September 24th!

So I want to start off this blog with my afternooon of adventure. I wake up this morning with a small list of things to get accomplished. I want to work on y garden, do the dishes, laundry, go visit one of the government officials to set up a meeting for next week, and some other odds and ends. I wake up feeling confident I am going to rock this day out. I decide that I should probably shower before I go and talk with the official, so I decide to work on my garden first. The garden I am trying to make is a technique we were taught durin our training. It is called double digging, and this man Peter Jensen is the one who taught it to us. It allows anyone to plant and produce a strong garden in any enviornment. The process controls any water that enters the system by a series of different concepts. First you have to dig out the entire area about a foot deep. I did this the other day and tore up my hands bad. They had open blizters because I was using a brand new jembe, without any work gloves. I gave myself a few days off before I started the next part. A few days later I dug out around the border of the garden. This allows the water to flow in and get trapped. It also creates big holes in the corners to contain more water. With the excess dirt you can plant a natural plant fence to keep away any stray animals. As I was digging this I found the hose that connects my water. My neighbor came over to me while I was digging and told me that I should be careful of the hose. It is a real pain in the butt to fix if its broken. Well I woke up this morning of double digging the area where I am going to plant my plants. You want to dig down about two feet to allow the roots to grow deep and for the water to saturate the land easier. As I was going I was feeling good, I was thinking about maybe going for a run later. Then I hit a root. I hit it again to get it out of the way. After about six swings I pull up all the dirt around it and realize its the hose! I was like why is there no water coming out? Maybe this is left over, then I found the other part which I cut right through. UGH I realize that we dont have water right now. This is a good thing, and I start thinking what am I going to do. My neighbor came over earlier to tell me he was leaving for the day so I couldnt get him to help. I stand in the middle of my garden for a few minutes covered head to toe in dirt and think. I soon realize this is going to be an easy fix. I just need to buy a connector piece at the hardware store. Since I live in town this is no big deal, except for the language barrier. After a odd and confusing conversation with the man at the hardware store I get what I need. I come home happy that I am going to fix this on my own. When I get home the water is still off which makes me smile alittle. I start putting the device together have to cut each side of the hose alittle and take a nice piece of my finger off with the hose. OUCH! Its ok I am going to do this. Then when I am about 2/3 the way done the water starts coming out. I hurry to get it put together I am rushing but finally after alot of work I get it together and test it with my spicket and it works! YAY I WON! So I begin to start to cook breakfast and decide to leave my garden for another day. My neighbor returns and ask what all the water is from I tell him, then he tells me I didnt fix it. There were bubbles and water coming out of the part that I fixed. I tell him that I will get it later since it is slow I will wait for the water to turn off. After he leaves and I eat my breakfast and do my laundry, I feel confident I can fix it. I address the problem and soon realize I lost one of the rubber pieces. I return to the hardware store and easy enough the man gives it to me for free. This makes me happy again. As I am returning into my backyard I realize there is alot more water now. This is the fastest and the hardest the water has ever come out. I attempt to put it back together, but the pressure is to strong. Now I am waiting for the water to shut off. In Africa there are not built in shut off vaulves, if I wanted my water to stop flowing they would have to shut off all the water around me off, like 50 households. So I wait....
I think I will be able to fix it pretty easy once the water stops flowing. The water here since it is the dry season is usually on for a day then off for a few hours then on then off, so I just have to wait around and see what happens.
I thought I would update you all on my life. I have been meeting eith various people trying to figure the best way of going at this anylasis. The missionaries invited me up to dinner this past Friday, and it felt like I was in America. They cooked me pizza with CHEESE. After we sat on their leather couches and watched AMERICAN TELEVISION for like three hours. It was nice to hear their take on the country and what thier plans were. It was also very nice to go to America for a few hours dont get me wrong. In a few weeks I am going to climb my mountain for the first time. I am super excited. A groupd of volunteers are coming in from all over the country to climb it. Also this next weekend I am traveling a few days to see a girls confrence being held in my banking town by about nine volunteers. This should be a huge learning experience for me, I am excited it is so close and I am able to go. Today was the trip to the national park with the eight graders here. I was going to go, but the more I heard about the trip, it would have been a long bus ride for only a few hours at the national park. I decided it was in my best interest to dave the money and just stay here.
Another pretty short an scary story. One night I woke up in the middle of the night having to go to the bathroom. In half of a daize I open my two doors and step out into my courtyard. ( My bathroom is outside of my house.) I am smart enough to turn on my light. As I am walking I am kind of looking at the ground and see a 3 foot rope on the ground and think nothing of it. As I am going to the bathroom I wake up alittle more and realize what that three foot rope was a SNAKE! Ummmmm does this mean there could be some in the toliet with me? Where is it going to go? What am I going to do? I being to freak out thinking about what would happen if I stepped on it? So I open the door slowly to find out that the snake s gone. I have no idea where it went so I sprinted back into the house close the doors and freaked out for another half hour, realized I was safe and went to sleep.
I hope these stories brighten your day alittle bit. Everything is going pretty well here. Having the internet at my hand really makes my life alittle bit better everyday. I hope everything is going great and you are all enjoying fast food. Miss and love you all.
Justin

September 12th
I just got back from church and decided I need to write a blog. I havent written one in awhile, so heres a nice update. I now have my wireless card which I love. Its slow, but it allows me to check email and news more frequently and cheaply. I am unable to skype, but I can use google talk to instant message. If anyone wants to figure that out, my mom did so I am sure she can help. Right now I have been in my village for a little over three weeks. It is wild to think this is the next two years of my life, but also very exciting. I have been talking with various people around the village on needs, but I want to get involved with larger groups. I want to be able to dicuss issues with larger groups of people at once. I know that I want to start some after school clubs at the secondary and maybe even the primary schools. I need to start finding teachers who will support it enought to continue after I am gone. I also think that I am going to do some empowerment seminars to raise awareness of the changes that will happen once the road is finished. I have had dinner at a few houses now, its nice to know that I have people in my area that are looking out for me and won't let me starve. In a few weeks the some of the older volunteers in the surronding area are putting on a girls confrence. They are bringing five girls from nine different schools for a few days in one of the larger city. I am going to try and make it out for that to see how it works. In my village there is a large market day twice a month. It is huge and people come from all over to check out all the goods. It is nice because they have a ton of clothes that you can sort through and other odds and ends. You really can find anything you need at this place. Its like a giant flea market without the booths. Its is more or less on tarps on the ground. I just bought a couch which I am very excited about. It should be finished tomorrow, its made out of wood I have to get the cushions made separatly, but its fun bargaining for days. The price started at 80000 TSH and I got it down to 35000 TSH. I was pretty pleased with myself. I have been cooking about once or twice a day. When the volunteers get together from the surronding area we love to try and cook American food. Last time is was one of the girls birthdays and we made chocolate cake! It turned out so good. I don't know if I am used to Tanzanian cooking or what, but it was AMAZING. In the second week of October there is a group of volunteers that are trying to come and climb the mountain. I am so excited. I can not wait to look at the base, then climb it and look out over the land from the top. I guess people are able to climb it in one day if you start out in the morning. I can't wait to let you all know how that goes. As for everything else, its all about the same. No big changes. Just trying to get the house more situated and trying to get to know more and more people everyday. I love and miss you all so much. Thanks for keeping me in your thoughts and prayers.