5/5/14
happy cinco de mayo! we’re celebrating here b-town style with veggie stew. awww yeah. but really, we’ve both been craving veggie schtew recently so im pumped for it
super busy/ productive day yesterday. got up, typed the blog, did dished, cooked sweet potatoes, boiled water, made my terminal exam, worked out, went to somanda, showered, worked on my tanzanian movie, and had a bbq rice packet and a packet of tuna from moms care package. definitely not my typical tanzanian sunday!
really really really good stream a class! like the best all year. so much needed! i don't know why they were so with it but i was digging it.
nick told me yesterday that the weather for the other volunteers has been horrendous. rain rain rain and the roads are destroyed. talk about strength. they're my heros. for so many reasons. 1. they have been there for almost a year. 2. one of the volunteers there was incredibly sick recently. 3. the weather is completely awful in their last month.. the hardest month.
one of the new teachers i really don't like brought me a cup for tea and i told him thank you. he said he's trying. he said there are 3 sweethearts but only one husband. ummm no thank you much. apparently it is title of a book of some kenyan author or something like that. and honestly i don't even know what he was saying… i assumed it to be ‘sweethearts’ but i cant understand his english at all. so yeahhh he is just really annoying, persistent, and kinda creepy.
read a good bit of my book today. the cat who tailed a thief. i taught stream b this afternoon. it too was a good class… after i recovered from teaching them something i had already taught. haha the way i look at it is that it had to happen at least once. i have three different streams that i teacher on different days and different times each day and they learn at different paces.
completely wiped out this afternoon. got my seven corners insurance claim sent off from being sick. looked for more songs for my movie. and i just about feel asleep but i rallied for dinner and it was a great one. we had stew and we a steak rice packet. pretty darn tasty.
prepared some notes on geometric progressions before getting on the internet for a little. texted with mom and moose for a while. a toasty night but i feel asleep pretty quickly.
5/6/14
1/5 of the way through may! haha I'm so excited but also in disbelief. this has been home/ my life for what seems like a pretty decent amount of time and so now i don't know what to expect to go back to my forever home. i also just cant imagine my day to day stuff not being a reality anymore. i cant believe that I'm here and that i have almost finished this chapter in my life and that i have almost pulled this off. i still love the sky, and its clarity, each and every day. the colors, the clouds, the weather in general. i seriously love this weather. yes, it gets hot. but it is perfect. cool in the morning and most nights. and so i am in a weird place of wanting to cherish and remember and enjoy and hold on to some of the little things about life here while i also want to get home more that i could ever describe. i know very soon i will long to be back here again, to enjoy the simplistic life and awesome experiences. i know now that i could never live the expat life. so mission accomplished tanzania. i just love my family and friends way way wayyyy too much!
speaking of weather though, after this ‘rainy season’, the weather has been so great. i dont want to jinx anything but it has been windy, perfectly cool in the mornings and nice and hot and sunny in the afternoon but i will take that anyday!
just a little glimpse into our salty water... and this isn't even a bad batch
however, i am worried about the water situation. of course i dont have much longer here so it might be appropriate for tanzania to get me a big fat goodbye wave but i know that the community will really start to struggle with no rain. mahumi said he well is almost dried up already and our water has been incredibly hit and miss.
taught a double after break today and then bounced on out. i bought a few pelas (guava) on the way home so that was fun and tasty. so cheap too. i also stopped to research how much it is tp print pictures here. 300tsh for a 4x6 if you are interested. then i stopped and printed my terminal exam on the way home. it was a 30+ minute affair after we had trouble with the ink but eventually she figured it out. i said i knew you could do it. you're an engineer. lol
ate the rest of the veggie stew from last night and lots of pb and j when i got home. i have been slamming the jelly mom sent me. so good. tastes like home.
two little kids that i pass on the way home. they always run out to greet me.
i talked to mom for a little and downloaded a tummy/ luke video. then i gave my best attempt at a workout. I'm so pathetic. guess i have to give myself some credit for walking home but that doesn't change how out of shape i am.
had beans for dinner and it was pretty good. anything tastes much better with my black pepper, garlic salt, and mixed herbs though!
internet was really good today. i would love if it kept it up. i was actually getting consistent blue. worked on my movie some more and think i am finished with it up to now. so that just means i have to say a few goodbyes, get a few pictures of kilimanjaro, a few pictures of the wt group in dar, and then head on back home! I really do enjoy working on this video though. for one, its a good way to pass time. but it also makes me look back and reflect on my experience and take it everything that i have done. and if I'm having an icky day, it certainly helps to look at all the times that i was really really happy. also, i will be super happy to have it when i get home because it has all of my favorite pictures in it and it is a good representation of my time here. its a great summarizer and a launching point for stories.
a new letter went up on the staff board today. it said that teachers should not talk about politics and should not criticize the ruling party. the talking that they know is going on needs to stop. and if you do talk about politics and the ruling party it should only be good things. hahaha well since my teachers only know how to talk about politics or football i guess they're in trouble.
ive been having oatmeal in the morning from moms care package and it had been delicious! plus i need to eat it all up before i go.
no periods all morning… hence the lots of journalling. but i also completed my answer key for my terminal exam. i also gave the academic office my exam and my answer sheet that i made for it to make it easier to grade. it will be an act of god if i actually get these copies in time to give it to them before i leave. oh well. it is also totally normal to just leave the key and let another teacher grade them. not exactly what i would like but it will get done either way.
so for an update on my end of service/ getting outta here plans…
may 23 or 24- travel to mwanza
may 24- fly from mwanza to dar and then dar to kilimanjaro
may 25- explore moshi town, shop, etc
may 26- day hike on kilimanjaro
may 27- day trip- hike to a waterfall, coffee plantation
may 28- fly to dar
may 29- end of service conference
may 30- spend any money i have and buy any souvenirs i have room for in my bags. get to the airport to catch my plane at 10:55pm
may 31- land in atlanta at 1:03pm! HOMEEEEEEEEE :)
5/8/14
Happy end of education week. yep, thats right… another day of no school. second thursday in a row. i called mahumi last night and he said ‘you just stay’ so i didn't join in on the demonstration that went down. all of the schools in the town gathered together for a demonstration. they were apparently supposed to plan a message but my school didn't find out about it until yesterday so they decided that they would retaliate by not planning anything. anyways, the students from all the schools and the teachers all walked from their schools and got together at one place. there was music and crazy dancing and a speaker. nick went to this so i was able to see his pictures and videos of the day.
it was also a great day for me to have no school because i really felt like crap all day. last night, my stomach was very unhappy and today my body was aching and i was just tired. so i just pretty much did nothing all day. i stayed in bed most of the day and read. the one productive, exciting thing i did was going through my room to decided what needed to come home with me and what all i was going to give away. so that was fun. cabbage and mcheech for dinner… with an thai curry rice packet. good stuff.
5/9/14
friday, friday, fridayyyyyy. a super busy day at school. one the way to school mahumi told me that i needed to move my exam from the 19th to the 16th. apparently there is a sports competition in mwasa on the 20th, about 50km away and he was afraid that i would not have many students there because they would be traveling on the 19th. so friday, the 16th it was. i thought that would be nice because that would give me the weekend to grade and all that. well i was teaching my first double of the day and simba, a teacher that works with the academic office came into my class and told me that i needed to give me exam on wednesday, the 14th. i tried to argue with him and tell him that mahumi said i could give in on the 16th. and he said we have talked and have decided it is better. so thats that. end of story. the 14th it is. i hate that i am losing even more time with my students, but as nick told me, haven't you realized this isn't about the students… so anyways, a very busy day. i taught a double, then i stole a single period, had break, taught a double, and that was the day. my classes were empty today. they had a huge chunk of form 3 still gathered after parade this morning and i asked my first stream why. they were all the students who hadn't paid their fees this year. so they met with them for over and hour and then sent them on home. streams b and c still had a fairly good proportion of their students in the class… probably about 60-70%. but stream a…. they only had about 15 people in there! the class normally has about 100!
the walk home was uneventful. well for the most part. one guy, who was obviously riding his bike until he saw me, got off his bike and walked behind me for a while. then he called at me and walked with me for probably about 15 minutes. it was pretty typical tanzanian male talk. he asked me how much money he could pay me to be my friend. i told him you cant buy friends. i also said that i am only here for 2 more weeks and we will not be friends. this will be the end of our friendship. then he asked me if i had friends at home. i said of course i have friends at home. then he asked do you have a boyfriend at home. i said no i do not have a boyfriend at home and i do not know how to make this more clear but you will never be my boyfriend and i will never be your girlfriend. game. set. match. see you never. the whole thing really was funny though. i was laughing and he was laughing at how up front i was.
had a packet of strawberry oatmeal when i got home, read a book, then actually took a nap. i woke up to do the dishes and then fix dinner. stew again tonight with the mexican rice packet. i texted with mom, talked with dad on his big birthday, and then got to talk to katie!! it had been way too long since we had talked. i couldn't fall asleep so i read more, listened to music, stared at the calendar on my phone, and played on my gameboy. yep i brought my gameboy to tanzania. but you may be more surprised at my favorite past time of staring at a calendar. you would be surprised at how long the calendar can hold my attention. i think i am working towards a world record or something.
5/10/14
got up a little too early for my liking… only because sleeping wastes more time. hehe. but i got up, boiled a pot of water, ate some pb, played on my gameboy, packed up one of my bags!, and typed up the blog. as i was typing the blog i heard someone getting water from out tank. so i immediately jumped up and ran to fill up our buckets. simultaneously, nick was lying in his bed reading game of thrones and we about had a head on collision racing to get water! its the little things. mood instantly uplifted. we were getting low and were going to have to make a water run today. we hadn't had it since monday. so it was absolutely perfect timing. so anyways, i filled up all of our buckets and its still just now 10. then i did my laundry for what will most likely be the last time here. the rest of the day has lots more reading and some gamboying in it. eating. talking to home folks. reading news articles that i have pulled up.
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