tanzania

hello all and sorry for not posting anything in forever. as sept wraps up its proved to be one of the most whirlwind months of service yet. in the beginning of the month i was reunited with all of my training group for our medical checkup. this was great to spend time with some folks i hadnt seen in months. immeadiatly thereafter my friend jeremy and i went on a vacation to the beautiful neighboring country of tanzania. it was a bit hectic at times, racing around to cram as much of the country into twelve days as possible, but nevertheless awsome. zanzibar, an island off the coast in the indian ocean was bueatiful. white sand, clear blue water and fun british people to hang out with. also there is the port town, stonetown, which was amazing. super narrow winding streets and fascinating architecure plus lots of fresh seafood which i looked at, but of course didnt eat. and it has a large muslim population, so going during ramadan made finding food tough at times but provided a rich cultural expirience. from the beach it was off on safari on the mainland. i saw snow in africa for the first time, on the top of mt. kilimanjaro, which was quite unique. our three day safari covered lake manyara national park, ngorongoro crater and taragire national park. all three were amazing, with the crater being the best. i'd have to say it was actually one of the greatest days of my life. we say many animals including but not limited to elephants, girraffes, lions, cheeta, zebra, wildabeast, buffalo, baboons, vervet monkeys, impalas, dik diks and many more which at this time im struggling to remeber. all in all it was a wonderful vacation - it surely didnt all work smoothly but that was part of the beauty and i wouldnt change it for a second.

and now i sit in solwezi, eager to return to my site this weekend. finding mysely more than halfway finished my service is quite rewarding yet scary as well. im having to start considering my next steps in life, and sometimes i feel like i have less direction now than before i came. but im sure in time if i think long and hard about what to do ill figure somthing out. if ive learnt anything out here its that things probably wont go as planned so just enjoy the ride. well thats it for now and i really cant wait to see you all soon when im home for the holidays.