Dar es Salaam

We started Kiswahili courses on Monday which have been a little frustrating already, but I'm excited to finally be able to make sentences!

Next week we should start teaching at the Mlimani Primary School if scheduling works out. We visited yesterday and met with our teachers, but most of us are having scheduling conflicts. Almost all of the classes teach English in the morning, and because we are taking Kiswahili at that time things have gotten a little complicated.

We found out yesterday that classes, which were supposed to start on the 15th, aren't starting until the 29th. Which means we have two more weeks of travel time (yay!) but two fewer weeks of class (yay?) and two fewer weeks with students on campus (boo!). No one is really sure why things have been moved yet - I heard something about a grant not coming through... but that doesn't quite make sense.

We still have orientation for international students on the 12th (it couldn't be moved back, because most students have already purchased their plane tickets) so hopefully there will be new people and experiences with that. Most of us are planning to travel for the first half and then take shorter trips and day trips from Dar for the last two weeks.

Unfortunately it doesn't look like I can do Kili :( ! First of all because I can't convince any one in my program to go with me, but secondly because its 2-3 times more expensive than I had originally thought... My only option is to wait and see if I can find a connection of sorts on campus and get the friend rate.

With classes being pushed back this whole trip suddenly seems short. We have 3 more weeks of Kiswahili, a break (granted the break is a month long) and then only 2 1/2 months of class!! It's going so fast! I am missing home and look forward to see you all, but hoping time slows down enough that I am able to do and see everything!