Class Dismissed

On the last day of class, I asked my students to answer two questions. What I asked them and a few selected answers (unaltered) are given below:

This year in Ms. Lisa's class I learned...

...how to solve different mathematical problems. Also I learned different mathematis topics which made me to be confident when I am doing any mathematics question. Not only I learned how to solve different mathematical problems but also I learned to have a speed in doing mathematics questions. I learned to have a speed by doing many class quiz which also made me to have an experience.
-Issa

...many things in Basic Maths, she taught many Topics properly and all general I understand without an anxiety. Thanks very much Ms Lisa!
-Juma

(i) The learned of the cant [count] number
(2) The learned of English of B. Mathematic
(3) The learned of To find y-intercept and x-intercept
(4) The learned of To find the sleep [slope] and equition [equation]
-William

This year I am proud of...

...that day when the team which I like it (Chelsea) win its match. Also I was proud that day because I bought the telephone. Not only I was proud about my team and my telephone but also I passed my standard seven examination that day.
-Issa

...myself that I have learned well my studies also I get high marks in science subjects such as Mathematic, Biology, Chemistry, Geograph and Physics. Also I am proud of Ms. Lisa's class. I am going to be proud if Ms. Lisa is going to teach next year Mathematic up to Form Four. Also I am very proud of Ms. Lisa's knowledge by found us friends from America.
-Mayagi

...To play football
To know how to switch on computer
To visit in the historical sites of this district
To write penpal which Ms Lisa gave us
-Michael

...-> How to play football well and its advantage
-> How to live with different people in piece
-> How to earn a living when I grow up
-Petro

...to write letter of go Marekani [America], play football
-Alex

...(i) To know to write and to understand English
(ii) To know to pray in english language
(iii) To be a many frinds from different region
-Njile

My students took their final exams on Thursday and I have marked/scored/graded them all. The majority of my students received A's and B's with only a handful failing. I'm glad that they did so well considering the exam covered material starting in January.

We have started to clean our house and will have one last pizza party on Saturday. Then next week we leave for Dar to COS (close our service). As of 21 November we will no longer be PCVs but I will try to put up posts about our travels to Uganda, Ethiopia, and Egypt.

Dirty Light, Dirty Dark, Dirty Dirty

As our PC service comes to a close, I've noticed the types of laundry piles we have created. Our "dirty lights" get washed first with a good scrubbing. Then our "dirty darks" get dunked in soapy water then rinsed - since they are dark you can't see the dirt on them. The dirt shows itself in the water after rinsing. Then the really dirty stuff, "dirty, dirty," clothes are washed in dirty, soapy water and rinsed in semi-dirty water. Most of the clothes we brought with us will remain in Africa as they have holes in them or the elastic is no longer stretchable. Someone will find a good use for them.

Our electric stove broke so we have been cooking like an environmental volunteer using our charcoal stove for all our meals and boiling water. It's not as convenient, but it sure gets hot! Russ has mastered lighting the charcoal stove with only one match but I got him beat by lighting it matchless! Ok, so I have used an already burning piece of charcoal to get the fire started - but I didn't use matched to light that fire so it still counts as matchless, right? The charcoal stove is actually working out pretty well as power outages are becoming more frequent.

We have less than one month left at our site - then we're off on our adventures.

Mwewe for dinner

We have been traveling a lot over the past month. We were in Morogoro for a week helping to plan the new training for the incoming education PCTs, then went to Dar to pick them up, escorted them to Morogoro where we stayed with them for a week answering all of their questions and reassuring them that yes, they were in Africa.

The new group is a great bunch of excited PCTs (Peace Corps Trainees - they don't get the official title of Volunteer until after they complete the "hardcore/exhausting/rewarding training) and I was happy to get to know them. They joined right in dancing at their welcoming presentation. It was tiring being away from our site for three straight weeks but nothing was stolen when we got home - hurray! The only downside is that we have a lot of laundry to do...

We have one and a half months left at site...it's such a short amount of time. Our mango trees have started producing this year as the rains were plentiful back in "fall" (February-April). However I don't think we'll have the chance to try them as we will leave before the mangoes mature.

Just this morning, after making breakfast, I heard a noise in our front yard. I walked outside to see a young man throwing rocks at an injured hawk, mwewe. I asked him why he was doing that and he said that the hawk ate his chicks. I couldn't disagree with him there...I've heard about hawks eating chicks before and I've even seen one swoop down and grab one. It is interesting that when a hawk is in the sky all the chickens run for cover under trees or inside houses as if the sky was falling. They know the threat of hawks, as do their owners. Anyway, I asked the man what he was going to do with the hawk and he said that he was going to eat it for dinner.

Russ and I have printed out address cards to give away to people. As the time nears to say goodbye we still want to keep in contact with people and have been giving everyone who asks an address card. Asha, my primary school girl friend, just stopped by the house the other day and I told her I was leaving soon. She began to cry. I was shocked by this. Asha comes around the house every once in a while and we talk and she helps out with whatever we happen to be doing that day. But I didn't feel like she cared that much. After I gave her a hug and told her that we're still here for another month, and that she is welcome at our house at any time, I realized that perhaps I have made more of an impact in Tanzania than I originally thought.