Workin' Hard and Playin' Hard

Well this is going to be a long one. Sorry there was no update last week. We got home on Sunday night from our beach adventure and then left Monday morning for our water project so we didn’t have a chance to go to the internet café.

Last week on Tuesday we got to go with our friend Goodluck to Mkono, a Maasai village that is about 2 hours away. Goodluck runs a support group for HIV positive people and some of them make and sell jewelry to earn money for the group. We got to spend the day with them and learn how they make the jewelry! It was really cool and really fun! We left bright and early and took a dala-dala outside of town and went on this really cool walk/hike! It was soo beautiful! We hiked down into this valley and walked down this river to find some monkeys. They ended up being baboons and there were a lot of them up on a ridge and they were peeking at us through the bushes and the trees. It was pretty cool! We hiked up the other side of the valley and then to the village. We spent the next few hours learning how to put the beads on the wire and listening to them sing and we sang a little bit and it was just a good time! They fed us yummy corn, this really good juice, and ugali and beans! It was really nice of them! Oh and they gave us come bracelets and let us try on these really cool fabrics! After we were done beading they sang us this song and we all did a dance with it and then said goodbye and then we walked with the pastor so he could show us his church. We got to the church and had a weird and awkward church meeting! Haha I will say I am so impressed at how religious Africans are. It’s really cool that they all just show their religion and love of God and they don’t care to show what they believe in and stand for! It is a good example!

Making jewelry with the Maasai 

They let us try on this cool blanket. Zion, Goodluck, Me and the Pastor 

Thursday we left for our beach adventure! So we didn’t plan anything really other than the two cities that we were going to visit and then we decided to just wing it the rest of the time! Which actually worked out really well!! We left bright and early to catch our bus to Tanga. Surprisingly the bus left right on time and we  were all prepared for a four hour bus ride but………it turned into ten and a half and it was sooooooooooo long!!!! We had suitcases falling on us, butts hitting us in the face, lots of people leaning over us! It was quite the experience! At one point we stopped for a bathroom break and we got off the bus and looked down at our feet and they were soooo swollen! It was funny but gross! Haha We FINALLY got to Tanga and we were soooo excited! We found some helpful people who pointed us in the right direction for a good hotel and it actually was! It was only a couple of dollars per person and they served us dinner for really cheap! Tanga ended up being really quite and there was really nothing there! But we got a comfy bed and a meal and we were very content! We left the next morning to Peponi Beach Resort. We weren’t quite sure where it was or what it was going to be like and when they dropped us off in the middle of nowhere we all thought “oh crap”. We walked down this little path way and came to a creepy gate, we walked through the gate and found these little huts……we kept walking and this lady came out of an office and told us to come on in……..we walked through the office and we were in PARADISE!!! It was sooo beautiful and cute!! We stayed in a little banda with wonderfully comfy beds and a beach view! We spend that whole day on the beach looking for seashells and  just hanging out! We had such good food and our favorite was a bacon and banana sandwich, sounds weird right?....but it was sooooo good!!! The next day we woke up and watched the sunrise. It was pretty cloudy but still beautiful! We ate our “light” breakfast and then headed off to get our snorkeling equipment. We walked down to the beach and then out to our Dhow. We sailed on a legit handmade sail boat like pirates and it was really cool! We got to the reef and hopped in the water! I soon found out that sailing and snorkeling do not go over well with me. I got real sea sick and then swallowed lots of sea water and then had to just sit on the boat while everyone else snorkeled…..after sitting for a little bit Brittnee came to see how I was doing and I just leaned over the boat and threw up….right on poor Britt…..what a good friend she is!! I felt better after that but had to lay down for all the rest of the sailing. After we were done snorkeling we went to Sand Island! It was soooooo gorgeous!!! When the tide is high the island disappears but when it is low there is a huge island sticking out of the water! We hung out there for a while, took some pictures, did some flips and acro yoga, and then got back on our little Dhow to go back to the main land! Besides getting sick and not being able to do much snorkeling it was a really fun day!!! That afternoon we went back to Tanga to the Maua Inn! It wasn’t quite dark so we walked around for a little bit and tried  to find blonde hair which we still have never found L. Then we took a ride on a Baje(spelling ?) we just took it around the block because we have been wanting to ride one! It was pretty funny! The next morning we took another long, but not quite as long thank goodness, bus ride back to Arusha!

Peponi!! We werent quite sure what we were going to find! haha 

our cute little banda 

always gotta take a cheesey beach picture

sunrise and the Dhow on the horizon 

Sand Island and our Dhow! :) 

our chaco tans are looking great!!!

Acro Yoga!!!

Our bajeje (spelling?)

This week was the week of our water project that we have been planning for so long! Five of us left Monday morning and then the rest of the team came Wednesday. Brittnee, Kate, Me, Landon, Jen and Spear all went on Monday in a rented out dala-dala! It was nice to  have so much space for once! Haha We got to Magara in the afternoon and went straight to the school where we would be staying. They have dorms for the teachers but they don’t use all the rooms so that is where we stayed for the week.There were bats that living in the ceiling and every night at dusk they would come shooting out....and i missed it every time! haha but it was good they were there because they ate all the mosquitos. It was bad because they whole place smelled like pee....yum. Monday after we got our rooms all set we went to check out the drill site and set up the village drill. It is a pretty cool contraption and I wish I would have gotten a better picture but it is a crane with a drill/pipe on it and one person would turn the drill while  the other people would spin the drill and then another person would switch the pipes out. Each of the pipes were 3ft. long so we would spin and drill for 3ft, unscrew the pipe, pull the drill up as fast as possible and then put on another pipe all the while water is shooting out of it....i think that was a pretty crappy description....but we have movies so ask me when i get home! haha Man oh man was it hard work!! We had some of the people from the village helping...but it was kind of annoying beacuse whenever me and kate would be spinning the wheel the boys would barely do anything so we would be working so hard and then we would move and they would start going at turbo speed! haha It was fun though.....especially when they would change the pipes and water would shoot EVERYWHERE! All the locals would run away cuz they didnt want to get wet and we were stuck doing it alone! Needless to say we got really dirty!! haha So we drilled for three days and hit the bottom and we were all so excited! But when we woke up on Thursday morning we were told that 50 ft of the whole had caved in and Spear(the guy in charge and our branch president here) and the local volunteers and redrill for that whole day! it was pretty rotten! All of our team went and hiked up some waterfalls though and that was really fun!! I hiked up pretty high but then got scared so Marrianne and I hiked back down and hung out in the pool at the bottom but lots of people went pretty high up and we all had a good time! It was a nice relaxing break! Since we were drilling in sand there was the worry of it caving in and on thursday night after they had redrilled half the well all over again they went to put the pipe down and it only went half way....so that caused the some problems! But they have it all put together now and in two weeks we are going back to  make sure it is all working correctly and then we will have a little opening ceremonies!  Hopefully it all works out! If everything goes as planned then like 1000 people will have clean water! Which is soo cool!! :) 

Brittnee:Aka Cranky 

Me: aka Spinster and Kate:Aka the hoser! The wheel we have to spin  that gave us way to many bruises and sore arms!

Spear getting ready to change the pipe

Our friends Joshua and Cartoon Face(we didnt know his name) They stuck with us the whole time! 

All the kids would watch us drill everyday! 

Water tree....when you find one of these you know you can drill cuz there will be lots of water

Our hand prints in the cement at the well 

This was the well where we stayed that Spear drilled awhile ago and the goats were stillin water!! haha 

This week we are cracking down on our jewelry business. We have design and Britt's brother is working on a logo so things are going well!! We are really excited!! We are also making 24 little chalk boards for the kids at Kitulezo so they can each have there own and then a big one to use when we split the class! It is going to be a good week! Hope all of you have a good one too!! :)