a note from Tom

its been a while since we have had internet but i (ben) just got a USB modem from Songea yesterday that runs off of the cell phone tower here in Hanga. so, we will have the chance to write a little more today. first, some reflections from the last week or so...

May 23^rd

The first full day in Dar Es Salaam saw the arrival of Lindsey, Dawn, Brandon, and Jake at 7:00 in the morning, and came into fruition with the emergence of the Frisbee from Tom’s luggage. As the sun neared its scorching zenith, the gang took a short jaunt to the Kilwa Road Pub, where we enjoyed cold Fantas and the bemused looks we received from the locals. As if the cultural shock of the first few hours were not enough, we later took a journey to the downtown fish market, where the barkers peddled the fruits of the Indian Ocean (including, much to our surprise and astonishment, several sharks) and where the city seemed to be at its most vibrant. We dined that evening with Nicholas, a Ugandan information technologies specialist who shared with us many fascinating stories and facts about Africa.  The day was concluded with good company, Bananagrams, and the promise of great adventures to come.

Made it to Hanga!

Wow. this is the slowest i have seen the internet in a while!

all students are present and accounted for.
john,brandon,jake,tom,tulip,lindsey,dawn,kerrie,krystal

we traveled all day...i mean ALL day on Saturday to get to Hanga.

left Dar at 5:00am and arrived in Hanga at 12:00am...thats 19 hours.

but surprisingly comfortable. highlights of the trip includ, R Kelly music videos, Wrestlemania 21 (what year was that in again?), and of course viewing of "The Gospel According to Luke"...dubbed in Kiswahili. gotta love this place.

just chilling in Hanga for the week! maybe will be in town on Wednesday or Thursday  (town is Songea...you can find that on a map of Tanzania) where there is fast(er) internet and we might be able to load some pictures.

hope all is well back home! we appreciate the comments on the posts!

-ben

Day 3 in Dar

Off to the beach today!

Krystal arrived at 10 last night and so we are 8 strong now.

Tulip gets in at 8 tonight and John will be here at 10. Then we are off to Hanga tomorrow! That's gonna be a long day on the road...

More to come later.

Ben

Location:Engaruka St,,Tanzania

London Heathrow

Cheers! Our flight overseas went very well, and we were all glad to be on the ground in the UK! During the flight we watched movies, got some grub, drank some tea (unfortunately they didn't serve crumpets), and tried to get some sleep. That was more of an attempt than a success, but overall the flight was great. It's been a long day in London Heathrow, but we've enjoyed the good company and British culture. We basically spent the day walking around, drinking some much needed coffee, eating at Giraffe (restaurant at the airport), and listening to the brilliant accents. Our flight to Dar es Salaam has 81 empty seats, so we will hopefully be able to get some room to spread out. I guess Tanzania isn't one of their popular routes... We've been waiting for our gate assignment all day, but apparently they do things different over here. They only post it one hour before boarding. Kinda strange. Anyway, we look forward to our FINAL flight to Tanzania, and it will be nice to actually be there. Africa, here we come! Brandon, Jake, Lindsey, and Dawn

British Airways Flight!

Good evening (in a British accent), We are currently on our flight and getting ready to take off! Jake and I had seats separate, but the lady at the counter worked some voodoo magic, and now we're in 45A and 45B! The flight attendants have bloody brilliant accents, and we are already enjoying our time on British Airways! It was a long day in the airports, but the people watching was prime, and I found a few Starbucks along the way. Dawn and Lindsey made it here as well, and we are all pumped for our transatlantic flight to London! We're about to get going! Goodbye America! -Brandon (& Jake)

2012 group on the way!

Tanzania May-June term Service/Immersion...here we come!

tomorrow the group for this year starts heading to Tanzania for our month long adventure.

Jake, Brandon, Tom, John, Dawn, Lindsey, Tulip, Krystal, Kerrie...and Ben of course.

thinking we might be able to blog from the road this year...and there will be a lot of time on the road :)

tune in again soon for the first pictures from the trip.

-ben

Beautiful Africa!

Here is an accumulation of some of the pictures I took while on the trip!