WHOOHOO!

We love Arusha. We love living completely out of our culture, often out of our comfort zone, and definitely out of our "convenience" zone. Living here has taught us to appreciate the blessings we have in our lives, virtually all of which have been freely given rather than earned. We have continued to learn to keep our problems in perspective, given what we see around us every day. Many of the things that had caused us to be stressed in the past are things that we can laugh at today.

BUT...I just want to make one thing clear. Life here is challenging. And it has been made all the more challenging because we don't have a movie theatre. Before I left, someone told that within 6 months, all that kind of stuff would be completely off my radar. Obviously that person did not know me. I love movies. I find bootleg copies perfectly adequate. Not the kind where they film them with a camcorder right in the theatre and the filmer has to drop the camera or cover it with a coat when an usher walks by and you can't really see or hear much. I'm talking about the bootleg copies. They're adequate-mostly clear, most of the time audio and video are in sync. No subtitles that are readable--they appear to be translated with some kind of computer program or by definitely unskilled English speakers. Ok, sometimes they freeze up and sometimes they stop working with only 15 minutes left, but hey. What can you do? At least you can get something eventually!

All that has changed. Mjiji Arusha is getting its very own CINEMA! A real movie theatre. With popcorn. And a big screen. And movies that aren't too old. The man who owns the Cultural Heritage center has been promising for almost a year that is was coming. AND IT'S HERE! I am very seriously thinking of becoming a very indiscriminate movie-goer...if it's there, I'm there (with the exception of those Bollywood things--I just can't into them). Case in point--Spiderman III. The first one bit, the second one bit x 2. But its goin to be playing and you can darn well better know MOI will be there. I may even throw parental guidance out the window if I can't get a sitter!

Ok, just kidding on that last bit.

But...dare I hope to hope that we will be able to see Harry Potter without having to wait for knockoff DVDs or for someone to bring us a copy? Be still my heart!