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.
Friday, January 8, 2010
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.
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Site Announcement
So, sorry I didnt get to upload the last post last weekend, but this should bring you up to date a little more.
So last week we got our site announcements and I dont think I could be much happier with mine. Its in Hanang district, Manyara province, which is kind of north central TZ. I apparently on the side of the 4th highest mountain in TZ too, which should be pretty cool for hiking and such. And I also heard that the kenyan olympic long distance runners train somewhere around me.
Ill be the first volunteer at the school Im going to, which is kind of what I was hoping for. This way Ill get to set up my house exactly how I want it and will be able to really blaze my own trail. On the down side, I dont think my house will have much and Im a fair way out of the nearest town, so setting it up could be quite the chore and require several trips to town and return trips loaded down with supplies. But Im super excited.
Two other trainees are going to the same district, and we will be the only education volunteers there, although there are already several health and environment volunteers in the area. I dont know much more than this, other than I supposedly will have electricity and my toilet is outside. I should learn more in another week or so and then I move there in about 2 and a half weeks.
Training is nearing an end to. Tuesday we have our final written language exam and then we go on our volunteer shadow visits. Im going to Tanga region, and will supposedly be on the coast so ill get one last dip into the ocean before I move to the center of the country.
Thats all for now, Ill try to update again sometime after I get back from shadow, but Im not making any promises. If I have electricity, there is a good chance Ill be able to set up some sort of internet once I move to my sight which will make communicating and updating my blog considerably easier.
And my tanzanian wardrobe is coming along quite nicely. I just picked up my second shirt today, and now that I have the hang of things a bit better, I paid exactly half of what I paid for my first shirt. There are these fantastic pieces of fabric called kitenges( though the plural in Kiswahili would be vitenge), that come with all sorts of different and awesome designs and patterns. You can then take them to a fundi (tailor) and they will make you a shirt for the equivalent of a couple dollars. There is another type of fabric called kikoi, which has tassles on the edges so Im planning to look around town for that this weekend, and might get a third shirt made before I head to site. Most of the Tanzanians dig it when you wear clothes like these and I really like them, so I might have quite the wardrobe by the time Im done here.
Take care. Kwa Heri.
So last week we got our site announcements and I dont think I could be much happier with mine. Its in Hanang district, Manyara province, which is kind of north central TZ. I apparently on the side of the 4th highest mountain in TZ too, which should be pretty cool for hiking and such. And I also heard that the kenyan olympic long distance runners train somewhere around me.
Ill be the first volunteer at the school Im going to, which is kind of what I was hoping for. This way Ill get to set up my house exactly how I want it and will be able to really blaze my own trail. On the down side, I dont think my house will have much and Im a fair way out of the nearest town, so setting it up could be quite the chore and require several trips to town and return trips loaded down with supplies. But Im super excited.
Two other trainees are going to the same district, and we will be the only education volunteers there, although there are already several health and environment volunteers in the area. I dont know much more than this, other than I supposedly will have electricity and my toilet is outside. I should learn more in another week or so and then I move there in about 2 and a half weeks.
Training is nearing an end to. Tuesday we have our final written language exam and then we go on our volunteer shadow visits. Im going to Tanga region, and will supposedly be on the coast so ill get one last dip into the ocean before I move to the center of the country.
Thats all for now, Ill try to update again sometime after I get back from shadow, but Im not making any promises. If I have electricity, there is a good chance Ill be able to set up some sort of internet once I move to my sight which will make communicating and updating my blog considerably easier.
And my tanzanian wardrobe is coming along quite nicely. I just picked up my second shirt today, and now that I have the hang of things a bit better, I paid exactly half of what I paid for my first shirt. There are these fantastic pieces of fabric called kitenges( though the plural in Kiswahili would be vitenge), that come with all sorts of different and awesome designs and patterns. You can then take them to a fundi (tailor) and they will make you a shirt for the equivalent of a couple dollars. There is another type of fabric called kikoi, which has tassles on the edges so Im planning to look around town for that this weekend, and might get a third shirt made before I head to site. Most of the Tanzanians dig it when you wear clothes like these and I really like them, so I might have quite the wardrobe by the time Im done here.
Take care. Kwa Heri.
Sorry for the long absence and Daily routine
What Ive been doing so far.
I've just completed the fifth week of training and things are going great so far. Sorry Ive not updated at all, but are days are pretty full, and it takes a fair bit of time to get to the internet. To give you an idea of what its like here, heres my typical day monday through thursday.
6:00 am Wake up, although I've usually been awakened by some random noise by this time. I usually end up laying in bed till like 630ish
630, breakfast of egg, cucmber and bread with tea
715ish, leave for school on my fresh Peace Corps issue bike
730 arrive at school, I like to study a bit or review the lesson I have planned for the
half hour before the day starts
8-920, internship teaching, I teach a form three class two days, roughly equivalent to 11th grade, and a form 1 class two days, roughly equivalent to 9th grade
920-3ish, kiswahili class interspersed with tea and chai breaks
3ish, return home and either study, prepare lessons, read, or meet some friends at the bar next door for a beer or soda and sometimes a game or two of cribbage.
6ish, we dont have electricity so at this time I usually stop studying and will hang out in the kitchen with mama david, I help cooking a little, and have learned to cook some tanzanian dishes, but my specialty is pili pili, which is like a hot pepper sauce we put on everything and is fantastic. It goes great with rice beans and spinach.
8ish,dinner time
830ish, pumzika time, (aka rest time) then I have a bucket bath, brush the teeth, and am usually asleep a little after 9, to start the cycle all over again.
Fridays and saturdays are different. Fridays we go to cct, where all of our training groups come together and we have sessions on everything from health to how to teach. Saturdays are either cct or kiswahili days and sundays are free days, that are usually spent doing laundry. This is also when ill go to town to use the internet and buy tp and anything else I might need.
Thats all for now, but there will be more soon.
I've just completed the fifth week of training and things are going great so far. Sorry Ive not updated at all, but are days are pretty full, and it takes a fair bit of time to get to the internet. To give you an idea of what its like here, heres my typical day monday through thursday.
6:00 am Wake up, although I've usually been awakened by some random noise by this time. I usually end up laying in bed till like 630ish
630, breakfast of egg, cucmber and bread with tea
715ish, leave for school on my fresh Peace Corps issue bike
730 arrive at school, I like to study a bit or review the lesson I have planned for the
half hour before the day starts
8-920, internship teaching, I teach a form three class two days, roughly equivalent to 11th grade, and a form 1 class two days, roughly equivalent to 9th grade
920-3ish, kiswahili class interspersed with tea and chai breaks
3ish, return home and either study, prepare lessons, read, or meet some friends at the bar next door for a beer or soda and sometimes a game or two of cribbage.
6ish, we dont have electricity so at this time I usually stop studying and will hang out in the kitchen with mama david, I help cooking a little, and have learned to cook some tanzanian dishes, but my specialty is pili pili, which is like a hot pepper sauce we put on everything and is fantastic. It goes great with rice beans and spinach.
8ish,dinner time
830ish, pumzika time, (aka rest time) then I have a bucket bath, brush the teeth, and am usually asleep a little after 9, to start the cycle all over again.
Fridays and saturdays are different. Fridays we go to cct, where all of our training groups come together and we have sessions on everything from health to how to teach. Saturdays are either cct or kiswahili days and sundays are free days, that are usually spent doing laundry. This is also when ill go to town to use the internet and buy tp and anything else I might need.
Thats all for now, but there will be more soon.
Saturday, October 3, 2009
TKID
"this is kiswahili dude" - Vivian, my lcf (kiswahili teacher)
Just a quick update to let everyone know I am alive and well. Tanzania is wonderful, the people warm and quick to smile, and the language extremely interesting. I'm in the middle of my 9 week long training right now, and hopefully will be proficient in Kiswahili by the end, though I know it will take some work.
Thats all for now, I'll write a longer post from my home computer, and upload it, hopefully sometime within the next week or two.
tuta onana baadaye
Just a quick update to let everyone know I am alive and well. Tanzania is wonderful, the people warm and quick to smile, and the language extremely interesting. I'm in the middle of my 9 week long training right now, and hopefully will be proficient in Kiswahili by the end, though I know it will take some work.
Thats all for now, I'll write a longer post from my home computer, and upload it, hopefully sometime within the next week or two.
tuta onana baadaye
Monday, September 21, 2009
Staging
It's 7:30 the morning of my departure. The last week and a half seemed very hectic and went by quite fast, but I do feel like I'm ready. Packing was a major chore. I was attempting to fit the contents of the following two pictures,
Into the following bags,
It was a tight fit, but I made it. They're safely under the weight limits but still quite heavy.
Staging is today in Philadelphia, and then tomorrow I travel to New York for my flight to Dar Es Salaam. I'll update with more details once I arrive in country. To anyone I haven't seen before I left, good bye for a while, and if I did see you, good bye again. I'll miss you all.
Into the following bags,
It was a tight fit, but I made it. They're safely under the weight limits but still quite heavy.
Staging is today in Philadelphia, and then tomorrow I travel to New York for my flight to Dar Es Salaam. I'll update with more details once I arrive in country. To anyone I haven't seen before I left, good bye for a while, and if I did see you, good bye again. I'll miss you all.
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