Wildfire!

Yesterday we had a fire. I was in the midst of writing an email to my sister when I heard about it so, I abrubtly ended my email and we went racing to the flames. It is still dry season so everything is really dry and on top of that it is also really windy which makes fires frequent and severe. We have an old Army truck here with a water tank mounted on the back to fight the fires. First the truck goes through and sprays the fire then every one follows behind with a branch in their hand and beat out the remaining flames. It works fairly well except that a branch is not very durable, especially after repeated beatings on the ground. our fire was not to big and after we made sure it wouldn't burn down campus we just let it burn. As I went to bed last night I could still see the flames in the distance makeing the sky red like a perpetual sunset, it was beautiful. It was a great experience and sure added variety to my day.

It is spring here and all the trees and flowers are blooming. even though it has not rained since April. Its pretty amazing, several weeks ago it was all brown and now everything is turning green in anticipation of the raining season. Also in anticipation of the rainy season I have been plowing the fields in preparation for planting. It is pretty fun, they have a small tractor here that they let me use. I reminds me of home and that makes me happy. Yesterday everything went very well, except on the way home my tire fell apart. But, that also reminds me of home.

Ag Units

This past week I moved into the ag units where I will be staying for the next eight months. The ag units are the dorms for the boys that go to the agricultural school here. I am in the third one which is really far away from anything. For example it takes about a twenty five minute walk to get to class. That aside, it is really nice, I got my own room and the boys there cook pretty good. We eat ugali (corn meal mush) with beans and cabbage most every meal. I was worried that I would end up losing weight here but, the students feed me so much that after every meal I end up wishing I had only eaten half as much. I start teaching this week so hopefully that goes well.

Going To Town

“Do you want to go to Iringa on Sunday and go shopping? We are going to take the daladala because it is more adventuresome” There was a group of people around my age going and it sounded like an enjoyable social activity, besides I forgot my hat in America and also needed to buy a cell phone. Iringa is the nearest big town and a daladala is just a small minibus. However, since Kibidula so far out in the bush, we had to hitch a ride in the back of a pickup truck for forty-five minutes before we made it to the bus station. Daladalas come in many sizes ranging from minivan dimensions up to regular buses. The one that we chose was about to the size of a fifteen passenger van and in the beginning that was about all that got in. I got a seat near the door and had plenty of legroom. “Bus rides in third world countries really aren’t that bad,” I thought to myself as we leisurely began to drive down the road. As the trip increased, however, so did the passengers. Every few kilometers we would stop and pick up some more people on the side of the road until my nice seat by the door became the nice seat to lean on when more and more people shoved themselves in. I had a fun time trying to count how many people we could actually hold but after twenty-six I couldn’t see over the people standing in front of me, but I suspect we probably had more. The normal one hour trip took two but other than that it was a very enjoyable ride. In Iringa I bought my hat, cell phone, and had a nice meal at a hole in the wall restaurant called Hasty Tastys, they weren’t that hasty but the tasty part was okay. On the way back to Kibidula we had a nice bus that even had a TV. This was great except for the fact that all the Africans love to watch these weird music videos of choir dancing and singing. Thankfully they shut it off half way and started to play hymns on the radio, which I enjoyed immensely.

I Made It To Tanzania

I made it safely to Tanzania, I got to Dar es Salaam on Tuesday night and met Bill and Jason (two missionaries from Kibidula) where we spent the night at the YMCA in Dar. Then we left the next day at four in the morning and drove all day in a truck loaded with stuff. Finally I got to Kibidula at sundown on Wednesday. Today I was shown around and met a bunch of the people. For lunch I ate at the directors house and in the afternoon I disced one of the fields. I am doing well and tonight I am going to the local campmeeting. I will write more later.