A Series of Ups and Downs

It’s the end, and it’s weird. On one hand I can’t wait to get home. On the other hand I’m really, really sad to leave. I don’t know if I will ever see a lot of these people again, and they have really changed my life.
Wednesday was my last day volunteering at Emusoi (the Maasai girl school). We danced a little bit and then they performed two dances that I taught them. One is a line dance to “Another Saturday Night” and the other is a Charleston dance to “A Well A Take ‘Em A Joe.” It was so great! I kind of realized that they have really enjoyed it and learned some sweet dances. I also realized that I speak half Kiswahili and half English to them and we have developed a really great relationship. After they performed (which they actually insisted after the first performance that they perform the songs again) they sang a Maasai song for me. They did Charleston to their Maasai song! It was amazing!
I think Kate, one of the women who runs it, took a lot of pictures that I will hopefully get later. Also, I want to write to them when I get home. They gave me a beautiful beaded cross. Even though I think maybe they don’t know that I’m not Christian, it was really beautiful and sweet. And then when I left a few of them cried! I felt so bad! I am going to miss them a lot.

Tuesday was a little rough in the morning because I saw a young girl (probably 12 or 13) get hit by a car. I don’t know how bad it was. She was alive afterwards, but she definitely wasn’t ok. I think to some extent I was horrified, but I think that after being here for a few months I’ve kind of…gotten my empathy under control? I don’t know if my heart has frozen a bit, or if maybe I have just learned the difference between positive and destructive caring. I just hope the girl is ok.

That happened on the way to Makumira where I had my music practical exam. It was so fun! I can actually play amadinda now! And it’s so hard! We performed two dances that we learned. The first we all kind of look like idiots doing, but the second one was pretty much the sweetest thing ever. Basically what happened was there were five or six people, a mix of students and teachers, playing drums while we danced. Liwewa would kind of chant things telling us what was coming next, and his performance skills are BANGIN. It was sweet. I am just really, really grateful for the students at Makumira. They are Tanzanian adults who took this class and spent time teaching us young white kids who can’t dance and don’t understand the meaning of the dances. It was such a fun class.

My other finals weren’t quite as wonderful, but they are wonderful now because they are over. I have one more take-home exam to finish. AND THEN I’M DONE! The unfortunate thing is that I literally don’t have any other thing that I have to be here for after today. That means that I am missing Frankie’s birthday in New York (frankie95.com) for nothing (except you know, getting the opportunity to live in Africa and all that…;) ). I imagine that flying back for it would be the biggest culture shock that has ever happened though, so I’m just going to try and focus on being here. Now that it’s all over the things that were frustrating before are hilarious (I mean, I’ve always thought it was hilarious) and I cannot wait to get home and tell everyone how simultaneously amazing and ridiculous this whole thing has been. Like honestly, Americans experiencing Tanzania for the first time has to be one of the funniest things that has ever happened.

The one unfortunate thing about right now is that I am about to kill the other students. I just want to chill and enjoy the last few days in Tanzania but I can’t even just sit in my own room without them bringing preteen drama into it (not all of them…but enough). I discovered that my door locks, though, and I will definitely be utilizing that function for the next few days :)

I’m so close! And then I get to see my cats and do laundry and hang out with Beth and Alec and dance and be outside at night and not always have people staring at me because I’m white…