Wrapping up in Addis, Kilimanjaro, and day one in Arusha

Jambo!

It has been a couple weeks since I've made a post on here, so let me catch you up on what has been going on.

Two weeks ago things wrapped up at ICS Addis as their school year came to an end. On the last day of school, the third graders performed three different blues songs they wrote in the morning and the whole school sang along with the debut of the new school song in the afternoon. I am definitely honored to have been a part of the school song writing process. It was great seeing it performed by students and teachers before I left, and I hope the song lives on for a while. 

ICS Third Graders Singing The Blues

Check out this original song by one of the 9th grade choir girls at ICS. It is one of my favorites. I wish I had time to upload more right now, because I have quite a few more favorites, but this is a nice sample of one of the many awesome songs that were created during my four week stay. 

After our short day at school, I got to have a super delicious burger at the same burger joint the teachers took me to at the beginning of my stay in Ethiopia. After burgers, fries, and ice cream, we continued on to multiple celebratory beers at the local, topped off by a Korean feast for the last night. 

My roommate Morgan and I at Korean

Last week, after leaving Ethiopia for Tanzania, I took a fairly last minute trip up to Kilimajaro. It was a great time overall, but super challenging on the last day. The altitude from about 15,000 ft. to 19,000 ft. was pretty intense for me. Nausea, light headedness, and a pulsing headache came and went all the time. I will say though, everything felt pretty good when after hiking for 6 hours under a blanket of stars and a bright full moon, the sky began to glow a fiery red as the African sun began to ascend on the horizon. I was freezing and sick, but it is hard to ignore the beauty of something like that. We made it to the summit around 8:00 am and got back to base camp about noon. A lot of struggling uphill, but well worth it.

Sunset from the mountain on day two

The top!

Last night was my first here at St. Jude's in Arusha, Tanzania. I have barely been here 24 hours and things are already happening. Yesterday I went around the town, saw the market, had lunch, etc. Very cool getting to see the town right away, but last night was something else. I was invited to come along with a group of visiting teachers to a local teacher's wedding reception. It was a night filled with a lot of sitting and watching with confused looks as the MC spoke in Swahili, but there was also some great East and West African music, a little dancing, cake, and (more importantly) a fat goat to cut up and share. Cool stuff. I wish I had some pictures, but no luck this time. 

I figure I will be officially half way done with my travels after this week is over. This is stop number 5 out of 9 at this point, and my goal is to be back in the US by November. I get to meet a bunch more students tomorrow, which I am excited about. I am spending one week at the primary school here, then three weeks at the secondary school. Should be another different experience all together. More info about this school next week. All for now. Take care my friends.

-T