4-2-2010
Today was our teachers versus students soccer game and it was quite the event. None of the women teachers wanted to play so in order to field an entire side, teachers from the neighboring secondary school and one or two primary schools came to play on the teachers side. We were a rag tag looking bunch, some people with no shows, some in their teaching clothes, some in boots. The students on the other hand, at least looked like a team in their brand new uniforms. A few had cleats even. Around the field was the rest of the students and they were quite into the game cheering and singing the entire time, but they were especially into it when the student team was on the attack. The field was super rough though. Most of it was covered in thick knee high weeds, US Open third cut-esq. In some of the deeper
spots the ball would be completely covered. It was super hard to run in and you had to really drill the ball in order to get it to go where you wanted. It was also full of those little thorny balls that get all over you and are impossible to get off. The only places where the grass wasn't like this was in the trenches that served as the lines, which really came out of nowhere and more than a couple times I thought I was going to break an ankle. To make it a bit more challenging, there was also a few little termite mounds at random spots, hidden by the grass, acting as yet another hazard.
The game:
Prior to today, I think it had been at least a year and half since I had played any soccer what so ever and that was just one game after a previous year or two drought. So needless to say, I'm not in any kind of soccer shape. I didn't do much in the game, especially the first half. The second half was a bit better as my legs started to come back to me and I managed to make some good tackles. What I didn't seem to have a problem with was falling down: on several occasions I tripped and fell just trying to run. Every time I fell the ref called a foul, which helped us out on defense. I also managed to get kicked in the face and the crouch, both by the same kid. The crouch shot was I think the second most direct and painful one in my life (5 hours later and I'm still hurting). In the end we ending up losing only 4-1, which I thought was respectable. Tomorrow I think I'll be quite sore, and a full day of busses I don't think will do anything to alleviate that.
School was good this week. We finally divided Form 1 into streams, so instead of teaching 1 class of close to 100 students, I now teach three of about thirty students. While this makes the school day much more busy, with virtually no down time, the classes I think are going better.
Thats all for now, I have a 5 am bus to catch so I'm gonna get to sleep.
Friday, February 12, 2010
Teaching is Tough
31/1/2010
School is well under way now, though I think probably about a third of the students have yet to show up. But almost all of the teachers are here and teaching is under way. I only have my form 3 physics class twice a week and then I've been teaching the form 1 orientation once or twice a day. I'm not the only one teaching that anymore, a schedule has been drawn up and I only get 1 or 2 periods a day. And I think only about half of the form ones have shown up so they haven't divided them into streams yet. While this means I only have to teach each lesson once, instead of three times, one to each stream, the class is quite large now, around 70 or 80 kids, which makes teaching quite tough. I think once the orientation is over and I'm teaching math and physics to smaller classes it will get a bit easier, but it will still be hard.
I finally started my garden last week too. I didn't do much of the work, instead 7 form one kids came over and did most of the work. At the end of the day students have to do chores around the school, and these kids were excited to get to help me garden instead. They cleared all my weeds and then tilled my garden. Then I tried to explain the perma-garden method we learned and together we sort-of have one bed of a permagarden. With the rest of my space they just planted seeds how they do in their fields at home. This group of kids are now like my enforcers in class, yelling at everyone to quiet down.
This coming thursday, we are having a staff vs students soccer game, which should be interesting. Aside from 2 or 3 teachers, most of the staff doesn't seem the soccer type. And I'm quite out of shape myself, but it should be fun. The next day though, I have to get up at 4 to try and make my way to moshi for a H1N1 (swine flu) vaccine the next day, provided by peace corps. The 3 buses I need to take could be even more uncomfortable than usual if I'm as sore from soccer as I think I'll be. But I'm excited to see moshi at least. Its a big touristy place so you can get all sort of western style food, so I plan to splurge and eat well while there and by a few goodies for my site too.
That's all for now, might do a bit of cleaning before bathing. Then its off to the neighbors to watch the African Cup of Nations final: Egypt Nigeria. Should be a good one. Watching this tournament has been making me excited for the World Cup, and I should find out this week if I got tickets so stay tuned.
Ciao!
School is well under way now, though I think probably about a third of the students have yet to show up. But almost all of the teachers are here and teaching is under way. I only have my form 3 physics class twice a week and then I've been teaching the form 1 orientation once or twice a day. I'm not the only one teaching that anymore, a schedule has been drawn up and I only get 1 or 2 periods a day. And I think only about half of the form ones have shown up so they haven't divided them into streams yet. While this means I only have to teach each lesson once, instead of three times, one to each stream, the class is quite large now, around 70 or 80 kids, which makes teaching quite tough. I think once the orientation is over and I'm teaching math and physics to smaller classes it will get a bit easier, but it will still be hard.
I finally started my garden last week too. I didn't do much of the work, instead 7 form one kids came over and did most of the work. At the end of the day students have to do chores around the school, and these kids were excited to get to help me garden instead. They cleared all my weeds and then tilled my garden. Then I tried to explain the perma-garden method we learned and together we sort-of have one bed of a permagarden. With the rest of my space they just planted seeds how they do in their fields at home. This group of kids are now like my enforcers in class, yelling at everyone to quiet down.
This coming thursday, we are having a staff vs students soccer game, which should be interesting. Aside from 2 or 3 teachers, most of the staff doesn't seem the soccer type. And I'm quite out of shape myself, but it should be fun. The next day though, I have to get up at 4 to try and make my way to moshi for a H1N1 (swine flu) vaccine the next day, provided by peace corps. The 3 buses I need to take could be even more uncomfortable than usual if I'm as sore from soccer as I think I'll be. But I'm excited to see moshi at least. Its a big touristy place so you can get all sort of western style food, so I plan to splurge and eat well while there and by a few goodies for my site too.
That's all for now, might do a bit of cleaning before bathing. Then its off to the neighbors to watch the African Cup of Nations final: Egypt Nigeria. Should be a good one. Watching this tournament has been making me excited for the World Cup, and I should find out this week if I got tickets so stay tuned.
Ciao!
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Teaching has begun
21/1/2010
I finally started teaching this past week. The schedule of periods wasn't finished until wednesday, but since only 4 of my 31 periods are not form 1, I wasn't missing out on much. Since the form ones have their 6 week orientation before the subjects begin, I began teaching orientation. The first day of it was quite the shock. The text for the orientation course provides fairly detailed lessons for the entire orientation, but the lessons assume either the students are already quite good at english or else that the teacher speaks Kiswahili (neither is true in my situation). So I sort of fumbled through the few lessons I “taught” this week, trying to explain in kiswahili as well as english, but I don't think the students comprehended the vast majority of what I was teaching. The schedule for the orientation will be done for next week, so I won't be teaching all of it then, and I hope the students make significant progress by the end of their 6 weeks, otherwise I think this will be a long year as I have form 1 for the vast majority of my periods.
In other news, I had ordered a kind of table/dresser to be made from a fundi in my village the other day. Its like a tall table with two shelves underneath and I plan to use it as a dresser. I ordered it on sunday, and they delivered it to my front door today, via cow-drawn cart. I was quite impressed with the rapid turnaround, and since the table looked good and sturdy (it was super heavy, I struggled to move it once it was inside) I ordered a coffee table from him as well. Once I have that, I think I will be done buying stuff for a while. I still have a significant amount of stuff I've yet to unpack. I'm not entirely sure what it all is, but with the table I got today, and the one I should get tuesday, I think I will finally have space for everything. While the fundis were here dropping off my table/dresser, and some stuff my neighbor had ordered, the also put a handle on my courtyard door. I've been waiting almost the entire time I've been here for that. A fundi came once to fix my door the first week I was here, and I told him I wanted him to come back to put the handle on, and he said OK, but he never returned. All is well though.
On the bat front, they are still here, and I may additionally have rats. I saw one in my store room outside the other day, so I'm assuming they are in here too, but hopefully not. I might buy some rat poison to sprinkle around the corners of my house. And if anyone knows how to get rid of bats, I would love to know so please send me an email. Thats all for now, time for a nice warm bucket bath.
I finally started teaching this past week. The schedule of periods wasn't finished until wednesday, but since only 4 of my 31 periods are not form 1, I wasn't missing out on much. Since the form ones have their 6 week orientation before the subjects begin, I began teaching orientation. The first day of it was quite the shock. The text for the orientation course provides fairly detailed lessons for the entire orientation, but the lessons assume either the students are already quite good at english or else that the teacher speaks Kiswahili (neither is true in my situation). So I sort of fumbled through the few lessons I “taught” this week, trying to explain in kiswahili as well as english, but I don't think the students comprehended the vast majority of what I was teaching. The schedule for the orientation will be done for next week, so I won't be teaching all of it then, and I hope the students make significant progress by the end of their 6 weeks, otherwise I think this will be a long year as I have form 1 for the vast majority of my periods.
In other news, I had ordered a kind of table/dresser to be made from a fundi in my village the other day. Its like a tall table with two shelves underneath and I plan to use it as a dresser. I ordered it on sunday, and they delivered it to my front door today, via cow-drawn cart. I was quite impressed with the rapid turnaround, and since the table looked good and sturdy (it was super heavy, I struggled to move it once it was inside) I ordered a coffee table from him as well. Once I have that, I think I will be done buying stuff for a while. I still have a significant amount of stuff I've yet to unpack. I'm not entirely sure what it all is, but with the table I got today, and the one I should get tuesday, I think I will finally have space for everything. While the fundis were here dropping off my table/dresser, and some stuff my neighbor had ordered, the also put a handle on my courtyard door. I've been waiting almost the entire time I've been here for that. A fundi came once to fix my door the first week I was here, and I told him I wanted him to come back to put the handle on, and he said OK, but he never returned. All is well though.
On the bat front, they are still here, and I may additionally have rats. I saw one in my store room outside the other day, so I'm assuming they are in here too, but hopefully not. I might buy some rat poison to sprinkle around the corners of my house. And if anyone knows how to get rid of bats, I would love to know so please send me an email. Thats all for now, time for a nice warm bucket bath.
School has opened/Stones into Schools/I hate bats!
16/1/2010
Well school is officially opened as of this past monday, though classes have yet to begin. I hopeful they will start monday, but we shall see. It seems the standard mode of operation for schools opening goes something like this. The first week or so is dedicated to cleaning the classrooms and doing a bit of work on the school grounds, like weeding and such. Knowing this is the case, most of the students choose not to come right when school opens. When they do arrive I think varies greatly from school to school, and here at least we went from 30ish on monday to maybe somewhere between 100 and 200 on friday out of roughly 600 total students. Thats excluding the form ones, who aren't due to arrive till monday. Most of the teaching I'm doing is in form one so if a fair amount show up on monday, I want to start teaching. Stay tuned for updates.
I received Stones into Schools in the mail as a christmas present from my aunt Judy and uncle Neil (thanks heaps you two). It is written by Greg Mortenson, the author of Three Cups of Tea. I haven't read that one yet, but I've been aware of it for some time, thanks to Adam Rones, though I didn't know entirely what it was about. Greg Mortenson runs an NGO that builds schools in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and they try to aim at girls in particular. His new book focuses mainly on their Afghanistan operations, which they began roughly 6 years after beginning in Pakistan. The book is focused around one school in an extremely, uber-remote area of Afghanistan, with lots of other anecdotes along the way. I highly recommend this book to all, and I wanted to give it a short plug on my blog, per the request to do so at the end of the book, in a list of ways to help. I believe if you purchase the book from amazon, part of the proceeds go back into the NGO.
I hate bats. They scare me and keep me up at night. Last night (the second time this has happened) when I woke around 2 to use the toilet, after I had crawled back in bed I began to hear a shuffling around among my bags. I had heard this before. The first time I was really creeped out because in the dark, or even with the light on I couldn't quite tell what it was. The morning after the first time I saw that it was a bat (not a mouse or rat as I feared) managed to get it outside. Last night was noiser than the first time, so I was thinking that maybe it was indeed mice or something this time. I did not get out of bed to check but instead put on my headphones and attempted to go back to sleep. In the morning I didn't see anything but the corner of my spare room that is always filled with little turds (bat droppings I assume) days after sweeping was extra full. Nevertherless, I went about my morning.
I had some bread, fruit and coffee for breakfast then went outside to start weeding my courtyard and do a little gardening. I had planned to do my courtyard, plant a little bed, then move on to my big garden rea outside, but halfway through the small bed in the courtyard I was starting to get a bit tired and I also realized I didn't remember how to properly double dig a bed like we had learned at training. So I did a crappy bed in my courtyard, planted some green peppers and tomatoes, and deciding to postpone the big garden a few days or a week.
Then when I was cutting veggies for my lunch, I heard the squeaking noise coming around my trash bag. I got a stick and nudged the bag a little and could see the tip of a wing, so I went next door and told my neighbor and he just walked in, picked it up, and took it away. I hope I don't have anymore incidents for a few days at least so I can get a proper nights rest. In the meantime, however I finally hung my mosquito net. There aren't any mosquitos here so I had been slow in getting around to hanging it. Now it will serve duly as a mosquito net AND as a bat net.
Thats all for now. Cheers!
Well school is officially opened as of this past monday, though classes have yet to begin. I hopeful they will start monday, but we shall see. It seems the standard mode of operation for schools opening goes something like this. The first week or so is dedicated to cleaning the classrooms and doing a bit of work on the school grounds, like weeding and such. Knowing this is the case, most of the students choose not to come right when school opens. When they do arrive I think varies greatly from school to school, and here at least we went from 30ish on monday to maybe somewhere between 100 and 200 on friday out of roughly 600 total students. Thats excluding the form ones, who aren't due to arrive till monday. Most of the teaching I'm doing is in form one so if a fair amount show up on monday, I want to start teaching. Stay tuned for updates.
I received Stones into Schools in the mail as a christmas present from my aunt Judy and uncle Neil (thanks heaps you two). It is written by Greg Mortenson, the author of Three Cups of Tea. I haven't read that one yet, but I've been aware of it for some time, thanks to Adam Rones, though I didn't know entirely what it was about. Greg Mortenson runs an NGO that builds schools in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and they try to aim at girls in particular. His new book focuses mainly on their Afghanistan operations, which they began roughly 6 years after beginning in Pakistan. The book is focused around one school in an extremely, uber-remote area of Afghanistan, with lots of other anecdotes along the way. I highly recommend this book to all, and I wanted to give it a short plug on my blog, per the request to do so at the end of the book, in a list of ways to help. I believe if you purchase the book from amazon, part of the proceeds go back into the NGO.
I hate bats. They scare me and keep me up at night. Last night (the second time this has happened) when I woke around 2 to use the toilet, after I had crawled back in bed I began to hear a shuffling around among my bags. I had heard this before. The first time I was really creeped out because in the dark, or even with the light on I couldn't quite tell what it was. The morning after the first time I saw that it was a bat (not a mouse or rat as I feared) managed to get it outside. Last night was noiser than the first time, so I was thinking that maybe it was indeed mice or something this time. I did not get out of bed to check but instead put on my headphones and attempted to go back to sleep. In the morning I didn't see anything but the corner of my spare room that is always filled with little turds (bat droppings I assume) days after sweeping was extra full. Nevertherless, I went about my morning.
I had some bread, fruit and coffee for breakfast then went outside to start weeding my courtyard and do a little gardening. I had planned to do my courtyard, plant a little bed, then move on to my big garden rea outside, but halfway through the small bed in the courtyard I was starting to get a bit tired and I also realized I didn't remember how to properly double dig a bed like we had learned at training. So I did a crappy bed in my courtyard, planted some green peppers and tomatoes, and deciding to postpone the big garden a few days or a week.
Then when I was cutting veggies for my lunch, I heard the squeaking noise coming around my trash bag. I got a stick and nudged the bag a little and could see the tip of a wing, so I went next door and told my neighbor and he just walked in, picked it up, and took it away. I hope I don't have anymore incidents for a few days at least so I can get a proper nights rest. In the meantime, however I finally hung my mosquito net. There aren't any mosquitos here so I had been slow in getting around to hanging it. Now it will serve duly as a mosquito net AND as a bat net.
Thats all for now. Cheers!
Friday, January 8, 2010
Furniture
8/1/10
I finally got some furniture, a chair and love seat combo. I had told my headmaster I wanted a couch so when I got to his town, he took me to a furniture shop with american style couches for like 600,000 TSH which is WAY more money than I get to live on here, so I told him I want a kawaida (regular) couch and he took me to another place where I got the pair for 80,000 TSH, though that was just for the wooden frames, I still had to pay 48,000 for the cushions. Buying these was one thing though, but I was really nervous about them surviving the ride home on the top of the dala. I bought them in Babati and there is a dala that goes directly from there to my village, but it goes to several other places along the way. All in all, with stopping in different villages and due to a couple exceptionally muddy/flooded parts of the road, it was about an 8 hour trip home. The sky was threatening rain the entire time to, and I was sure my cushions would be completely soaked and ruined but luckily the rain didn't really start until later that night.
When we did get back, the driver didn't want to go all the way to my house, but when I seemed upset he reluctantly went. When we got there they made me pay 5 times what I had already payed for the fair, but I was exhausted and grumpy and in no mood to argue so I gave them the money and happily relaxed a bit with my new furniture.
I also met a neighbor who had just returned, she had been on holiday since before I arrived. Shes a really nice, youngish women, and she gave me dinner last night since I got home lateish and had no food to speak of.
Today, I took the bike that I had also bought in Babati to the fundi (mechanic) for a servicing.He basically dismantled the entire thing, rubbed grease all over all the pieces, and then put it back together. The ride home was quite smooth, though not all the gears work. I'm not sure if this was a problem before the tuneup, or if the fundi screwed something up. I'll have a look later this weekend and see if I can figure it out or I'll take it back to him. That took the entire afternoon, and since it was 7 by the time I returned, my new neighbor fed me again tonight.
Thats all for now. I plan to do some food shopping this saturday and clean and do laundry sunday so ill be set for all this week because school finally opens monday. I don't think this means I start teaching yet, though I'm not sure. At first they told me that I would be teaching on monday, but a teacher today told me that the students usually don't come right away, so it'll likely be a week or so before teaching begins. Ill try to keep you posted.
Kwa herini.
I finally got some furniture, a chair and love seat combo. I had told my headmaster I wanted a couch so when I got to his town, he took me to a furniture shop with american style couches for like 600,000 TSH which is WAY more money than I get to live on here, so I told him I want a kawaida (regular) couch and he took me to another place where I got the pair for 80,000 TSH, though that was just for the wooden frames, I still had to pay 48,000 for the cushions. Buying these was one thing though, but I was really nervous about them surviving the ride home on the top of the dala. I bought them in Babati and there is a dala that goes directly from there to my village, but it goes to several other places along the way. All in all, with stopping in different villages and due to a couple exceptionally muddy/flooded parts of the road, it was about an 8 hour trip home. The sky was threatening rain the entire time to, and I was sure my cushions would be completely soaked and ruined but luckily the rain didn't really start until later that night.
When we did get back, the driver didn't want to go all the way to my house, but when I seemed upset he reluctantly went. When we got there they made me pay 5 times what I had already payed for the fair, but I was exhausted and grumpy and in no mood to argue so I gave them the money and happily relaxed a bit with my new furniture.
I also met a neighbor who had just returned, she had been on holiday since before I arrived. Shes a really nice, youngish women, and she gave me dinner last night since I got home lateish and had no food to speak of.
Today, I took the bike that I had also bought in Babati to the fundi (mechanic) for a servicing.He basically dismantled the entire thing, rubbed grease all over all the pieces, and then put it back together. The ride home was quite smooth, though not all the gears work. I'm not sure if this was a problem before the tuneup, or if the fundi screwed something up. I'll have a look later this weekend and see if I can figure it out or I'll take it back to him. That took the entire afternoon, and since it was 7 by the time I returned, my new neighbor fed me again tonight.
Thats all for now. I plan to do some food shopping this saturday and clean and do laundry sunday so ill be set for all this week because school finally opens monday. I don't think this means I start teaching yet, though I'm not sure. At first they told me that I would be teaching on monday, but a teacher today told me that the students usually don't come right away, so it'll likely be a week or so before teaching begins. Ill try to keep you posted.
Kwa herini.
Happy New Year
31/12/09
Hello all, merry christmas and happy new year. Christmas was a bit different for me this year and understandably so. I went to a nearby town to stay with a volunteer there. There were five of us in all so at least we weren't alone. Its the short rainy season now though so the dirt roads around me are becoming quite treacherous and nearly impassable in parts. Coming back home after christmas, what should have been a 2 hour bus ride turned into an 8 hour ordeal. Once we had to wait while at least 5 trucks and buses stuck in front of us managed to dig themselves out or eventually get towed out by a tractor. Once that mess was cleared up, we started to move again, but within minutes, we were stuck and after an unsuccessful attempt to dig our bus out, we had to sit and wait for a tractor. Needless to say, it was quite a relief when we finally made it home.
Christmas itself was nice, though kind of bleak. We awoke to pouring rain, so we ate a bit of the leftovers from the night before, and then sat around playing cards and listening to christmas music for hours. When the rain started to lighten, me and another volunteer went in search of a chicken that was meant to be delivered that morning but never was. After walking through random fields and asking anyone we ran into if we could buy a chicken, we began to return empty handed. We then went to a neighbors to ask if we could buy one of theirs. We though they said we could take a small one, but instead they brought us some cooked chicken and rice. And then after eating it they said we could take one of their small chickens, which we didn't do though im not sure why. When we returned however there were two chickens at the front door, one dead and headless, the other alive and clucking. Two of the other volunteers had managed to find a chicken and after they had killed it, someone we had talked to earlier had showed up with another chicken for us, but we turned it down.
I thankfully managed not to take any part in the killing or cleaning of the chicken, only the eating.
For new years, I treated myself to some wine that I will drink tonight with some sort of pasta. I'll try my best to make it to midnight, but I'm not optimistic. I'm also a bit bummed. I was planning to make gnochis but was unable to get potatoes so I'll try that another day.
Two mondays from now the school is meant to open, so I will finally have something to day, rather than cooking, cleaning, reading, and vegging, which has occupied most of my days here thus far. I'm hoping to be able to get a bike and a couch before school starts but I'm not optimistic, and I think I'll likely have to settle for one or the other.
Thats all for now. Sorry for rambling a bit, but hope you enjoy.
Hello all, merry christmas and happy new year. Christmas was a bit different for me this year and understandably so. I went to a nearby town to stay with a volunteer there. There were five of us in all so at least we weren't alone. Its the short rainy season now though so the dirt roads around me are becoming quite treacherous and nearly impassable in parts. Coming back home after christmas, what should have been a 2 hour bus ride turned into an 8 hour ordeal. Once we had to wait while at least 5 trucks and buses stuck in front of us managed to dig themselves out or eventually get towed out by a tractor. Once that mess was cleared up, we started to move again, but within minutes, we were stuck and after an unsuccessful attempt to dig our bus out, we had to sit and wait for a tractor. Needless to say, it was quite a relief when we finally made it home.
Christmas itself was nice, though kind of bleak. We awoke to pouring rain, so we ate a bit of the leftovers from the night before, and then sat around playing cards and listening to christmas music for hours. When the rain started to lighten, me and another volunteer went in search of a chicken that was meant to be delivered that morning but never was. After walking through random fields and asking anyone we ran into if we could buy a chicken, we began to return empty handed. We then went to a neighbors to ask if we could buy one of theirs. We though they said we could take a small one, but instead they brought us some cooked chicken and rice. And then after eating it they said we could take one of their small chickens, which we didn't do though im not sure why. When we returned however there were two chickens at the front door, one dead and headless, the other alive and clucking. Two of the other volunteers had managed to find a chicken and after they had killed it, someone we had talked to earlier had showed up with another chicken for us, but we turned it down.
I thankfully managed not to take any part in the killing or cleaning of the chicken, only the eating.
For new years, I treated myself to some wine that I will drink tonight with some sort of pasta. I'll try my best to make it to midnight, but I'm not optimistic. I'm also a bit bummed. I was planning to make gnochis but was unable to get potatoes so I'll try that another day.
Two mondays from now the school is meant to open, so I will finally have something to day, rather than cooking, cleaning, reading, and vegging, which has occupied most of my days here thus far. I'm hoping to be able to get a bike and a couch before school starts but I'm not optimistic, and I think I'll likely have to settle for one or the other.
Thats all for now. Sorry for rambling a bit, but hope you enjoy.
Friday, December 18, 2009
Forgive My Absence
Hello all. Sorry I haven't written in so long. By the time I post this, I will have been at my site exactly three weeks. It's going great, though I have heaps of down time and it can get quite boring. I'll start with where I am.
My site is a bit of a pain to get to. Although it appears I'm right in the middle of the country on a map, in reality there are no paved roads that last few hours in either direction, which makes it quite bumpy. When you do get to my banking town, Katesh, you've still a bit of a ways to go to reach my school and you have a couple options. Option one: if you reach Katesh early enough, there are two dalas that go to my town (though they make a stop on the way, and sometimes wait there for several hours.) Option two: take a dala to the town where my two stop and wait, and walk for close to two hours. Its a great walk, up rolling hills with farmland all around and these gorgeous trees with purple flowers.
My school is about a 20 or 30 minute walk from my village, but it is great. I can get the basics in my village, and the school has a pretty stocked storeroom full of beans and unga wa mahindi (the flower for making ugali).
Im really happy with my house too. Its a duplex, so it can be noisy at times, but the neighbors are great. I have 3 rooms (2 bed rooms and 1 big room) and then in my courtyard are a storeroom, my kitchen, my choo, and bafu (room for taking bucket baths).
Right outside of my courtyard is a fair sized space for gardening too. I have not started yet because there is a bunch of mchicha (like spinach) there right now and I dont want to just dig it up. But in our last week of training we had a day of permaculture training and I really want to start my permagarden, or at least get my living fence growing before our longer, week long permaculture training in a couple months.
School doesn't start for a few more weeks and lot of the teachers are gone, so like I said, its a bit boring here. But I've been staying occupied with buying things I need for my house. Since this is a new site, my house was pretty bare. I've gotten most of the essentials for cooking and such but I still dont really have any furniture, which can be annoying, but Im going with my second master in a couple days to order some.
I know I havent written much, I havent used the internet sincee ive been here, and I probably wont write too frequently in the next month or two. But once I am more situated, I'll work out a routine to regularly use the internet and Ill try to make more frequent posts.
If anyone every feels like calling to say hello, your more than welcome. Its not that cheap, but there is a calling card you can get online that is the cheapest Ive heard of, called Pingo. If you want to call, send me an email and Ill give you my phone number, or you can ask my parents or brother for it if you dont want to wait for me to check my email again.
Thats all for now. In case I dont write again, merry christmas and happy new year.
My site is a bit of a pain to get to. Although it appears I'm right in the middle of the country on a map, in reality there are no paved roads that last few hours in either direction, which makes it quite bumpy. When you do get to my banking town, Katesh, you've still a bit of a ways to go to reach my school and you have a couple options. Option one: if you reach Katesh early enough, there are two dalas that go to my town (though they make a stop on the way, and sometimes wait there for several hours.) Option two: take a dala to the town where my two stop and wait, and walk for close to two hours. Its a great walk, up rolling hills with farmland all around and these gorgeous trees with purple flowers.
My school is about a 20 or 30 minute walk from my village, but it is great. I can get the basics in my village, and the school has a pretty stocked storeroom full of beans and unga wa mahindi (the flower for making ugali).
Im really happy with my house too. Its a duplex, so it can be noisy at times, but the neighbors are great. I have 3 rooms (2 bed rooms and 1 big room) and then in my courtyard are a storeroom, my kitchen, my choo, and bafu (room for taking bucket baths).
Right outside of my courtyard is a fair sized space for gardening too. I have not started yet because there is a bunch of mchicha (like spinach) there right now and I dont want to just dig it up. But in our last week of training we had a day of permaculture training and I really want to start my permagarden, or at least get my living fence growing before our longer, week long permaculture training in a couple months.
School doesn't start for a few more weeks and lot of the teachers are gone, so like I said, its a bit boring here. But I've been staying occupied with buying things I need for my house. Since this is a new site, my house was pretty bare. I've gotten most of the essentials for cooking and such but I still dont really have any furniture, which can be annoying, but Im going with my second master in a couple days to order some.
I know I havent written much, I havent used the internet sincee ive been here, and I probably wont write too frequently in the next month or two. But once I am more situated, I'll work out a routine to regularly use the internet and Ill try to make more frequent posts.
If anyone every feels like calling to say hello, your more than welcome. Its not that cheap, but there is a calling card you can get online that is the cheapest Ive heard of, called Pingo. If you want to call, send me an email and Ill give you my phone number, or you can ask my parents or brother for it if you dont want to wait for me to check my email again.
Thats all for now. In case I dont write again, merry christmas and happy new year.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
