Top of the 12

 

My TOP of 2012 in no particular order. Here it is and I would love to know what were some of your tops for 2012. I initially tried to make my list my top 12 of 12 but I just had too many highlights this year which is not a bad problem to have.  I consider myself an incredibly lucky and blessed girl. My family is healthy and safe. I have a roof over my head and for the most part I have gotten the things I have desired. 2012 was full of growing pains, adventure and realizations. I expect nothing less and so much from 2013.

 2013 holds a new job, vegetarianism (maybe), more adventures, going natural, reading through all the classics and more consistency and maturity in my life!!

Happy New Year!!

 Becoming a year 4 teacher and getting my own house on campus

Visiting my close friend in West Palm Beach, Florida 

Meeting my new favorite girlfriends Willow and Damara

 Successfully teaching my preschool kids tons of English and putting on a play of Where the Wild Things Are

Visiting the Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater

Roadtriping through Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda. Going gorilla trekking and visiting an elephant orphanage I had been following.

 Going home after a year of being away

 Having annual best friend day in D.C.

Toronto * Summer of 2012 * Caribana and Drake Concert!

 Visiting Thailand

Climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro 

Being single again...yay!!No picture needed haha.

Having a dala dala/bar crawl birthday party 

Reuniting with some old friends in NYC

Going on a helicopter ride over Arusha

Becoming a better swimmer

Visiting Peoponi Beach and Pangani for the first time

Friendsgiving 2012

Celebrating my little sisters graduation, birthday and moving her into college. The Nicol sisters can finally club together!

  

Hot air balloon safari over Tarangerie National Park 

Having my sisters visit me in Tanzania and spending the last few days of 2012 and the first few days  of 2013 with them on the beach. 

Friendsgiving 2012

The FAT girl inside of me secretly counts down for the biggest feast...Thanksgiving and not only for Thanksgiving day but for the week after of amazing leftovers! The same is true even in Tanzania. Last year Friendsgiving was held with literally 40 people and it just was not the ideal Thanksgiving. This year, my friend Lisa and I planned an intimate dinner of 12 people and it was great. There were beautiful flowers for decor, mood music, American football and the Macy days parade airing in the background, appetizers of butternut squash seeds and soup and just a table full of the people I absolutely adore and love in Tanzania. The turkey was cooked to perfection, the sweet potatoes were actually orange, the mac and cheese was the cheesiest and the cranberry sauce did it's usual wobbly gig. It was all just so right and perfect. I am incredibly thankful to have a family of friends in Tanzania that I can be open, free and everything in between with. I will enjoy every minute with them until June comes with hopes that our friendship continues beyond the borders of East Africa and the virtual world of Facebook. Pictures of Friendsgiving! Feel free to ask for recipes. I hope your Thanksgiving was amazing and know that you all were in my heart!

Cracked Banana Bread

I do not know many people do not enjoy a good banana bread and on top of that they are so damn good and easy to make. I find myself always having left over ripe bananas so instead of tossing them, I always make this banana bread. Karibu to this recipe. Hope you enjoy it...it makes for a good snack and you can also freeze it if you want it for later! Here is the run down....

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking soda 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup butter

3/4 cup brown sugar 2 eggs, beaten 2 1/3 cups mashed overripe bananas

DIRECTIONS:

1.	Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan.
2.	In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar. Stir in eggs and mashed bananas until well blended. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture; stir just to moisten. Pour batter into prepared loaf/tube pan.
3.	Bake in preheated oven for 60 to 65 minutes. Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes.

Halloween!!!

Just because I am not home does not mean I give up celebrating Halloween! It could be one of my favorite days. I love dressing up, eat sweets until my stomach hurts and partying with my friends. Holidays and special days like Halloween sometimes make it hard to live overseas but when you have a great expat community and friends like I do, it is totally doable!!! We had a blast. Pictures are below!

Halloween drinks and fireworks at Braeburn, another international school in Arusha

Some trick or treaters came by my house!

Willow's first Halloween as the cutest pumpkin ever!

A Native American, Flinstone and horse back rider dancing the night away at the Halloween party at Barafu!

Beach Week!

Yelp! I have not written anything in a while. Times have been busy.  The joys of teaching are NEVER the planning, parent teacher conferences and grading which have kept me busy for the last few weeks. I just returned from a week long vacation on the beach. My coworker/friend and I traveled to Tanga. Tanga is towards Dar Es Salaam. We took a 7 hour, crowded bus to Tanga town. The bus ride was not horrible…I have had worst. From there we went to Peponi beach which is a semi private beach in Pangani.  The place we stayed at, Peponi Beach Resort allowed for camping on the beach, had a pool, incredibly amazing staff and delicious seafood. A few of my coworkers were staying at the same place so it was great seeing them outside of work, with their families and completely relaxed.

My best girl in Tanzania and I at Peponi Beach

After Peponi beach, I took a four-hour boat ride to Kendwa Beach in Zanzibar. I think by far, Zanzibar is one of my favorite places on Earth. It is just so beautiful…white sandy beaches, crystal/clear blue water and boats dancing in the water. It was hot, the seafood was yummy and the drinks kept coming.  I spent my time on Kendwa beach reading, laying out and becoming a better swimmer.

From Kendwa I headed to Stone Town also known as Zanzibar Town. Stone Town to me captures my heart like Times Square or the Montgomery County Fair…haha…it just never gets old. I love walking through the alleys, exploring the little shops and eating at the seafood garden in Fodhorni Park at night. This trip to Stone Town was exceptionally nice because if you do not know Stone Town is practically all Muslim and I was there during the big Muslim holiday of Eid. It was great seeing all the little girls dressed up and seeing the celebrations.

Every single time I visit Zanzibar, I consider myself incredibly lucky to be able to live in such a beautiful country. Contrary to popular belief there is beauty in Africa and one of her gems is Zanzibar.

Highlights of the vacation in no particular order include:

* Watching the sunset on the beach
* Getting the hookah of my dreams
* seafood, seafood, seafood!
* Being with my co-workers and friends outside of          work
* Improving my swimming skills in the ocean
* Seeing a family of dolphins

Current life goal...

  

I found this quote a few months ago and love it... 

Cradle of Love Baby Home

Weekend of fun and volunteering!

The weekend started off with Maria and I eating some expensive local food at Tembo Club. Tembo means elephant in Kiswahili. We got a liquid courage and started to climbing some trees. Never too old for tree climbing. Later that night I got a stomach bug from the local food...go figure. Oh Africa! 

 

Cradle of Love

On Saturday after recovering from my stomach bug, Maria and I volunteered at Cradle of Love Baby Home in USA River  in Arusha (pronounced oooosa and not U.S.A). It is an orphanage that serves babies from newborn to about age 2 or 3. All of the children have unique circumstances some abandoned in the hospital after birth, others dumped in actually dumpsters, some orphaned by HIV/AIDS and others whose moms have passed away and their dads just cannot take care of them. Unlike many orphanages the number one goal of Cradle of Love is to ideally get the babies back with their families (i.e. if the mom comes back for the child or seems stable enough to care for them). Cradle of Love has been around for a while and the infrastructure and resources are not bad at all. The babies have beautiful nurseries, great toys, clothing and plenty of space to run around. Though as you can expect all of the little tykes are desperately craving for attention, love and a good snuggle. With over 30 babies and just under 6 staff members per shift it is impossible for each child to get one on one attention during feeding, bathing, play and "I just need love" time. The intimacy of meal times and bathing is turned into just another routine that needs to be done and done times 30 babies...its chaotic! At first the babies were a bit apprehensive to the new face of Maria and I but QUICKLY latched on. It was nice to feel needed and wanted but I could not help but wonder if these beautiful little beings had ever felt that...needed, wanted and loved. I hope they felt my love during my day of volunteering and I will be back again. The organization is quickly running out of money and resources. If you would like to donate time or money please let me know or visit their website at Cradle of Love. Pictures below of my time at Cradle of Love Baby Home.

Clara! My favorite little thing ever!! So sassy and funny!!

Emmanuel the charmer.

Noel the sweeheart.

Jackson fast asleep.