7/31/09

It's neat that the party that we are planning for Chinese class will fall on 8/8. That's got to be good luck, right?

Anyway, today Focus and I journeyed into the city to attempt to deliver the rest of the letters. Focus thought it'd be wise to invite the public relations portions of the big cell phone companies Vodacom, Zain, and Tigo to this party as well. A number of local government officials and also the police office were among the other places that we needed to go. This is a long process, and before Focus got tired of walking (He is quite a big man, and quite old as well), we only had delivered four or so letters, and we have about 12 remaining. I guess we'll just have to go Monday. Nothing ever gets done in Tanzania with phone calls or emails, but if you visit someone and give them a letter, then that apparently means a lot. It'll be interesting to see how any people actually show up next Saturday.

In other news, I received a phone call from Ms. Wang, informing me that she wanted to write a report on the Chinese learning woodcarvers. When I asked who would be getting it, she told me not to worry about it... Anyway, needless to say, I started writing immediately and will try to get it back to her tomorrow. It's taken almost 6 weeks, but at least the embassy is finally doing something with the project. Ms. Wang was ambiguous of whether she would be coming next Saturday (though she did mention she got the letter from Focus), but at the very least, this report is something in the right direction. Ms. Wang specifically asked me to write down the woodcarvers' request for more blackboards, benches, chalk, and notebooks, which leads me to believe that perhaps they will be donating this stuff next Saturday. That would be one way to make themselves look good.