Louisa's News

Louisa Goes to Mufindi

I went to Mufindi Tea Estates with Andy and  Angela and our family. It was hot and sunny there, but also it was cold and wet sometimes! We got a bit lost! But we found our way to where we were staying in the end. We saw lots and lots and lots of tea plants. They are very green low bushes. We saw people working, picking the leaves and putting them in a basket on their back. We played lots of fun games. We played table tennis and card games. Outside on the nice green grass we played badminton and we also played tennis   and we stayed in a hut, sleeping. in bunk beds.  We had nice food. We made biscuits with pepper which are very unusual. They have hot chocolate and cinnamon in too and taste really nice. We had a very fun time.  

Playing badminton

  

Magozi

On the way to Magozi there were loads of puddles. Dad went through all the puddles and some looked like a lake. There were two lakes that were really deep and loads of little puddles all around. I liked watching the windshield wipers when we went through the puddles. It was muddy.

 

Sewing 

With Mama Lucy we have been doing some patchwork. Yesterday we pinned the triangles to make a pattern. It is beautiful fabric from Auntie Rachel. On the first day (that was last week) we cut the triangles. It is fun.

 

The Vikings are Coming!

For the last couple of weeks, we have been learning about the Vikings who came from Norway, Denmark and Sweden. The Viking warriors were violent and vicious. They were also excellent shipbuilders and explorers. But after a long time of raiding, stealing, fighting, killing and taking people away from their homes as slaves, they finally settled in. By this time, they had learned about Christianity and were no longer violent  and they were trading instead of stealing. The Vikings have taught us many things as well, such as Scandinavian cheese (we are going to make some) and lots of Viking words like ski and Thursday and Friday. Thursday comes from one of their gods Thor (Thor’s day) and Friday also comes from another one of their gods Frey (Frey’s day). Also “smiths” from the Viking word “smiss” which was used for farmers who were also skilled craftsmen making things like locks. Their alphabet is called FUTHARK and their letters are called runes. See if you can read my runes.

Use this ...

... to read this!

Yesterday, we dropped Toni off at the Iringa  airport. Iringa airport is a little red building with a departure lounge room, with a tiny little runway. We stood on the tarmac and watched the plane arrive. It was an MAF plane that we had seen before in Dodoma.  The Pilot just let us walk onto the plane and go around the 12 seats. You climb up a three step ladder to get on but the ladder is on the back of the door. Toni was the only person on the plane other than the two pilots, Martin and Ranier. We watched them take off.

With Toni outside the airport

The pilot shutting the door ready for take-off

We have also written Haiku poems.  Here is one of mine   

 Drain pipe dripping rain.

Just like tear drops falling down

A puddle appears.

Louisa's Journey

I am going to tell you about my journey back to Tanzania.

We had two vans and a car to get to the airport. (We had lots of bags). We went with Grandma and Grandad, Phil and Helen and Keith and Geoff. The journey took 1 hour. At the airport I had a ride on a trolley with our luggage. The bags and boxes went for a journey on a long conveyor belt. I wanted to go on that too (but it isn’t for people). We had a ride on the Pod with Geoff! And we had a ride on an underground train to our gate. We were at the airport for 4 hours.

On the Pod with Geoff

On the underground train to the gate
(this was actually taken when we went to Canada, but it is the same train!)

 Then we went on our plane. The journey took 9 hours. We had chicken nuggets for dinner and sausages and baked beans and egg for breakfast.   We watched  movies and slept. 

Asleep on the plane

When  we arrived in Tanzania it was very hot and hard to breathe!  At the airport we got in a big taxi. The next day we picked up our landcruiser. But before we could get it, Daddy had to ride around Dar es Salaam in a bajaj. A  bajaj  is  a little thing on three wheels like a motorbike at the front with a seat in the back and a bit like a car with no doors.   

A bajaj

Our journey home to Iringa was in our landcruiser. It takes 9 hours. On the way, we  went  through  the gamepark  we saw  no  ellelfnts this time.  

I am very happy to be back!



Sights on the journey

We even followed a goat!

Last Days in Tanzania

We are now at Grandma and Grandad's in England. But here are some photos from before we left Tanzania!

Here we are playing bladder ball with Ben and Katy! They run Nemea Crafts and they came to our house for afternoon tea and to play games. Ben played vollyball with us and then all of us played catch with Lulu's bladder! Katy really didn't like it and we kept aiming at her! Ben got her in the end but not before she had got him in the nose!

We went to the Natural Bridge with the Sharpes and Wingfields for a good-bye picnic! There is a natural hotsprings pool! We got very wet! We had fun playing on the rocks.

We had fun with the Nkone family in Dar-es-Salaam! We went to Kipipeyo (means butterfly) Beach on Monday and Tuesday. We buried Uncle Huruma in the sand!

We flew to England, and saw Mt. Kilimanjaro from the window.

Now that we have good internet here, we can show you a video we did a while ago. It's a cooking show called Karibu Kupika (which means Welcome to Cook!)

Pigs and Kudus

Yesterday we killed Lulu our pig. Do you like Lulu’s name? First you bonk her on the head so that she’s unconscious and cut the neck about half way. I don’t know how the guy did it… it’s such a horrid job!  And the neck makes a noise of air trying to get out.

It was such a big job cutting it all up... sometimes we had to use dad's metal saw! But we found the bladder (which we use as a football) and had the tail cut off (because in our book they roast it but I don't know what it tastes like at all!) and looked at all the insides like the entestines and the heart, livers and lungs, and lots of other bits.  I realy liked the heart which was intresting with all the viens. We have four big legs and lots of pork chops and bits of meat. Louisa and I were carrying all the sufaria's (pots) up to the house which were overflowing with meat. When it was all done and all the meat was in the kitchen Mum started sorting it all and cutting the meat and she was all bloody and slimy so I had to cook lunch. I heated up coliflower soup which was what we had for dinner the night before and heated up the biscuits to go with it!

Lulu's heart

In our last week in Magozi, we went to for lunch with our friends. The evangelist's wife had cooked us Tandala which in English is Kudu, like a sort of gazzele which is grey-brown and with white sripes. It tasted a bit like moose. People in magozi eat all kinds of animals like elephant, kudu, dikdik but said that baboons didn't have much meat on! When we go to Magozi we always look out for animals. We often see baboons and sometimes dikdiks and once we saw a kudu. I love dikdiks (but not to eat!)

A Tandala (kudu) we saw in Ruaha

Last weekend we had the Dixon family to stay. We had fun playing with Elia and Finley. Elia slept in the bunk beds with me. We had wraps for tea with them one day and cinnamon buns for brunch after church on Sunday. We went out for coffee at Neema with them and had carrot cake!

Magozi with Dad and Last Day of School!

Last week I went to Magozi with Daddy and Louisa. Mummy stayed at home to pack up our room before we go to England. In Magozi, we've been climbing trees, holding piglets, holding babies, collecting firewood and eating a little box of raisins- lots of fun! We are going back to Magozi tomorrow and we have to say goodbye to all our friends there.




A cute little 1week old piglet! I'm sure he loves me! He went to sleep in my lap!





Eating our raisins in our climbing tree!

My very small firewood bundle!

On Friday, it was our last day of school and we went for a end-of-school treat to Info Iringa for an English sausage roll and a chocolate milkshake! We had a look at the books and I got Daddy and Grandad's Christmas presents! The next time I have school, I will be in Aldermaston!

Louisa Grinny-Gap

Exciting news! I lost my first tooth! And the funny thing is I lost it on the toilet! I could  not pull it out so Amisadai had to pull it. I'd been waiting a long time for it to come out and I look very funny with a gap! I keep on putting my fingers to wobble my tooth but it's not there! Guess what? I have 1000 shillings from the tooth fairy, but actually it was a tooth-boy!

Grinny-Gap Me

Before my tooth came out, Aunty Ann and Rachel were here and I sewed a quilt by hand all by myself! Here is a picture of it for you to see. Rachel did the outline round the outside. I have also been learning how to weave grass mats and have a long strip done!


My Quilt



Weaving with my friend in Magozi

A few weeks ago, we wrote an article for the EI Down to Earth magazine. Here it is, if you would like to read about our school days. Click Here!

We have a new EI landcruiser! It has seats that face forward!



Weaving with my friend in Magozi