a sunburnt Christmas
26.12.07
As I signed in to blogspot to write this post I had the intention to write about Christmas Day here, in Tanzania. Now, that it's 20 minutes later and I'm finally signed in I no longer have the energy to describe the wonderful day. Normally, when I don't end up writing a complete post I save it as a draft and send it out later but that is not the case tonight. I won't have an opportunity to go online during the next 6 days as I'm leaving in about 9 hours to go to Tanga to play in the ocean. :)
I'll write all about it when I get back!
Happy New Year!
posted by Cynthia at
12/26/2007 11:32:00 AM
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hmmmm
17.12.07
I find it interesting/ironic/whateveryouwanttocallit that for the past 6 weeks 10,000 members of The Writers Guild of America have been on Strike! And here we are, in Africa(!), WRITING a Musical. :)
posted by Cynthia at
12/17/2007 12:33:00 PM
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excerpt
13.12.07
Excerpt from my most recent E-mail Update:
Though I have met a few missionaries who work 2-3 hours per day. I am not one of them! Every missionary/volunteer here (there are 6 of us) typically works weekdays 8:00 - 5:30. Weekends are for church and play. My major role out here at Pamoja is to be the Production Designer for the Musical Drama. As the script and musical numbers are still being written, my role has yet to come into play. In the meantime I'm learning what it is to be a Production designer, I'm designing the interior decorating and furniture for 3 apartments and the video studio, I'm painting 2 wall murals, I'm working on 5 different graphic design projects, I'm helping with data entry and I am now completely overhauling their accounting practices to streamline with Quickbooks. In a few weeks I'll begin storyboarding and by mid-January I will begin designing and building the sets and costumes for the musical drama. It's going to be very interesting work!
You may think that it is somewhat unusual for a mission in Africa to be working on videos. I asked the Director here to share with me about the movement of the ministry into media. He explained: "Africa is ripe for new forms of media, especially video! Although literature is still highly honoured, with the influx of the new technology, the time has come for the Church to fill the gap by producing appropriate videos. We have felt directed to "go for the heart", using the strength of Central Africa culture in music, dance, and story-telling, while not neglecting 'the mind'. We have produced 4 children's videos with a vision to produce many more. We produced, Yoeli, an animation dealing with the issues of Fear and Faith. Also, we are in the midst of producing a Swahili Musical Drama DVD dealing with one of the toughest issues in Central Africa, the Fear of the Spirits of the Ancestors. We have a core of young people gathering from the West and Locally to write the plot, do the storyboards, write the music & lyrics, do the choreography, produce the dialogue and get the project onto DVD and into the community."
If you are not receiving Email Updates from me and wish to be added to the list please let me know.
posted by Cynthia at
12/13/2007 11:21:00 AM
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1 comments
Tanzania Time
9.12.07
So it's 10 o'clock, but is it? If you didn't specify a Tanzanian may show up at 4 o'clock, 6 hours late! Why?
Tanzanians start determining the time as the sun rises, assumed to be 6 am. So 2:00, is really the second hour which is 8 am. Now, most Tanzanians know the "European Time" and if you're white they assume, you are using that system. Things get complicated when a white person uses the Tanzanian Time system, without specifying, and the Tanzanian is assuming they're using the "European Time" system.
I've determined that countries are like people... full of quirks!
posted by Cynthia at
12/09/2007 09:20:00 AM
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1 comments
Pineappley
7.12.07
The things I've learned about Pineapple:
- they taste a zillion times better here
- you can NOT freeze raw pineapple
- cooking the pineapple can rescue it from certain death (aka over ripe)
- you can use pineapple in many things: muffins, cookies, cake, sauce, smoothies, jam, pancakes, etc.
posted by Cynthia at
12/07/2007 01:35:00 PM
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1 comments
all the reports...
4.12.07
... of snow. I do NOT miss winter but I DO miss the snow, especially at this time of year. I miss those times when you're walking and suddenly the night feels very still. The snow is lightly falling, sparkling in the street lights, gathering on the Christmas lights, the scent of burning wood stoves fills the air, and you can't help but to think how great our Maker is! :)
The seasons are reversed here. We are heading into summer, the hottest time of the year. Right now, we're averaging 30 degrees plus mild humidity. It will get hotter and more humid over the next 2 months before it cools down again.
It's definitely very different to be heading into the Christmas Season and the New Year in warmth! It's just not the same but it's GOOD and I'll enjoy it while I have the chance.
posted by Cynthia at
12/04/2007 11:00:00 AM
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