School Starts

Vacation IS OVER!

I am starting to get use to the African way, every thing falls in the “gray area”. By gray area I mean if you say “I will be there!” translation “If the planets a-line and if God wants me there I will do my best to be there.” One of my teachers I think put it best the other day, “Everything in Africa will happen soon…but soon rarely comes.” “Mungu akipenda,” if God likes (God must like to be late in Tanzania). It definitely has its down sides with trying to be ambitions here and get things down and organizes things, but when in Rome; do as the Romans. I have a felling that I might have to use this for my benefit.

Well all the students are back from holiday and are reporting this week to school. The school doesn’t feel like a ghost town anymore and it’s starting to feel like a school around here. Students are just reporting this week, which my understanding is mandatory for them to be here but is not enforced…so classes in theory will start next Monday, we will see. While students are reporting this week we teachers are grading exams for the A-Level practice exams. The Math department has the most number of tests because every student has math, and it has been a tedious process. After three days of four of us grading we should wrap things up in the morning. When I say four I mean me and the other teachers if God wants them there. I spent the first day by my self grading for the first four hours, and was the last one there too. It’s been a good experience getting to know some of my teaching staff, and I am getting familiar with the material. The teachers and I had a good laugh about them getting paid for grading and me “volunteering” to do it. The teachers are actually getting paid extra above their salaries to grade these exams and me free labor from America (The irony just occurred to me). Don’t get me wrong, I came to do what ever I can to help there educational system I happy to be doing my part.

I have started opening the computer lab for students two nights a week and it seams to be going well (it gives me time to type my blog) and make my self available for A-level students before their exams. So far the students I think have just come to try and test the new teacher, a student came with a integration problem that took me a couple of hours at home to get worked out and one sleepless night, reminded me of college. Some times the best way to solve a problem is to go to bed and try it in the morning, but it always seams follows me to bed. The computer lab is great because it’s the only air-conditioned building at our school. Right now we have eight working computers and I am hoping to try and get some more working, my knowledge of computers is being challenged. There is another IT specialist at the teachers college in my region I am hoping can help me out with my knowledge gaps.

It is a bit challenging for me because the volunteer before me was a computer teacher and his knowledge of computers was a lot more than I. So teachers are coming to me with problems with their own computers and the lab computers aren’t all working and I am expected to fix them with my magic computer wand. It has been hard to try and replace a volunteer. People expect the same from you good things or bad things and I have to remind them even though we are both Americans we are very different people. But easier said then done, a lot of people have known a lot about America and won’t change their minds. First: All Americans are rich and money is not an issue, All Americans are white, All Americans own a gun, and my favorite All Americans have a magic computer wand I keep mine in my back pocket. For the most part I try and educate them about our culture but I have had conversations with people who had intense denial that there are Muslims living in America.

In short I have gained a lot of respect for foreigners in new and different cultures. When coming to Tanzania it was obvious I was going to have to adjust to cultural differences like the big three: language, religion, and food. But have realize just how deep culture runs!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

I don’t know where to begin it has been almost a month since my last entry… Well I am moved into my new house, and it’s starting to feel like home. I got a fresh coat of paint on the walls and my hammock stretched out in my living room, very nice for an afternoon nap or a quiet place to read a book. I just finished reading Green Hills of Africa by Ernest Hemingway, Dad you have to read this book its about big game hunting in Africa (Tanzania and Kenya) and he talks about Elk hunting in the Rocky Mountains it made me home sick but just about anything makes me homesick now a days especially around the holidays.

I have been spending my time doing everything but teaching. Most the students have been on break since I have got here so I don’t start teaching until the second week in January; I am really looking forward to start teaching. It’s still unclear what classes I am teaching it seems that every time I talk to the head of the math department his story changes, the lack/miss communication has been a bit frustrating but from what I have heard from other volunteers that have been in country they say “get use to it.” I got my bike running really good and have been riding that every day around my village and up in the mountains. I busted up the rim the other day and it took me half a day to get it fixed (Dad the vice grips were great advice), a reminder that everything is a little harder hear with lack of resources and that the bike has to last me two years. I have been enjoying cooking a lot at my house everything from pizza to beef stock. I have been getting my bread recipe down and find the hardest part is keeping the ants away while the dough rises.

For Christmas I had another Peace Corps volunteer Nora, a Korean volunteer, and two students from the Netherlands over to my house for beef stroganoff, the power went out that night so we cooked with charcoal and celebrated by candle light, A Christmas I will never forget. We did a white elephant gift exchange and sat around and played liars dice. For my white elephant gift Nora and I went to sabasaba for our gifts. Sabasaba is a huge out door market on Sundays it’s like a giant flea market. The biggest thing people go for is clothing and the majority of it is used clothes from the states. Some of the shirts that you see people wearing are pretty funny considering they probably do understand what they say, like “Dip me in honey and through me to the lesbians” or “Americas Next Miss America” I found some pretty cool shirts for my self. When you ask them the price it is ridiculous so you have to bargain with them, it’s a lot of fun to practice my Swahili and bargain with these guys if you can make them laugh your in, but it is hard being white they perceive you as having a lot of money and always try and rip you off. While we were walking around the auction part of the market a guy came up and was telling me to come see his shirts, which is not that unusual. But what was unusual was he was touching me and grabbing my shirt to follow him, which was annoying. While telling him off and trying to get him to stop with out being physical; his friend came up and bumped into to me and I grabbed his hand as it was already half-way down my front pants pocket going for my money. Both the guys ran away before I could think twice, if I would have cried “THEIF” the men would probably been beaten to death, the Tanzania believe that mob brutality against thieves is more affective then police and the court system. It’s a catch 22 because you want them men to be punished but at what cost, it would be hard to have someone’s death on your shoulders…but no harm they didn’t get anything and got away. I was flustered for a while about the incident and was shook up more than I thought I would be I expected that it would probably happen sometime while I was here and thought I would just be considered with the material loss. Having another guys hand in your pocket feels very evasive.

Now is Tanzania’s short rainy season and the hottest part of the year. So ya I sweat, I sweat a lot here. The good thing about this time of year is that its mango and pineapple season and they are delicious to say the least. I had never eaten fresh mangos like I have here in Tanzania; I try and eat one everyday so good. With most good things there are consequences…possible death. My house is surrounded by mango trees which is great most of the time because they provide great shade and keep my house cool. My neighbor has this HUGE mango tree that is bigger then the cotton would trees in my back yard in the states. This mango tree drops about 200 delicious but deadly mangos from it every day. The mangos are the size of softballs and are pretty heavy and walking out of my house I now keep my eyes up at its branches because I have had a couple of very close calls and there is no way to avoid passing under this massive tree, I have to walk under it every time I leave my house. The second I hear one dropping through the leaves I pull my head in like a frighten turtle and walk a little faster. The only time I feel safe is when I am on my bike and have my helmet on, thinking about wearing it as a permanent fixture but I am sure I would be referred to as the crazy white person on top of the hill, for now I keep my eyes to the heavens(literally).

Some people have been asking about cheap ways to call me and through the volunteer grapevine one of the best ways is through Nobelcom.com which is a calling card that is cheap. Love reading your messages on the leave a little love section! Congratulations to Jeff and Corey on graduating, keep me in touch on your plans. Well my meat loaf and peas and carrots smells about done so I should go, ya I am eating good hear maybe better than at home because I have the time to cook and lots of fresh vegetable(so you don’t have to worry Mom).