Sala Sala Kids' Club

Today was our 3rd visit to the Sala Sala Kids' Club.  What is that, you ask?  Well, it is a dream fulfilled by a family here to organize and provide activities for the children living in the Sala Sala rock quarry area, behind the school where Indy is teaching.  It has actually grown so wildly popular in the couple of years that it's been around, that they've had to break it up into 2 different days and 2 different age groups!  On Tuesday, it's the younger crowd and we meet at the Walton's house.

A usual week is where we have the children come in and they get to play at all the different "stations" around the yard.  There are building blocks, puzzles, a sand pit, water toys, a tire swing...lots of fun things for the children to do.  Our kids love to interact with them and play right along side.  Sissi's favorite activity is making mud pies with a bunch of the kids in the sandbox.  Gwangi and Krypto have evidenced a frustration with wanting to play more structured games and not having the language skills to communicate that to the kids.  Yet, even with that, they still manage to toss balls, throw a frisbee, swing on the tire, and play some paddle ball games.  After the play time is over, there might be a craft, some structured games (several of the adults there speak Swahili and so can set those up), then a Bible Story and a snack round off the afternoon.

It is so precious to see these children playing and laughing and loving to see you try to speak to them.  They also love having their picture taken, they are just hanging on you to take the pictures and then immediately want to see them and they all start laughing uproariously.  What a sweet spirit of unity there is during this time.

We've told Shaun, the leader, that we'll be involved every other Tuesday now.  This day of the week must be popular around here because it seems to be when everything else is scheduled...we have our own school things to do in the morning, then we go to swimming lessons and library time, back home for more school, then we've been doing Sala Sala Kids' Club and then at night, our Small Group from church meets.  This week Krypto was invited to join the after school Orchestra that meets, you got it, on Tuesdays from 2:30-3:30.  SO, we'll do that every other week and then the Kids' Club on the other weeks.  Sometimes it is just hard to make it all fit; but, I know he wants the opportunity to play his violin with other musicians.  There are several other children at the school that play the violin, so it'll be great for them all to play together.

Enjoy the pictures, I couldn't put them all up, in the past 2 weeks I had taken 128 pictures at the Kids' Club.  If you're ever around, we'll take you there, or at least show you the beautiful faces all saved on my laptop!

Sissi and her "delicious mud pies"

Indy is an official tire swing pusher

Just some of the kids and volunteers

One of the sweet girls we play with

Chalk drawings are a hit with the older girls

Another sweetie, she loves to give us hugs each week

Loved how they were pushing each other around

Doing puzzles together on the porch

Red hands from the food coloring we were putting into water bottles for a craft

They liked shaking the bottles up and putting glitter in them.

The Bible story was about the 3rd day of Creation!

Oh, how he loved this picture, he wanted me to show all the kids

Building some towers together

A water game where they had to squeeze the sponge into the water bucket.  The first team with a full bucket, that didn't get knocked over, won...too fun!

Precious!

Tossing water balloons back and forth until they all get wet.

So glad I brought a bag of water balloons, might need to get some more ;)!

A Schedule Has Emerged!

I have heard from many of you, asking us, what our schedule looks like and how do we get our school work done.

Well, surprisingly enough, I actually wrote out a schedule this past week and put it on the wall.....

So, here is a look at our "Life/School Schedule."  We start school about 8:30 or so, after we've completed our morning routine with eating and getting dressed.

The "Average" School Day

Morning

                            K                                      G                                      S

               

   Pledge and Prayer Together

                                  Bible                                   Handwriting - T                         Preschool

                            Handwriting -C                   Kumon Workbooks               Starfall.com

                          3 Books of choice                        Reading                                Play time            

                          Math Drills (M&W)          First Language Lessons

                            Typing (T&R)

                     Classics for Kids.com (F - but, they all listen, we loved Bach this week)

                   Sequential Spelling - Level 1 & 2

                   First Language Lessons - Level 3

                       Writing with Ease - Level 3

About 10ish, we get an Errand, Play Date, School Activity, Lunch Break!

Afternoon

Bible Together

Tapestry of Grace 1 week/World Geography 1 week and rotate

(I'm hoping to fit Tapestry into 1 week, so we can come up to speed next year, 

this way, if I need to "bleed" over a bit into the next week, it isn't too painful)

                         Math-U-See - Delta                  Explode the Code                      Quiet Time

                          Reading Time                          Math-U-See - Alpha

                          Violin Practice                            Piano Practice

Swahili Language (M, W, & F) Together

Science (T & R) Together - AIG Properties of Atoms and Molecules

We're usually done with school about 2:30/3ish.

Each week, we also have outside activities, here's a look at our individual days of the week...

Monday - Pretty open, run errands as needed

Tuesday - 

Swim Lessons @ 10

Lunch with Daddy @ 11

Library Time @ 11:30-12

Sala Sala Ministry with the Grahams, etc. @ 3:30-5

Exponential Life Group @ 7-8

Wednesday - Tag Rugby @ 2:30-4

Thursday - Piano and Violin Lessons @ 10-10:30

Friday - Homeschool Coop every other week @10-12

The kids drawing their atom pictures.  We learned about protons, electrons, and neutrons and had to draw out Hydrogen, Helium, and several other elements.  They got to learn about how many electrons can go in each energy level. We then learned about atomic mass and isotopes....it's going to be a fun year with science!

Tomatoes, Art, and Tag Rugby

We have an amazing garden here...tomatoes, eggplant, okra, lettuce, melons, pomegranates, bananas...and we're planting more, like onions and carrots!  Yesterday we collected a whole bowl of tomatoes and made a huge batch of tomato sauce!  Yummy!!!

We also did some art today during school.  The kids loved to get out the paints and put on their smocks and create.  I should have taken a picture of Gwangi's finished product...a giraffe eating off of a tree with the grass and the sun, it was really pretty good!

First day of tag rugby for Krypto.  He is on the green team!  He was nervous all afternoon about doing something new, something he has never done before...and it didn't help that Daddy told him that rugby was like football, only rougher and with less rules!  But, as always, we talked and prayed about it being a new situation, about making the best of it and trying things out to see if you like them.  He ended up having a blast.  We are so happy that he is having this opportunity.

A New School Year

So, a new school year has begun!

Krypto is in the 3rd grade
Gwangi is in the 1st grade
Sissi is a pre-schooler

Can you believe it, all 3 of my children are doing school!?!

This is truly going to be a different year.  I was hopping today, trying to keep on top of rotating the subjects at a pace that could keep them all interested.  Trying hard to figure out what they could do individually while I worked with one of  the other ones.  For the most part, I would say it worked well.  Sissi did have a bit of a melt down in the morning when she realized that her "one on one Mommy time" was over.  She wanted to do "more school" and I really needed to move on and work with the boys.  We'll figure it out, we'll find that place where everyone gets what they need.  Each year has a bit of a different feel to it.  The big lesson I think I learned today...Sissi just isn't going to go for nap time anymore, not when she knows what she's missing.

We were doing our Tapestry of Grace reading this afternoon and she was fascinated by the book about Elizabeth and then the book about Shakespeare that I brought out, she climbed right up next to us and was asking all kinds of questions.  I think she's interested, I think she wants to do whatever "her boys" are doing.  It might mean I need to take a bit more time to include her in things that I didn't think she would necessarily be a part of; but, it's alright, she's going to learn some really neat things and the boys are good about sharing the time with her.

I'm really looking forward to this school year.  I'm looking forward to moving ahead in History, to studying Colonial America!  Gwangi was so excited to finally start Math U See...he's been so impatient to begin.  We really enjoyed the first lesson about place values and building and making different numbers with the manipulatives.  Everyone enjoyed their new supplies, their new books, the new routine of everyone sitting at the same table.  It might take a few more days until I figure out the order to put a few of the subjects; but, for a first day, with 3 kids involved, in a different country, I would have to say that we had a successful first day "Back to School"!!!!!

Here is what we're doing with each of the kids this year:

Krypto -
Bible and Character Training
Tapestry of Grace, Upper Grammar, Units 3 and 4
Math U See Delta and Epsilon
Answers in Genesis Chemistry
Logic
Swahili
Sequential Spelling
A Reason for Handwriting - Level C
First Language Lessons Level 3
Writing with Ease Level 3
Geography
Violin
Typing
Art
Sports at HOPAC

Gwangi -
Bible and Character Training
Tapestry of Grace, Lower Grammar, Units 3 and 4
Math U See Alpha
Answers in Genesis Chemistry
Logic
Swahili
A Reason for Handwriting - Level T
Explode the Code - Book 2 onward
First Language Lessons Level 1
Writing with Ease Level 1
Geography
Piano
Art
Sports at HOPAC

Sissi -

Bible and Character Training

A collection of Rod and Staff publications

Pre-school workbooks from Dover Publishers and Kumon

Listening in on all the History, Geography, Bible, Art, and Science with her brothers

Just a few of the latest photos

The boys with our newest addition, Smokey!

A Surprise Baby Shower for Amy Medina.  

They just adopted their 3rd child, a little girl, here in Tanzania.

What a turn out, what a baby shower!

Chocolate Chip Pancakes for the 1st day of Back to School!!!

A look at our school room

One of the new bookcases I had made

The other bookcase...think I'll need another one.  These two just covered school books!

Working away, good first day.

Church.  There was a competition between the boy and girl teens.  

It involved vaseline on their noses and cotton balls ;)

A Day at Jangwani...and some wings!

We were supposed to move into our new house today.  Alas, it is not completed...they are still doing quite a bit of construction and cleaning.  We are fervently praying that we'll be able to move in on Monday and just let the workers continue their "thing" around us.  Let's keep on hoping!

In the mean time, we had some free time.  SO, let's be thankful for our opportunities and go to the beach and the pool!

We hadn't ever visited Jangwani, so Laura, one of our new best friends here ;), went with us!

Normally I wouldn't blog about another trip to the beach; but, there is quite a funny story from today that I just have to share!

We had lunch while we were at Jangwani and I wouldn't be surprised with all the activity and really pretty girls there, if we weren't in the middle of the "Miss Tanzania" festivities.  There was music, dancing, lots of food, races and games on the beach.  What a day.  For lunch, Indy ordered chicken wings.  We both LOVE our chicken wings.  Now, we knew they would be different here, more Indian in flavor; but, he asked for some Ranch dressing to go with them, for dipping.  The lady "seemed" to understand what we were asking for.  Attempt one rendered us a salad.  Nope, that's not what we wanted, we want the dressing that goes ON the salad.  She seems to understand, she leaves and is gone for some time.  Then a manager comes out, with better English skills, and asks us again what we want.  We are very visual, demonstrating how we want the salad dressing or sauce to dip our wings into.  How in America this is what people do.  He assures us he understands what we're talking about.  About 5 minutes later, the first lady returns with beef stew and a big smile on her face.  She goes about demonstrating how we should dip the wings into the stew.  We could barely contain ourselves.  She was super kind and tried so hard.  I think next time we order wings, I'll bring my own ranch dressing (thanks Inna for those packets), I can fit it in my purse, no problem.  Too bad they don't have Blue Cheese dressing packets.

Yes, there are things we miss about America...today, you've heard about a few of them!

The pool at Jangwani.  I like that it has the little wall separating the shallow from the deep end.

Super kid friendly location!

This is what I saw as I looked up, while sitting in my chair by the pool.

Beautiful!!!

Another Dhow boat, this one on land.  I find these boats most fascinating and hope we can pick up a piece of furniture made out of one.  Lots of history there!

Life in Tanzania

This will be a long post, I'm warning you now.  It will be a post with lots of thoughts, truth, reality, and stuff about life in Tanzania.

As I'm writing, the generator is running.  It's loud, costs money in gas to run it, and seems to be a constant reminder of how life here can be.

Life here is unpredictable....I like reliability, I'm having to adjust.
Life here has no schedule...I like to plan, I'm having to adjust.
Life here is different...I like things to be the same, I'm having to adjust.
Life here has sights and sound and smells I've never experienced before...I do like adventure, but not everyday, so, I'm having to adjust.

We've found a great church, and if truth be told, there are several great churches in town.  We've been so fortunate to meet and befriend most of the International Pastors here.  It makes it hard to choose.  We're going to "The Ocean" http://www.theoceanindar.net/ and it meets in a Cinema.

Here is Gwangi playing on the equipment that is out in front of the church.

When you drive on the street here, you experience so much of life in Tanzania.  In the US, people are much more segregated.  There are certain sides of town, there are certain areas where groups of people will live.  I'm not saying that doesn't happen here; but, it is really not quite as obvious.  You will have these absolutely beautiful mansion type homes and then next door is a storage container that has been turned into a house and the people have goats and no running water. You will see people in Western style dress walking with a traditionally dressed African, or even a lady wearing a burka.  Clothing here is colorful.  There are piles of burning trash everywhere.  There are city buses at every corner.  There are colorful bajajs (a little motorized golf cart type form of transportation very common in the city).  At all the busy intersections there are people selling something...coffee mugs, electric tennis rackets to swat at bugs, fish, nuts, etc.  You buy furniture here on the street corner, there is some really nice stuff on street corners!  There is also some "not nice" stuff that you'll see on street corners.  There are more people asking for money here than I've ever seen before.  There are so many people that are hurting, that are physically hurting because they are missing limbs, have diseases (like polio) that have disfigured their bodies and so they can't work.  Tanzania has a very high unemployment rate, and even for those that work, they make about $100 a month.  It is quite a change for us to really be "living" with this kind of poverty that is around you 24/7 and quite literally in your face.

Notice the bajajs on the side of the road and a city bus is coming toward us on the other side.

People walking along the road as we were in stop and go traffic.

The school that Indy teaches at is absolutely an "International" school.  There are over 30 countries represented there!  As it is an overtly Christian school in it's mission statement, you would think you would find mostly Christian students attending.  At orientation Indy was told that the student body is about 70% Christian and the rest is made up of Muslim, Hindu and at least one Atheist.  How do we know about the Atheist....he is in one of Indy's classes and has already "put up his fists" to make his point about his animosity toward Christianity.  Definitely some prayer needed on that end.  Indy is also teaching the 11th and 12th graders and we didn't know much about the British Cambridge system...so let me fill you in on his mission field.  In the 10th grade, students take these massive exams that determine whether or not they are going to University.  If they pass, they are on their way and the 11th and 12th grade is optional classes to get them ready for the next phase.  If they don't pass these exams, they are weeded out and find work, usually in the blue collar sector.  This leaves quite a few openings in the classroom and so the 11th and 12th grade here has a massive overhaul each year as students from other International schools will fill in those holes.  Some of them are believers, some of them aren't, so any which way you look at it, these students are in need of mentoring and prayer.

A couple of students talking after school at HOPAC.  Love the view of the ocean here!

One of the things I'm not so good at is "seizing the moment", that realizing where we are living is quite beautiful, has an amazing ocean and plant life, and that when people come here on vacation, they experience and enjoy those things.  I think when you live somewhere, whether it's the majesty of the Rocky Mountains, the expanse of the ocean, or the bustling history of the DC Metro area, that we fall into our daily routine and don't take the time to enjoy where we are planted.  

The Lord has us here for a reason, we are seeing those reasons unfold all the time.  Indy is meeting students that need to talk, that are searching and wondering about their future, about the Lord, and the truth of their "religion."  One of the churches here has a ministry to an area behind the school called Sala Sala.  It is an old, abandoned rock quarry and people live there, lots of people live there... in huts, with not much else.  It is a sad example of the extremes here being right next to each other, such a stark contrast to the human eye; a beautiful International School, and a village living in a rock quarry.  We're going to get involved with what the ministry is doing in Sala Sala.  I want our children involved.  I want to be involved.  I want to put all of my heart into making a difference, into being a good friend, into enjoying where the Lord has me at this time.  I know I'm changing, I know I'm growing, and I know I'm adjusting.  Some days are more clear than others.  Some days I actually enjoy it here ;).  Some days I get disheartened with life's inconveniences and I start the grumbling.  I will then choose to continue to sing my song.... "A joyful heart is good medicine, good medicine, a joyful heart.  A joyful heart is good medicine, a joyful heart is good." (Prov 17:22)

A dhow boat, typical in Tanzania and Zanzibar.

Some of the lush greenery we see down at the Sea Cliff.

The beach, about a 5 minute walk from the house we have been staying in this month.

The new house won't be quite so close.  

We met and talked to these people a bit; but, language, as always, was an issue.

I like this picture for so many reasons.  We like the "Medieval Moorish" that is being built, on the left.

There is a lady walking toward us with a big bucket on her head, such a typical sight.

The ocean is at high tide, you can see the line of green "algae" where it will hit and then recede.

We took this picture on a day when we walked to the beach to learn about tides for school.

This is a country of power outages, bug bites, and traffic.  

This is a country of beaches, amazing growth, and beautiful people.