Lisa in Tanzania - A Peace Corps Volunteer's Blog

Help for Better Days

2008-08-02T04:37:00.005+03:00

A fellow PCV/TZ, Heath Ray, created a video using images and video clips from PCVs all around Tanzania. It is so well done and reflects my experience as a PCV that I had to put it on my blog. Enjoy!

And thanks again to everyone who commented, supported, talked, or just listened to me while in Africa. Sorry if I didn't get back - I guess I didn't check comments that often. My email is in the right hand column. Kwa heri.

Misr (Egypt) - The End

2007-12-30T04:35:00.001+03:00

We didn't get too much sleep on the sleeping train - it moved back and forth a lot, was noisy, and light found its way through the curtains so we were all pretty tired by the time we arrived in Luxor. Although we were very tired, we still signed up for a trip to the West Bank leaving within two hours of arriving with our hotel, The Nefertiti Hotel, which is highly recommended. It is pleasantly situated just off the pedestrian only walkway, near the shops but not taking in any of the noises. Our breakfast on the rooftop terrace with a view of the Nile River alone was worth it! We were with a tour group and had a funny guide. We visited the Valley of the Kings, Valley of the Queens, and Deir al-Bahri (Temple of Hatshepsut). All the tombs in the valleys are empty, except for King Tut, whose mummy remains encased in glass in his tomb. Because the children of queens were often buried with their mothers, the childrens' tombs are very decorative, with the tomb of Amunherkhepshef being the most colorful - after more than 3,000 years!

In the Valley of the Kings, we were only allowed to go to certain tombs. The weather was quite pleasant in December - probably in the 80s during the day and 60s at night - beginning of the peak tourist season. Some of the King's tombs were grand, some went very long and deep while others were shallow and plain. It cost an extra $9 to see King Tut himself so Russ and I waited while Bekah and Laura did. (I saw the mummy in his tomb later on TV - not worth it). Next we went to Deir al-Bahri (Temple of Hatshepsut) then back to town. In the evening we strolled down the pedestrian only boulevard/shopping street pushing aside the annoying, and sometimes aggressive, salesmen who drop their prices by half as soon as you turn your back to leave.

The following day (December 7) we took a horse buggy to Karnak Temple. We wandered around this massive temple for hours, losing Russ only once. If you're an Egyptian history buff I would recommend visiting this temple. By mid-day it was getting hot so we ate some lunch then visited the new Luxor Museum. The museum is modern and very well organized with labels descriptions. There are even a few mummies to view at no extra cost. I would highly recommend this museum if traveling to Luxor. As evening approached we visited one last temple right in the heart of Luxor and can be seen from our hotel, the Luxor Temple. It is a little smaller than the Karnak Temple, but still very large. The Karnak and Luxor Temples were once connected by a 3 mile road lined with hundreds of carved sphinxes, a few of which remain outside each temple. At night, lights are turned on to give the temple a yellow glow. That evening we enjoyed some local dishes and shopped in the pedestrian only aisle crowded with aggressive merchandise sellers.

The next day we took it easy and slept in. We bought train tickets, shopped, and ate. That evening Laura and Bekah took a train to Aswan as Russ and I took an overnight train back to Cairo.

Russ and I arrived in Cairo early in the morning and decided to save money by walking to our hotel, Windsor Hotel, reserved by my mother months in advance (thank you, Rick Steves). We stayed there for 4 nights at about $50/night. The room was spacious but the wooden floor creaked and it was always cold. The shower was hot 24/7, though, which I couldn't say about other hotels in Egypt. We booked a tour with our hotel for the following day to see the Mosque of Ibn Tulun, the oldest intact, functioning mosque in Egypt and the Giza Pyramids. After booking and napping, we went to Coptic Cairo and toured ancient churches as well as the Coptic Cairo Museum, which is a piece of art in its own right. When the sun sets, Cairo comes alive. Thousands of people line the streets to eat and shop. We had an interesting dining experience at a restaurant called GAD.

The next morning we got into our tour minibus along with two Canadians and went to the mosque. It was a very big mosque designed after Mosque of Samarra in Iraq. We had to put woven booties over our shoes as not to dirty the rugs. Our guide showed us to the top of the tower for a good view of the city, only the city was clouded by lots of smog. We then made our way to the Giza Pyramids in the town of Giza, south of Cairo. It was a busy town with lots of construction delaying our arrival. But first we stopped at a papyrus paper making place where I got roped into buying a beautiful piece of artwork. Then we headed to the pyramids where our guide dropped us off and would meet us in 2.5 hours. It was so amazing to see the Great Pyramids in person. The first thing we looked at was the Sphinx, whose paws seem much larger in proportion than the rest of its body. We then walked around the three pyramids as well as many other smaller pyramids built for queens along the great pyramids, outlined in the following map:

As we walked along the outside of the pyramids, it cost extra money to actually go inside one (and the pyramids are empty because everything that was inside is now in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo), we were bothered by camel herders wanting us to ride a camel for money. After following us for half an hour, I told one that we would tell the tourist police he was making our trip unpleasant and he quickly turned the other way. Egypt relies heavily on tourists so there are special tourist police everywhere we went to insure the safety and well-being of visitors everywhere - and the locals who hustle foreingers are afraid of them. I understand why the Great Pyramids of Giza are one of the world's seven wonders. The rocks used to build them were enormous and the pyramids themselves, so tall. Just amazing. We went back to Cairo with our tour and I snapped one last picture of the pyramids from the highway.

The following day we met up with Bekah and Laura again, back from their brief adventures in Aswan and Abu-Simbel, and then went to the Egyptian Museum. We spent many hours admiring the great treasures gathered from all the tombs and displayed for everyone to see. The most amazing exhibit was King Tutankhamun's tomb items. Because his tomb remained untouched until Howard Carter discovered it in 1922, all the items in the chambers were not removed/stolen, but are displayed in the museum.

The next day, Russ fell ill, so us girls decided to go to the Khan al-Khalili market by ourselves. We went down tourist isle and bought a few trinkets for our families for Christmas. As Russ and I were leaving the following morning, we said good-bye to Laura and Bekah and headed back to our respective hotels, after some ice cream, of course.

On the morning of 13 December, we left Africa at 7:30 am. It was a long few days getting to Hawaii. Our itenerary: Cairo to Paris (4.5 hours), Paris to Los Angeles (11 hours), Los Angeles to Honolulu (4.5 hours) stopping only for at most two hours in each airport. Jet lag took a week to get over once home.

At home, I have gone through a little reverse culture shock. Most notably, drinking clean water from the sink that actually has running water, getting way out of the way when cars go by, and how much garbage is produced in a single day. I didn't let myself drive for a week just to get used to riding on the right side and reminding myself of all the rules. I'm not sure how long we'll stay with my parents in Hawaii or what the future holds for us but we're slowing figuring things out. This is the last blog entry I will post. I would be happy to answer any questions - my email is to the right. I hoped you enjoyed reading about my adventures. Kwa heri.

Back to Ethiopia

2007-12-30T02:56:00.000+03:00

1 December, 2007

We flew to Gondar and stayed at the Fogera Hotel. We paid more than the room was worth so not highly recommended. Our day was spent wandering around the Royal Enclosure, the former capital of Ethiopia and ate an awesome lunch of shiro tegebani (mashed, spiced chick peas) at Habesha Kifto. In the afternoon we picked up a really yummy chocolate donut then went to the Debre Berhan Selassie Church, which is described in the Lonely Planet as "the most vibrant and ecclesiastical artwork in the nation." The ceiling of the church, pictured below, is beautifully painted and quite famous. It was really quite amazing to see every square inch inside of the church covered in paintings describing Bible stories.

2 December, 2007

In the early morning we walked to the bus station (we bought tickets the day before) to go to Bahir Dar and watched the sun rise as we left on the three hour journey, which was similar to the bus rides in Tanzania that we had become so accustomed to in the past two years. We made our way through mountains passing small villages and cow/goat herders along the way. The environment was green, yet the people were poor. A women behind me was very ill and kept throwing up. We finally reached Bahir Dar on the edge of Lake Tana and made our way to Ghion Hotel (budget hotel at 125 Birr) to drop our stuff. We walked on the path along the lake, grabbed some soda and cake to eat the went to the market where we were bothered by two guys who wouldn't leave us alone. I told them off once and they went away but they followed us to bother us again later. I just couldn't take them so we left the market. At the market there were lots of plastic stuff being sold as well as cloth and spices, especially berebere, which is used in nearly all Ethiopian dishes. Later that evening we went to Bahir Dar Hotel for dinner, which in the Lonely Planet says is the best in town, and I'd have to agree. Not a classy place, though - my wine came in a beer bottle.

3 December, 2007

In the morning we walked 3 km to the War Memorial, which, when we arrived, was being guarded by two official looking men who wanted our passports in order to enter the memorial. Yeah, so we declined and took a local minibus back to town. Silly us - thinking memorials are open to the public. Our afternoon flight was only an hour and bumpy as we landed back in Addis Ababa then made our way to Ras Hotel. The only rooms left were ones with TVs so we treated ourselves and paid 270 Birr a night for two nights for what turned out to be the nicest hotel we have ever stayed at in Africa, which isn't saying much. We ate dinner at Dashen Restaurant again - yum.

4 December, 2007

In the morning, after breakfast at the hotel, we walked 3 km to the Ethnological Museum (which is inside the Addis Ababa University), which had a lot of centuries old crosses, idols, paintings, and history. We had a fabulous lunch at Blue Tops Restaurant, a popular ex-pat place, then went to the National Museum, which was still under construction, but an alright way to spend an hour or two. There were lots of things inside, just not laid out very well. On our walk back to the hotel we stopped at the Sheraton and had milkshakes. The grandness of the hotel, a small city unto itself, seemed over the top for such a poor country. Again, we had dinner at Dashen, but tried the fasting food this time, accompanied by different singers during our candlelight dinner.

5 December, 2007

Farewell, Ethiopia. Welcome, Egypt. At the airport in Addis Ababa I did some last minute shopping (lot of options in the airport), exchanged leftover money, and boarded our plane. Our plane stopped in Khartoum, Sudan for about an hour and most people got off. As we flew over Sudan I saw how dry and desolate the environment was. Very brown, except along the Nile River where trees followed the banks. We landed in Cairo then made our way to the local bus station. We were going to use local transport instead of paying a fortune for a taxi. In the Lonely Planet guide it says to take bus 356 to downtown. Easy enough, right? Well, all the numbers, not to mention everything else, was all in Arabic! We quickly looked in our book to find the symbols for 3, 5, and 6, asked the conductor who spoke little English and hopped on a bus that we hoped would take us downtown. After getting to downtown we walked to meet up with Laura and Bekah, who were PCVs in our training group and bought train tickets for us the day before, and went to the train station via the metro station to catch our overnight train to Luxor.

Uganda

2007-12-26T23:09:00.000+03:00

26 November, 2007

The only way it worked out for us to go to Uganda to visit Russ's hometown friend, Deborah, also a PCV, was to go in the middle of our Ethiopia trip. So we flew to Uganda, exchanged money ($200), and made our way to Deborah's site following her directions. She lives on Lake Victoria in a small fishing village which was built quickly within the past five years. We really just hung out at her site, did laundry, and enjoyed some down time. We ate lots of fish and matoke (smashed, cooked plantains) and noted the similarities and differences between Tanzania, most notably that Ugandans speak Luganda, English, and Swahili - in that order. We were surprised that Swahili wasn't spoken by more people. Deborah was helping a group to pour a cement pit latrine so we went along with her to watch and take pictures. Pictures are always good for impressing your APCD. Because her fishing village was put up so rapidly, there were not enough toilets for the growing number of families. So one of Deborah's projects was to help build proper, deep, pit latrines for families to use. In her village the HIV/AIDS prevalence is about 25% so she is working on income generating projects with women to make soap and other small projects that will ultimately help PLWHA (People Living with HIV/AIDS). We also fed some monkeys around her site and travelled to Kampala on the last day for some city life. I didn't like Kampala because it was so busy, dirty, polluted, and crowded. Russ loved it. It's a push your way through type of city where crossing the road is nearly impossible. Yes, there are so many cars that traffic often stops in the middle of the city and you can walk across that way - just watch out for the thousands of bikes and motorcycles weaving between the cars and on the sidewalks! We grabbed some pizza at the mall, did a little souvenir shopping, went to the Peace Corps office, had an awesome dinner at Tuhende, and met a man who worked in our village, Mpwapwa, in Tanzania before we got there in 2005 - small world!

30 November, 2007

Said goodbye to Deborah at the crazy taxi park, went back to the airport, and flew back (two hours), to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where we stayed at Lido Hotel (doh!). They had given our room to someone else, even though we reserved it and I watched her write my name down for the cheaper room a few days before. The only room left was the more expensive room and I asked to get it at the price of the cheaper room because they gave our room away. Eventually they found a room and we paid what we were supposed to pay, however the water wasn't working so we got an ice cold bucket of water. We were so tired we just went to bed. We promptly made reservations at Ras Hotel for the following two nights.

Lovely Lalibela

2007-12-22T10:15:00.000+03:00

23 November, 2007

It was a bumpy two hour flight (via Bahar Dar) and we landed at an airport in the middle of nowhere in Lalibela, Ethiopia. We didn't book anything in advance (I would recommend booking something) so we didn't have a hotel come and pick us up. The airport is 23 km from Lalibela town. Fortunately the hotels run their airport shuttles when the only flight of the day comes in because they know some people didn't book ahead. It's no problem, though. The only time you will be caught without somewhere to stay if you don't book a room is during the pilgrimages. We hoped on the Tukol Village shuttle and it was 30 Birr each to get to town, way up in the mountains. We checked out the hotel whose shuttle we road on, saw the room, bargained down to 350 Birr ($40), from 450 Birr, for one night, dropped off our stuff then headed out. We walked up the windy, cobble-stoned road to the top of the town and had dinner at Seven Olives Hotel - a fasting meal (means no meat) of different types of lentils. The power kept going out so we ate by candlelight. Because Lalibela is a tourist hot spot the children know English and greet you with "Halo" before asking for things like pens and money.

24 November, 2007

After breakfast of yummy fried eggs and bread, we walked with our hired tour guide (300 Birr for the day), Balay, up to the rock-hewn churches where we paid 200 birr each to get in. You would probably get a lot more info by reading about it on wikipedia - just click on the above link. Although I must say they are quite amazing. We visited all 11 churches (well, I visited 10 as women are not allowed in one of them), taking our shoes off before entering each church (I covered my head with a scarf - not necessary, but respectful), and listening to our guide talk about each one. The churches are spread over a small area so they are all linked with tunnels. We were only able to pass through one of the tunnels and it was very dark - couldn't see a finger in front of your nose dark. The churches themselves were carved/dug out of pure rock by angels, as the story goes. Most of the churches were under construction as they were covered in scaffolding (making pictures not so great) in order to build a permanent cover so when it rains the churches do not suffer any more damage from water leaking into them. Oh well. One church, Bete Giyorgis (St. George's Church), has a ceiling that is 2 meters thick, which is enough to prevent water leakage and therefore does not need a cover.

After a lunch of cliff bars and water, we took a nap (Russ wasn't feeling well) then we went to the southern group of churches (we did the northern group in the morning). At the end of the day we walked around the few tourist shops and found the prices to be outrageous (didn't bargain at all) so on our way back stopped at a local tej (locally made honey wine) house, had some to drink, then had dinner at Roha Restaurant. We love Ethiopian food to begin with and at every single place we went to eat at, it was a hundred times better than Ethiopian food in the states or Tanzania. We just couldn't get enough! The power kept going out at our new hotel, the Lalibela Hotel (100 Birr) so we just went to sleep.

25 November, 2007

We were flying back to Addis Ababa today so we walked around the churches again (our pass is good for the duration of our stay) and rested as Russ was still ill and the elevation makes you tired walking all the time. Back in Addis Ababa we checked into Lido Hotel (not recommended) and finally got our room after they kept changing rooms on us and cleaning it, but the shower was hot. We walked to Dashen Restaurant (recommended in the Lonely Planet) for dinner and had Doro Wat (chicken stew with berebere sauce and hard boiled egg), wine, soda, tea, all for $7! The food was so good and so cheap. We walked back to our hotel at night and felt completely safe. There were lots of people out and about and it felt like we were back in the states with wide sidewalks and illuminated streets. Stay tuned for Uganda...

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

2007-12-22T08:36:00.000+03:00

On 22 November, Russ and I boarded a plane from Dar es Salaam, Tanzania headed for Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. It was a fairly short flight of just a few hours. When we landed it took just a few minutes to obtain our visas ($20 each), change money ($300 = 2700 Birr), and hail a taxi to our hotel. As soon as we stepped out of the airport we could feel the cold air surround us. Little did I know that the Great Rift Valley runs pretty much entirely through Ethiopia and that Addis Ababa is located at an elevation of 7,600 feet smack dab in the middle of it. We arrived at night so went straight to the Wutma Hotel (80 Birr, $8.88), which wasn't anything special. Actually, it was pretty bad as hotels go, but it was only one night. We walked around the area, known as Piazza, and noticed all the night clubs blasting music and beggars. We bought some water and headed back to the hotel for some non-existent shut-eye. The first day in Ethiopia I had to keep reminding myself not to speak Swahili because Ethiopians speak Amharic. Also, we gave up all hope of actually being able to read Amharic script and just learned a few words verbally, which pleased locals. It took us a few days to learn thank you in Amharic, amesegenallo, because it's six syllables long!

The next day we walked around to find breakfast and ended up at Tomoca Coffee Shop and got tea and coffee. The atmosphere was old Italian. There were no chairs - you just order, pay, then drink your small, hot beverages standing up at counters. Then we got some pastries at another cafe where I had fun trying out the numbers in Amharic. After getting our bags from the hotel, we walked down Churchhill Avenue, past the tourist shops, to the Lido Hotel where we booked a room for when we returned. We then used local transport to get to the airport. Many people understand minimal English but we really just needed to say airport and they would point to the Bole minibus, so we hoped on. Public transport in Ethiopia (and in other countries as well) differ from Tanzania in that every passenger must have a seat. Taking public transport was also so much cheaper than a taxi (2 Birr each verses 50 Birr for a taxi). We flew to Lalibela, Ethiopia on Ethiopian Airlines. Because the country is so mountainous, flying is really the best way to get around. There are buses but after traveling on buses for two years in Tanzania, I was done with the long rides. Besides, we didn't have a lot of time and wasn't that expensive to fly. Stay tuned for Lalibela...

RPCV

2007-12-18T05:51:00.000+03:00

We have returned to the states! Right now we are just relaxing at home for the holidays. I'll write about our amazing adventures to Ethiopia, Uganda, and Egypt soon as well as upload pictures...

Class Dismissed

2007-10-28T17:06:00.001+03:00

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

2007-10-24T13:19:00.000+03:00

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

2007-10-07T10:59:00.000+03:00

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.

Year of the Panya?

2007-09-07T07:53:00.000+03:00

Well, actually no it's not the Year of the Rat (2007 is Year of the Pig), but in our area rats have been the latest topic of discussion.

The day we were to leave for Morogoro (it takes 2 days to get from our site to Arusha so we stop in Moro for the night), three new health and environmental volunteers in our area were installed at their sites. The previous day they opened their bank accounts (after 5 hours) and went shopping for everything under the moon as their houses literally had nothing in them - except (we would find this out later) rats. As they were being driven to their sites, Russ, James, and I waited at our house. As I walked into the kitchen to get something to drink I heard the plastic bags crinkle. I looked over to them and saw a brownish rodent scurry away and I screamed, "rat!" It kept going behind things running out into the open then behind the cabinet then up the water filter then behind the buckets. I screamed whenever it ran towards me, not because I was scared really, but because it so was darn fast it kept surprising me! James came into the kitchen to help find the rat, but he seemed to have disappeared. Russ was still in bed so he got up and said, "well, I'm going to put on slippers in case I step on it." Just as he finished saying that he looked down and the rat was at his feet and he gave a girlish screech and the rat continued into the next room, a guest bedroom. We closed the door so it was trapped in there, then came up with a battle plan.

We didn't want to just leave the rat in there because we'd be gone for a week so we had to catch it. We didn't want to kill it either so Russ and James got a broom and a bucket and entered the room as I stood in the hallway on the other side of the door, listening. They screamed and screeched like school girls and I could hear them say things like "get the bucket!" "over here! "he's climbing up the bedpost!" "he jumped!" "oh, oh, oh, no! he got away!" I was laughing hard but were very thankful that the boys were the ones getting the rat. After 20 unsuccessful minutes they came out into the hallway, needing a break. Russ then came up with the idea of tricking the rat into going into the hallway, which would be enclosed if we closed all the doors. The last bedroom door does not close so one person would have to stand behind it and press it closed. I jumped on that opportunity and stood in the room applying as much pressure as I could to make the door as flush to the frame as possible. I could still see some light coming from where it wouldn't close all the way. The boys went into the room were the rat was and convinced him to go into the hallway. They then shut the door and the rat found himself trapped in the long hallway. He kept running up and down the hallway trying desperately to get away. I heard the same things from the boys in the hallway as I did in the room. Then they said, "he's coming your way, Lis!" and I braced myself as the rat came to my door and tried to dig his way into the room through the cracks where the door didn't close completely. Then he started to climb up the crack in the door and the guys tried to make him fall into the bucket but he got away. Russ and James eventually got the rat in the bucket and put the lid on and took him outside, a little ways away from the house, and let him go.

In Morogoro we met up with other PCVs and ate pizza, then the next day we took a long bus ride (ended up being 10 hours) to Arusha. The bus trip was pretty normal and uneventful until we passed Moshi. With an hour or so left until we reached our destination, a woman standing in the aisle next to Russ and I fainted. She could not pull herself back up after collapsing. People got her up and Russ helped her onto the seat behind us, next to Anna, another PCV. She leaned on Anna and Anna tried to help her stay conscious. Other Tanzanians around us were trying to talk to the woman who did not really respond. They found about 150,000/= ($150, or 5 months' salary for some people) on her and she mumbled she had just come from the market, from selling her goods. She mumbled that she lived not too far from Moshi and when we got to her stop, people said someone should physically take her home, but nobody volunteered. They all had families and it was already starting to get dark. They didn't just want to leave her by herself with all that money as the sun was setting. Then someone noticed blood dripping down her leg and covering the seat she was sitting on. At this point we knew she needed medical attention. The bus kept on going then the next few things that happened got lost in translation. A man, claiming to be her husband, tried to approach the woman. At this point everyone on the bus were yelling things like "he's not the husband, he's a thief!" and thought that if they let him take her off the bus she would be robbed. For some reason the woman couldn't identify the man as her husband. Then, people were saying we needed to get her to a hospital. But others on the bus were saying they needed to get to Arusha. The bus turned off the road in the direction of a hospital as people were yelling at the bus driver to keep going to Arusha. When we arrived at the hospital a few nurses came onto the bus and helped the woman out. Her money was handed over to a nurse and the man claiming to be her husband also got out with the woman, still being pushed around by people who didn't believe him. Anyway, then we were on our way to Arusha, arriving after sunset. That incident got me thinking, in America we can dial 911 to get help in an emergency but here, I wouldn't know who to call, except Peace Corps, in an emergency, assuming you have a phone and service.

So after our adventurous bus ride we ate a little dinner and went straight to bed. The next day we were taken to a lodge in the middle of Arusha National Park for our (COS) Close of Service conference. The lodge was situated so that Mount Kilimanjaro was on one side and Mount Meru on the other. It was also really, really cold there. The conference itself was informative and I was glad to see everyone together for the last time. We were given a few examples of DOSes (Description of Service) that we need to write up as an official Peace Corps document on what we've been doing here for the past two years. We also received reverse culture shock strategies as some people have a hard time adjusting life back in the land of abundance and waste. The food was great - we had bacon every day! We watched movies at night and the final night we watched a slide show in which everyone put up their pictures from over the last two years. There were some pictures of us in the Amsterdam airport on our way to Tanzania...so long ago.

One of the movies we watched was "The Departed," which we had actually seen twice before but Russ loved it so much we watched it for the third time. It was a really good movie, lots of shooting, but its main theme dealt with "rats" in both sides of the storyline.

We made it home safe and sound and have been at site for the past week. After talking to the newly installed volunteers they said their houses are full of rats. They've caught and killed a bunch already but the battle isn't over. Reminds me of our battle with the roaches when we first got to site - we eventually won that war.

We leave again soon as we are going to help plan the training for the new education group who arrive in country in less than two weeks! We'll be with them for a week or so, answering all their burning questions, getting them situated into their host families, and giving them a little information about teaching in Tanzania.

Rice & Beans, Yum!

2007-08-22T11:45:00.000+03:00

After 2 years of eating kilos and kilos of rice and beans you would think you would be sick of it. But everytime I see a plate of rice and beans, I can't wait to dig in!

It rained for the first time in one-third of a year the other day. Yup, we had not seen a single drop of the life sustaining substance in over four consecutive months. During that time we had seen lots of gray clouds hover around but we knew it wouldn't rain - so confident was I that I didn't even take an umbrella when going to town. Now, I'll probably think twice. Along with the rain came a cold front and we've started to bundle up again at night. The rainy season doesn't start until late November or early December so we know the rain over the next few months will be sparse and sporadic.

The past few nights we have not been sleeping well. For me it was malaria prophylaxis (mephaquin) day and paranoia is a by product of taking it. So that kept me on edge. We were in bed by 10 pm on the dot. Not five minutes later we heard what sounded like a light knock at the door. Not sure if it was a knock (why would anybody be knocking at 10 at night with no lights on inside?) or just the mango tree hitting the roof, we ignored it. After another minute we heard the door handle jiggle loudly - someone was trying to enter our house. Russ promptly got up and yelled, "We, nani?" - "Who is it?" and ran to the door. However when he reached it, there was nobody to be found. We eventually went to sleep but kept our ears open. Some time later in the night I heard sounds coming from our dresser drawer. Russ got up and took a peek and noticed something was trying to eat our cliff bars by chewing through the wrapper. We didn't find what was trying to nibble our American treats, but I did put them into a plastic container in the kitchen the following morning. Not to worry though, I feel very secure in our house. Some other PCVs left town that day so we think someone saw them and thought they were us and knew where we lived. I bet they didn't expect anybody to be in our house. But no one has ever broken in so I'm not worried at all.

Going to Arusha next week for our COS conference so I'll blog about that in two weeks or so.

Spring Arrives

2007-08-15T14:30:00.000+03:00

As the weather changes my nose takes notice and makes a fit. I'm not sure why I'm sneezing so much but I have a temperamental nose and it doesn't like change. Over the last week or so we've had a lot of visitors. Shadowers, PCTs (PC Trainees), came to our site for a few days to see how PCVs really live. As they noticed, it's so much less tramatic than being in training. When you become a PCV you're on your own schedule and you it's at a much more relaxed pace. We had a big pizza party for all the shadowers in our district on Sunday and it was a hit, especially with red wine!

My students are doing well...sort of. I'm juggling two classes who learn at different levels so I'm still trying to figure things out. They are currently learning about statistics and how to create bar charts, line graphs, and pie charts. It's interesting what the students come up with when they try to graph information...it goes back to common sense and if you know how to read a chart you'll be able to draw it correctly. I had a "guest teacher," my good friend Sajigwa, come in and teach them a little more about bar charts - in Kiswahili. We're supposed to teach in English but because my students were so frustrated, I thought it would help them if they understood the concepts in Kiswahili. Then they would be able to apply it to any table of information they see and draw a correct bar chart. They asked Sajigwa questions and seemed to get a better understanding. I'll find out next week as I gave them a few more assignments to do.

With three English teachers at my school, we have organized an English Essay Contest. The topic will be: Why I am Protecting Myself from HIV/AIDS. There will be a winner from each Form (grade) and the winners will receive a certificate (Tanzanians are BIG on certificates) and a pen or something small. The English teachers and I agree that if the students will need to learn English to do their subjects they should be encouraged to use it. They will have two weeks to complete the essay.

Time flies

2007-07-27T12:32:00.000+03:00

In the four months that we have left here in Tanzania, I find myself more busy than ever. There have been social events that we attend in town and I teach Monday - Thursday. My students have pretty much all arrived. Only a handful are still missing but I'm sure they will arrive soon. In my two classes, one seems to learning at a mush quicker pace than the other. At the beginning of this term all the Form I students were reshuffled again and the first 40 students who had the top averages were put into one class (Stream A) while the remaining bottom 40 were put into another (Stream B). It works out well actually as the top 40 students have done great in math and I am teaching them faster. For Stream A we will finish Algebra next week. However for Stream B we will probably finish the following week. For Stream B, unfortunately they probably will not cover the entire math syllabus but I'm hoping that they will gain a better understanding of the topics we do cover, rather than gain nothing and cover them all too quickly.

Russ is currently in the northern part of the country at an ICT conference and will return the following week. This leaves me home alone but my friends says they will keep me company. Next month we will go to our COS conference and discuss what we have been doing for the last 2 years and how we can look ahead, to life back in the states. In September we have been invited to help with the training of the next incoming education group to Tanzania. October and November we will stay put then travel to Dar for a few medical check-ups then leave Tanzania before Thanksgiving to travel for a month to Uganda, Ethiopia, and Egypt before spending Christmas in Hawaii with my family. I'm excited to be going home and seeing my family (who I have not seen in more than 2 years) before the end of this year.

"Winter break" is over

2007-07-19T11:55:00.000+03:00

We have settled back into the PCV life again as our "winter break" is over and school has opened. I showed up at 7 am last Monday morning (the first day of school) only to find I was the only faculty member there with 30 or so A-level students. A few minutes later the academic master shows up and opens the administration office. Not a single O-level student arrived for the first day of school. This usually happens - the students (especially at boarding schools) don't arrive until a few days (or weeks) after the term starts. There are many factors as to why this happens. For one the students must pay their school fees before coming (or bring it with them) and that's a large amount of money they need all at once. Then on top of that they need money to travel to school. Starting July 1 the price of petrol/gas increased and therefore bus fares have increased. As an example from our site to Dar it used to be 8,000 Tanzanian shillings and now it's 10,000 T.sh. When many Tanzanians make less than 1,000 T.sh. per day it's difficult to pay just a little more. So I didn't teach at all last week. This week I finally had about half of the students I should have (about 40 out of 80 total) so I went into the classrooms and talked with them about their break and did a little review of Algebra, what we ended with last term.

Russ and I were invited to a circumcision celebration in a village. We rode our bikes out there and entered a drumming and dancing party. The boys in our tribe are circumcised when their father says they are ready. A bunch of boys usually from different families are all done together. They are circumcised then they live by themselves in a sort of fenced in area for a few days while the elders of the village teach them to become men. I didn't see any of the boys but Russ did enter the fenced in area and said they were covered in dried mud from head to toe with a cloth around their waists. They live like this for a few days, cooking their own food, then wash off the mud and re-enter the village as men.

Follow the Zebras

2007-07-06T09:25:00.000+03:00

Chris Arrives

Our friend, Chris, left America to fly half way across the globe and spend a month with us in Tanzania. Since we didn't want to use vacation time to pick him up at the airport, and that Dar is expensive, we sent our good friend, Matayo, to pick him up and bring him to our town (just like when Russ's dad visited). Chris had quite the welcome party when he arrived as a bunch of PCVs were in town precisely when his bus arrived. I baked a cake for his arrival and also for Becky's birthday. Chris was doing well for travelling continuously for three days. He spent a week at our site trying different foods, taking some pictures, and going on a hike with Russ and Matayo. Unfortuneately Russ got sick half way through the week so I showed Chris around. I'm sure people thought Chris was my second husband. =) He brought and left a lot of great reading material that has kept us busy. I remember one dinner with Chris when we were eating corn on the cob, which was a gift from another teacher. It was boiled just like we would in the states. We each started to chow down on our half pieces when Chris realized it wasn't sweet American corn but tough, chewy, bland corn. He ate a few more bites then declared, "I can't eat this" and left the remainder on his plate. I guess after nearly two years I've gotten used to the corn that makes my jaw hurt after a few bites - and actually think it's good! Oh how my standards have changed.

Udzungwa Mountains National Park

John's flight arrived in Dar just after our bus did so we tried to find a taxi with a resonable price to downtown (6 km from the bus station). It was Russ's turn to negociate and the taxi drivers were giving him a hard time. We finally found a guy who would take us for 5,000/= (others were asking for 15,000/=). We hopped in the taxi and got off at the hotel while Russ continued on to the airport to pick up John. Chris, myself, and Angus (who was going home to visit his family in England) went and grabbed something to eat while we waited 2 hours for Russ and John to return. Someone didn't follow our advice of geting his VISA before arriving. =) We all went to bed early that night as the next day we were on a 7 am bus to Mang'ula, where the headquarters of Udzungwa Mountains National Park is located. That was quite a ride. We drove on tarmac road for 6 hours then on really bad, pot-holed, dirt road for 2 hours until we reached our destination in the middle of nowhere. Of course there were people standing in the aisle so we forced our way through to the door, as nobody moved out of the way, and got off covered in dust, thinking which dirt road to follow. We decided to go to the park headquarters first and we remembered seeing the sign just a few minutes before we got off the bus. On the way we saw a bunch of monkeys swinging in the trees gazing at us as we gazed back. The park fees were, for a 24-hour pass, $20 per person and a mandatory guide is $10 per group, and there was no camping gear available. I didn't think there was a lot of choice in terms of hiking trails. There were some 13 km trails, more advanced camping trails which spanded over a few days, and the waterfall trail which you needed to hire a driver to get to the start of the trail ($10 per group). We decided to book the Sanje Falls trail for the next day. The park ranger asked where we were staying and we said we haven't chosen a place but thought of trying the Twiga Hotel just down the road. He said it was under renovation so we walked to town and then through town to find a nice place to stay. Little did we know that there was a seminar taking place so all of the nicer hotels were fully booked. We settled on a hotel in town for 2,500/= a night for a double! That's about a dollar a person a night! The amenities of this lovely accomodations include: squat toilet and cold showers outside our rooms, "swiss cheese" mosquito nets, one roach, very loud truck horns at 4 am, and a crazy man yelling at 5 am. But seriously, the venue was alirhgt. It was run by Zula, a very nice, sweet woman, who looked after us like her own children. The next day we woke up and made our way back to the park headquarters. While walking we stopped at various chai (tea) shops to collect breakfast (chapati, donuts, water). We made it to the headquarters, paid our fees, hired a driver, and off we went. The Sanje Falls trail is a 5 km loop hike with a lot of elevation climbing. We saw lot of different species of monkeys and plant life. I thought I did surprisingly well for not being in shape. Our guide did a nice job of explaining things. We made it to the top of the waterfall and snacked on some dried fruit and nuts (thanks mom!), took some pictures of the rice and sugar cane fields below which continued as fas as the eye could see. We taught Chris and John a common greeting in Tanzania of "Mambo" with the reply of "Poa." They practiced non-stop! Out of the blue Chris would turn to John and say, "Mambo," and John (wait for it: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 seconds) would reply with a delayed "Poa." This happened the entire trip and the only thing that kept it interesting was counting how many seconds it took John to reply. Then we crossed the top of the waterfall in bitterly cold water and made our way to see the two much smaller falls. Chris and John dived right in to a pool of one of the falls while I took pictures of the "Minnesota Penguins." We then proceeded all the way down to the end of our hike. While waiting for our driver we stopped at a bar and drank cold sodas and water, or in John's case, a cold beer. When we got back to the headquarters we debated whether or not to spend another day in the park. The only other resonable option for us would be the 13 km hike which went up and down, up and down. We thought it wasn't worth another $20 each and I know I couldn't do it (although I encouraged the guys to go ahead) so we decided to return to Dar the next day. We bought bus tickets on our way back, grabbed a bite to eat, then relaxed until dinner. At dinner we were joined by our guide that day, whom we invited, and his friend, not invited but warmly welcome. We bought them meals and beers and called it a night. On our 1 minute walk back to our hotel we passed by a white pick-up truck. As John walked by we heard a loud scream and something surfaced out of the bed of the truck. John immediately screams back at the thing while raising both arms in defense. The thing turned out to be a goat with bounded legs trying to get our attention to release him. All of us cracked up laughing to the point of tears of the ridiculousness of the circumstances. Just mention "John's goat" to me and I get the giggles.

Dar es Salaam

The next morning we make our way to the main road buying donuts, chapatis, and the like for our anticipated 8-hour bus ride. Our bus was two hours late and while we waited Russ befriended a Maasai herding his cattle. When our bus finally arrived we shoved our way to the back of an already packed bus on bumpy dirt road to our seats. The bus made frequent 15-20 minute stops along the way so we didn't reach Dar until 5 pm or so. That night we had Summy's Street Chicken - a Dar favorite. The next day we took a short "ferry" ride (5 minutes on a freight-turned 500 passenger loading barge) ride to Kipepeo, a resort area with white sand beaches resembing the east side of Zanzibar. John went for a swim in the Indian Ocean, Chris played soccer with a local, and Russ and I chatted with another local. After a few hours of sun and sand we headed back downtown for lunch at Albasha, a lebanese restuarant, then chilled at the hotel until dinner at Retreat, a vegetarian Indian restaurant. The next day, Friday, we went to the PC office so I could get some cash from the safe and they guys could use internet and see where all the volunteers hang out in Dar. We had lunch, (pizza) at a very Western outside food court then walked half an hour over to another western shopping area for ice cream. On our way back we stopped at an art market to check out some paintings then back to town on a stuffed dala dala (minibus) in which Chris commented it was something like "playing twister" with 20 people in a small vehicle. Russ and I took a taxi to the airport and welcomed Hannah and Allison to Tanzania! Unfortunately Catherine, Russ's sister, missed her connection for the same flight so she would be arriving a day later. The girls say they were stuffed on the plane so they weren't as hungry as we were but had a little something to eat none the less. The next day Hannah, Allison, Chris, John, and myself took a bus to Moshi while Russ stayed in Dar to pick-up Catherine.

Moshi

The bus ride, using the bus comapny Dar Express, was the most safi-est (best) ride in Tanzania - even better than the luxury Scandinavia bus company. The seats were two and two (no middle seat), the cushions were soft, clean, wide, lots of leg room, overhead space, all windows functioned properly, seatbelts, and we got sodas, water, and candy. The only issue was that Chris and John had the very front seats, or as Chris put it "the ejection seats." However I told him to wear his seatbelt. There was a tv on the bus and at one point they showed a Tanzanian comedy that was way too loud and then gospel music videos. When we arrived in Moshi I lead our group to the YMCA and found our reservations got screwed up and it was completely full. It was eventually worked out and the boys each took a single room while us girls shared the double suite: two beds put together, our own bathroom, lounge area, and satellite tv. The boys went swimming in the pool while we waited for our safari company, Tanzania Journeys, to arrive for our pre-safari briefing. Our safari guide/driver, Amani, went over the itinerary with us. We knew we were camping and because tents were provided we thought sleeping bags were too. Apparently not. Chris and John brought sleeping bags but the rest of us didn't. Tanzania Journeys did some behind the scenes work and quickly "hired" 5 sleeping bags for us, each costing 10,000/= each for the entire safari. Russ was borrowing some gear from a friend about an hour outside Moshi and Tanzania Journeys went out of their way to get the gear, using their own vehicles, and didn't charge us a thing. After our meeting, we walked to town and met up with some PCVs for dinner and drinks. We returned to our rooms and us girls had a sleep-over - sharing one big bed and trying to talk through the unbelievably loud wedding music until it stopped at around midnight.

Lake Manyara

The next morning we met the rest of our safari "support group," and headed to Arusha to but water in bulk (apparently water is not included with food on safaris). We stopped at the campsite outside the park for a delicious lunch then entered Lake Manyara where we were greeted by Blue Monkeys close enough to touch! Amani said they were looking in our vehicle for food. By the way our safari vehicle was awesome! It seated 9 people, including the driver, and the roof opened for better viewing (we would say "transform" when we opened the top - that's what you get when 3 guys are giddie to see the upcoming Transformers movie). We followed the path to find other animals such as: mongoose (mongeese?), trumpeted hornbills, baboons, bushbucks, impalas (in bachelor herd), giraffes (Maasai species – the two other species are found in Kenya), yellow-billed and other storks, cattle egrets (on hippos), hippos, egyptian geese, warthogs, zebras, brown hornbills, monitor lizards, spoonbills, african fish eagles, wildebeests, dik diks, water buffalos, pelicans, elephants, and lesser bush babies. Thank you, Hannah, for writing down all of the animals we saw during the whole trip! As we stopped to take pictures of animals, we'd give Chris the best position as his professional SLR camera (with 4 different lenses) trumpted all of our point and shoot cameras combined. At one point we came across about 100 baboons just hanging around. At the Hippo Pool we learned of John's infacuation with hippos. We came within a few feet of an elephant grazing and witnessed a baby elephant "relieve itself." We all thought it was a great day and were thankful we were convinced to include it in our trip. Usually tour companies try to get you to spend more money on more things, right? Well, I didn't feel that way with Tanzania Journeys. We thought to save a little money we would not include Lake Manyara when originally booking. However, through recommendations from other PCVs and Tanzania Journeys we eventually added it, and were very happy we did. Back at Kiboko campsite we waited for Russ and Catherine to arrive before eating dinner. Tanzania Journeys was very accomodating to us and our supplies vehicle waited for Russ and Catherine to arrive in Moshi then took them straight to our campsite, not charging extra for the slight change in plans. We went to sleep with the sound of lesser bush babies screeching and jumping around in the trees above out tents.

Oldupai Gorge

The next morning we went on a village walk where we were greeted by enthusiastic children, who, after having their pictures taken, wanted to see themselves on the digital cameras. The villages we walked through were different from ours in that there was a banana forest and available water. When we were done with the tour we hopped into our transformer and drove to the Ngorongoro Conservation Area Main Entrance. To get to Serengeti you need to drive around the Ngorongoro Crater Rim so we were entranced by the crater as we drove along. We stopped to eat a packed lunch on the rim before making our way past the crater and down the other side to Oldupai Gorge. The gorge itself wasn't that impressive. There's a visitor center with archealogical references to the site, a gift center, and a framed picture of Hillary and Chelsea Clinton of when they visited the gorge. We listened to a 10 minute speech about the uniqueness of the area and learned that the name Olupai came from the Maasai word for a local plant found in the area. Somehow the name got confused and the gorge is also called, incorrectly, Olduvai Gorge.

Endless Plains

Leaving the gorge I noticed that the land became very dry and flat. Amani said that all the thick ash from Ngorongoro created while it was still active blanketed in and around Serengeti National Park so that no trees could take root. It was quite amazing to look in all directions as far as the eye could see and still find to variation in elevation. The word Serengeti comes from the Maasai tribe and means Endless Plains. It was such a beautiful and awe inspiring place. We entered the park and saw thousands of Thompson’s gazelles, impalas, wildebeests, and hundreds of zebras and stopped occasionally for photographs. As the sun set the clouds in the sky became more photogenic and the temperature began to drop. We came to our unfenced Seronera campsite just as the sun set. Our tents were ready and waiting for us as well as hot drinks but no shower facility (it's being renovated). Dinner was awesome, as usual, with a soup started, spaghetti, ground beef stew with chapatis. All night I could hear the frog-like sounds of thousands of wildebeests all around, fearful that they would trample us as our campsite had no fence and no guard.

The next morning at breakfast there was talk about a hyeena walking around the campground sniffing tents at 4 am. We all gathered into the transformer, transformed, of course, and headed off to find animals. We first came across a group of baboons. One was munching on the head of a baby impala while another "got busy" with a female right in front of us. We saw a trail of wildebeests off in the distance all going south. Amani said the wildebeests should not be going south this time of year and that they were confused and would probably realize it when they discovered zebras going north, then change direction to follow the zebras. Apparently wildebeests are lost without zebras. Later that morning Amani found a male lion up in a cluster of rocks, who stood up, just for us, of course. Back to the campsite for lunch, then back to the park for more animal viewing. We passed the hippo pool, again, then made our way our next campsite, Ikoma, and all along the way stopping for giraffes, warthogs, zebras, a female lion just lying in the road, and joined the traffic jam to stare at a hard-to-see leopard sleeping in a far away tree. We had some good laughs at the campsite which had no shower facility (yet) and wooden toilets which obviously toursits had no idea how to use. The sunset was gorgeous that evening and again we fell asleep to the sound of wildebeests grazing in the nearby fields.

On our last day in the Serengeti we made more loops and eventually came across another leopard, this time we could see it better, and a cheetah. It was walking in a field, scarying the nearby wildebeests and impalas. We all thought it was hunting but Amani said it was walking to the shade of a tree. Amani got John's next banana for calling it right on! After lunch, which was always packed in reusable plastic containers (another thing we liked about Tanzania Journeys because all the other comapies used throw-away containers), we made our way to Simba Camp on the rim on Ngorongoro Crater.

Ngorongoro Conservation Area

The campsite was very cold but there were zebras all around and one grazing elephant. It was so cool to hear the zebras grazing just outside our tents and we fell asleep to the soothing sounds of zebras yanking grass out of the ground. =)

We desended into the hazy crater and cruized around for 6 hours getting much closer to wildebeests, zebras, hyenas, and water buffalos than we did in the Serengeti. We came across hyenas eating a freshly caught wildebeest, saw jackals bobbing up and down in the grasses as they ran, ostriches and lots of different birds. We had to drive along a road bordered by a mountain on one side and a cliff on the other which scared the girls, which made the guys laugh.

To sum up our safari, Tanzania Journeys did an amazing job and we liked the company's non-pushy ways, how they accomodated our change in plans, and the people who guided us knew their stuff and respected the land and made for one awesome safari. Tanzania Journeys: highly recommended. Lake Manyara, Serengeti, Ngorongoro: real wonders of the world.

Zanzibar

Skipping ahead to Zanzibar...While Chris, Russ and John went to climb Mount Kilimanjaro (I'm sure they'll blog about that), Catherine, Hannah, Allison, and I went to Zanzibar. The ferry ride there was alright and went we got to Stonetown we were followed and bothered by guys trying to get us to stay at their hotels or advertise companies. We found a nice hotel (with AC, tv, and right in Stonetown) called Chavda and Hannah, Allison, and Catherine paid for the rooms (thanks, gals!) and it was really special to be treated to such conveniences. We booked Mr. Mitu's Spice Tour for the next day and then got lost in Stonetown. We had fresh lobster, shrimp, fish, for dinner at Foradhani Gardens and snacked on the famous Zanzibar Pizza (fried pastry of ground beef, egg, cheese, mayo, with a salad on top) before going to bed. The spice tour was lead by the same guy I had last time and we did the same things but I still enjoyed seeing, smelling, and tasting: elephant apple (hair gel fruit),
custard apple (soursop), henna plant (leaves), curry plant leaves (not the same as curry spice mix), three types of coconut, durian (smelly one), vanilla bean vine, cassava root, cardamom plant, clove trees, coffee plants, cinnamon bark, lemongrass, turmeric root (like ginger), pepper (white, green, black, red from same plant), nutmeg, lipstick plant, ylang ylang flowers, breadfruit, and jack fruit. And of course the lunch was the best part! Later that day we did some shopping and bought scarves and other trinkets. We took the ferry back to Dar the next day and then ate at Addis in Dar, an ethiopian restaurant, before heading to our house the following day.

Site visit and back to America

So while the guys were still on the mountain, us girls went back to our site for a few days. I showed them around and had them meet our Tanzanian friends then Hannah got sick. Her tonsils were inflamed and she had a 102 fever, at first, then 104.3, and her temperature fluctuated between 101 and 104 for 24 hours scarying all of us. I kept talking with my mom, a nurse, who said it sounded like strep throat, so we bought some penicilin in town for 3 cents a pill and she started taking it.

We met the guys back in Dar then went to craft markets where everyone picked up some souveniers, including a 30-pound wooden hippo, named Tina, which John bought. All of our friends got on their planes alright and arrived back home in America safely. We were so happy to have you guys visit us and miss you already! Special thanks to Hannah and Catherine for taking back loads of our stuff! We'll be seeing you guys next year!

Pictures are slowly being uploaded to our gallery...

Amazing month

2007-07-05T11:57:00.000+03:00

While I'm still working on a very long blog post about the last amazing month and going through my photos to post, check out John, Hannah, Catherine, Allison, and (coming soon) Chris's photos.

Wageni (Visitors)

2007-06-02T11:08:00.000+03:00

So the first of our 5 friends have come to visit! Chris, who is super intelligent, reads more books than anyone I know, and is a superb photographer, has a blog that you should read with his amazing pictures of his travels with us in Tanzania. Check it out.

Winter vacation

2007-05-28T09:32:00.001+03:00

My students have taken their final exams and are on their way home now. I am so proud of them! The average grade in each class was a B - and I thought the exam was challenging. There were two 100% marks and one 0% (because one student cheated). The second term of school will start in July. So until then we have visitors from America coming! We'll do the big tourist stuff like the Northern Circuit (Lake Manyara National Park, Serengeti National Park, Ngorongoro Conservation Area and Crater, and Oldupai Gorge). If the company is good and our trip is awesome I'll post which company we used on my blog. Also I'll be going to Zanzibar (for the third time!) but I'm okay with that because Zbar has great food and good shopping, things which are lacking in our town.

Also, if you didn't see earlier, you can help the students of Tanzania by donating money towards projects. See our Wish List for more info!!

Manyunyu Tu

2007-05-09T17:11:00.000+03:00

Hali ya Hewa (Weather)

The rainy season is over and past. Everyone, including the wise elders in our town, say that we will get manyunyu tu, drizzle/light rain only. The grass is already starting to turn brown and our garden is drying up. This season, we have harvested, or are in the process of harvesting: peanuts (120 pounds), beans (20 pounds), sunflowers (to be pressed for oil), sweet potatoes, tomatoes, green beans, squash, corn, cucumbers, onions, okra, and herbs such as basil, cilantro, mint, thyme, and marjoram. We will not have to buy peanuts during the rest of our service (6 months)! Besides the drop in rainfall, the wind has picked up and it's getting cooler. We have closed some windows and use blankets at night as winter is approaching.

End of Term

My school term is coming to an end very soon. This week I'm in Dar for a meeting, then next week we'll do revision in class, then the week after that the students take their final exams.

Peace Corps Volunteer Chacos Pro Deal

PCVs can get Chacos for half off but you need to fill out a form and there are restrictions, of course. Email Chacos to find out more.

Look Ma, I'm Published!

2007-04-27T12:36:00.000+03:00

The Peace Corps Times, a newsletter for Peace Corps Volunteers, contacted me as one of the editors had read my blog and wanted to quote me in the "What Volunteers are Saying" section at the end of the newsletter. Check out the Peace Corps Times here (my quote is in the Spring 2007 issue).

A Typical Day

2007-04-26T11:53:00.001+03:00

A Typical Day as an education Peace Corps Volunteer in Tanzania

Wednesday

5:45 am
I can barely make out the morning call to prayer over the loud speaker from the mosque in town. I'm half awake but since it's still dark I try to go back to sleep.

6:00 am
The loud horns of the buses honk in any type of jingle imaginable as they prepare to leave when the first ray of sunlight shines over the mountain. Buses, at least passenger buses, are not allowed to travel at night so they must use whatever sunlight is available to them to their advantage. It begins to get brighter and I stare at the mosquito net and watch as a mosquito buzzes around trying to find a way in to bite us before the sun rises and it goes into hiding - like a vampire. Since I can't go back to sleep I get myself quietly out of bed, trying not to disturb Russ, my husband, as he is still deep in slumber land. I walk to the toilet in our house and as I turn the corner for the door, a gecko scurries into the crack in our ceiling board and scares me. We do this every morning like a ritual. I guess it's too early for me to remember everyday where he likes to hide. I don't mind him because he eats mosquitoes and other bugs. Before I make my way to the toilet I turn on the light switch. All light switches to bathrooms here are outside of the room because the electricity is not grounded. I enter and find there's electricity now.

6:15 am
As I walk into the living room I hear the chatter of a flock of Superb Starlings outside probably catching up on yesterday's events or arguing about who gets the moth territory this morning. Cows "moo" as they are being milked, of which one liter will be delivered to us later. As it's still a bit dark I turn on the kitchen light, turn off the outside security light, and unbolt the kitchen door to the outside (the key lock is still locked but our house help cannot enter if the bolts are still in place). Since there is electricity I will make breakfast. On days when there is no electricity I don't bother making breakfast as there's not enough time to light the jiko, charcoal stove, and if we did it would be a waste of charcoal just for some porridge. I fill a sufuria, cooking pot, with some water, put it on the right burner of the two burner stove, plug it in, and turn on the power switch next to the plug. The knob for the right burner broke off so it comes on and stays on if the stove is plugged in. I get the package of uji, millet, soya, and groundnut flour mixture, and measure a few wooden spoonfuls into the water. A little sugar is added (otherwise the uji tastes like dirt) and stir it. While the uji heats up I transfer the boiled drinking water from a sufuria from last night into water bottles then fill up the sufuria with filtered water to be boiled after breakfast is ready. The uji eventually comes to a boil and when big bubbles reach the surface they make bursting sounds and look just like the "Fountain Paint Pots" at Yellowstone National Park. I take the uji off the burner and replace it with the filtered water to boil.

7:00 am
As I sit eating uji, which is gray and has the consistency of porridge or cream of wheat, my watch alarm goes off. I'm lucky on the days my watch alarm wakes me up. I go to tell Russ that it's seven o'clock and he mumbles something then turns to continue sleeping facing the opposite direction. I get dressed and hear that the water has come to a boil. I look at my watch and set a mental 5 minute timer for the water. I lay all my things out which I'll need for the day - purse, math books, little pouch of index cards with all of my students' names, calculator, folder, toiler paper (although normally tp is just for my nose, when traveling I always abide by the rule: A PCV is never without TP!), and water bottle. I look at my watch and notice the water has been boiling for seven minutes - but better longer than not. I turn off the stove, unplug it, and move the boiled water on a doily to cool. I check the water level in our homemade bucket filtration system, which uses ceramic filters given to us within the first week of arriving in Tanzania, and it's low. I add more maji baridi, which literally means cold water but here means non-salty water, as opposed to maji chumvi, salty water, because we don't like the taste of salty water. Then I place vegetables on the counter indicating what our house help should cook for lunch today. Since I soaked beans the night before, I put out a few tomatoes, green peppers, and onions to make kachumbali, tomato, pepper, onion salad, along with the beans. I also put out our tupperware of unga wa mahindi, corn flour, for him to make ugali, the staple food of Tanzania which is a hard ball of boiled corn flour. I see Russ up and about just as I'm ready to leave. We say our good mornings then I'm off to the office.

8:00 am
My first class today is at 8:20 am so I go the office a little early. I greet whoever I meet on the path to the school, about a minute's walk from our our, with Habari za asubuhi? - News of the morning? The reply is typically nzuri, good, or salama, peaceful. When I reach the classrooms, however, I am greeted with "Good Mornings." I unlock the math department door and enter. I put some things down and put a few more pieces of chalk into my chalk box and a student asks if he can enter. I allow him to come in and he asks if he can use my Elmer's Glue (from America) to fix his daftari, notebook. I tell him yes and he begins gluing together pages.

8:20 am
The bell (a huge tire rim that is hit with a rock) sounds and a few of my students help carry all my things for me to the classroom. They do this all the time and I don't even ask. When I walk into the classroom, all the students stand up. On of them claps his hands twice then they all say in unison "Good Morning Madame." I say "Good Morning, how are you?" and they reply "Fine." I tell them they can sit down and it becomes noisy for a few seconds as all the chairs move on the concrete floor. Today's lesson is about 3-dimensional polygons and I bring models of prisms, pyramids, cylinders, and cones that I made out of card stock like paper bought at a local stationary store. We go over all the different shapes and I ask them if they could give me "everyday" examples of these shapes. One at a time they raise their hands and I call on them to answer. For cone, they though of carrots and mounds of beans and rice found at the market; for cylinder they thought of cups and pipa, oil drums; and for pyramids they thought of the Great Pyramids of Misri, Egypt. We count together aloud the number of vertices, edges, and faces each shape has and draw and label them on the chalk board. I see through the windows and door outside our second master who is walking around with a stick and gives threatening looks.

9:40 am
The bell rings to mark the end of my (double period of 40 minutes) class. I sign a log book that the class monitor (one student who keeps track of the teachers' activities) hands to me at the end of each class. I notice all teachers taught yesterday but a teacher did not teach the period before me. I write "Polygons" under the topic, my name, then initial. A few students help me carry my things back to the math department. I greet teachers who walk by and my fellow math teachers who are in and out of the department throughout the day. I drop my stuff off then go to the administrative office to see if Russ or I received any letters - no mail for us today.

10:20 am
It's chai, tea, time which is a 40 minute break and I'm off to the mgahawa, tea room where I greet the ladies who work there. I buy "bites," of which my favorites are chapati, fried flat bread, and bagia, ball of fried yellow split pea flour, and tell her it's to go, which means the "bites" will be wrapped in newspaper, often times from South Africa from last year. Total cost: 150 Tanzanian shillings, or 13 cents. I walk back home to find our house help, we call him mzee, old man, sweeping dirt off our porch carried by last nights' wind. I greet him with Shikamoo, which literally means I hold your feet but is a greeting of respect to elders, and mzee replies the only reply, Marahaba. I ask him, literally, how is the "news of the morning/home/family" and he replies that everything is "good" or "peaceful." I eat my "bites" with a banana to follow. "Bites" are usually eaten with highly sweetened tea that will give you a sugar rush like you wouldn't believe. I don't drink tea with my "bites" because I prefer not to get a mad sugar rush and then crash from the tea in the mgahawa and I don't want to take the time to boil water and make tea at home. Mzee asks me how many people will be eating lunch today so he knows how much ugali to make. We often times have guests, sometimes the environmental volunteers from the surrounding villages show up in town or Angus, a VSO who works with Russ at the TTC, will join us for lunch. I tell him it will be just two today - myself and Russ. I ask mzee if he could chota maji, fetch water for us as we're down to two buckets. He, as always, says, hamnashida, no problem. There's plumbing in our house but no running water so all the water we use has to be brought here by some means. Mzee straps three 20-liter buckets to his bike then goes to town to the bomba, water spigot, to fill them up then brings them back. He does this several times a week. We are very cautious how much water we use and sometimes don't take baths or wash clothes just to save some water. I tell mzee I'm going back to work and he wishes me kazi njema, good work, and I wish him the same.

11:00 am
Since I don't teach until 1:00 pm I go to posta, the post office, to greet the ladies who work there and ask if Russ or I received any packages. On my way I pass two primary schools and some students are lurking around outside. They greet me by saying, "Good morning, teacher!" I say "Good morning, how are you?" back to them and they reply "fine, thank you teacher!" Today we got lucky and she pulled out a package from my parents, which means People magazines and flower-scented soap. Yippie! I feel like going home to open the package and spend all day catching up on celebrity gossip that I shouldn't care about but I'm good and just drop off the package at home, open it but leave the magazines on the couch to be read at a more convenient time. I then visit a fellow teacher's house to greet their three year old twin daughters. They greet me and ask where Babu, grandfather, referring to Angus, and Russ are and I tell them they are at work and the girls accept this answer and continue drawing in the dirt with sticks. I then make my way back to the math department to finish up lesson planning. I am visited by a few students who have questions about significant figures and decimal places. They usually have classes during all periods of the day but sometimes the teachers don't come to class to teach and that's when they seek me out for extra math help. Here the classroom belongs to the students and the teachers move around.

1:00 pm
The bell rings and I go to class again. I teach the same lesson to this class as I did to the morning class. This is the second "stream", or class, of Form 1 students, equivalent to 9th graders. Each Form is split into two streams at our school.

2:20 pm
The bell rings to mark the end of my class and the end of the school day. As all the students walk to the cafeteria I walk home to see Russ patiently waiting for me, to eat lunch. Beans, ugaji, and kachumbali - oh yeah! I eat too much ugali forgetting that it expands in my stomach and rest a while reading People, to help in digestion of course. I ask how Russ's day at work was as he tells me the usual - taught a little, electricity was cut for a while, and read stuff on the internet.

3:00 pm
Russ goes to see a friend and practice his Kigogo and I start lesson planning and then read People magazine on our front porch. I hear "Hodi! Hodi!," the Tanzanian way of knocking, and am greeted by a women selling tomatoes and onions carried in a bucket on her head (no hands) and a baby strapped to her back with a kanga, piece of cloth. I buy a few bunches of things and she asks for drinking water, which I give to her.

6:00 pm
I start dinner as it beings to get dark. Tonight it's spaghetti with tomato sauce with fried okra. As I cook dinner I notice the colors of the sky turning pink, purple, and orange. It's a nice sunset tonight and I go to the porch to watch it for a few minutes. That reminds me to turn on the outside security lights. I put some water in a bucket to be heated for bathing (using the best 2,000 Tanzanian shillings we ever spent on an electric heating wand) and head back to the kitchen to finish dinner.

7:00 pm
Russ comes home just as it's getting completely dark and we sit down to dinner. After dinner I usually take a bucket bath while Russ does the dishes. Then he takes a bath and we both hop into the safety of our mosquito net to read as the mosquitoes are in attack mode and are quite annoying.

9:00 pm
We lock and bolt the doors and go to bed.

The (Unpaved) Road to Iringa

2007-04-23T12:36:00.000+03:00

My dad has told me many times before to "never take the same road twice, if possible." So Russ and I chose to go the scenic route to Iringa. If you look at a map, Iringa is due south of Dodoma so we would make a triangle loop by starting in Dodoma, taking the unpaved road to Iringa, then taking the paved road to Morogoro, then back home.

So, off we went to Dodoma. We had not been to Dodoma for many months but it still looked the same. There was nothing to do really so we bought our tickets for the next day and walked around the market. I found a nice Indian outfit and tried to bargain the price down but the lady wouldn't compromise. I bought it anyway, for about $15.

The next morning we made our way to the bus station and waited around for our bus and driver. Surprisingly we left only half an hour after the posted departure time of 8 am. It's not uncommon to wait a few hours for your bus to leave.

We started down the dirt road with clear blue skies and a chill in the morning air. After a few hours it began to warm up and since I had a window seat, I was covered in dust/dirt which the tires picked up and threw into the air. Although the rainy season is upon us, there was no sign that it had rained anywhere during the past few months. Everything was bone dry and we were approaching a main source of electricity for the country - Mtera Dam. The lake that feeds Mtera Dam is huge but it seemed so oddly out of place being surrounded by brown, dusty, dying vegetation. We drove over the dam in about ten seconds. Mtera marked the halfway point of the journey so we only had another 4 hours or so to go! The bus stopped just outside the dam at a "truck stop" type of place to stretch our legs, grab a bite to eat, and use the bathroom. Russ and I both got off and had some water and Pringles which we had bought the previous day. When travelling, especially on a long and bumpy road, I've learned not to eat or drink very much at all. I'd like to be more on the side of dehydration than have to use the bathroom or throw-up because there is no where to do those things but it your seat!

The bus started to climb up a mountain range as Iringa is in the mountains. The view from the top was spectacular. I tried to hide the fact that I was scared going around the curves on an unpaved rocky road with cliffs on one side and mountain on the other but some Tanzanians laughed at me. Silly mzungu. Oh well, I was glad we made it to Iringa before dark, at around 6 pm. That evening, after checking into a guesti (hotel) we went to a place called Lulu's for dinner. At around 9 pm or so we just went to sleep as we were tired from sitting on a bus all day - funny how that happens.

The next day was Easter Sunday and we walked around the town poking our heads into the standing-room only churches to see the whole town and villagers from the surrounding villages dressed in their Sunday best. With the sun so bright we had a clear view of the surrounding area - mountainous, green with large rocks - which reminded me of Ireland. Over the next few days we hung out with the Maasai, bought handmade bags from a local women's group, and shopped at Neema Crafts (a shop where all the artisans and employees are disabled). The local tribe in Iringa is the Hehe and the Kihehe greeting is Kamwenyi

After Iringa, Russ and I traveled different ways - he went home while I went to Dar for my last meeting as the Dodoma representative (my term ended). Dar was not as hot as it could have been; it was fall after all. Our meetings went without problem and I got to see a movie, Peter Jackson's version of King Kong. Meanwhile, Russ celebrated his birthday with some friends back home.

I got back to site on Saturday and prepared for teaching on Monday - but I wouldn't teach on Monday as a new math teacher arrived at our school and took over some of my periods. I was saddened to find that, upon entering the classrooms, all the teaching aids/visual displays that my students created were gone. I asked where they went and the students said everything was stolen - probably for the tape.

And that brings everything up to date. My students will take a quiz on geometry and polygons next week. Then I have to start preparing a final exam for them to take in May!

RVF

2007-04-05T12:56:00.000+03:00

Rift Valley Fever (RVF) has swept through Tanzania, especially our region, Dodoma, in the last few weeks. In our town a few people have died from it and have blared public service announcements from a truck with a loud speaker on top. Even in the villages surrounding our town public service announcements are being handed out by way of fliers. Because RVF affects livestock nobody has been selling cow, sheep, or goat meat in town. The butchers have closed their doors and because people still want their meat, the price of chickens has increased dramatically. A few months ago you could but a (live) chicken for 3,000 TZ shillings. Now they go for 8,000 TZ shillings in our town and in Dodoma town 10,000 TZ shillings. The rainy season will end in a month so the threat of RVF will decrease as the number of mosquitoes fall.

Teaching has been going well. Right now we're on Easter break and Russ and I are headed for Iringa for a little vacation. It's starting to get cold around here and we've closed windows in our house and use blankets now. Winter is upon us. Iringa is higher in elevation so it will be a little more chilly that it is here - oh boy!

Migration of the White Butterflies

2007-02-10T10:33:00.000+03:00

Over the Hump

We have surpassed the half way point of our service now and I've heard it's all down hill from here. RPCVs have said the second year goes much quicker than the first and I'm beginning to realize that since we've been "over the hump" for three months now. In the past year, I've often had the "Peace Corps Days" when I dreamed I was back home with friends and family doing what I was doing before we left for the PC. It's happening more often now that I can see the end. I never realized how much I miss my own culture until I've been away from it for so long. The one thing I really miss doing is watching movies. Entertainment, in the way of movies, is really an American cultural pastime and I keep reading about new movies that have opened while we've been gone and can't wait to see them when I return.

White Butterflies

For a few days thousands of white butterflies migrated through the town. They were coming from the north and continuing in the same direction to the south. The butterflies stopped at flowers along their way and you could see them along ways away. The birds were quite happy to have them around and we were happy too to see such a sight.

Hail storm

On Friday, I got up at 7 am to get ready for class at 7:40 am. On Fridays my lesson isn't paid attention to like the other days because there are only two periods on Friday (the two that I teach) then there's religion then two exams. After class I rushed home to help mzee cook sambusas (meat pockets) as my good friend Shangaluka wanted to learn how to cook them and our mzee in an expert. We spent four hours and made about 40 sambusas from scratch. We dine on them with sodas and beer for lunch then took naps. At around 4 pm it started to get cool so I walked outside to find the mountains to the north and east leaching dark clouds upon our town. Russ quickly joined me after I told him he had to see for himself the impending storm. The winds picked up and small branches started to fall from our mango trees and the natural tall grass bent over 90 degrees. For sure we thought the electricity would go at any moment, but to our surprise it remained on. It was like any typical "flash flood" here except that the rain water and air temperature was very cold. As we filled out buckets on our porch from our gutter we heard the hail begin to pound on our aluminum roof. The sound got so loud that we scared each other in the house. Hail in Kiswahili is "mawe ya mvua" or "rain rocks." This was my first hail sighting in Africa and after it continued for a few minutes we couldn't help but to think of all the crops people have planted and hoped they were not destroyed. Our crops did fine - there were just a few holes in the leaves of our plants but the wind did more damage than the hail. Not only did it hail, but it also flooded like we've never seen before. The water was half way up one of our steps near the back door, but it never got any higher.

After the storm passed we could hear the "river" so we went to look at it. 99.9% of the time it is a dry "river" which really acts more like a huge drainage ditch from the mountain. It was raging and many people were watching it. Apparently when the rains had just started, a primary school boy tried to cross it and got swept away. They found his body a mile down the river. Also, the heavy rains took away all the work that the town did to rebuild the bridge that was destroyed by heavy rains a few months earlier. It was a somber mood in town that weekend.

Valentine's Day

For Valentine's Day, I got up early to make heart shaped pancakes for Russ and I then we both went to work like normal. After returning from work, and relaxing for a few hours, Russ asked if I was "ready." "Ready for what?" I asked, and he just smiled. We picked up Sajigwa and Shangaluka, parents of the twins, then went to a local hotel (the only place in town that serves decent food). We dined with another couple, Caroline and Gasper, the cook and manager of the hotel, and our friends, to make it a triple date for Valentine's Day. Russ told Caroline how to make mashed potatoes so we had comfort food from home (new and interesting to the Tanzanians) and a meat and banana stew, a typical Tanzanian meal from the north. She got the mashed potatoes spot on and Russ and I gobbled it up. This triple date with the Tanzanians for Valentine's Day was a first for them but they seemed to enjoy themselves. The power kept going out so we ate by candlelight. Valentine's Day is just starting to be recognized here. I heard if you asked anybody ten years ago about Valentine's Day they would have no clue what you were talking about.

Teaching

Teaching is going really well for me. My students did pretty well on their first exam. The average in both classes was around 55, which is a "C." There was one 100% and some cheating. How did I know there was cheating? Well, I made two different exams and on a few students' sheets the question and answer of a question on the other exam was written. I asked them why they cheated and it was because they said they didn't understand the material. I told them to ask me for help outside of class if they needed it. A week and a half went by and I gave my students a quiz. The quiz consisted of questions directly from their homework, I just changed the numbers. Most did really well, yet some are falling behind. I didn't say anything to those I though needed help. They came to me and asked for extra help! So I said they are welcome to ask questions if I'm in the office or they can do more problems from the book and I'll correct them. Since I had extra copies of the first exam, I have them the exam they didn't do on exam day. They didn't get it perfectly but they got a higher score than their first attempt. I really do enjoy teaching and am seriously thinking about pursuing it when I return home. I had to come to Africa and teach those who have nothing to learn than in teaching, I have everything.

East Side gets a visit

2007-02-09T10:08:00.000+03:00

East Side visits

Russ and I rode our bikes out to visit James and Christy's site and Loni's site on the East Side of our town. We had not been out that way since the villagers were in the process of building their houses in the dry season. The bike ride was fairly easy and quite pleasant in the early morning as it was cool and breezy. We got to Loni's site (45 minute bike ride) and rested a bit then continued onto to James and Christy's site (30 minute bike ride from Loni's site) where they were painting a wall to make their house a bit more lively.

We helped out with painting, talked, and had chai. Chai is literally tea but for most Tanzanians it's breakfast usually taken around 10 am and consists of tea and fried finger foods. We toured their gardens and soon-to-be-finished water tank. We noticed that they've done a great job with their gardens and they just need a roof on their water tank for it to be completed.

Before we left to go back to Loni's site, we visited a friend of James and Christy's, an older man who builds a board for a local game. They had one made for themselves so we ordered one for ourselves. When we get it, in a month or so, I'll take pictures and tell how it's played.

We rode back to Loni's site around 2 pm or so and it was quite hot. We stopped at her house and had peaches and avocado a very rare treat in our town. Angus brought some back for us when he went to Iringa for a conference and we thought it would be nice to share it with other volunteers. Hopefully there will be avocados in our town soon, but I've never seen a peach at our market. We then made our way home in the early afternoon and relaxed the rest of the day.

Gardening
The longer rainy season has begun and that means it rains once every three days, which has been happening for the last week. That's just long enough between rains that I don't have to water our garden. I now understand the meaning of a "pumpkin patch" and "watermelon patch" as our pumpkins, squash, and watermelon plants are taking over our entire garden! I thinned (trimmed) the pumpkin leaves, which we ate (tasty!), but I still need to thin out more leaves otherwise because it's so damp under the patch of leaves fungus will start to grow. We transferred many plants, especially tomato, from our compost to our garden. Compost is a great source of seedlings we realized. All of the tomato and papaya plants which were transferred into our garden are doing great. Just the other day I noticed that our tomato plants are flowering and we already have some large okra ready to pick and eat from our okra plants. We've been eating cucumber and beans as those plants have already started producing.

Teaching
The amount of students in my classes keep increasing. In two of my three classes the number of students is approaching 40 in each class. This makes it a bit difficult to do "fun things" but I'm learning all of their names, to their great surprise, and I am animated in class, which they find amusing. Teaching is going well and I enjoy seeing the light bulb go off in my students' heads. One day, I gave them some homework problems on the board then noticed that a few students finished quite quickly. To keep them busy, I put a more difficult problem, from a past national exam, on the board for a challenge. I had one way of doing it but when I saw the way one student did it, I was so proud I let him explain to the class his solution. Unlike last year, my students this year love to "play teacher" and explain solutions on the board in front of their classmates. No shame here, which is great because it takes the spotlight off me and then I'm not the one lecturing all the time. They are taking their first maths exam at the moment so I get to go home and grade them soon. I typed up two different exams for the same subject to minimize cheating. We'll see how they do.

Heri ya Mwaka Mpya 2007!

2007-01-09T11:25:00.000+03:00

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!

Likizo - vacation

2006-12-17T10:42:00.000+03:00

Competing buses

We noticed a sign in town about another bus company that would go directly from our town to Dar es Salaam daily. The whole time living here we have only known one bus company that did that, and quite frankly they are not the best company: Often times they wouldn't leave Dar es Salaam for a while, once for two hours, so we'd sit in the bus before it finally left; they overbooked the bus so many people would get angry that they would have to stand the whole 8 hours when they paid for a seat; they would stop at every opportunity to pick up more and more people to jam into the aisle to make more money - sometimes this made the bus ride to Dar 10 hours; and since the bus company had other, more important routes which had competition, our route usually got the worst bus - dirty, windows that didn't open, missing windows (lovely in the rainy season) - which broke down many times (I heard once it got to our town from Dar at nearly midnight). And this was the only company to go to Dar directly (there are alternatives which I have taken in the past - take one of the many buses going to Dodoma and drop off at the tarmac junction then catch anything going from Dodoma to Dar) so if you didn't want to chance the junction route, this was your only option.

This happens a lot in Tanzania - where there is only one company that does something and even if they are terrible or the prices are high you keep going back because that is the only place you can get that thing you want or need, especially hardware or electrical stuff. But things are slowly changing.

Anyway, back to the competing bus companies... I was glad for the competition, however, the old bus company wasn't as thrilled. For the debut of the maiden voyage of the new bus company, the old bus company hired a lot of muscle to harass the customers and workers as they were getting ready to leave. They yelled at the conductors and grabbed people trying to get on and took their luggage away. Our local law enforcement got whiff of this before it happened and broke up the fighting at the bus station. A great way to get customers, right? Well, after the yelling and being childish about competition didn't work, they started to think about it and got a really nice bus for our Dar route. That gesture didn't work for us and we bought tickets and boarded the new bus company to start our vacation. The new bus leaves half an hour after the old bus and there were police present when we boarded, but really there were no problems at all.

Likizo

The evening before we were to leave it rained paka na mbwa (cats and dogs) so we expected the road to be bad - and it was a bit. We only got stuck once for about an hour. We passed the old bus company stuck in the mud about half an hour out of town then we hit the impassable area where there were three freight trucks stuck in the mud and sand. We waited while the conductors thought of an idea. Everyone got off the bus and we noticed a bunch more buses behind us waiting to see what we did. Our driver stepped on the gas and tried to go around the road where it looked passable but he was wrong and got stuck. As they were digging our bus out I snapped a few pictures of the situation. Another bus tried to go around our stuck bus but got stuck as well. Finally our bus made it through and we were on our way again.

We made it to Morogoro where we hung out with fellow PCVs all going their separate ways for various reasons then were on our way to Dale's site in the Moshi region. He lives in the Pare Mountains and is so close to the Kenyan border he can see Kenya on a clear day. We chilled in his mansion and caught up on movies and tv shows (we now like both versions - British and American - of The Office). We cooked spaghetti and had an eggplant-olive oil-cheese sauce with Gatorade. They are so spoiled up in Moshi where you can get cheese, olive oil, and tons of imported goods because they live on the tourist highway (Arusha-Moshi) - although it's pricey.

The next day we relaxed a bit, saw his school and village, then walked over to Clay's site, about a 2 hour walk along the road which is flanked by a cliff and a mountain. I used my "just don't look" approach when riding the daladala or coaster through the mountains. Clay's house isn't as big as Dale's and you have to walk up a steep hill to get to his house, but he has an awesome view of Kilimanjaro from his front door. His accommodations reminded me of a college apartment in the states, complete with flushing toilet, hot shower, and a living room with furniture. That night we ate out but brought back some beers (and flavored vodka for me) and listened to music and chilled.

We left Clay's site mid-morning and made our way to Alex's site a bit closer to Moshi town, and therefore more in the tourist area. In fact, Alex's town is the start of the most popular route for hiking Kilimanjaro so lots of wazungu pass through. Alex, by far, has the most cushy PCV housing. He lives in an apartment building with four bedrooms, European toilet, hot shower, running water, fireplace, full kitchen, and a balcony including a grill. His place is nicer than most apartments I've lived in in the states! That night we dined on beer boiled brats with mashed potatoes and veggies with Clarissa and her dad who was visiting at the time.

The next day we made our way to Moshi town, met Brendan and picked up some vegetables, and then went to his house. He happens to live at the start of another hiking route for Kili, but his route is not as popular. For dinner we had sausage sandwiches and mashed potatoes and hit the sack as my allergies started to come back in full force (the new, wet environment I suppose). Next morning Brendan had to teach so we slept in and stayed around his house until lunch time when we went to the staff room and had rice and beans. We took a nice stroll around his area, they grow tons of bananas and corn, and the guys played catch with a baseball and gloves with a few neighbor kids while I read in the living room. We didn't see Kili from his site as his site is so close to the mountain, actually, he lives on it at the base, that for a lot of the time it's overcast. Stir-fry veggies and rice with pineapple for dessert were on the menu that evening and it was oh-so good.

The next morning we went with Brendan to one of his classes and observed him teach maths to a Form 5 class. He's an excellent teacher and I really learned a lot about his teaching style and I'll try to emulate it in the classroom, but who knows. He's very calm and attentive and supportive of his students. For example if they got the answer to a question wrong, he would point out what they did right and give them hints or ask other students to work together to come up with the solution. We then headed into town and bought bus tickets to Morogoro, took a nap, then had some awesome Indian food and pizza (the best I've ever had in this country) with red wine.

We reached Morogoro so Russ could attend a computer seminar for two days then headed back to site. It was nice to be back - there really is no place like home. On the list...laundry and preparing for Christmas visitors.

While at Brendan's site I was reading his Rough Guide to Tanzania (The Rough Guide to Tanzania, The Dodoma Region: the destruction of a fragile environment, Rough Guide Ltd., Distributed by the Penguin Group, NY, 1st edition, January 2003) book and saw this blurb about the Dodoma region. It describes where we live so well that I have quoted it below.

The Dodoma Region: the destruction of a fragile environment

Passing through in the 1870s, the explorer Henry Morton Stanley was enchanted by Ugogo, the old name for what comprises most of the present-day Dodoma region. In the whole of Africa, he wrote, "there is not another place whose environment has attracted me as much of this". Mr. Stanley, one presumes, would have been somewhat surprised to see the changes that have occurred over the 130 years since he was here. A large part of the region is a savanna plateau which receives little rain (around 570mm a year), most of which falls in heavy bursts in December and March or April, leaving the rest of the year hot, dry, windy, and dusty. As a result, the region has long been prone to drought and famine, a natural cycle whose challenges the region's dominant tribe, the Gogo, mastered by developing a cyclical system of communal grazing that ensured than no one piece of land was ever exhausted.

The region's present problems can be traced back to the arrival of the Europeans, who made every effort to discourage the Gogo's nomadic lifestyle, which they considered backward (not unlike the present government's attitude to the Maasai). Land was confiscated, reducing the grazing ranges of the Gogo's cattle and encouraging the Gogo to settle and practice slash-and-burn agriculture instead, whose destructive long-term environmental consequences can now be seen in the dust that billows through Dodoma for much of the year, and in the eroded run-off gullies and sand-filled rivers that scar the landscape. By clearing the land of permanent bush or tree cover, the soil in such a harsh climate quickly loses its consistency and is more easily dried out by the sun - after which the wind blows away the topsoil and the rain carries yet more of it away. And so, as cultivators clear another patch of land to replace the one that has blown to dust, the cycle repeats itself...

With a population of over 1.3 million, the Gogo of today can hardly turn back the clock to revert to their previous way of life. One solution now being developed by the forestry department is to introduce sustainable modes of agriculture and plant varieties that won't leave the soil uncovered. But this will take time - and time, unfortunately, has all but run out.

Note on rabbits
So with all of the travelling we are doing and the fact that we can't let the rabbits outside because they will run away, we gave our rabbits to our mzee house help. Instead of sitting in their little cage all day in our store room, they get to jump around in a bigger cage with other animals at our mzee's house. He's also going to use the rabbits as a business and will sell their baby rabbits for money. Although we miss them, we thought they would be more useful and active living with our mzee.

sling or no sling, still at 90 degrees
Our neighbor's kid climbed the cell phone tower that was being built and fell, breaking his left arm in two places. He had to go to the hospital for a few days and returned home with his arm in a sling, arm bent at 90 degrees. We told the family "Pole" (my sympathies) and I saw the same kid a few days later, arm still bent at 90 degrees, but this time without a sling.

Let it Rain, Let it Rain, Let it Rain...

2006-12-08T09:01:00.000+03:00

Thanksgiving
For Thanksgiving we were invited back to the American ambassador's house where he didn't make any mistakes with the food or drinks. Among the beautiful setting of his home, we were served wine and beer (on tap) and water (with ice and a lemon!). As it was 2 pm or so in Dar es Salaam and very hot and humid I opted for a little wine but then chugged down the ice water. Mmmm....ice... The ambassador had 20 turkeys cooked and we had all the fixings. It was a great Thanksgiving.

World AIDS Day

World AIDS Day is December 1, but in our town we celebrated it on December 4 due to scheduling conflicts. Russ worked with a local non-profit group on a project for World AIDS Day in which students from a local secondary school would paint three ceiling boards with images and sayings and they would go up in the school and hospital. Russ prepared everything, wrote a grant and received some money for the small project, and we met with the students one last time to go over everything. On the morning of December 4, we walked to the start of the parade/march at around 8 am. There were a few students (30 or so) standing in lines with their arms streched out so they were an arms' length away from each other. A few official looking people drove up in land rovers and got out and we greeted them and then we all stood around for a little while. I was wondering what we were waiting for as everyone, including our dancing and drumming group, were prepared to walk. So after half an hour or so we decided to sit down and a few minutes later we saw a sea of school children running towards us. Hundreds of children dressed in their school uniforms were singing/chanting as they all ran towards the start of the parade. I snapped a few pictures of them coming as they were like an army ready for battle. They all lined up, each separated by an arms' length, and I snapped a few more pictures from higher up. Then, Russ got a call saying that our house help mzee was locked out of our house, doh!, and I remembered I forgot to unlock the screen door. So, I walked home to unlock it and Russ marched with the students to the next village where the events of World AIDS Day would take place.

It's about a half an hour walk and I felt a little silly walking by myself after the large crowd had passed and just told people I was late as they said all the students have already passed. I got to the field and Russ had already set up the ceiling boards and the students were already drawing. There was a program of some sort and our singing/dancing group peformed a play and we were to sing at the very end of the program. So I watched and listened to the various speakers and performers and took some pictures of the students drawing and painting. Then I looked up at the mountain right beside us and noticed gray clouds moving quickly over it. Oh no - rain. I mean it's great that it rained, it just wasn't good timing. It began to downpour and most of the students ran down the hill into classrooms at the school, the students who were drawing and painting on the ceiling boards took them to a classroom and continued their work, Russ and I had umbrellas and provided shelter to a few Tanzanians, and everyone else took cover under the makeshift tarp area (which wasn't waterproof and rain collected in some areas and began to pour through) where the important guests sat. The important guests took cover in their land rovers and continued their speeches through a loudspeaker on top of the land rover. This went on for ten to fifteen minutes or so until the rain stopped then said this event has been postponed - no date was given. My guess is that it is postponed until World AIDS Day 2007. So we didn't get to perform our song but the ceiling boards were finished and hopefully we raised awareness of the growing problem of HIV/AIDS in Africa and empowered people to make good decisions so they can lead healthy and happy lives.

Rain
So the rainy season has started on time this year! Our mzee house help built a fence for our garden out of thorn bushes to keep the chickens, turkeys, goats, cows, kicheches, etc. out. We started double-digging the beds and it soon became tiring as after a few inches of nice soil there's rock-hard red clay that you have to break up. Over the past week we all had our share of work preparing the garden. Just yesterday we finished four beds which will be plenty for our garden of (hopefully) cucumbers, pumpkins, carrots, onions, peppers, beans, lettuce, cabbage, raddishes, collards, and squash. So in the rest of the fenced in area we planted beans, peanuts, and soy beans. We hired some vibarua (day-laborers) to turn the topsoil in the shamba (farm land) and have planted sunflowers, peanuts, and beans, again.

Visiting the mentals

As we had a bit of a stressful week: Russ was the mgeni rasmi at a local fundraiser (see his blog for details), the Larium/Mephaquin anti-malaria medication we take is making us crazy, and double-digging our garden and preparing our shamba for the rainy season is tiring. So, we needed a little break/get-away from all of this and left for the villages to visit some environmental volunteers.

We hopped on the bus, put our bikes on top, and made our way to James's village, the last of the three environmental villages on the west side. His site is about 2 and a half hours from town by bus and is up in the mountains. We walked around his village and met some of his cool friends and cooked vegetable stew for dinner over his charcoal stove while relaxing in his courtyard. There's no electricity (or cell phone coverage) in his village. His courtyard is awesome! He's got a little garden going on and created cement walkways to his outside bathroom/toilet and kitchen.

The next day we rode our bikes to the middle village, about 1 hour and 15 minutes by bike (down a really steep hill where I thought many times I was going too fast and would wipe out!), where Becky and Jason live. We toured their cute, cozy house and the walked to their neighbor's house to greet them. The girls played hopscotch while the boys played soccer in the road. I took a picture of their neighbor's baby girl who was making faces as if she just tasted something sour. Later that night we made vegetable stew (a popular dish in the bush) and since the moon was so bright (no need for flashlight outside) we walked over to the neighbor's house again with drums and Jason brought along his guitar. We sang a song and they sang a song and danced and we kept trading off until we couldn't think of anymore songs to sing. Sweet Home, Alabama was a hit.

The day after that we rode our bikes to Holley's village (about 45 minutes from Jason & Becky's site) and had some peanut butter and crackers at her house before continuing on home. It was a grueling 3 and a half hour bike ride home up a gradual hill. We had to get off and walk a few times, but we made it home right before the rain started. It was a great visit and I was so happy to see where they live and they people they work with along with getting great ideas for our house and garden.

We are headed to Moshi again tomorrow, but this time it's vacation. We'll be visiting some PCV sites of our friends and then we will be in Morogoro on our way home as Russ is attending an ICT seminar for work. Then we'll be home for Christmas.

Moshi, mango wine, power, and permaculture

2006-11-28T10:37:00.000+03:00

Moshi

To learn how to document everything a PCV does we had to go to a training. The PCVs in our region went to Moshi for the M & R seminar. There's no way to get from our town to Moshi in a single day so we spent the night in Morogoro and met a few PCTs (Peace Corps Trainees). We bought our bus tickets and headed to a part of the country I have never been. As I enjoy seeing new places, I forced myself to stay awake during the seven-hour bus ride. The environment changed from lush green tropical vegetation to grasslands and less trees as we climbed in elevation. As we entered the Kilimanjaro region I kept looking out for Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest point on the African continent, and then I saw it. Kili was among other mountains with the only difference being it was much taller and had some snow. The glacier on top looked as if someone dribbled white chocolate sauce on it. Once Russ and I thought we'd climb to the top but time, money, and training have kept us from it. Not to worry - we have other things to do.

Moshi was not the bubbling tourist town I had imagined, it certainly was not pedestrian friendly. People tell me Arusha is more the touristy place as the safaris and Kili climbs all start from there. But Moshi had a few good restaurants. Some of us PCVs started to go to dinner the first night by walking to town. We walked for ten minutes before the rain started to fall. It was getting harder so we walked faster and eventually hopped in a daladala, which only took us two blocks before the end of the line. We got off and walked the rest of the way to the restaurant in the down pour. When we arrived we ordered red wine and pizza, which warmed our bodies. We returned to the pizza/Indian food place again the second night. What a treat!

The seminar was helpful as the forms we receive from PC are not the most straight forward. We learned how not to double count participants and the dates of PC's fiscal year. I've already filled out my EOTR (End of Term Report) for PC and handed it in so I can say the seminar was worth the trip to Moshi.

Mango wine

So, since mango season has begun we thought about what to do with the abundance of this divine fruit - wine, of course! There was a recipe for wine in a previous newsletter so we pulled it out and followed the directions, changing amounts here and there to suit our tastes. We chopped up 15 mangoes and put the pieces into a clean 10-liter bucket. Then we added 2 kilos of sugar, a tea bag (to mellow the wine), water until the bucket was three-quarters full then 3 tablespoons of yeast. We gave it a stir and loosely covered it. The mango wine sat undisturbed for 3 weeks then Russ strained it into another clean 10-liter bucket and presto: mango wine! It tasted more like mango schnapps as the alcohol content was quite high. The directions said to let it sit for another 3 weeks for the wine to mellow out a bit. And after one week we could already taste the difference - it was more mango-y and tasted more like wine than a shooter. We've started another batch that will be ready by the holidays. It will be one very merry Christmas! Other wines on the list to try: passion fruit and banana.

Cheese

Russ went to a local carpenter and asked if they could build a cheese press together with scrap wood. He brought along pictures and measurements of the cheese press and finished in an afternoon. Now, the problem was milk. Since we're in the dry season, there are no greens available for cows to eat so they are not producing milk. But Russ asked around town and someone said they would ask the local agricultural college, which has plenty of animals and water so it would make sense if they also had milk. A few days later M.'s dad had gotten us 5 liters of fresh milk. We followed the directions on how to make cheese (Russ can elaborate on this more) but the cheese became moldy. We're currently looking for other cheese making recipes...

Shadowers

So we had shadowers again. This time they were education folk, Conor and Jennifer, which was shortened to Conifer when referring to the both of them. They were good sports and enjoyed our quiet, peaceful home and warm bucket baths. We did the usual stuff when guests visit: TTC, secondary school, town, and meat market. We cooked, over a few days, pasta, pizza (they brought cheese per our request), bread, banana bread, brownies, and peanut butter cookies (which were burnt to a crisp). Our mzee house help cooked some nice curries so they got to experience different foods while at our home. Conifer enjoyed the meat market and the half goat we ordered but didn't finish (we gave the leftovers to our Tanzanian friends who thoroughly enjoyed it). While we were drinking beers and waiting for our cooked goat meat to arrive, Angus brought out a yo-yo. Kerry (a British GAP year student working at the local clinics for a few months) knew some tricks so she wowed all the Tanzanians (and us) with her mad yo-yo skills. Others gave it a go but couldn't get the yo-yo to come back up. M. tried but got too frustrated. Then Conor put the loop around his finger, wound up the yo-yo, stood up and swung his hand down. The yo-yo flew off his finger and right into Russ's knee. Everyone, including myself, burst out laughing. I was laughing so hard I started to cry. It was really the funniest thing I've seen in a long time - and so characteristically Conor.

Power, or lack thereof

The rainy season is almost here and it will bring with it power outages. Since there was a drought last year there was very little water to create electricity with from the hydroelectric dams that power 80% of Tanzania. There is power rationing across the country and the outages are different depending on where you live. In Dar es Salaam the power is cut almost daily from 7 am to 7 pm. Traffic can be horrendous when a police officer has to direct vehicles daily because the traffic lights are not powered. For us, the power is cut every other day from 7 am - 10 pm. I've heard in different parts of the country the power is on only two days of the week.

Permaculture workshop by us

We've been putting the information gathered at the permaculture workshops/seminars to good use by teaching others. We have gotten to know a local CBO (Community Based Organization) - like an NGO - called Shidepha. It is a support group for PLWHA (People Living With HIV and AIDS) and every member is positive. On the first day Russ and his counterpart who he took to the Permaculture seminar gathered the group and explained the importance of double-digging, demonstrated how to do it, and had the members try themselves. I took pictures to document the workshop. The members asked questions and were eager to start the next step - planting. The second day, and last day, of the workshop I brought seeds (the members said they would bring some but didn't) and explained the spacing of the plants. The roots for each type of plant take differing amounts of horizontal space and can be planted so the plants do not compete for nutrients but you maximize the space you have. For example a green pepper plants should be spaced about 12 inches from each other where as carrots can be spaced 3 inches from each other. We thought the workshop was successful and we will keep in touch with Shidepha to see how their vegetable garden is doing.

Meat market

2006-11-08T08:46:00.000+03:00

Two Aussies were in town, visiting and helping out with an NGO, and the doctor of the hosiptal wanted to take them and us to the meat market. Russ and I have been to the meat market before so it was nothing new to us, but the girls, Elizabeth and Ku, were impressed. Bravely they brought their cameras and Ku snapped up pictures that I had previously been afraid to take (expensive camera in crowded area not too far from home). She gave me her pictures and they are in our gallery. Basically the meat market is where villagers and people from town go to buy/sell cows and goats and eat cooked goat meat. It's really an all day event as the food takes hours to cook. However, we got there at around noon and walked around and talked to vendors. Cows and goats are going at their normal prices at the moment (150,000 - 200,000 Tanzanian shillings, written as /=, for a cow and 20,000/= for a goat). But I remember last year when the rains were late (supposed to have started in November but didn't until March) goats were being sold for 5,000/= and cows for 30,000/= - a steal really as the vendor would rather have gotten anything for his goat than to have it die (because of lack of food) and not have anything.

For eating on site or at home, you can buy any part of the goat - limbs, stomach, intestines, brain, etc. and have it wrapped or cooked. They don't slaugter cows then as it would be difficult to sell all that meat or cook it up. Goat is really tasty - especially with homemade pickle mango sauce.

Other things...

We had a Halloween, yet not a Halloween, party with VSO Angus and Rico (from the Phillipines as is helping small businesses in town), the Aussies, PCVs Becky, Jason, Christy, James, and M. It was just cooking good food, drinking wine, and chatting at our house that just happened to be on 31 Oct. Pics in the gallery.

My students just finished their final exams and I'm currently marking them. So far, they have done a great job and I'm very happy! I will update my blog later with final results.

We leave for Moshi this week as all PCVs are required to attend a monitoring & reporting workshop. So more when we return!

Beware of the fisi

2006-10-25T09:37:00.000+03:00

Russ attended a Permaculture seminar in Dodoma a few weeks ago and had a great time learning about biointensive gardening. Hopefully the rains will come soon to our region and we'll be able to start a garden using all that we've learned to teach others about different methods of gardening that they may not have heard of. I heard the People magazines (thanks mom!) and Apples to Apples card game were big hits. Also at the permaculture seminar Loni adopted a hedgehog, Prisilla, as a pet when she saw some kids throwing stones at it. Prisilla is doing well surviving on termites in Loni's courtyard.

The week after Russ was gone, I went with Becky and Holley to Dar es Salaam to celebrate the 45th anniversary of Peace Corps. A few of the very first PCVs to come to Tanzania (back then it was called Tanganyika) in the 1960s were flown all the way here to meet Tanzanian diplomats and current PCVs. I enjoyed talking to them and listening to them speak about themselves in the newspaper articles. They remember their days as engineers and nurses quite well and even visited the sites they worked on more than 40 years ago.

Memorable moment in Dar: I went out with some PCVs to Addis in Dar, an Ethiopian restaurant. The atmosphere was awesome and the food spectacular. On our way out the door, Megan (first in line) scooped some crystal candy-looking things into her palm and popped them in her mouth. In some restaurants there are mints or candy things with a spoon next to the door to "freshen your breath" as you leave. Becky popped some into her mouth as well then I put some in my hand all the while the man behind the counter said "It's not for eating! It's incense!" Luckily I didn't put the incense crystals in my mouth but Megan and Becky spit them out and we all cracked up laughing as we exited the restaurant.

Internet is back at the TTC where Russ works - hooray! And there are now 10 new computers there as well - double hooray! There's another mzungu in town, Angus, a VSO from the UK who will also be working at the TTC incorporating computers into teaching methods.

Big news in town: One night a man in a nearby village heard something attacking his goats so he went to check it out. He came across one fisi (hyena) and managed to fend it off but lost a chunck of his head and two fingers in the process. The fisi was killed later and people suspect that because there was only one fisi, a witch doctor raised it (to ride on at night like a witch with a broomstick) and it escaped. So everyone in town uses caution when walking outside at night, especially when there is no moon and it's pitch black.

Russ and I did a dry run of cooking pizza for Christmas and it was awesome. We made the crust and sauce, put some cheese and pepperoni on them and stuck them in the oven for a few minutes. They were really good! So, pizza party at our house this Christmas! All are welcome - seriously! Does the picture convince you to come? ;)

Besides that, the teaching term is coming to an end. This week I'm creating a final exam for my students and continuing teaching. We'll be doing a lot of traveling in the next few months as we have to attend workshops, use vacation days while there's no school, and participate in a conference.

Village Visits

2006-10-17T15:20:00.000+03:00

David visits
David, Russ's dad, visited our site during our week-long fall break. We sent M. to pick him up at the airport in Dar the evening he arrived. The next morning they boarded the bus to our town. The whole day, Tuesday, myself, Russ, our mzee house help, and six women from our dancing group cooked food at our house. I helped make sambusas, Russ did bread, and the women made every Tanzanian dish you could think of - ugali, rice, pilau (spiced rice), mrenda (a wagogo dish), vegetable stews and soups, beans, and chipsi (fries) with a tomato salad.

David arrived at our site in the afternoon and we greeted him at the bus stop with hugs. Our dancing group welcomed him with drums and songs at our house. A welcoming performance was the first act followed by a rap by the youth and then lots of singing and chanting by the older women who wore kangas and decorated their ankles with bells. Russ and I joined in when the choir sang two songs and then it was time to eat. David said grace and Russ translated it into Kiswahili and then the mass rush to the food began. I was shocked at how fast the food disappeared considering the ladies made food for what seemed like 100 people when there were only 30 at most!

The next day we took it easy showing David around our town - the school, ttc, post office, market, shops, etc. The day after that we walked to a neighboring village where Loni lives. We walked about half an hour before we met the well known crazy man. He yells nonsense words and follows people. Being white, we stand out pretty well in a crowd. So he followed us for an hour and a half until we reached her house. On the way we'd stop and he'd stop as well. When we started up he began to walk a little ahead of us. He was always smiling and was wearing a pink shirt inside out with shoulder pads which David said resembled angel's wings. At her house he continued to yell and circle the house for a few minutes until he got tired then left. Russ and David continued onto the next village where James and Christy live, two more hours, while Loni and I climbed up the mountain behind her house. We visited the secondary school in her village, talked to some teachers about the differences between their village school and my school, then waited until the guys returned from the village then headed home quite tired!

Over the next few days we went on more hikes, watched some birds, and showed David where Russ works. His time in Tanzania was short but says it was worth the trip and had a fabulous time, as did we!

Teaching
So my primary assignment continues... As the Form 3 students don't want to bother with math and the Form 4 students are done half way through the term (they take national exams mid-term) the only forms left to teach are 1 and 2. Since the former Form 1 math teacher, who also taught chemistry, and was assistant academic master, has left to be the headmaster of another school, I get to teach his Form 1 students. The math teacher who teaches Form 2 is said to be leaving for university soon so I may take over Form 2 by the end of term. We shall see...

But I like my "new" students. They are the equivalent of 9th graders and I actually see them smile in class! Of course I try to do silly things to ease the "pressure" of studying math. Unfortunately the pressure is on me because out of the 12 topics the Form 1 students need to study this year they have only covered 5. I wondered what the teacher did for the last term and a half for them to be so far behind. But I soon got my answer when I showed up for class Tuesday morning first period to find only two students. The others were fetching water for the kitchen. Form 1 happened to be the "form on duty" that day so they were responsible for fetching water for the kitchen if it needed it. Sometimes the water from the town is turned on but lately (since it hasn't rained in months) the water doesn't run as often. So I didn't teach that day and I found out later that there is a mandatory all staff meeting the next day at 8:30 am - right in the middle of my teaching period. So I taught one period (7:40 - 8:20) then went to the meeting, which went all the way until chai (10:20) so I didn't teach that day either. And to put even more pressure, in the meeting we were told that the term will end in early Nov. I was under the impression that it would end at the end of Nov. So a few weeks left to cram everything in!

Kicking butt
So I was invited to play soccer for the teacher's training college staff team. They were playing the student government and needed players - so Russ and I stepped in. It was a cool day after the rain - the first time in months - and probably the last time for a few more months. I was the only female on the field so a lot of the attention was focused on me - and I knew it. I was injured in the first few minutes - I twisted my foot - an injury that I can't say I have had before in all my years of playing soccer. But I covered the pain and continued. There were many people watching and cheered me on whenever I touched the ball. At half time lots of people congratulated my on being able to play. One person asked if this was my first time playing soccer and I jokingly said "yup," and I think he actually believed me for a second. Many women were impressed with me and see me as a strong woman figure, which is why I played through the pain. In the second half on a corner kick in our favor, the ball went over head and I turned around near the keeper to get it and he pushed me. I didn't even have time to put my hands down and I slid on the dirt/gravel field on my right arm. As I got up the blood started oozing so I was subbed. We got a free penalty shot and scored from my injury as the "medical staff" put on rubber gloves and used water then iodine (OUCH!) to disinfect my arm. We ended up losing 3-2. All I wanted to do was take a warm bucket bath but the power was out that night. So Russ was nice enough to heat water on the charcoal stove for me then make dinner as I was useless with my bruised foot and bleeding arm.

Village Visit
So there was a medical student in town from the UK and a gap student (taking a year off before going to university), also from the UK, in town and we met up with them. Every Tuesday and Thursday they go to a village with a few Tanzanian nurses from the clinic and weigh babies, give vaccines, give birth control shots, and examine pregnant women. I wasn't doing anything Thursday so I went along with them to a village not too far away. When we arrive there was nobody really there. But as soon as we went to the "clinic" (a mud hut) women and their babies started forming a line. Each mother had made an overalls type thing with extra long straps for their babies. The scale was a meat weighing scale that hung from a rafter and had a hook which the mothers used to hook the straps on to weigh the babies. Some babies just dangled in the air looking awkwardly at me, some started kicking and laughing thinking it was a game, but most started to cry until we read the number then told them to remove the baby. I helped to write the weight of the child and plot it on a growth chart given to each mother by the clinic. Many children were under weight and when I plotted it I asked the nurses what to do. They told me to ask the mother why her child was under weight. The usual response was the child was sick with malaria. Then I had to tell them to feed their children more nutritious food. To which they nodded their heads. I knew times were hard now and they were probably luckily to even get food, let alone nutritious food. This was the hardest part for me and I tried to pass this task to the Tanzanian nurses. I didn't watch as the nurses gave vaccinations as I get woozy watching people give/get shots. That day we weighed about 200 babies.

The saga of the sungura

2006-09-18T08:42:00.000+03:00

Poor rabbits :(
Well, our rabbits (sungura is rabbit in Kiswahili) started to get sick. Their paws were bloody and looked like they were infected. We showed M. and he said it was a fungus so we bought fungicide and applied it three times a day to their paws but the situation only got worse. Then we noticed that there were worms coming out all over their bodies. This happened in just a matter of days so Russ researched it on the Internet and found out that they have Warbles (or also called Fly Strike or Myiasis). Bascially if the fur of the rabbits is wet or damp the eggs from the flies are able to penetrate their skin. (Braggarts - this is the same type of fly that Deb had - botfly - but it's the species that infects rabbits, not humans). The larvae from these flies can mature in 24 hours and produce a toxin that causes the rabbits to go into shock. On every website that Russ visited it said if you see these worms treat it as an emergency situation and take your rabbit to the vet ASAP to put the rabbit on anesthesia so the doctor can surgically remove the maggots. That day Russ tried to remove the maggots from them using tweezers but they just retreated back into their bodies. The maggots, if left untreated, will basically use the rabbits as a host and eat them inside out (if there are a lot of them) or produce enough toxin that they go into shock.

A week later...the rabbits are still alive! We think when Russ tried to remove the maggots they were still in the early larvae stage and could easily retreat. But a few days later they were big enough, goodness were they big, to be easily pulled out. Russ pulled at least 20 maggots from both rabbits. Pictures, if you dare see them, are in the gallery. We have cleaned their cage and took out some wooden floor panels and put mosquito netting around the whole cage. Prevention is the key! They seem to be healing quickly too. Their fur is already starting to grow back around their paws and they got carrots as a treat for the pain I'm sure they endured by having 10 maggots, the size of one of their fingers, in their bodies. The lesson I've learned - from now on I'm sticking with cats.

Dodoma
We took the newbies to Dodoma to show them around town so they know where the safi duka (literally "clean store" but means you can get cool, some imported, stuff there like frosted flakes and cheese), food market, and internet is located.

School
5 teachers are leaving our school to go on to university to get a degree. This happens a lot in Tanzania - headmasters, secondmasters, teachers, just leave for one reason or another, in the middle of a school term. One of the teacher's who is leaving is a math teacher, so I'll be picking up more periods soon.

Other things...
I was wrong, the internet at the TTC is fast enough to upload pictures so check out our gallery!

Russ's dad will be here tomrrow! We're so excited to have him and are planning a little party for when he arrives.

"Every site is balanced"

2006-09-08T14:16:00.000+03:00

Russ has come to the conclusion that "every [peace corps volunteer] site is balanced" and I agree with him. Sure we may have a non-existent school community and no water but our town is full of great people and we have electricity. Sure other volunteers have an awesome view of Kilimanjaro and water, but they always are assumed to be tourists and the cost of living is higher.

Newbies
The amount of wazungu in our district has more than quadrupled! 7 environmental PCVs just moved into the surrounding villages of our town. We knew about this a long time ago but didn't want to spoil any of it in case the mentals (short for environmentals) saw my blog - which they did. There are two married couples and three single volunteers whose sites are anywhere from 1 to 5 hours from our town. A few recently came to town and the farthest volunteer had to wake up at 2 am to catch the bus that passed a village where a married couple is placed then to pass another village where a single volunteer is placed only to sit on the bus for two hours (driver took a nap, smoked - we all don't get it but that's how it works everyday) until it finally left at 5 am for our town reaching here at 7 am or so. It will be nice to see other volunteers on a more regular basis. We've had a great time being the only PCVs in our town, but occasionally it's good to talk to other volunteers about frustrations, insights, etc. These mental volunteers are placed in very small villages without electricty (a given at signing up to be an environmental volunteer) or (in their cases) lots of water. So they come to town to charge their cell phones and buy veggies other than tomatoes and onions.

Bunnies
One day we were joking with M. about raising rabbits. We had visited his parent's house and noticed all the animals they were raising - goats, sheep, chickens, kangas, pidgeons, and rabbits. A bunch of rabbits were just born so we admired them. A few weeks later M. says that his mom has been saving two rabbits just for us. So we went to her house and tried to convince her that no, it's okay, we really don't need the rabbits (she sells them) but she insisted. They were so cute so how could we say no. We chose two and took them home. So now we are the owners of two rabbits! Although we are not raising our rabbits to eat, they are our pets with names Manyunyu and Manyoya which mean mist/light rain and feathers/fur respectively. They gobble up leaves of sweet potatoes, cabbage, and spinach.

Stolen Items
Well, we've closed the computer lab temporarily as my ipod shuffle was stolen. Russ was working in the lab, charging my ipod, when I called him and the students still wanted to continue using the computers so he gave the keys to a student lab monitor that was somewhat knowledgeable in computers. The next day we entered the lab to get my ipod, it was gone. Russ went to each class and told him he "lost" it and needs it back and there was a 5,000 shilling reward for the person who brought it back or they could just toss it into the math department at night if they were too afraid to bring it in person to us. It's gone. It's been two months.

Another time, we went to Dar es Salaam for something, July 4th I think, and when we returned our outside couch had been stolen. It was silly of us to leave it outside but we forgot and it disappeared.

2-year anniversary
Our 2-year wedding anniversary was on 8/8 and we went to the best chipsi mayai place in town. We bought a bottle of wine, some popcorn, and sat down at the eatery. We ordered two chipsi mayai and just absorbed the atmosphere. When the chipsi mayai came they were in shapes of hearts! Russ had given the owner a heart shaped piece of metal as a mold for the chipsi mayai. I hear the owner used the idea and made a frying pan in the shape of a heart for future customers.

Coaching Soccer
So I am coaching a soccer team of girls around the ages of 10-14 from a local primary school. The headmaster is good friends with Russ who is teaching his teachers how to use computers and mentioned that he would like to involve his students more in sports. I teach soocer every Tuesday and Thursday afternoons to about 40 girls using only one ball! I sort of co-coach every once in a while as a teacher helps me out explaining things in Kiswahili. It's fun and the girls are really getting better. All they want to do is play a match but I keep on telling them we can play a match once we've done some drills. Most can't pass a ball and don't even know the rules. I think back to when I was on various soccer teams and do drills that helped me. The main thing is that these girls are having fun and they laugh a lot and are not stuck at home cooking, cleaning, and taking care of their sibblings. It's quite unbelievable to some people that I, a woman, am teaching soccer (football), to other girls. Russ told someone in town why I didn't go to town with him and it took him a few minutes to realize that women play soccer too.

TOD
For one whole week I was TOD, which stands for Teacher On Duty (or in Kiswahili is Mwalimu wa Zamu), with another teacher. Being TOD was a lot of work I must say. On a brisk Monday morning I showed up bright and early at 7:00 amand students started to trickle around the flag pole. At around 7:15 am they were mostly all there, separated by form (grade). The other TOD showed up and I told her this was my first time to be TOD so I would follow her this week because I didn't know what to do. The students sang the Tanzanaian National Anthem, another Tanzania national song, and our school song. Then there were announcements and the students on duty said those names of students who received letters. This happened every morning of the week. The academic master, who really runs the school, showed up sometime during the singing. Then the students were released and they swept the class rooms before the first period started at 7:40 am. So I asked the other TOD what to do next. I followed her to the dorms and then the kitchen where we talked to the cooks.

The kitchen is completely black from decades of using charcoal and firewood to cook three large meals a day for hundreds of students. The lady chef said she had been working in the kitchen for more than 20 years. Wow. The chefs said there was no water for the student's breakfast, uji (porridge), so we needed to find the form on duty to fetch water. After teaching I returned to the kitchen just before chai (breakfast) for the students, to taste the uji and supervise the students as they got their food. So I was there and tasted the uji which was made of millet or sometimes corn flour with sugar and water. It's poured into large sufurias (cooking pots) labeled with numbers. Each sufuria contains enough food for 10 students. We checked out everything and it all looked good so we rang the bell (hit two metal pieces together) and the students poured in to collect their sufurias. I watched the students as they poured the uji into their own containers (thermuses, bowls, cups, hot pots, etc.) and dump the rest into the buckets of waiting beggars outside the cafeteria. For some reason the students don't like to eat in the cafeteria. They like to eat outside so they fill their containers up with food then head out. Apparently as a TOD I'm supposed to stop them but how can I, when I was usually by myself, stop 600 students from exiting the cafeteria that won't even hold them all in, let alone where there are not enough places to sit inside. Some students take their sufuria and the 10 of them stand and eat at a table. Anyway, that went well so I was told to return at 2 pm or so just before lunch.

I taught a few more classes then walked back down to the kitchen. Beans and ugali (millet or corn flour and water mixed to the consistency of polenta). The beans tasted great as they added salt. The ugali was the worst grade you could probably buy. This time each group of students received two sufurias, one with beans and one with ugali. The same routine happened and then I was told to come back at 6 pm just before dinner. At 6 pm I entered the kitchen and talked with the cooks as they were shoveling the food, beans and rice, into sufurias. I tasted the beans, the same, and the rice, which had some oil in it. The student's came and collected their sufurias and the same routine continued. I noticed that after the students had their fill they dumped their leftover beans, rice, ugali, into the buckets of the beggars outside. I asked the cooks about the beggars and she said they have no other choice, as she scraped the cooking pots of burnt rice and put it into a sufuria for them. This routine of breakfast, lunch, and dinner, continued throughout the rest of the week, with some issues here and there.

Well, I found myself alone at many meal times throughout the week. Apparently the other TOD went to Dar and didn't bother to tell me. I was asked why the TOD book wasn't being filled out so I explained to them that this was my first time as TOD and I told the other TOD I would follow her. When she did return from Dar later in the week she still didn't come to some meal times. Anyway, one afternoon an issue arose. One of the sufurias with rice was taken, the rice removed, and put back. So the students whose sufuria it belonged to started to complain that other students stole their rice. This was one of the times I was by myself. So I went with the students on duty to find the store keeper to allow the students on duty to take more food out of storage to feed the 10 students who didn't get rice. We went to the academic office where we called him, went to his office, the store room, where he said he needed the issue written down, then we returned to the academic master who said that was ridiculous and we went back to the store room and he talked with the store keeper who then gave permission to take a kilo of rice or so. So that issue was settled. Throughout the week the students complained about fetching water but it had to be done or nobody would eat. Many times students are pulled out of class to fetch water. This happens all around the country. Everyday the students eat uji for breakfast, rice or ugali and beans for lunch, and rice or ugali and beans for dinner, except for Wednesday lunch when they get meat and spinach stew. Pictures in our gallery soon.

Teaching
The past week has been quite the roller coaster. On Monday morning I woke up bright and early for my 7:40 am class with the science students of form 3. I got to the math department where I picked up my box of chalk and headed to the classroom only to find it locked with all the students inside the room busy writing/reading/studying. I knocked on the door and tried to force it open saying "hello?" only to find that it was locked from the inside. I asked a student inside if I needed a key to get in, he said no, just to push harder. Which I did, but the door wouldn't budge. None of the students came to the door to let me in, they just continued with their studies. So, I said ok, I'm outta here and went back to the math department to continue lesson planning for another class. When I saw my fellow math teachers I told them about the situation and they thought it best I don't teach them anymore. I asked if I was doing something wrong - I would be more than happy to take any advice and change the way I teach or anything - but they assured me it wasn't me, but the students. "It's the students - they are not disciplined" or "the headmaster of this school does not discipline the students" were two common excuses I heard. I went ahead with the day and taught a few streams of form 4 classes then was on my way to the copier to make copies for my form 3 art students of a worksheet about Sequences and Series as we just finished the topic and thought they would appreciate some extra questions to practice. The road I take to the copier, 1 minute away, goes along the outside of the school so you can see the classrooms from the road. I was walking along and heard "Mzungu! Mzungu!" from the form 3 building. (This happened to Russ a few weeks before and he turned around to enter the classroom to correct them saying he is not to be called Mzungu but Mr. Russ or Mwalimu Russ.) Ok, I have gotten used to this word and I know it will never stop being used. I understand little children when they say it - they're excited to see me - but when the high school students you've been teaching for the last nine months yell it out the window as I pass by off campus with such a degrogitory connotation it made me angry. (Even my own headmaster has called me this, granted one time was when he was intoxicated). I decided to shrug it off.

Well the next day I got ready to teach my form 3 art class, which started after chai. I saw my fellow math teacher who urged me not to go right when the bell rang but wait a few minutes as it takes the students that long to get back in the classrooms. So I chatted with him for a few minutes then said I have a class to teach and headed out. Many of the students were standing outside the form 3 and form 2 and form 1 classrooms just talking. I stepped into my classroom, where there were only three students inside, and started to handout the worksheet I printed out and copied for them. Five to ten minutes pass and the students are still outside of the classroom. I look outside to two girls and say we've got to start class and they run away. Hmm...ok. So I ask the students inside the classroom why are the others standing outside. They did not know. So I go outside to see my whole class just standing around and talking. I tell them to enter the classroom as they have math to learn. They say ok, so I go back into the classroom. I wait a few more minutes and nobody comes into the classroom. Twenty minutes have passed since the bell rang - half of a period - so I exit the classroom and go to the math department where I find my fellow math teacher/discipline master and tell him what just happened. He got up and I followed him to the classroom. When the students saw him they all dashed madly back into the classrooms. He asked why they didn't enter the classroom when I asked them to. No answer. He asked what the problem was. They said they don't understand me as a teacher and want a different teacher. We leave. He says these students don't like math and that I'm not the problem but the students are the problem. The students got a differenct math teacher, but not the one they wanted. He said the students are not disciplined and spoiled. What I think it is is that these students don't have a good foundation for mathematics and are just pushed to the next level even though they do not understand how to add or subtract. Do you think you would enjoy trigonometry if you couldn't add fractions? So now I'm only teaching form 4 classes. My schedule will change in three weeks as the form 4 students graduate and leave mid-term (why? - don't ask) and I will teach form 1 and possibly a stream or two of form 2. I keep hearing the students are different at other schools. At the school my fellow math teacher came from the students begged him for extra questions and night sessions. And I've seen this at other schools, for example, where the students go to a pcv's house in the evening when the dorms didn't have electricity to study and ask chemistry questions.

Meanwhile, the local teacher's training college just got satellite internet! The computers haven't arrived, and probably won't for a long time yet, but there are two computers that can be used for internet. It's not very fast, but good enough to check email and upload blog entries. Yippie!

Health Club
I tried for three weeks to start up the health club on campus. The first month was no good as there were very few students at school. The second month was no good as everyday there were competitions soccer/volley ball/netball matches going on. So I tried the third month but the teachers said the students are afraid to teach about health issues. Also in the third month the students in forms 2 and 4 are preparing for exams and form 4 is preparing for graduation so they are busy. What the "health club" is working on is a play for the form 4 graduation. They do one at every graduation and they practice on their own time. However, just this week I met a man in town who started his own ngo that helps educates people on HIV/AIDS through seminars and workshops sponsored by bigger ngos. He is excited to work with us and actually wants to create a health club at every secondary school in our town. I think he will be a great resource and advise me on how to go about starting a club at our school.

Hobbies
Cooking is always a hobby for me. I've learned to cook so many great Tanzanian foods. The latest lesson was on how to cook coconut maandazi. Russ and I went to a friend's house where his wife instructed us on how to make coconut milk and then the dough for the maanadazi (like malasadas, doughnut type things, with much less sugar). I have yet to try it myself at home but perhaps someday.

We can buy popcorn kernels in town and we bought some to make popcorn at home. Apparently the store we buy it from goes to Dar to get the kernels which are shipped from Argentina. Anyway, we have successfully made carmel corn. We heat up some butter and sugar and pour it onto the cooked popcorn. Now we need to get some peanuts and we'll have some real carmel corn!

With all the beautiful material around I have been urged to sew. So sometimes I have gone to a fellow teacher's house where she instructs me on how to sew. So far, together, we've sewn a cell phone case, coin purse, and a skirt. It takes a while to get used to the sewing wheel - it's not electric.

Up next
Russ's dad is coming in two weeks! We're excited to have him visit our site and take him on a few hikes up the surrounding mountains. He's also bringing some American goodies that are not necessary, but provide comfort.

Dunia ndogo - Small world

2006-07-29T15:37:00.000+03:00

We had visitors! So as part of training to become a PCV you get to shadow a current PCV for a few days and we got a married couple from the health sector. S. and B. are great! I don't know who benefited more from the shadow visit as they were thrilled to see our lives as PCVs and we were excited to have our first guests. Well, apparantly we all lived in Minnesota, the Twin Cities, at the same time. We talked about Grand Old Days, Cafe Latte, and Pizza Luce. Then they told us where they worked as it just so happened that we saw a play for which they were the backstage crew! So as we sat in the audience a year ago or so they were backstage working with the props. We even have a few mutual friends. And now we meet in Tanzania in the Peace Corps. What a small world...

Getting Lost in Stonetown

2006-07-05T15:45:00.000+03:00

IST
We had IST in Morogoro and it was so nice to see all the people in our training group again. We took counterparts, Tanzanians, with us so they could learn about teaching methods together and to meet other Tanzanian teachers and volunteers. The first day, if I can remember correctly, we were broken up into groups according to the subjects we are teaching. So all us math teachers got together to discuss issues and possible solutions to teaching math in Tanzania. Over the next few days we had other seminars and the one that stood out the most for me was the permaculture seminar. Permaculture (short for Permanent Agriculture) "is a design system for creating sustainable human environments." (Bill Mollison) Permaculture combines plants and trees that are beneficial to each other and to humans and animals. The person giving the seminar explained to us how permaculture could be used to help all people obtain a better and balanced diet, but especially those who are living with HIV/AIDS whose diet is more strict. Afterwards some of us got our hands dirty by digging up the ground and creating a planting bed. We dug about two feet down turning the dirt and adding fertilizer (manure) and minerals (ashes) and creating a nice soft place for plants which will never be stepped on again! You can plant plants close together if you loosen the dirt as far as two feet below the ground as their roots will have a chance to grow down. Roots generally (depends on the plant you're talking about) grow down but often times the soil is so compact that their only option is to grow out (horizontal) where they will meet with other roots of other plants and fight for food. But if you dig down about two feet (yes, it's a big project but once you do it you never step on that sacred ground again and you won't have to dig up the dirt again) and the roots can grow straight down. Hence you will be able to plant plants closer together. Anyway, the Tanzanians learned something from that presentation as well as many volunteers.

The honeymoon we never had
After IST, since everyone was already in Morogoro anyway, many people took off for vacation. Russ and I boarded the early bus and made our way to Dar. The one time we didn't bring rain gear it happens to be raining in Dar. We huddled under the rafters of some buildings until it cleared then walked to the harbor to board a ferry to Zanzibar. Even knowing some Kiswahili I felt overwhelmed by all the people trying to sell us tickets. We have residency permits which gets us discounts - nice when you're volunteering! We boarded the ferry and was on our way to the Spice Islands. When we arrived in Zanzibar a few hours and a sick tummy later (not quite smooth sailing that day) we immediately bought tickets to Pemba for the next day. That night we went to Forodhani Gardens for dinner (highly recommended) and dined on skewers of freshly caught lobster, shrimp, and fish...yum. Then we hopped into a local bar to watch the opening game of the world cup! The next day we took the ferry over to Pemba during which I got sick again. I was given a clove to chew by a man from Pemba who said it helps to ease sickness. I chewed on it a bit and it helped somewhat but that just shows you how nice the people of Zanzibar, Pemba, and Tanzania really are.

On Pemba we made our way to Chake Chake then up to Wete for the night. We stayed with a very nice retired teacher who runs a hostel/guesty from his house. The next day we went to Ngezi forest to look around but couldn't stay long as we wanted to get back to Chake Chake that evening. The ferry to Pemba runs three times a week from/to Zanzibar so if we wanted to spend any time on Zanzibar we had to go back the following day. We bought tickets the next morning for the ferry, travelled to Mkoani and took the ferry to Zanzibar.

We spent two days in Stonetown pretty much getting lost - but that was really so much fun! The alleyways reminded us of a maze so whenever we would enter it we'd say we were going into the maze. We went to the market one morning to check it out then thought we'd make our way to House of Wonders so we started to go through the maze admiring all the beautifully carved wooden doors, children playing football, and little shops. We walked for half an hour turning left, right, etc. and ended up right where we started! We eventually made it to the House of Wonders which is nice and has a lot of history and was the first real museum I've seen in Tanzania. We spent part of a day going on a spice tour (highly recommended) and got to see and taste cloves, nutmeg, and lemon grass right from the plants! Lunch was included in the fee and it used all the spices we saw on the tour and was absolutely delicious.

The next morning we went to the market to buy some spices then boarded a daladala to Jozani Forest to see the Red Colobus monkeys. They are quite used to tourists around and so you can get as close and you want to or even closer than you'd like as they are curious. After watching the monekys for a while took a short walk through part of the forest where our guide pointed out the different plants and their medicinal values. It had been raining heavily so parts of the trails were flooded so we didn't go really far. Then we hopped on a daladala and went to Paje on the east side of the island. That was the honeymoon we never had. We stayed at Paradise Beach Bungalows which was right on the beach. It was quite with only a few couples around compared to the crowded streets of Stonetown. The bungalows are owned by a Japanese woman so we had the luxury of real Japanese food such as tempura and noodles. During our stay of two days we swam in the Indian Ocean, walked along the beach to Bwejuu collecting shells, and walked out along the reef when the tide was out. The next day we had to leave paradise and make it back to Dar so we could catch the early bus the next morning back to our town.

Back to reality
It was still break when we got back so there were only A-level students around. Most of our days were spent in town, at the community dance/singing group, or reading books/magazines received in the mail (thanks!) and our nights were taken up watching the world cup games.

Peace Corps Choir
Well, it wasn't too long until we were back on the road again. The ambassador invited PCVs to sing the Tanzanian National Anthem and the United States Anthem for the 4th of July at the US Embassy. Russ and I were two of the 30 volunteers to make up the Peace Corps Choir and arrived in Dar on the 3rd for rehearsal. We sang on the 4th and feasted on all types of beverages and hors d'Oeuvres. There's another party later in the week so we're in Dar this week because it wouldn't make sense to go home and then back a few days later. Being with other PCVs has been awesome. It's so great to hear stories and have them be appreciated by people who know what you're going through.

Up next...
The next term starts up next week so I am preparing lessons and brainstorming ideas of what to do this term. Upcoming projects that I plan to work on include working with the health club on campus to train the oldest members so they can teach students at the local primary schools and starting an environmental club/school garden using permaculture that I learned at IST.

May-O

2006-05-19T12:12:00.000+03:00

The rose is red,
my nose is too,
violets are blue,
and so are you.

And yet before
I think I'm through,
I'll have another
drink or two.

O good ale, thou art my darling...

A verse for the Braggarts. Thanks for calling! Russ was very happy.

Well, the first term has ended, the rains have stopped, and winter is upon us. This is what has been going on for the last month or so...

I'm writing this blog entry at my school because there is only one computer that is able to use my ipod shuffle and therefore I can write this blog, save it, then just upload it when I get to Dodoma. Then I can use my time at the Internet cafe in Dodoma to do Internet stuff rather than writing a blog entry. =)

Before I gave my students their second exam for the term I wanted to play a little review game for them. Their exam was on Friday and the last time I would see one class would be on Wednesday. So on Tuesday I told them we're going to play a review game tomorrow. The next morning I showed up promptly at 7:40 am for the first period and there was nobody around. Usually at that time in the morning all the students have just finished their morning parade of singing the Tanzanian National Anthem and announcements and they are talking before the bell rings and classes start. I was told by one of my students who happened to be doing his laundry nearby that it was a holiday, Union Day I believe, so there were no classes. Oh well, so I played the review game with the second class on Thursday. It was a sort of Jeopardy type of game in which the team trying to figure out the answer had one minute to give me an answer, otherwise the question went onto another group. But I found after a few mintues that the students in other groups were getting bored so I changed the game so that each group had a question to work on. I've learned you've got to keep all the students involved, thinking, all the time or they will tune out. Another thing I did after a few minutes that seemed to work well was to create two groups of only girls. When there were one or two girls in a group of boys they would not participate, but if you put the girls together they all talk and come up with an answer. So I walked around to each group as they raised their hands to give me the answer. If they got the correct answer, they got another question to do. I did not give away any prizes and they didn't seem to mind. I think most of the students are getting the idea now that the "prize," or "zawadi" in Kiswahili, is that they get more questions in which to practice and therefore get better at mathematics!

Unfortunately that is not what happened on the second exam. My students completely failed it. I supposed I can be glad that my students showed up to take the exam. A fellow math teacher had his mathematics exam as well, that Friday was for Mathematics and Civics exams, and out of 40 students, only 8 chose (showed up) to take the exam. Students are so scared of mathematics that they don't even show up to take the exam! The average exam mark of my "arts" students was 13% and my "science" students was 34%. I have some ideas of what to do different next term....meanwhile, at IST (In-Service Training) in June I'll talk to my fellow PCV teachers and get more ideas from them.

I have started to promote girls' fitness by getting a soccer ball and netball and going to the girls' dorm to see if any girls wanted to play with me. The first day me and 3 girls just walked around the track and talked. The next time about 6 girls came out to play soccer, or "futball" as it is known here. The next time they played netball by themselves because I got a nastly cold and couldn't play for a few days. Even though there are only a few girls who come out and play, they enjoy getting some exercise, as do I.

One day Russ came out to play with us and we got three different games going. A few girls used the netball to play basketball, some boys wanted to play soccer (I swear to Tanzania boys a soccer ball is a magnet - show it to any boy and all they want to do is play) so I let them use the ball, and Russ and I played frisbee. As some students were passing by watching us play, Russ threw the frisbee at them. They all proceeded to duck or run out of the way. After they realized it wasn't a weapon but a pretty cool piece of plastic that you can play with, they threw it back to us and joined us.

So there is a district council here that had the only receiver in town and therefore controlled the television station for the whole town. It was usually kept on one station but when something went wrong with the satellite receiver and people who had a tv could not watch that one station anymore, they decided to buy their own satellite. So, satellite sales have been going through the roof here! 200,000/=, or $200, for a satellite and the opportunity to watch 9 different tv channels broadcasting from around the African continent. A fellow teacher of mine, with the two two-year old twin girls, just bought and hooked one up. So now we can watch English football matches from his house, rather than go to the local pub and pay 300/= to watch it. Can't wait for June - Kombe la Dunia 2006! (World Cup 2006!) The British have had a lot of influence here. If you ask any Tanzanian male which futball team he likes the most and I'm certain he'll say Arsenal, Chelsea, Man U (that's Manchester United), West Ham, or Liverpool.

Other things...our neighbor has a few cows and ties them outside so they can eat the grass during the day. Usually they're tied up to trees or bushes but one day we found a cow tied up to a water pipe that lead to our house. The pipe was bent and disconnected at the joint. So it broke, ok, but our mzee said that someone would steal the broken pipe if the school didn't put it in storage. In the next few days the pipe disappeared, I think into the school's storage, but I'm not certain. So, not that we'd ever get running water in our house, but if that option ever arises there's no pipe in place!

Speaking of water, however, there is one random pipe in the front of our house that was sticking up when we arrived. Russ swore it was a gas line because we had a propane heater above the bathtub that he removed within the first week of arriving (we'd hit our heads on it). We didn't like that pipe sticking up in our yard so we buried it. One day last week, mzee noticed a certain spot in the yard was quite wet and muddy. There was water coming out of that pipe! So now we stick a bucket underneath to catch the slowly dripping water. It's only turned on early in the morning (around 6 am or so) and sometimes at night (9 pm or so). So we've been watering our "garden" of green pepper, pumpkin, cucumber, potato, and corn plants. It hasn't rained in a month and I've heard it won't rain again until (hopefully) November. I don't count on this water pipe continuing but I'll keep watering the plants as long as there's extra water around that we have no control over whether it comes or goes.

Oh yes...so one day I was talking to some girls in the dorm and I asked them if there was one thing they wanted to change about the school, what would it be? They said they would like the library to be cleaned so that it can be useable. I thought about it for a few days, told Russ, and he agreed that it should be cleaned, and insisted that we do it on Saturday. So I arranged to have some students help us clean the library and set a time - Saturday at 10 am we would start. So Saturday comes and we walk to the library in the mist, or manyunyu in Kiswahili, and wait, and wait, and wait. The key has not shown up yet. So I walk to the girls' dorm where I know one student has the key to the library. Not there. So I walk back up and the library is open. Apparently their breakfast was late - no problem. I hook up my ipod shuffle to the speakers my parents sent me and away we go.

If you can imagine what decades (?) of dust covered books look and smell like then you know what we went through to clean the library. It's just amazing how much dust can pass through the windows. We had set up tables with different subjects for the girls to put the books on but after a while I found they were just throwing the books on the floor, not quite caring what subject they were. Well, they were going to an on-campus disco in the afternoon so Russ and I said thanks for the help and they left to prepare themselves for dancing. It took 4 full days to get the library clean and organized. Four days of wiping the books of dust, sweeping up mounds of rat poop, and moving the shelves into columns to make it look like a library. But we finished and created a nice space for students to study in the back of the library where they can use the chalkboard and a big area in the front. All the dictionaries and encyclopedias and other reference books were reloacted to the front of the library where students can use but not remove them. We noticed right away after we cleaned the library that students were actually using it. Russ took his English classes to learn how to use the library as this topic was actually on the syllabus. Oh yes, Russ taught English for the last two months of school. You can read about this on his blog.

Our bread oven has been pretty successful so far. We'd baked a few loaves of yeast bread and banana bread. The banana bread has been a bit hit among the Tanzanians. It's also great for dry roasting peanuts. Pizza will be a bit difficult as cheese is hard to come by and expensive in Dodoma. I'm sure Russ will explain his frustrations and breakthroughs in his blog.

That's about it for now. During our "winter" break we'll be in Morogoro for training and then to Zanzibar in June, then we're heading to Dar for July 4, then the second term starts in mid-July.

Visiting

2006-04-21T12:05:00.000+03:00

Many thanks to the people who have visited us! We really loved showing you guys around our home away from home we have called Tanzania for the past two years.

Eating leaves

2006-04-21T11:00:00.000+03:00

Our supervisor came to visit us, check up on us, on my birthday. He visited our school campus and also the nearby TTC (Teacher's Training College) where Russ will begin work when the satellite Internet and 100 new Sun Systems computers are delivered in June! For lunch, we asked our mzee to cook chicken pilau, a spiced rice dish with some sort of meat. We thought chicken would be good. So after I taught I returned home, found that Russ and our supervisor were at the TTC, and was on my way out when our mzee pulled me to the store room and showed me a live chicken he bought "for a good price of 2,000/=" in the market. Russ and I thought he would just buy the already cut up chicken but nope, he bought a live one to slaughter for our guest. Anyway, our supervisor left and Russ said he received a text from a friend in town, so we went to town, but found the friend was still busy so we went home. When we turned the corner to get to our house I saw some of our friends and our furniture outside all decorated and with a two layer cake! For my 25th birthday Russ gave me a surprise birthday party! Russ gave them the key to our house and they took out our couch and table and chairs and put them outside. He hired someone to bake a cake and we served everyone beer and soda. It was a really nice time and people from town got to know teachers from the school and vice versa.

The teacher's college, down the road by about 10 minutes, had some "student teachers" come to our school for a few months to intern. They ended that internship a few weeks ago and we were invited for a little get-together for sodas in the library. Russ and I showed up at 2 pm, as that was the time we were told, but of course things didn't get under way until 3 pm or so. It was more than we expected as there were tables with table cloths, food (sambusas, chicken), and a program! Well Russ and I took some seats and just waited for things to start. There were about 8 "student teachers" who interned and each one wanted their picture with the wazungu. So one by one they sat between us and a camera snapped a picture. It felt quite strange to not really know who these people are yet just becuase we are white it's important to them to have their picture with us. Anyway, then we all introduced ourselves, although we all knew each other - we were all teachers at the same school. My Kiswahili teacher told the MC to have to say a few words so I stood up and said thanks to all the student-teachers. Throughout the whole celebration there was a boombox in the corner that they would turn the volume up and then down when someone spoke and then the volume would go up again. The whole party felt a little awkward.

We've had some things stolen from our yard such as potato plants. Apparently we used to have many, many potato plants but one day, when we were off riding our bikes, they were all stolen. Our mzee was really upset, even more so than us. Anyway, just yesterday I saw out of the corner of my eye in the morning a kid running away with one of our green pepper plants. Our mzee didn't like that either and said he would watch out. He takes very good care of us!

If Tanzanians saw how we Americans throw away our sweet potato, pumpkin, and other leaves they would flip. You should try the following leaves at home - they're great with onions, garlic, and tomatoes: sweet potato, pumpkin, ulezi, beans, and all types of lettuce and cabbage. I never thought leaves could taste so good. When we get back to the states we'll grow pumpkins just for the leaves!

Russ and I have found a cultural group in our town. We were told once that if you want African culture go to West Africa and if you want African scenery go to East Africa. But we've found culture in TZ! A group in town practices the local Gogo dancing every Friday and we've been twice to beat the drums and sing along in Kiswahili. We'll continue to go and I'm going to write down the words to the songs, which are usually about HIV/AIDS and malaria and prevention.

Russ had a close encounter on the road on our last bike ride. We were coming back from a trip to the villages, going down hill, around a corner, when a car appeared out of nowhere. He fell off his bike right in front of the car but the car saw him and stopped. Russ got a few minor scratches on his hands and leg but I'm so thankful he's fine.

Items we have dug up in our back yard: batteries, lots of shattered glass, a bicycle seat, mosquito netting, tons of bottle caps, a dried-hard-flat animal hide (we had fun burning that), plumbing pipes, plastic (bottles, bags), broken ceramic pieces, toothbrushes, empty tube of toothpaste, and a woman's shoe.

ukimwi

2006-03-09T17:30:00.000+03:00

We've completed a PC HIV/AIDS seminar in Dodoma and I've learned many new things about HIV/AIDS. I knew how HIV/AIDS was transmitted and but I didn't know the biology involved and that's what we went over. We covered cell structure to understand the RAV drugs and how they try to lessen the impact of HIV. Quite interesting and what a difficult job it is to find a cure. In simple terms a virus needs a host (cell) to survive and they thought our white blood cells are the perfect place to make a home. Well, if we destroy our white blood cells we destroy ourselves. Therefore scientists have the unruly job of destroying the virus within our white blood cells without destroying us.

Ever wonder why mosquitoes can transfer malaria but not HIV/AIDS? Well the malaria virus has over many centuries developed a way to survive within the mosquito. It is taken into the mosquito as food and then has found a way to get from their stomachs and into their mouths again so when they bite the next time the malaria infects another host. The blood that the mosquito takes in as food in contains white blood cells (where HIV lives) and is digested in the mosquito's stomach so it never infects the next host with HIV.

As part of our seminar training we had to teach a lesson to primary school students. So we prepared our lessons and went ahead and taught them things that they seemed to already have known. They learn about HIV/AIDS and health in biology classes here in TZ but we had a little new information for them. Since our Kiswahili isn't up to par our counterparts pretty much took over and explained things while we were the props. Anyway, you can see some pictures in our gallery (link on the right side bar). PS. I am all caught up with uploading pictures from my camera!

Well Russ and I are headed back to our village/town today. It's been a nice trip. We went to the disco the other night...not too exciting.

Tuned In

2006-03-04T16:49:00.000+03:00

Back in Dodoma. Russ, myself, and a bunch of other PCVs in our region are in town this week for an HIV/AIDS seminar. Tanzania is one of 15 countries in the world receiving PEPFAR (The President's Emergency Plan For Aids Relief) funds and we are going to learn how we can best use the money to help our communities.

My parents sent us a wind-up/crank radio so we've been listening to VOA (Voice of America), Talk to America, and Border Crossings on shortwave. Because of the surrounding mountains we are not able to get FM. They also sent us cute little speakers so we can listen to our ipod shuffles without headphones! And we found an adapter in town so we don't use batteries. Ah yes, we are tuned in.

Last weekend we went on a very long hike up a few of the mountains that surround us. M., Russ and I started at 6 am, before the sun was up, and hiked to a local moonstone mine where the workers were already digging deeper into the earth to find the white rock which they sell to Thailand for a whopping 300,000/= ($300) per kilo! We then proceeded down the mountain and up the next valley saying good morning to everyone in the local tribal language. We then went down and back up and up and up to the very top of the next valley where there are huge stones on which one can stand and see all of our area. It took 5 hours to reach the peak so I'm glad we started out early. The sun was starting to get high in the sky when we ate our snacks of hard boiled eggs, bread and butter, and clif bars. The scenery was gorgeous and very green. We now know that all the rain gets caught up in those mountains before coming to us with a drizzle. On the way back the two boys had no problems but my legs were started to get really tired. For this past week I have been stretching them out...I think I've finally recovered. Perhaps next time we'll start out on a small hike then work our way up to the 8-hour hikes!

I have gotten involved with a group on campus called My Body My Life which is run by students and a biology teacher. They meet once a week and teach other students from different forms (grade levels) about sex, sexuality, HIV/AIDS, growing up, answer questions and perform plays. We have yet to start to do anything this term but I'm hoping this HIV/AIDS seminar I am in Dodoma for will help me with ideas to bring to the group.

I thought it was time for a test for my students so I typed one up and printed it off in town and made copies. I must say I was quite proud of the exam and how it looked. I will take a picture of the typed by typewriter exams the students usually get here, often with typos, with my exam next to it. Anyway, I asked some fellow math teachers what they thought of my exam and they liked it. So I went ahead and gave them the exam, with plenty of notice and reviewed any questions they had. My science class used the whole 80 minutes (2 periods) to do the exam. The average score was 60%. My art class, of which six students didn't show up to take the exam, used the whole 80 as well and the average score was 32%. Keep in mind that in Tanzania (in percentage) 80-100 is an A, 60 - 79 is a B, 40 - 59 is a C, 20 - 39 is a D and below 20 is an F. I showed the scores to a teacher and he said that was a pretty good test given the scores. Here, the scores of students are posted by the failure rate. There's a print out in our math department which graphs the percentage of students, split up into boys and girls, who failed the national exams.

There was a crazy doctor in town. We've seen him before around and likes to greet us in French. Apparently he used to be a wealthy and liked dentist in town but turned schizophrenic. We have heard he has stopped taking his medications and that has caused him much trouble. One day while Russ was chilling in the market the crazy doctor came up behind him and started drawing on the back of Russ's Hawaiian shirt with a ball point pen. Another day when I went to town by myself he saw me and knelt down and greeted me as Madamemoiselle. He then tried to kiss me and smashed his face right into my sunglasses then ran off saying "I love you! I love you!". After I told my friends in town about this they say he's done that to many women and actually has caused many disturbances in church and in the market. Just last week we heard he was being taken to the hospital in Dodoma and haven't seen him since.

So we have learned that the typing program that Russ uses in his computer lab provides lessons in the DVORAK keyboard layout. Everyone in the world uses the QWERTY keyboard (named so after the six upper left keys) and was invented to actually slow down typing for typists because they typed too fast and jammed the typewriters. So Russ and I have been practicing DVORAK and it really screws with your head if you are so used to typing with the QWERTY layout. I swear I felt my brain creating new nerve connections. Yes, you can say dorky.

There have been three ETs (Early Terminations) that I've heard of in the past two months. All of them I met before and knew. One of them from our training group.

Africa Cup of Nations

2006-01-28T11:20:00.000+03:00

Well I'm back in Dodoma to upload pictures, blog, and check email. There's so much to say - where to begin? (Updated on 29 Jan.)

Mistaken Wazee
So everbody wants to be friends of the wazungu here because, granted, we have more money than they do no matter what you say. So, the first week we arrived we met some people who were friends with previous PCVs, let's call them M. and G. They are very nice and know English pretty well. M. told us about an mzee that worked for the previous volunteers and also a family of Indians for 20 years so he knows how to cook Indian (my favorite!) and knows what Americans like and don't like. So an Mzee comes to our house the second week or so and I ask him if he worked for the previous PCVs and he says yes so we say come back when the school opens in January to start. Meanwhile, another mzee, a chef, sees us in town and asks if we someone to cook meals for us. We say we have hired the person who worked for the previous PCVs but we got his information in case it didn't work out. Then, another mzee comes to our house and he doesn't want work, he wants money. We were told that people would ask to borrow money from us so we lend him Ths. 3000. He says he will pay us back at the end of the month so we get his informtion down. A few days before he was supposed to pay us back he asks for Ths. 5000, which I was a little hesitant to give him but Russ thinks it's OK so we go ahead and give it to him. He has a note saying he's going to a funeral and needs money for travel and for contributing to the service (very commmon to contribute money to help pay for weddings and funerals here). He says he will pay us back in a few weeks. Well, what do you know, a few weeks later, before he was supposed to pay us back, he asks for more money. This time it's Ths. 6000 to pay a local electrical company because they are going to shut off his electricity. He says he's not able to cook food without electricity and Russ asks him if he has a charcoal jiko (every Tanzanian does) and he says "No." Russ says sorry but until you pay us back you we can't lend you any more money. Only after that third meeting did we tell M. about him and his response was "Oh! That is a bad mzee" to which Russ and I burst out laughing. We figured so and I believe we're out Ths. 8000. Anyway, back to the first mzee. He starts working for us and I notice he looks a little nervous. Why would someone who has been working for other people for so long look so nervous I wonder? The next day we run into the "real" mzee...the one who worked for previous PCVs. Well, we had to let the guy we hired go (we gave him a good amount of money to say sorry, you lied to us, but we want you to be able to buy food for your family for the rest of the month) and hired the real mzee...who, by the way, is doing a fabulous job keeping our house, inside and outside, clean and cooks great Tanzanian and Indian food.

Mountain Bikes
Russ and I received (matching) mountain bikes from the PC! Bran spakin' new Trek 820's silver and blue still in the box in which they were shipped from America. (Jealous, Chris? ;) Russ had a good old time putting them together...if you know Russ he likes to take things apart and put things together. We took them out for a test run two weekends ago, with our matching shiny silver PC required helmets of course, and rode for an hour. We visited the cathedral that was recently built on the site of slaves who camped out on their way to the coast to be traded. The grounds keeper saw us bike up the hill. We stand out like sore thumbs...red sore thumbs crimson by the fierce African sun. He told us about the slave path...quite eerie to know that thousands of people passed that very place only to be sold across the oceans. Then we passed village after village waving to all the children who yelled "Mzungu!" and giggled. Much better than the little kids who scream and cry and run away from you. It was beautiful out in the villages, where we practiced the greetings we know in the local tribal language. One our way back I noticed a mouse run across the road. I stopped and watched it as it digged in the ground. Then I noticed a small snake (about 1 foot long) pop it's head up out of a hole like a periscope in a submarine. It did this many times. It was timing it's attack on the mouse who was hopping around the place. I called Russ over to see this and as soon as he came the snake wrapped around the mouse and strangled it.

Drought
We have having the worst drought that people can remember here in Tanzania. The short rainy season was supposed to start in December. Sometimes it's late and starts, at the latest, mid-January. But the lack of rain has caused many people much pain. Goats and cows which are usually traded for maybe Ths. 60,000 and Ths. 150,000 respectively are going for Ths. 15,000 each in hopes of ridding the animals and making some, if any, profit before they die of starvation. It hit home to us when a cow from the family we receive milk from every morning died right in it's pen on the school campus. It was a big cow, bloated by the heat from the sun. The next day a grave was being dug right next to Russ's computer lab, that house and the lab are neighbors, to bury the cow. No water = no feed for animals. Beggars come to our house almost daily now and we hand out Ths. 50 and Ths. 100 here and there. I'm not sure what else to do.

Teaching
For the past few weeks I've been going to class, not as a student this time, but as a teacher. This is a new concept for me. I teach two classes and we meet three times a week each. One class is a "science" class that focuses their secondary education on the science (chemistry, physics, biology, mathematics) besides the normal classes of civics, social studies, etc. In this class I have about 29 boys (all of which are boarding students) and 1 girl. These students are very interested in learning about mathematics and are challenging me daily. My other class is focused on the "arts" and concentrate on things like history, social science, languages?, but do not take heavy science courses. This class is also about 30 students the majority of which are boys. They do not seem to care about what I have to say. Some don't take notes, others sleep until I catch them and wake them up, and nobody answers any questions I ask (unlike my other class). It's quite frustrating. I talked to our good friend at the school, who is also the discipline master (no, he doesn't use the stick - he likes to talk things out) and he talked to the students. A few wrote me letters apologizing for their behavior but I don't think it has helped. There's a belief in Tanzania that math is so difficult that it's nearly impossible to do. I'm trying to get around that and tell my students that math is fun and easy. We'll see. Any ideas, advice?

Russ is teaching computers and the class is optional. There are about 15 or so "working" computers and the students just want to play games. So, Russ physically disabled all the CD-Rom drives so the kids can't play games...just yet. He would like to actually teach them something about computers before they play. Right now the girls are doing better than the boys. The boys just want to type their names into the screen savers and have their names bounce around while the girls pay attention to Russ and have learned to open, close, and minimize windows. Using the mouse proves to be difficult for the students so Russ is starting off teaching them to play solitaire...not really for playing the game but more for learning how to click and drag, click, and double-click. It's going slowly. With five students per computer you can imagine the amount of trouble Russ has sometimes in getting the class' attention.

Africa Cup of Nations
Well, Russ and I do have access to satellite TV because we're not in the bush. We've been watching the Africa Cup of Nations (this year in Cairo, Egypt) - a soccer tournament for the African continent, although not every country is represented (including TZ). So I'm cheering for Cameroon which has Samuel Eto'o (Africa's player of the year) and man he can kick! I feel a bit out of place being the only female in a swarm of 50 or more men who is not serving drinks. I should be at home cooking, right? Well not this mzungu...I like soccer and I'm going to watch it. Last night we watched Ghana overpower Senegal. I've watched Libya, Angola, Cameroon, Senegal, Cote D'voire, and Egypt to name a few. There's a player on one of the teams whose name is "Jamba." In Kiswahili "jamba" means "fart" so there were some laughs when his jersey was shown. Side note: M. received a "jamba juice" shirt from a previous PCV and he wore it out one night! I think the tournament goes into February. We may be able to watch the superbowl in town...needless to say Russ is excited.

The power went out last week as it does every so often so we started up the charcoal stove. I feel for Anna who doesn't have electricity at all. It took forever for the coal to get started and there were so many mosquitoes outside. Speaking of Anna, she said that a few weeks ago one of her three dogs gave birth to four puppies, one of which is going to Courtney.

Thanks for all the packages we have been receiving and phone calls! We have learned to make friends with the postal workers. I think the school has stopped getting our packages for us...what happens now is I pop into the post office and say hi to ladies who work there and ask if there are any packages for us. They know our names, and we're the only wazungu in town besides an older couple, so they give us any packages that came from Dodoma for us.

School will start soon...

2006-01-13T10:49:00.000+03:00

This is another rare internet event...it seems to happen just after my mom updates my blog. Anyway, a little more info about what's been going on.

People have asked about what food we eat. For breakfast we eat hard boiled eggs and uji. The closest thing I can describe uji to is porrige...it's a mix of soya flour, ulezi (fingermillet), and ground nuts flour boiled. For lunch and dinner...mchuzi and wali or ugali...which is a sauce made with tomatoes, onions, garlic, green peppers, okra, and whatever other vegetable you can find here...over rice (wali) or ugali which is boiled corn flour...kinda like polenta.

Well, I was supposed to start teaching this week but there are about 50 students here out of the 700 or so that should be at this school. It is common throughout TZ for there to be very few students at the beginging of the terms because they have to pay school fees (at our school it is Tshs. 70,000, or $70) and with the drought that is currently going on there is no water to raise crops and therefore no crops to make money to pay school fees. I was told next week I will have a few students to teach.

Russ's computer room is getting two airconditioners. I think his room is going to be popular!

Our roof still leaks in our kitchen. We told our school fundi before Christmas about it and he said it would be fixed "after Christmas"...a few weeks later...and two downpours later...it still isn't fixed. But TIA... we just put a bucket down and collect water!

As much as we "complain" (i told myself i would not complain while in the PC!) about our house....it is still a house that i believe any Tanzanian would prefer over their mud huts. And our house really isn't that bad. The roach population has dwindled to a steady two dead a day in our house. Not bad!

Thanks for all the packags we have received! I updated our wish list so check it out. We plan on going to Dodoma at the end of the month or so so there will hopefully be more pictures uploaded at that time.

School starts

2006-01-09T09:45:00.000+03:00

This is Lisa's mom again since it may be a while until they get to an intenet site. The new school term starts Monday Jan 9. Lisa will be teaching math to 9th graders and Russ will be in the computer lab. No surprises there. They met with the headmaster and other teachers last week. She is working on her lesson plans and a little nervous about how things will go. I'm sure she will do just fine.
Lisa said she was bored last week and asked the neighbor boy if he wanted to play soccer. Lisa's been a pretty good player since grade school. They boy said yes and ran off to get a ball and some other boy players. They were impressedby Lisa's skills, especially when she headed the ball. Guess girls don't get to play the same type of soccer as boys! When she played again with them she said she wasn't even the last chosen for the team. Making progress! She hopes to organize a girls soccer team soon.
They seem fine and have adjusted to their living conditions. Mail is slow in getting to them but they have received a few packages and letters. Lisa said if you want to mail them anything, look at their blog wish list. They plan to go to the city about once a month to catch up on their e-mail.
If you have anything you want to tell them, please e-mail me at lesnett(at)hawaii(dot)edu and we will pass on your message. I call them a lot!!
cissy

the dog days of Christmas

2005-12-26T09:12:00.000+03:00

It was Christmas? Really? It didn't feel like it with the 90 degree heat all day long. Anyway, we did some shopping after I spent four hours at the Internet Cafe uploading pictures. We bought some things to eat during Christmas like cheese and pasta and potatoes. The market was super crowded and a few children followed us around while we bought baskets, etc. I kept an eye on our backpack. It is said that Dodoma is the beggars capital of TZ. Around every corner there is a person saying "Naomba" or "I beg". I gave an old man a coin on Christmas Eve but I can't afford to give everyone a coin. We boarded an empty bus to Courtney's site and waited for an hour until it filled up then we left.

Courtney has a very cute little house. She is about an hour from Dodoma in a small village. It's about a 15 minute walk from where the bus lets you off to her house. On the way out of the bus I cut my toe and it started to bleed down my toes into my Chacos. Good thing we were just a few minutes from a PC medical kit! Courtney is the sixth or seventh volunteer (correction: Courtney is the second volunteer at her site so the volunteer before her bought all that great stuff. Anna is the sixth or seventh volunteer at her site. at her site so she was set up pretty well with a fridge, small oven and two stove burners, radio, lots of books (we all borrowed a few), curtains, etc.

That night for Christmas Eve lunch dinner we had baked macaroni and cheese with peas and carrots. Courtney is an awesome host and cook!! We helped her out with a few things but she was cooking up a storm the whole time we where there. We opened a bottle of wine that we had bought in Dodoma and listened to Christmas songs on the radio. For desert we had banana bread and then played Apples to Apples.

Christmas morning was bright and sunny. We all said Merry Christmas to each other and ate freshly baked coffee cake and sweet pineapple for breakfast. For the rest of the day we really just read the magazines and books that were collecting in Courtney's living room. Lunch was scalloped potatoes with ham (sliced deli ham) and oranges. Once again it was delicious!! Courtney is an awesome cook. We listened to my ipod shuffle as Christmas songs on the radio werea bit depressing. People's families called if they could get through. We tried to text people but the network was saturated and celtel doesn't have very good coverage where Courtney lives (she uses vodocom).

For Christmas dinner Courtney and Anna made vegetable curry with rice, freshly baked bread, and peanut butter cookies. Awesome! We opened our other bottle of wine and played Quiddler, like scrabble but with cards, late into the night.

This morning we were off on the early bus to Dodoma to do some internet (what I'm doing right now) and buying a few more things before Dan, Anna, Russ, and I head to our villages. The bus was so crowded this morning that a girl had to sit on my lap the whole way!

Deb - thanks for the info. I'll email you our address and let my mom know she doesn't need to get the egg carrying case.

School starts on January 2 and I do not know what level of math I will be teaching but we should be having a staff meeting soon to sort all of that out.

dodoma for christmas

2005-12-23T14:15:00.000+03:00

I'm here in Dodoma with Dan, Anna, Courtney, and of course, Russ. It's really good to see some familiar faces! We all have pretty interesting stories and I'll just list a few in no particular order...

We can get mangoes in our village and they cost 200 T.Shs (or 20 cents each!).

Russ and I made spaghetti last week and it was awesome! All the fruits and vegies are fresh here and taste so good...we made sauce from scratch...

We get a liter of milk daily but I don't drink any partly because it's whole milk and I got diarrhea the last time I drank it. We bought an egg tray in town and some eggs. Apparently when someone sells eggs they use the tray so as we were carrying this tray of eggs through town our whole village was laughing at us thinking the wazungu were selling eggs! Mom - talk to Anna's mom - she sent Anna an egg carrying case which is like a little plastic purse. Maybe you could find out where Anna's mom got it and send us one!

There was an issue at our school a few weeks ago. Apparently the boarding girls from Forms 5 and 6 did not do their cleanliness activities and therefore were not given dinner. Well, they were hungry so they started to bang on the doors and made a lot of noise. The principal was called and things were figured out. The girls ended up eating dinner but some where suspended from school for a few days.

Russ wants to build a pizza oven and raise bees for honey and wax.

Our neighbors have pigeons in a sort of chicken coop outside. I believe they eat them like they would chickens.

We have a hibiscus tree outside our window and I'm hoping my plumeria twig will grow up so i can plant it!

We are going to hire an mzee, old man, to help us out when school starts. He will clean and cook us lunch. He, like many tanzanians, have a hard time distinguishing "r"'s and "l"'s...so sometimes i'm called Risa and sometimes Russ is called Lassi.

Finished Guns, Germs, and Steel...good book...it reminded me a lot of Age of Empires when reading it!

We had a huge rain storm the other day. First the winds blew from the East and caused the dirt in the roads to swirl up a hundred feet or so. Then the rains came and we found out that there is a leak in our ceiling in the kitchen. The water just sprinkles through. It will be fixed after Christmas.

You wouldn't know it was Christmas except for the one radio in the soko (market) that plays Christmas songs.

Dodoma has so many more things that our little village so we have a big ole list of things to buy. The other pcvs are being so nice as to follow us around while we gather things they already have from the pcvs they replaced. Russ has a cell phone! Email me for the number. We should be able to make it to Dodoma about once a month so expect an update to this blog or replies to emails about every month. I found a great internet cafe here and it has made uploading pictures a lot quicker.

Courtney, Anna, and Dan are doing well. Anna has two mosquito nets up because of the mice and bugs at her home. She has no electricity and sleeps with a flashlight and phone under her pillow. She would like to get a cat, like many PCVs, to get rid of the mice. I thought we had it bad with just roaches! Courtney is nice enough to share her space with us all. Dan locked himself out of his house...briefly... ah yes, typical Peace Corps stories.

Hopefully we'll get a radio while in town so that we can actually hear news and know what's going on in the world!

Small world: So we all went out to eat last night at a restaurant and saw two wazungu women sipping wine and talking. After a while, and listening to our conversations, one girl came over and asked if we were Peace Corps Volunteers. So we said "yeah!" and she said she was Emily and her friend, Alli, just finished their PC service in Ghana and were travelling for a few months before heading back to the states. Emily is from the same town as Brendan and actually saw him at the PC office in Dar last week!

quick post!

2005-12-12T11:11:00.000+03:00

so there is internet in the next village...sort of...it's a government building that has private internet and our friend asked if we could use it to check our email... so this will be a short post and will not happen often.

as my mom mentioned we live very simply. we have fought roaches (and are winning!) and have gotten into the routine of filtering and boiling water. our site is very dry, brown, and dusty at the moment but i hear it should rain any day now.

russ is fixing up and cleaning the computer lab at the school while i go into the market and buy food. what is available to us: beans, rice, potatoes, okra, tomatoes, nyanya chungu (like bitter tomatoes), pumpkin leaves (they're excellent), spinach (mchicha - which i can't eat because of an allergy i have with spinach), leaves of sweet potato, and garlic. that's about it. i would love peas and carrots... maybe in dodoma.

well, i've got to go so i will try to upload pictures when in dodoma in a few weeks.

Final destination

2005-12-09T08:56:00.001+03:00

This is written by Lisa's mom since there is no internet in her town. I told Lisa that I would update her blog and let you know how she and Russ are doing. PRIMITIVE conditions! They have moved to a small town to teach in the local school. Their house has no running water. But a neighbor close by has water and they carry 5 gallon buckets on their heads (like the natives) [or by arms in our heads get sore!]to their house. I just got off the phone with them and they are busy doing laundry with a bar of soap and bucket of water. They need to boil all their drinking water and got their stove hooked up to electricity shortly after they arrived. They have no refrig but can purchase one if they need. They bought a coil to heat up their bath water (bucket) and that was a treat. The house needs a lot of cleaning and roach extermination so that is keeping them busy until the school year resumes in early January. There are about 5 fellow PC "nearby" meaning a 3 hour busride away. So they will spend Christmas with these friends. They have NO contact with the outside world (maybe not such a bad thing, nowadays). They plan to buy a shortwave radio so at least they can get some news and music, etc. I have a International calling card and call them all the time The connection is excellent. They are very upbeat and cheerful everytime I talk to them. A couple of kids live next door and come to visit. They [try to] only speak Swahili. Before they left for their post, they celebrated Thanksgiving in the capital at the embassy. There was food (turkey, pumpkin pie, etc) and drink for about 200 peace corps people. Good to know our tax money was finally put to good use!!
Cissy (lisa's mom)

Volunteers

2005-11-29T15:16:00.000+03:00

We are now all volunteers! We had our swearing in ceremony today and had lots of fun. I'm way behind on uploading pictures so don't expect any for a while...The U.S. Ambassador was there along with regional bigshots who gave speeches in Kiswahili and Kiingereza (English). Our families gave us leis and gifts. Russ and I received matching outfits yesterday so we wore them to the ceremony. Tomorrow Russ and I are headed to our site...flashback...a few days ago as I was waiting for Russ to return from somewhere I saw this woman who mama said has polio. She was sitting on the ground, talking to people and smiling. She put a bucket on her head filled with items and put slippers (dalas) on her hands and walked up the hill using her arms and legs. Wow...she's such a strong woman.

Also, check out The ONE Campaign which "is a new effort by Americans to rally Americans - ONE by ONE - to fight the emergency of global AIDS and extreme poverty. The ONE Campaign is engaging Americans through a diverse coalition of faith-based and anti-poverty organizers to show the steps people can take, ONE by ONE, to fight global AIDS and poverty."

Dodoma region!

2005-11-27T14:44:00.000+03:00

Russ and I have been placed in the Dodoma region. We will be teaching at the same secondary school. I'll be teaching math and Russ will be helping the school with the computer lab and also working at the local teacher's training college. I'm not sure if I should put the name of the village we'll be living in for the next two years on the Internet so email me if you would like to know. The dodoma region is known for wine and peanuts!

Russ and I cooked "American" food for our host family one night and it turned out pretty good. We cooked mashed potatoes, steamed carrots, fried okra, cornbread, and banana crisp. It was actually difficult to come up with things to cook here because of the lack of available foods and jikos. Even though we had to be creative with things like use cracked cookies instead of oatmeal for the crips it turned out fine and the ate everything up!

This weekend we went to Mikumi National Park kind of as a treat to ourselves for passing our Kiswahili exams and making it through training and saw lots of "safari" animals such as elephants, giraffes, zebras, lions, warthogs, etc. Check out the pictures...once I get them all loaded up.

We swear in as volunteers on Tuesday then we're all off to our sites. I've heard Russ and I have a pretty big house with a bathtub! There were two couples placed at our site previously. The first couple COSed (Close of Service after two years) and the next couple only lasted a week before they ETed. Russ and I will make it to COS. The plan for Christmas is for us Dodoma people is to spend it as our house.

As an answer to a question: The things I miss, apart from family and friends who I hope will visit in the coming years, are hot showers, tea garden drinks, and I must admit washing machines. Washing clothes by hand is brutal to the knuckles. I can heat up the water to take a warm bucket bath but that's a lot of work for our host family. Perhaps when we get to site we'll heat up the water if we don't already have hot water.

Things are coming to an end here during training and it's bitter sweet. Bitter because all the people that I've gotten to know over the past two months will be hours and many will be several days away, especially our host family. Sweet because our Peace Corps service is actually going to start now and we'll be placed in our new communities and start the real work of being a volunteer.

Kusafiri

2005-11-20T14:34:00.000+03:00

Kusafiri means "to travel" and safari means a "trip" or "journey". Russ and I awoke in our hotel in Dar at 4:45 am to the sound of the call to prayer in Arabic over loud speaker. It happens pretty much everyday in every mosque around. But, no biggie because my alarm was actually set for that time to wake up anyway...because the reporting time for the bus to Njombe was 5:30 am. We left at 6 am with Thomas, Brendan, Rob, and Andrew on the same bus. There are no bathrooms on the bus so you hold it until there's a bathroom break or use Imodium. The bus pulls to the side of the road in certain areas and everyone gets off the bus who needs to go. The men go to the front in the bushes and the women go to the back. I needed to go badly and wasn't sure when we'd stop again so I took my kanga and went. Pretty simple. The road to Njombe from Dar passes through Mikumi Park so when we entered I kept looking for animals. And sure enough we saw giraffes, and elephant, a chimp, and a family of warthogs! [Queue Lion King soundtrack]. I didn't bother taking pictures because our group is going to go to that same park next weekend and I'll get better views then. If you look on a map of TZ you should notice that very few roads are paved. Zambia is a landlocked country and some time ago the "Tanzam" road was built to allow Zambia access to the ocean through Dar. We took that road which has no stop lights, only really big and really small speed bumps to slow people down. We passed the park...then stopped for ten minutes to each lunch and have another bathroom break. Russ, Rob, and I risked getting sick by eating chips with ketchup wrapped in a flat fried egg. It was really good and none of us got sick. Next we went up the mountain and passed green land...then back to dry, dusty land. I noticed at one point that among all the brown there was this sort of strip of green in the distance. I figured out soon enough that in the middle of this green strip that stretched for miles was a river. We passed Iringa and got off before Njombe actually...as our shadow site was not directly in the town. We got to Ryan's site 9 hours after we started the journey, met Ryan, and got to see the place he's been living at for a year now. He's got it very nice...he's the third, and going to be the last, volunteer at that site. He has electricity, fridge, blender, and really nice furniture that a furniture fundi (fixer) made. Ryan gave us some great ideas for when we get to site. The south highlands is quite cold (60s?) and very windy. Dust was blowing everywhere which set my allergies off. I had my fleece on a lot of the time. The next day we toured Ryan's secondary school where he teaches chemistry. We also got to see the computer room that he's been taking care of supervises. The next day we went to Njombe and met up with more PCVs from around the area. PCVs are such awesome people! Then yesterday, we boarded the bus to come home...and passing through Mikumi again we saw zebras!

Now training is starting to come to an end. Tomorrow, Monday, we find out where we will all be living for the next two years, take our final exams in Kiswahili on Wednesday and Friday, then we swear in as actual Peace Corps Volunteers, then we're off to our sites in early December!

fishbowl

2005-11-15T14:02:00.000+03:00

Wow! There's nothing like being in a major metropolis in Africa. There are so many people and they all look at you like you're in a fish bowl. We have eaten Indian food for dinner for the past few days and I'm loving it! We've met current health PCVs in town for their first IST (In Service Training) including Jen and Tait. Dar is a different place at night. Most of us PCTs and the health PCVs met at a local bar and had some drinks. Last evening just a handful of us went to the Storm, a local bar/night club. I swear I could have been in England...the room was so nice and clean, the AC was blasting, and the deco was like things you'd see in Europe. There was no one there, probably because we were early having drinks at 8:30 at night. I guess the crowds don't show up until midnight and that's too late for me. Anyways, getting back to Dar at night. For safety reasons we always walk in groups. It was pretty scary last night when we went off the main road (four of us) to try and find a bar that people were at. It got dark and there were no people around. Eventually we found the place we were looking for and all was cool. When we got out there again was no one around and the city was quite. Thankfully the electricity was up so the buildings provided lighting to walk home. In TZ rich people hire security guards to guard their homes and buisnesses at night. In Dar every other store or so had a security guard sitting outside. Most of the time they are older men so Russ and I say "Shikamoo" to them and be on friendly terms with them. I hope it's not a false sense of security but I feel safer walking around at night with these "security guards" chilling outside every hundred feet.

We got to spend a day at the US Embassy which was pretty cool. We also visited the PC office and got to see the PC lounge, storage, offices of workers, etc. It was especially great because we got mail!!! Thanks Hannah! I hear there's another package for Russ and I and it's at our training site.

Sink or swim

2005-11-13T14:38:00.000+03:00

We are in Dar es Salaam for a few days now before we head off to shadow a current PCV. Russ, Thomas, and I will be going to Njombe (south west) for a few days before we head back to training and find out where we will be living for the next two years!

Thanks for the mail everyone! David, the star chart is great!!

Each of us had to find our own way to Dar and that was a little intimidating but really, PC knows what's best for us and the "sink or swim" style is alright to me. We went in groups and as far as I know we all made it to Dar safe and sound. It was actually pretty simple. Buy your ticket as you get on the bus. But if you're going farther then you buy your ticket in advance. There's a lot to think about on the ride over. I saw people living on the side of the road with nothing more than mud and branches for walls and a thached roof. People working day in and out to make bricks just to scrape by and others selling mkaa (charcoal) because everyone uses charcoal stoves.

All of us trainees visited different NGOs and created a seasonal calendar. But the trip for me was more of getting to know what type of NGOs are in Tanzania and what their major problems are. My group went to a non-profit that educates people with and without HIV/AIDS and help those who have HIV/AIDS and want help with some medications and foodstuffs. Our discussion was mostly in Kiswahili but one of our language instructors was with us to help out when needed. The NGO I visited said their busiest and most difficult time of the year is between January and May when the rainy season causes an uprise in Malaria and it's harder to get to the people that need help (mud is a major transporation issue). What they really need is a loan so they can have the capital to build a farm which the workers will manage. They plan on using money made from the farm to use to buy medication and foodstuffs (flour, sugar, etc.) for those most in need. The organization has about 200 members and they also try to help over 400 orphans but getting them together to do fun activities or giving them whatever foodstuff they have available.

A funny story...so my host family knows I don't like to drink beer so for Joline's confirmation they bought a small bottle of Konyagi for me. I used about half the bottle that day putting it in soda. So a few days ago mama and baba got some beers out and Russ and one and I just had a soda. Then Russ reminded me that there's still some Konyagi in the cubbert so I went to get it. What I found was an empty bottle! I showed mama and she cracked up laughing...she was trying to say that accidentally the rest of the Konyagi fell into her cup! I didn't care it was just so funny that they would leave that empty bottle in the cubbert.

Oh, and baba got a computer! It's pretty good...10 GB drive, running XP, etc...and we put our pictures and video on the computer and mama was just blown away at the video of her at Joline's confirmation. I haven't had enough time to upload it to the gallery (18 megs). Oh well, it's really short anyway.

T.I.A.

2005-11-08T16:22:00.000+03:00

T.I.A. = This is Africa.

I've been hearing this phrase a lot lately. Our daily schedule in the PC changes all the time so we don't know what to expect sometimes. Things happen that are out of your control. But you have to be flexible and remember...T.I.A....

Wow! Time is going by so fast! We find out where we will be living for the next two years on Nov. 21, we take our final exams (written and oral) in Kiswahili in two weeks then we swear in on Nov. 29!

We visited NGOs today and will return to them tomorrow. Basically we're evaluating the needs of NGOs and seeing what we can do to help them achieve their goals. This will be good for our secondary projects when we get to site. My group visited an NGO that helps people living with HIV and AIDS to life the best life they can live. They provide counseling to people with HIV/AIDS, people in the community who do not have HIV/AIDS and to orphans of parents who died from HIV/AIDS.

I've uploaded more pictures so check them out.

Wish List

2005-11-08T10:08:00.000+03:00

Many people have been asking how they could help PCVs. Friends and family members have sent packages with goodies that we miss from the states and while we appreciate all of that, our real work here is to work together with the people of our host country to help them achieve what they want in life. In that case, there are many PCV projets which need funding. Go to the Peace Corps website and click on Donate Now then click on Volunteer Projects to see a list of all PCV projects that need funding globally.

Russ & Lisa, May 2007

Storms in Africa

2005-11-02T16:49:00.000+03:00

The storms in Africa are great. Since we live near the mountains (at the moment) I watched as the clouds got progressively darker and consumed the mountains. This occurred as I was walking home from town. It began to rain but I made it home before the big downpour. I have listened to the song Storms in Africa by Enya before and now I can "feel" the music...

On the last day I asked my students to write two things: 1. What they liked about my class and 2. what they didn't like about my class. The following are what the students wrote word for word. Keep in mind that this is the first year they are being instructed in English in all their classes.

In Lisa's class I like the way she teaches you get well understand and she's charming too. One thing is that I didn't like was that the students were too quite in class.

One thing which I liked about Lisa's class is that:
1. she is teaching well
2. she is very charming
3. she shows us true love.

The thing which I mostly liked about Lisa's class is:
*she tried her best level to teach in Swahili language so that everyone were able to understand. Congratulation!

One thing that I like most in Lisa's class is that she is carpable of her work and charming to her pupils. She is also understood in class and loving to all students in class.

One thing I lied about Lisa's class she is teaching very well, peacefullae smile etc.

One thing I liked about Lisa's class is more examples which she gave is so I can understand well. She is helpful so she make sure everyone can understand a subject.

and my favorite...

She's always smiling and that simplifies our task of asking questions

Let me say a few things about the Tanzanian school system. I can't remember all the facts so if something is wrong, please tell me! Basically the education system here is based on that of the British school system. There's primary school (elementary) which there are seven "Standards" (or grade levels). Then if you pass your exams and are selected you move onto O-level (middle school to lower high school) where there are "Forms" (or grade levels). Forms 5 and 6 are called A-level (last two years of high school). You take exams in Forms 2, 4, and 6. If you pass your exam in your form you move onto the next form. After Form 6 you go onto University if you are selected and can afford it. Every week during training we have the PCV of the week and they have told us many stories. One of the stories is that many students are not able to afford to go to school (in some cases the fees can be as little as Tshs. 20,000 ($20) for non-boarding schools to Tshs. 70,000 ($70) for boarding schools per semester). Everyone in my training group will be teaching Forms 1-6 (either Math, Biology, Chemistry, or Physics) besides the ICT people who will be at teacher's colleges. Now if you don't pass your exams there are a few options. One is to go back to the farm, say you tried your best, and live the best life you can. But you can also try to go to the growing number of teacher college's where you can get training on becoming a teacher. Teachers are greatly needed in this country. Many of them die of diseases or go to work outside of the country because the pay might be better and therefore the demand cannot keep up with the growing number of students attending school. Right now there are about 300,000 students in 2,000 schools and the board of education in Tanzania wants to increase the number of students in primary and secondary schools to 1,000,000 by the year 2010. If they do that schools will need to be built and teachers trained.

Africa's sleeping giant

2005-10-30T12:22:00.000+03:00

Interesting article from the BBC about Tanzania politics.

We had our mid-term exams this weekend. They don't actually count but it shows you what you need to work on. We haven't received our results yet from both the written or oral tests. I think they went well for me...pretty basic stuff...not much vocab....but that doesn't mean I can slack now!

We had our first ET (Early Termination) from our PC group. Brian will be on his way back to the USA this week. I don't know the details so I won't write anything more than he will be missed (especially as a computer teacher which are greatly needed in this country at the moment.)

There was a roach infestation in our room. Not "da kine" roaches in Hawaii (the big ones) but small ones. There was a family of them and they were apparently eating dried toothpaste on a piece of table cloth. We killed them all (pretty nasty) but they're gone now! I've seen a gecko in our room but they eat mosquitoes so I just let them be. We're protected by our mosquito net at night so I'm not worried.

Bekah and I were walking down the hill to go to a restaurant with the rest of the gang and this mzee (old woman) started to yell and us and wave her very long stick. She was missing her front teeth so we didn't understand her very well. Apparently she was yelling at Bekah for wearing trousers and pointing at my skirt and telling her to wear a skirt.

I'm putting up more pictures so check them out!

free weekend!

2005-10-22T09:47:00.000+03:00

This is the first free weekend we have had since coming to TZ. Our younger sister is being confirmed in the Catholic church so there are many relatives around. Russ and I are in town today to get her a gift.

Many other of my fellow PCTs are hiking up the mountain this morning. It would have been nice to go but we do have another free weekend coming up and perhaps Russ and I can climb it then.

I have learned that Tanzanians love to sing and dance. Last night with some relatives we all just danced around the porch. Baba got out the loud speaker and blasted music so that we could all get into the beat. It was great fun and I've never seen my family that happy.

I'm trying to upload some more pictures so check them out. Sorry they are not organized very well...I'll try to do more if I have time.

Flashback:
I remember flying over the Sahara Desert on the way to TZ. It was incredible! All you could see from the plane was sand in these intricate designs created by the wind. Now I realize that I have not heard a single plane overhead. I thought something was a plane in the sky at night because it was so bright but I think it was a planet. Thanks David - we're looking forward to getting the star chart!

We've had at least a dozen shots by now...yellow fever, hep a, hep b, td, rabies 1,2, and 3, meningitis, etc...I think we are just getting two more and then we'll be good to go anywhere in the world from now on!

Our contact information is in the column to the right. =)

pombe

2005-10-20T17:11:00.000+03:00

yo, so russ and i put our money together and bought a cell phone. see the number to the right. please be aware of the time when you call. it is free for us to receive calls from the USA. we bought a 5000 Tshs card and called Russ's parents to let them know the number and after 4 minutes, we had 314 Tshs left! So, sorry, but we won't have enough money to call you...you'll need to call us. look for calling cards online - i hear that may be the cheapest way! russ and i are usually home after 5 pm daily and free more or less on the weekends and would be happy to talk to people!

not much else happening here...still struggling with Kiswahili. we had a mid-term next week to see how we're doing. this weekend we have a "free" weekend but russ and i are sticking close to home because our younger sister is being confirmed into the Catholic church! Relatives have already arrived and the pombe (local brew) of millet and maize is in the works.

poor Brendan, he has been having trouble with his homestay. first flies, then rats, then stolen money, sickness...a few other people have gotten sick while here...bacterial infection...but those people have been given meds and we're all fine.

i taught two classes this week and they were not as hard as i expected. the time flew by! the students at my school are very well behaved and corporal punishment is not used. we have had a session on corporal punishment and i'm not looking forward to going to a school which uses it. i've heard stories from pcvs about cp. although it's still around it is slowing going away.

weather is still pretty nice here...doesn't get too hot during the day and there's a slight breeze at night.

the plumerias here smell just like they do in hawaii. :)

i would really like a shar chart of the southern hempishere (specifically for the lat/long of TZ) if anybody happens to find a small compact one that would be cheap to mail.

Devil Cat

2005-10-15T17:09:00.000+03:00

The weather continues to be great here. It gets hot from 12-3 then it cools down. We received our first batch of mail yesterday. Clayton got a package or two and a dozen letters, Jeska got about three letters, Jen received 2 letters...Russ and I combined = 0! Where's the love people? ;)

Kiswahili is still difficult...

We have no more chicks at home...I guess eagles or cats ate them...so we had mama chicken for dinner last night. Our host mama said she's going to show us the whole process of killing the chicken then cooking it so I'll let you know how that goes.

The mountains behind us are on fire...still. You can see the red glow at night.

We had an encounter with a devil cat the other night. Russ and I were sitting outside at night, right before dinner, and the gate to our yard was open. We hear this cat give a really awful 'miao' but not an "I'm hungry" miao or a "pet me" miao. Me, being a cat lover, was saying, "kitty, kitty" and just then mama came running towards it carrying a potato or something and chased it down the path and didn't return for a good five minutes or so. Apparently there's an old woman who does witchcraft and owns those devil cats, which are bad luck, so they are not wanted around our house.

Next week we start teaching for "real" at our schools. I did micro-teaching this week and I improved and think I'm ready for the classroom. This will give us lots of practice before we get to our post site.

My sister in my family made me some clothes (two skirts, blouse, bag, and hair band. Pictures to come soon...

Fish - I love fish. Growing up in Hawaii our family ate loads of fresh fish and rice. The fish in TZ is fresh, but you get served the whole fish - eyes, bones, etc. It's good, but I don't like eating the bones. I do however like the "sardines" now...cooked in curry...I eat those whole fish...(bones are too small...)

Perhaps tomorrow we'll be able to buy a cell phone.

Mzungu

2005-10-08T16:13:00.000+03:00

In TZ, white people are called Mzungu (or Wazungu for many). We have been told that some children are just so excited to see us that they yell it out and it really doesn't mean anything other than a way to describe you. It's not meant to be bad but sometimes you really feel out of place when you hear the word under someone's breath as you walk into the market. Shopping in the market is quite an experience. No Cub Foods here. All the prices are jacked up when a Mzungu tries to buy something because it is thought here that all white people are rich. Well, we're volunteering and we get paid a little more than the average person here so we need to know how to use our money wisely. I bought 12 bananas for T.shs 700 (I got it down from T.shs 2000). I bought a kitenga (material) and my host sister made me a dress! Pictures to come in the following weeks...

p.s. Jen was bitten by a scorpion but she is OK.

KunyWa

2005-10-06T17:18:00.000+03:00

Kiswahili is much harder than I anticipated. The words sound so similar...

Ninaomba maji kunywa.
I want water to drink.

Ninaomba maji kunya.
I want water to shit.

Sorry for the language but as you can see one little misprounciation and you mean something totally different.

This blog is for everyone to read!! Jen is not in my CBT so I only see her once a week.

Homestay is great! If I haven't mentioned it before.

We call going to the bathroom a "choo session".

Next week we are going to start micro-teaching. That means we will practice teach in our groups of 4 or 5 before we start teaching for real. But even this "real" teaching is preparing us for teaching when we get "posted" for 2 years - and we won't find out where in the country we're going until next month.

We found an ice cream shop that just opened up...and ice cream is really hard to come by if you're not in Dar...

I've gotten used to things like the power going out twice in a night...the water doesn't run sometimes...you just make do with what you have...

Shikamoo

2005-10-02T13:05:00.000+03:00

Q: Shikamoo
A: Marahaba

In Tanzania one greats an elder with "Shikamoo" and the only reply is "Marahaba." I get "Shikamoo-ed" from children a lot.

Our host family is great. There is Mama (mom), Baba (dad), 3 dada (sisters), 2 kaka (brothers), and 1 house helper. Russ and I have our own room with a mosquito net. Our house has running water an electricity and I'm a pro at using a pit latrine.

The food is great! Potatoes, rice, ugali (corn mush), vegies, and meat.

Daily routine:
-Get up at 6:45 am (12:45 TZ time)
-Use latrine
-Eat breakfast (boiled eggs, bread, butter, chai)
-Russ rides his bike to school while I walk (we're in different training groups)
-Kiswahili classes
-10:00 am Chai (very British system)
-Kiswahili classes
-12:00pm lunch (rice, peas, potatoes, banana, chai)
-Kiswahili classes and TZ culture
-done at 5 pm
-walk home (10 minutes)
-play with children (ages 9-14), speak Kiswahili with them, have them laugh at us because we can't pronounce somethings and say the wrong words
-watch tv
-eat dinner at 8 pm
-go to bed

Today mama, russ and I went to the market and I bought some material to make a dress. There is a daughter in our family who is 25 and she can make me the dress. It cost about 3500 T.shs for the material and another 1200 T.shs for the zipper, lining, and thread.

Town is about a 45 minute walk from our house but we could use the daladala. Daladala...hmm...it's a bit difficult to describe. They are the transportation system in towns. There is no schedule and you kinda just flag them down on their route. It costs about 200 T.shs to get a ride to town, but you might wait for half an hour in the sun just for one.

All us PCTs tried to use the Internet yesterday because it was our only "free" day since we got to TZ but the system was down. Luckily it's back up today. I changed the timestamp on blogger so now the time should be correct.

I'm amazed at how long it takes to cook! All water that will be used in food and for drinking has to be brought to a boil so it kills the bacteria, etc. and that takes forever. That's why we eat so late at night.

Oh, this morning I washed my underwear! Baby steps, right? The house helper washed my regular clothes a few days ago but washing your underwear is very personal. When you hang them out to dry you need to put a cloth over them otherwise it's like you being naked outside.

I'm trying to upload some pictures to our gallery. We'll see how many I can get uploaded before my time is up!

Note to new PCVs: Save room for a lot of stuff the PC will give you once in country. I could fill another backpack with the learning books and medical kit (like a small toolbox) that PC gave us. Also, please tell your family back at home that you probably won't be able to contact them for about three weeks once you leave the US.

First entry from Tanzania

2005-09-25T18:07:00.000+03:00

Hujambo!

I'm sitting in a small Internet cafe that has about 10 computers and quite fast internet. So much has happened since I got on the plane to staging in DC. However, I don't have enough time to write about everything. The sun is setting so it will be dark soon so we need to get back.

We flew into Dar es Salaam after many hours on the planes. Now we are training in a town. I won't put the name on my blog for security purposes but if you know me you can email me and I'll tell you.

Everyone of the 37 PCTs (Peace Corps Trainees) are doing fine. We are learning greetings and how to say I am from America, etc. Tomorrow we go to our host families. Russ and I will be in the same family. Food is great! Africa is awesome!

We are learning safey, security, and health training everyday. Our schedules are full. We have tea breaks twice a day and yesterday we got to go to town with a native speaker. I witnessed things I had never seen before. You can get everything you could possibly need here. There were many sad sights along the way as well. I saw a man lying down in the dirt with his left foot missing. The Masai tribe is selling their beautiful jewelry. $1 = 1000 Tanzania shillings. A beer costs 850 Tshs. ($0.85). Things are cheap but you have to bargain.

Take care and know that I think about all of you all the time! Sorry if I haven't replied to your emails. I should have more time to use the Internet in the coming weeks.

Staging in DC

2005-09-20T04:11:00.000+03:00

So Russ and I made it to DC for staging. We're learning about safety, security, and all that type of good stuff. There are about 37 of us volunteers and we're all getting along great!

The Adventure Begins

2005-09-19T12:51:00.000+03:00

So the adventure begins...

I'm nervous, excited, and scared.

I'll be writing in a paper journal everyday (hopefully). I'm guessing that a large part of my blog will be copied from my paper journal.

I'll try to communicate through this blog as often as possible. If you have any specific questions or just wanna send me a personal "jambo" then send me an email and I'll reply as soon as possible.

Uploading pictures may be difficult, costly, and time-consuming but I will do my best to show you Tanzania through my eyes.

Last weekend

2005-09-18T21:48:00.000+03:00

So this is Russ and my last weekend in the states for a long time. Catherine, Russ's sister, finally made it to Belfast for her study abroad program after a few problems. She has created a blog to write about her trip. Check it out.

Russ and I are just tying up loose ends here...well, actually I'm doing that while Russ drinks beer and watches MN lose to the Bengals. ;)

We're all packed, camera and headlamp batteries are fully charged, and we're eating some good southern food before we leave on our journey - hopefully we packed everything we need. I'll post our wish list for care packages a little later (when we know what we want).

Heifer International

2005-09-17T06:15:00.000+03:00

Just a quick note about one of my favorite organizations...

Heifer International works with many countries around the world to lift people from poverty. In short, using monetary donations that they receive, Heifer International purchases animals for families to help them "obtain a sustainable source of food and income." These gifts are also passed on to other families from the animals' offspring.

Check out this amazing story about Beatrice Biira of Uganda.

So if you ever wonder what to give someone as a Christmas gift, think about buying a family an animal in their name.

Heifer International

FOFEMA

2005-09-13T04:05:00.000+03:00

Just saw a snippet of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart where they introduced FOFEMA - the organization for when FEMA is in disaster...

Anyway, if you would like to know how to pronounce the Swahili words that I've posted previously go to the Kamusi Project Internet Living Swahili Dictionary.

ps. I'm starting to get nervous.

hello, please, thank you

2005-09-07T01:17:00.000+03:00

hello - jambo
please - tafadhali
thank you - ahsante

1-10

2005-09-05T16:48:00.000+03:00

So...while you're waiting to read about our adventures...why not learn some Swahili?

1 - moja
2 - mbili
3 - tatu
4 - nne
5 - tano
6 - sita
7 - saba
8 - nane
9 - tisa
10 - kumi

Kentucky

2005-09-01T17:20:00.000+03:00

Thanks so much to Russ for driving the WHOLE way (15 hours) to KY from MN. We drove through what remained of Hurricane Katrina when we got to Indianapolis. Now we're just chilling until we leave later in September for TZ.

Disconnected cell phone service

2005-08-31T05:22:00.000+03:00

Russ and I made it to KY just fine. We disconnected our cell phone service so don't try calling. I'll write more about the 15 hour drive later...zzzzzzzz

Leaving Minnesota

2005-08-28T17:17:00.000+03:00

The tour of Apple Computer was awesome! Russ and I picked up a few souvenirs that cannot be bought anywhere else in the world.

These last few days Russ and I have been packing...we had a nice little going away party last night and for those who turned out, they got to take home some "door prizes" (i.e. stuff that we didn't get rid of at the garage sale!).

My last soccer game is today, then it's getting the moving truck tomorrow, then we're on our way to Kentucky on Tuesday.

Samuel Clemens was right

2005-08-24T17:58:00.000+03:00

My mom told me a quote from Samuel Clemens (aka Mark Twain): The coldest winter I ever spent was summer in San Francisco. He was right - it's very cold here in the summer.

For the last two days Russ, Hannah, and I have been in the city. On Monday we met Hannah's friend, Yusan, at SF MOMA (San Francisco Museum of Modern Art) and walked around the galleries. I have been to two MOMAs this summer (the first one I went to was in NYC). We then ate lunch across the street in a park and watched a choreographers festival. We walked to China Town and then the Lombard Street (the crookedest street in the world!) then to Ghiradelli Square. Since we walked all that way we decided to treat ourselves with a cable car ride all the way across town. The conductor was very funny and kept making us laugh with his rants about how I let my friend stand next to Russ although Russ and I are together and let Yusan "drive" the cable car. We made it home to eat dinner, relax, and watch the end of The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou.

On Tuesday we made it to town again via CalTrain and then took a streetcar to pier 39 and fisherman's wharf (the tourist trap) where we walked up and down and looked at all the overpriced items suckers (like myself) buy. Hey - I only bought a magnet! We had tickets on a boat to go to Alcatraz at 12:45 pm so we got in line a little early. On Alcatraz, another tourist trap (haha...), there's a little gift store and a 15 minute video (probably made in the 80s), and an audio tour. You pretty much don't know what's going on if you don't spend the few bucks and get a head set so you can roam the jail cells looking like zombies being told what to look at one after another. It was an eerie place and I remember a quote by one of the former inmates saying something like: Everyday you could see what you're missing. He was right - you could see everything from that little island - the Golden Gate Bridge (if only the fog would have lifted that day), downtown, and everything across the bay. After we had enough of "The Rock" we headed back to downtown and took the 28 bus through parks and almost on the GGB to the GGB State Park where we rented bikes for an hour. Awesome bikes - terrible park. There were no signs and bikes had to stay on the roadways where cars were ripping by. And what kind of park has a four lane highway go right through it? If they improved the paths so that bikes and people have "designated lanes" and the weather is not fogging much of the time then perhaps I will return to that park.

Today we get a tour of Apple Computer because Hannah's roommate's dad works there. As you can imagine Russ is on top of the world!

Santa Cruz & wine country

2005-08-21T18:48:00.000+03:00

On Thursday Russ, Hannah, and I cruised down to Santa Cruz for fun. We stopped at Aloha Island Grill and had some ono Hawaiian food like lomi lomi salmon, poi, kalua pig, mahi mahi, loco moco, and junk kine macaroni. We drove to Capitola and walked along the beach. Cold water, lots of seaweed in and out of the cold water, and kids flying kites was the big picture. There were a bunch of tourist stores and I bought myself a bracelet made of real mahjong tiles (I hardly ever by things for myself, let alone jewelry). It was cloudy and cool when we arrived, but as we drove toward the west coast to take the 1 back to Sunnyvale, the skies became clear and the air warm.

On Friday we woke up really early (5:30 am) and drove to Pleasanton to see Hannah's roommate, Allison, swim, bike, and run a triathlon for fun (400 yard swim, 11 mile bike, 3.1 mile run). A fellow Teach for America person, Caroline, came along to watch as well. While Allison was swimming we made a very long sign for her while included embarrassing pictures of her past (printed off by Hannah) and a checklist that included "Swim _ Bike _ Run _" and we checked off each item as Allison completed them (good idea Hannah!). We had a nice brunch at Dean's Cafe in Pleasanton and headed off to wine country taking Caroline along.

Since I was little I had a dream of living in Napa Valley. I'm not sure why or how I got this image but I kept thinking it was the place for me so I had high expectations going there. It was not as I expected, of course. Tourists lined the main highway going into the wineries, it seemed dry (but Hannah says this is the dry season for California) and brown, and I didn't get a gut feeling for the place so really a no go by me. Quite frankly I know we could never afford anything there but it was nice to visit. We tasted the wines of the Diamond Oaks and Chateau Potelle wineries and laughed at a sign coming into the valley "Clearly Miles has never tasted Napa Valley Merlot"...or something like that. We went to the Robert Mondavi winery last and it was packed with tourists so we couldn't even taste the wines, but we took pictures in the grape vines so all was good. Sushi in Berkeley then to Sunnyvale for a good night's sleep. Today is Sunday and I think we're going to take it easy before we head the SFO tomorrow.

San Francisco

2005-08-19T19:30:00.000+03:00

Russ and I made it to SFO! We're here visiting a friend for a few days before our Peace Corps journey. Our plans include going to a flea market, seeing Alcatraz, dipping into wine country, and hopefully renting bikes for a day.

Lake Minnetonka

2005-08-17T15:33:00.000+03:00

Garbe, our friend who went to Antarctica and is returning this "summer", just bought a boat so we took it out on Lake Minnetonka. When Garbe picked Russ and I up we went to Jimmy Johns to get dinner and took Grand Ave...until we realised the road was closed. So, we were in a huge truck, with a boat on the back, and our only option was to go through the US Bank ATM area. We didn't hit anything, but it was close. Crusing on the lake was awesome! Although I didn't swim (sorry, I was raised near the ocean, not lakes) riding in the front with the wind blowing my hair all around was pretty neat. The only bad thing of the day was I forgot my camera! Garbe's uncle and cousin joined us and were quite the experts at water skiing, knee boarding, and wakeboarding.

Camp Mekokiko & donations

2005-08-16T03:32:00.000+03:00

My dad is in charge of building a camping site on the Big Island of Hawaii. It is situated up the mountain a bit just outside Honoka'a where I grew up. There is currently only one lodge with an outside bathroom. I grew up camping at many locations on Kauai, Maui, Oahu, and Hawaii and always had a wonderful time. If you like camping, would like to camp in Hawaii in the future, or just don't know what to do with your money, then donate to Camp Mekokiko. You could also donate to as aspiring photographer, Chris.

Returned PCVs

2005-08-14T04:29:00.000+03:00

Russ and I got the chance to meet about 15 RPCVs from Tanzania in Minnesota today. They meet every few years in a family cabin on the lake to catch up and have fun. It was about an hour and a half drive from the cities and it was a very nice day. They were all in the same group that went to TZ in the late 1990s and were educators and environmentalists. Many of them said to pack light and perhaps even no clothes at all! Chacos or Tevas, leathermans, and headlamps were necessities. Most everyone traveled around TZ during their time off but really only throughout TZ - one guy, after service, just went south until his money ran out then went back home! There were no married couples in their group of 44 people going into the PC but after service there were 4 married couples out of the group - one person married a Tanzanian. Russ and I were very fortunate to speak with them and learn about their experiences. We can't wait to have our own!

Packing List

2005-08-08T17:06:00.002+03:00

Lisa

Clothes
-linen pants
-nylon/polyester “quick dry” travel pants
-ankle-length exercise pants (not tight)
-running shorts (good under kangas)
-sleepwear
-2 t-shirts
-fleece (necessary for some parts of the country where the temperature dips below freezing)
-rain jacket
-3 skirts which go below the knee
-Slips are necessary (bring two because you'll need to wear one while the other is being washed)
-3 blouses (no bare shoulders)
-2 button shirts (short sleeve)
-sunglasses (prescription)
-2 pairs regular glasses (required by PC if you wear glasses at home)
-21 pairs of underwear (a good amount as you never know when you'll be able to do laundry next)
-3 regular bras (3 not necessary - 2 is a good amount)
-3 sports bras (3 not necessary - 2 is a good amount)
-3 bandanas (2 of them "buzz off" - thanks Matt & Deb!)
-10 pairs socks
-2 pairs nice black socks (never used)
-nice and comfortable dress sandals for teaching or giving seminars in
-hiking shoes
-Chacos (A Peace Corps Volunteer necessity)
-running/sports shoes

Toiletries (you can get most all of these things in country)
-large two compartment bag for toiletry items
-toothbrush and 1 spare
-large toothpaste
-floss
-travel deodorant
-soap in container
-wash cloth
-small towel
-travel shampoo & conditioner
-hairbrush
-razor & replacement blades (I did not shave for two years due to laziness and fear of infections so these went unused)
-moisturizing sunscreen SPF 15
-small mirror
-tweezers
-anti-itch cream & dramamine
-4 mini packs of tissue
-roll of tp in plastic bag
-small bottle of liquid hand sanitizer
-feminine hygiene products (including the highly recommended keeper)
-fingernail/toenail clippers (very necessary)
-hair accessories
-2 chap sticks
-6-month supply of prescription meds
-everyday meds (PC will give you a big medical kit with all of the regular over-the-counter meds you will ever need...so just bring whatever you need for the plane ride and a week or so afterwards)

Russ

Clothes
-nylon/polyester “quick dry” travel pants
-running shorts
-sleepwear
-2 board shorts
-2 cotton or synthetic dress or casual pants
-belt
-5 button-down shirts (mix of short & long sleeved)
-tie
-sports jacket(it was sent back home with Russ's dad as it was never used)
-gray slacks
-5 t-shirts
-fleece
-rain jacket
-sunglasses
-2 pairs regular glasses (required by PC if you wear glasses at home)
-7 pairs of underwear (a good amount as you never know when you'll be able to do laundry next)
-10 pairs socks
-2 pairs nice black socks (never used)
-brown dress shoes
-hiking shoes
-running/sports shoes

Toiletries (you can get most all of these things in country)
-large two compartment bag for toiletry items
-toothbrush and 1 spare
-large toothpaste
-floss
-travel deodorant
-soap in container
-wash cloth
-small towel
-travel shampoo & conditioner
-hairbrush
-razors and shaving cream
-small mirror
-tweezers
-4 mini packs of tissue
-roll of tp in plastic bag
-small bottle of liquid hand sanitizer
-fingernail and toenail clippers (very necessary)
-6-month supply of prescription meds
-everyday meds (PC will give you a big medical kit with all of the regular over-the-counter meds you will ever need...so just bring whatever you need for the plane ride)

Russ & Lisa shared items

Gear
-recipes & cookbooks ask your PC country for PC cookbooks from past PCVs...those are awesome and appropriate to what you will be able to buy in country
-1 knife sharpener
-3 Swiss Army knives
-1 Leatherman tool (very important)
-2 LED headlamps with 3 AAA batteries
-rechargeable AA and AAA batteries and charger (the adapter blew so these went unused)
-combination lock (unnecessary)
-plastic bags (unnecessary)
-sewing kit with safety pins
-photos of family and friends (a hit with everyone)
-4 nalgene water bottles
-2 money belts
-2 small wallets
-cash (be warned: when I left Tanzania, PCVs were no longer allowed to store cash or travelers cheques in the PC office safe)
-credit cards (not sure if you can store these in the pc safe any longer...)
-watches (Timex Expedition with alarm and new battery)
-packing tape
-2 pairs small scissors (one is good enough, otherwise they are available here)
-journal
-notebook (available in country)
-small notebook for writing grocery/market items (available in country)
-plastic document/file folder
-tiny address book
-2005, 2006, & 2007 monthly planners
-a dozen black ball-point pens, a few color ball-point pens (available in country), -permanent markers
-North Face Jester daypack
-duffel bag
-Granite Gear Nimbus Latitude 3800 Frame Backpack
-duffel bag for transporting the Nimbus
-hard case luggage piece
-4 carabiners
-ziplock bags
-35 mm point and shoot camera with film (recommended along with a digital as you will want to take pictures of your friends and give them copies - just bring an older junky one and give it away when you leave)
-5900 Nikon digital camera with accessories, two rechargeable li-ion batteries, and one 1 GB memory card (this camera worked great the whole time abroad)
-iPod 512 MB shuffle, headphones and armband (stolen, but I got a replacement – flash drives are a necessity here) +R
-Cards, apples to apples card game, hacky sack, 2 jump ropes (these ended up going to the kids of our host family), juggling balls (these too), and Russ's tin whistle
-1 ball inflating needle
-Globetrotter map of Tanzania
-Globetrotter map of Kenya
-World Map
-Map of USA
-Lonely Planet guide to Tanzania by Mary Fitzpatrick (3rd. ed. 2005)
-Swahili phrase book (good to get a head start on the vocab)
-PC paperwork, Volunteer Handbook, personal stuff, etc. Be warned: you will receive TONS of paperwork from PC after you arrive in country so leave lots of space in your bags!
-small sleeping bag
-10 clif (energy) bars
-Book: Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond

Gifts for host families
-2 pencil cases with pencils, eraser, and sharpener
-2 Minnesota oven mits/pot holders
-a few calendars
-Kentucky crafts
-Hawaiian fabric
-toys for children

Items we regret not bringing with us
-small short wave radio and/or speakers for ipods (my parents sent these to me - and they actually got here!)
-calculator (I was going to teach math and forgot a calculator! My parents sent me a bunch of solar calculators once I got to country, though.)
-a hat (but got one in country)
-a larger (wall size) map of the world
-a larger (wall size) map of the USA (people will want to know where exactly you are from!
-a laptop would have been nice for writing grants, blog entries, and watching movies, but we lived without the fear of it being stolen - which does happen

Really, you can get almost anything here in Tanzania...people have regretted bringing so much! My suggestion: pack light. You will love all the beautiful TZ material here and will want to have clothes made and leave room for all the books, paperwork, and other gear that PC will give you!

Our 1 year wedding anniversary!

2005-08-08T17:01:00.000+03:00

Russ and I were married on this day one year ago in Hawaii. It was an awesome wedding and I'm so glad that our friends and family were there to celebrate with us. Just over a month to go and then were off for Tanzania!!!

Chacos - oh my gosh!

2005-08-07T17:04:00.000+03:00

Yesterday Russ and I went on some errands to get stuff we need for the PC while we still have a car (it's being sold). At REI I went to buy Chacos because I've heard from current PCVs and friends that they are the best. So as I was browsing the sandal section a young woman, about our age, who worked there, asked if we needed help. So I said we were going to the Peace Corps and then she screamed "Oh my gosh! That's so great! I'm in the process of applying!" and I know everyone in that section heard her and people were looking but it was great to see someone so excited about the Peace Corps and our adventures. She was wearing a pair of Chacos with toe loop so I tried that one on and compared it to the Chacos without a toe loop and other brands. My feet felt much more stable with the toe loop so we purchased those (with toe socks of course)!

Peace Corps Tanzania Overview

2005-08-05T17:19:00.000+03:00

Peace Corps Volunteers in Tanzania work primarily in the fields of education, environment, and health. The follow paragraphs were taken from the Peace Corps website and describe the different fields of work in Tanzania.

In January 2000, a new School Health Education Project in Tanzania was launched. The project aims to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS and increase healthy lifestyle among youth. Using a peer education and life skills model, Peace Corps Volunteers work in primary and secondary Schools as well as with out-of-school youth.

Education
Secondary education is a major focus of the Peace Corps program in Tanzania. The country has a critical shortage of math and science teachers at the secondary school level and, due to lack of financial and human resources, the Ministry of Education is not able to attract the number of teachers that it requires. Current Volunteers teach mathematics, geography and science in both private and public schools.

Volunteers are also involved in teacher training, resource identification and development, curriculum improvement, extracurricular and community projects. Volunteers incorporate issues important to the surrounding community into their lesson plans. Many Peace Corps Volunteers in this project have involved HIV/AIDS issues, environmental education, computer instruction, leadership development and school infrastructure development into their learning activities.

Environment
Volunteers work with district government extension teams and local residents to improve management of natural resources. They focus on such issues as land degradation, soil improvement, environmental education and implementation of agroforestry techniques with an emphasis on working with women and youth.

Health
The school health education project aims to significantly and positively impact on the health knowledge, health attitudes, and health behaviors of Tanzanian youth, particularly in the area of HIV/AIDS prevention. A wide range of health education interventions are employed in the classroom, the school, and the broader community to reach students, teachers, out-of-school youth, and community members. Volunteers are assigned to secondary schools where they serve half-time as teachers of science and integrate relevant health content into their teaching. As health educators, they also promote school health initiatives, such as clubs, workshops, and exhibits, at their schools and other secondary and primary schools. Developing peer education and life skills training programs with both in-school and out-of-school youth is also part of their work.

Travel guide and map

2005-08-03T16:48:00.000+03:00

Woo hoo! The Tanzania travel guide by Lonely Planet (3rd. 2005) and Globetrotter map have arrived! I'm glad that I could buy a travel guide that was published in the same year I am going to that country. There are so many national parks in Tanzania it would take months to visit them all!

Resumes and aspiration statements sent & Notice

2005-07-29T20:12:00.000+03:00

Russ and I finished revising our resumes and wrote our aspiration statements and sent them to the Tanzania staff. We were asked to write about our expectations of our PC service, strategies for adapting to a new culture, and personal and professional goals for our PC service. It's nice to have that done so we can concentrate on selling our car, packing, and researching Tanzania and teaching.

Also, I submitted my letter of resignation to my boss today who let the whole company (11 people) know that I am leaving for the Peace Corps. They are sad to see me go but very interested in my decision and wish me luck in East Africa!

Yahoo groups

2005-07-28T20:51:00.000+03:00

I was looking around at the links on my blog and noticed that at tupo.org (the site for returned tanzanian pcvs) that Isaac posted a message about what to bring to Tanzania because he will be leaving in September. I wrote him an email saying that Russ and I are leaving in September too! Since Isaac had heard from another person who is in our group, Aaron, he created a Yahoo group called PCVTanzaniaSeptember05 (see link to the right) so that anyone in our group and anyone interested in PC service in Africa can chat, etc... Pretty neat, eh?

Map of Tanzania

2005-07-25T18:33:00.000+03:00

Russ and I immediately took passport pictures and sent in the information for a Peace Corps passport because it takes six weeks to process and we leave in eight! We are currently revising our resumes and typing up our aspiration statements which will be sent to the PC staff in Tanzania. A map of Tanzania follows...

Map from Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection

Tanzania Flag

2005-07-23T15:05:00.000+03:00

Black: the People
Green: the Land
Blue: the Adjoining Sea
Golden: the Mineral wealth

Our Application Process

2005-07-23T03:58:00.001+03:00

My husband, Russ, and I applied for the PC online on December 2, 2004. We had picked up a paper application at the office in Minneapolis a few months earlier so we could gather all the information needed to apply online. We received a call from our recruiter the next week asking if we could come in for an interview before she left for vacation. We were interviewed on December 12, 2004. We didn't heard back from our recruiter until almost two months later where she mentioned that there were two positions available for married couples in the region of Africa departing in June and July. Our selected regions were Eastern Europe and Asia so we said we would keep those assignments in mind but asked her to look for assignments in our selected regions. Our recruiter called us a week later saying the only thing she could see for us was an information technology assignment for Russ and a math teaching assignment for me in Sub-Saharan Africa. By this time we were already reading about the countries in the African continent, which ones had French as their official language, which countries the PC goes to, etc...so we said YES! Our recruiter nominated us for these assignments on March 7, 2005. We received our medical and dental packets on March 14, 2005 and began making appointments. We mailed our packets together to DC on April 6, 2005. We received email notifications that our application status has changed on April 14, 2005 so we checked and we both were dentally cleared. Then we both received an email about a status change and we checked our status online to find out that the medical office has received our physical exam forms on April 20, 2005. (It's nice that they update both of us at the same time!) We were both medically cleared on July 4, 2005. We both received placement clearance on July 14, 2005 and then received notice that our invitation was in the mail on July 21, 2005! We received our invitation on 22 July, 2005 to Tanzania and accepted our assignment leaving on 19 September, 2005.