Class in the Field

Papers are coming together and I can see the light of the weekend. We are going to a National Park on friday (where we could see lions!) and we are going to a pool to relax on Saturday, which hopefully means I can somewhat even out the awesome tan lines I have accumulated.

For class yesterday we had a filed lecture, which meant we went to the top of Kilimatembo and received lectures from all of out professors. The view makes it very hard to concentrate on anything that is being said, and with finals about 12 days away I should really be listening to lectures. Its hard to believe that in 17 days we are camping in the Serengeti and we leave Kenya in only 25 days!! Its gone so fast!

But after lectures we went for a walk in a forest and we looked at the trees and such. Yohanna, one of the assistances, was shaking fruits off a tree so we all grabbed one, and you squeeze it out of the skin and you just suck on it. It has the flavor of a warhead so we were all loving it. Then you just spit out the pit. One of our professors tore sap off the tree and was licking it, but I didn’t want any part of that. Then we went to a rock face and climbed up the side of it to get a good look at the view, and yet again it was beautiful. We also saw an ant lion which is part of the small five! We didn’t have any class after noon so it was a day of just working on papers. Which wasn’t too bad.

I took my fabric to the tailor and he is making me a strapless dress that goes to about my knees. It’s having a zipper and lining and it is only costing 25,000 shillings which is about $16, so costume made dress including fabric for about $32 ... I’ll take it! A bunch of us are going to take all of our extra fabric and have a bunch of head bands made which is only 2,000 shillings so a little over a dollar! I go to pick my dress up on the 29th so hopefully it looks good.

Yesterday I was MOD which is like student of the day where you do a reflection, make announcements, and then do a presentation. So I clearly had to tell the famous Hot Gary and Reggie Wayne story, and everyone loved it. I showed the pictures and all!

This morning we went bird watching for class and identified as many birds as we could. It was pretty much just a hike up to Moyo Hill where we sat for a while and then we walked back down the hill to camp to finish up our papers. I still find myself in disbelief that I am actually in Africa because its so green in Tanzania and it doesn’t look like Pride Rock at all, its more Timon and Pumba style.