Jan 6

Well, New Years was great and now I am gearing up for the school term. I have to say, its a very unnerving thing to do too. I'm not actually certain which classes I'm teaching yet (we find it out on the first day of class) and well it makes it hard to plan. So yea, I got an overplan. I have the back up plan for if I have to teach these few classes and if I don't I'll just toss it. Who knows! Theres nothing like playing it by ear.....or rather there is, but I think this is another of the faults of the plan to the test education system we got going here, logistically it makes it hard to plan for classes cause they don't actually have the results yet. My culture of impatient preplanning is working against me here. But a plan is better than no plan right?
Also, am down for the count with some form of sickness so heres hoping it clears up within the next day or so. Let the trials and tribulations of the new year begin!
Well in anycase spent the New Years on the beach, and that was spectacular at least. The beaches are beautiful! Really they are. When you are just sitting talking to friends you can't help but think, man, its all worth it. This rocks. Yup and we (other PCV's and myself) as the night wore on, got to talking to a couple who were just taking a vacation from Ethiopia. He is doing some internship with the UN and she works with an NGO (Non-governmental organization *supposedly!*) in the area. In anycase, it was very enlightening and partly just because I've been hearing so much in the news *God Bless the BBC!* about Ethiopia invading Somalia, and so I got to talk to an American couple about what its like to live there. They said they live north so they don't see the war there but they were saying too, the poverty in Tanzania, is nothing like the soul-sucking poverty just a few countries away. By the way, it is somewhat odd to realize you are only seperated from a place like Somalia *a country where I've only heard horror stories of war and starvation* by not that far. So I can only imagine what its like for the couple in Ethiopia. Ethiopia itself not being the land of oppurtunity either (apparently the opposition group to the president has been in jail for a good year now on trumped up charges). Well to think about it though, when faced with a political situation of that nature, it makes you appreciate the U.S's political situation. I mean, even in the U.S. you aren't ever completely free from peer pressure against speaking out, or being unpopular, or political financial ruin, BUT all those things really beat out being stuck in an Ethiopian jail. I mean if you think the jails in the 1st world countries aren't great, I 20 times over bet they beat the jails in countries where the good people have trouble getting fed.
Nevertheless New Years was great, and it was great to be around such cool people and be able to laugh and dance on the beach. And tiki torches flaring with beach music in the background, and I was thinking, this is the life.
So there you have it. Wish me luck at school, I'll need it!
As always Love
Sarah