23rd Oct 11:30am

This morning I got up early to go to church, it was really good actually. Me Caroline and Tom went together (Caroline walked so fast she left us behind). Crystal didn't come because she was in bed sick.

We walked down the track to Kimundo and then went up a mud track through some trees to the church. It wasn't big but the front had loads of decorations and there were guys playing instruments.

We stood and tried to sing along for a bit and then the vicar started to talk, then the communion started to join in. They were talking along with him and whispering or chanting. It was really good to experience - I could feel the energy in the room building as they talked and expressed their belief. I filled up at this point (didn't cry but my eyes filled up) because you could feel everyones commitment to their faith.

We sung some more and the music was so happy, not gospel music, but everyone was swaying and holding their palms up at shoulder height towards the front of the church.

When the vicar began to talk a Tanzanian man (I didn't get chance to find out his name), came and sat between me and Tom. He told us he would be our translator and handed us a bible, which was in English (bad English not old English) to my surprise. The vicar talked of Jesus being their controller and how he could heal 'damsels' who had plague just by touching them. If I'm honest I preferred to listen to it in Swahili because I don't follow any religion so I'd rather not know all the stories.

It got close the the end of the service (turns out that was not the case as the supervise is 4 to 5 hours long), and Itchi the stray dog who seems to chill at Peace Matunda but knows everyone in the village, had followed us to church and came in. A man there seemed really stressed out by this, so the only way we could get him to leave, was to leave ourselves. It was fine thought we had been there nearly 2 hours!

22nd Oct 9:15pm

Arusha was really good, it's not a particularly pretty city, but where it is, there are huge purple trees that tower over everything. We wandered around the streets for a while and then went dinner at a cute little cafe called Masai Cafe where we bought pizza which was lovely.

We went to a shop and all the people were laughing at us trying to explain what we needed. We also went to an Internet cafe (where I started blogging) and I heard loads of other girls talking about how they were also at orphanages.

We met this Canadian girl who interviewed us on our volunteer experience for he phd. It was good to heat about the way the orphanage works, apparently there is very little structure for volunteers (Sean the volunteer coordinator has gone home due to family circumstances) so we have a lot leeway to do things. Like tonight I helped make chipates at tea time, with Auntie Maggie, asthe kids called her.

The conversation tonight between the volunteers here was kind of bad; apparently Peace Matunda will send students home if they don't have socks on, some of these kids will have walked 2 hours to get to school over hills and rivers. I thought this was bad until Tom (the other English volunteer) said that other schools might beat their students for not habit socks on!

Ps. Today I nearly had something stolen! We were about to get on the dala-dala and this guy started to unzip my bag, I just flicked his hand away and moved, but it shook me up slightly. Kristina then told me that it's massively frowned upon and sometimes thief's may get stoned - rocks thrown at then until they die underneath a pile of rocks from bleeding or suffocation.
It's safe to say I'm glad I didn't make a fuss.

22nd Oct 1pm

So, my first experience in Arusha...
We set off from the orphanage after Ester, the admin lady, showed me around the orphanage and school, it's weird because half of it isn't finished but it's still clean and very welcoming. The children introduce themselves and then just hug you and hold your hand.

We walked down the dirt track to the road for about 45 minutes, it was pretty hot too. Then we got the dala dala (a bus that is pretty much a minibus with extra seats) but we had to let 2 go past before we found one with space. It turned up and we shoved our way on.

People were cramming on after us and I ended up at the back bouncing around over speed bumps and rocks. I looked to my right and I kid you not, the woman next to me had a live chicken on her lap.

22nd Oct 11:40am

So I have lots to tell from the flight, I was so amazing, Stephane (French) and Amil (Swedish) showed me everything on the dash board! I wore a head set and listened in on the air traffic controller. I was overwhelmed. Obviously I couldn't see much but clouds and darkness because it was a night flight. However at one point it was so clear we could make out the shape of Kilimanjaro and Mount Meru (the volcano near Peace Matunda). We saw them because it was the only place in the sky where the stars weren't shining! It was beautiful; the sky was full of twinkling stars and the geek in me was naming constellations.

Amil was telling me about all the places in Arusha I should visit. I got a photo with Stephane in the cockpit, which is pretty cool. At the end of the flight he gave me his number and asked if we could meet up in Arusha. Haha!

21st Time+ infinity

This flight to Nairobi is long and broing, Ive lost track of time because I'd rather not know how many endless hours are left. I did find some major positives thought;
1. I may be getting a nice tanned right arm from my window seat and the Arfican sun (will reasearch if this is possible at a later date)
2. My ear plugs hurt my ears - no wait thats a negative.
3. The inflight movies are pretty decent; I watched the hangover part 2 and succesfully looked like an 'Idiot Abroad' laughing hysterically at it. My to watch list on the flight, (yes it thats long), is bridesmaids, the adjustment beuro, hall pass (looks very funny) and finally the dillema (copying hangover? - slightly, but lets not mess about here I've got an unknown number of hours left.
4. The best of all, the guy sitting next to me. He lives in Nairobi and has been in Italy on business. Hes like a sweet old man and he helped me with my luggage, so we got off to a good start. He seemed slightly concerned for me at the begginning (I must look very young in a sea of business men and women). He asked if I was at school, and where my parents were.

Target - find out his name!

21st 10:25am

The woman opposite me is picking her feet.

I feel sick.

21st Oct 7:30pm

Mission accomplished, he was called Sam (Kenyan but British name?) and he went to university in Nairobi to do veterinary medicine - shout out to Coleen! We had a nice chat about universiy and what I was hoping to do. Apparently be travels a lot for business and he rattled off a massive list of countries he'd visited.

I'm in Nairobi airport now at gate 12 finally. I go into the airport and got lost straight away! I was pretty scared because Nairobi has like a 99% crime rate and I was so afraid of someone stealing my camera, I went hunting for someone in uniform (uniform dating. com haha)

I found these two men drinking what looked like slush puppies and speaking English with an accent. I showed them my boarding pass and they had no idea which gate. PANIC. Then one of them went 'oh wait this is our flight' they were the captains. I stood chatting briefly and ended up getting invited to fly in the cock-pit with them to Kilimanjaro. How good is that!