We're Graduates!

Finally, after almost 4 months, we are totally fluent in Swahili.  We now know all the words.  Ok, so maybe not so much.   But we can communicate well enough to not sound like complete idiots and we are officially done with language school.  Yea!  Brett and I really enjoyed our time at school and will actually miss being there a lot.  We'll especially miss our teachers.  

If you finish the course, they force you to have a graduation.  Now, we really didn't want to have this graduation, but there really was no way around it.  They had us give speeches (in Swahili) and made all the other students give us a blessing or share a memory or something along those lines.  This is actually quite entertaining as some of the other students have only been there 1 week.  They gave us diplomas and made us a cake.  No one played the graduation song, but I felt it in my heart.  

This is Brett with Tunku, one of our favorite teachers.  Brett is also Tunku's favorite student, which we know by how much he makes fun of Brett.  Also highly entertaining.  

This is me with some of the teachers after I so excitedly received my diploma, given to me by Peter, the Danish guy at language school.  I'm not sure why Peter was involved in this process, but hey, when have you ever gotten a diploma from a Danish guy?
This is me with our friends, Carley and Kate, Americans who are teaching in Dar at the Christian School.  They're much fun, and I'm sad they live so far away.  They ended school the same day as we did, but were only able to stay for a month total, so they didn't have the joy of getting diplomas from Peter, though they were still forced to make speeches.  The kids made us our lovely laurel crowns as a graduation present.  So beautiful. 

I know we still have a lot to learn, but the language school was great, so if any of you are wanting to learn Swahili, I highly recommend it. 

Dar

Well, it's been a while.  But I said I would tell you about our trip to Dar, so that I will do.  We went to Dar a month-ish ago for a check-up for me and the baby.  We left on Friday late morning and made it there just in time for bad traffic.  wahoo!  But that's ok.  We had a nice dinner, complete with real french fries, and then headed back to our guest house.  We spent Saturday shopping for some needed items, including a few small appliances.  Most of the things we could buy in Mwanza, but they're way more expensive there, so we thought we'd take advantage of cheaper prices.  We also took advantage of the movie theatre, since Dar is the only place in Tanzania that has one.  Fortunately for me, the sixth Harry Potter movie came out the day before we got there.  wahoo for real!  

Sunday we spent trying to find a place for Brett to watch the Tour de France (which we were unsuccessful doing) and then decided to spend the afternoon at the beach.  There's a resort close to where we were staying that, while their room rates are pretty ridiculous, they let you use their facilities: pool, restaurant, beautiful beachfront complete with umbrellas and chairs, for just about $2.25.  The second picture is taken from the restaurant there.  We were invited to stay the night with some friends we met at language school who live in Dar, so we headed there for a nice evening.  

Monday was our doctor's appointment, which didn't go quite as planned.... We saw a doctor who wasn't the one we made an appointment with, then were told their facilities aren't capable of reading the ultrasound so they needed to send us somewhere else.  This was slightly frustrating, as we had called a month earlier and told them why we were coming.  Anyway, we were supposed to go back to Iringa after that early morning appointment, but since we had to make another appointment that afternoon to see a different doctor, we called upon our friends for another free night's lodging and stayed for our second appointment.  This was a much better experience.  Everything went great, baby's healthy, we got to find out it was a girl, and eat more french fries.  The last picture is of our ultrasound.  It's actually really great quality, but it's just a picture of a picture since we don't have a scanner.  But if you look at the top, you'll see she's waving at you, a very friendly girl.

Also pictured is me, Brett, and his beard, in front of our little house at language school.  Pretty impressive, no?

we're here

Hello.  Just a quick note to let you we're still alive.  Sorry for the lapse in posting.  The road work to get to an internet connection has gotten a little ridiculous.  On a bright note, this is our last week of language school and we will soon be going to a land where there is internet everywhere.  We'll post pictures soon!

Bump Update

Ok, so I know it's not a huge bump, but there is a bump, nonetheless.  I promise the baby is in there.  

For my next exciting post, I'll tell you about our trip to Dar, and I'll include a lovely picture of Sasquatch's ever-growing beard.

And the Baby Is...

 A Girl!  So, all you out there who guessed boy, I'm sorry, maybe next time.  I have three theories as to why we should have known all along that it would be a girl. 

1.  I think Cheryl had it right.  I'm still pretty tiny, and if this were a Brett-sized boy, I'd probably be huge by now.

2.  T's comment about our team.  It seems that if you are a member of the Geita team, you are not permitted to have boys.  The Groen's have 3 girls, we're having a girl, and Daniel and Kasey are having a girl.  Now, the McNeal's don't know yet what they're having, so we'll have to wait 2 or 3 more months to see test this theory.

3.  Brett has always maintained that he is incapable of producing girls.  I assume God thought this would be a good opportunity for a laugh.

Really, we're happy with a girl.  The doctor's appointment went well, and the baby is very healthy.  She's a little small, which suits me just fine.  We actually have pictures of the ultrasound, but we don't have a scanner here so you'll have to wait on those.  We still haven't decided on a name yet, but we've got some ideas...Helga, Calvina, Hot Dog, and more!

Any Guesses?

 

This next weekend we are headed to Dar for a checkup at the doctor’s.  We’re hoping to find out if we’re having a boy or a girl.  I thought I’d see if anyone has any guesses...let you know the answer in a week or so:)

Giraffes Aplenty

For our fifth year wedding anniversary, we decided to go on a little safari.  Our actual anniversary isn’t for another couple of weeks, but the rates for safari lodges skyrocket in July, so we decided June was a fine time for a wedding.  

We went to Ruaha National Park, which is about 2 1/2 hours from Iringa.  This was Brett’s first safari, so I was really glad that all the animals were out and about.  I’ve never seen so many giraffes in my life.  They’re so amazing to watch move.  They always look like they’re in slow motion, even if they’re running.  We almost demolished our car by running into one coming around a corner.  But, thanks to Brett’s fast braking, we managed to not get squashed.  We also saw a herd of over 500 cape buffalo.  We came through to a clearing and there they were, as far as the eye could see.  We also saw elephants, warthogs, hyenas, jackals, greater kudu, about a million impala, hippos, crocodiles, baboons, zebras, birds, and more.  The only thing we didn’t get to see were lions. That was the top animal Brett wanted to see, so it was a little disappointing, but we figure surely sometime in the next 10 years we’ll have another chance.  It was a really great trip.