Oljoro Mountain Bike Race

What’s a great way to start a Saturday?  At 8:00 am have your husband talk you into doing a mountain bike race that starts at 9am.  It was a lot of fun especially since the last time I was on my mountain bike (or any bike) was when I did basically the same race for my 40th birthday (Sept 2010).  As you can imagine, races have a slightly different vibe here and that makes it very casual and fun.  I was happy to get there and see a few other women that I know also doing it just for fun.  I knew I was in the right frame of mind when on the short ride to start with Matt he turns to me and says “Oh, by the way, you can’t use your front derailleur”.  And I said “ok, no big deal. I can just use the gears I have”, but what I was really thinking was “Yeah! Now I have an excuse as to why I’ll be so slow”.  Anytime I wanted to really shift in the front during the race I had to dismount and manually move the chain.

You wouldn’t believe how fast these guys can ride with their tire sandals on the Chinese phoenix bikes that have no gears.  The competition.

It was really hot and I rode most of the way with the other Lisa (Lisa Peterson).  We both ended up “in the money” which really means we finished mid-pack, but it’s so much more fun to say that I got 4th place for the women and won 20,000 T-shillings (about $15).

A couple that plays together stays together.  Matt also won some money (12th place overall)

And you know how I’ve wanted to get a great picture of the maasai that had just gone through their circumcision ceremony with all of their ceremonial make-up?  Well,  it’s just as much fun to have them cheer for you during a bike race.  The kids and families cheering for us from the rural villages was so also much fun.

Ashlyn’s field trip to local primary schools

Ashlyn’s class went on a field trip to try and visit a few different schools in the area and to then talk about why/how these schools are the same/different as ISM.  Unfortunately, we made it to only two of the three planned schools.  We did not make it (again) to the Matonyok orphanage due to road conditions….This is the same place we tried to get to a year and a half ago on another field trip that also was cut short due to the road.

First stop was The Learning Space early years school.  This is run by local expats and has a mix of expat and Tanzanian kids.  I think currently it is only ages 2-5.  Kids had a great time playing on the playsets (LOVE the see-saw), playing with the guinea pigs, and having a snack before we headed over to Olasiti Primary School. 

Olasiti Primary is a local primary school up to 6th grade, if I remember correctly.  There are about 1,700 students and just over 60 teachers. There are over 100 students per class. I can’t even imagine.  I had enough trouble keeping track of the 5 kids in my group for the day.  As soon as we arrived at the school, the school kids were so curious they just came out of their classes to see what was going on.  Then they got closer….and closer until the headmistress came out and shooed them all away. 

Chelsea took her class into one of the classrooms where the kids sang songs to each other and had the opportunity to ask each other questions. 

This is the library for all 1700 students

Ashlyn and Ellesmere

Thought we may have ended up with a few extra students when all was said and done

Ashlyn’s P1 Class

(last photo is with one of her best friends Simone with Maja and Cole peeking from behind)

Maji Moto with Amy, Brian and Richard

Our good friends Amy and Brian from Boulder just came for a visit (with Amy’s dad, Richard).  We had a great time showing off our Tanzania, and I think they had a great safari to visit the Hadza, see the wildebeest migration in the southern Serengeti, and also see the magnificent Ngorongoro Crater.  On their last day in town, we took them to a local favorite – a picnic at Maji Moto.  It also happened to be near the airport (and we might have needed a fresh water swim after the amount of Bombay consumed the evening prior).  I hope it was a great way for them to end their trip…I know we had fun. 

Saturday night.  Ouch.

Maji Moto (literally “hot water”, but saw somewhere that the local name is Chemkwa Springs)

A quickly passing storm cleared out most of the visitors, but we stuck it out and I think the monitor lizard now thought it was safe to venture out. 

Thanks for coming to visit us. 

Karibuni Tena!