Home Sweet Home!!

I finally made it to Arusha last night!! It felt so great to step off the plane on to tanzanian soil. The two best parts were that somehow we got our expired visa extended so we did not have to pay the 100 USD visa fee again, and my friends were waiting for us outside! The ride to the house is about 1.15 hr and only cost 35 dollars in a taxi, could you imagine how much that would cost in the USA!!!, and when I got to the house my favorite tanzanian food chips mayai was made. I ended up going out to local bar to catch up with some old friends and meet some of the new volunteers. It is different here since the last time I came. I do miss all of my old friends that were here the first time with me :( but I am excited to meet new people from all over the world. I just got done exchanging money so I went with my friends to their orphanage in Usa River, which is a city about 45 minutes from here. It was actually two of the volunteers last days so we had songs and cultural dances performed to us by the Tahmina cultural group. There are now 54 children at this orphanage. We went to school today and learned the letters W X Y Z in both capital and lower case letters. We also played some soccer and jumping around. It was amazing just to be with children again, who just want your love and attention. There is not much at the orphanage, so me and 4 other children played a game where you dropped a wash rag on the ground and then we tried to get it. It was pretty fun. We also played hand slapping games like I did as a child, wherre you would sing "Mrs mary mack mack mack all dressed in black black black...." and also patty cake. It was pretty fun. Basically the high light of the day, which is saying a lot. It did however take forever to get home. The dalla dalla (bus) me and my friend katie were on ran out of gas but we made it to a gas station but it messed the whole van up so basically it took almost 1.5 hours to get home. It was aweome seeing all my friends and staff and just being here. I wish and hope more people are able to have the same experience. It is really life changing. I am going to Tahmina orphanage again tomorrow and then will be at bethleham orphanage on Thurdsay. I am hoping to throw in the rwanada war crime trials in there at some point as well. Well I am running out of internet time...talk to everyone soon