Banking Town: Babati

The daladala picked me u in front of the school as planned and it took nearly 3 hours till we arrived in Babati, my banking town. For much of the ride, I held a small boy on my lap and did my best to keep his head from hitting the side of the dala on the bumpy road. Not the most comfortable ride but he was cute.

I was surprised as the road turned to paved as we got to Babati. My goal was to buy a bike and I needed to take money out of the bank to do this. The ATM didn’t work when I tried so I waited for the bank to open. Never having been in a bank in Tz before, I had no idea what I was doing. I ended up having to go through the line 3 times because I needed forms and my account # (not the same as on the ATM card apparently). At least they gave me my money.

Babati may have a paved main road but it still only has one place to buy a bicycle. There were ~2-3 dozen used bicycles and very few had my requirements: mountain bike tires and gears. I tried a few out and settled on one that they said they would do “maintenance” on (aka fix) before I came back to buy it. So I went off and did the rest of my shopping. At the market, I found an assortment of spices, pineapple, and green beans! These are impossible/hard to find in Katesh, much less my village. I got some other vegetables at the market as well and found a plastic grater (like my host family had) at one of the stores. At the safi duka (really nice store – still really small), I was excited to get not only peanut butter but ground cinnamon, oats, powdered milk, whole wheat flour, and plastic clothespins. I figured I would just go back to the daladala and wait after I picked up my bicycle so I tried to get something to eat beforehand. I asked for chapatti – they were out, I asked for maandazi – they were out. I tried to order lunch food – there was none (I think not ready yet). I asked what was available and was told “figo” was. When I said I did not know what it was, he said it was figs. Alright, I think, I’ll try it. It was not figs. It was a plate of pieces of liver, I think (maybe kidney?). Well, I don’t get meat when I cook for myself so I guess it’s what I needed.

I head back to the bike place and the bike seems to be in good working order, gears and all. With the bike, I bought a rack for the back, which they installed, and a lock. As a bonus, the guy gave me these very colorful things to put in the spokes that look like giant rainbow pipe cleaners. Um, thanks buddy.

I found my daladala okay but it did help that they saw me coming from about 30m away and came to get my bike to put on top. Once the dala was full and we headed into the hills outside of Babati, I realized that it had rained and was continuing to rain here. You think paved roads are dangerous when wet, try dirt roads with some clay. It was scary. Somehow we made it back to Endasak, where we waited to fill up with people again before continuing. As we headed down the road, we passed the road to Gitting. Now I had been told that the same daladala will take me from Gitting to Babati and back to Gitting. At this point I’m afraid that I might end up in Katesh and have to spend the night there so I ask them to stop. I figure a 2 hr walk in the rain is more desirable but I’m told that the dala will take me back to Gitting – after going to Katesh. The result was a couple of hours added to an already long trip. It was dark when we got back to Gitting but they did drop me off at the entrance to the school. Then they made me pay a full extra fare for transport of my bicycle. Why didn’t they tell me this in Babati?! I tried asking, I tried negotiating/bargaining but I got nowhere. I am not looking forward to taking the trip again; going to Katesh in tiring enough.

Hostel

I’m down to just a few pieces of charcoal so I couldn’t wait for others to get back to me on appropriate prices for it. Instead of heading straight for the village though, I decided to visit the hostel across the street. I am very glad I did. Sister Josephine welcomed me in and is one of 2 sisters that run the hostel for ~100 girl students at my school. Right now the order of sisters is having a retreat because the students are on break. I felt at home there and enjoyed talking with Sr. Josephine as we drank tea I actually like and ate real bread. When I asked where to buy charcoal, she said she bought it from someone who stopped at the hostel but she has plenty now so she sold me a large bag. Now I don’t have to find a place, try not to get ripped off, or figure out how to get it back to my house. I also mentioned wanting to go to Babati tomorrow. She called the daladala so it’ll pick me up in front of the school so I don’t have to walk to the village in the early morning darkness. Before I left, she lent me a small book with the basic Catholic prayers and mass in Kiswahili so I can learn it. I’m excited and expect it to prove as useful as my books from World Youth Day in Germany.

Water

I was mildly sick again this morning (diarrhea) and suspect the fresh cut tomatoes from lunch yesterday. It’s hard to remember not to eat anything fresh when eating out.
On my way to mast this morning, I passed a sister (nun) from the hostel across the street and she asked my when I was going to come visit. Honestly, it hadn’t occurred to me to go visit but I’m looking forward to it now. Speaking of visits, Uma came over today to use the computer (i.e. Internet) and brought me chocolate cake. Seems we both like to bake :-).
My major domestic task today was washing clothes so I had to fetch water for the first time. This is not so bad since the school has a pipe and uses a hose to fill a couple of large tanks with spigots. When there is enough water, I merely have to fill my buckets from the tanks and carry it ~200 m to my house. Though when there isn’t water at the pipe, I’m not sure where I go but I will probably have to walk to the village pipe. Also need to learn how to carry a bucket on my head; can’t see coming to Africa and not learning.

Katesh Tour + Moonlit Bathing

Met PCV Megan (Health) today in Katesh and she showed us around. There is a PCV who lives in Katesh but he is at in-service training (IST) right now; we went to his house anyway to use the bathroom. She also took us to the post office, (I was able to mail a letter to Chris), the bank we want to switch to, the Internet café, and our official consolidation point (if we have some major crisis and need to evacuate). Along the way she tried to point out the good places to eat and shop so we feel a lot more familiar with the place now. On our way home, Uma and I had to wait in Endasak for a few hours for our daladala to fill up. Then it hit an animal on the road back to Gitting. It would have been better if we had walked from Endasak.
A summary of other things for my first week at site: My mkuu (headmaster) has called a lot just to check on me. Thankfully it has waned a bit but I think Salome (PC Safety & Security) scared him pretty good. He also has really bad timing and has called twice while I’ve been bathing. Among he foods I made were pirogues, bread, and English muffins. Tough the foods were fun to try to make, I think the highlight of the week has to be bathing in my courtyard. My bafu (room used for bathing) has a smooth cement floor that my wet flip-flops sometimes suction to. Not only is it dangerous, it has a lowish ceiling and the light doesn’t work. My courtyard, on the other hand, is fully enclosed by walls that people cant’ see over or enter (without much effort) and the view is significantly better, not to mention better lit. It’s great .

"enroll"

So I’ve been trying for a few days to “enroll” my modem with the phone company but could not get it to work. Once I enroll, I will have 8GB to use for 30 days. Instead, I’ve been paying using vouchers, which is expensive. Today I was finally able to enroll! Of course it was after I had used the internet (and most of my voucher) but now I basically have a month of unlimited internet, as long as the computer keeps working. Then I talked with my grandparents for a few minutes this evening. A good day all in all I think.

SYRACUSE!

Another long walk today but this time I walked in the other direction with Uma to Endasak, our market town. We picked up some fresh veggies and some garlic too. To sort rice (i.e. check for rocks), we bought large woven saucers. On our walk home, we passed a couple of kids and one was wearing a Syracuse shirt! I tried to tell him that I come from near Syracuse but he just stared at me. I don’t think he understood.

Escarpment

The first couple of days this week consisted of Uma and I seeing one another’s homes, more cleaning, and some time on the computer. Unfortunately, only one computer works and the other 5 do not; I just hope it keeps working. The rain has also come but it stopped by mid-morning so I went for a walk. I did not know where I was going, I just walked down the road my school is on towards the escarpment (opposite direction of village). When I started to head downhill, I knew I’d reached the valley between me and the escarpment. At that point, I turned left and ended up looping around a small hill but was able to find my way back to my road. In all, I walked for 3 hours – I have no idea how far but was happy to see the escarpment from a closer view.

Although the computer worked fine yesterday, it wouldn’t work right today. I was told that no one had used it in the meantime. Luckily Enoch (a computer guy in our training class) was able to tell me what to do to get it (mostly) working. Of course, now the CD-ROM drive is disconnected so it still needs some work.