Peace Corps Blog

The Peace Corps Experience

2009-11-24T03:56:00.000-08:00

After a 24 hour journey, I am finally home for good! It feels excellent to have finished two years of service, excellent to see family and friends again, and, so far, excellent to be once again anonymous within the general population. It might be hard to believe I'm speaking of Philadelphia when I say that everything here is so nice, ordered, and beautiful. The most striking thing is the lack of trees in the city, and lack of soil visible in general.

Was it Worth It?
I was told recently, by incoming Peace Corps Volunteers, that many people read blogs before deciding to join. While I'm still gaining perspective on the experience, I thought it might be helpful to state some general ways I feel these two years abroad have changed me, for better or for worse.

On the brighter side of things, I'm definitely a more patient, flexible, and assertive individual. I can eat pretty much anything, wash clothes by hand, navigate woods in the dark, and wash dishes without any water. I feel ok with dealing with the possibility of having intestinal worms, whereas before you would have to sedate me to even talk about that, and can hold a minority opinion strongly. I can speak Swahili, cook for 15 people, make brownies from scratch, and hike in heals. How useful this is in the U.S. I don't know. I can also communicate across language and cultural borders and somewhat better control my temper. I am more patriotic and proud of being an American.

But with the good come the bad and the ugly. My feet will never look the same. I'm a huge hypochondriac and, what's worse, enjoy talking about it. Cynicism has yet to turn into realism in some areas, and I have no problem telling people not to speak to me that way and if they keep on doing that where they can go immediately. I don't know how to use an iphone or what to say when people ask "how was Africa", and suppressing the urge to bargain with the cashier while shopping at Target is going to be difficult.

So there it is. Hopefully the readjustment back home won’t be as painful as everyone tells me it’s going to be. Thankfully I have a beautiful family and group of friends, who have been incredibly supportive these past two years and very open-armed now that I am returning. THANK YOU to everyone who kept in touch, you have no idea how many times it cheered me up and gave me the motivation to stay when times got tough.

Peace.

Do Microfinance Loans Work? The Amkeni Pottery Collective

2009-09-15T08:08:00.000-07:00

There was a recent New York Times Magazine dedicated to women’s issues. I found it really interesting and thought I would put in my two cents after working on Women’s Empowerment here in Tanzania.

So, does microfinance work? Yes!
Is there enough opportunity for loans out there? Definitely Not!

It seems like the people who receive loans are in the right place at the right time. Luckily for the Amkeni Women’s Group in a neighboring village, I was posted here in Usangi to work at their disposal.

I met Mwanaidi, the group’s executive officer, when I was facilitating a seminar with students for the Usangi Women’s Empowerment Project. She had heard about our seminars, and came on a whim. We talked a little and started meeting up every so often and slowly became friends. She eventually told me about her own organization, a small women’s group.

The Amkeni Women’s Group had started a few years back by a group of friends. All had been affected by HIV in their families either directly or indirectly. All of them were concerned about education in the community. They started helping each other and other families in need by monthly contributions, as well as holding educational meetings at primary schools and singing songs about these issues at public events. They love to sing!

By the time I met the entire group, there were 15 women total. They were motivated to do more in the community but had no means of generating income for such projects. They were barely feeding their families and putting kids through school. Most women either worked family farms or cut and sold firewood at the market to make what little they could.

Mwanaidi approached me about starting a pottery collective to make and sell pots at a market near Arusha. I was at first hesitant, but she was really motivated. I outlined the format of a grant proposal and said “you write it, I will translate”. This is exactly what happened, and a week later I had a grant proposal in Swahili in my hands, budget and all.

I was now more convinced that it would be worth the effort to become involved, so I translated the grant into English and started working with the entire group on details. Details, it turns out, can be difficult when 15 people are involved, especially when they have demanding schedules and an average of 10 people in their household who they support! Many meetings followed.

Usually I would come to their meeting house and greet for 15 minutes while we waited for all the women to come. A discussion inevitably ensues on who isn’t there and speculation the reasons why. Mwanaidi calls the women to order and we start our meeting. She welcomes me to speak, and I ask questions. Discussion begins on what action to take. The views of those not present are speculated, then it is discussed again why they aren’t at the meeting and eventually what their brother-in-law did last week that was really taboo and Mwanaidi calls the women to order. I am welcomed to speak and I raise another question on scheduling. Different options are discussed but it is brought up that one person who is absent wouldn’t be able to do that because her little sister did so-and-so things last week and now the Imam is very angry and Mwanaidi calls the women to order. This process repeats until I wish Peace Corps had given a session on how to stop village women from gossiping. When it starts to get dark they start to sing and I go home feeling hopeful!

But in the end all the details worked out, I submitted our grant (VAST) and we were approved. A spinning machine was purchased and training started. Success! 6 women were fully trained and the other 9 are continuing to learn after one month with a teacher. They already have pots to sell. Moreover, these women have P.U.R.P.O.S.E. when they come to work, because they are excited to be able to come to work. They are productive and motivated and have involved their entire families in this effort. Apparently you can gossip and mould clay at the same time!

The moral of this story, I guess, is that these mircrofinance grants can do wonders IF the people are motivated to go 90% before even getting the money. In places like Tanzania, those people are all around, they just need a hand at the other end to reach for.

Usangi Women's Empowerment Pictures

2009-02-27T01:43:00.001-08:00

Usangi Women's Empowerment Project

Pictures

Summary:

7 Seminars discussing HIV/AIDS, Drug Abuse, and Life Skills

9 Villages in Usangi District

150 Participants

40 Students from Lomwe Secondary School Form IV, V, VI

Chomvu Village (9 November, 2008)

Ndorwe Village (23 November, 2008)

Vuagha Village (30 November 2008)

Kiriche Village (18 January 2009)

Kirongwe/Lomwe Villages (25 February, 2009)

Kilaweni Village (1 February, 2009) Students: Azizi, Lucas, Mwanaidi, Aisha, Sadiki - Form V, Lomwe Sec.

Ndanda Village (15 February, 2009) Students: Mary, Margreth, Monica, Zaituni, Innocent, Bonaventure, Godfrey - Form IV, Lomwe Sec.

Update 27/2/09

2009-02-27T01:29:00.000-08:00

Update 27 Feb, 2009

Hello Family and Friends, I apologize for failing to update in so long! Things have been pretty busy here since starting the new year. I am now teaching at two secondary schools (another one in my area was in dire (sp?) need of a math teacher) and finally get to use my pc-issued bike. Everyone also laughs at the helmet, but I've gotten used to that!

The new school, Kighare, is a community government school and very different from Lomwe (which is private). There are about 70-90 kids per class, and 4 teachers. I broke up a fight the other day in an adjacent classroom. When there are no teachers around there is very incentive for the kids to study, so it can get rough.

This year is going extremely well, although I still miss home. To compensate for my lack of updates, I have decided to pack this one with Pictures. Enjoy!

School

We acquired internet at school. I don't' get it, for the first year at Lomwe the computers were unusable, and suddenly we have internet?!?! It would be very convenient except for the fact that its a 56 KB speed. 56 KB! So its like almost having internet. I get to load pages slowly and then look at them until they computer gets overwhelmed and shuts the page down. Still, I guess I shouldn't complain since it beats a 4 hour busride. Anyway, I have had a lot of fund working with teachers at the school on integrating Internet into classroom studies, and showing the beauties of wikipedia. The downside...they can read this blog (Hello Mr. Ndekero!) so I can't write any gossip anymore...or lies..... The pic is of Mr. Mvungi, Mr. Senkoro, and Madam Mfinanga while we are checking out gmail.

I'm also having fun Form IV students to whom I teach computers. They also Peer Educated during the Seminars I was facilitating (see Usangi Women's Empowerment Post). Here they are posing, practicing for the Miss Dar competition.

Visitors

In early February I was overjoyed to receive my one and only Ma, sister Dr. Molls, and the ever-cool Aaron. I was so busy visiting with them, I forgot to take pictures except these two flattering morning pics. I had all of these activities planned when they got the village, but we ended up just spending time in my house instead. Much-needed quality time, and it was wonderful. Ma and Molls were coming from a month working in a hospital in Uganda. Thanks for stopping by guys! After the visit Aaron climbed Kili. Poa kichisi kama ndizi bro!

I also had some sitemates come for a long-awaited visit! The pic is of Hari, me, Martha and Leiha (who ran from there villages all the way to my house). We had a little too much fun, especially with my neighbors Eva (in black) and Mama Baracka (in green). Good times.

BABY!!!!

My friend Irene had a Baby, Bryson, on January 26th, 2009 at 5:30am. Thankfully, the birth went smoothly, but he was sick soon after coming out so had to stay in the hospital a week. He was so small, 2kg (4.4 pounds)! He had an IV and a feeding tube, which was just heartbreaking to see.

A month later he's up to 3 kg and looking a lot better. Look at the those cheeks!

He cries quite a bit, but when he calms down we hang out. He's a nice guy; Great taste in music but limited attention span. We take naps together in the evenings. Welcome to the world little guy!

Hangin' Out

When not at school, having visitors, or holding Bryson, I'm usually just hanging out these days with the villages locals i.e. children.

We draw and joke around and even read the financial times for fun. Usually I hang out and read while they play around.

And the following montage is what happens when you let an 8 year old play with the camera: Tabu
Playing Hollywood Star Doctor
Baraka Studying

Cooking in the Kitchen

Shangaa!

Halima

Random

This tree fell at 4am one morning. It was huge! I heard it fall even though it was all the way down in the valley, and it sounded like a big crunch.

Thanks for checking the Blog out. I will try to be more diligent with my updates. I hope you are well!

-Hils

Update and Pictures 17/11

2008-11-16T23:26:00.000-08:00

Things are going along as usual in Lomwe! It is just about a year since I got here, so to commemorate that holiday I decided to take a picture of the local butchery. Yes, those are cow's feet in the lower right hand corner. And now it may seem reasonable that I have become a de-facto vegetarian in the village.

Also, my students have started teaching Women's Emporment Seminars with myself and another teacher in the community. I am so proud of them, especially since they are teaching sensitive subject involving HIV/AIDS and have been doing so very professionally. Below is one of my form VI students discussing transmission....
....and some of the girls with a sign advertising the seminar. We ended up waiting for the village chair to come and open up the community center for an hour, but when it started raining and our participants were getting wet waiting for the show to get on the road (so to speak) I ran to a local hoteli and asked to use that space instead. It worked out in the end, although while we were waiting for the village leader to show up I lapsed into a catatonic chant of (This is Africa) until my students asked if I was ok. Waiting has never been a strength of mine....

Also, we recieved trainees to our site recently and took them on a hike to the bottom of the mountains where there is a waterfall (which is actually vertical in real life..its not THAT different this side of the equator). It was a beautiful day, and I couldn't help thinking how lucky it is to be living out here!
The hike was refreshing and very VERY good excersize, especially coming back up. I hope everyone is well, and miss you all so much! Sorry this update is so short, I think I'm still winded from that hike! -Hils

2008-10-20T02:56:00.000-07:00

Top 10 Activities for a Weekend in the Village

(In no particular order)

Piga Hodi (visiting other people in the village). "Hodi" is what you say when approaching a Tz household to say hello. I can't think of an English equivalent in a single word. This pic below is a mural painted by the children of my neighbors on their wall. There are no other decorations. The family is not well off at all, and its the kind of house where the chickens bunk in as well, but they have tons of love, and I thought it was so cool that they had written "one love" in english on the wall.

Coloring with the neighborhood children. Thanks to various gifts from my mother and Aunt Bonnie of coloring supplies, every child in the village of mshewa knows the subtle yet important difference between royal and navy blue. We have a good time, for sure. Here below are Neema (4) and Navuella (2) who are sunday afternoon regulars.

Getting Lost in the Mountains. Even after a year of hiking I still get nervous when 4pm rolls around and I am five mountains away from home. The hiking is beautiful, COME VISIT AND SEE! I always run into extremely nice people, occasionally students home for the weekend, and almost always primates. The last time I went I ran into a very old very drunk man who thought I was chinese and spoke beautiful english. Also a mother who supports her 8 children by making sugercane ale (thus explains the drunk man) and a couple of grandmothers who gave me pictures of their sons and told me to pick one. That's what i call a good day!

Science Club with star students. Below are Margreth, Mary, Zaituni, and Monica who are very intellegent young women from my 3rd year physics class. They, along with other students, are currently building and doing experiments with the very cool Solar Powered Fuel Cell Car thank my Uncle Pete so generously supplied (Thank you Uncle Pete! A letter of thanks is on the way!). At the end of the term they are going to make a presentation for the whole school, poster and all, about how it works, and I'm stoked at focused they are on this project!

10 Ducklings! They are adorable but the mama is very, VERY protective. As it turns out, duck bites do not hurt that much. I of course make her angry by holding them all daily, and am hoping they get used to me. Although, it is probably not a good idea to get attached. In celebration we are eating the non-laying-egg female duck tonight for dinner. I will most likely cry while chowing down, but it least it is not beans.

Teaching Guitar to students on the weekends. We don't get very far, and usually end up with me playing and them singing various Bongo Flava (Tanzanian Pop) songs. I only know two, but boy can we rock out. Still, its a good time, and if Mozart helps increase brain power, Bongo Flava has got to have some benefit, right?!?Teaching computer using the one that Ma sent me (thanks ma). It is the most durable thing ever, and has already been christened with: water, chai, tomatoes, pasta, candle wax, dirt, and probably other stuff I don't know about. But its still up and running 100%, and the kids have gotten really into it, using the word program to write stories about their families and lives which I will have to post here sometime/translate into english.

KILLER ANTS. I kid not. This threat is real and terrifying. The rainy season just started and there were more ants than grains of dirt. Have you read the Poisonwood Bible? It was like that. They eat chickens, for the love of Mungu, and perhaps small children, so we had to elevate all fowl for a few days. One morning I awoke to find that ants had taken over my kitchen and couldn't go in it for a couple of days. I would have taken a picture but I was too busy FREAKING OUT (the pic below is of my and a neighbor, Baraka). Thankfully, with the help of my neighbors and some bug spray left by Betty and Peter (thank you thank you thank you) they were expelled from the house. Cooking and hanging out with my neighbors. This is my favorite thing to do when not teaching. Below is Mwanaidi, my neighbor's housegirl. They rarely let me help cook (and if you have tasted my cooking you know why) but I have other uses including chopping wood, fanning the fire, and spontaneously breaking out in song. This is the core of most cultures: food and conversation. Tanzanians do it well.

Remember family back home. I had the joy of going back and seeing people for my sister's wedding (doesn't she just look beautiful) but it made me more homesick than ever. Luckily, I have tons of pictures which I enjoy sharing with neighbor's and village guests, so if you come visit they will already know who you are!

July 5th, 2008: The Joys of Travel

2008-07-05T01:19:00.000-07:00

It's been forever since I have updated, but the last few months have been crazy.

1st: I got a male duck (below) who has made my Lady ducks ever so happy! They basically follow him around everywhere (which I find sad but whatev...) and I'm hoping for some ducklings soon!
2nd: I went on a rockin safari with my spectacular sister Betty and Brother-in-law Peter. We had a great time, it was such a treat, saw basically everything, lived the life of luxury, and the best part of all, I got to see some loved ones after a long time of missing them!
We also hung out with a pride of lions in Ngorongoro...my personal highlight!
3rd: After the Safari and a few days at site, I took a trip with other PCV's out west (by train...30 hours...I'm surprised we all survived) to Kigoma to Gombe National Park. This is the place where Jane Goodall studied chimpanzees. When trekking through the jungle in the park we ran into none other than JANE GOODALL and for 70 years she looks spectacular and is incredibly nice. I did everything a fan would do except say "You are the COOLEST scientist EVER!" and was all wide-eyed. It was fantastic.
Of course, seeing the chimps was spectacular as well !Lake Tangyanika is beautiful, especially swimming during sunset. It was a spectacular vacation but I'm ready to go back to teaching (and sleeping in my own bed). I'm also broke.......
P.S. Coming home in August! Can't wait to see everyone!

Pictures! and "you know you're a pcv in Tz when..."

2008-05-17T02:27:00.000-07:00

Kilimanjaro in the morning from my doorstep. This is the first time I've been able to capture it, thanks to the new camera!

Partying it up with a healthy mix of Tz's and american's in my living room. not enough plates, forks, or chairs, but definitely enough conversation!

Scholar (my neighbor's daughter) and Rehema, a neighborhood kid, playing with a baloon. We had a mini carnival on a whim that day outside my house.
Eva cooking one of her chickens. I was like "let's eat THAT one today!"

This is Calvini, Amani and Amini (they are twins) and Scholar who have come over to play with the computer ma sent me. They love it!

Chillin ad drawing with the kids and my neighbor's new housegirl, Mwanaidi on the left, who I am teaching to read. I explained the alphabet and asked her what she thought, and she was like "I think it's gonna rain later". I was like "let's try this again...".

YOU KNOW YOU'RE A PCV IN TANZANIA WHEN.....
-You love Ugali for the chemical reaction it represents
-You know life without a fridge is one of trial and error
-You have switched off mephloquine
-You carry toilet paper Everywhere
-You shaved your head and people think you look great!
-You average 2 books a week
-You feel like a loser on the weekends
-You are either becoming very patient or very late for everything
-Going over to the house of a stranger you met on the street on a whim is not a dangerous activity, its Sunday Afternoon
-You have at least one convo about hiv/aids every day
-Your version of sleeping in is 7:30am
-Your version of a party is like a Monday night in the states

The Village Life

2008-04-19T02:18:00.000-07:00

So its been about 6 weeks since I've left site, and I have to say the time is racing! Muda Unakimbia kama kawaida. Mostly I've stayed in since its a huge Pain-in-the-you-know-what to travel here, and I always get bug bites when I sleep out of site, but this weekend we all got together for a little birthday celebration. There was even cake, thanks to the creative Talent of Cynthia.

Things are going well at site, although everyday is a learning experience (to put in nicely). I have finally started being a disciplinarian and making my students write lines/English essays. It's nice, because then I let all the other teachers read it as well and hope this maybe gives them the idea that hitting students isn't the ONLY way to get them to do work. And students really hate essays, one of them cried the other day when I made her write about "the importance of homework". I felt awful, but was like "at least you don't have a big red mark across your butt!"

I found out a couple weeks ago that previous white volunteers in the area complained a lot when people came over to the house, which is probably why villagers were generally hesitant to come over. Why the hell would you move to Africa and not want people to hang out with?!?!? anyhoo, I started having mad tea parties and dinner parties for people, so now I get visitors all the time. For a girl from a big, close, and social family this is P.E.R.F.E.C.T. There are the cutest kids coming over all the time to draw and play on the computer that ma sent (thanks ma). Occasionally, their parents come over too. It's so nice!

Also, I've been doing a ton of HIV/AIDS eds in the community (found the dark underside of Lomwe) so much that I'm practically leaking condoms. Just having good convos with Mama's, doing demos, and taking people to the hospital to get tested (I have been confirmed negative twice this past week alone, which is always a good feeling). Most of the girls I befriend and try to educate are 15 - 20 yrs, already have children, and have been doing this type of "work" since getting out of primary school. I know the other teachers are starting to look down at the company I keep lately (its weird to walk down the street and have everyone NOT looking at me but rather at my companion) but I'm like "dude, if Jesus can hang out with prostitutes, I can hang out with prostitutes too". I also gave the girls some american condoms (thank you Girls) that were sent so that the men know where they came from....hee hee.....

Below are a few pics. Not a ton because I forgot to bring my camera to town. Needless to say, I miss home a ton and can't wait to come back for a brief visit in late august!

This is the duck house (and a huge grasshopper) that I helped build with a neighbor for my back yard. All from wood in the community, and recycled plastic bags on the roof (with nylon).

And these are the ducks, or the "Ladies" as I like to call them. They are called Simon and Garfunkle. I'm looking or a hubby for them because I think babies would be way fun!

This sideways pic is from the first night I had my camera at site (THANKS MOLLY!!!). My neighbor Eva and her housegirl, Mage, in Eva's house. We were all just hangin'.

And this is me and Mage acting Badass.

Moments I'm not likely to forget 3/1/08

2008-03-01T01:06:00.000-08:00

There is just too much to tell and too little time, so I'm thinking a little list of moments from PC service will be an effective/entertaining (hopefully) way to tell people about how things are going. Questions welcome. Enjoy:

There are moments I'm not likely to forget, like when:
-I was invited over to a woman's house, only to find her cooking in the pitch black with a candle balanced on her head, while she nursed her baby. All at the same time! Multitasking is owned by women.
-I almost said "good ovening" to the cows that slept in one room of her house. I mean, everything looks the same in the pitch black!
-My students came to an extra class...all of them.
-My students actually handed in the homework
-My students did well on the homework
-We had a lab, they all showed up, followed directions, and asked questions...and hopefully learned something too
-I got lost hiking in the woods, and the path disappeared, and after 45min I stumbled into a lone house on the mountainside where the bibi (grandmother) welcomed me in, gave me a pineapple, and sent me on the way. She was like "Where did you come from?!?!"
-15 children accompanied me through town, all wanting to hold my hand. It was protection better than the secret service.
-I met The Oldest Woman In Tanzania (said to be 114 but prolly only 110-ish). Blind and bed ridden, she has a great sense of humor although, remembering who she's talking to?...not so much
-I got asked by my students if "flying solo" instead of having sex is ok. I mean....you got to do what you got to do....
-A mama came up to us with sun dried fish from the lake in a plastic back, pulled them out, and ordered us to eat them (which we did...like a candy bar....but not the eyes)
-I got a bike lifty (with my helmit on, Salome!) and watched a 7 year old with wood extensions on his feet to reach the petal drag at least 40 gallons of water up a hill. And then regretting every time in my life I have ever complained about doing a chore for my mother.
-I woke up with 39 bug bites on my face
-We ran into a herd of camels
-We got stuck in the middle of a lake in a boat that was leaking, and had to (shamefully) get toted back
-I was waiting for a dala and it took FOREVER (don't believe the locals when they say "right now", it means an hour and a half) and I ended up making the duka-owner sing "Missing my baby" while I played guitar.
-my new friend at the YMCA offered her one-year-old son to me in marriage (girl, I can't wait that long!)

That's it for now, more later! Peace

The fight against AIDS

2008-03-01T00:52:00.000-08:00

So this week we spent at conference in Moshi to learn Aids education. I was pissed to miss school (not as angry as my students who had to take tests in my absence) but it ended up being a really educational, extremely motivating experience.

PEPFAR, our presidents emergency plan for aids relief, has a liason at PEACE CORPS to teach us about how to educate and get grants for teaching ect. So about 20 pcvs from the north and south got together, each bringing a tanzanian from their school. I brought Eva, my next door neighbor and an incredibly intelligent woman. She speaks like 5 languages and is always a good time to hang with. Point being, it wasn't as awkward as I thought it would be, and the whole week was a mix of cross-cultural exchanges and high school sex ed. We also got to know the girls who go to school/work at the YMCA here, where we had the conference. By the end of the week we were like "hey, there are about 40 young girls between the agest of 17 and 21, we should really teach them for practice" so we had two sessions and it was awesome. The first one was more lecture, but the second one we had group discussion in Kiswaenglish and they really opened up. Teaching sex ed is totally not as hard as I thought it would be, if you suck it up, and doing a condom demo is not nearly as uncomfortable as watching one (thank you sarah, I will hold your banana again any day). I feel totally motivated, and can't wait to go back to lomwe and spread the info there as well.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank american men. You are well informed, respectful (for the most part) and overall pretty responsible people. In experience, you always understand when a girl just says no, and that is pretty freaking awesome. so thanks for that. I would also like to thank all the R&B/Rap songs which mention female pleasure in their songs. Never thought I would be thankful for that, but if you come here you realize it is not even on a guys mind. So brag it up. And lastly, thank you R Kelly for your R&B opera "trapped in the closet". Its perfect for AIDs education as well as personal entertainment. Don't bust it until you try it. Hell, in 300 years, it could be like puccini.

Peace

Feb 2, 2008 Update

2008-02-02T05:30:00.000-08:00

So I've been at site for two months now and things are going really well! Teaching is a bit more work than I thought it to be, but very satisfying, and I am beginning to settle into the teaching communityschool nicely, everyone is so welcoming and kind. Below are some random pics from site and in the city, all though I only come into town once a month or so.

Teaching Here is...Different

After teaching for a month now, all I have to say is God Bless high school teachers! Its so much busy work, preperation, and stress over whether the message is getting across.

I'm teaching Forms 5 and 6 Math, which I love. The students are 18 - 23 hrs old, bright, speak english well, and since they have worked hard to pass this far, very motivated to learn. Our classes are more like small seminars and very easy to run. Physics is a different story. There are 30-50 students per class ranging from 14 to 26 yrs, and a wide variety of levels of motivation. The first day of class a bunch of students not even studying physics came to class just to see what the white teacher would say, which was frustrating when they, of course, didn't show up the next time. I spent a good period trying to figure our what had happened. The students also have some attitude, so I brandish the usual fascade of confidence that teachers usually wear as armor. It can be frustrating...not to mention the fact that the first two periods of the semester, unbeknownst to me, were to be spent cleaning and not learning for the students. I was so frustrated, thinking "I'm never going to finish the syllabus if this keeps up!" But some of the students are really great, and I overall enjoy the work.

Cultural Confusion
The other day I had some serious cultural confusion when these Watalii (tourists) came to Lomwe to hike the beautiful mountains (see pics below). The "lonely planet" book says to come to Lomwe Secondary for a guide, so we occassionaly get visitors, but this was a whole group! They were camped out (tents, fire, jeep) on our soccer field of all places just hanging out, watching everyone. They looked so out of place, and at once I could see both sides of the cultural divide; the "what are the crazy white people up to now, and why are they camped on the soccer field, and why would they come all they way here just to walk in circles?" and the "wow, look at all these native people, I'm too afraid to say hi to bother them so I'm just going to sit here and try to stay out of the way". I have no idea where I lie in the mix....

Anyway, the point is that, having insight on both sides of this situation, I can tell you that neither party has any ill will towards the other, yet the misconceptions and misunderstandings borne from different cultural and economic backgrounds breed distrust and cautious curiousity. Overall, the perception of hostility is intrinsic in interaction. This must be instinctual, and probably the cause of a great deal of the world's conflict, and there it was happening on my soccer field.

Passing the wazungu (white people) on one occassion, a local Mama commented to me "Many wazungu have come" and I said "yeah, this place is pouring white people" and she said "kweli"(really!) and laughed...

PICTURES:

Welcome Party in Moshi:

Some of the volunteers from the Kili region welcomed us to site, it was so fun! There was even a tutu......

HIKING AROUND SITE:

Here I am in somewhat traditional garb (a headwrap and kitenge) which I usually wear when out of class. There are many paths and many directions to go in the mountains I live in, and as I mentioned before, many people come to hike around. It even says in 'Lonely Planet' to come to Lomwe Secondary!

And here I give you the view from an hour's hike away from my doorstep! It's the planes (called tambarare in kiswahili), and the mountains of Kenya in the distance.
Two of my closest pcv's, cynthia and leiha, came to visit for a little, and we hiked around. Cute pick!
So that's all for now. If you are unsatisfied with just pictures and want to come see the real deal, Karibu (welcome)! I have a guest room, bed, and net, and am only 5 hrs from an airport (KIA).

Short Update

2008-01-12T00:43:00.000-08:00

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

Not much to say, although above is a Christmas morning pic of me and Leiha. Christmas was definitely different, and surreal, but thankfully I was in good company and eating good food!

I had the best day before New Years. There was a wedding of one of my neighbors, and I woke up in the morning and spent hours with the Mamas of my village cooking and talking. Then the bride came back from the actual wedding (which is very small, usually) and they were singing these traditional songs to welcome here back. Then, when we had finished cooking, we all went back to clean ourselves up and headed to this huge party with food and dancing and a ton of people. I arrived late (shoutout to my sis Molls) with these Mamas because we were all getting ready together. It reminded me so much of getting ready before going out at home (you girls know what I'm talking about) which is often the most fun part of the evening and apparently a universal thing. At the wedding there were two other Wazungu hat I was introduced to, and they ended up being volunteers from Norway only staying a few more weeks. I invited them and my other neighbor back for food, along with some visiting friends, and it was the strangest, most eclectic dinner-party I have ever hosted, with three languages spoken between six people at any given time.

New Years was also a lot of fun, going to a very high-class party (with a very nice buffet) and dancing a ton to hark in the new year. It was held at a posh hotel in town, and reminded me a lot of my days at Penn for some odd reason...

Although travel is always fun, being back at site has been a relief and I have started developing a routine. The little things are very satisfying, such as teaching a few classes, cooking good food that I didn't think I was capable of (home-made guacamole is the BEST with Chapati) and taking hikes with my besty Jacklyn (americanization of her name) to view the mountains and plains of Kenya. Decorating is also fun, and if anyone wants to send some pics or other wall decorations.....

So life is good. I miss everyone from home, of course, and think of people at various moments in the day. Not extremely homesick, except for my mom's home cooking! Oy, I need to stop right now before I go crazy thinking about it!

Dec 15, 2007 Update and Pics: training, site arrival!

2007-12-15T02:16:00.000-08:00

The Last Few Days of Training:

By the end of training we were subject to a ton of assessments on our new language/culture/technical skills (more test than I can count) and also a lot of hanging out. Below (the contrast is off...) are Jacob, Leiha, and James hanging at CCT.

We were also preparing to leave each other for site in various parts of the country. My host family and the families of four other volunteers had the huge going-away party for us all. There was plenty of food, and dancing (see below, me with little Sosi) and even presents.

It was all so overwhelming and at one point we each got up to give little thank-you speeches (which I stumbled through in kiswahili), and I even played a little guitar, so not that different from family parties at home! But sitting there at the very decorated table with the other volunteers (which kind of made it feel like we were all getting married). it was so bittersweet to have to leave our families in Morogoro. Below is me with my Mama, Baba and little brother.

Kind of a funny side-note, to dress up we volunteers all wore clothes like Tanzanians, but to dress up our families wore western formal-wear. A strange exchange of cultures!

Swearing-in Ceremony:

To become actual volunteers we were sworn in by the U.S. Ambassador to Tanzania. The ceremony was a big deal, with speeches fromus volunteers, the Morogoro District commissioner, Country Director of PC, Ambassador, and even the Tz Minister of Education. There was also plenty of entertainment, including a poetry/dance/music section from the volunteers (I co-wrote/sang a song with Jenna, another very talented volunteer, to thank our homestay families) and also some local dancers as well (shown below).

The best part was when the TZ minister of education got up to give the Tz dancers money (which is customary) and started dancing with them a bit too. Would that ever happen in America? People love having fun here!

Afterwards a bunch of us went out and took pics of all of us in our traditional garb (I'm wearing something my T-Fam gave me!).

Here are Me, Molly, Leiha, Laura, and Jenna all decked out!. Below are my sitemates, Leiha and Ethan, who are still pretty far away, but I will get to that.....

Arrival to Site:

The next morning we all left for our respective regions! It was so exciting/sad! I headed to Moshi with a bunch of others, only a 6 hr trip, where we stayed at the very nice YMCA ($5/night), the deck from which you can see Mnt. Kilimanjaro.

So beautiful but less and less snow atop every year... We met up with volunteers that night, and the next day were delivered to our respective sites.

My site is Lomwe Secondary School, in Usangi, Mwanga District (just south of Moshi) in the Kilimanjaro Region. It is in the Pare Mountains, shown below in the distance:
If you look really closely you can see a road snake up the side of the mountains; that is the road to my site. It takes about 1.5hrs once you enter the mountains to get there. My site is like a mini-paradise, set in a secluded valley (shown below) where the school lies. My house is about a .5 mile hike up the side of one of the mountain, and on a clear day you can see Mnt. Kilimanjaro in the distance.

Its prime hiking land, except you have to be careful about where you go. I expressed interest in climbing to the top of the mountain I live on, and found out that it is sacred land, the home of a few tribal gods, and that the punishment for entering it without permission is death by the gods/tribal elders. Supposedly someone fell victim a couple years ago, so I guess I'm glad I asked before venturing that way! That's one way to enforce land conservation!

My house is very very nice, and I have many other teachers/locals as neighbors.

You can see my house in the foreground and my neighbor's in the back. It has running water and Electricity (half the time), a big living room, bathroom (with western toilet!) kitchen, and two bedrooms.
Most other volunteers aren't so lucky to have a lot of stuff in their house already (I'm replacing someone) but it was lucky that I did since I started teaching a few days after getting to site! I'll be teaching a-level Mathematics (like senior year hs/freshman yr college) and o-level (high school) math. Each level is on a different schedule, so right now its just the a-level math. The students are wonderful and all of the teachers have been so welcoming! Although we are supposed to teach in English, Kiswahili is just about ubiquitous outside the classroom, so when I'm not lesson-planning or cleaning my house I try to study Kiswahili. All and all things are going well, and its tons of fun to walk about the village, to the market, greet people, and tell them about the U.S.. I can't count the number of U.S. maps I've drawn in the past two weeks! The only problems I've run into are with the bugs that have been inhabiting the house for the past three months during which it has been vacant. Spiders as big as your hand, I kid you not! And some fun other surprises, like acid-spitting flies. Also, the green mamba's that supposedly dwell in the brush in my front yard, will have to look out for them....

I will try to update more, but there is a lot to tell and no time to describe it all! I will rant a bit about the travel in this area...

A little bit of travel...takes a long time!

The other day I tried to visit Leiha who lives a few towns over. What a hassle! I got to the bus stand at 7:30am, waiting 45min for a bus to come, waited half hour for it to load up, and finally drove to the next town. We didn't have enough passengers, so ended up going back to Lomwe, and by 9:30am I was in the same spot I had started. When we finally took off for real, I got the junction town between our two villages, found out that if I went to her village I would have no ride back, went anyways on the next bus over, and didn't even make it all the way before the bus stopped. So Leiha met me a town over from where she lives, and we talked for 45min (as the whole village looked on, two wazungu is a big deal) and then I hitched a ride from some Fundi's delivering truck wheels to moshi back to the junction town. From there, waited two hours and finally got back to my town at 4pm. The breakdown:

Total travel time: 8.5hrs
Total visit-with-leiha time: 45min
Total actually - moving time : 3hrs hrs
Total waiting time : 4hrs 45min

And you though SEPTA was bad.

Pictures pt 2: Zanzibar and things

2007-11-24T22:19:00.000-08:00

My second attempt at loading pics. Sorry that some of them are sideways, its hard to be computer savvy here, and the thought of reloading anything up is painful! A lot has happened since last I posted, I will try to incorporate it in the descriptions below....

Sosi:This is my 1 and a half year old little brother. So cute! he always comes into my room (thus the aveno) to hang out. He is also learning to use the cho (potty) but diapers are sparse here, so he also has peed on my floor a couple times. Its funny how easily you get over that..... Anyway, I am going to miss is smile (see above) a ton.

The roads:
The "vuli" short rainy season started the other week, and it didn't dawn on me until a few days in that during the rainy season it literally rains for weeks on end! no stopping. And seeing as outside of Dar Es Salaam there are about 3 paved roads in Tz, the dirt roads all go to mush which makes travel very frustrating. On the way back from training one day, we hydroplaned in the mud I kid you not for a quarter mile, almost hitting a goat, a tree, and an mzee (old person) on a bicycle before coming to a definitive stop. My much-more-helpful fellow trainees then pushed it out of the mud while I took pics (see above). Now imagine this happening every hour on a nine hour bus ride and you can see why travel throughout the country during the rainy seasons is almost impossible, i.e. getting medicine and food to people. We need roads!

Shadow Visit: Zanzibar

So I went on vacation...I mean shadow visit last week to visit an extremely nice education volunteer on Zanzibar. It was great, the first night we got there we biked to a beach and swum in the Indian ocean while watching the sun set. The water has such a high salt content that you just float, no work needed. Very luxurious (sp?) . We also hung around Stone Town (above) which was quite touristy but has this wonderful arabic feel to it. Certainly a lot older feel than mainland Tanzania. Everyone looks like they have a grandfather from the middle east too, and the differences are subtle but interesting. Everyone is also Islamic, but no one seemed to mind my infidel self. The PC volunteer here is by far the most in-the-bush volunteer (we hung out with some VSO and other volunteers as well) and I think its pretty awesome that she is living out in the Shamba (farm) with villagers. It made me incredibly excited for site.

Speaking of which, I found out where I will be for the next two years! In the Kilimanjaro region outside of Moshi near a town called Mwanga. Its a boarding school, and I will be teaching A-level math (last year hs/first year college) and O-level (hs) physics. Its also in the mountains, and my closest PC neighbor is a 3 hour hike away! Can't wait to show you all pictures of that!

Henna and chocolate:
After shadow all of the PCT's met up in Dar for thanksgiving and to get some more briefings on policy. It was a lot of fun hanging out in the city after training sessions, especially after I got wonderful packages from family with letters and chocolate (see above). Thank you! The markings on my arm are not a tatoo but Henna, which I got on Zanzibar. The whole village came out for it, and about 40 people were just watching for the hour and a half it took to get done. Usually people only get it when they are getting married, but I thought it would look cool....

The End of Training:
This is me and some of my Besties here from my training class. We were out at the local mzungu (foreigner) hang-out last night, celebrating our last few days before we are all scattered throughout the country to teach and hopefully serve this country well!

Pictures!!! Finally

2007-11-11T02:28:00.001-08:00

So here are some of the pics I've taken so far. I apologize for how terrible they are but we really try hard to not look like tourists, so taking your camera out can only be done occasionally, and these are just some pics I snuck in. Also, it takes about 5 min to upload a small pic, and i don't have that kind of time! I do hope, however, that it gives you some taste of Tanzania. Enjoy!

Dar Es Salaam and Arrival:

Our (very nice I realize now) hotel in Dar Es Salaam. It had toilets and everything.....

PCT Laura with a huge plant at the safi PC compound in Dar.

MOROGORO:

Its hard to see, but its the biggest spider I have ever seen just chilling out at our training area. Water bottle for comparison. It was about the size of a hand....and of course they are all over (I discovered after this). I shower with about five of them lookin on....

The Uluguru Mountains of Morogoro which we are NOT allowed to climb! People always get mugged apparently when they climb them, but they taunt all of us every day. Was the sky always this big?

Training session with some of our lovely Language-Culture Facilitators (LCFs).

This is Kihonda Secondary, the school I have been student teaching in. It has about 7 of those buildings, with no electricity and open-air classrooms. The dust from the field next door leaves a quarter-inch coat that the girls have to clean off each morning from EVERYTHING: the floors, the desks, everything. The boys just look on. Its a pretty nice school though, one of the best in Morogoro.
The Neigborhood kids I'm trying to teach guitar. On the right is my sis with our little brother on her lap. We are in my fam's living room.

MIKUMI National Park:
The lions that were "on honeymoon" as the guide put it. They were no less than 10 feet away and it was so tempting to just step out of the vehicle...but, oh wait...they would eat you. The male also growled as us a couple times which was amazing to hear.

Most of the PCT's I've been training with. I'm on the right with my chicas a little shadowed. Notice the nice rainbow in the background!

The Elephant that kept the drivers foot on the gas ready to book it.

MOROGORO again....:
Eliza, my sister. She comes from a shamba (farm) in Singida and I think is sending all of the money she makes by working in the house to support her family of 6 back home. She's 16, great sense of humor, excellent cook, and loves to sing Bongo Flava. She gets up at 5:30am to start cleaning and pretty much runs the house, while babysitting our 18 month brother. I help when I can, but I'm in utter awe of her resilience (sp?) in life. Her fav thing to do lately is laugh at my attempts to cook and things, but I'd pretty much do anything to keep that smile on her face.

My mama on the left and Mama Mdogo (mama's younger sister...but really cousin. Families are big here...) and me in clothes I got made. Not my best pic, but we were in a huge rush to get to a kitchen party (women's party before a wedding where they tell the bride-to-be about family planning, AIDS, what to expect on the wedding night, and what to do when your husband cheats). We are always late, and I rarely ever know where we are going until about 5 minutes before we leave but its always fun!

The Saba Saba market, or at least a small part of it, that I go to on Sundays. Think the worlds biggest thrift store, with the fun of bargaining thrown in. Its great!

2007-10-30T07:02:00.000-07:00

This Morning

2007-10-24T06:01:00.000-07:00

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." I'm beginning to understand what Dickens was talking about. This day was simultaniously the best and worst of training so far.

This morning I was delighted to wake up early to teach my first early class, and as a result I caught the morning assembly of students. Usually some of the 600 or so students we have collect in the school courtyard to say what I can only guess is the Tanzanian pledge of allegiance and to hear announcements. The line up military style by form (year) and stream (class) and that is exactly what I found when I walked up to the school this morning. It all started out normally.....and then I saw that the teachers overseeing the morning assembly had sticks. And then I saw some of the teachers - normally extremely nice, welcoming, intelligent people - start punishing the students by hitting them on hands.

O.k. I knew there would be corporal punishment, and we were duly warned about this and I have seen it all before. But while I was watching this from a safe distance, I noticed things started to escalate. One of the teachers woke up on the wrong side of his mosquito net or something because suddenly he was indescriminately administering hits from his stick to students trickling in. It was horrific, but no one else but myself and another PCT who I arrived early as well seemed to notice, and plenty of teachers were just enjoying their chai. And plenty of students were laughing. And some were crying. And one girl that got hit particularly badly was escorted to the bathroom by her friends to wash the wound (I guess). And then it was all over and the students went to class and I just stood there looking confused, dumbounded, and more American than I have ever felt in my life. Then this sweet teacher who a second ago was whipping students comes up to me and asks me how my family is doing and shakes my hand. I couldn't do anything but return the reply and be herded to class by my PCT friend, who thought it would be better if I just got away from the teachers.

So I get to class and all I can think of as I stare at these students is that they just witnessed and some were victims of a highly unorganized, frightening punishment. I couldn't even imagine how it made them feel or decide if I would have even come to school anymore if that's what our mornings were like. Well, I pull it together and talk to the students a bit about what they have been studying. I'm taking over a class that has been taught by a substitute teacher for the past month because their teacher went M.I.A. unexpectedly (not unusual). The substitute is this incredibly nice woman, and a good teacher, who was thrust into a new school a month ago teacher five different classes over two different subjects. I found out through talking with the students in those first 10 minutes of class that the material I thought we were to cover over the next few weeks, and the material they had spent the last month covering, had already been taught be the previous teacher. No wonder they were bored out of their minds!!!! And no one had bothered to speak up, because students here don't talk back to teachers, so the past month had been a complete waste of their time. I spent half of that class finding out what they knew and the other half starting new material from where they left off, and it was like a light switch turned on. They were excited and talkative and they participated and not one, I flatter myself, was sleeping in the back of the class for the whole two hours that I kept them. The teacher after me never showed but I ran out of material to teach them off the top of my head and had to go to kiswahili class myself. There have been few moments in my life where I felt more greatful to be on earth than when my students yelled "Karibu Kesho" (you are welcome tomorrow) as I left the classroom.

And then it was 9:30am and the rest of my day started. This is Africa.

Pretty Awesome Weekend

2007-10-13T23:55:00.000-07:00

So the weeks here are tough. Learning swahili with a little bit of studying swahili and trying to speak as much swahili as possible mixed in. Oh yeah, and a little bit of swahili flash-card quizzes in the free time.

But the weekends.......that's when the week is redeemed (sp?)! Last weekend I went to this confirmation party for the daughter of my Baba's brother. We were there from like 12pm to 9pm, I kid you not, and it was full of music and dancing and food food food and a lot of trying to talk to others. They treated this little girl like she was queen for the day, and everyone was really decked out. It was so nice that hardly anyone took notice of the mzungu (white person) and instead focused all of their attention on her. Everyone in her family got up and spoke to here (about what, I have no clue) and was giving her gifts. It was great. The three beers my mama insisted I drink helped a lot as well, especially since they are about twice the volume and average 5.5% in alcohol. But I couldn't be rude, I was being culturally sensitive!!! I also got to talk to these teachers about the tanzanian education system and about how they like it when people come to tanzania to teach.

This weekend was also amazing. It was Eidi (sp?) the Islamic holiday to celebrate the end of Ramadan, so we had both saturday and sunday off from training. On saturday I went to my Mama's sister's house where we spent a really long time just hanging out with the fam, watching pretty bad tanzanian movies, and an american thriller called "prey" which takes place on the Serengeti I think. Then we watcher wrestle-mania, RAW, and I was horrified that this is what they think of when they think of america. I made a point of telling them it was bad american tv....The only downer of the day was this creepy relative who kept taking my picture, which happens sometimes when I'm walking down the street (thank you cell phone cameras) but had never happened so blatenly in someone's home. I never thought I would feel like a rock star in the peace corps...

Anyhoo, when we got home from lunch around 4:30pm I was playing guitar in the living room and these neighborhood kids wandered in and I ended up playing a little joni mitchell for them and trying to teach them guitar. Another good reason to bring a travel guitar, its kid sized! Then I got them to teach me the tanzanian/african anthem and we were singing it. It was awesome. I also got my sis to take all of our pictures, and they loved seeing the digital image. The children here are the saving grace of the nation and the most obedient you will find. It was the best day. That night I went with my fam to a restaurant, where we got a big plate of pork and some cooked bananas. mmmmmmmm.

So today? Internet and cleaning, and, oh yeah, a little swahili.

Culture Shock!!!

2007-10-13T23:36:00.000-07:00

So culture shock is just like walking into a glass door: the more confident you are the more it hurts, and you never see it coming. I thought I was all prepared for the bugs and food and language, and all of those things are pretty hard, but its the subtler cultural differences that are really going to take some getting used to.

The school where I'm teaching exemplifies all of this frustration. Two major factors are effecting the Tanzanian education system right now: Lack of money(sound familiar???) and lack of teachers due to a number of things, including AIDS. At my school, we "have" 44 teachers, most of which are M.I.A. and off at university or other places. From the 15 or so that I've met, all of them are over worked and most are extremely young, especially the science teachers. During the day I will tally how many classes are actually being held at any given time. Once three classrooms actually had teachers out of the 10 or so that should. That was amazing. Most of the time the students, who still show up for school because they really really want to be there to learn, will just hang out. The four other Peace Corps Trainees and I have taken to wandering the classrooms and teaching anyone with questions. It would be easy to blame the teachers, but its not their fault. Nor is it the admistrators. Its just the way things are right now and most are doing the best they can. So as you can imagine we are all filled to the brim with purpose and inspiration to teach as much as possible. It dawned on me while teaching some students the other day that I came to spend two years at a blackboard and spend as much of that time fulfilling these students hunger for knowledge. It was an incredible feeling, unlike anything I have felt before.

Of course, after feeling awesome I slammed into a glass door. You see, I had come to the classroom that day to observe a teacher. I tried finding her, and asked around, to no avail (no one ever knows where anyone else is here! you get like 5 different answers!) anyways, I decided to wait in the classroom. When I walked in all the students stood up and I was like "no, no, sit down I'm waiting for the teacher" in broken swahili and ended up making small talk with them for like 20 minutes. I found out that only 4 of them, all boys, have text books. Then I tried to find the teacher, again to no avail, and by this time 30 minutes of our 80 minute period had gone by. Finally, this student walks in with chalk, hand the chalk to me, and explains that the teacher gave it to her. So I'm thinking, the teacher is giving me chalk? The teacher wants me to teach? The student says, in broken english, that she spoke with the teacher. Ok. So I ask the students what they last learned and picked up from there. It goes pretty well for 20 minutes, and some of the students are really getting it, and then I hear this knock on the door. Oh shit, its my teacher, and she is like " I thought you were going to observe today before starting to teach" and I'm like "didn't you give a student chalk and tell them I should teach" and she says "no, the student just asked for chalk and I gave it to her" so I'm thinking great. great. now this teacher thinks I'm a pompous american who thinks I knows so much better (which isn't true in the least), but I erase the board in shame and the teacher picks up from there and I really really wanted to cry. After 30 minutes of her teaching she ends class and we leave. I'm doing all but getting on my knees and begging for forgiviness for usurping her classroom, and she is surprisingly calm and says "oh, I didn't mind at all, I was relieved that they were doing something. I did ask them how it went, and they said it was fine, you might just want to speak slower next time". What?!?!?! she didn't even care?!?!?! that was when I was like, "I can't do this, its too different, I don't understand this culture at all, what's going on!?!". It was a glass door.

Hopefully in the coming weeks/months/years I will come to understand more about how the schools here work and why they look so chaotic. Right now I just look around and am incredibly confused, but I know that there is something going on underneath that I can't see.....kind of like the new york stock exchange. Yes these cultural differences are like coming into a blue country with yellow sunglasses on, and all you see is green.

A Day in the Life

2007-10-01T08:18:00.001-07:00

So if you are reading this you must be extremely bored at work!! If that is true, I'm happy to elaborate on the daily going-ons of a trainee in tanzania.

I wake up at like 5:40am 'cause none of the roosters can tell time and make tons and tons of proclomations of their manlyhood outside my window even though the sun is not up! I finally stagger out of my mosquito net at 6am for a quick morning bucket-bath and grab an egg and bread and some chai before walking to school with some classmates.

We greet everyone on the 20minute walk. Everyone. and people usually greet back since we stick out like sore thumbs. The kids are always weary since they haven't seen many white fold up close, but its cool, everyone is still nice. The eyes are always looking though.

School is all about learning the language with our absolutely amazing Mwelimu (teacher) Rehema. She is so patient, she let us play this game where we tell time in swahili (african time = six hours back. 10am = 4am) for like an hour and it must have been so boring for her! But she was totally patient. Anyhoo, we have chai breaks, and a woman comes to bring us food ($1.5/day) that is sooo good it dangerous, and then we study until about 4pm.

I return home to play with my little brother and procrastinate on studying and try to talk to all the tons of people that frequent the house. The children stare and laugh when I make mistakes, and the adults are so kind in teaching more of the language. We eat at 8pm and then I take another luxurious cold bucket bath, try to study swahili or chase the chickens in our yard, and finally drop to sleep at 10pm. Another beautiful day in Morogoro!

now get back to work before your boss catches you!

Swahili Greetings (Jambo ain't no way to go)

2007-10-01T08:04:00.000-07:00

pronunciation: a like in all you can eat, i like eeek a mouse! u as in you are too kind. oo as in oh know, i drank the water

People your age or below: Habari (news? what's up). Variations include inquiring about home or the day or school: Habari za nyumbani, habari za leo, habari za shule...ect. All of which you reply with Nzuri (good) even if its the worst day ever. If its a really really bad day, you reply with Nzuri tu (just good) and people are like "who died?"

People older/repectful greets: Shikamoo (your feet in my hands literally) to which Marahaba is replied

For teenagers: Mambo ('sup) to which you reply Poa (cool) or safi (clean)

There are tons of others, most of which I just reply with nzuri, asante! (good, thanks) and only sometimes do I sound like I know what I'm talking about....

safi? now you can sound smart at all those dinner parties!

October 1st, 2007 Email Home

2007-10-01T07:16:00.001-07:00

Dear Family and Friends,

Thanks for your letters and letting me know what's going on back home!
Its great to hear the news. I have been extremely busy here in
Morogoro training, and am currently living with a family in the suburb
of Kihonda. My T-fam (tanzanian family) consists of a Mama, Baba
(Dad), Dada (sister), Kaka (brother) and mtoto (baby brother) who
cried at first sight of me, but now we are very close. The family is
rich by tanzanian standards and extremely welcoming. So I won't bore
you with the mundane details, but suffice it to say learning swahili
demands most of my time. I learn with four other volunteers who live
in the area and then we go out and have to speak as much as possible.
It hard....but good, and I can hold a simple convo by now. Too much
else to tell in a short email, and I know y'all are busy, so I will
just list the things I got used to immediately and the the things that
will take..um...a little more time:

things i love: the people (soooo nice), the food (so good, haven't
gotten sick and gained 5 pounds?), the students (eager to learn!), My
fellow Peace Corps trainees, the scenery, the animals (like a giant
petting zoo, all the locals laugh when I try to pick the chickens up),
and so much more

things that will take getting used to: african time (literally, the
count the hours from sunrise so 10 am = 4 in the morning, and i'm in
constant fear of being 6 hours late for stuff), not knowing how to say
anything, cold bucket-baths, not having you guys (tear), the animals
that sound like they are having a party all night long (including a
cow with GI problems???) and lastly, all the animals I live with. This
includes 2 lizards that share my room, a seemingly infinite number of
ants, cockroaches, and unknown rodents, spiders in the showers, and a
chicken that likes to roost in the hallway closet. All of them are
harmless of course, save the chicken who I almost tripped over on the
way to the bathroom one morning. Suffice it to say, I tuck in my
mosquito net like its the wall of china.

Ok, running out of internet time. Write me how you are doing!!! I will
try to post pics on my blog http://hils-peacecorpsblog.blogspot.com/

Love,

Hils