I was surprised to learn that Valentine’s Day is actually a huge deal in Nairobi! The whole city is decorated and everyone celebrates with their loved ones. It’s not that big here in Tanzania but we made sure to make it big. Has anyone every seen the Valentine’s Day episode of “Saved by the Bell”? I haven’t, but apparently the whole high school wears paper hearts and then does silly, nice things for people to try and “win their hearts”. The person with the most hearts at the end of the day wins. I’ve won one heart so far, I’m thinking of ways to earn more!
Today was our first “non-program day” which means we don’t have any mandatory activities. But of course we had a ton of things planned anyway! We went on a hike this morning to caves carved out by elephants and a beautiful waterfall close by. The rocks and soil here are extremely rich in vitamins and minerals so the elephants go digging into the side of the mountain to expose fresh soil and use the rock as a salt lick. The caves are extremely impressive. After that hike, we were free to walk around Karatu. I bought some beautiful fabric that I’m planning on having the local tailor make into a dress! He’s supposed to be phenomenal. I should have enough fabric for a dress and maybe a purse too.
We finally ended the day at a local bar that serves American food. Most people ordered cheeseburgers but I had one of the best Hawaiian Pizzas of my life! It was a really good time with everyone eating and laughing. There was even a sweet thunderstorm to top it all off!
I have a short break now until dinner. Dinner tonight is, of course, Valentine’s Day themed. Then there is a “surprise” activity afterwards. They are always planning fun things for us here so it should be great!
Tomorrow is the start of another week of classes. We are going to spend most of the day tomorrow out in the field at Ngorongoro National Park, identifying and classifying plants. We learned all the techniques in our last Wildlife Ecology class and now we are applying them. It should be interesting even though I’m not a huge fan of plants…I just hope it doesn’t rain while we are out there! (It is pretty much guaranteed to rain at least once every day from now until May…).
I’m excited to post picture of our next excursion!
Kwa heri
Location: Rhotia, Tanzania
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Hey Mr. Barber! I’m glad you’re reading 🙂 I guess I can give plants a chance. I know they’re important, I just prefer animals! I’ll keep an open mind about it and I would absolutely love to come in and talk to some of your classes. Hope everything is going well!
I was laughing at your dig of plants. Don’t brush them off. If you stick with them, your love for them will blossom.
As you can read, my in-class puns have not gotten any better.
Seriously though, I used to underappreciate plants myslef until I started to investigate their relationships with animals and how they coevolved. It helped to overcome my animal bias.
Continue to have a great time. Maybe there is a future role for you as a guest speaker for AP Bio???
Hi, Jess….What a great Valentine’s idea!!! We should try that in Hershey. Sounds like you are learning and doing sooooo much. We are so happy you love it all!!! Can’t wait to see your pictures. Everyone has been telling us how much they like your blog. xo. MOM
That’s so cute about Valentine’s Day and I love Hawaiian pizza too (even though it took me way too long to figure out how to spell it). I wish I could see where the elephants had carved! You sound like you are having a wonderful time!