Play Dough Castles

In in my classroom we've been learning about different types of sculpture and today we made this traffic light coloured play dough, with added glitter. I taught the kids how to make castle towers and walls and we all went to town making our own castles (long pointy sticks optional).

 See those yellow things at the front in the picture above? They're protective crocodiles!

Making play-dough models with kids is such a happy way to spend an afternoon and everyone was most impressed with the castle they built.

The Coolest Insects Ever

I often see really cool insects around the school. Usually by the time I go and fetch my camera, they have flown off, but here's a couple that i managed to capture. A beetle and some sort of fly with wings. So beautiful and unlike anything I've ever seen!

Hedgehog Baby Gets Bigger!

Remember my post a little while back about the baby who looks like a hedgehog and who I invited to my wedding? He's back! And look how big he got! Do you still think he looks like a hedgehog? I'm not convinced. I think he sort of looks like a baby!

Arusha Bombing

I try to keep this blog quite upbeat, but I had to share my sadness over the church bombing this weekend, just down the road from where we live. Arusha is considered to be a safe city, but tensions between Christians and Muslims have been rising in the region and this attack, for which 4 Saudi's have been arrested, follows similar ones in Zanzibar and Mombasa. You can read about it here.

Back in Tanzania

So I came back 'home' to Arusha. 'You look good', was the first thing my co workers said to me. 'Your skin is like a baby, and you look more fat'. To which I responded, 'Thank you'. Because thank you is the only appropriate response to 'You look fat' here. To be fat is a good thing. It means you've got extra money to spend on extra food. A lot of Tanzanians don't have that extra money, therefore they are thin, whether they like it or not.

 While I was away, my husband Jouni got new glasses. Here is is modelling them, delighted to have his picture taken. They cost around 30 dollars, including the eye test, case and a bunch of coatings. He got them from Sunbeam Optical Centre in Arusha. Maybe I'll get some too!

We're back!

We're back home from the beach crab after a twelve hour coach journey. I will only home for 20 hours though: I'm flying to England! Here's some pictures from the beach crab.

On the beach...

 I'm taking a couple of days off from posting to enable some heavy-duty relaxation. See you soon!

Chameleons!

We often see these wonderful, scaly friends around Tanzania and they will be one of the things I miss the most when we leave. I think we're pretty much the only people who like them: many Tanzanians will run screaming from them because they are traditionally believed to be possessed by the devil (because of the horn and because they are thought not to need food and water).

What I never knew about chameleons before moving here is that they move super slowly! And if you touch one they feel somehow more papery than a snake, and dryer. These photos are some of the ones we have been slowly gathering up.

Toy Playground!

 Recently in school we've been making a playground for our toys. Each child designed and made their own piece of equipment and they look great! From the top: a ship, a sandpit, a trampoline, a slide, and a swing.

Holiday!

We've finished school for a three week holiday before the third term. Woo hoo! Jouni and I are going down to the coast. We have a favourite place to stay there called 'The Beach Crab'.  Here's some photos from the last time we were there:

We hope to run into our friends Rob and Allison whilst we are down there. The only part I'm not looking forward to is the long, sweaty, and potentially deadly coach ride down to the coach. Say a little prayer for us!

Swallow's Nest

Two West Africa Swallows have built their super-interesting nest in our porch using mud. I've never seen anything like it! It took them a couple of weeks to build and now if you try and sit on the porch they swoop at you.

I don't know much about birds but I am so excited for when the babies come out of the nest!

Teaching and Learning in my Classroom

A potential employer asked me to put together a PowerPoint on the topic of 'Teaching and Learning in my classroom'. I took some photos of us doing the usual stuff we do day to day and I thought that you might also be interested to see some of the activities we often do.

After I'd taken the photos my husband told me that PowerPoint presentations don't usually have many pictures in them. Who knew! I honestly haven't made a PowerPoint presentation since I was in school and I have never actually presented one to somebody.