Walk through Zanzibar!

The last few weeks have flown by...we've been busier here in Tanzania than I feel like we were back in Colorado!  Lots of neat activities to participate in, ministry to spend our time with, and social outings to share with our new friends.  The community here is accepting of all the new people and is so much fun.

This week is the Fall Break at HOPAC and many here take a holiday.  We've been in Tanzania 3 months tomorrow and haven't left Dar a single time, not for anything!!!  Imagine that a few weeks ago some of us were talking about what we should do during the Fall Break, and low and behold, we decided to holiday together.  For once, I was NOT the planner...can you believe it?  Seriously, if you know me at all, I am always the social co-ordinator.  This time, I just handed over the cash and went along for the ride.

We took a ferry over to Zanzibar...the 7 am ferry.  We had to meet at the SIL/Wycliffe office at 0545 to get a taxi ride down to the ferry docks.  Quite an early morning for all of us.  I had a bit of nausea on the crossing; but, coming back on Tuesday was even worse for me.  I didn't know I was so prone to motion sickness.

We arrived on the island about 9ish and started off the trip with an amazing tour of a Spice Farm.  I had no idea how many spices and fruits were grown on Zanzibar.  I think you could live there and be completely self sufficient...they can grow it all!  The lunch they served us was amazing, Zanzibar curry and cinnamon rice, Tuna and Chicken cooked in the local spices, I was so full...and then they proceeded to let us try all the fruits they grow there for dessert...star fruit, pineapple, bananas, cucumbers, oranges, coconuts!  We got to buy packets of spices, teas, and coffees made right there at the farm, yummy!

That afternoon we left the kid with our most gracious friends, the Clendinens and the Harrars, and went on the walking Stone Town tour.  I was duly educated in the history of the East Africa Slave Trade, headquartered in Zanzibar.  I hadn't ever really heard much of the information, in the past I think my education in the US has mostly focused on the West Africa slave trade since those are the Africans brought to the Americas.  The situation in East Africa was definitely different.  We spent quite a bit of time at the Anglican Church and learned more about David Livingstone, the Bishops of the Church and what they did to stop slavery, and the Sultans that ruled the area.  We were also able to see the Palace and the "House of Wonders".  I think we could have spent all day on this tour, so much to hear, see, and read.

On Sunday we went on a Blue Safari tour.  We took a boat out to some of the smaller islands and went swimming.  We also tried to get Sissi up to par in the snorkeling department so that she could join us in the fun.  Alas, between the boat not having child sized life vests and her fear of the open ocean (read waves), she refused to snorkel with us.  The boys had "the time of their life" and didn't want to leave the reefs and the colorful fish.  The water around Zanzibar is some of the bluest and shallowest water I've ever seen, it really is a snorkeler's paradise.  For lunch, the crew took us to an island where they fed us an "all you can eat" seafood buffet....there were prawns, octopus, calamari, lobster...plus rice, chips (french fries for you Americans), chipati, and tons of fresh fruit.  We definitely ate well on this trip!  That evening we went down to the market area, in front of the House of Wonders.  The local vendors set up shop once the night falls and you can order most any kind of local fare.  We had sugar cane juice, made in front of us!  We had Zanzibar style pizza, made with lobster and prawns...also bananas and nutella for dessert.  There were Turkish Schwarmas.  Mishkaki of all types (this is a shish kabob for those of us from the US) - beef, chicken, tuna, octopus, etc.  Fresh smoothies, ice cream.  Most anything you could want to eat.

Monday morning we took another boat out to Prison Island to see the tortoises, and feed them.  The island was initially built to be a prison; but, instead ended up being a hospital and quarantine spot so that ships wouldn't come into Zanzibar bringing cholera and the plague.  They are getting ready to open a beautiful resort there, might want to try to stay there some time...we'll see what the resident rate is ;).  In the mean time, you can feed the tortoises and help to support them in their endangered status.  You can swim in the crystal clear water and you can take a tour of the prison/hospital.  We finished up the afternoon with a whirl wind shopping tour through the maze like streets of Stone Town.  We bought khangas, purses, necklaces, clothes, wooden art work, got a henna tattoo (not me; but, Bev did!) and completed our tour with dinner in the market again!

An amazing trip, completely worth our time and energy!  If you're thinking of coming out to Tanzania to visit at all, let me know, we'll take you there ;)...  Thanks Craig, Carolyn, Anissa, Ariana,Michael and Bev, we loved spending time with you all.  Looking forward to next time!!!!

The sunrise on the way to the ferry.

A corkscrew tree on Zanzibar.

Our tour guide showing the kids the "touch me not" plant, it literally closes itself up if you touch it.

The tour of the Spice Farm, this was a coffee tree.

A tree that makes a dye that many people use in cosmetics...see his red lips!

Pineapple leaf glasses for the kids.

Climbing up the coconut tree to get us something to eat.

He sang on the way up and down, the sound carried and was beautiful.

Drinking our coconut water.

Gifts for the kids.

Group shot at the Spice Farm.

The Anglican Church that sits on the site that was the center of the East Africa Slave trade.

A memorial

The first African convert to Christianity...the story of St. Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch.

A cross made from the wood of the tree where David Livingstone's heart was buried.

His body was taken back to England, Westminster Abbey; but, his heart was buried in Zambia, per his request.

The hole/circle, in front of the altar was where the whipping post was located.

The tile mosaics were done by William Makepiece Thackeray's sister, Caroline.

Street pictures.  Love the large baobab tree.

More street shots of Stone Town.

More of Stone Town and a local duka (a little store)

A look at the fort built by the Portuguese.

Now it's used for open air shows.

Group shot outside of our hotel in Stone Town.

Prison Island Private Resort.

The kids feeding the tortoises.

Even Indy got in on the feeding time.

Our tour guide, helping Sissi.

Krypto feeding them.

Gwangi got his finger bitten, I think the tortoise didn't realize he was out of green!

A view of the water from the prison. 

Do you see how clear it is, you can see all the way to the floor of the ocean.

The kids at the prison.

Travel signs, showing the distance to some other locations.

The clear water by the island.

A starfish in the water.

South Beach...not the diet

This past weekend we went on the "11th Grade Bonding Trip" to South Beach.  Each year, there is a high turnover rate in the 11th grade because of the weeding out process that is the Cambridge exams at the end of the 10th grade.  It'll be a whole other posting to try to explain the system, suffice it to say, it's not American.

Indy was asked to be a chaperone and he took all of us with him!  My friend Amy had told me it was a bit rustic....that, it most certainly was....no shower (well, there was one; but, it didn't work, so bucket showers for us ;)), toilet didn't flush either, no power, and we were all in 1 bed with a mosquito net that didn't fit.  We ended up getting another mattress from the camp and putting it on the floor, Indy slept there.  I slept at the foot of the bed with the kids and my only rule was that Krypto, and his long legs, couldn't sleep on the side of the bed where my head was...I didn't want him to kick me in the middle of the night.

All of that, and the late meals aside (breakfast was served at 9/9:30...for children, and parents, that rise at 6:30 am with the sun, that is a bit late), the beach was beautiful.  We loved being able to dig holes, make sand castles, walk out into tidal pools and "sand islands" made during low tide, see the extreme difference during the day when the tide went in and out again, read a bunch, and just be together.  We got to meet several of Indy's students.  When we've been on campus the past two days, we now have some faces and names that are a bit more familiar.

I think that Indy loved playing some of the games with the students too.  He is now well known for his "Halt!" while they were playing a "Secret Agent" game at night.  Indy had our dog and a flashlight and he was patrolling the beach while the kids were trying to get across the camp with secret "exams"...if he got the spotlight on you, you were out.  I think it helped that the dog whimpered every time someone was near.  Indy caught most of the kids!

Uncle Jon and Aunt Maria....look at my hole, just like at the beach house!

So glad that Daddy came down to the beach to join us

Digging in the low tide!

Walking out in the tidal pools and the sand island made by low tide

Sissi loved going up and down the edge of the tidal pool

Jumping down the hill again

Walking back

I really liked the sunset here

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 ;)