Ask anyone at HOPAC what the best day of the year is, and inevitably they will tell you it is International Day. The excitement builds all week, as students celebrate Pamoja Week. “Pamoja” means “together” in Swahili, and Pamoja Week is essentially Spirit Week. Student council decides on themes for each day, students (and teachers)…
Words Matter: Link up!
In my AS English Literature class, we are studying A Passage to India by E.M. Forster, and in the opening chapter of this novel, he uses the words “sallow hospital” as a part of the description of the town of Chandrapore that serves as the setting for much of the book. As one of my students…
Teaching isn’t Boring
Someone told me once that the first year of teaching is always the hardest. How I see it, I’ve had two “first years.” Once, four years ago, in Fort Wayne, when I student taught for the first semester and then took over English 10 and Grade 9 Honors for the second semester. Then again, last…
Jesus Wants to Know YOUR Story
Friday is my favorite day of the week, but it isn’t just because its the last day of school before the weekend, though that is a bonus! This year, there are a number of incredible things about Fridays, such as the fact that my first class on a Friday starts at 10:50 a.m., or that…
Sufficient Unto the Day….
Tuesday, 8:00 p.m. Living the expat life means that friends come and go at a rapid pace. One of these friends, Holly, was back in Dar on a short visit, and we arranged to meet for mishkaki and chips (beef kebabs and French fries) at a local restaurant (two containers with tables set up around…
#TIA: Infection Edition (Caution: PG-13 Images)
Warning: This post contains graphic images. Do not proceed reading if you don’t like blood, gore, and nasty wounds. Continue at your own risk. You have been warned. I have been incredibly blessed with overall good health over the last year and a half living in Tanzania. Other than malaria and dengue, I’ve had only…
The Little Moments
Its hard to believe its been almost a month since I last posted! Time flies when you’re having fun, I suppose! Earlier this week, I read an (awesome) article by Ann Voskamp talking about the intense life we live in the everyday: Why in the world disdain the small? It’s always the smallest strokes that add…
#Life
Six weeks ago, when I first arrived back in Dar, I never dreamed that I would feel so completely at home here. Jet lag made for a bit of a rough transition, but now that I’ve settled in, I am enjoying life to the fullest. School As I write this, my tenth-grade IGCSE English Literature…
5 Questions
I could start complaining about how I hit snooze fifteen times this morning, or how changing the oil in my motorcycle became a TIA crisis, or how I really should be grading papers instead of reading all of the posts backpiling in my RSS reader, but that’s all rather irrelevant. After clicking through several links…
Moments
What follows is a collection of moments, glimpses into my life since returning from my summer holiday in the U.S. a month ago. Some are funny, some are serious, some from school, and some from play. This is #life. He walked into the room, said hi, and sat down across from me. He was average…
Ride Fierce Racing 