Hello again...

Well, it's the end of another week (I can't believe i'll have been here for a month on Monday - told you it would go quickly Mum!) and i'm back in one of the only internet cafes in Arusha where the internet actually works.

I was supposed to be skydiving by Kilimanjaro this morning but there was a pretty horrific crash (2 locals, 2 foriegners dead) so all flights are postponed for a while whilst the police do their inefficient, corrupt, thing.

Instead i'm back in Arusha for the weekend to hang out with the other volunteers, so most people are paying 2 pound 50 (5000 Tz shillings) to laze by the pool all day at one of the nicer hotels (the place we stay barely has sinks, let alone a pool). I spent this morning in the market with my housemate Rachael. Ethnic jewellry heaven, at embarresingly cheap prices. I found bargaining in Swahili was the way to go, prices go down by more than half when you A) can speak the local languge or B) don't have a huge New Yorker accent. More than one vendor thought I was a Tanzanian, so I also managed a bit of a 'looking like a local' discount :-)

It's so nice to relax after a long week. Catriona (my housemate) and I have been teaching extra after-school classes at the government school for the children who are going to sit exams soon and after two weeks of teaching by the book, making it up as we went along, diagrams, mime, nature walks, tests and just plain desperation, 74 kids can now tell the difference between a noun, a verb and an adjective, which is a bit of a miracle I can tell you, given that they're still a bit hazy on what 'How are you' means...

As usual, the clock is ticking, made worse by the fact that there was a power cut half way through my typing. Til next time...

- Ruby xxx