The Library, Bug Bites, More Rugby and Hospitals

The past week hasn't been terribly eventful.  I have caught up on the majority of my inventory work this past week so I have moved on to bigger and better things!  I have been spending a couple mornings and afternoons taking in the sights and sounds of the Peace House Library.  Susan the librarian has given me a crash course in the library database systems and before I knew it I was checking in and checking out books for students like a pro.  Yes, I am proud of this skill, I get to use a barcode scanner and it makes me look pretty important.  In all seriousness though, Susan has made the library an amazing place for students to have classes, learn about the cataloging of books or just to have somewhere to kick back with a good book.  It is an amazing place. 

Library Study Time

Jim teaching computer classes in the new lab he donated

Study Group

The temperature here in Arusha is fairly moderate for Africa, it usually hovers around 80ish (yes, that is a scientific term) on a sunny day and around 60s or 70s on a cloudy one.  So every night I continue to ask myself why I wear long-sleeves, sweatpants and socks to bed because I sweat profusely through the night (I run a bit hot..).  Then I wake up and see the welts from our friend the local mosquito.  Being from Minnesota I figured I had endured the worst possible wrath a mosquito could dish out during my short-lived, yet eventful, camping days in the BWCA.  Could not have been more wrong.  Now, we must remember that I use a mosquito net over my bed, I use bug spray that has a higher percentage of DEET than needed and I keep the light off in my room so not to attract our malaria riddled friends (yes mom, I am taking my pills).  Doesn't matter.  These beasts manage to find the soft open flesh that makes an appearance at some point through the night.  Wrists, ankles, hips, and neck.  Possibly THE worst spots to itch throughout the day.  They swell and itch and never seem to go away.  Their relentless kamikaze-like attacks are just something I am going to have to get used to during my time here in Tanzania, but as bad as they are, it seems like a fair tradeoff for the view I have outside my widow every night.

Mount Meru Outside My Window

Peace House Secondary School

This past Saturday was spent with the rugby team on a trip to the Arusha Stadium for a day of rugby exercises and scrimmages.  The rugby team spent the morning training a few local primary schools the basics of rugby, school was in session for me of course.  A quick break for chai and chapatti and then it was time for scrimmages.  The Peace House team beat their local rivals in a scrimmage, 12-1.  All in all a successful day, I got to learn a little bit more about rugby and I also got a bit of a sunburn which is great too.

A quick pushup contest on the way home in the back of the truck!

The under 25 group (as we have been known to be called) payed their first visit to the Arusha Hospital.  Considering it could have been a wide variety of ailments that we could have visited for, it wasn't a major problem.  Someone who will not be named, came down with some bad bacteria and a case of dehydration and in turn got to be the guinea-pig for the first hospital visit.  We are very lucky, Arusha has a fantastic hospital that rivals some of the hospitals in the United States so it wasn't as if said person was sharing a room with cows and goats.  Although a very long process and a bit nerve-racking, it is very comforting to know a top-notch hospital is close by.

Lookin' good in the hospital

Next week myself and 4 other volunteers are planning a hiking trip to Ol Doinyo Lengai, which is an active volcano in the northern part of Tanzania.  We hired our local driver as a guide and plan to hike it this upcoming weekend.  Yes, it is an active volcano, but we have something going for us.  If anyone falls in when we get to the top the lava is only 1,000 degrees F rather than a normal 2,000 degrees F in other volcanos.  So we have that going for us, which is nice.  Until next week.