the dog days of Christmas

It was Christmas? Really? It didn't feel like it with the 90 degree heat all day long. Anyway, we did some shopping after I spent four hours at the Internet Cafe uploading pictures. We bought some things to eat during Christmas like cheese and pasta and potatoes. The market was super crowded and a few children followed us around while we bought baskets, etc. I kept an eye on our backpack. It is said that Dodoma is the beggars capital of TZ. Around every corner there is a person saying "Naomba" or "I beg". I gave an old man a coin on Christmas Eve but I can't afford to give everyone a coin. We boarded an empty bus to Courtney's site and waited for an hour until it filled up then we left.

Courtney has a very cute little house. She is about an hour from Dodoma in a small village. It's about a 15 minute walk from where the bus lets you off to her house. On the way out of the bus I cut my toe and it started to bleed down my toes into my Chacos. Good thing we were just a few minutes from a PC medical kit! Courtney is the sixth or seventh volunteer (correction: Courtney is the second volunteer at her site so the volunteer before her bought all that great stuff. Anna is the sixth or seventh volunteer at her site. at her site so she was set up pretty well with a fridge, small oven and two stove burners, radio, lots of books (we all borrowed a few), curtains, etc.

That night for Christmas Eve lunch dinner we had baked macaroni and cheese with peas and carrots. Courtney is an awesome host and cook!! We helped her out with a few things but she was cooking up a storm the whole time we where there. We opened a bottle of wine that we had bought in Dodoma and listened to Christmas songs on the radio. For desert we had banana bread and then played Apples to Apples.

Christmas morning was bright and sunny. We all said Merry Christmas to each other and ate freshly baked coffee cake and sweet pineapple for breakfast. For the rest of the day we really just read the magazines and books that were collecting in Courtney's living room. Lunch was scalloped potatoes with ham (sliced deli ham) and oranges. Once again it was delicious!! Courtney is an awesome cook. We listened to my ipod shuffle as Christmas songs on the radio werea bit depressing. People's families called if they could get through. We tried to text people but the network was saturated and celtel doesn't have very good coverage where Courtney lives (she uses vodocom).

For Christmas dinner Courtney and Anna made vegetable curry with rice, freshly baked bread, and peanut butter cookies. Awesome! We opened our other bottle of wine and played Quiddler, like scrabble but with cards, late into the night.

This morning we were off on the early bus to Dodoma to do some internet (what I'm doing right now) and buying a few more things before Dan, Anna, Russ, and I head to our villages. The bus was so crowded this morning that a girl had to sit on my lap the whole way!

Deb - thanks for the info. I'll email you our address and let my mom know she doesn't need to get the egg carrying case.

School starts on January 2 and I do not know what level of math I will be teaching but we should be having a staff meeting soon to sort all of that out.