Homestay!

Hey everyone,
Today was homestay day. Jeanne and I were partners, and we went in the morning to our designated hosts' home. Our hosts consisted of Clara, a 25-yr-old, Elizabeth, her 2.5-yr-old, Clara's brother Theobold, 22-yrs-old and almost graduated from secondary school, and their parents, with whom we interacted little. Clara and Theo both spoke English fairly decently. We started off with a tour of the property, where Clara showed us the cows, pig, goats, and crops, and she picked some mgazi (or something) beans. Then we had a couple glasses of delicious chai tea, and then we separated the beans from the pods. Ensuite, we watched as Clara and her mother cooked lunch, which consisted of rice and potatoes, ugali, cabbage and onions and tomatoes, and a cooked leafy vegetable they called "Chinese." Also the cooked mgazi beans. It was all delicious. After lunch, I sat outside with Theo while the ladies washed dishes (they just laughed when I wanted to help) and cooked tasty chapati. We had a nice chat about education, future aspirations, animals, etc... Then we went on a short hike to the top of a hill and got a nice view of Rhotia. We could see both Lake Manyara and Ngorongoro forest (where we're going on Friday). When we returned, Theo showed us some pictures that he has of his school, and we drank more chai and ate more chapati. Then they clearly had nothing more for us to do, so we sat awkwardly for a while. We eventually pulled out a swahili book for funny phrases, and then a deck of cards. I showed them some crappy card tricks and taught them crazy 8's. Then we took some pictures (BTW i finally managed to get some pictures uploaded on facebook so if you're my friend you can check those out) and left. It was a really cool experience. It was good to be able to immerse myself in the everyday lives of these people instead of just hear about it. As one of our teachers said at dinner tonight, if someone doesn't know about a microwave, they can be just as happy without one as someone is with one. TV commercials and media make us want to think these folks live in squalor and misery but really they make it work and they have complete capacity for love, happiness, contentment, etc.
Anyway, I thought I'd give an update on that. Now I'm going to try to get some work done.