Levitation and Christmas in the Mail

One of the best things about science is the hands-on stuff – aka labs. This is when you can really see science in action. As I brought the Form 1s to the laboratory today, I realized that the best part is also the worst part when it comes to safety. There are a ton of possible safety issues and the problem is magnified here because 1) my students barely (or not at all) understand English, 2) my Kiswahili needs improvement, and 3) these kids have never been in a lab and exposed to (taught) lab safety. Even when my Kiswahili improves, I’m not too sure how much it will help because the local tribal language (Kiiraqw) is so strong I probably have some students who won’t even understand the Kiswahili. Plus many of the students may pick up bad habits before I can explain the correct way so that they understand it. Despite this, I still think it is important and will do labs.

A student was rather sick today and the doctor had to be called. Her friends would hold her head and try to comfort her as she lay in the grass in front of the staff room. We had tried to ascertain (find out) what side of her abdomen the pain was on but got conflicting answers and so couldn’t really tell the doctor much when he arrived. He pressed on her stomach, asker her some questions, and then gave her some pills. I had him write down the names in case she had more problems later but I didn’t recognize any of the three so I’m not sure what he diagnosed her with or treated her for. Anyway, it was now the end of the school day so I joined a bunch of the girls in carrying the sick one to the hostel across the “street” where she stays. In talking briefly with Sister Josephine, it seems the girl only arrived this past weekend so she may have been sick before she came. In the end, she recovered tonight and is now fine.

As I sat at home tonight, my secondmaster Novati stopped by because he had picked up my mail in Katesh today – 3 large envelopes!! Merry Christmas to me!!! I received many wonderful things like a crank flashlight, chocolate, a book, more gum, camera batteries, oatmeal packets, Luna bars, etc. etc. Doesn’t matter that I got them a month after Christmas, it was still Christmas for me and I feel very blessed. Thank you!!!

Water, Water Everywhere, But Not a Drop to Drink

I’m getting into more of a pattern with running and went this morning to make sure I don’t get out of it after not running yesterday. I went running before mass but I think I was a bit dehydrated, which is something I really have to watch. I also need to make sure that I have enough water boiled (& cooled) before I go because it’s really rough coming back from a run and only having a little water left to drink – and having to wait for water to boil then having to drink it hot (usually I opt for cocoa in that case).
After mass, I saw Uma then did some typing. As class mistress for Form1A, I am supposed to take attendance every day and need the names of the students in alphabetical order and separated by gender. I figured the easiest way to do this is to type the names into Excel and then sort them, so that’s what I did.

Up, Up, and Away!

There are 2 kinds of markets here: the fruits and veggies kind (soko) and the flea market kind (mnada). I had heard mnada can get pretty crazy and jumped at the opportunity to be shown the ropes by an expert (aka Kristen who’s been here a year). Uma and I walked down to meet Kristen in Endasak then we all walked to Endagaw a little down the main dirt road. I’m still not sure of what things should cost so I was thankful to have Kristen there to ask and verify if the price was decent. I bought a tea strainer (for if I ever make tea) a kanga, a kitenges (to make a lab coat), a small thermos, and a small metal pot (so I can bake smaller cakes and end up eating less). While walking around, the wind created a dust devil (small dust tornado) that whipped through the grounds. It picked up a kanga or kitenges, among other things, and I watched it go higher and higher in the sky. That fabric must have gone over a hundred feet into the sky – no way the vendor got it back. My sitemate (district-mate?) Lauren lives in Endagaw so we visited her and I finally met her. She’s another Environment volunteer but she does a lot of health work as well. Now I only have to meet Duncan and Charlotte in my district.

A Journey of a Thousand Miles Begins with a Single Step

I’m pretty terrified of running a Chemistry laboratory here not only because of the responsibility it entails but also because the students have had minimal to no experience in a laboratory. Well, you have to start somewhere so I had my Form 3s of to the lab today. Since it’s the first time we’ve entered together, I had them tell me safety rules before we entered and the lesson was just asking them what different apparatus (equipment) are. Supposedly they learned all of the names and uses of the apparatus in Form 1 but I’m not counting on them remembering after 2 years and not using them.

A majority of the time, I don’t call or text people, even in the States. Yet when I do talk with friends, it’s great. Such was the case tonight when I talked with Megan (S) for a long time. I’m not sure if I appreciate such conversations more because they aren’t frequent or if I just forget how great it is.

The Joke’s on Me :-)

My Form 3 Chemistry students do not take the national exam (NECTA) until after next year (after Form 4) but most of the laboratory portions are supposed to be covered in Form 3. Being their 3rd year of chemistry, I was thinking that my students already have lab experience and should know how to use the basic equipment. However, I doubt they know how to use any o fit. When I asked them about some of the Form 2 experiments they were supposed to do, they told me the teacher did them. Great they’re further behind than I thought. And this is the same teacher who wanted to teach my Form 3 students again. I’m glad I told him no because with me they will be able to do experiments themselves and I can teach them proper lab techniques (how to use a balance, read a burette, etc.).
Sports and Games again today and I was tricked a little by some of the girls. On Tuesday, the boys raced down the field in groups so I had the girls do the same and I ran with them. Today they seemed to want to race again. I lined up with them, did the count, and started running. Most of the girls started running but stopped after a couple of steps; only a few kept running with me until the end. I didn’t care too much because I like running and I laughed it off but I can’t believe they thought I would fall for it more than once. I didn’t.
Despite the girls’ trickery, I let them pay soccer because the boys got to play on Tuesday. Turns out the girls never get to play soccer – they play netball and the boys play soccer. It was hilarious watching the girls put on the schools’ set of shorts and shirts. I’m pretty sure none of them had worn shorts before so they were giggling the whole time. When we finally got them settled, I was given the job of referee and I did my best to teach the girls and call the more important things. There was no way I could call everything because the girls did not know the rules so it was very much like reffing 8 and under kids. Nevertheless, there are some girls that are pretty good players and I’m glad the girls got a chance to play. I hope I’ll be able to teach them how to play soccer this term; soccer isn’t just for the boys.

Thank the goat for lunch

In America, agricultural science is only at some universities but here in Tanzania, it is taught in secondary school. My school is surrounded by farm fields and wandering livestock because that’s how the tribes (Iraqw & Barabaig) have made their living for countless years. It should come as no surprise that the students and teachers take the subject pretty seriously – it is probably the most relevant subject to their everyday lives.

Today a goat was sacrificed in the name of education. At the beginning of the teaching day, a goat was bleating (crying) behind the laboratory building. Not long after, there was a cry and then silence. A little later I allowed myself to be shown part of the dissection. The goat’s throat was slit and the students (my Form 3’s) were nearly finished skinning it. When I returned to the lab later, a couple of teachers were arranging and labeling the different organs. Specifically, the purpose of the lesson was for the students to understand the digestive tract of ungulate animals (think those with hooves). Therefore, the throat to stomach to intestines to anus (and everything in between) was spread out on a couple of long (wooden) lab tables. It was interesting to see but I didn’t stick around long because the smell wasn’t great and I’d rather not know what other surfaces came into contact with goat gut fluids.

During chai or in between classes, I was joking with a few other teachers that because of the goat dissection, we would have meat at lunch. I wasn’t sure how much was joking and how much was serious; I don’t think most of us were sure if we would end up eating the goat. Well, we did. I was hoping it’d taste really good because it was fresh meat but it wasn’t cooked very well; at least I ate meat (a rarity for me because I don’t bother to buy & cook it).

Normally I don’t listen too much to conversations in the staff room because I can only catch a word here and there that I understand. Yet I was able to hear enough words today during lunch and string them together to figure out that the results from last years national exam (NECTA) are out and online. Up to this point, I hadn’t told the other teachers that I have a modem but this seemed like a good reason to bring it out. There were about 8 teachers gathered close to me at the computer as I looked up the results not only for my school, but also a plethora (many) of other schools the teachers asked me to look at. I’m not sure what was supposed to get done this afternoon but I spent it and the early evening looking up (mostly waiting for) test results.

Red Light, Green Light

Form 3 is supposed to have 4 periods per week of Chemistry so I tried to go through the timetable (weekly schedule) to make sure all 3 streams have 4 periods scheduled. I tried to go to one class during the period when they didn’t have anything scheduled that I had penciled in chemistry. Lo and behold, they were in biology even though it’s not on the new schedule. I kind of wonder if I will be able to get all 4 periods for chemistry that I am supposed to be teaching each stream per week.

For Sports and Games time after school, I tried teaching the girls some basic games but it was an epic failure. One game I tried was “Red Light, Green Light”. Although none of the students had likely seen a traffic light before, I think they could remember green = go and red = stop. However, they either didn’t understand the stop & go commands or they couldn’t hear me. Either way, they ended up playing some game they know so I actually learned a new game. I don’t entirely understand the rules but I get the basic gist of it.

A, B, C, D, …

With Form 1 in the orientation course, I spent most of the morning in the staff room writing notes for Form 3. At one point, another teacher came in and offhandedly said something about the timetable changes. That’s right folks, after only a week of teaching according to the timetable it was changed. Unfortunately I was told after I was supposed to teach Form 3C so I have to try to make up 2 periods with them later this week. The day wasn’t a total bust though because I typed up an inventory list for the chemical room in the laboratory. I missed chai but it was worth it. In the evening, I organized the chemicals alphabetically and separated the plastic containers (top shelf) from the glass bottles, which I put on the lower shelf so that maybe they would be less likely to fall or be dropped when retrieved. While working on organizing the chemicals, it rained a bit and I was able to see a good rainbow from my lab door.

Kama Kawa

Just the usual mass and baking – bread and cake today. Why mention it? Because I cannot buy them anywhere near my site so they are always a treat J

Give it to me ice cold baby

During the week, I have to get up early for school so I made myself get up early today also so I could go for a run before everyone is out and about and before walking down the hill w/ Uma and Megan. We visited Dana in Endasiwold first on our walk where we talked about water (like the water nerds we are) and looked at the topographic maps for the area. The maps were made by the British before independence in 1964 (or roundabouts that time). They are very outdated but still useful to see major land forms and get a bigger picture of the lay of the land. To the W or NW of my site are 2 major depressions that I’ll have to check out sometime. I’m sure it’ll be an adventure finding them. I can’t wait till I can acquire the same maps but I have to go to Dar es Salaam for them…

With Kristen, we visited a little then went to lunch where we were served deliciously cold soda before we walked back up the hill. Wondering how my legs will feel tomorrow…

Social Networking – PC style

Today was much more lax compared to yesterday because the students have a religious period all afternoon (~12:15 – 14:35). This means I will only have to teach earlier in the day and will have a break later. After school let out, I was able to talk with my friend Megan (M) in hot and steamy Muheza (Tanga region). Although she is having problems getting in the PC cell phone group, I didn’t mind paying the shillings to talk for so long – sometimes it’s just worth it. Also on the social front, I met briefly with Kristen and Uma in Gitting to give Kristen her mail (that I brought back to site when she went to MSC) and to plan for tomorrow. It also gave me a chance to update Uma on the rollercoaster adventure (plight) of Eula, a fellow PCV from our training class.

Rat Chase

Between Forms 1 & 3, I pretty much taught all day – woohoo! That’s what I was assigned to do! Of course it was rather exhausting trying to explain things to Form 2 and get participation from students in all forms. I’ve realized that even when I look up words in Kiswahili before going to Form 1, I inevitably realize while teaching that it would be really helpful to know some other words I didn’t think to look up.

Excitement in the staff room today as 3 male teachers flushed and killed a rat. I couldn’t help laughing as I watched them because sometimes they would jump out of the way of the rat and yelp. I didn’t bother helping, I was being entertained lol.

Head of many things, master of none

Success! I have now taught Form 3! Though I will be teaching more periods of Form 1 (b/c it’ll be Chem + Physics), I consider my Form 3 classes slightly more important b/c they are closer to the national exams at the end of Form 4 that will determine if they continue with schooling or not. Granted, I didn’t do much more than introduce myself and have my students stand and tell me the village/hamlet they are from but at least I got in the classroom.

On the noticeboard by the head- and 2^nd-masters’ offices was the list of teacher responsibilities. I am:

Chemistry Department head

Classmistress for Form 1A

Sports & Games Coordinator

Environmental Care Coordinator

& Computer Room person

When was this decided? Maybe Friday when I was in Katesh to meet the district officials or maybe the headmaster just decided. Why do I have a disproportionate amount of duties? Again, no idea. I hope my coworkers aren’t jealous because I have a Peace Corps imposed limit on the number of periods I can teach per week (thankfully; though I’m still over the limit of 24 since I have 30). With this many responsibilities I think I’ll be busy every day after school lessons (the activity time after lunch). Luckily there are 2 coordinators for 4 things I am listed for so I am not alone, which is great because I have no idea what I am supposed to do.

Pasha, Pasha, Pasha –Choma! Choma! Choma!

Yesterday was a complete bust for teaching Form 1 but today was slightly improved. I learned from the other teachers that there is a section of the English Orientation course that the science teachers are supposed to cover. I decided to go with the first measurement lesson because I thought it’d require little actual speaking. I grabbed a half dozen “meter” sticks from the staff room so the students could practice measuring height and length. My plan (and the lesson in the book) was to have the students measure one another’s height. However, try as I might to explain, the students didn’t seem to understand what I wanted them to do. Maybe they were just shy but I did my best to force some of them to measure on another. I learned that I really need to look up a lot of words in Kiswahili if I am going to survive teaching Form 1 this year. As I left though, they did pasha and choma for me – the Tanzanian hand-clapping equivalent of 3 cheers. For some reason or other they enjoyed my debacle of a lesson…or I am entertainment just because I am a mzungu (white person).

“You teach about Time after chai”

The Form 1 students start the year with an English orientation course because the language of instruction for primary school is Kiswahili but secondary school is taught in English. I thought this was a well-planned thing, like a separate course and a few teachers teaching it. I was rather surprised when Emmy told me today to teach about Time and handed me the book that turns out to be the lessons forth English orientation course. So I spend the morning writing out what I will teach them (rewriting the lesson plan) then at chai break another teacher tells me he has already taught that lesson. Alright, guess I won’t teach about Time. However, the experience taught me a few things. 1) I do have to teach some of the orientation course, 2) there is a book with the lessons to cover, & 3) there is no schedule for who is teaching what or when (it’s a free-for-all).

In the end I did not teach today but am scheduled to teach Form 3 on Wednesday according to the timetable that was fixed today; I went through and edited some of it so at least my schedule is correct (correct number of periods and no conflicts).

JIF & Nutella to-go packets – does life get any better?

I stopped by Uma’s today after mass and we had a great chat. She also gave me a few goodies from her packages: a JIF to-go and a single-serving Nutella. Thanks Uma! Then I went back to Gitting Sec. School and typed up something Uma’s mkuu had asked (really told) me to type. Unfortunately the internet wasn’t working so I couldn’t get very far with fixing Megan’s computer.

I will not be fooled a 3rd time

I woke up around 01:30 because I felt a little wet. In my sleepy daze, I tried to figure out the cause of the wetness. I ruled out a leak (it wasn’t raining anyways) and me peeing the bed, which left only kitty lying next to me. He was all content because the pee was soaked up by my new, yes new, blanket so he couldn’t feel it. I was so tired, I merely fell back asleep to deal with it in the morning, after the sun is up. Thanks to kitty, I had to wash my sheets and blanket today so I also finally fully washed my sleeping bag from the first time he peed on my bed. He is no banished from my room at night and when I am not home. I really don’t have the time (or patience probably) to deal with him peeing on my bed again, especially with school being in session.

In addition to washing my bedding, I stuck around my house doing housework like baking, toting water, and working on my garden. As I was putting charcoal in my jiko, I flushed a couple of rodents from around the bag of charcoal. They didn’t escape right away so I called my kitty in and flushed them out again. Although the large rat got away before my cat noticed it, he did catch the smaller rat or mouse. My other experience with wildlife today wasn’t quite as good. While getting water, I was stung by one of the bees that are always around it (attracted by the water). Anyway back to the baking. I was really excited to make granola bars with the raisons my mom sent in the envelope I picked up yesterday (there was also lots of other yummy things like dried apples, beef jerky, oatmeal packets, etc.) but I accidentally followed the recipe for granola. Then I brilliantly decided it needed just a wee bit longer on the jiko and left it on too long. Good job Amanda. I ate it anyway.

“Rain, rain, go away…”

We definitely can use rain but why does it have to rain both times I go to Katesh to meet district officials? There was so much rain that the road was flooded in parts and the dala basically forded a stream crossing the road as we slowly made our way. Our first order of business was breakfast and we watched CNN because one of the Tz channels carries the show produced in Asia. We learned that there was a shooting in an Arizona courtroom and a little girl dies. Eventually we got to talking about school shootings and I learned that one of Uma’s friends from high school was a victim during the shootings at Virginia Tech. So sorry Uma.

For our official business in Katesh, Uma and I were introduced to all of the top brass of Hanang District, including the District Commissioner. After the official business, Uma and I were free to do our personal business. First stop, the post office. I had received a call from the PO lady telling me I had a package and had authorized the PC office in Dar to take money out of my living allowance to forward a box from my mom. I was really excited…and then really disappointed to receive the box I had left at the PC office when we swore-in because I didn’t want to carry the items (mostly books & rocks) and wouldn’t need them until training anyway. Somehow I wasn’t clear enough over the phone to the Tanzanian in charge of sending PC mail. I tried to be clear that I had left a box at the office and if there was another box from America to please send the 2^nd box. Ok, I can kind of understand her not being able to figure out the box wasn’t from America. Yet there was only one box for me at the office, not 2! Clearly, that box must have been the one I left. What also gets me is that I had written my name and site on the box. There was no Peace Corps address on it to indicate it was sent there and the Tanzanian who forwarded it to me only added Hanang (name of my district) and my cell phone number – not even my school’s address. Sure it got to me but it seems it should have gotten to me before and not been at the PC office of it had been mailed from America. This is why we need to teach critical thinking.

Good news is that I did get an envelope from my mom and Uma got 3 packages from family/friends. She was really surprised and excited so I felt better because she at least made out at the post office.

I’ve been looking for matembele (sweet potato leaves) to plant in my garden but the people I’ve asked don’t know what it is. However, Uma’s mkuu (headmaster) knows what it is and told me to ask the mamas at the soko (market). The mamas didn’t have any but pointed somewhere and said to try behind there. We couldn’t quite figure out “behind where” because we didn’t really see any shops or anything where we thought we were supposed to look. Before we got back on the dala, I asked the guys running the farmish looking shop in the front of where I was supposed to look “behind”. Took awhile to explain what I wanted and for them to understand but eventually one guy disappeared around the corner of the building and came back with a matembele leaf cutting for me to plant. Sometimes persistence does pay off.

We were happy it stopped raining while we were in Katesh because we didn’t have to ford any rivers on the way back (only slight hyperbole there).

When will I actually teach?

Back to school today and back to not teaching. I have to go to Katesh tomorrow with Uma and her mkuu to meet some district officials (again – not sure if I’ll meet different ones) so maybe I’ll actually get to teach next week. I was able to write out most of the review notes I want to give my Form III’s to make sure the have some of the more crucial Form I and Form II material. In addition, I used the computer and internet today, which consoled me for not teaching J.

I asked my mkuu today where I can buy nice buckets to make my water filter and he said I could have some of the buckets the Form I’s are required to bring. Sweet!

“We don’t need no education…”

“Work” 2 days then have a day off? Not a bad schedule as a teacher. Since Zanzibar joined with Tanganyika in 1964 to form Tanzania, we had today off for the Zanzibar Revolution. Megan and I were going to visit the orphanage but she really didn’t have time. She did walk to my hours for a visit though and brought the charger for her netbook so maybe I can figure out what’s wrong with it. Kitty was rather scared of her even though he loves Uma. Not sure if it’s because Megan has a dog (which will eat cats) or because Uma fed him when I was gone. Nevertheless, Megan and I talked for awhile and I found out that Zach had a rat and bat problem here too so the bats kitty catches must be living in my house. Great. In NY, the little brown bat is the most common animal with rabies. Glad PC gave us rabies shots because who knows, I may end up with a rabid bat lol.

I needed some things from the village and happened to head out at the same time as my neighbor Emmy (Emericiana). Although I knew where to go to get the things I needed, she helped take me around to get them because I asked her where I could buy a shuka (think plaid fabric) in Gocho and I installed cartridges in a printer for her. Behind a non-descript door in Gocho (ok, they’re all non-descript) in a tiny room with a computer, printer, & copy machine – did not expect to see that in Gocho. I wasn’t able to get a shuka because the storekeeper wasn’t around but did get a large bag of charcoal for a really good price (2/3 what I paid for my current bag). Right now it is sitting by a shop that I think is owned by a family member (or someone else she knows). Emmy said we’ll send a student to bring our bags of charcoal to our houses, which means I don’t even have to worry about transporting it back.

I still wanted to make it to the orphanage since Megan and I had told Sr. Valentina on Monday that we would come today. She wasn’t there when I stopped by but Joseph the carpenter was (ironic that the carpenter for the Catholics is named Joseph lol). I ordered a table with a shelf underneath and 2 stools, which I paid approximately ½ in advance. I’m pretty sure that’s what I ordered but I’ll know for sure when he delivers it.

Gitting was my next stop and I ended up not only with my usual eggs, tomatoes, mangoes, and bananas but also a kitenges, blanket, and empty Konyagi bottle (liquor) to put my honey in after I boil it. The mama even gave it to me for free J. Uma met me in Gitting and came back to my place to charge her phone and ipod. It was a very social day.

A harbinger of things to come?

I happened to be awake (barely) at 01:30 this morning and I felt another earthquake!! Was it the 2^nd of 3 for the year? Or will we have a more active year and this is just a harbinger of things to come? Time will tell.

At the school, the students pretty much cleaned all day while the teachers figured out who was teaching what. I almost ended up having to teach Form 2 Physics until another teacher gets here but my secondmaster said something about the guy coming soon so I don’t have to teach it. Phew.

I know I have Form 1 Physics & Chemistry and Form 3 Chemistry so I started making my Scheme of Work for them. This is basically an outline of my planned teaching schedule that has topics, sub-topics, competencies, objectives, activities, teaching aids, reference books, and form of assessment on it. It’s a bit of a pain to divide the paper and draw the lines but good for planning topics and to look at for reminders when planning my lessons.

The typist (i.e. secretary) asked me for help today to make a year calendar with a picture at the top. “That should be pretty easy,” thinks I, “I’m sure one of the Microsoft programs on the computer has a calendar feature.” Somehow, this useful feature is not available in Word, Publisher, Excel, or PowerPoint. Must be a plot by the manufacturers of calendars to make sure people still buy them. In the end, I used Excel to make a table with the days and dates for each month. Then in Word, I put a picture at the top and made 3 columns for the rest of the document. By copying and pasting each month into the columns and messing w/ spacing a little, I was able to make a simple calendar on one page with a picture at the top. I kind of gave up trying to explain to the typist what I was doing as I figured it out but did try to show a little of my method. Naturally, I thought this was a calendar the mkuu wanted made. Nope, she had (crudely) scanned personal pictures onto the computer (I had fixed the scanner during school break) and was making the calendar for personal use. Gitting Secondary School lost a few hours of my time today while I figured it out. Now I want to print my own.

“The hoe in the hand goes whack, whack, whack…”

School officially started today, teaching did not. We are supposed to have ~600 students but only about 1/10 showed up today. I can’t really blame them because even though they got to be around friends, they had to work all day. The students do all school cleaning. This meant the students were not only cleaning their classrooms, but also maintaining the grounds by doing things like weeding flower beds and “cutting” the grass (swinging a long, thin piece of metal bent at the end). Since I didn’t teach, I typed something up for the school and watched some TV in the teachers’ room with the other teachers. It’s still a bit unbelievable we have satellite TV and it was on all day, which I think will not be good for me; I thought I’d have no problem with my TV addiction (inability to turn away) in Africa.

Megan (PCV Health) came in the afternoon and my mkuu let me leave early to take her to the orphanage (it’s not like I was doing anything anyway). I introduced her to Sr. Valentina and we waited out the rain there. I tried to fix Megan’s computer but didn’t have any luck so I’ll hold onto it for a few days to see if I can get it working better. As we were leaving, Megan was able to meet some of the secondary students as they returned from school (Jorojik – where Uma teaches). On our way through the village we had a few little kids cheering us on. They kept chanting “Mzungu! Mzungu!” (literally means European or white person). Though we are commonly called this, these kids actually made it sound like a cheer.

When I returned to the school, I was able to get on the internet and view my sister’s engagement pictures. They came out great and I’m really glad she found a good photographer.

EARTHQUAKE!!!

I was kidnapped, I mean invited, by Rose to the rectory today after mass. We had breakfast with the priests and I kind of “hung out” with Rose for several hours. It had been muddy and my Chacos were dirty; I was pretty much told I was going to wash them. Now the straps look blue and pretty again, rather than brown. Rose showed me a little of the grounds behind the rectory and we went into the computer room where we didn’t really do much of anything but did stay dry during the rainstorm.

For the rest of the afternoon, we ate lunch and watched the rest of the (seemingly endless) installation of a new Archbishop for Mwanza (on Lake Victoria in Tanzania). It continued to storm off and on outside so when the place shook a little, I thought, “Thunder shouldn’t make the house move like that…” We had an earthquake!!! The priests told me that’s what it was and we ‘only’ get about 3 a year. To me, that’s a lot and frickin awesome! I now feel like I live in the African Rift. Sweet! J J

It was raining when I was finally able to leave (~16:30, 4:30pm) so I wasn’t allowed to walk and was given a lift home. With my new electric hotplate, I tried making some of the popcorn I bought but it just turned dark brown/black and didn’t pop. I’m hoping it’ll work with my charcoal jiko and isn’t a bad batch.

Tonight was my biweekly phone call with my parents. They have a subscription through Skype now and have 60 minutes a month. We used 40 tonight but I got to hear about my dad’s trip to the Pinstripe Bowl to watch the Syracuse football team win their first bowl game in several years. He went with his roommate Al from college and sat only a dozen or less rows behind the bench, among many former Syracuse athletes. They were also directly behind the press section, of which many are Syracuse grads (S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications). After the game, my dad said the players and some of the admin went into the stands. He told Daryl Gross, SU Athletics Director, he had one thing to say – pinstripe uniforms next season. We’ll see what they have next year (certainly can’t look worse than the past couple of styles).

Is it a federal crime in Tanzania to break into a post office?

Kristen and I parted ways this morning as she boarded a bus headed towards Dar and I boarded one back to Katesh. This time I had a seat so I was able to nod off a few times. My pack weighed several tens of pounds with not only the loot I bought in Singida, but also the package Kristen picked up at the post office (I had it so she didn’t have to carry it to MST & back). As soon as I disembarked in Katesh, I called Justin to see if he was home so I could meet him…and hopefully stash my pack for a few hours. Thankfully he was home so I did meet him and we chatted for awhile. Around 11:30, we went to the post office so I could pick up any mail I might have because I am waiting for a few large envelopes. The outer metal gate/door was locked but the wooden door directly behind it was open. By all appearances, the post office should be open but no one answered our call at the door – we assume the person went for chai. We did meet Steve, a missionary in Katesh who was also trying to get his mail. Steve, his wife Natalie, and their 3 kids just returned from ~8 months in the US. All but 3 of the current PCVS in Hanang District arrived after they left, which means they don’t really know any of us anymore. Regardless, they like to have PCVs over to their house for dinner some night. Steve mentioned the Super Bowl which sounded excellent at the time but I realized afterward that it will be early Monday morning here and we have school. Shucks. I am still thrilled he said we can have hamburgers.

Justin and I went to the usual rice & beans place but decided to try the pilau; definitely worth the extra 1000Tsh. We tried the post office again after eating but the person must have returned from chai break (tea) and decided it was time to close. We were only gone (at most) an hour. Although I waited on the daladala for the usual couple of hours before it left, it actually left being full. Usually it is packed to the brim but not today. The same thing happened when we left Endasak. Inconceivable! There were a couple of girls going to the hostel (school starts Monday) and the dala brought us to the entrance. Sure, a 30 min walk with my heavy pack would have bee good exercise but I certainly won’t complain about (essentially) front door service.

At home tonight, I noticed 2 cool beetles. One would make a squeaky sound when it felt threatened, like when kitty tried playing with it. I guess it’s a decent defense mechanism because he stopped and stared at it when it was making the noise. The other was a rhinoceros beetle! It is named such due to its proboscis that looks like a rhino horn. I’m pretty sure I learned about it from the TV show Kratt’s Creatures. On a completely unrelated note, at some point today, I saw a guy wearing a “Spartan Football Cayuga CC” shirt. I’m guessing it is from the same Cayuga Community College in NY, though I don’t know if they are the Spartans and have a football team. There are lots of random shirts here but it’s neat to see one from home-ish.

“I found the perfect man for you.”

Although I’d only been shown the shortcut on one trip to Endasak and back, I was able to remember all of the correct turns to Kristen’s house. She is headed to MST (mid-service training, aka medical check-up) and I needed to go to the bank. Since I hadn’t been to Singida before, it was the perfect opportunity to be shown around by someone who had.

We waited at the “stand” (a seemingly random place the busses will stop at), ate some mango bread, and at one point Kristen said, “I found the perfect guy for you.” I was a little confused until she followed it up with, “That guy has an ‘I love Amanda’ shirt on. He’s looking for you.” The shirt is probably from some teeny-bopper who made the shirt when s/he went to a Mandy Moore concert or some other similar thing, but it made its way to Africa where it entertained us.

Eventually, a bus came that we wanted to take and we paid the guy to get on. We did not pay for a seat. We were mashed in the aisle as tightly as they could pack us. Usually enough people will disembark in Katesh that some of the people standing can sit. This didn’t happen today and I spent the whole 4-4.5 hr trip standing and bracing myself – decent exercise. Unfortunately, Kristen wasn’t feeling so well and had to stop the bus to run off into the brush. Luckily she was feeling much better after we arrived in Singida and rested for a little bit. It was also when the rain had stopped to give us a break to catch a daladala.

Though it was raining when we got to the market, we had coats on and it didn’t last too long. Uma had been able to find Indian spices in powder form at the market but I had a heck of a time. Same thing with lentils. The spices were only in whole form and no one knew what lentils are (I was speaking Kiswahili too). They tried to help me out as much as they could regardless. I ended up with a couple of spices, choroko (green gram), and a mystery small, white, ball-shaped bean thing, At least I know it is supposed to be edible.

Luckily I found some of the spices at the safi stores so I’m only missing a few now. My biggest buy today was a single burner electric hotplate. I’m excited to be able to boil water without having to get my charcoal jiko going. It should also be useful for easy meals like oatmeal, rice, or soup. Moreover, I found the kind of notebook I like writing my letters in, it only took checking over a half dozen stores. At the last safi store, I really stocked up. I got .5L extra virgin olive oil, popcorn, oats, cheese wedges (you know, the processed kind that doesn’t have to be refrigerated), peanut butter, yeast, toilet paper, etc. I basically hit the motherload on this trip and filled my backpacking pack.

After our shopping, we had a little ice cream. Ok, actually, I had 2 because it was so good and we really didn’t have lunch anyway. I wonder how much real ice cream I’ll e able to eat after months of almost no ice cream (these little pre-packaged cones and such aren’t real ice cream). Kait, how do ice cream sundaes sound for a rehearsal “dinner”?

As it was getting dark, we went to a place for dinner where I had some chicken (leg?) with rice and a real ginger ale. All in all a pretty darn successful, if expensive, day.

Reflection of an autumn treat

I went back to church this morning and it seems to have helped me in making delicious food. Breakfast was peanut butter oatmeal banana pancakes and I don’t think they can get much better (unless maybe I have small pieces of dark chocolate). Before heading to bed, I baked mango bread for tomorrow. Only 1 of the 3 mangoes was actually ripe but this turned out to be serendipitous. The unripe mangoes are a little tangy so the mango bread tasted like apple cake. I was thrilled because I had wanted to bake a cake but decided on something more practical. Half of the mango bread was gone before I went to bed.

While walking back to the church to check ut the computer class and offer assistance, my usual cadre of pint-sized greeters met me. There are a few kids I always see, a few more I almost always see, and an unknown number of others. Today, they not only greeted me politely and shook my hand, a few grabbed my hands and they all walked with me a short distance down the “road.” I’m surprised they haven’t gotten over the novelty of me yet.

Anyway, I wasn’t really helpful at the computer lab other than being able to let them know the indented drop cap will not work in MS Word if there is more than one column. And I impressed them with my “fast” typing skills. I tried to explain that I leave my fingers on the middle row with my index fingers on the keys with a small ridge but I doubt I communicated the concept. At least I got my long story about Manderz’ adventure in Masai-land typed.

So the land does slope up towards the mountain…

Instead of getting up early to go to church, I went for a run! Luckily it is cool in the morning because I have to wear capris (or pants) with a kanga covering my derriere. At this point, I feel so self-conscious that I couldn’t even do just a half kanga because I felt like it shows too much by falling just above my knees. I went with a ²/₃ – ¾ kanga but still felt a bit funny when it would fly up a little as I ran. While running, I noticed that the land does indeed slope up towards the mountain and that I am severely out of shape, especially for aerobic activity at this elevation. I assume the land slopes down going away from the mountain but it’s much less noticeable than when going up towards the mountain. Though I only ran for about 20 minutes around what is essentially my “block” (fields & school bordered by small dirt roads), I am sooo happy I finally got out.

The rest of my day kind of paled in comparison. The peanuts and banana bread didn’t come put so well (edible but not great) ad laundry really doesn’t have much appeal. However, I did carry 2 buckets at the same time today. This is less amazing if you think only about te weight. It is a more impressive feat if you think about the force on each hand from the very thin handles. Usually I switch hands on the way back but this isn’t possible if you have a bucket in each hand. Since cooking didn’t go to well earlier today, I made soup, which is nearly impossible to mess up. I love homemade soup. J

Fruit crispity goodness

This morning after mass I sat outside the church and wrote. It was very peaceful and comfortable in the early morning sun. I got some more work done on the computer later when I was typing for my mkuu again. Since my time was up for the deal on the Internet, I now pay 500 Tsh for 20MB for 24 hours. It’s quite a deal when compared to 1000 Tsh for just .5 hr at the Internet Café in Katesh and I can upload several pictures with the limit.

During training, Eric (Sandhurst) had the idea to make mango crisp when the season came (mangoes were almost ripe then). I made it today. Great idea. Thanks Eric.

The bloodsuckers have sent a scout…

Daily mass is at ~06:45 so I will not be able to go when school is in session but it’s a good time to help me adjust to getting up early. Also, I still needed to meet the parish priest. I left my house just before sunrise (~06:20) and Kristen is right – very few people are out this early. It was a peaceful walk as the sun rose and people started their day. There are actually 2 parish priests here, which I learned today as they both said mass and I finally met them afterward. They both speak good English and one studied in England so it was enjoyable chatting with them over breakfast because it is much less awkward when I can communicate. One priest (Boniface) has started a computer lab in the old kindergarten classroom. When the government assumed responsibility for all kindergarten education, they had a room and a teacher with no job. The young woman now teacher computer courses to the locals so she still has a job and they can learn a valuable skill. The lab has one CPU connected to 5 monitors and another CPU is on the way to connect to the remaining 5 monitors. There is even a nice all-in-one (printer/scanner/copier) connected. It’s a pretty sweet set-up, especially for here, and rather unusual to have this far off the beaten path.

Speaking of computers, I finally got back in the computer room at school but my free 8GB had expired (likely yesterday when I was supposed to be able to get in). I had to type something for my mkuu but was able to get some of my own stuff done too.

Tonight I saw/heard my first mosquito at site. I hope this doesn’t become commonplace. Come on global cooling! Ok, technically I only need microscale cooling but I’m certainly not for global warming.

The bloodsuckers have sent a scout…

Daily mass is at ~06:45 so I will not be able to go when school is in session but it’s a good time to help me adjust to getting up early. Also, I still needed to meet the parish priest. I left my house just before sunrise (~06:20) and Kristen is right – very few people are out this early. It was a peaceful walk as the sun rose and people started their day. There are actually 2 parish priests here, which I learned today as they both said mass and I finally met them afterward. They both speak good English and one studied in England so it was enjoyable chatting with them over breakfast because it is much less awkward when I can communicate. One priest (Boniface) has started a computer lab in the old kindergarten classroom. When the government assumed responsibility for all kindergarten education, they had a room and a teacher with no job. The young woman now teacher computer courses to the locals so she still has a job and they can learn a valuable skill. The lab has one CPU connected to 5 monitors and another CPU is on the way to connect to the remaining 5 monitors. There is even a nice all-in-one (printer/scanner/copier) connected. It’s a pretty sweet set-up, especially for here, and rather unusual to have this far off the beaten path.

Speaking of computers, I finally got back in the computer room at school but my free 8GB had expired (likely yesterday when I was supposed to be able to get in). I had to type something for my mkuu but was able to get some of my own stuff done too.

Tonight I saw/heard my first mosquito at site. I hope this doesn’t become commonplace. Come on global cooling! Ok, technically I only need microscale cooling but I’m certainly not for global warming.

When you can’t find something, keep asking the locals

Since school starts in about a week, I decided to start getting used to waking up early and went to the 07:30 mass. I also hoped I could get some supplies in the village (Gocho) with a little less bother/harassment from the plethora of drunks there; for the most part, this did work out. There was just a bit of a problem finding flour as the shops I stopped at were out or don’t sell it. As I started to head home, a girl said hi to me (well, the Kiswahili equivalent) so I figured I’d try one last time and ask her if she knew where I could buy some flour (she’s probably like 10 years old). She brought me to her home but her mother didn’t have any (I think they have a little shop or café or both, I couldn’t tell). They said something about chapatti but I couldn’t tell if they were offering it or asking if I wanted to buy some so I said I was just looking for flour. This family was very friendly and seemed really happy that I am a teacher. They were so happy in fact, that they gave me 2 eggs and the mama took me to a few different shops until we found some flour. Being with a local ensured that I was not overcharged since it wasn’t where I usually buy it. In short, if you can’t find something, keep asking people and you are bound to be personally brought around until you do find it.

With my flour and an egg (& a lot of sugar), I made crepes when I got home. Definitely not as good as the street vendors in Europe but still pretty tasty with a bit of cinnamon. I hemmed and hawed about what to make with my eggplant and finally decided to make stuffed eggplant and tomatoes using some of my newly acquired brown rice. They came out superb. I think it is the best use of tomatoes (aside from spaghetti & pizza sauce of course).

…and kitty caught another mouse J

Sacrificial Slaughter

Kristen and I started the new year very relaxed as we ate coffee cake, drank hot cocoa (Ghirardelli – Kristen got it in a package from America), and Internet. We did not hurry to get to the soko (market) to buy veggies. However, I was glad to have gone since I was able to buy an eggplant (!), green pepper, and tomatoes. In the afternoon, we went with her counterpart and a few other people to a family’s house where there was a large meal prepared. I’m pretty sure they slaughtered a goat for the New Year and made pilau (seasoned rice) and some other dishes; the meat was rather good. Kristen had made a cake so we all had a small piece for dessert. The family was very kind and said that we are welcome back anytime, that today was a like an introduction. The thing is, how do you go back? DO you just show up on some random day at some random time? I guess that’s how it used to be done in America but I’m used to people usually calling before showing up on your doorstep (unless it’s family). Don’t get me wrong, surprise visits are nice, but there are unwritten rules in every society on when it is okay to show up and I don’t know what they are here.

P.S. kitty caught another mouse tonight J