Mambo Everyone!
There wasn’t much excitement on day 2.
Basically, on the second day, we visited the local Projects Abroad office, did some paperwork for a work permit, exchanged money(Currency was around $1USD=1570TSH), and had “The Talk”, which was mostly about some rules and how things are going to work for the next 2 weeks. The highlight of that day was going through the schedule or program. The program was new to us, no one had any idea what we were actually doing prior arriving in Arusha, we knew that it was some sort of medical program, but we didn’t know what exactly that we were going to be doing, so everyone was slightly nervous as well as excited.
I will post my schedule at the end of my Africa Blog, because I don’t want my blog posts to be spoiled. 🙂
I forgot to mention in my Day 1 blog my host family! The father of the family, or baba in Swahili, is Davis Mziray, Mom, or mama, is Lulu Mziray, both businessman/businesswoman, though mama helped out in the kitchen for most of the 2 weeks. There was also Lulu, their first child, and Joan, their third and youngest child, the second child was away at boarding school while we were there, since Tanzania is in the southern hemisphere, the students are not on summer holidays. Throughout the 2 weeks, I’ve gotten to know Lulu, she’s 21, going into her first year at Nelson Mandela University in South Africa in January. Her dream is to become a fashion designer and design for Michelle Obama one day. There’s also Joan, who is only 6 years old, and attending an English elementary near home.
As someone who as never learned how to draw, or any classed on fashion other than magazines, Lulu is extremely talented. While we were there, Lulu offered to design some clothes for us, and I definitely didn’t want to miss out on this opportunity. So she had a tailor, who I’ve heard designs for local celebrities, such as Ms. Arusha, come to the hotel to take our measurements, and it wasn’t until the second last day that we got our amazing outfits.
There’s also 2 dadas, or sisters, who are close relatives of the Mziray family, that help out in the kitchen, and they are absolutely wonderful. Aside from the family, there were also wonderful workers, Geofrey and Edgar, who were so friendly, welcoming, and extremely helpful.
(My left over 20600 shillings.)
(Mama, Top; Dada, Middle; Lulu, Bottom;)
(Lulu’s wonderful designs that we bought.)