I know I haven’t written lately but we have been so incredibly busy. To top it all off the power has been going on and off and the internet rarely works very well. That’s making it quite difficult to write the 4 papers that we have due in the next week! One is an analysis of Maasai culture, two are analyses of observations made on our trip to Manyara National Park and the last is an analysis of baboon behavior based on observations. I actually don’t mind all the work because I am so interested in all of it! Our classes are extremely rigorous but very interesting. They have been keeping us so busy here that I can barely keep my head on straight.
After our trips to the National Park, we visited a Maasai boma, and the local primary school. A boma is basically a home away from home for Maasai mamas who are trying to sell their handcrafted jewelery to tourists visiting the National Park. When we went to the primary school, the children taught us how to count and tell time in kiswahili. They absolutely love having us around and especially teaching us their language. I had 3 kids on my arm at all times. After classes, we sang some songs with them and played games. We were there for almost 3 hours! The kids love to laugh at us when we try and speak swahili but they are really patient and love to teach us too.
I’m very excited for tomorrow because we have our first day off since we’ve been here! We have about one non-program day per week. Of course, it’s not really a non-program day because they give us so much to do! Tomorrow we are hiking up to a waterfall with a crater that was carved out by elephants, then we are visiting an Iraqw boma (just like the Maasai boma). After that we will have the afternoon to walk around Karatu. Then it’s back into classes!!
We are celebrating Valentine’s day tomorrow “Saved by the Bell” style. Apparently, there is an old episode where the whole school wears paper hearts on Valentine’s day and tries to win the most hearts by doing nice and silly things for people. There will be a prize for the one who wins the most hearts 🙂
Everyone here is exhausted but we are learning so much and are all getting along really well. I was just talking to a few people today about how it already feels like we have been here for several weeks.  Tomorrow is a really early day so I should probably get some sleep but I’ll be sure to take more pictures when we go to Tirangirie National Park next week!

Kwaheri

Location: Karatu, Tanzania