Off the Grid

*** This post is coming to you a week AFTER I returned from Iringa.. haha. Sorry! Bad internet issues!!***

Karibu Iringa!

I’m excited to introduce you all to this beautiful town, Iringa! I am here for the next three weeks to live, breathe, and dream in Swahili!! Haha, you think I’m kidding!

No, for real though, I am here to do a three week intensive Swahili course. And it just so happens to be in a super cute, remote, quiet and peaceful location called RiverValley Campsite. When I say campsite though, I mean cute little cabin (with lots of little critters though)!! It is the perfect place to shut out the world and focus on learning the language!

It isn’t a super common place for people from Moshi to come to for language school seeing as there is another great school just a mere one hour away in Arusha. But, I like to be different and do things my own way sometimes, and when I heard about this place and checked it out, I knew I was meant to come here! I didn’t let the 12hour, which turned into 14+hour, 2 bathroom break (one consisting of a side of the road stop) bus ride stop me from getting here! I was given great advice from my co-workers about long bus rides: pack your own toilet paper, baby wipes, and food (apparently food poisoning is common at the places the bus stops at.. no thank you!) and don’t eat the fish that is sold  on the bus (the lady next to me barfed it up after going through the windy roads..ick!)

So now, I’m here, taking classes from 8:30am-1:30 pm with a chai break at 10:30.. of course!! The rest of the afternoon is mine to rest (pumzika), read (soma), walk (tembea), and of course, practice speaking (sema)! It’s been great, and I am really loving the classes and down time!!

Again, it’s funny how God works in our lives.. His timing is perfect and He knows exactly what we need even before we know it! I have been having 2 themes coming up for me lately…

1. Being more focused on living in the present moment and 2. Needing and wanting time to myself to just process everything since arriving in Tanzania!! I couldn’t have asked for a better place to do that.. remote location with minimal, if any, cell phone service, a peaceful, mountainous, beautiful location, cooler weather (thank God!), and very few people!! It’s fairly obvious why God called me here now!!

These last 4 months have literally flown by!! I feel like I can’t even keep up with the month-in-review blog posts, haha!! I have been so busy with work and Joel and visitors (all good things!), that I haven’t had a lot of time for myself and my own quality time for prayer and reflection. I have a lot to think about and process.. uprooting your life can definitely cause you to see and know yourself in a totally new way!

Living like this has also caused me to feel like I can’t enjoy the present moments..it’s always one thing to the next, or planning for the next visitor, next trip or next event. It’s hard to just take in the present moment, whatever it may be.. teaching the nursing students, enjoying a walk around Moshi town, and especially enjoying Joel’s company and not taking our time for granted or rushing to the next thing.

So, I’m one week into this quest, and it has been going great! I’ve had time to study, read, walk, pray, and enjoy the beauty of the area. I’ve been going to bed early and taking time just for myself.

Of course I miss my Joel, but I can’t help but think that this time away will also be good for our relationship! It’s always good to have time to take care of ourselves, so we can be better for each other!!

Hopefully I can get this post to upload, given the bad internet..?Keep me in your prayers as I continue with my classes here and continue living in the present moment!!

Love you all

xo, Liz