My life in Chidya has come to an end. I've said goodbye and am (somehow) ready to come home. But let's start at the beginning, or rather the end of October.

The last weekend in October I was in town and I took out the money for the books to be bought with the grant I wrote, oh, almost 18 months ago. I'm sorry it took so long but the school contribution took a while to gather up. It wasn't the school's fault-they wanted to contribute but it became a problem of getting funds from the Ministry of Education. You may remember that in May/June of 2006 the school had to make the decision to close early since it was not given enough money to buy food for the students that term. This year had been even worse than last year. It came to a point during the second week of September that the school would have to send all its students home due to lack of food and an empty bank account. Luckily, the Ministry was able to give the school money little by little and the situation continued like this for quite some time. So the school was just barely making ends meet to buy food and there was no extra to be spared. Finally, the Ministry came through on the debt it owed and we were able to buy the books.

I never was given a list of those who donated due to a change in the way contributions are given. I want to thank all those who contributed and I hope you enjoy the pictures of some of the new books-you've really helped our students out.

On the morning of the first of the month, my Form II students took their national exam. Unlike the Form IV exam I got reports of, "Easy" to "Not very much hard." That was comforting. And after a thorough examination of the...examination I agreed that it wasn't all too difficult. With my teaching duties officially over I set out the next day for my last 'tour' of the region to visit PCV friends. First stop was Steph's-our last time to hang out. I'll miss her. Through a twist of fate we were paired together in all the same small groups during training and then were placed in the same region very close to one another. So we've had lots of adventures and it's sad to know we won't see each other much after this.

Next I quick stopped by Jess', a health volunteer, and we rode to Shannon's. Shannon was hosting an HIV/AIDS education day for orphans and their guardians along with sports. She had been given 10 huge boxes of sports equipment so we spent some time teaching lessons-I mostly watched the health volunteers do their work-then would go out and teach the kids new sports. Shannon's friend Julie was also in from America to help out. The sports that day were relay races and softball. It lasted from 8am until 4pm and wiped us out but it was a blast and we got to see some of the more shy children open up and have fun.

The next day Jess, Julie and I (the J's) rode to Masasi, stocked up on food, and relaxed. The next day we rode to my site and I played host for one last time. They left the following morning and I contemplated what to do with the 2 weeks before Anna would arrive. I decorated the choo and... Luckily, I didn't have much time to kill because that afternoon the books arrived. The next few days we spent registering the books in our files and preparing them for the library. Then we opened the library with the new books and...the power cut off after the first 5 minutes. No worries, power's been fairly reliable and we have periods during the school day. Though is was still a bit of a disappointing 'grand opening'.

The weekend before Anna came my second-master got married. It was at a Roman-Catholic church that I had never been to but easily found since it was the main event in the village. The church was all corrugated tin-roof, walls, doors. I got there just before the ceremony started. There were very few benches with kneeling boards in the back and the rest of the church was just kneeling boards that doubled as benches. I walked in a grabbed a seat on one of the real benches. Then the choir came in and it was beautiful. Often times in Tanzania you may here people singing and they naturally fall into harmony. And most church songs are call and response. But this choir was good and it's obvious they practice. The women would start singing a line and the men would join in somewhere in the middle, singing a different line but keeping in harmony and rhythm with the women. I have to say it again-it was beautiful. They had an assortment of drums and when they kicked in-I got chills. After a few songs the preacher started the sermon which was...ok. He first welcomed everyone, Christian and Muslim alike. Then he went on about how marriage is ONE man and ONE woman and started making fun of the Muslim religion. People were laughing, even the Muslims present, but I thought it was rather rude. After the service we congregated outside and a few villagers started beating drums and playing flute. The women started dancing in a big circle a little by little they'd do this cross pattern with the person behind them that would then continue on as the circle moved through. As the song went on they created more places in the circle with this cross pattern until the whole circle was cross pattern after cross pattern and the women were laughing and trying to keep everything going. Us men just stood around a watched-no fun for us. Then the bride and groom came out and we all took turns congratulating them.

The next week I visited my headmaster, Mr. Mwatenga's, farm and my friend Ajiri's as well. Unfortunately, it's in between growing seasons so the pictures show mostly dry or tilled land. But I have visited the farms during the rainy season and it's quite a site.

Then came my goodbye party. Thankfully (sort of) it wasn't for me. I say 'thankfully' because I get enough attention as it is in this country. Two other teachers are leaving the school after this year. But I added 'sort of' because it means that brings our total number of teachers to 9 with no guarantee that replacement teachers will arrive next year. When I got here there were 13. The party was nice. The chairman made a quick speech about each of our histories: when we arrived, where we come from, where we'll be going, etc. Then we each gave a speech and were given gifts. Finally, our headmaster made a speech and dancing closed the party.

The last week or so at site Anna came to visit and help me say goodbye to Chidya. At first I didn't think anything about this. But after just a few days I realized how thankful I was to have Anna there. Before she came I was just living in Chidya, visiting friends, nothing special. Anna has been here twice before and has met some of my friends. But it had been over 6 months since she was last here so I've made new friends and my relationships with the people she had met have grown stronger. When you have a guest you realize just how accustomed you've become to life in your village. And when that person is someone you love and have shared so much of this experience with, they tell you how they've seen you grow, how meaningful your relationships have become and how your village is your home. Having Anna here shook me out of my daze and made me realize how much I love the people here, especially my friends, and how much this place is my home. I'm sad to have left it but I'm thankful I realized just how amazing these past two years have been.

It's hard to believe but I'm on my way home. And it's hard to believe that in a little over a month I'll be back in Tanzania. I hope the time doesn't go by too fast,

Justin