It's been a long time since I updated.

Today, I can say that I only have five more weeks left in Tanzania. Time is flying by here. The weeks are full of teaching lessons, practicing violin, planning events at Umoja and hanging out with friends, trying not to spend too much money. The weekends, which really only consist of Sunday, are full of dinners with friends, and trips to see the bad American movies that come to our cinema.

Since roommates Frank and Erica are probably moving from Arusha in the fall, and Jessica and I leave in June, we gave away two of our pets yesterday to a friend. It was my first goodbye to anyone I know in Tanzania, as we loaded Kili the dog and Rock Star the cat (of chicken-murdering fame) into Ake's car. I definitely teared up a little bit, but it will be a good home for them, and we had to find a place for them sooner rather than later.

I'm organizing the 2nd Songwriters' Night at Umoja in a couple of weeks -- it was a big hit last month, with lots of local songwriters getting to share their stuff, and Umoja sold lots of drinks! So we're having another one, hoping to make it even bigger and more successful. Then, on May 31, we're having a benefit event with a live jazz band, an art exhibition, and food & drink. Our friend Anna is giving a workshop called Junk Art, on making art from recycled materials, and our Suzuki program has 2 more recitals to give. You can probably tell it's going to be a really busy month, one that absolutely flies by.

I'm being really terrible about blogging, taking photographs, and (probably) keeping in touch with family members! It's much harder to keep up with the blog once the "real life" feeling sets in, but I'll try to be better as things wrap up here.

I'm really looking forward to going home. I'll arrive in NYC on June 16, and I'll be staying in Massachusetts until June 24. Then I'll head to Nashville, where I'll be spending the summer with Tyler. We're taking a trip to Chicago in late June and early July, because ... we are moving to Chicago! So we have to look for apartments! And I'm going to take Suzuki Book 4 teacher training.

Tyler is starting philosophy graduate school at Northwestern, and I'm planning to teach violin, find symphonies and gigs to play with, and hopefully get ready for graduate school auditions of my own. I can't believe we are moving to such a COLD place, after my year in sub-Saharan Africa, but the music scene seems amazing there. I think the opportunities will be amazing. And Tyler and I are so incredibly excited about having our own place. And not having to deal with cell phones, gmail chat, slow internet connections, laptop batteries, fuzzy Skype conversations, phone cards, and an eight-hour time difference in order to talk to each other! YES!

I hope I get to see lots of family during my week at home.
Lots of love,
Ellen