Photographs

Just wanted to write a quick blurb on how things aren't always as they seem.
So you know how you always see those National Geographic pictures of the grim staring african person. Or not just national geographic, but you must know the type. Just so you know, its not just that they are grim, in Tanzania it is just a strange quirk that people don't smile for their pictures. I should know because I've been on 2 field trips now and thus been forced to take many (they LOVE it when you take their picture) and you will have these teachers and students who've just been cracking the dumbest jokes, right before the picture go completely straight faced for the picture. Its really wierd. Infact they ask you to take it over again if they are smiling and will be embarrassed about the smile. So I'm not saying don't believe all the dramatic pictures people take, but at least don't believe some of the dramatic pictures. People are poor and life is a little harder, but that doesn't mean 24 hours a day people are obsessed with how tough life is. Not at all. People joke and goof around just like anywhere else. just an interesting observation.
Also things are well here. Not yet the phenomenal teacher you'll see a movie about, but I make my way. Starting to think about other projects I can do to help out, and my thoughts are centered around more classrooms, computers, etc. They could use pretty much everything but its a question of sustainability, and whether or not 2 years after I'm gone its gonna be any good. Thats a huge problem in the past that people didn't think about. Take computers for example. Suppose I manage to find 5 computers to put in the school that are relatively useful and good. Where will I put them? (Especially in a school so cramped for space as is) And who will pay for the electricity that will be used to make them function? (Especially in a school system so cramped for money as is) and what desks will they sit on? (students are known to sit on the floor cause there are no desks) and you'll probably want a fan at the least to keep them cool (zanzibar is hot and that isn't good for computers that need to last) and then even if EVEN if I find these things, who will take care of all this after I leave. And who will take care of the computers themselves? And if they break, who will take the time and money to fix them? And even if EVEN if I find a person to take care of them, who will teach them? There's hardly enough math teachers let alone a computer teacher. And goodness knows the teachers need teaching even as much as the students. My student who I've been trying to help didn't know what a space bar was at first. He tried to type a sentence and everything was running together and I was like "hey you gotta check this out, its called a space bar. Your gonna love it." Anyway, just something I must keep in mind, so that I don't mistakenly hurt people I mean to help.
Hope all is well on your all side of the world family! I shall be thinking and praying for you and appreciating your letters
love much.

Blood Diamond

Just been watching this movie, Blood Diamond and well done. Well done to the makers of that movie. It was so compelling to watch because suddenly a story of war in Africa seemed so much more a part of the real world. I mean its so true, so true. And how ironic that after I watched the film we got to spend time talking to a PCV who'd just arrived back from America after going to a wedding and he said the main thing on the news was the death of Anna Nicole Smith. I'm getting out of touch here, cause I did not realize that she died. How terribly horrible to realize that we are the romans of the movie The Gladiator. As long as we have our games, the real world disastors don't matter. And there are some places that put out real news, but you have to search for them. NPR the BBC. I guess I'm not knocking entertainment, because god knows the world needs it to take their minds off things, but its just so false to call the News "news" when actually it's entertainment. I mean even now just thinking about it, do you really think a normal person wants to hear about the world 24/7? No of course not. There's too much drama in real life of a person to be able to handle too much, and yet, every person wants some. So channels like CNN they must know that. So every now and then they show some news and the rest is exactly what people want. Entertainment. Instead lets make quantity less and quality more. I want to know when I turn on the news it'll actually say something, and even if its biased I can sift through that as long as I could hear some honest to god facts about the world. That'd be nice.
On another more positive and still true note, I have to say, the "road" still exists. If not in factually at least figuratively. I've mentioned it before, but I'll say it again. It's like in the U.S. everything was so safe that you just don't do unsafe things...so much. But every day it feels like I could die today on this bus with the crazy driver. So sometimes when I'm standing on the road waiting for to catch a bus and someone slows down to offer a hitch, you just don't say no. I mean I'm not stupid about it, but really, your whole life is a risk, and but for the grace of god you could and would be dead already. So you take a chance and trust somebody. And then random people from Australia that you meet who invite you for dinner at their house, you go. It's just like when I was in band in college I suddenly realized there was a whole subculture of people who cared so much about it. No lie, there is a subculture of people who live overseas, at least as far as I've seen. And the people who are traveling remember. And they tell the person they meet one night at a hostel, or at a party, to look certain people up when they arrive somewhere like New Zealand, and people do, and the people they look up, help. It's like you have friends that you don't know all around you who will give you a bed for the night and a meal if you need it when you are somewhere. And I would do the same too, on Zanzibar, in exchange for some stories about travels and stories from home. Not that many Americans come through my village on anything but a land cruiser but still. And I've only been here for 5 months so its not like I know all that much. But it just is so crazy and it feels so free. It's funny how I've never in my life worried so often about the precarious-ness of it all and never have I felt so protected by strangers, and never have I felt so alive. So free.
To be less serious though, seriously I would highly encourage everyone to do it.