just to let everyone know, i have posted 72 pictures on my photo website with captions for everyone to see. that's all! the site is:
http://watchoutarusha.shutterfly.com/action/

hope all is well in America!

i forgot to add some things to my last post! first of all, if you want to visit the website of the orphanage i went to, you can find it at: www.cradleoflove.com and also, it is so COLD here! i thought i would add that in because it is totally opposite of what everyone thought. and when i say cold, i mean like, 50 degrees in the mornings and nights. but still, thats freezing when its all cloudy because of the mountains close by. i definately did not bring enough clothes!!!!! that's all!

Hello everybody! sorry it has taken me so long to write on this thing, i've had so much on my plate! they weren't kidding when they said this was an intense language course. yesterday we went and visited a center for street children and today we visited a kahawa farm, or a coffee farm. the center yesterday was so cool. it is put in place so that children off the street can come in and have food and shelter while being taught different trades and also english. they were so excited to show us around the area. i can still not speak swahili very well so they kept helping me. they speak much better english than i do swahili, i think. i have good pictures of one of the trades at the center that was called being a "tree doctor". there were these guys 60 or more feet in the air trimming branches and stuff. it looked really cool. classes have been going alright, but there is so much work to be done, i feel like i will never finish! this weekend we get to go to ngorongoro crater and also a masai village. we are going to visit another crater that is called something like "the cradle of life". i feel so lame for not knowing the name but i can't seem to remember it at all. it is going to be really fun! anyway, just a little update. time for me to go do some homework. i am trying to update my pictures faster so keep checking up! kwaheri!

hello everyone! it's finally sunny!!! which is nice, but it is soooo hot. i'm finally getting into the routine of things after having a few days of class...yesterday was amazing. we went to the soko (market) to learn how to bargain and my lord, was that incredible. there were so many people and so many fruits and veggies! after watching a few of my classmates, i finally got the confidence up to start trying to bargain myself and actually bought some stuff! i feel like such an amateur but slowly i am getting there. it has only been a week. it feels like its been three! after that we went into Arusha for some site seeing and i actually held my own pretty well. the street vendors definately have a way of coming at you when you're in a group and separating you. but it was really fun and i really enjoyed the city with the sun out. it didn't seem as scary or mucky as the first time. when we returned to the center, me and a few of my classmates walked to an orphanage that is next door to us. it was so amazing and mind-blowing. we went at then end of one shift to talk to some of the women who worked there to see if we could come and volunteer for a day and they had us come inside right then and there. we spent the next few hours helping care for the kids while talking with the women. it was so incredible. the children are newborns up until two years old. after that they are adopted or moved to a different orphanage. the children were so adorable! most of their mothers had died, either from complications in child birth, one family died in a car accident, and the rest had parents who had died due to AIDS. it was so sad to know that over half the children in the orphanage were HIV positive. i am going to go back sometime during working hours to talk with the owner and find out who adopts them and how the place is funded. i hope i get experiences like this the entire time i'm here. anyway, time to head back to another two hours of class, lunch break is over. hope everyone is well and talk to you soon!!!

Hello everyone! I am at this moment posting pictures on my shutterfly account so that you can all look at what I have been up to these past few days! I have a few of my center and also of the people in my group. It feels like I have been here for a week at least because of all the things I have seen and learned...it's amazing to think it's only been a couple of days!!! We have been divided into our classes now and are beginning our lessons. It's not too bad but we do have a lot of work ahead of us. The days seem so long and the nights too! That isn't a bad thing, I just need to get used to 16-17 hours days. Summer in Bloomington is a piece of cake compared to this! But I am enjoying myself and the area. It's actually freezing here right now. Its probably around 50-60 degrees during the day. It is 7am and i am in a long sleeve shirt, jacket, and the longest, warmest skirt I could find! It's cold but nice because then the mdudu (bugs) don't bother me! :) I have finally gotten two full nights of sleep. I wish I had a tape recorder so you could hear all of the crazy sounds we hear every day and night. There is a bird that sounds like a baby crying, howler monkey things, another bird that sounds like a person whistling the twilight zone theme song...it's insane. We have traveled to Arusha, but only for a short while. It's a small town but FULL of people. It's so intimidating to try and speak to people ont he street! Especially when they are constantly screaming out Mzungu (white person) to you and trying to sell you something! I think me and a few of the people from my group are going to venture outside of the center walls later in the evening to an orphanage next door. The people who work there said we could come help out. I'm pretty excited. Me and a friend in the group named Carly are doing a report for the end of the summer on children's rights so this will be a good experience for us. We are also going to try and visit a primary school close by. We are going to do this all as a group, but I want some personal time to explore so I can feel comfortable. I am still to shy to speak! There is a theater/dance group in the center with an amazing guy named Joho, and I already made a fool of myself to him! He took us on a little tour yesterday around the center and talked to us about his life. It is so amazing to be able to understand him! I think that by being here, I am going to be speaking confidently in no time! Anyway, time for breakfast. More to come later! Don't forget to check out the pictures!

so i made it! i'm alive, lacking sleep, but alive. :) the compound i am staying on is gorgeous. huge, too! all of the people in the program are amazing...i feel like i am the least experienced here, which is probably true. the sun is just coming up so right now is the first time i am actually seeing africa. last night it was so dark by the time we got here i couldn't see anything. you haven't seen dark 'til you've been here, TRUST ME. no sleep has come yet, but i'm trying. after staying up all night with my roomate, i think tonight will be no problem. my roomate is a student from washington university named Jamie. she's a lot like me so i have a feeling we'll get along :) this is gonna be a blast! now if i could just remember some of my kiswahili...anyway, feel free to e-mail me at olivia.swanson@gmail.com or just comment on this blog. have a good one kids and tutaonana baadaye!!

this will be my website for photographs...hopefully it is up and running once i've been in arusha for a little while...

http://watchoutarusha.shutterfly.com/action/

it is finally sinking in that i'm going to Africa!!!! Only three days left to go...