Hello Mr. President

I have always wondered what it must feel like to have power and fame, and on Wednesday I came the closest to that power and fame that I will probably ever get. The president of Tanzania came to my village to do a campaign speech, and because the president travels by helicopter, he had to land at the only available landing area in the area. MY SCHOOL. Imagine sitting in a classroom in Tanzania, where most students have never even seen a helicopter before and watching three of them land outside on the football pitch. Kinda hard to teach huh? Needless to say school was canceled for the "short time" of the president coming. How short? Well the first helicopter flew in with his press team, so the students had to leave the rooms at that time. After this we waited for 2 hours for president and the rest of his entourage to come in two more helicopters. At the same time more and more cars and people kept showing up at school. It was a crazy site. There were bomb sniffing dogs, undercover police, the military, the police and more. But when the president landed it became crazier. Students screaming and people rushing the president to touch his hand and have him wave at them. The president finally gets to his car and looks like he is going to leave, but then he changes his mind and heads into the school grounds. Why, you might ask? To relieve himself after a long flight. Imagine the president of a country using a cement squat toilet and having to have a student bring him water to wash his hands. Hmm, needless to say my headmaster was pretty worried after that unexpected part of the visit. Onto the good part though. As he is walking towards his car he sees me in the crowd and motions for me to come forward. So I go over to greet him and introduce myself and he has me walk with him for about 50 meters to his waiting car. As we are walking he tells me how much he appreciates Peace Corps and uses me in the same sentence as Bush and Obama. Pretty cool, pretty cool. Not only that but he is holding hands with me the whole time (a very common thing for any friends to do in this country). The man was incredibly nice and it was an amazing experience. Oh, did I mention that I hadn't shaved in 4 days, was wearing sandals and did not feel at all appropriate to meet a head of state. But afterward I went and heard his campaign speech and he mention the "Peace Corps" volunteer at the local school. So I didn't make to bad of an impression on him.