The much needed update

Here's what's been going on in Africa and "in my life"!
Enjoy.

DAY 1 - 1/6/09
This was written on Wednesday (technically Thursday, January 08, 2009) at 12:10 P.M.
What an adventure we have only just begun! Chicago to London, London to Switzerland, Switzerland to Zurich, Zurich to Kenya, Kenya to Tanzania, all in a day’s travels. Wow! The Heathrow airport was nothing to write home about (and still I am : ) We ended up not leaving to explore the city for fear we wouldn’t make it back in time and it was the middle of the night. We could take the hour train ride into the city, take some photos, maybe have a drink at a local pub, and then hurry back to catch our flight…we decided our best option was to try and get a little rest and see London another time. The airport was nothing like we had all envisioned. I was expecting it to have shopping and fun things to do no matter what time we arrived, but no…we arrived to people laying on benches trying to get a little shut eye. The options were limited, so we ended up taking shifts on the benches without the bar that jabbed into your back, while the others watched a DVD or read. We all slept for what precious moments we could in spite of the janitor that kept coming back to sweep the dust pretty much in our faces. We all concluded he was overly exhausted/high and was moving like a sloth. We all got to experience what it was like to be homeless and sleep in the cold. Despite being inside an airport there was a cool breeze of about 50 degrees that kept our noses cold.
After that adventure Molly and Wade, the sweet Bethel couple, came and picked us up from the airport in their Toyota land rover. While they drove we talked a lot about Bethel life, service in Tanzania, and more. It was all so encouraging and exciting! Molly said they have a “problem” with having to many Bible studies and it’s a “preacher’s Paradise” – YAY!! I can’t wait to visit Bethel, explore the city in daylight, and get to meet more of the friends.
It all seems like a blur…now I am in Rebekah’s lovely, warm, and cozy Tanzania home on a mattress on the floor with a mosquito net surrounding me and my swollen feet, and I’m happy to be able to sprawl out. I just finished brushing my teeth with some bottled water. It’s amazing how clean teeth can make you feel so much better : ) –that’s the dental assisting in me talking now.
Well, I’m exhausted. Tomorrow Rebekah is off to teach at the school so the girls and I are going to sleep in and have a lazy day.
GOODNIGHT, Don’t let the malaria infested mosquitoes bite, or the cockaroahes. Haha!

~ Jillian “sunshine”

DAY 2 –
I woke up to the sounds of birds squawking, the swooshing of the mosquito net, and the fan lulling me back to sleep. We all pretty much caught up on some much needed sleep and had our lazy day. Keziah and I woke up first, ate some granola bars, and went to the rooftop to soak up some vitamin D and read. It is a pretty neat view, mostly flat land around us with some neat looking houses with dusty roads. The beach is only a few blocks away but Rebekah says it’s not safe for us to walk there. After a few more nappy times we were all awake. It turns out Rebekah wasn’t feeling good because of her recent travels, so we were all shocked when we saw her. It was nice to spend the day with her. She has a friend named Katie Clay from England with a sweeeeet accent that came and brought us some Indian food for lunch. I’ve been meaning to try Indian food back home from Tahj India, but hadn’t gotten around to it, so I had curried vegetables and rice for the first time in Tanzania. It was oh so good!
It was a good day besides the fact that we all ended up snoozing and when we woke up in was 6 o’clock and the meeting started at 6:30, so we were all a little bummed about that! (we didn’t have the rest of our luggage yet – hopefully we will get them soon!) We ordered our dinner from a place called Village Barbeque right across the street from Rebekah’s neighborhood. Keziah and I split butter chicken, one of Rebekah’s favorites…wise choice – we loved it! It was another Thai meal and was delish! Get this, the neighbors are Lebanese and they gave us some whole-wheat wraps through the window! We are getting the recipe; it may have to become a staple part of our diet. I also drank some boiled water and fruit soaked in Potassium Manganese to kills the bugs and I’m “feelin’ good” (name that tune)…hopefully we will all stay that way! Over dinner we had a basic Swahili lesson, discussed Zanzibar and/or a safari trip, and chatted about life, and Rebekah introduced us to some new tunes by a chic chic from Britain named Kate Nash (skeleton is one of my faves). After dinner the girls and I had our family study and all read Genesis 1-5 together and discussed our favorite scriptures. Mine was Genesis 3:15 because it sets the theme of the Bible in motion, explains why we see some of the things we do right now, and tells what the outcome will be.
I hope the “luminaries” are shining brightly and beautiful wherever you may be. (Gen. 1:16 was another fave. Where would we be without the sun, moon, and stars to light up our lives and eyes to this gem of a place we live on?)
Alright, well goodnight moon. Goodnight all. Peace and happiness to you.

DAYS 3, 4, & 5 –
(It’s Sunday morning and I’m just getting around to writing these past couple days.) Here goes…..
I’m living life with my eyes wide open. Many images have been ingrained into my head since I wasn’t able to photograph them.
Friday, Katie “mother goose” took us on our first bus ride down the street to exchange money. (1st note to fellow world travelers – bring 100’s with the date of 2000 or more recent) I have no Tanzanian shillings yet because of failure to know that! Looks like I’ll need to find a bank soon. I wish the whole world had one currency. That would make it much easier, even better…let’s all share and trade goods, forget monies! Some of the images were of mothers with beautiful babies tied to their backs in colorful wraps, children playing on the side of the road in the ditches smiling as they ran after each other, groups of men sitting by the shade of a tree telling stories or singing, injured and disabled people limping along the road, barebacked men making bricks in the heat of the day, and more. Just traveling down the road you see many vendors selling a variety of things from pots and pans to sofas under a big tree, and men on bicycles selling what I thought was pineapple, which ended up being sugar cane. One shop had meat hanging from the window that really influenced my decision to try and be vegetarian. Many of the stores look like shacks with tin roofs. They have a road side store, which was unlike anything I had ever seen, with some essential items like soap, toilet paper, food and water for sale. We stopped and got some cold waters and t.p. – which are very small rolls of thin sheets (tip #2 – byotp : ) – at least one roll)
Yesterday (Saturday), Rebekah took us to a shopping center down the road to look for sim cards for the girls to use their phones internationally. We did some grocery shopping and that was an adventure! They have many imported goods that are about triple the price we pay in the states. I was really surprised at how expensive everything was. They also have local food and spices, so we did a little meandering and got some essentials. That store didn’t have the sim cards, so we went to another “mall.” This one was outdoors right by the water. I am going back there to take pictures! It was near an abandoned marina with some sailboats docked in the sand. (tip #3 – bring a smaller camera, preferably one that will fit in your pocket with a smaller chance of theft). After that we went home and headed to the beach, luckily Reb had suits to fit three of us, Keziah had her own. The beach was a hotel called White Sands, near where our place will be….and white sands it was. We met many Bethelite missionary couples and other friends. We all had fun laughing at the Bethelites quoting Jim Gaffigan and Chris Farley “I’ll be livin’ in a van down by the river”, floating in the warm Indian ocean, having seaweed wars, and playing volleyball. The temperature was just right…about 80, and when we got out I wasn’t even cold. After the beach we ordered “take away” (as KT says it) Tanzanian dinner from a place called T-square and went back to Katie’s place. Dinner consisted of rice and beans, a fish kebab, and a delicious side called chips mayi – which is fries and an egg put in a patty form like an omelet! All of that was about 3,000 Tsh, which is equivalent to $3.00 USD. Katie has a couple of neighbors that are need greaters, one is Matt from London with a neat accent and gorgeous blue eyes, and the other is Kaishu, a Japanese elder who recently served in Iceland, Australia and all over. Matt brought Katie some chocolate (which is a rarity and very expensive in Africa – tip #4 byochoclate!) and played a few MUSE songs for us on his geetar and he let us borrow his DVD. Kaishu showed us some photos from the pioneer school, TMS Graduation, and Iceland scenes. That is now on my list of places to visit… gorgeous, I won’t mind the cold.
The night came to an end with margaritas and girls talking about guys, life experiences, and what we learned from them, and goals for the future. It was a great day. It is so nice to travel half way across the world and meet strangers that become our friends over a few short days…only in Jehovah’s organization.
(Sunday Morning) Alrighty, well Rebekah and Keziah just got home from the train station with her roommates, Coletta and Jorim, who are returning from a 22 hour bus/train ride from a village where their family lives. We are heading to the Swahili meeting here shortly – hopefully we will figure out an answer in Swahili!
Sunday night. The meeting was great. I answered #17 in the Watchtower my answer was, “Upendo (love), fadhili (compassion), huruma (kindness) na (and) upole (mildness)”. Rebekah translated the talk for us, so we were able to keep up with it. The brothers and sisters were so loving and welcoming. Many came up and shook out hands and we did the best we could to communicate with them. I kept on thinking of Spanish for some odd reason. Jehovah did a good job when he confused the languages. One little girl, Victoria came and sat by me during the meeting. She knew a little English. She was adorable, a very loving little girl, her smile was great, I’m guessing she was about 7 or 8 and was missing her two front teeth, and had on a bright green shirt with sparkles. I’ll have to get a picture next time. Rebekah took us out in service after the meeting. We walked right around the neighborhood the kingdom hall was. That was another eye opener for me! It was very poor and people lived in shacks made with mud walls with tin roofs, the pathways were dirt with large holes with dirty water, flies were buzzing all around the homes and fruit stands. Her first call was not home so we headed back in the direction of the Kingdom Hall and bought some Tanzanian lettuce for about $.20/bundle. Then we walked through another area with higher walls made of mud with many corners…It reminded me of a scene in Star Wars when Anakin finds his mother, or a scene from the Greek Isles without as many hills. The houses were all connected. Around every corner was a different scene. Clothing hung on lines to dry, stands selling fruit and veggies, children running and playing by a large tire on the ground. This call was also not home, she was visiting some family north of town. Then we got in the car and drove to where Rebekah’s Bible study Rachel lived. We passed a graveyard with goats running through it and crowds of people walking along the street. It is amazing to see how simply people live. When we got to Rachel’s house her baby boy Raymond was playing on a blanket and another girl who spoke more English, Anna, was there so Keziah and Katelyn were talking to her about the ministry and more. We came home and made dinner, beef burritos and homemade guacamole. We each had a part in preparing it. Jorim did the best job cutting onions I’ve ever seen a ten-year-old kid do. He had them soaking in water and didn’t even tear up. He did it all squatting on the floor. So cute! For desert we had mangoes cut by Courtney, her specialty. Then we all hit the hay!

DAY 6- MONDAY - 9/12/09
The theme for today was T.A.B. – That’s Africa Baby!….Which pretty much means to be laid back, not expect anything to happen the way we think it would, don’t rely on a certain time, sort of thing.
We went to the Old National Stadium this morning to help clean it so that it can be painted before the Branch Dedication on the 24th of this month. They just made the announcement on Sunday for as many people to come help as possible. Rebekah was saying that a big telephone company called Vodacom, had offered to paint the stadium, but were denied. Instead the Jehovah’s Witnesses were asked to do it…..such a priviledge. So we spent the majority of the day cleaning hole in the ground toilets that were pretty clean but smelled like no other, cleaning down tile walls, and scrubbing dirt off the cement bleachers, while buckets of water were being swept to clean the ground – that’s where a powerwasher would have really come in handy! That’s were Katelyn would say “We ARE in Africa guys!” It was so nice to see how everyone works in harmony, although it was frustrating at times to not have enough supplies, everyone got along and the love was truly seen. I met some nice people today. The circuit overseer couple, Shawn and Nikki, were super sweet and I loved there British accents. They were assigned to Tanzania after Gilead, so Katie came to visit them and loved it so much she decided to stay. I also met Kathy the wonderful cook, a girl from Germany who is marrying Frank, a brother from the English congregation we will be going to, and three girls from Sweden who will be leaving shortly. After a hard days work and much accomplished we rehydrated and all met under the shady side of the stadium. I had my first well-deserved ice cream today from a vendor right outside the stadium. I was so happy to have some delicious cold dessert! You don’t find many sweet treats here. After late lunch at an air conditioned restaurant called Best Bite, we were off to Rebekah’s to pack our bags and see about our place to stay. There has been a lot of craziness about that. Again, T.A.B. fits well here! We thought we were going to get a house with three bedrooms and 2-3 bathrooms all to ourselves, but the lady says she wasn’t ready for us yet. There are some other options, one being a house down the street from Katie’s with two bedrooms and a shared kitchen and bathroom. The owner of the house has guests for the next three days, so we would all have to cram into one room. The next option would be to live in the same house as Katie’s land lady –that’s where Matt and Kaishu are living right now, so they could move down to the room down the road, but Matt has been sick, so it wont be happening soon. Katie offered us her place to stay, so that’s what we will be doing for the next couple days!

TUESDAY – 9/13/08

The day started out nice with service in the morning. Kaishu and I went on Matt’s Bible studies because he wasn’t feeling well. We walked down the street to a petrol station by the Afrikana bus stop, which is a major intersection that is crazy because it has no stop signs, it’s pretty much a free for all. As a side note, I don’t think I could drive here, there are no lines on the roads, craters that eat your car, people walking next to you on busy streets, lots of stones, and I am constantly confused as to which direction we are going because the streets are curvy. Rebekah says that people who live here don’t even know the streets, some have signs posted and some don’t, so you have to pretty much describe by landmarkers. Back to the ministry. I’ll describe it like Kaishu did – “like ants coming to sugar.” That pretty much sums it up. He originally came to talk with two of the security guards at the bank near the Kobil station (that’s not a typo, their version of Mobil gas), but about five came and at times there were six! Kaishu was able to place a couple books and we started the first chapter of the Bible teach. One of the young guys kept asking me all sorts of questions like why I came here, would I like to move here and marry a Tanzanian guy, if my family had money, etc. I pretty much laughed because it reminded me of guys in Mexico. I put my foot down and said I came here to help people learn about the Bible and the promises it holds for the future and not to find a husband, so if you want we can talk more about what’s in the book we just gave you. Then he went away for a while and sat by Kaishu and Victor, the guy he was studying with. One of the guys named Simon knew lots of English so he was able to translate for us. He seemed sincere and even said he would like to study and go to the meetings. We were able to talk about what hope for dead loved ones and he seemed very happy that he could see them again on earth. He was originally from the Mount Kilimanjaro area and has had many of his relatives die.
Tuesday PM – We walked to the meeting following mother goose, Katie. On the way there we passed three little kids with big smiles on their faces saying “Mizungo, mizungo,” which means white person. It’s rare for them to see white people, especially five in a row!

Jambo from Africa

Habariyako - (means how are you? A common greeting in Africa)
I am alive and well....neither of us have gotten sick yet. I hope we stay that way, but Rebekah, the sister we have been staying with says it`s only a matter of time with a huge smile on her face.
The sun is shining brightly, the ocean breeze is just right, and the Indian ocean is a beautiful teal blue.
Africa has been such an adventure and a life changing experience. I have seen so many things that I will never forget. There is such a contrast of wealth and poverty right next to each other. When you think of Africa many ideas come to mind, but it is such a culture shock in reality. You can only look at so many photos, watch the videos, and hear the stories, but it is so different being immersed into the culture.
I was hoping to update my blog with my daily diary, but that will have to wait because the battery is dying and the international charger is at home.
I hope all is well wherever you may be.
...Jillian...

"I'm leavin' on a jet plane, don't know when I'll be back again."
(name that tune) : )
Well, I'll be taking off on the never ending plane ride here in about nine hours. We made it to Chicago safely, thanks to Wes, Katelyn's dad. I met my new roomies, Courtney and Keziah for dinner tonight at a yummy tapas restaurant. We are all super excited and ready for this adventure of a lifetime.
I better hit the hay on a real mattress for awhile because I'll be sleeping in a plane seat for the next day or so...until we get to London.

Take care everyone!