to the airport (at 4am) wearing my sister's winter jacket that I had decided to put on to go downstairs in case I had to wait for said taxi. We decided it made the most sense for me to just keep it to wear while I travel after PC, so Norway here I come!

I spent my birthday on a beach in Dar -- napping and swimming and eating. A friend switched dental appointments with me, so I had absolutely no obligations and loved it. The seminar was the first time my whole training class was together since last November (we started with 33 and are now 26), and it was great to see everyone. I didn't get a chance to hang out with some people as much as I wanted, but that always tends to happen in large groups. It was also interesting to see how much people tended to gravitate towards the PCVs geographically closest to them instead of those they hadn't seen in a year. It seems like, by now, we've either made the effort to stay in touch or it's died out so we recognize which relationships we're most interested and invested in.

After Dar, Brian and his parents came to my village for a day before going on to his village, and it was great! Lots of unexpected presents (tea, chocolate, wild rice, maple syrup, jam, scented candles...) and very enjoyable company :) Thanks, again!

There have been a few other adventures, like more than 60 hours of traveling from my house to my Christmas destination, swimming in the clearest and most beautiful water ever, being told to vacate a Tanzanian Navy area, eating mangoes freshly fallen from a tree, making potato latkes on a charcoal stove, talking to a homeless man who had slept at Charles de Gaulle airport, going to a party thrown by the young men and women in the military posted in TZ at the US Embassy, and having the language part of my brain seriously scrambled (Kibena, Kiswahili, English, French, Spanish...).

Oh, I also bought an internet phone because when mine got stolen I decided to upgrade, so now I check email everyday! And often facebook, ny times and google news. I don't usually write long responses because I have to write with a cell phone keypad, but I can do quick responses in between my internet cafe times (when I'd send long emails or post blogs). Thanks for all the emails, letters, packages and birthday wishes! I feel like I'm set with packages for now, but I wont suddenly get shy and not ask for something I crave :) I'll try not to let another 2 months go by before posting again!