Even celebrities don't have as strange names for their children...

So I'm finally at my placement for volunteering! The first day we were taken there by someone from TVE (Tanzanian Volunteer Experience) so we didn't get lost. There are a grand total of 3 ways to get around; taxis, motorbikes that act like taxis, and the every crazy and perilous daladala. Daladalas are vans that are kind of like busses. They're supposed to fit about 16 or 17 people but it's not a true experience until there are so many people they're hanging out of the doors and windows and someone, whether you know them or not, is sitting on your lap.  Your personal bubble is left at the door. I have yet to get a good picture of the inside of one but by the end of this trip I'm sure i'll be able to upload one. This is the closest one I have so far-

far too many people squished into this vehicle.

My school is about a 30 minute ride from where I'm living so that means leaving bright an early at 7:20. The first day we got there just fine, but yesterday posed more of a problem getting there on our own. We ended up missing our stop, not understanding that the conductor is trying to tell us we pasted our stop, and riding for 15 minutes....in the wrong directions. We eventually got there but on our way home we had the opposite problem and got off too early and ended up walking 2 miles to the correct stop.

Our first day wasn't all that productive considering the headmaster didn't really have a plan for us at all. We ended up playing with the kids for about an hour before realizing there was nothing for us to do and left early for the day. The schools days are pretty short anyway and end at 1 pm for kids to go home for lunch.

Our exact jobs thus far haven't been very clear. I'm pretty sure we're the new "sports" teachers but we've also been doing odd jobs helping in the classroom (sometimes more distracting than actually helping) and organizing in the office. From what other people say of their schools though mine seems veeeeeery well off. The fact that they even have computers and most kids have pencils and notebooks shows that the school is better than many others.

The "sports time" we're in charge of is usually more chaos than sports. Each class begins with the children steaming out the school building and swamping us. It's a close tie between the children hanging (literally) off of me and a ride in a daladala for which is more invasive of my personal space. They fight to hold my hands, fingers, arms, there's always a couple of hands playing with my hair, and a few more squeezing the breath out of me with hugs.

This is pretty much the greeting I get everyday...
Except instead of creepy hands it's cute children.

 Despite the fact that I can barely move there's so many of them, the kids are pretty darn adorable. The kids speak English fairly well so there's not very much of a language barrier, just with the little ones who probably wouldn't know what to say if I spoke to them in Swahili anyway. They do have some whacked out names a few of my favorites being, Imaculata, Gift, Ebenezer, Brightness, Heavenlight, Godson, Godlight, and Witness. Not so sure what some of these parents were thinking when they were naming their child. Or indeed if they were thinking at all.

They like pictures. Can you tell?

Other than that things have been going great. There was a quasi- 4th of July party yesterday at the other volunteer house the really ended up being everyone drinking and chilling. The one excitement of the night was people getting Maasai burns. The Maasai are a local tribe and part of their tradition is getting burns on their face. They're supposed to be on your cheeks with guys having circles and girls having 3 vertical lines but I've seen different combinations. The security guards at my house and the other volunteer house are both Maasai and have them. They also can give the burns to people who want them but thankfully, most volunteers who get them don't get them on their face.

To give you an idea of exactly where I'm living...

It's bigger than it looks in this picture i promise.

 And here are the crazy people I'm living with...

There's only 12 people staying here plus the house mamas, and since IVHQ gets so many more girls applicants than guys, we are one big estrogen-fest. It reminds me a bit of camp which simultaneously makes me miss it and not miss it all at once. Side note: hope everyone at Hoover is having a blast!

Hope everyone at home is having a good summer!