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.

Cracked out suga cookies

Cracked Out "Suga" Cookies 
This recipe makes about 24 medium size/small cookies.

These cookies are simple, sweet and absolutely delightful. I call them out "cracked out" because they are so addicting. They taste good without icing but I threw some white icing and sprinkles on to make them  "pop!"  Beware, they will go fast...they will your sweet spot.

 

You will need:

1 1/4 cups white sugar

1 cup butter
3 egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

 

  What to do:

1. Preheat your oven and grease 2 cookie sheets.
2. Cream together sugar and butter. Beat in egg yolks and vanilla. Make sure to only use the yolks because the whites will make the cookies hard. These cookies are more cake like!
3. Add flour, baking soda, and cream of tartar. MIX!
4. Dulop tablespoon size dough balls on the cookie sheet. Leave enough room (about 1-2 inches) between the cookies. Bake for 10-12 min. Ice em', eat em' and enjoy them!

The cake that baked!

As you most of you know I fancy baking like none other. Last year in Tanzania was so hard because I did not successfully bake one thing. Either I could not find a particular ingredient and the recipe did not work with my substitutes but I think the biggest problem was my oven. My oven burned every cake, cookie and muffin. The bottoms would be burnt and the middles undone. But finally this August I figured out my oven and how to make cakes work and this is my first cake in Tanzania that baked. I made a milk chocolate cake with milk chocolate icing for a friend's birthday. It was good, moist, sweet and a big hit. Recipe is below! I think next time instead of making icing I may just use Nutella. Karibu!

          You will need:

                  Cake bits

• 2 cups white sugar
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil 
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

                Icing bits

• 1 cup boiling water
  
• 3/4 cup butter
• 1 1/2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
• 5 1/3 cups confectioners' sugar
• 2/3 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

 The bump and grind of the cake

• Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F...in Tanzania I think it was around 210 or 180. I had to keep alternating between the temps. Light both your top and bottom grill. Grease and flour two 9 inch cake pans.
• Use the first set of ingredients to make the cake. In a medium bowl, stir together the sugar, flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add the eggs, milk, oil and vanilla AND MIX. Stir in the boiling water by hand. Pour evenly into the two prepared pans.
• Bake for about 30 to 35 minutes in the oven.
• Check the cake with a knife and if it is done your cake comes out clean. Let the cake cool for 10 minutes.
• To make the frosting, use the second set of ingredients. Cream butter until light and fluffy. If your are in Tanzania blue band works fine! Stir in the cocoa and confectioners' sugar alternately with the milk and vanilla. Mix mix mix.
•  Ice the cake and serve...I imagine it is very yummy with vanilla ice cream! 

   Celebrating Cleve and Shorty's birthdays at a local bar in Arusha. The boys blowing out the candles on the choco cake!

       

A peek into my life in Tanzania!

My amazing class of year 4 students!

My cozy 1 bedroom bachelorette pad with PINK cushions.

Blogging I guess...

This past holiday when I went home I was asked by numerous people why I do not blog. To be honest I had tried blogging before but quickly got discouraged because I was consumed with wondering if people would actually read my blog. So this past weekend I told myself I might as well give it a second try. To catch you up to speed, I am currently teaching a dynamic 3rd grade class in Arusha, Tanzania. This is my second year and come June my contract will be up (unless I decide to renew it) and I will be on to my next adventure...what that will I do not know. This blog will just be what it is..nothing too fancy or crazy. A place for me to vent, celebrate and explain the happenings of the life I am living in Tanzania or somewhere else in the future. A place for you to keep up with me in the event that I am lagging in emails and also just a place for you to “be” if you are bored with facebook, twitter or the overpopulation of instagram. I promise to post my reality - pictures, funny quotes from kids and even some recipes!

I titled this blog, “Paper Plane Girl” simply because someone gave me the nickname. And I quote, “I just love how you always seem so light and spontaneous as if you do not have a care in the world. Light and free. You are my paper plane girl.” I think the name is fitting. I am so blessed because despite how “hard” I think things are for me..they are really not. I fret when I cannot have ice cream or when I cannot speak to my sisters everyday or when my international transfer does not go through and then I am late to pay my bills or God forbid there is a blackout and no internet in Tanzania. But this is as big as my problems get which in fact make them very small. Those who know me know that in the past few years I have been on a non stop travel spree: South Africa - Lesotho - Ghana - Italy - Peru - Puerto Rico - Mexico - D.C. - New Orleans - New York - Rwanda - Uganda - Dominican Republic - Kenya - Thailand and Tanzania...just like a paper plane I honestly I have no idea where I will end up but that I just I want to keep going and stay up in the air. I think all of my experiences, passport stamps, new friends and cultural epiphanies/realizations are are shaping me just like every vertice and fold of a paper airplane...they are making me stronger, wiser and perpetuating my ability to soar...

So read on and let me know what you think...

Enjoying the last bits of summer in Toronto before heading back to Tanzania