As I’ve said before, living in Dar es Salaam gives me the incredible opportunity to experience a plethora of different cultures all in one city. I get to hang out with people from Columbia, Australia, France, Russia, Finland, etc., hear their languages, and learn small bits about how they view the world. Somewhat surprisingly, Fort…
The Best Job Ever.
Yes. That’s right. I have the best job ever. Teaching at HOPAC is actually a lot of fun. My job is pretty awesome. I get to be mobbed by awesome primary students in the snack bar line. I get to wear crazy colors and celebrate togetherness with students and teachers of all ages. I get…
Pamoja Week: Year #3
Its difficult for me to believe that this is my third year at HOPAC, but, as this is my third week participating in the legendary “Pamoja Week,” it must be true. Pamoja Week is our celebration of unity at HOPAC. In many ways, it mirrors the American “Spirit Week.” Pamoja Week is the highlight of…
A Series of Odd Events While Traveling…
Photo taken from https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4014/4379094927_85bd8fc549.jpg Sometimes it feels like I’m living a part of Lemony Snicket’s series of unfortunate events. Traveling from Dar es Salaam, Tanzania to Colombo, Sri Lanka last week was one of those times. Though I’ve had a number of traveling adventures, including traveling cross-country to Victoria Falls bootstrap-style, this latest trip was,…
Kitesurfing
Instead of traveling this midterm break, I opted to stay in Dar for the week. When the opportunity arose to learn to kitesurf, I jumped on it. Living on the coast for the past two and a half years, I’ve seen plenty of people kitesurfing, and so assumed it wasn’t terribly difficult. In some ways,…
Margins
Margins bring order and cleanliness But I’d prefer to run insane, my life all a mess The white space on the page brings focus to the text The notes and scribbles scrawled filling space, erasing rest Jambo moja’s the theme: only one thing But I’ve misplaced the bold in all my running When the page…
The Struggle is Real
Yesterday morning, I impulsively typed up a Facebook status update as a means of venting my frustrations about my struggle to choose joy. Twelve hours later, the status had over 100 likes, fifteen comments, and had been shared multiple times. Apparently, I’m not the only one struggling to choose joy. I woke up angry this…
Teaching Like its Summer Camp
It occurred to me earlier this week that perhaps the reason I’ve been so tired this school year is not my class load, but the fact that I am teaching like its summer camp. Those of you who have ever been summer camp counselors know what I mean: the enthusiasm, energy, creativity, passion, and giving…
Ride Fierce Racing 
