last days

The new mzungu volunteer, Alice, moved in last night. She is super nice but it was hilarious to watch someone else go through the transition into living with the family that I made last year. I felt a bit sheepish that I may have been ruining her moment or whatever but she seemed pretty grateful that I was there to explain some things. And the kids are very quiet and shy when they meet new people so she felt less awkward having me to talk with at least. It was funny though, we were playing Old Maid with Dorcas, Rachel, and Irene, and they were all sitting very quietly and being polite and well-behaved. Then when Alice went to bed, the radio was turned out, Dorcas started dancing around like a crazy person, there was shouting during the subsequent game of Go Fish, and mama even joined in. Irene made fun of Dory for being not shy once Alice went to bed, then I pointed out that Irene had done the same thing and we all laughed.

Also I should have known better...this is Tanzania...I was not moved into the Harry Potter room. Baba moved into the Harry Potter room and mama moved into the kids' room, and I moved into mama and baba's room! After a few minutes of protesting when I realized what had happened, I quickly realized it was a losing battle. Since it is only for 2 days I let it go. But yikes. Good thing I am leaving Monday or I would feel even more awful!

I leave on Monday...if everything goes according to plan, I will have collected 13 more interviews, bringing my total to 30! It was not easy per se, but definitely enjoyable and worthwhile. I think my thesis should be very relevant.