Many of you have already heard that I tied the knot with a beautiful Pemban woman, named Mwaka, on July 16th, 2010. Yes folks, I am happy to say that I am no longer a bachelor. It was a hectic but amazing experience, and I was fortunate enough to share it with some friends and family from back home, including my parents, my aunt, and my brother.

My folks truly took it in stride, especially considering that it was a traditional Pemban wedding, which in no way, shape or form resembles weddings as we know them in the western world. I'll give you a brief rundown of the festivities.

My Peace Corps service officially ended on July 8th, 2010, nearly 4 years after I started. It's been a long journey, and I feel blessed to have been given the opporturnity to have such a positive impact on the community and students here in Mkoani, Pemba.

On Friday afternoon the students of Fema club, our school's environmental club, Skyped with students from a middle school in Canada. It was a struggle to connect at the beginning because the internet kept cutting out, but after about 20 minutes of trying and seeing countless frustrated faces we were able to connect.

The connection continued to cut out, but we were able to see each other and ask each other questions during about 3 minute intervals over a span of 45 minutes.

The rain has been coming down non-stop for the past three days. I'm not complaining, though. I'm finally able to wear long sleaves, and sleep under my thicker blanket. It's been really nice to feel cold again. Although, our basketball practice has taken a hit since the rains came back full force.

I've spent the last few months completely redesigning my website from the ground up. It took me some time to finally manage to setup the new site and to get it uploaded, but it's now up and running. The content itself really hasn't changed much. I still have my photos, my Tanzania Blog, and my Computer Resources.

Our Mkoani basketball team remains undefeated in the Pemba-wide basketball tournament. The tournament consisted of 7 teams at the start. Each team played three matches, and the top four teams made it to the semi-final round.

We won each of our three games, with two of them coming down to the final minutes of the fourth quarter. Those three wins gave us home court advantage for the semi-final match against a team from our rival town, Chake Chake.

On Friday last week we played in Chake Chake against a team from Chake Chake. We started off strong, scoring 12-5 in the first quarter. But the remaining quarters kept us battling for victory. By the end of the third quarter we were tied at 19 up.

Taking us into the fourth quarter we rallied at the very end to finish 25-21. I even managed to score 10 points myself. Although it was a V for us, it was a poor victory. The team we played against was a young team, and we should have left with an easy win. Instead we struggled until the very end.

The Pemba-wide basketball tournament, called the Thabit Kombo Cup after the Minister of Sports, kicked off last week. The opening ceremony took place on Thursday last week. Unfortunately, the weather didn't quite agree with our intensions. I downpoured before, during and after the ceremony.

Thabit Kombo was there along with other various government representatives. Speeches were given, and then it was time to kick off the opening game. Two teams from Chake Chake played the opeing match, and considering the weather I was glad that we weren't playing.

Last week I went to Misali Island with the volunteers from CFI, Daimen, Zach and Estelle. My friend, Mbarouk, who is the executive director of Community Forests Pemba, hooked us up with the Rangers who guard the island. Normally, westerners are not allowed to sleep there, but we were given permission to stay there for two nights. Our adventure began with a nice 3.5hr wait at the Wesha Port for the rangers to arrive. We were scheduled to leave at 1pm, but, as with most schedules here in Tanzania, the rangers up around 4:30pm.

Every year, form IV students choose a subject and create a project focusing on that subject. As the resident physics teacher, I was charged with assisting the physics group. To begin, we brainstormed possible projects. By end of the brainstorm it was a choice between making a radio, making a wind turbine or making a solar dish cooker.