News-Record.com

The other day, I received a copy of an e-mail from a young woman in Andrew's training group in Tanzania. She sent it to her parents in California, who thoughtfully forwarded it to me.

It's a long, detailed and fascinating account of their experiences in Tanzania so far. Here's a sample (be warned that the typing is terrible; the writer blames a faulty keyboard):

but there's so much more to say! so in no ryhme or reason i'll say whatever i can think of.
dont send me school supplies. the kids would love them, but it'd cause problems.
the students do have paper and pens, they share rulers, and there is an officilal tanzanian syllabus i have to teach from. my frist time teaching will be in 2 weeks. scary! i will taech in english, but mmost of the stuednts have a hard time undersatnding it. so very slowly, and repetitive.
toilet paper doesnt really exist. which is weird, becuase you ca n buy it in stores, but people dont use it. peace corps is an excption, our host familys were told we were goin gto use toilet paper. yippee!! no flush toilets, they're all pit latrnices (called a 'choo'). there's usually a spigot or bucket of water next to it to wash yourself off with your LEFT hand. hence, that hand is considered unclean.
the on ly utensil while eating is a spoon. all the food is mixed together, even if served seperately. meat is picked up with your hard. some foods are all eaten with your hand.
tea is always being drunk.
most of us have had....umml......a 'lack' of digestion due to the change in diet. basically very infrequent choo session. think about 3 times in the last 10 days. but everyone's that way, it's just taking our bodies a while to get acclimated.
i've already bought some 'native' fabric, called a konga,. it's worn wrapped around your body pretty much anywhich way.
my sisters are super helpful in helping with my homework, teaching me to cook (i tried to explain the concept of 1-minute rice the other day......now they think america is like heaven.

Frankly, this points to the difference between sons and daughters.

Boys tell their parents as little as they can about their lives. Girls spill it all.

That may be an overgeneralization, but it's true most of the time.

When our boys were in high school, we relied on one of their gal pals for information about interesting things going on within their circle of friends.

Kenny has gotten more forthcoming since he's been at college, but Andrew has never been overly communicative -- at least with his parents. I understand, because I was exactly the same way.

We don't have daughters, but our nieces seem to talk with their mothers all the time.

It's frustrating not getting much news, especially when your son is in such a distant place.

Good thing I've got another source.