Okeydoke, I've got the afternoon off today (a rare thing I assure you) so i'm back in my favourite internet cafe/mobile phone store/possible cover for drug smuggling enterprise (God I love this town).

This morning I was teaching at J K Nyerere Primary, the poorest of the two schools I work at. My housemate Catriona and I did a lesson on adjectives that was pretty hilarious, teaching the kids words like 'strict' 'greedy' 'kind'. After getting a few test sentences back like, 'My father sends me to bed at 8pm because he is troublesome' and 'The boy bites the other children because he is kind', Cat and I realised we had our work cut out for us. However after an hour and a half of some very literal mime, and an ever-popular game of Hangman, the kids finally understood, and it was truly rewarding to see 60 children chant back the definition of an adjective with ease at the end of the lesson.

I just hope things continue to be this successful. We definitely have a lot of work to do as the head of English at the school writes things like this on the chalkboard: 'JOIMG THE SENTENCES USING ALTHOUGH'. She meant 'Join'. When you watch 60 children blindly copy down such total rubbish, it makes you glad you have a chance to help.

I've just been reading the messages people have left me on this site. Mum, yours made me laugh so much, definitely keep those messages coming! I hope things slow down for you a bit at work so you get a chance to be home more often. Cherie, it was so great to hear from you, and thanks for keeping up my Mum's spirits! I hope everyone at work is treating you well and realising just how vital you are to Tri. And Dad, I love hearing from you as always, little things like the news about the snow really help. I don't have any credit/battery right now, but I think the weekend phone calls are a good idea. I'll text you later in the week to find out a good time.

Well, week two is going pretty well so far. Things are slowly settling down in my house. We're making it our own, moving our (very few) pieces of furniture around, putting photos on the wall, etc. Our next plan is to buy a shelf and some cushions. Small dreams like this get us through this impossible first fortnight when culture shock and homesickness make life so difficult.

Right, I think I'm going to head out to the bureau du change now, buy some material so I can have some proper African skirts for school, have lunch somewhere cheap but hopefully clean, and buy some anti food-poisoning meds. In the first week so many volunteers got sick (one girl ended up on a drip!) that our Africa Venture Rep, Helena, sent us a text reading 'Every house must have Buskapan. If you don't buy it and you get ill, don't expect sympathy'. She's very blunt and totally hilarious, but I know deep down even if we didn't listen to her advice she'd still be at our side right away when we got ill, she's so dedicated to her job. So don't worry Mum, I'll be fine!

As always, the clock is ticking, so I have to go for now but if anything happens I'll keep you posted. Lots of love,

- Ruby (or as i'm known at the moment, 'TEE-CHAH ROOBEEE'! x