Choclate milk, Pizza, brownies with whipped cream and the internet. These are the luxuries I had last night visiting Fox Farms for the first time. It is ranch/resort run by a man named Geoff Fox. He was away, but a really nice Canadian couple was staying there, and treated us to a great evening. I am in Iringa again today, and will be in Bagomoyo for my birthday. There is a beatiful island there and it will be nice to get some relaxation in, as it's been basically non-stop since I got here. It seems like I've just been travelling for a month straight. I finally got to meet up with the director of my school, Mary Mugai. She is a very personable woman, that seems to really be interested in the betterment of her school. It was fun to talk to her about education, and what it takes to be a good teacher at her school. I also met back up with the people at my school. Mr. Francis (Head Teacher) and Mr. Iddy (assistant head teacher) have been very accomodating, and I now have a home! I will try to get pictures up eventually, but it is nice. It has a very large sitting room, and two bedrooms, and is a very short walk to the school. I'm excited to have my home fixed up in July. I get to stay there on Canada Day night. I put in a picture of Mafinga taken by someone else I found off the net- It's as good as any picture I might take of Mafinga (my home town). There's not much to see really. There will be notable spots in Mafinga that I will get on here eventually, but there aren't really any scenic shots of the town I could post. Happy Canada Day everybody! I won't be able to be on the internet until after Sunday I believe, so I hope everybody has a good one. And so they don't feel left out, Happy Birthday to my sister Emily, Brother Cam, and my Dad!

Sorry By the way, I'll try to make the next post funnier...

The Radio spot was a bust. I didn't get on Magic FM. I did however get an adventure:
I was supposed to meet DJ Rik at the Zanzibar Hotel bar at 6pm Saturday to go with him to the studio. I got there at 615 (knight time- which is exactly in sync with Africa time btw) and Riky was not there. I asked around, "Riky iko wapi?" And a couple of women, who likely were ladies of the night, said that yes he had been there, but he had left. For a moment I thought the experience was shot, but instead I decided to make friends and maybe get a story out of this. One of the ladies was very chatty, and wnted me to have a beer with her. The other lady was more aloof and kept blowing kisses at me from across the bar. At one point the blowing kisses lady came up to us and asked the chatty lady if she was my mchumba (fiance)... I said Michumba? Nina mchumba tatu" (I have 3 fiances) Then I pointed to each lady and several across the bar mchumba nne, mchumba tano, mchumba sita... They thought that was very funny. I think it is funny for Tanzanians to hear white people speak the broken kiswahili, but they are very encouraging. Anyway, I asked the door guy where the Magic FM studios were, and he said eventually- I will take you there. This is common in TZ people don't always give directions, they will frequently walk with you to where you want to go. So I went with the door guy, and Jennifer (the chatty lady) to the studios and waited in the lobby of the studios for DJ Rik to come see me. Security at the studio said, "DJ Rik will see you in 2 minutes." I ended up waiting an hour. While I waited Jennifer and I had a riviting conversation about Kampala (She was from Uganda) and the night clubs there and in the area of DAR. She wanted me to take her to Zanzibar, and I said Labda (maybe). Anyway, I got sick of waiting and asked a man who seemed to know what he was doing: "Samahani, Una chukua mimi DJ Rik tafadali"(Excuse me, can you take me to DJ Rik please- although I think Mimi might be wrong). He said yes bwana follow me. He took me on a tour of Magic FM studios, and showed me the Channel TEN TV studios as well. It was pretty cool, then he eventually brought me right into the broadcast room with DJ Rik. Riky was spinning discs live on air, and I waited for his break in the room. I sat in front of a mic, and thought I might get to talk at some point, as Riky kept motioning to me- one second. At the break I eventually asked him severalk times, "Do you think it would be good for your show if I talked with you about music? and he kept saying yes yes of course, but never came through. So all in all it was a good experience. I went out with DJ Rik that night to a place called Maisha (I think) and met an Indian Tanzanian named Alikhan who has been to Canada several times, and an Englishman named Bevis. My buddy Justin and I also met a couple more ladies, and I played it safe having my hands in my pockets while talking with them. Apparently some ladies here like to pick pocket and you can't be too safe. That's my Radio story, now I'm off to Morogoro and then to Mafinga to possibly move into my house, and see my school again. I start work on July 6th.

PS: My first bit of advice to anyone white person planning a trip to Tanzania: Get yourself a Tanzanian football (soccer) Jersey. You will instantly be the most popular mzungu around.

So these are pictures of my school and one of the inside of my potential home. It's a fixer upper. The one with me in it is with some kids from Dar es Salaam taken at a first communion party last Sunday the 10th. My school is nice, like I said. I introduced myself in front of the group of kids in that first picture to give you the image. I hung out in the music room most of the day with the teacher (the guy in the picture is the guy who doesn't speak English) and the students who asked me questions all day. The two pictures of the school compound don't really do it justice, it is beautiful. I call it a campus- it is huge. Not seen in the picture with the dirt road is the Gazeebo that is on the right. There were people in the gazeebo at the time who didn't want there picture taken. The last two are pictures taken of me in the Amani Nature reserve, and on a long bike ride outside of Iringa. Anyway, here are some photos... more to come I hope.

So Iringa was cool. I am starting to really study swahili, with books and everything. I'm getting lots of compliments from people who say I can't believe you've only been here 3 weeks, and you know the language this well. They are very encouraging, but I don't think I'm progressing quite that well. After Iringa Myself and 3 others went to Tanga. We rented bikes and cruised the city. We found the ocean and went for a swim. We were harrassed quite a bit in Tanga at first, but then we stayed at the Ferns Inn and this really cool guy who runs the place was very friendly to us, and extremely helpful. If anyone goes to Tanga, I recommend Ferns Inn. We then stayed 2 nights in the Amani Nature Reserve. Will have some pictures up here eventually hopefully. Yesterday we hopped on the back of a truck on our way in to Muheza. A 2 hour bumpy ride where we stood in the back and held on to these bars above as we went crashing over these holes, and bumps along this horrible road. It was a fun experience, but we got charged 2000T each to ride which kind of sucked. We had a crappy bus ride to DAR. Hot and crowded and many many stops. We got here though, and it's been fun since we got here. Met a guy last night who is a DJ at a radio station called Magic FM 92.9 in Dar es Salaam. I told him I wanted to do some feild researcxh in Tanzania, and I might do something regarding music in the area, and now he wants me to call in and be interviewed about music in contemporary Africa- or maybe I'll interview him? Not sure we'll see? It will air here and on line Saturday at 7-9pm local Tanzania time, so tune in if you want to hear me talk about Bongo Flava.

Tour of Tanznia continues onward. On my way to DAR today, an 8 hour bus ride- one I've taken once before. Then it is off to Tanga where there will be hiking, and swimming- a rareity here in Tanzania. Then back to Dar where I will have Internet there and hopefully post some pictures. After that it is on to Morogoro, then Mafinga, then back to the Village in Kidete. I start teaching in Mafinga on July 16th, but we have a teachers meeting on the 6th. I am excited to get my own routine down. I gotta go catch the bus, but another update should be coming in about a week or less.

I am in my computer lab at Southern Highlands School. The space bar doesn't work so well, so excuse any mistakesIdon't have a lot of time. Last night I stayed at my friend Henry's house. I met him a while ago through Jenny, and Ihung out with him alot in Iringa on Sunday night and Monday. He 's a cool guy from Iringa who now teaches in Mafinga. Last night he kept saying to me,'this is the ghetto life Geoff," and it was just that. His house was all cement on the inside with 2 rooms and the entire house was the size of a dorm room at Hash for instance. I had a meal of Bananas,Avacodos, beans, Mboga (like spinach), all on rice. When it was time for bed Henry, myself, and his rommate all shared the same bed. No pillows,but they did give me my own blanket which was nice. Today, like I said,I am at my school in Mafinga. I have just hung out in the music room all day. The room has about 12 Marimbas,6 guitars,a bass guitar and a keyboard with several speakers to go around. The students bombarded me with questions. I did not expect numerous questions about wrestling (WWE). Do you know the rock, Sting, Stone Cold?... One kid said,"Teacher, is Wrestling true?" They like that I like toplay football, and some ofthem knew what hockey was after I used theSwahili word forice/snow: barafu... I just now learned however that ice hockey in Kiswahili is: hoki ya barafu. Anyway the kids are amazing and speak english very well. Severalofthem asked me if I knew Peter... He is A belgium teacher who visits 2 months at a time to teach- he is white,so they assume Imay know him. They also ask me if I know French,because Peter does apparently. I was introduced today in front of most of the students at morning assembly. I said,"Hello,my name is Geoff Knight,you can call me Mr. Geoff. I am from Canada. It is nice to meet you all. The students chuckled and then the assembly was over after an 'Our Father' in English. The teachers are really nice, but noone tells me their name. I go: myname isGeoff, and they say you are welcome, Caribou... caribou sana. They actually give me a weirdlook when I ask they what is your name. Just somethingI've noticed. Yesterday, when I arrived in Mafinga Imet a very interestingman whom I will have to become acquainted with. Sanga is Henry's Father in law and he happens to be on the board of the school. He has two kids at the school. He and I exchanged ideas about TZ. He wants to start a program that brings international students to TZ and sends them to a village near Mafinga for a few days, then to Dar es Salaam for a couple of days. This way the students experience the real Tanzanian way of life. I told him I might want to write about nationalism in TZ. He said that was a good topic because National pride is deteriating. He said in the cities people are free to speak their minds about politics,but in the villages there is still fear. Anyway, I haven't seen myhouse inMafinga yet- I will later today...and then I will head back to Iringa. I'll keep posting as I should be on the internet alot this month.

So I'm still working out the kinks on this whole blog thing and I may have deleted the previous one... oops. Anyway it likely won't happen again... maybe. I spent the last week in Jenny's village. She is doing some amazing things in her small village community, you can check out her blog for an IN DEPTH look at that. Anyway, Village life in crowded. People come to Jenny's house all day. We went for a run and 60 or so school kids followed us running down this huge hill. It was quite the entourage. The food here is actually quite good. I like Ugali, Katchumbali (sp?) and I'm not sick of rice just yet. The village people (yes that's what I said) are quite amazing. Everyone is so pleased to talk, and welcoming. I feel right at home here as everything runs on Knight time- we'll get there. It's nice that when you try to speak any kiswahili at all you are encouraged. Travel in this country is an adventure too. You are crammed into these glorified minivans that carry like 35 or more people. Every vehicle is loaded with people. I will not know exactly where I will be living in Mafinga until at least the 20th when I visit next, but my school is very "safi" (or clean- fancy) compared to most secondary schools I've heard. There is a computer lab with internet, and I live on the school compound so I should have regular access to the net (fingers crossed). I will be on the internet a lot in the next little bit, so more to come soon...