Is anybody out there?!

Hellllllllllllllllooo!!! I have not posted in so long!!Where to start? Well first off the internet cafe I am in is playing country music....thats new. I am used to Celine Dion and Justin Bieber.....but country...really Tanzania?? I went to the most amazing training at the end of June. The training was called Zinduka and it was a week long. Ten volunteers went and we took 2 coaches. It's a 5-10 week program (depending how many days a week you do it) you do with about 25-30 youth of your village. It teaches all about HIV/AIDS, safe sex etc through a serious of games like soccer. It is such a fantastic program, I can't wait to get started in my village,not to mention my coaches are spectacular!! The coaches run most of the practices and I'll be there to do energizers and support them....that way when my time here is done they will be comfortable enough to keep doing the program without me.Gotta love sustainability. Here is a pic of my coaches (they are both teachers) and I.

Oh Tanzanians and their picture taking. They rocked the training though, such great coaches. They guy on the right is also my counterpart. A counterpart is someone in your village you helps you get y your projects started, deal with the logistics of dealing with the village gov't and to really help you get your point across...it's hard with language and cultural barriers. My counterpart is just about the best thing that has happened to me since I have been here. Not only is he great at helping get projects started and helping me prepare lessons for school, he is my best friend in my village. He is so westernized, he speaks prefect English and is pretty up to date with the slang as well.We teach each other about our cultures, help each other with language- alot of our convos Ill be speaking Swahili while he answers in English. He is also a great cook, so when we arent doing work we are probably at his place watching really bad Tanzo soap operas or music videos chowing down on ugali na mboa. Have I ever mentioned I eat with my hands here? yeah, no silverware needed.
Anyways, after the Zinduka training me and about 10 other volunteers headed to southers Tanz and spent the 4th of July relaxing on Lake Malawi. It was so beautiful. Here is a pic.....ok its not letting me uplaod but you can check out my facebook for pics galore. We also went on a death hike to see this glorious
ft waterfall. We spent about 3 hours scowering (is that a word?) boulders.....if you didn't find your footing you could very well fall to your death. Pics of that on facebook too, since this computer is being dumb.

Oh, have I mentioned how much I love teaching Life Skills? Sure, I have my days when the kids wont listen and have trouble taking subjects seriously, but I really love working with the youth. It took me coming to Tanzania to figure out what I want to do with my life but here it is..work youth! It is so rewarding and I have the perfect personality for it.
It seems like letters are starting to dwindle now that I have been here for 9 months (9 MONTHS??!???) Please write me!! I miss you all.Sorry about the typing in this blog this keyboard is messedup.
Love,
Maria