Got tired towards the end of this...sorry

Today was a very normal day.  It may be one of the last and I really appreciate it.  We are all so mixed right now.  We leave in like 18 days or something.  I am getting excited to come see you all and perhaps make better sense of what has happened here.  Yet, I am of course going to miss this.  It is odd to be in this state.  I figured it would be close to leaving the states but it is very different.  Anyway, today we had Elibariki and Omega as teachers.  It was kind of a frustrating day. Sometimes Swahili just doesn't come.  But Bariki is patient and Omega is good at sleeping in his chair outside so it was fine.  We talked a little about black magic in the afternoon and they told us all bout people riding strainers around like witches ride brooms and riding hyenas like cars.  They were really curious about witchcraft in the US so we told them a little about the occult.  Quite an interesting afternoon.

The other day I forgot to write about Friday and Saturday.  Friday, Sara, the Swiss students, Omega, Kadeghe and I went to the orphanage.  This is run by the Catholic Church.  It is amazing in Tanzania the way that religion falls into all other aspects of life. It is especially connected to social work.  Wonderfully showing the image of a God who serves before being served and who asks us to do the same.  

What an amazing experience. Wrenching if you let the fun subside. So we just up the fun level. I don't know what it is, but it seems that in everything that I do with kids, the craziest ones are attracted to me. In the summer I thought it was because I am the only one who gives them the time of day. But maybe there is a natural attraction now that I think about it. During church too all the craziest ones flock to me. And as soon as we got there, this kid, Kasiim, with newly peed in shorts ran to me and said shoulders shoulders in Swahili. All the others found these soft gentle kids and I got a wild man. It was amazing. I am not complaining at all. I wouldn't have it any other way. Others get annoyed but that is really what I like. I just threw him in the air, and used him as a wheel barrow and yanked him off the fence a bunch of times and ran around with his pee pants on my shoulders.  This kid was incredible. The other kids were wonderful and eventually they came but he got really jealous and stole my hat, so I keld the others but played with him. Freakin king of the playground. We are going back next week.  The experience really exceeded expectations. Afterward, we spent the evening at Luka's place.  Way fun. It was a feast, fish and goat and rice and beef, ugali. Fresh mangos from the trees outside, fresh pineapple and jackfruit. Oh and Pepsi. It was so nice.  Luka is really amazing. and his house is beautiful. he has been building it since 2003 and many of you probably helped him with it.  It has been harder than normal to get to know Luka this term because he had a lot on his plate with getting married and the two deaths, but recently we have connected much more.  

Saturday Peter and Steve and I spoke at length with Barry from Australia about religion.  I don't think he is particularly religious.  He was particularly glad to hear about our perception of religion here. We talked about he resistance to conservative Western Christianity and about how back home the anti-imperialism Christianity is taking root among students.  

Sunday I asked Mch about the theology here. He said that they are not very much for the lofty theologians.  Theology of the cross and practical contextual theology is more central.  I will think about this more when I write the religion paper.