Another week of rest

October 16th

I am finally feeling back to normal. On the 8th I was finally discharged from the hospital in Mbeya and Lindsay and I spent the entire day traveling on public transportation to return home. We did not return until after the sun set. I was extremely exhausted and went right to bed. Throughout the night I could hear singing at the church. On Sunday, I decided to make an appearance at church not realizing that the celebration was continuing from the night before. I later found out the celebration was going on for four days straight. I am glad I was not in Kafule during the entire celebration because I would have not slept the entire time. I only stayed at the service for four hours, but it continued well into the night. I rested the remainder of the day so that I could be prepared for teaching again. I had many visitors on Sunday bringing me gifts and apologizing for my ill health. Nothing like a soda to get me on my feet again!

I planned to teach throughout the week but the medicine made me feel uneasy. I was left with an awful headache from Monday until late Wednesday night. I couldn’t do much but sleep during the time. It made for not the best birthday celebration on Wednesday. I tried to trick my body by dressing in my best outfit and walking to school in the morning like normal. Unfortunately my headache remained well into the night. I was able to stay at school throughout the day doing light work as my headache wasn’t as bad. By the time the sun set the headache was back in full force and I laid in bed while Lindsay prepared dinner. Lindsay was thoughtful enough to make me chocolate cake which brought my spirit way up!

On Thursday I woke up feeling better than I had for weeks! Since Friday was a holiday I decided to go to school to greet my new students. For the last four months the form 1 and 2 students were being taught mathematics by a student teacher. He has now returned to school and it is my turn to take over! I am actually very excited about teaching the younger students. They are very enthusiastic and excited that a “mzungu” from America is teaching them. On Thursday I spent twenty minutes greeting the students in form 1. As I moved from class to class they followed close behind. They were overjoyed to have me teaching them. I don’t quite understand it though because they know very minimal English and have no idea what I am saying. We will see how this coming week goes! The student teacher would just lecture them when he taught so I hope to liven up math as best as I can. There aren’t many students that enjoy mathematics and I hope to change that before I leave!

This weekend I became a celebrity in Tanzania, please read part two to find out why!

Love,
Gretchen