Home Sweet Home

Two weeks ago from today I got home from the LONGEST flight back to the USA.  It was basically the happiest moment of my life landing back on American soil.  Me and my little were running around like small children with the biggest grins on our faces and treated ourselves to some REAL diet coke immediately.  As I came down the escalator I saw my family, sister and her kids, lucy, michelle, khristina, c biggs, and brooke all standing at the bottom with a giant big sign saying "Welcome Home Shrub".  So, naturally I start crying from happiness (don't worry, the returning Sister Missionary behind us was completely fine with absolutely no tears shed.) Ugh. Although I will admit, it is basically nothing short of amazing being back in my own soft bed, having warm water, electricity, my family and wifi.... I'm really missing Africa.  I'm so lucky that my little went with me so that whenever we feel sad we can blast our African Jams and reminisce on the good old days.

It's been an eventful past 2 weeks since I've been back; including lounging by the pool, the Mumford & Sons concert, playing with Melissa every day, moving back up to Logan and enjoying a nice Kappa Delta Sorority Recruitment weekend full of workshops (aka Spirit weekend). But starting Monday morning, its back to the grind.

This semester is a little more stressful then I had originally intended, 17 credits + 16 hours at my internship a week. My classes include Walk/Jog, Crossfit, Social Stats, School Social Work, Social Work Policy, and of course my internship.  My internship is the SAAVI office on USU campus (located in the Health and Wellness Center).  I have been a SAAVI volunteer for the past year and knew that working with teenage/young adult women is something I would want to do in life, so SAAVI seemed like the perfect opportunity. Sexual assault and rape are clearly very serious and important topics and I was nervous when I got the internship, but was still so excited to get started.  In May I was required to go to a 40 hour training so I would be fully competent to help victims through giving them therapy/counseling, offering support, helping educate them on their options as well as promoting education for prevention rather than intervention.  Rape and sexual assault is much more common than thought and talked about. 1 in 4 women and 1 in 7 men... just something to think about.  I know it's only been 2 days with my internship... but I can tell I'm really going to love it! I even have my own desk and computer. Yeah, its pretty official you could say.

(the buttons we hand out at Day on the Quad to promote awareness)

It's so crazy to me that this is my senior year.  I just see all these young freshman running around going crazy because they have all this newly found freedom and don't even know what to do with themselves. Creepy to think that I was one of them no more than a few mere year ago; and here I am today a senior in college with a short amount of time with my favorite people in the prime of my life.

In a year from now I will (hopefully) be starting my Masters program (if AIDS doesn't kill me by then). How is my life just going by so fast? Last year I thought the next two years were going to be the longest of my whole life and here I am wishing that I had more time. oh well... Bring on the year!!!!!!!!!

but like I always say... "living life like I only have 3 more months to live... because I do #AIDSsurvivor"

Missing Moshi

People always ask me if I liked my last trip to Africa more or this one.  I have thought about this a lot, but its truly too hard to compare the two trips.  In 2007 when I came with Reach the Children I had an amazing experience PACKED with service as well as adventure.  It was always go go go so I got a lot out of my trip as far as activities, but it is something completely different living here vs vacationing here for three weeks.

Although sometimes at first I felt like I was a bit of a waste of space here-- especially after things like the car accident and I was incapable of anything.  We haven't been able to work on the land near as much as we thought we would (Jordan's back is hurt and issues with not enough water to make the cement). We haven't taught at the schools as much as I thought we would but still help at every chance we get.  But when I think about it... that's kinda part of the experience.  Just living life-- sometimes we have busy days and sometimes we have lazy days just like anywhere else.

Here are just a list of things I'm going to miss about Moshi...

Going to Mamas.  Going to Mamas is the best! Especially watching her play games like Kill Zombies on our Ipods.  She is so sweet and has the biggest heart of anyone I know.  She has a teeny Kitten (aka Paka) that runs around her house-- when I asked her the name she just said "cat" so we decided to name it Shelly in my honor! YAY! (Jordan got the goat named after her, and our Roomie Mandy had the cow named after her). At night we often just go sit in there and chat and then sing songs and pray.  There is honestly nothing more precious in the world then hearing the Tuleeni kids pray.  Even though I can't understand a lick of what they are saying, I can tell that they are so sweet and heartfelt. That is something I am going to miss the very most!!!

The Hot Spring. We only went to the hotsprings once and it is basically a life regret.  It is the most beautiful spring of water basically in the middle of no where and although I wouldnt call it hot, it was so nice to swim in! Two of the older boys came with us (Felix 17, Imma 18) and I taught them swimming lessons! It was something so fun because I was definitely in my element and teaching swimming lessons is something that I have really missed this summer.  At first they were too scared to even really get in the water, but by the end of the day they swam across the spring! I felt like a proud mom!

Since we really were here for so long, we made a lot of lifelong friends I'm really going to miss! SHOUTOUT to: Neema, Paul Taxi, other Paul,  Henry, Security Gaurd at Nakumatt, Mark, Lil' Joe, Lletzer, Mike, Sigrid, Astrid, Marie, Gifty, Beth, and Big Mama.

Another learning experience has been the language.  Even though I basically gave up trying to speak it 3 weeks getting here, I'm surprised at how much I've been able to pick up and how well I understand.  I use simple phrases such as "pole dada" (aka sorry sister) and "labda badi" (maybe later) "una funya nini" (what are you doing) on such a regular basis that I'm afraid some might slip out in America-- pole se pole (sorry I'm not sorry).

Josephine. Josephine is Mamas oldest daughter and someone that I have grown to love and admire.  She has sorta been a replacement older sister while I've been missing mine at home.  She has the sweetest little boy Ericki and is a teacher at Akili pre-school.  Getting to know her has been one of my favorite things about Tanzania.  Josephine is always saying "Una pendeza" which means basically "i love your outfit!" so of course I couldn't leave without giving her my favorite skirt I brought to Africa (thanks for giving it to me Nicki).  When I gave it to her she fell to the ground in happiness.  She kissed the skirt, kissed me, picked me up, spun me around, kissed me and hugged me over and over.  It was an experience that is something money couldn't buy.  I hope that when she wears it she will always feel pretty and always remember me and how much I love her.

The Kids. When I first got here I told Jordan that I was worried I wasn't going to be able to love the kids as much as here-- only because she didn't have a niece or nephew so she can't even compare the amount of love your heart can hold for them.  However, as time has passed these past couple of months I realize that I am going to miss these kids like crazy.  I have been going through withdrawls for the past week and we still haven't even said goodbye.  There is nothing in this world that beats coming home and hearing Samson yelling "SHELLY" and running into my arms with the tightest squeeze and kissing my cheek, or having Bali & Irene drawing me pictures, or tickling Ericki, or having Ogan braid my hair, or scaring Derricki, or cuddling Smiley..... The list just goes on.  These kids are the sweetest and I'm dreading leaving tomorrow morning.

As a last Hoo-Rah in Moshi, Little and I decided to throw a party for the kids on Saturday.  It was a big-all-night-event but one of my favorite nights here!!!  We had to start the day early- we planned a movie night and cooking dinner for the kids.  We went to Nakumatt and bought TONS of popcorn, biscuits, juice and fruit for the kids to snack on.  We also bought 12 kgs of rice (that we had to sift through all of it), 3 whole chickens, pile pile (aka chili sauce), & tons of veggies. We had the help of all the older girls (luckily-- we didnt know how to cook rice... embarrassing I know) and they basically took over and cooked the whole meal for us while we cleaned out the Pre-school room, Akili and got ready for the movie night.  The food took longer then expected so we had the kids sing, play games and do acrobats while we waiting.  One girl, Jacki, asked me what the party was for... When I told her that it was for all the kids she seemed confused.  I told her we wanted to do something special for them (not for us) before we left.  Her face just got the biggest grin and she gave me the tightest squeeze.  We then started to watch Lion King on the projector (like a real movie theater!) and ate our delicious meal.  When Jordan and I brought out the treats their faces were PRICELESS! They were all screaming and running around.  The popcorn was a hit! It was my job to hand it out and they were all going crazy-- I was being swarmed! Since there were too many kids I couldn't enforce saying "please" and "thank you" so when I made them stand in a line I asked "Do you love me?" and they said "Yes!" or "YES I LOVE YOU SOOOO MUCH!!!" and I would give them the popcorn and say "Good, because I love you too!".  Since they didn't have school the next day Mama let us watch 2 movies and all the older boys slept out there all night! It was such a experience and even though it cost over 120,000 shillings it was well worth it.



So which experience did I like better? It's not tough to say that hands-down this is the best experience of my life.  I loved my last trip but that's all it was-- a trip.  Living here in Africa has truly changed my life for the better.  I hope that the lifestyle of "Hamna Shida" and "No Rush in Tanzania" is something that I can remember to live my life by.  On the other hand, I hope that I have left a lasting impression on some of these kids.  I was talking to Helen (13) the other night and asked her if she would remember me if I came back in a year or two... she said she wouldn't forget me even in 100 years.  I hope that is something that is true because I know I could never forget them!!!

But like I always say... "Moshi... I'm missing you already." 

the Big 5.

Bucketlist life goal complete! I got to see the Big 5 in the flesh!
For those of you who dont know, the big 5 consist of the Leopard, Giraffe, Elephant, Lion, and Rhino
Back in 2007 I went to Kenya with my sisters, grandma and mom with an organization called Reach the Children. We went on a 3 day safari and saw 4 of the 5-- minus the rare Rhino. 
Let me break down how it all happened...

On the first day of safari we went to Tarangire-- the gang consisted of my little, Duy, and our 3 friends from Denmark-- Astrid, Marie & Sigrid.
Of course-obviously- I had to start with the classic game "whoever sees the first animal wins!" (my dad always made us play that on our way to our cabin to make us all shut up). And guess who saw the first animal? THIS GIRL! yeah it might have only been a Zebra-- but everyone was stoked!!!

At first all the animals were pretty far away.  The girls were stoked to see them though and used their zoom to maximum capacity.  Since I aint no rook and it wasn't my first rodeo I knew that it would be only a matter of time before we would see the animals up close and personal.  We saw SO MANY ELEPHANTS that day.  It almost got to the point where it was like, "oh there's another elephant...not a big deal" but really-- it kinda wasnt a big deal.

The second day is when all the action happened.  We stopped at the Ngorongoro park entrance (you drive through it to get to Serengeti) and were waiting to use the bathroom and whatnot. The place was flooded with baboons so we were snapping pics while I was educating the girls not to look the baboons in the eye or they will take is as a threat (learned that on my last safari)  We stop, park, and the boys get out while all the girls sit in the car and just chat.  Our friend Georgie (who took us on the tour) made a rookie mistake and left a door open. Next thing I know there are not 1, not 2, but 4 GIANT BABOONS IN OUR CAR!!!!!!! I literally basically tried to jump out of the window (head first--- I was expecting it to bite my leg off but not my face) and yelled for help.  The rest of the time was a blur but somehow they got out and I was just screaming basically embracing myself for a bite.  Luckily we survived. It was basially the scariest moment of my life, but something we can look back and laugh at now.

Serengeti was truly amazing.  We saw so many Lions!!! Its mating season and they mate every 5-10 minutes for 6 days straight! Can you believe that? So yes-- we did see the procreation in real life!
That night we slept LITERALLY in the middle of the safari! No electrical fence, not even a Masai guard to protect us.  We were cautioned not to go use the bathroom late at night (which was a pretty far walk) and to just go pee outside of our tent. Well, naturally since my little and I are BA we decided to use the toilet.  On the way there she said "do a quick scan". There were some scary green animal eyes just lurking near the bathroom so we decided to just run back to our tent and wait until the morning. Not gonna lie, I was pretty scared all night hearing so many animals calls and whatnot-- not to mention our driver and guide has seen lions there before!!! I didn't feel safe but I survived, luckily!  
this picture says it all...

We woke up at 5 am the next morning and with a good reason-- to see all the lions in action! We saw this really incredible basically fight between the huge water buffalo and 9 lions.  They were basically fighting over this rock-- the buffalo all charged the lions but the lions stood their ground and eventually won as the buffalo walked off to other land.  It went on for about 30 minutes and was seriously so sweet to see! We saw so many lions in Serengeti it was TOO COOL. We saw a total of 46 lions that trip.

We also saw the Leopard.  It was up in a tree-- but with binoculars it was crystal clear to see how beautiful it was with all of its spots. I even got educated on the difference between cheetahs and leopards-- you would be surprised at the difference.

The 2 days we spent in Serengeti were amazing and my favorite part of the safari-- but then it was off to the next spot: Ngorongoro
Ngorongoro is a truly amazing and beautiful place.  It is in a giant crater where yes-- a giant meteor hit the earth.  It was different because unlike the Serengeti with tall grass everywhere it was basically wide open except where the river was-- it was so lush and so green. That's where I saw the blessed Rhino!!!!
So a bunch of cars were parked over by the river and said they saw a Rhino. Our driver said they were making it up because it was too far away and we were wasting our time.  Lets just say I was DETERMINED to see this Rhino and I wouldn't let him leave until I saw it.  I looked all over until I saw it! And basically, it was one of the happiest moments of my life.  It sorta sucked because it just looked like a rock, but literally 1 minute before we left it got up and walked away and I was the only one that got to see it's horn! 5 out of the 5! Bucket-list-life-goal COMPLETE!!!!

All I'm saying is... I am so glad that we took time to do the safari even though it is such the tourist thing to do (and I basically consider myself a local now).  But without it, you don't realize how amazing and beautiful the world is in all parts of the world.  Listen, if you are planning your trip to Africa: DONT SKIP THE SAFARI! Worth it!

2 more days until Zanzibar, then 9 more days and I'm back to the land of the free-- the home of the brave. 

But like I always say... "We live in a beautiful world... yeah we do, yeah we do"