Ok kids, there's 20 minutes of internet time left, so we're gonna have to be pretty quick.

First off, the schools i'm working at are WONDERFUL. The children have typical tanzania names like Lordguard Goodluck, singing beautiful swahili songs whenever the mood strikes them is the norm, and they are just ridiculously happy to have us volunteer teachers at their schools.

Secondly, I'm terribly terribly homesick. Maybe it's the realisation that I won't see my friends and family for so long, maybe it's the fact that my housemates are quite happy listening to Girls Aloud all day, I don't know. The girls i'm living with are really lovely, but after a week it seems that there are definitely some obstacles to get over, so we'll see how that pans out.

We're living in a big open plan room in an orphanage opposite the school. The orphanage is so far empty apart from us, but we're expecting orphans and a matron to arrive in the next few weeks. Both school and orphanage were paid for by a Dutch evangelical called Egon (so much more on him in later posts) who doesn't much care for us taking up a room in his new orphanage, but probably likes the free teaching we provide.

Food has been interesting, my housemates hate it but given that Goat Stew and Plantain are the norm, I've been quite prepared by my Jamaican heritage so thanks Mum! The worst of the worst is the dreaded Ugali, a beloved Tanzanian dish that actually tastes like hell. They insist on serving it in the staff room for lunch most days, and so far we've tried to be polite but it shouldn't be long before the teachers notice that it's always Ugali day when we've had 'a massive breakfast' (i.e water) or have 'a stomach upset'.

Right now I'm staying in Arusha for the weekend with all the other volunteers from all over in a charmingly cheap and useless hotel. We went to a club called the Masai camp yesterday, it was very chilled out, but the Masai do actually frequent it and you haven't lived until you've seen a massive Masai warrior called Mitenge boping along to a Cher remix. Surreal.

Ok, love to you all, but the computer is about to switch off so until next time....

- Ruby xxx