Running water!

Yes, we have it today. What a luxury! Flushing toilets, showers....ahh, what a life! We are now on day four of learning swahili and I'm making some progress. Languages are just really not my thing, especially when the pressure is on to learn it. One of my primary concerns is learning it for my internship.

Speaking of which, I visited the site where I'll be working today. One of the directors drove me and three other people across the city to our locations. First we visited a school where two of the ciee students are working. It was a wonderful experience just to tour a school and see all of these smiling faces. We walked into a classroom of about 200 7th graders and they stood at attention and recited together, "Hello! How are you?". It's amazing how something so simple can be so powerful. My heart was warmed and for the first time since being in the hot weather of tanzania, I got chills. It's an odd thing to describe. These kids were just so happy to see us and were incredibly curious about who we were...almost as curious as I am about them. We introduced ourselves in our limited Swahili."My name is Emily. I come from America in the state of California. I am a student." But they were attentive and wonderful. As we drove out of the school compound, they began running after us shouting, "BYE! BYE!!!!!" It was adorable.

Then we drove to my internship, which I will be doing with one other person. She was also my room mate at the hotel and we get along really well. Every Tuesday and Thursday I will leave campus at about 7am to take two daladalas (buses) to a tiny nursery school in a very run-down off the road street of Dar es Salaam. The director let us into a small compound that consisted of a small open area and a fairly large room with a smaller room off the side. About 30 three-six year olds gazed up at us as we walked in, and once again my heart melted. There's no outside place for these kids to play and there is one small fan in the corner of the room that simply moves around the hot air. But here are these adorable children smiling without a care in the world and they are being put into my hands.

We talked a bit with the director about what we would be doing. There is one teacher, named Scholastica. How awesome of a name is that for a teacher? We will basically be free to do what ever we want. This internship will be how ever much we are willing to put into it. For me and my cohort Andrielle, this is a lot. We're so excited and have many plans. Apparently the last CIEE student who worked there raised enough money to do a lot of repairs on the building. It's a lot to live up to, but I'm hoping to be as much of a help as I can. I also want to get my swahili pretty good because it's so hard to communicate with annnyone. These kids will know little or no english, but I'm responsible for teaching them! Ah! I've already started working on a lesson plan with songs and games, but if you know any good websites for teaching resources or perhaps any games or lessons you may know, please let me know! I'm scared but I know I can do it. Plus, I adore kids, so I know this will be fantastic.

Alright, must go study swahili! Love and hugs.