3/17/14 - 3/23/14

3/17/14 

Mahumi had the early pick up going on this morning. had to grab my banana and run out the door. 

it was a rough first class this morning with stream a. and i actually had a rough class with stream c on friday and they are normally on top of things. i have been doing some review for the midterm next week and i am just really questioning how much they have learned/ how much i have taught them. they honestly seemed to have it down when we were on the topics but now seem to have extremely little recall of it. its pretty discouraging. oh well. yolito. just already preparing to be way disappointed in my midterm results. guess its a good - no great- thing that 30 is passing…. .

speaking of midterms, they were to be turned in to the academic office today. this means that teachers were busy today at school preparing them. but seriously, this is way on time for tanzanians. 

beatings were taking a toll on me today. masunga was using the cane to hit the tops of students hands. that just seemed worse than the palms to me. i have no clue what they did. on guy came in and i think it was because he brought the exercise books to him closed and not open to a certain page in each of the students’ books. he was pitiful. crying. trying to hide his hands between his legs and so instead masunga just starting hit his upper thighs, wrists, anything. 

luchonga is tod this week and i just saw him hit someone for the first time. the boy was whimpering, crumpled to the floor. and then the discipline master came in and went after him four more times on his butt and back. there were also two older guys sitting in the staff room after all of this. later i found out the whole story. These older guys (parents somehow) brought this boy to school to be punished because he has been ‘truant’ for many days. during this time of being absent, he has been telling his family he was at school when he really wasnt. his family was tired of him and so they brought him here to watch him as he got hit. 

and for some reason, the sticks have given way to the harder, thicker canes recently. 

on a different note, extremely loud and incredibly close is seriously such a weird book! 

and i also got some insight into a few of the common names. Madulu can either mean a herd of zebras or a crop here. they are small green lentil-like things. maduhu or mboje is actually a really sad name and even more so since it is the most common. so, if the first born dies, then the second one will be called this. shida literally means problem. so that could mean there was a problem during the birth or even a problem with the family at the time of the birth like a drought. 

i was able to convince mahumi to let me walk home today. i needed to clear my head after all the beatings and get some exercise in. it was a good walk and i even found some corn so that was solid. happiness came today so were all cleaned up and ready for the week. got to text with mom for a little and had beans a rice. overall a quick day = good day. 

3/18/14 

its a tuesday which amber and i like to think of as the last full day of the week. and really its kind of true. religion is on wednesday, debate sometimes on thursday, and sports on friday. 

driving through town this morning, i was just thinking about how much i will miss the drive/ cultural tour of the town every morning. i love seeing the students making their way to school, the clothes, the animals, the chores like sweeping the dirt or working in the field, the little babies tied on their mothers backs, the ladies making food, etc. it really is something special. 

so yesterday we saw the aftermath of a bad accident as we were driving to school. it was with an ambulance (a land rover with a red cross on it) and a tractor with a trailer. mahumi told me this morning that he went to greet the driver of the ambulance since he is our neighbor. he said that ‘there is no life for a street boy’ that was in the tractor but that everyone else was okay. the ambulance was going to pick up someone in another village and was driving very fast - over 100 km/h. apparently the tractor did not have reflects and there was another coming that he didn't want to hit head on so he swerved and hit the tractor. he was saved by the airbag. so that was the story i got from mahumi but then amber told me the next day that this driver was actually in jail now because he was driving drunk. 

teachers were rioting about there being no chai today even though madame eliza said it was because there was no water. some teachers bought some (aka sent students to get some) but eventually water came. no chapati though until i had chai. 

a little later in the afternoon, 2 girls brought in a boy. he had to kneel in front of a table with a lot of teachers sitting behind it. he was very upset and the teachers were all talking/ yelling at him. micese got up and walked to him, got in his face, and slapped him twice across the face. then he got up and ran away! it was an instant uproar! the teachers all got up, even madame difficult, and went after him. madame difficult quickly returned a blew her whistle from her bag. moodi pursued the chase along with some other students. i hate to say this because i know he will get in so so so much trouble but the whole drama of the chase and the teachers reactions were funny. i found out later that this boy was in trouble for writing a love letter to another girl and that is wayyyy not okay. i told them that in america, it is okay to have a boyfriend/ girlfriend at school and they couldn't believe it. they thought it was the craziest, funniest thing ever. i told them that holding hands was very common and of course they thought that was okay but i had to explain to them that in america that is a sign of being in a relationship. but i also told them that hugging and kissing happens. micese then came over and said, you know tanzanians our bodies are very warm and that they would only think about that school and nothing else. 

left school early today to go to the tuesday market- nada. done with classes… actually since 9:20 but i was ready to hit the road and do my own thing. of course i was just as much of a spectacle as i walked through many of the tents to look for kangas or kitanges. definitely lots of mzungu price but then i found one precious lady who was at the church that amber and i went to  on saturday. she was so sweet and i got an awesome kitange from her. it definitely tested my swahili at times but so very fun too. 

3/19/14 

the internet was going good this morning and i thought of the ‘happy’ song that katie was singing and dancing to when we talked on sunday. itunes cooperated and amber and i were loving it… though nothing can compare to my live performance. 

and today was my first piki piki ride! i can check that one of the bucket list. mahumi was not coming to school today because he had a meeting in la madi so yesterday he called Osama, the driver that catherine, the past volunteer, had used. so i called him this morning and it was awesome. he daughter was with him and we dropped her off at school on the way to work. he drove slowly and it was very enjoyable. 

sebastian asked me if i would allow him to cane a student with the student standing right there. i said you know i do not like it and i do not agree so i will not allow you but i also cannot stop you. point. set. match. 

mtokambali, the math department head, asked me to give him my camera. umm no thank you much. i asked him if i asked for everything that he has. good thing that he doesn't know kingereza (english). im getting sassy, or really just so tired of everyone asking for everything! 

then sebastian started talking about witches and all kinds of craziness. it started with the malaysian airplane that is missing. he asked why america is not using its technology to find it. then he said that they needed african technology, especially someone - maybe a witch- from bariadi because they are very powerful and they could find them. ay yi yi. and yes i said that as i was shaking my head. they love ay yi yi here. apparently witches can also make it rain and can remove you from your house, and even take you to your farm, without opening your door. so watch out! sebastian asked me if i wanted to be tested. he said seeing is believing because he didn't believe it until it happened to him. i asked him if the witches were satan and he didn't know what satan was. so i changed it to the devil and of course he know that. so to answer my questions, yes witches are the devilS. 

and speaking of devils, i saw 3 cases of the devils today. al female students. i guess two devils had already been fought off because they were just lying in the grass. but i saw the war with the third students. she screaming softly in a very raspy voice and twitching a little. there were a group of students all around here. hold her head, her arms up in the air, etc. we have two theories on these devil attacks. one theory is what i think saw today. i think the girl was seriously having a seizure but devils are the only thing that they know to attribute that to. kim said that this is seriously a big problem in another region where epilepsy is a big problem but all seizures are just devils. the other theory is ambers and that is that some of these attacks are just pains attacks. they have been conditioned to seeing these happen and if they get stressed or maybe if they have been on their period for a while or something they may start to freak out and this is how the have learned to show it. 

so in all of our free time, i will tell you that something i (and we) think about is what we are going to bring home and what we are going to leave here. i feel like i did a really good job of packing just what i would need. there is very little that i don't wear here - not much extra stuff. but i also don't want to bring much home and i need to make room for the souvenirs. ironically, there is only one dress that i would want to bring home (the black and white one) and it is the only dress that madame eva has asked for. 

sauntered on home around 1 today. madame joycea walked with me and that was very nice. her english is good. she's sweet. and maybe most importantly she walks at a good pace.

good afternoon and evening and a great shower (much needed, even if it was a bucket one). and just in case you were wondering peanut butter m&ms came out in 1991! i seriously hope im not the only one that thought these were a relatively new addition. 

3/20/14 

we’re in the 20s of march!! haha. i didn't hear from mahumi yesterday but i assumed he was back. well i assumed wrong so i got to have piki piki ride number 2 this morning. 2000 tsh. 

so i don't hold back when it comes to sebastian. he gets me is all of my sassy, feisty glory. but im sure you have probably noticed this by now… 

i got invited to daniella and kingi’s house this saturday. they were really sweet to ask about what i like to eat and drink and all of that. we, as volunteers, give tanzanians a bad representation of americans as vegetarians. even if you eat meat in america, chances are you wont eat it here. 

on a random note, teachers always lie about what time they get to school. i always write the actual time that i get to school and you can tell that the teachers get flustered if they get there after me and cant lie. 

the school called a parade during the middle of the day today to suspend the boy that wrote a love letter and then ran away. im not sure how long (2-3 weeks i think) but i took this opportunity to bounce on out of there. and i had a good walk. i met two older ladies on the road and we talked for a while. the swahili (although extremely limited) is indeed improving. i also stopped to buy a kanga from a shop that i always pass. again, i talked to a tailor there but also to someone with ‘sign language’. it was so neat. the last adventure on the way home was talking to two guys studying agriculture at a university. they were insistent that i give them my phone number and i probably rudely broke their heart. i told them that i would give them my email (kassieintanzania@gmail.com = i made it up just for this purpose) but not my phone number. when they asked why i told them that my email cant wake me up at night. they laughed and went on their merry way. 

and then i had an awesome awesome afternoon. i laid out in the courtyard for maybe 30 minutes until happiness came. so amber and i chilled in my room until we went outside to play basketball. well basketball never really happened but i did bring a frisbee that i had brought and that was a huge huge hit. lots of bariadi students were still around so we played with them and then some younger kids came out to play. alvin pretty much directed this game. julie and alvin absolutely stole my heart. played with alving, julie, steven, angel, luka, anastasia, and many more. we just had a great time. day = made! this is why I'm here. needless to say i will be going back. 

3/21/14 

and were 3 weeks into march. mahumi is back to i got to take the eminem-mobile into school today. 

taught a good period with stream b, all review about polynomials. but their attention span literally and figuratively went out the window to watch moodi go to town on form 4 students. hard. hard. hard. and many per student. and for a long time. i don't have a clue what they did. 

daniella and eliza are rocking the zig zag braid and madame eva said that she wants to try to braid my hair. I'm game for that. she asked if i had a comb and i didn't so i guess that will have to happen later. 

so apparently some man (an uncle i think) came to school and said that he needed to take a form 1 student to get treatment for asthma. and today, her mom came to school to say that she had been missing. well she was seen earlier at crdb bank and was at school now. the mom was so mad and was yelling at the girl. she slapped her in the face and then the girl fainted. and thats all i know about that. 

so the teachers at my school are playing football against the teachers of another school (chenge) at bariadi today. they are so excited to have me there. they say i am going to be the goal keeper because i am tall. im trying to be the team photographer. there is also a netball game. so excited for a great start to the weekend. 

i bounced after school was over and walked home. i saw mr sana in front of our house and talked to him for a little. he gave me letters to get to the headmasters of biashara and kidinda and then he motioned to the box in front of our house. i was happy to see him because i had been expecting my exemption certificates for a visa, which we will have to have to travel. but i didn't have a clue what the box would be. Just imagine my excited when i saw ‘carey hunt’ and ‘vickery creek middle school’ on the box. mom sent me a surprise care package!! it was like christmas and thanksgiving and easter and halloween and flag day and presidents day and … I had everything all laid out nicely on the table and had to document the whole process. i was so so soooo happy! i ran and grabbed my computer and told mom to wake up because we had to face time! such a great talk and such a great surprise! 

so, i guess i could let you in on the back story here. when came for her site visit earlier this month, she brought me a little surprise of pictures and two cards from her. In one of the cards, she mentioned something about a care package which was news to me. so i found out that she had sent a package to kim in dar in early january and asked her to bring it to me if she could on our site visit. well, it was too big to bring so mom told kim to just enjoy it herself and share it with her friends. and so i thought that was the end of that. well, little did i know, there were other plans in the works. mr sana was visiting dar and kim had already told amber and i that she was going to give our exemption certificates to him (too important to trust in the mail). well kim was also giving that package mom sent to him to bring back to bariadi. and that package was on our front stoop friday afternoon! and the second backstory is that madame emba (aka amber) knew about this! kim told her when she was her on the site visit. and she was dying to tell me! sana has been back all week and didn't bring our stuff until friday. so amber had said once or twice this week that she was ready for sana to bring our exemption certificates/ disappointed that he didn't it bring it that day. well know i know why! 

and so that was a great start to the weekend. and it just kept getting better when i went outside around 3:30 for the staff football game. i brought my frisbee again and was throwing it with all the students. they were handing out in the shade. it was a constant echo of madame with everyone wanting me to throw it to them. you just cant put stuff that like into words. of course, they were all so worried about me being in the sun, and even worse playing in the sun. eventually, the teachers got on the field. i was actually quite impressed with the jerseys and it really was hilarious to see these teachers out there. i guess because i was throwing the frisbee or maybe its because i just didn't have a clue what was going, but either way i was able to get out of playing. alvin, one of my buddies from frisbee yesterday, found me and we were pretty much attached to the hip. some of the students asked if he spoke english and i said no. so they wanted to know how we talked, and i told them with the frisbee. it really is true though. we talk with the frisbee, with smiles and laughing, with our own sign language, with the little bit of swahili i know, and most importantly with happiness. so after the football game was over, everyone trekked over to the netball game. i played with the frisbee with alvin, julie, and anastasia from yesterday before the game started. but our girls were pretty legit. although they were shorter than the other team they dominated. it was so so so much fun. everyone would rush the field after every single score! there were chants/ singing going on. just a great atmosphere for quite an intense game. the boys were playing a football match after but amber and i headed back to get dinner going. 

3/22/14 

weekend time. this morning i was pretty productive. although i could have stayed in bed longer, i got up at 7:15 when i remembered that i needed to do teacher quality stuff. so i completed my lesson plan and then began typing the blog before amber and i headed out to meet two of my teachers at the house. we were meeting daniella and kingi who are not married but the are both renting rooms from the same house. daniella had prepared lunch for us and it was delicious. cooked bananas, mchicha, cabbage, rice, and bananas. she bought us both cold waters. she is so kind and thoughtful. she said she remembered that i like the cabbage on the night of the school get together so she prepared that for us. I got to meet her daughter, princess or gertrude, but she was absolutely terrified of us. she warmed up to us a tiny bit before we left but she literally hid the whole time and cried when someone tried to bring her close to us. daniella also had a surprise for us. she made us close our eyes and then she said open them and she put junior, her nephew, into my lap. he was one month old yesterday. so precious but also happy and alert. Kingi wanted to walk us out and when i told him that we were going to stop at a few places he of course wanted to stay with us. so we went and bought a few pairs of the tire sandals. i was also able to find a tanzanian track suit… aka sweat pants and a jacket. micese has one just like it and i knew i needed to get my hands on a pair of sweat pants so i was pretty excited. and just to reiterate the tanzanian v american sizing. i am pretty sure my pants are a size XXXL. haha yessssss. so we grabbed our goodies and headed on back for a nice saturday afternoon and evening. we got to try a flavorful, yummy indian sauce packet that raquel (the past volunteer that lived here) sent in a care package. how sweet! so that was fun. also, we started indiana jones last night so tonight we continued movie night. 

3/23/14 

today will be just about as productive as a weekend gets for me. i am going to finish my world teach teacher quality work for the month by wrapping up the module. nerd alert: i actually started reading the article yesterday and it was really interesting. its called balancing factual, procedural, and conceptual knowledge in math education. there are some interesting studies done showing that everyone is capable of learning at least the K-12 math. so enough with that. i am also going to get this blog put up. and do my laundry. im going to eat a special goodie from the care package. and start the hunger games trilogy again on ambers kindle. wish me luck as teacher on duty (tod) this week. See you next week!