Heri ya Mwaka Mpya 2007!

Happy New Year 2007!

After our short vacation up north, we got back home and started to prepare for Christmas festivities at our house. We have been having lots and lots of rain - really too much. It's unfortunate that we didn't get any rain last year and this year we are getting too much that the crops are rotting and not doing well, although people do have water now and the power outages have vanished.


Christmas

Christmas was a blast! People brought cheese, pizza toppings, and wine among other goodies. For Christmas Eve we (the mentals, Matayo, Angus, and a few others) all ate a "buffet style" dinner at Ark Hotel. It was family style of the following foods: rice beans, chicken, beef, ugali, kachumbali (like salsa), and chipsi (french fries). We then said our Merry Christmases and went to bed before Santa visited. In the morning, before the others woke up, Holley and I (we're both early birds) hung "stockings" (felt bags from Holley's mom) which had everyone's name on them and filled with candy. We stuffed them the previous night and it was fun being devious, especially when Becky caught on that we were "up to something." We then started making breakfast for 12 people. Holley grated coconut (she's an expert at it by the way) while I made the batter for coconut pancakes with coconut sauce. People started to wake and I put them to work boiling water for tea/coffee. Loni arrived that morning and brought some corn bread she has baked which we added to the "breakfast buffet" of pancakes, Pure Vermont Maple Syrup (thanks Cat!), corn bread, and fruit. After breakfast we started to prepare for the main meal, which was pizza. Russ and others started the oven, which takes a while, while I and others started making the dough. The oven wasn't behaving and the wood was a bit gassy so it was slow going. We made two batches of dough - one with rosemary and one without. We let the dough rise and then punched it down and separated it into smaller balls to rise again. Meanwhile Jason and James mrefu started the tomato sauce on the charcoal stove outside. Then Angus, with his Santa hat on, popped into his laptop a DVD sent from his wife, Lynn. He wasn't supposed to open it until Christmas, which he obeyed. Everyone sat around Angus and his laptop and watched Lynn decorating their house for Christmas and telling Angus how much he is missed at home. I started handing out tissue and using it myself as there was not a dry eye in the room! Then Angus's children and friends recorded Christmas messages to him too and by the end of the DVD everyone was crying and giving hugs to each other. Although we've never met Angus's family or friends we were touched by their messages.

To continue on with the day we kept ourselves busy with the pizza oven, which misbehaved, decorating pizzas, making calzones and cheesy bread sticks, guitar playing, drinking homemade mango wine, red wine from South Africa, and a Christmas gift game called White Elephant. White Elephant is when everyone brings a wrapped gift people choose numbers, the order in which people will then choose presents. We put all the gifts next to the Christmas tree Holley's folks sent and drew numbers. I got number 1. So I picked a gift first, opened it, and revealed to everyone a fine chalkboard set, stickers, and a bag of fish (a snack). The next person, who drew number 2, could either steal my gift or choose another wrapped gift from the pile to open. One rule people play is that a gift can only be stolen twice. I ended up keeping my gift and Russ got two cans of olives. We then had pizza with some Tanzanian friends who enjoyed the mango wine a little too much and some who were admittedly scared of the pizza, perhaps it looked odd to them. It downpoured that afternoon so I managed to fill all our buckets with water so our guests didn't have to fetch it. The day ended with red and green Christmas sugar cookies (baked by Loni), banana bread (4 loaves) made by myself, and two games of Apples to Apples. Over the next few days, people returned to the villages and worked on their gardens and other projects. Russ and I did make it out to Holley's village with most of the other environmental volunteers on 30 December to celebrate her birthday. Fun times - it's kinda like camping. We made stew and brownies which Becky brought out the cake she made and transferred by bike from her village.


New Year's

To "bring in the new year," Angus invited us over to his house for dinner and a movie. He whipped up some pasta with sauce, a salad, and hard-boiled eggs. The eggs were a nice touch as was the rocket (arugula). After dinner Russ, myself, Angus, and Rico (a VSO from the Philippines) decided to watch the film The Thomas Crown Affair and explained to Matayo what was going on throughout the film. We were too tired after the movie to continue to stay awake until midnight so we cheered in 2007 at about 10 pm and called it a year.


Zanzibar Round 2

So, we made our way back to Zanzibar for a second time. Well, the couple who shadowed us were placed there so of course we had to visit! We had done all of the touristy things before so this time it was a much slower paced, relaxing trip. In Dar we arrived at the dock too late to purchase our ferry tickets the day before we wanted to leave so we woke up early (5 am) the next day to try and get tickets on the first ferry (leaving at 7:30 am). Luckily there were still seats available so I took my Dramamine and was ready for the voyage. The Dramamine made me drowsy so I slept the whole way there and didn't get sick at all (unlike last time). As people were clearing off the ferry, we waited until the made rush of people decreased and then we were approached by a young woman who looked slightly familiar. She asked if we were American, where we were from, and where we went to school. Apparently we all went to the same college and we even graduated in the same year! Although our college has a small student body (1800 or so) there's no way to know everyone, but sometimes you recognize faces. Her younger brother currently goes to the same college and they were going to Zanzibar to find out about their family heritage. Their dad is from Zanzibar and were retracing his old stomping grounds. We had brunch together, took a picture for our college magazine, and went our own ways. Not too long after that we met up with Brian and Steph and caught up on things. Although they live on Zanzibar they don't quite live in paradise. Many PCVs were jealous of their placement site but honestly it's loud where they live and the surroundings not what you'd expect. Of course, the perks like swimming every once in a while and great food are nice - for a price. Over the next few days we cooked lentils with their pressure cooker, learned how to play a dice game called Farkle, swam in the ocean, visited giant tortoises, got henna, ate really good food, and shopped. We said our good-byes and took off on the best (smoothest) ferry ride to date. We made it into Dar, checked into our hotel, and awaited our Mid-Service Conference (MSC) that began the next day.


MSC

MSC was slated for four days - the first being a meeting with staff and the last three being interviews with our APCD (our boss) and doctor's appointments. Not really much to say about MSC. The PC doctor said both Russ and I were "boring" because we didn't have anything living inside us like worms or parasites. We handed in our three stool samples (oh, the dreaded MIF kit)and urine sample, had our blood drawn, and checked for tb. We had dentist's appointments in downtown Dar and we were cleared. One night we went to a real movie theater, with stadium seating, popcorn, soda fountain, AC, you name it. It was like another time warp back to The States. We saw Night at the Museum, which I enjoyed, though the guys, not so much.


Home again

After MSC we headed home to start preparing for the new school year. The town was preparing too as uniforms and school supplies were readily available for sale in the market. Russ continues his work at the TTC - I'm sure he'll blog about that. At the beginning of the year, to get off on a good start with my students, I had each of them write their names, what they like, what they don't like, and what they want to be when they grow up on index cards that I would collect. The following are the best ones copied word for word:

I like swimming
I dislike to be a Lazy man
If I grow up I want to be a Doctor
-Gaspary, Form 2

I like to listen music and to study all subjects. Also music of Mr Nelly
I don't like eat Ugali and beans
I want to be pilot
-Dominic, Form 2

In this program I like to drink beer and I like to eat meat and rice and I reading into dreaver of bus or into teacher. I must.
-Yohana, Form 2

I like play football to write letter girafe and the colour blue
I don't like pigs, etc.
When I grow up I want to be Carpenter
-Arimio, Form 2

I lake football
I don't lake to sing
I want to be a present
-Salim, Form 1

I like reading books
I do not like to steal
{crime mistakes)
When I grow up, I want to be a teacher
-Yakobo, Form 1

I like to eat pilau, To play football, to swimming, to dancing Music, to watch TV to study subjects. I don't like Majungu, don't like thief, don't like beer, don't like improper behavious, don't like sexual intercourse
When I grow up I want to be Police, Carpenter, teacher, Doctor, Nurse, Tailor.
-Renard, Form 2

I like to believe the Lord and to be honest with others
I don't like unfaithfully un->honest and prostitution Bad behaviour.
I grow up on 10/8/1989 I wanna to be. It's my secret.
-Garson, Form 2

I've been teaching for about three weeks now and am quite busy with 6 preps a week, teaching, writing a grant to do a Girl's Empowerment Seminar to celebrate International Women's Day, watering the garden (it hasn't rained in a week), planning trips as friends have bought their plane tickets to visit, and various other things that seem to take up my days!