1/6/14

We slept so crappy last night. It was SO SO HOT. We were up at 1am and I feel back asleep from about 4 - 6:30. Poor Amber didn’t fall back to sleep at all. Let me tell you, that girl is getting some reading in this week. But at breakfast, we met Laurel! She was the only volunteer that we hadn’t met. It was totally unexpected (and unwanted by her) because she had to stay the night in Dar due to some travel miscommunications. It was so great to meet her! After swahili, we had a session on classroom management, and lunch at a new local place. It was great! We walked down this little alley and then, bam!, there is was. Quick lesson on culture: you are supposed to wash your hands before and after you eat. This place took it a little over the top and our water (the only hot water I have felt since I got here- no complaining!) was scalding hot. Let’s just say our hands got real clean. 

After lunch, we went back to vodacom to set up mPESA accounts. mPESA is how we will receive our stipends. It is pretty revolutionary. We will get a little notification and then go to a little side-of-the-road stand and be able to get out money pretty much wherever we are. It’s literally money in the phone. Then we went to Airtel to get our modems. Luckily we got them this time but it was no less of an adventure. We walked to the same Airtel as the one we went to on Saturday and it was completely gone. And not just the signs and merchandise. The entire store was wiped out, including the floor tile. Well, it had just moved up to the 4th floor in the ‘mall’. So we walked up the twisty stairs to their new store. The line was outrageous but we were able to go to a shorter ‘line’. I use line loosely because there really is no concept of line. They really just help whoever whenever and often are helping multiple people at one time. Count that as culture lesson #2 of the day. It was incredibly hot in there. Like sweat rolling down my face and back while we were just standing in there. It was apparently too hot for this one gentleman because he starting throwing a full-on tantrum, yelling about how hot it was.... and something about mzungu. Well there were only three of us in there so I don’t know what to think about that but, forget that, I take comfort in knowing I wasn’t the only one who was hot. We left and were about to get money out of an ATM when I realized that the lady kept my passport! Now that would have spelled trouble. Crisis #1 adverted. Yes #1. Crisis #2 came immediately after when my bank ate my ATM card. A little panicked, I called Kim over and she called the bank. While on the phone with them a little miracle occurred and the machine decided to give me my card back. A new ATM and money in my pocket and all was forgotten. 

It was a very chill afternoon where I read a book on my Kindle and took an impromptu nap. Very much needed and appreciated. I skipped dinner for some peanut butter but enjoyed the company and even got to see Laurel again. We are hoping to get to leave for Bariadi on Thursday instead of Friday but are waiting on the District officials to see if that can be in Mwanza then to pick us up. Stay tuned. 

day 4 - 1/ 5/ 14

We both finally slept SOO much better. I tried staying up a little later (until 10 - crazy, i know!) and I didn’t officially wake up until 8! I even did better with the mosquito net. And with another fantastic shower, a cooler, windier day, and my favorite dress to date meant only a good day was to come. It was day 2 of swahili lessons and Mai really had us going. The flashcards she used to teach us verbs were rated for ages 3+ but, man, they were helpful. We covered the 3 main tenses all in one day- present, past, and future. Obviously, there is still all the vocabulary to learn; however, it is a simple language to learn in terms of structure. 

After lunch we had a few sessions and took a very late lunch. By the time we got to Mokkacity, it was already 3:00. That meant it was 7am at home. (fun fact that Kim taught us today: instead of subtracting 8 hours from our time, it is easier to just add 4). 7am meant Hello World! I had mom, Katie, and dad all talking at the same time. Guess I’m their little celebrity for now. No nasty sandwich for me today, just a fruit and yogurt bowl with watermelon and mangoes. Yep, mango. I ate a few delicious bit of mango before my mind started playing too many tricks on me. I had already been itchy today from the dirt/ dust that was covering us so I decided to call it quits on the fruit. 

After lunch, we had another session on expectations that I thoroughly enjoyed. It really made me think about what I wanted to gain from this experience. I know that I have wanted to do it so badly for so long but what about some specifics? Some highlights include living in the moment and making the most of it, becoming confidently independent, forming lasting relationships, exploring, enjoying, and simplifying. 

It was a very chill night here (jioni hapa) at the YWCA. I did my swahili homework, wrote in my journal, and ate my last WW cookie and a good bit of peanut butter for dinner. (by the way, Katie, the chocolate oatmeal held up much better than the plain oatmeal). 

Ambers blog

Ambers Adventures 

ambernicolesawyer.blogspot.com 

day 3 - 1/4/14

Besides waking up at 10:30 and 12:30 and thinking that I had gotten a full nights rest each time, I slept much better. That being said, it didn’t take much. I have already decided that the mosquito net is going to be the bane of my existence. I woke up once and it was nowhere near covering me. It is quite the skill to master. Its hard not to have it fall on my face or stick my legs out. Plus, it blocks some of the treasured breeze that we get from the fan. (side note... the fan is so rickety. I can confidently say it is the worst fan in all the rooms here. How can I know that? Well, I can’t here the noise of any other fans from a few rooms away. There are wires sticking out of it and it shakes all the time. But you know what? It might just be the single best thing I have laid eyes on since I got here). (side note #2... sleeping on my back or my stomach is my only option. Why? Well, that’s because the only time that my legs do not touch - uhhh i mean get sticky/slimy wet from sweat. Too much information..? sorry!) 

We had our first swahili lessons today. Mai is our teacher (mwalimu) and she does such a great job. She is constantly acting out words and making us speak and practice continuously. We will have classes for 2 hours everyday until we leave for Bariadi. In the two hours today, we only covered greetings. You may think that is a little ridiculous; however, that just stresses how important greetings are here. And yes, greetings is plural because there are so many. They are a huge part of the culture here and must be done fully before getting on to the conversation, introducing yourself, asking a questions, or anything else. 

After the lesson, we were off to buy our phones and our internet modem. The phones we get are from Vodacom and the modem is from Airtel. Well, Vodacom was the first stop and it was quite interesting. The store was in a very new, modern building and was full of many workers and customers. Amber and I both got the cheapest phone available - 35,000 tsh/ about $20. We had to hand over our passports (can you believe I am going to be considered a resident of Tanzania soon?), and check out with the lady behind this one section of the counter where we got our phones. We also wanted to get some airtime on the phone but that lady sent us to the left 2 feet to wait on someone else. Well, that someone else wasn’t there for 20 minutes or so but in the mean time we got to watch the first lady sit in her chair and do nothing and another worker at the next counter literally sleep in his chair. This did not bother me at all; rather, I was loving taking in the variety of people in the store and the culture all around. Eventually, the next lady came and activated our phones, put credit on it, and took our money. No computers needed here. I have no clue how she did it but she just used a basic phone to get everything set up and ready on our phones. After Vodacom, we walked just a little bit further to a shopping ‘mall’ to get our modems at Airtel. Modems here most frequently connect to the computer through the USB port and are called dongles. We made it to the store but it had just closed... at 12:30 on a saturday. Apparently because we are in the city center, most places shut down on the weekend. It was no big deal though. We’ll get them Monday. 

Regardless on the dongle drama, we were planning to eat at Mokkacity Cafe. Air conditioned with wi-fi? Count us in! While I ate a far from delicious lunch, I got to talk with mom! Even though it was 5:30 in the morning there, I knew she would want to hear my lovely voice so I kept texting and texting her until I finally woke her up. Good morning! Amber and I have decided rest is for the weary, anyways. We texted for a while through the iMessage feature on the MacBooks now and even got to FaceTime for a while. Such a treat! 

Kim wanted to take advantage of having Katie, a current volunteer, in town to teach us about large, multilevel classes. This was especially relevant for my school because Kim believes I will have class sizes of at least 60 students. (side note #3... she also thinks I will be the ONLY math teacher at Biashara... talk about some pressure.) After that we went to the YMCA for some dinner. After eating, Katie, Amber, and I went to Snoopy’s for some ice cream. We came back and Amber passed out while I played with my new phone (it has snake!) and studied up on my swahili. Oh! Its so fun to use it when I can. at the canteen tonight, the worker there was talking to Katie and I was somewhat following along. Then he asked me where I was from and i was able to proudly say ‘ ninatoka Marecani’. Still a nerd, I really want to learn the language. Teacher may be my title here, but students I definitely am. 

The real day #1 - 1/3/14

Despite traveling for 27+ hours and going to bed around 2:30am, I was up by 7:45 the next morning. Already a little short on the rest, these 5 hours were far from restful. There were lots of slamming doors that went on all throughout the night and sleeping under the mosquito net was far from comfortable. This long tall sally definitely needs some more practice with sleeping under a mosquito net and actually take advantage of what it is really there for. Anyways, even though Kim did not have anything for us to do until lunch at 12:30 we were at breakfast by 8. We got the standard 2 slices of white bread, 1 slice of watermelon, and 1 hard boiled egg. While breakfast wasn’t exactly exciting, it was more than exciting to meet Kim on our way up to our room with my lost backpack! The airport called her that morning and confirmed my suspicion. Someone had accidentally picked up my bad instead of theirs and was nice enough to bring it back. I wasn’t all that worried all along but I was certainly relieved to hear the great news. Since we did not have anything scheduled until lunch, we had a good bit of free time on our hands. After a little bit of relaxing, we finally ventured out for our first, self-guided walk around town. Let’s just say it was quite the adventure! It was unbelievable that I was in Dar es Salaam, in Tanzania, in Africa. Though this bustling city is nowhere near representative of Tanzania or anywhere close to my little town of Bariadi, it was so interesting to walk around and just take in the culture. Car horns were constantly honking. Streets were packed with taxis, bajaj’s (3 wheeled open vehicles... I guess closest to a golf cart), daladala’s (crowded busses), and pikipiki’s (motorcycles). People were walking all in the roads. Bajaj’s and pikipiki’s were driving all over the sidewalks. Let’s just say that there seemed to be very few traffic laws/ pedestrian rights. Many people were constantly walking along the sidewalks, trying to sell their, often second-hand, goods, many times balancing their products on their head. Many other people had stations set up on the ground, frequently a white sheet littered with shoes. We were nearly back to the YWCA when Jim attached himself to us and gave us his own little tour of the city center and even took us to an area, albeit a little sketchy, where we could see the Indian Ocean! Here we met Bushman, who showed us his beautiful canvas that we completed with knife art. Jim was all in it for the money but we enjoyed the wanderings and the sightings and gave him a small amount for getting us back to the YWCA. All in all, a weird, awesome, funny experience. We finally made it back for lunch at the canteen. For 3,500 tsh, I got veggies (basically just very finely chopped greens - veggies = mboga), beans, and a piece of chicken. I actually didn’t order the chicken but that’s what happens when you order in a different language. It was actually quite delicious. After lunch we started our first few sessions for orientation and it was great to get into the teaching side of things. Our session break turned into an accidental nap party, which was much needed even though it was for maybe 20 minutes. Dinner was again at the canteen and they had run out of mboga so it was rice and beans for me. They normally give you this red sauce. No one really knows what is in it but it gives a little flavor to the rice. FYI... my first creature sighting was a rat before dinner. It was much larger and darker that those we have in the US. It crawled along a ledge on the wall near the ceiling before diner. Exhaustion finally hit and bed called at 8pm. 

well, here we are!

After some not so fun goodbyes (can we call them see-you-laters?) and some very sweet texts, I was finally off to make this dream a reality. I dropped off my luggage and made it to the gate with no problems. Amber and I played a little game of hide and seek, as we were trying to find each other at the gate without know what the other looked like. But we finally found each other and, boy, we were (are!) so glad to have each other. Its scary enough to do this, but doing it along would make it so much harder. Before long we were boarding and after a little bit of passport drama, we were off. We were able to get a guy to change seats with Amber so the two of us were able to sit together. After The Internship, Argo, The Secret Life of Bees, and half of The Shawshank Redemption, we were in Amsterdam. The airport there was interesting. Each gate had its own baggage check station. There were no seats outside the gate and not nearly enough on the inside. So, we claimed a spot on the floor and waited and waited and waited. There was a cut little girl that kept us entertained and, unfortunately, awake. At one point, they announced the flight would be delayed by 25 minutes but it turned into more like an hour. We eventually got on the plane (my first double-decker plane) and were off again... another 8 hour flight. I was really hoping for more sleep on this second leg but still really struggled. I maybe got 3 hours, 4 if we are being extremely generous. Regardless, I had Les Miserables, We’re The Millers, and an episode of Criminal Minds and NCIS to keep me entertained. Because of the delay we were really cutting it close to make it on the next flight but make it we did. Although the shortest of the three, only about an hour long, it was also the roomiest. So after 3 flights, many movies, attempts at sleeping, and a meal for every time zone it went through it seemed, we were in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania! It was nice and cool in Nairobi but Dar definitely brought the heat. The visa process was relatively easy. We payed and went right through to pick up our luggage. The conveyor belts were not even turned on; there was just a pile of luggage in the floor. Only it wasn’t all the luggage.... My hiking backpack was missing. So I went to a desk and talked with a lady about my luggage and how I could get it. Luckily I kept the luggage tag and Steven (our taxi driver) came to help me out with a little Swahili. I handled this little mishap really well and wasn’t too surprised when I didn’t see it. Let’s face it, it would of had to make it through 2 transfer when there were hundred and hundreds of people on two of the planes. Anyways, I did tell them that I thought someone else had accidentally grabbed mine instead of theirs because there was another backpack that was a little similar. Anyways, I left with their phone number in hand to call the next day to see if they had found it. After the little detour, I was finally able to go through the final and extremely nonchalant baggage check and meet Kim. She was so incredibly nice and welcoming and extremely surprised at how chipper and awake Amber and I were. We weren’t really sure why we were that way but I think the excitement of finally making it and being in AFRICA helped. By a little luck, there were 3 current volunteers that were making their way through Dar back to their placement staying at our hotel that night. Although there bus was leaving at 5 the next morning, they all stayed awake to greet us around 1! They were so awesome. Refreshing, encouraging, inspiring, welcoming. We made it to our rooms (freshman year all over). I unpacked my little travel duffel and was surprised to find pretty much everything I needed... tshirts and shorts, toiletries, underwear, and skirts and dressed. We joked that I didn’t even need the other bag! I also got my first chance to use a squat toilet. This one was fancy enough to have a lever that you could pull down to flush it. Forget the porcelain bowl... its basically a porcelain hole in the ground with places to put your feet instead of your butt - look it up. Anyways, I went downstairs and talked with two other volunteers for a little while and then finally returned to the room to hit the sack. No complaints but sleeping under a mosquito net (especially when your 6 feet tall) in a rather warm climate is quite difficult. 

ps. there was no proofreading for in this post and will likely be none in the future... count this as your warning.

and we're off

In just a few short hours, I'll be at the airport for my 26+ hour journey to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

I'm excited, yet anxious.

I'm prepared, yet I don't know if I have anything I need.

I'm nervous, yet I'm so ready to go!

I've been preparing for this for so long, and it's about to happen!

Bring it on, 2014! I've got big things planned!



Keep in touch! I think I will be able to get email from my house so send them my way!