Hope everyone enjoyed the holidays! I went to Newala on the 23rd to meet up with Katie and then we went to Ndanda the morning of the 24th to meet up with 9 other PCVs for holiday festivities. We went again to the watering hole for a nice swim and ended the day at a restaraunt for some basic Tanzanian fare and beers. We began Christmas morning by cooking a fabulous breakfast feast. We had eggs scrambled with lots of veggies, sausage (made by local nuns), and Katie and I even channeled our southern-ness (she's from Oklahoma) and cooked up some rockin' biscuits and sausage gravy. After brunch we did a gift swap...the theme was ridiculous stuff you can buy in Tanzania and we each had a 3000 shilingi (~2 USD). It was a lot of fun and the gifts ranged from a Hannah Montana CD case to a bottle of ranch dressing and CD of porn (there was a lot of regifting from care packages). I think I ended up with the best present of all...a 4-pack of Starbucks double shot espresso drinks. I even got to drink them chilled, courtesy of Dylan's fridge! We spent the rest of the day just relaxing, puzzling and playing scrabble, drinking bucket wine and cooking. For dinner we made beef fajitas that also turned out to be pretty tasty, and ended the night playing charades. All in all a very nice Christmas.
On the morning of the 26th me, Katie, Ghee, Grant, Jeff, and Jose hopped on a bus to Lindi and then went onwards to an island village called Kilwa Kisiwani, a UNESCO World Heritage site for its 9th century ruins. On the 27th we took a little sailboat over to see the ruins, which were pretty neat, and then spent the afternoon at the beach. The beach was really nice and I can now cross 'playing Marco Polo in the Indian Ocean' off my bucket list. Ice cold beers at a safi hotel bar on the beach ended out the vacation nicely. Katie, Ghee and I headed back to Lindi this morning (the others went on to the next stop of their trip) and we're spending the day here in an air-conditioned internet cafe, tonight in an Anglican church, and tomorrow we'll head back to Katie's site in Newala to spend New Years. I'm just about out of computer time, so that's all for now, hopefully pictures later. Hope you all have a fun New Years!
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
a few more pictures...
Got cut off the computer before I could finish uploading all my pictures. I finished captioning the last of the swearing-in pics and created a new album (PC Tanzania - service) with a few pictures of my house* and school. Enjoy!
*My house pics are already a bit outdated, but my laptop is dead so I can't upload new pictures at the moment. Recent additions to my living room include a bookshelf and the beginnings of a what will one day be a couch...so far I've just removed one of my doors and gathered up some cinderblocks to set it on. Hopefully I'll find a couple of cheap mattresses soon and some fabric to upholster them!
*My house pics are already a bit outdated, but my laptop is dead so I can't upload new pictures at the moment. Recent additions to my living room include a bookshelf and the beginnings of a what will one day be a couch...so far I've just removed one of my doors and gathered up some cinderblocks to set it on. Hopefully I'll find a couple of cheap mattresses soon and some fabric to upholster them!
Friday, December 17, 2010
Big Update! with pictures!
Hello from the deep south! I've been at site for 3 weeks now, and it's been quite the adventure so far. I added a bunch of pictures from our swearing-in ceremony at the US Embassy and Thanksgiving dinner at the Ambassador's house plus a few of my new house! Check 'em out in the photostream above.
So what's my new life like?!
MY VILLAGE...is called Maputi, and is near the town of Kitangali (or Kitangari) on the Makonde plateau in Mtwara region. It is pretty small, but it's hard to get any kind of accurate population, so I'm just going to guess that there are 1000 or 2000 people living here. I think my village is really cute, and pretty much looks like what you all probably imagine a rural African village to look like...lots of little mud huts with grass roofs. It has just a couple of dukas (shops) that sell some basic goods. We don't have much of a market, and the only produce I can buy here is onions, potatoes, and shitty tomatoes. Kitangali has a small market where you can usually find some sort of leafy green vegetable and maybe a bit of fruit. Unfortunately there is a huge valley between me and Kitangali and so it is about an hour walk up and down a couple of very steep hills. Another PCV lives in a village on the other side of Kitangali; his name is Tyler and he is from the most recent (swore-in in August) health and environment group. He's nice and has been really helpful so far, showing me around Kitangali and letting me share his PO Box. There is also a teacher's training college about a 20 minute walk from my house; I visited it the other day and I was pleasantly surprised to find a very nice looking computer lab that is hooked up with internet! The vice principle told me I could use it anytime I want for free, which is great news considering the closest internet cafe is probably a 4 hour bus ride away. Anyways, one of these days I'll snap some pictures of my vill, although it is a bit awkward to just whip my camera out most places.
MY SCHOOL...is on break now so I don't have much to update you all on. My mkuu (headmaster) is really nice and seems really dedicated to the school and students. He already got a bunch of math and science textbooks donated from an NGO out of the UK and even obtained some lab equipment from another school. My neighbor/other teacher has also been super helpful and I think he'll be great to work with. His name is Likulu and he's the only other full-time teacher besides myself, teaching Biology and Chemistry. The school has never had a math or physics teacher, and would like me to teach both at all 4 grade levels. That would be an extremely heavy teaching load (8 classes/day --> double what PC recommends) and require a lot of lesson planning, so I haven't quite figured out how I'll manage that...I may talk to my mkuu about cutting it down. But either way I'll begin teaching with the next term in mid-January.
MY HOUSE...is pretty basic, but I like it. I share a duplex with Likulu and our mkuu's house is maybe 50 yards from ours. We don't have electricity, which means I get quite a bit of sleep (usually in bed at 8pm) because there's just not much to do after dark. Fortunately the primary school connected to the teacher's training college has electricity, so I can take my cell phone over to one of the two teachers that live there and they'll charge it for free. Water in general is a problem on the plateau, but I've actually got a big concrete storage tank right next to my house that is connected to a rain catchment system from me and my mkuu's roof. It's pretty low now because the rainy season is just starting, so for now it gets filled by students that carry buckets of water from the main tap in the village. My house has a living room and 3 bedrooms which is way more space than I need...one room is storage at this point and another is completely empty. I also have a private courtyard which is really nice and where I spend a lot of my time. It's got a little room with a choo (bathroom/hole in the ground), a little room for bucket bathing, a storage closet, an area to cook, and clotheslines for laundry. My house started out extremely empty with just a bed, table and chairs, and desk. But I've since "borrowed" a few more desks from my school so now it's just mostly empty. I also went to a fundi to work on getting some shelves/cabinets built so that I can really begin unpacking my things. But they turned out to be a lot more expensive than I thought/can afford, so I'm going to have to just get one piece built at a time...up first is a bookshelf that should be ready today or tomorrow! And one day in the far far future I hope to be a proud owner of a couch, but for now I mostly just hang out on my bed. Every time I go to a town I try and pick up a few things to help me settle in (you can never have enough buckets). All in all setting up house will be quite a slow process, as everything I buy has to be either carried by yours truly or somehow shoved in/on a jam-packed bus.
But most unfortunately for me, I've got a serious rat problem. At first I could just hear them scurrying in my roof at night, find half-eaten bars of soap, and would sweep up rat poop every morning. But lately they've become quite the daredevils and like to come into my room at night. About 2 weeks ago I was completely startled to find a rat in one of my duffle bags. I bought rat poison and mixed it with some tomatoes and left it out one night, but apparently those little guys aren't easy to kill. Then I woke up to scratching behind my head...I turned my headlamp on and sure enough there was a rat trying to get into my tucked-in mosquito net! It turned into a pretty restless night's sleep as I'd wake up to more scratching every hour or so and have to hit my bed to make it scurry away. I left the next morning to go out of town for 5 days and sure enough it managed to eat through my mosquito net in that time. I came home to find a 2x2 inch hole in my mosquito net and a bunch of rat poop and pee on my bed. I washed my sheets and patched up my mosquito net, and just recently acquired a rat trap that I will test out tonight. If that doesn't work I think I'm going to get a cat (yep, that's right, did you ever imagine me a cat owner?!).
TRAVEL...down here is no fun. So far I've been on a bus that got stuck in the mud for 2.5 hours, a bus that broke down for 2.5 hours, 2 flat tires, a fire extinguisher explosion, drove on a 30 degree incline while dodging giant dirt piles, witnessed a full-blown physical fight over seats, held sleeping children on my lap, and completely changed my definition of the word crowded. There is only one paved road in the region, so most bus travel is done in shitty buses on shitty roads. And rainy season is just starting which should make travel even more interesting! But on the bright side, I get a great core workout every time I spend a bus ride trying to maintain my balance while standing in a variety of uncomfortable positions!
Buses don't go through my village very often, but there is one daladala that runs once a day to Newala, where my good friend Katie lives. Unfortunately it leaves my village at 5:45 in the morning, but it only takes about 1.5 hours to get there. Newala is pretty nice and has a big market where I have bought most of things for my house and also where I've found the most fresh produce. There is even one duka that sells peanut butter which has been a huge lifesaver! There are also a few other health/env volunteers that live near Newala so it is one of the meeting points in the region. If I go the opposite way on the main road from my village (north), I can reach a town called Mtama in about 2 hours. There is another ed volunteer, Grant, that lives there. Mtama is on the paved road that runs from Lindi to Masasi. A few volunteers live in villages along this road, including my good friend Ghee, who ended up getting transferred down here last minute. I've gone west to the town of Ndanda, where two ed volunteers, Dillon and Jeff, live. It's a pretty big town with a nice market. Dillon has a really safi house there with electricity, water you can drink straight from the tap, an oven, etc. so that is another big congregrating point for volunteers (and where I spent Thanksgiving).
So all in all I've already done quite a bit of traveling, mostly because the other ed volunteers are on break from school and it's holiday season. Although we're pretty isolated from the other regions, Peace Corps has been building Mtwara up so there are quite a few of us down here and we are relatively close to one another. It has definitely been nice to see/travel with other PCVs and have more of a transition into full-time village life. I got back about a week ago from a 5 day trip that was a lot of fun...I went to Newala for a couple of days to celebrate a volunteer's, Claire, birthday. We hired a truck to take us from Newala down to the Ruvuma river, which defines the border between Tanzania and Mozambique. It was a really pretty drive down the edge of the plateau and the river was also nice. It was quite tempting to make the short cross over to Mozambique, but we resisted because there are supposedly alligators and also because Peace Corps would shit themselves and then quickly send us home if they ever found out some crossed into northern Mozambique (which is still covered in lots of landmines). Then aobut 8 of us headed by bus to Mtwara town. We stayed 2 nights in Mikandani, a nearby village, at a pretty nice guesthouse that we were able to get a good deal on. We also stuffed our faces with extremely tasty but extremely expensive food. I ate quite possibly the best steak of my life and I drank a margarita! But the best part is that we went snorkling! In the Indian Ocean! It was my first time to snorkel and it was absolutely beautiful. I also recently went to Masasi, a 4.5 hour bus ride away and where the closest ATM is, and soon I'll be headed back to Ndanda to celebrate Christmas with some of the volunteers down here. Still not sure about New Year's plans, but thinking about heading to Lindi.
Welp, that's just about all I can think of to write at the moment. But I am doing well and still feel really lucky to be in Tanzania and Mtwara! I hope everyone is well and enjoying the holiday season!
So what's my new life like?!
MY VILLAGE...is called Maputi, and is near the town of Kitangali (or Kitangari) on the Makonde plateau in Mtwara region. It is pretty small, but it's hard to get any kind of accurate population, so I'm just going to guess that there are 1000 or 2000 people living here. I think my village is really cute, and pretty much looks like what you all probably imagine a rural African village to look like...lots of little mud huts with grass roofs. It has just a couple of dukas (shops) that sell some basic goods. We don't have much of a market, and the only produce I can buy here is onions, potatoes, and shitty tomatoes. Kitangali has a small market where you can usually find some sort of leafy green vegetable and maybe a bit of fruit. Unfortunately there is a huge valley between me and Kitangali and so it is about an hour walk up and down a couple of very steep hills. Another PCV lives in a village on the other side of Kitangali; his name is Tyler and he is from the most recent (swore-in in August) health and environment group. He's nice and has been really helpful so far, showing me around Kitangali and letting me share his PO Box. There is also a teacher's training college about a 20 minute walk from my house; I visited it the other day and I was pleasantly surprised to find a very nice looking computer lab that is hooked up with internet! The vice principle told me I could use it anytime I want for free, which is great news considering the closest internet cafe is probably a 4 hour bus ride away. Anyways, one of these days I'll snap some pictures of my vill, although it is a bit awkward to just whip my camera out most places.
MY SCHOOL...is on break now so I don't have much to update you all on. My mkuu (headmaster) is really nice and seems really dedicated to the school and students. He already got a bunch of math and science textbooks donated from an NGO out of the UK and even obtained some lab equipment from another school. My neighbor/other teacher has also been super helpful and I think he'll be great to work with. His name is Likulu and he's the only other full-time teacher besides myself, teaching Biology and Chemistry. The school has never had a math or physics teacher, and would like me to teach both at all 4 grade levels. That would be an extremely heavy teaching load (8 classes/day --> double what PC recommends) and require a lot of lesson planning, so I haven't quite figured out how I'll manage that...I may talk to my mkuu about cutting it down. But either way I'll begin teaching with the next term in mid-January.
MY HOUSE...is pretty basic, but I like it. I share a duplex with Likulu and our mkuu's house is maybe 50 yards from ours. We don't have electricity, which means I get quite a bit of sleep (usually in bed at 8pm) because there's just not much to do after dark. Fortunately the primary school connected to the teacher's training college has electricity, so I can take my cell phone over to one of the two teachers that live there and they'll charge it for free. Water in general is a problem on the plateau, but I've actually got a big concrete storage tank right next to my house that is connected to a rain catchment system from me and my mkuu's roof. It's pretty low now because the rainy season is just starting, so for now it gets filled by students that carry buckets of water from the main tap in the village. My house has a living room and 3 bedrooms which is way more space than I need...one room is storage at this point and another is completely empty. I also have a private courtyard which is really nice and where I spend a lot of my time. It's got a little room with a choo (bathroom/hole in the ground), a little room for bucket bathing, a storage closet, an area to cook, and clotheslines for laundry. My house started out extremely empty with just a bed, table and chairs, and desk. But I've since "borrowed" a few more desks from my school so now it's just mostly empty. I also went to a fundi to work on getting some shelves/cabinets built so that I can really begin unpacking my things. But they turned out to be a lot more expensive than I thought/can afford, so I'm going to have to just get one piece built at a time...up first is a bookshelf that should be ready today or tomorrow! And one day in the far far future I hope to be a proud owner of a couch, but for now I mostly just hang out on my bed. Every time I go to a town I try and pick up a few things to help me settle in (you can never have enough buckets). All in all setting up house will be quite a slow process, as everything I buy has to be either carried by yours truly or somehow shoved in/on a jam-packed bus.
But most unfortunately for me, I've got a serious rat problem. At first I could just hear them scurrying in my roof at night, find half-eaten bars of soap, and would sweep up rat poop every morning. But lately they've become quite the daredevils and like to come into my room at night. About 2 weeks ago I was completely startled to find a rat in one of my duffle bags. I bought rat poison and mixed it with some tomatoes and left it out one night, but apparently those little guys aren't easy to kill. Then I woke up to scratching behind my head...I turned my headlamp on and sure enough there was a rat trying to get into my tucked-in mosquito net! It turned into a pretty restless night's sleep as I'd wake up to more scratching every hour or so and have to hit my bed to make it scurry away. I left the next morning to go out of town for 5 days and sure enough it managed to eat through my mosquito net in that time. I came home to find a 2x2 inch hole in my mosquito net and a bunch of rat poop and pee on my bed. I washed my sheets and patched up my mosquito net, and just recently acquired a rat trap that I will test out tonight. If that doesn't work I think I'm going to get a cat (yep, that's right, did you ever imagine me a cat owner?!).
TRAVEL...down here is no fun. So far I've been on a bus that got stuck in the mud for 2.5 hours, a bus that broke down for 2.5 hours, 2 flat tires, a fire extinguisher explosion, drove on a 30 degree incline while dodging giant dirt piles, witnessed a full-blown physical fight over seats, held sleeping children on my lap, and completely changed my definition of the word crowded. There is only one paved road in the region, so most bus travel is done in shitty buses on shitty roads. And rainy season is just starting which should make travel even more interesting! But on the bright side, I get a great core workout every time I spend a bus ride trying to maintain my balance while standing in a variety of uncomfortable positions!
Buses don't go through my village very often, but there is one daladala that runs once a day to Newala, where my good friend Katie lives. Unfortunately it leaves my village at 5:45 in the morning, but it only takes about 1.5 hours to get there. Newala is pretty nice and has a big market where I have bought most of things for my house and also where I've found the most fresh produce. There is even one duka that sells peanut butter which has been a huge lifesaver! There are also a few other health/env volunteers that live near Newala so it is one of the meeting points in the region. If I go the opposite way on the main road from my village (north), I can reach a town called Mtama in about 2 hours. There is another ed volunteer, Grant, that lives there. Mtama is on the paved road that runs from Lindi to Masasi. A few volunteers live in villages along this road, including my good friend Ghee, who ended up getting transferred down here last minute. I've gone west to the town of Ndanda, where two ed volunteers, Dillon and Jeff, live. It's a pretty big town with a nice market. Dillon has a really safi house there with electricity, water you can drink straight from the tap, an oven, etc. so that is another big congregrating point for volunteers (and where I spent Thanksgiving).
So all in all I've already done quite a bit of traveling, mostly because the other ed volunteers are on break from school and it's holiday season. Although we're pretty isolated from the other regions, Peace Corps has been building Mtwara up so there are quite a few of us down here and we are relatively close to one another. It has definitely been nice to see/travel with other PCVs and have more of a transition into full-time village life. I got back about a week ago from a 5 day trip that was a lot of fun...I went to Newala for a couple of days to celebrate a volunteer's, Claire, birthday. We hired a truck to take us from Newala down to the Ruvuma river, which defines the border between Tanzania and Mozambique. It was a really pretty drive down the edge of the plateau and the river was also nice. It was quite tempting to make the short cross over to Mozambique, but we resisted because there are supposedly alligators and also because Peace Corps would shit themselves and then quickly send us home if they ever found out some crossed into northern Mozambique (which is still covered in lots of landmines). Then aobut 8 of us headed by bus to Mtwara town. We stayed 2 nights in Mikandani, a nearby village, at a pretty nice guesthouse that we were able to get a good deal on. We also stuffed our faces with extremely tasty but extremely expensive food. I ate quite possibly the best steak of my life and I drank a margarita! But the best part is that we went snorkling! In the Indian Ocean! It was my first time to snorkel and it was absolutely beautiful. I also recently went to Masasi, a 4.5 hour bus ride away and where the closest ATM is, and soon I'll be headed back to Ndanda to celebrate Christmas with some of the volunteers down here. Still not sure about New Year's plans, but thinking about heading to Lindi.
Welp, that's just about all I can think of to write at the moment. But I am doing well and still feel really lucky to be in Tanzania and Mtwara! I hope everyone is well and enjoying the holiday season!
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Guest post: new mailing address
Kathryn has a mailing address at her site. She is sharing a post office box with the nearest volunteer. She can be reached at:
Kathryn Alexander
P.O.Box 12
Kitangali, Newala, Mtwara, Tanzania
She is about an hour walk from Kitangali, longer than the distance would indicate because there is a very large, deep valley she has to cross and scaling it is pretty slow. (Note the "l" instead of the originally reported "r" in Kitangali. She said that "l" and "r" are largely interchangable in Kiswahili and that the "l" is more common for that town's name.)
She likes her headmaster and said everyone has been very nice and helpful. She is making some progress on getting settled in and has managed to get her mosquito net hung from the hard-to-reach ceiling and successfully made a tasty eggplant / tomato / onion meal with her stove. There is a well outside her house and she said when it is low the students carry buckets of water to fill it. She still needs to find a way to store her stuff and is thinking she could stack some of the baskets they use for fruits and veggies on their sides to make a bookshelf of sorts. She likes the other Peace Corps volunteers in her region and some of them have electricity so she can go charge her phone and other electronics. She is thinking about getting a modem so she doesn't have to make the 4-hour trek to the internet cafe.
[Posted by mom, based on info from phone conversations with dad & sis ]
Kathryn Alexander
P.O.Box 12
Kitangali, Newala, Mtwara, Tanzania
She is about an hour walk from Kitangali, longer than the distance would indicate because there is a very large, deep valley she has to cross and scaling it is pretty slow. (Note the "l" instead of the originally reported "r" in Kitangali. She said that "l" and "r" are largely interchangable in Kiswahili and that the "l" is more common for that town's name.)
She likes her headmaster and said everyone has been very nice and helpful. She is making some progress on getting settled in and has managed to get her mosquito net hung from the hard-to-reach ceiling and successfully made a tasty eggplant / tomato / onion meal with her stove. There is a well outside her house and she said when it is low the students carry buckets of water to fill it. She still needs to find a way to store her stuff and is thinking she could stack some of the baskets they use for fruits and veggies on their sides to make a bookshelf of sorts. She likes the other Peace Corps volunteers in her region and some of them have electricity so she can go charge her phone and other electronics. She is thinking about getting a modem so she doesn't have to make the 4-hour trek to the internet cafe.
[Posted by mom, based on info from phone conversations with dad & sis ]
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Guest post: Kathryn on site
Hi everyone, this is a post on Kathryn's behalf by her assistant editor / mom. Since it may be a while before she has internet access (currently a 4-hour bus ride away), I will give a short summary of our phone conversation earlier today.
After a busy day on Wednesday (swearing in day) and only a couple of hours sleep, Kathryn left early Thursday morning for her site, accompanied by the headmaster of the school where she will be teaching. They arrived safely late Thursday evening after a very long and very crowded bus ride on a mostly unpaved road. Even though though the rainy season is just getting started, the bus got stuck in the mud for a couple of hours. They were met by students who helped carry her bags to her new home. She will live in one side of a duplex, with the other side occupied by the other full-time teacher at the school. He is the chemistry & biology teacher and her designated "counterpart". The current school term is just ending, so Kathryn will begin teaching in mid January. She will teach math and physics for forms 1-4 (8th grade through 11th grade).
Her living quarters are almost empty at the moment, containing only a bed and a little table with a couple of chairs. There are no shelves or counters of any sort, so she can't really unpack yet. On Friday, her counterpart helped her buy a few dishes, a small kerosene stove and some food. She has yet to meet the nearest Peace Corps volunteer, a health care worker who lives in a village on the other side of a small nearby town. She hopes he has some hints for how to get furniture and other household purchases home on buses so full that the aisles are packed with people standing. There is no electricity or running water.
On Saturday, Kathryn got up early and used her battery-powered head lamp to get ready while it was still dark. Then she rode the bus (standing) for a couple of hours to get to the town of Ndanda, where she joined some other PC volunteers from the area for a Thanksgiving dinner. She will return to her new home on Sunday and resume the process of settling in.
She does not yet have a mailing address. She can be reached at the same phone number (assuming she can find a way to keep it charged, possibly by obtaining a solar charger).
After a busy day on Wednesday (swearing in day) and only a couple of hours sleep, Kathryn left early Thursday morning for her site, accompanied by the headmaster of the school where she will be teaching. They arrived safely late Thursday evening after a very long and very crowded bus ride on a mostly unpaved road. Even though though the rainy season is just getting started, the bus got stuck in the mud for a couple of hours. They were met by students who helped carry her bags to her new home. She will live in one side of a duplex, with the other side occupied by the other full-time teacher at the school. He is the chemistry & biology teacher and her designated "counterpart". The current school term is just ending, so Kathryn will begin teaching in mid January. She will teach math and physics for forms 1-4 (8th grade through 11th grade).
Her living quarters are almost empty at the moment, containing only a bed and a little table with a couple of chairs. There are no shelves or counters of any sort, so she can't really unpack yet. On Friday, her counterpart helped her buy a few dishes, a small kerosene stove and some food. She has yet to meet the nearest Peace Corps volunteer, a health care worker who lives in a village on the other side of a small nearby town. She hopes he has some hints for how to get furniture and other household purchases home on buses so full that the aisles are packed with people standing. There is no electricity or running water.
On Saturday, Kathryn got up early and used her battery-powered head lamp to get ready while it was still dark. Then she rode the bus (standing) for a couple of hours to get to the town of Ndanda, where she joined some other PC volunteers from the area for a Thanksgiving dinner. She will return to her new home on Sunday and resume the process of settling in.
She does not yet have a mailing address. She can be reached at the same phone number (assuming she can find a way to keep it charged, possibly by obtaining a solar charger).
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
swearin-in
I added a bunch of pictures from our last week in Morogoro, so check them out from the photo stream.
We've been back in Dar for a couple of days which has been a lot of fun because we're all back in one big group again. It's also nice to have some freedom back. I will really miss my host family, especially Isaac, but am excited to be in charge of my own schedule/life/etc. Anyways we've mostly just been hanging out and doing logistics stuff...All of the headmasters of our schools came to Dar and we met with them this morning. My headmaster seems really nice, but it was a bit awkward to come up with lots of things to talk about...should be even more fun sitting next to each other on the10 hour bus ride on down to site.
Tomorrow I will officially swear-in as a PCV! We recently had one volunteer go home, which was sad but for the best, so there will only be 38 of us swearing-in. We have a big celebration tomorrow morning at the US Embassy, that will consist of taking an oath, lots of speeches and singing songs (American and Tanzanian national anthems), and we are evening putting on a performance of the Beatles song "With a Little Help from my Kiswahili (Friends)" that was rewritten with Kiswahili lyrics...it is probably going to sound pretty terrible but will be fun nonetheless. Then tomorrow evening we are going over to the US Ambassador's house for a Thanksgiving dinner. Thursday morning I'll wake up at 4 am and hop on a 6 am bus ride for Mtwara!
Hopefully I can post some more pics after our swearing-in ceremony. All the guys will be sporting "swearing-in staches" so they should look pretty nasty.
Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving!
We've been back in Dar for a couple of days which has been a lot of fun because we're all back in one big group again. It's also nice to have some freedom back. I will really miss my host family, especially Isaac, but am excited to be in charge of my own schedule/life/etc. Anyways we've mostly just been hanging out and doing logistics stuff...All of the headmasters of our schools came to Dar and we met with them this morning. My headmaster seems really nice, but it was a bit awkward to come up with lots of things to talk about...should be even more fun sitting next to each other on the10 hour bus ride on down to site.
Tomorrow I will officially swear-in as a PCV! We recently had one volunteer go home, which was sad but for the best, so there will only be 38 of us swearing-in. We have a big celebration tomorrow morning at the US Embassy, that will consist of taking an oath, lots of speeches and singing songs (American and Tanzanian national anthems), and we are evening putting on a performance of the Beatles song "With a Little Help from my Kiswahili (Friends)" that was rewritten with Kiswahili lyrics...it is probably going to sound pretty terrible but will be fun nonetheless. Then tomorrow evening we are going over to the US Ambassador's house for a Thanksgiving dinner. Thursday morning I'll wake up at 4 am and hop on a 6 am bus ride for Mtwara!
Hopefully I can post some more pics after our swearing-in ceremony. All the guys will be sporting "swearing-in staches" so they should look pretty nasty.
Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving!
Friday, November 19, 2010
Shadow week
Shadow week was amazing! I like to think I've been on some pretty cool trips, but last week felt like the greatest vacation I've ever had. I was in a group with TJ (one of my best friends here), Glenn, and David and we had a blast. We started the trip off pleasantly surprised; I guess we were all expecting a miserable 10-hour bus ride on something in between a crazy local daladala and a Greyhound, but we stepped onto a nice bus with freezing cold air conditioning. About 15 minutes into the ride a man came around with ice cold cokes (served with straws!) and delicious little cakes (tasted like angelfood!). I think you have probably never seen four happier people in your whole life, and we probably would have been satisfied to just vacation on that bus. And sure enough the giant cheesy grins didn't leave our faces for the rest of the week. The bus ride flew by and we arrived in Mbeya around 8 pm. We were met at the bus station by a health PCV that lives in Mbeya and the vice principal of the Mbeya Institute of Science and Technology (MIST), who drove us all out to the MIST campus. The PCV we were shadowing, Anita, teaches computer engineering there and lives on campus in teacher housing. Her apartment was super safi (clean, nice, upscale) and bigger and probably nicer than any college apartment I ever lived in. She had electricity and running water, an oven, stove, refrigerator, freezer, and, get this, a blender. It was exciting to walk into a kitchen with fancy cooking appliances, after being used to sitting on the ground and cooking Tanzanian food (mostly rice and beans) over a little charcoal stove. Anita is also an amazing host and loves to cook delicious meals for people, so you can probably imagine where I'm going with this story. Anyways, we arrived there and were immediately treated to a giant pot of homemade enchiladas (what?!) and guacamole (what what?!).
So what other amazing things did I eat?! Oh don't worry, I documented all of the deliciousness, so I hope you weren't expecting pictures of anything other than food:
- I bought vanilla yogurt, granola with raisins, and peanut butter
- We made spaghetti with marinara sauce
- We made guacamole (again) and I made pineapple and mango salsa (even had cilantro!)
- We tried to make frozen margaritas but didn't have enough lime so added in mango, pineapple, orange, and konyagi (kind of like gin)...therefore inventing konyagiritas
- Went to out to eat at a restaurant where a fellow PCV told us he ate the best hamburger in Tanzania. It had a giant scoop of guacamole and some sort of cole-slaw type mixture and was served with french fries. It was delicious. We went there twice.
- We made pizza (homemade dough and sauce, veggies, CHEESE!) and a fresh salad with homemade balsamic vinaigrette dressing (perhaps the most enjoyable thing I ate all week), topped off with a couple of glasses of red wine
- I baked peanut butter cookies that we snacked on during our hike
- We cooked spinach lasagna (homemade noodles and ricotta cheese...who knew you can make ricotta cheese so easily?!), served with homemade focaccia bread drizzled with balsamic vinaigrette
- After a long day of hiking we chowed down on some vegetarian chili, served with chopped onions and yogurt. As an appetizer we enjoyed a fresh tomato and mozzarella salad tossed in balsamic vinaigrette.
- Veronica and I cooked an awesome Saturday morning brunch of eggs scrambled with potatoes, onions, peppers, and tomatoes, served with chapati (kind of like oil-soaked tortillas), fresh tomato and avocado slices, and bananas
- Konyagaritas (again, but perfected...more mango plus avocado for creaminess),
- We made SUSHI...No fish but they were still pretty delightful with mango, cucumber, and avocado (never would have though that my first time making sushi would be in Africa). Served it with miso soup and Anita even made homemade chocolate cake with chocolate-coffee icing for dessert.
- I also enjoyed drinking real, brewed coffee (hot and ICED!) all week
Don't worry we didn't just eat. We also relaxed a lot. One day I even took 2 naps. And I wore shorts around her apartment all week which felt so nice, despite making me more aware of how pale, fat, and hairy my legs have become. I even got in a little exercise and went for a nice run with Anita one morning around the farms outside her school. On Thursday we also met up with some of our fellow trainees (Veronica, Justin, Tim, and Paul) that were also shadowing in the Mbeya area for a beautiful hike at Crater Lake. It was actually a pretty tough hike to the top and then down and back up from the water, but it was well worth it.
On the weekend a bunch of PCVs that live in Mbeya region came into town and we met them all and hung out at their favorite bars. I learned that PCVs get crazy and drink a ridiculous amount whenever they manage to get together, so I'll have to try and not become an alcoholic.
In summary, the week was completely unproductive and Anita's site (rumored as the safi-est of all PC/TZ) couldn't be further from what I'll experience at my site, but needless to say it was the perfect vacation! After leaving food heaven, we came back to reality (Morogoro). This week was our last week of training, and we spent each day at our training hub doing final exams, logistics stuff, etc. This morning I took my final oral language interview/exam and this evening we're having a little goodbye celebration with our host families. On Sunday we'll leave to go back to Dar and prepare to be sworn-in as PCVs on Wednesday...ahhh it feels great to be done with training!
NEW PICS! (58-109) http://picasaweb.google.com/KathrynBAlexander/PCTanzaniaPST#
So what other amazing things did I eat?! Oh don't worry, I documented all of the deliciousness, so I hope you weren't expecting pictures of anything other than food:
- I bought vanilla yogurt, granola with raisins, and peanut butter
- We made spaghetti with marinara sauce
- We made guacamole (again) and I made pineapple and mango salsa (even had cilantro!)
- We tried to make frozen margaritas but didn't have enough lime so added in mango, pineapple, orange, and konyagi (kind of like gin)...therefore inventing konyagiritas
- Went to out to eat at a restaurant where a fellow PCV told us he ate the best hamburger in Tanzania. It had a giant scoop of guacamole and some sort of cole-slaw type mixture and was served with french fries. It was delicious. We went there twice.
- We made pizza (homemade dough and sauce, veggies, CHEESE!) and a fresh salad with homemade balsamic vinaigrette dressing (perhaps the most enjoyable thing I ate all week), topped off with a couple of glasses of red wine
- I baked peanut butter cookies that we snacked on during our hike
- We cooked spinach lasagna (homemade noodles and ricotta cheese...who knew you can make ricotta cheese so easily?!), served with homemade focaccia bread drizzled with balsamic vinaigrette
- After a long day of hiking we chowed down on some vegetarian chili, served with chopped onions and yogurt. As an appetizer we enjoyed a fresh tomato and mozzarella salad tossed in balsamic vinaigrette.
- Veronica and I cooked an awesome Saturday morning brunch of eggs scrambled with potatoes, onions, peppers, and tomatoes, served with chapati (kind of like oil-soaked tortillas), fresh tomato and avocado slices, and bananas
- Konyagaritas (again, but perfected...more mango plus avocado for creaminess),
- We made SUSHI...No fish but they were still pretty delightful with mango, cucumber, and avocado (never would have though that my first time making sushi would be in Africa). Served it with miso soup and Anita even made homemade chocolate cake with chocolate-coffee icing for dessert.
- I also enjoyed drinking real, brewed coffee (hot and ICED!) all week
Don't worry we didn't just eat. We also relaxed a lot. One day I even took 2 naps. And I wore shorts around her apartment all week which felt so nice, despite making me more aware of how pale, fat, and hairy my legs have become. I even got in a little exercise and went for a nice run with Anita one morning around the farms outside her school. On Thursday we also met up with some of our fellow trainees (Veronica, Justin, Tim, and Paul) that were also shadowing in the Mbeya area for a beautiful hike at Crater Lake. It was actually a pretty tough hike to the top and then down and back up from the water, but it was well worth it.
On the weekend a bunch of PCVs that live in Mbeya region came into town and we met them all and hung out at their favorite bars. I learned that PCVs get crazy and drink a ridiculous amount whenever they manage to get together, so I'll have to try and not become an alcoholic.
In summary, the week was completely unproductive and Anita's site (rumored as the safi-est of all PC/TZ) couldn't be further from what I'll experience at my site, but needless to say it was the perfect vacation! After leaving food heaven, we came back to reality (Morogoro). This week was our last week of training, and we spent each day at our training hub doing final exams, logistics stuff, etc. This morning I took my final oral language interview/exam and this evening we're having a little goodbye celebration with our host families. On Sunday we'll leave to go back to Dar and prepare to be sworn-in as PCVs on Wednesday...ahhh it feels great to be done with training!
NEW PICS! (58-109) http://picasaweb.google.com/KathrynBAlexander/PCTanzaniaPST#
Saturday, November 6, 2010
SITE ANNOUNCEMENT!!!!
Today was quite the exciting day! Our Country Director, Andrea, came in from Dar with a couple other PC staff. After morning chai at our training hub, CCT, we all gathered under a mango tree with a beautiful view of the mountain in the background. They brought in traditional African dancers and drummers and we watched a dance and then all joined in. We all sat down and they brought out a big map of Tanzania. Everyone's pictures were covered up with post-its and strings were pinned from each picture to their future site. One of the PCTs got to go up to the board and uncover the first person's face and then that person came up to hear a little about their site and then uncover the next face, and so on and so on. It was all very dramatic and exciting and happy!
So now the news you really care about...I'll be spending the next 2 years in Mtwara region in southeast Tanzania at the border with Mozambique!!! I'm on the Makonde Plateau, so I'll have fairly cool weather which will be a nice change from the heat. I've heard its really beautiful and is famous for its cashew nuts! I'll be about halfway between the towns of Mtama and Newala, at a school called Maputi Secondary School. It's a pretty new school (opened in 2007) and has never had a PCV before. That means I don't know much about my site except for that it an O-level (forms 1-4 -> ~grades 8-11) rural, co-ed day school has about 250 students. It has a headmaster (principal) and 3 diploma teachers (just have high school diploma), only 2 of which are full-time. It looks like I'll be teaching physics and math.
One of my good friends here, Katie, will actually be in Newala town and I think we are just a 2 hour bus ride away from each other which is really nice. Another friend from my CBT, Leslie, is also in the region but closer to the coast. Several good friends are spread far around the country so it will be sad to say goodbye but hopefully we will be able to see each other on occasion. It sounds like there are/will be 15-20 PCVs in the region so I will have plenty of opportunities to meet/see other volunteers. I've already spoken with a couple of current volunteers down there and I'm getting so excited! It sounds like I'm pretty much out in the bush, with no electricity or water (water in this region is a big problem). In general this part of Tanzania is one of the least developed, and has very few paved roads (as one PCV that lives there put it...there's one kind-of-paved road). During dry season it takes 8-10 hours by bus to Dar and during rainy season it takes over a day. It is home to the Makonde tribe, which I've heard is one of the most "traditional" tribes (they also used to be cannibals) and also predominately Muslim, so it is a fairly conservative area.
Anyways, I'm so relieved to finally know where I'll be and to get down there!! Tomorrow I'm off to Mbeya for shadow week...hopefully I return with lots of good pictures!
So now the news you really care about...I'll be spending the next 2 years in Mtwara region in southeast Tanzania at the border with Mozambique!!! I'm on the Makonde Plateau, so I'll have fairly cool weather which will be a nice change from the heat. I've heard its really beautiful and is famous for its cashew nuts! I'll be about halfway between the towns of Mtama and Newala, at a school called Maputi Secondary School. It's a pretty new school (opened in 2007) and has never had a PCV before. That means I don't know much about my site except for that it an O-level (forms 1-4 -> ~grades 8-11) rural, co-ed day school has about 250 students. It has a headmaster (principal) and 3 diploma teachers (just have high school diploma), only 2 of which are full-time. It looks like I'll be teaching physics and math.
One of my good friends here, Katie, will actually be in Newala town and I think we are just a 2 hour bus ride away from each other which is really nice. Another friend from my CBT, Leslie, is also in the region but closer to the coast. Several good friends are spread far around the country so it will be sad to say goodbye but hopefully we will be able to see each other on occasion. It sounds like there are/will be 15-20 PCVs in the region so I will have plenty of opportunities to meet/see other volunteers. I've already spoken with a couple of current volunteers down there and I'm getting so excited! It sounds like I'm pretty much out in the bush, with no electricity or water (water in this region is a big problem). In general this part of Tanzania is one of the least developed, and has very few paved roads (as one PCV that lives there put it...there's one kind-of-paved road). During dry season it takes 8-10 hours by bus to Dar and during rainy season it takes over a day. It is home to the Makonde tribe, which I've heard is one of the most "traditional" tribes (they also used to be cannibals) and also predominately Muslim, so it is a fairly conservative area.
Anyways, I'm so relieved to finally know where I'll be and to get down there!! Tomorrow I'm off to Mbeya for shadow week...hopefully I return with lots of good pictures!
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
mikumi, teaching, etc.
Sorry for the delay, but PICTURES ARE UP!! Check out the photostream above or visit http://picasaweb.google.com/KathrynBAlexander/PCTanzaniaPST?feat=directlink.
LIVING:
My homestay family is still great. My mama has pretty much blown every conservative stereotype that PC told us out the window. I came home the other night and she told me that she had just remembered that today was her birthday. Remembering that she told me she was 25 the first day I moved in, I mentioned that she turned 26, to which she responded that no, she had turned 24. So I guess I'm still not sure how old she is, but it looks like she's just 6 months or so older than me which is amusing because homestay is conducive to being treated like a child (here's how you use the toilet, take a bath, cook, wash your clothes, clean your room, etc.). I also found out that her and my baba aren't actually married, but live together and have a child which is extremely untraditional for Tanzania. And after every warning given to me about how religious Tanzanians are and how they will not understand you if you say you don't have a religion, of course my Mama isn't religious at all. Of course village life will be much different, but it has been neat to see a broader picture of modern Tanzanians.
Flora, my house dada (house sister = live in housekeeper/cook) ran away about a week ago. It’s a pretty long story that I won’t go into because I still don’t really understand what happened myself. But long story short she is gone and now its just me, Mama Isaac, my kaka Isaac, and my dada Betty. It has been pretty crazy without Flora because she really did most of the work around the house and stayed home during the day with Isaac. I’ve had to pitch in a lot more around the house, which means waking up earlier and staying up later to help with the chores. My personal favorite (read: NOT) is sweeping the dirt around outside the house; I’m not sure I’ll ever understand the reasoning behind it, but I can say with pretty high certainty that I will not be waking up early to do this once I’m in my own house.
Most people are interested to hear that I eat dinner almost every night with my hands. Well really hand, because you're left hand is reserved solely for wiping yourself (don’t worry, I use toilet paper). At the beginning I was pretty paranoid about using my left hand for something I'm not supposed to and offending someone. For example, have you ever tried to peel a banana using one hand? I have, and it is not easy. Of course after a couple of minutes my mama's friend just started laughing and told me that I could use my left hand to hold the banana peel. I think about it a lot less now and so I've forgotten plenty of times and used my left hand to grab food. My mama and her friends also laugh at me a lot because I haven't really mastered eating rice and beans with my fingers. They're really good at like rolling it into a ball in their hands and eating it but I mostly just make a big mess and my hands are covered in food at the end of the meal. It is pretty amusing. In general, Tanzanians appreciate you even trying to fit into their culture and give you tons of slack because you aren't afterall Tanzanian.
About every other afternoon/evening I'll meet up with some of the other volunteers in the area for a (cold!) beer or soda. I know I won't have that luxury once I'm alone at site, but it's been really nice having other PCVs to talk to that know exactly what you're going through and to just be able to completely relax and be yourself.
TEACHING:
I’m about to finish my third and final week of internship teaching. It has gone alright, and it is definitely hard to take over a classroom for just 3 weeks, but it has been really interesting and I feel like I've learned a lot. English is by far the biggest challenge. Most of the students english skills are not where they need to be to be learning all subjects in English (most Tanzanian teachers teach primarily in Kiswahili which means that the kids can learn the concepts but then fail the exams which are written in English). The hardest part is definitely forcing myself to slow down my speech as much as possible, over-pronounce every syllable, repeat myself, and use really simple vocabulary. Students don't have textbooks and so everything you write (and only what you write) they copy into their notebooks and study from. It takes a long time for them to copy boardwork because they all want to write and draw really perfectly (they seriously use rulers to draw every single line). Besides the language barrier, you generally recieve very little feedback and it's hard to get a lot of class participation. Posing open-ended answers to students and having them feel comfortable answering them is a big challenge and a highlights a pretty huge difference between the Tanzanian and American educational systems; in general, Tanzanian students are not encouraged to think for themselves, but instead to memorize and regurgitate answers. But if anything, internship teaching has made me more excited to have my own class for an entire year, where I can set rules and expectations and really get to know my students. We've had some really great sessions given by current PCVs with really practical information about differences between American and Tanzanian schools, how to manage a classroom, how to encourage critical thinking rather than memorization, etc. Last week we also had a really cool session by a 4th year PCV (a lot volunteers here extend past 2 years) about hands on lab activities. It was a lot of fun and he gave us a lot of great information and ideas that have made me really excited to teach science as interactively as possible, and all of the cheap and local materials you can use to do so.
TRAVELLING:
Two weekends ago we went to Mikumi national park, which was about a 2 hour drive from Morogoro. It was a really great weekend and just the break we all needed from training. We did a late afternoon safari on Saturday and then a very early morning safari on Sunday morning. It was a really amazing experience and really the first time that it hit me I was actually in Africa and how lucky I am to be in Tanzania and experience the things I'm experiencing. I'm not even a huge animal person and I must say that it was so cool to see all of the elephants, giraffes, zebras, impalas, warthogs, a hippo, etc. Watching the sunset in the park was also incredible. We partied a bit on Saturday night and actually managed to stay up until like 2:30 in the morning which is really incredible when I think most of us go to bed around 9:30 every night. Anyways, the weekend went by way too fast but it was a lot of fun!
Training is starting to drag on and a lot of us are getting pretty antsy to move on to our sites, be able to cook and clean in our own houses, etc. Luckily this week seems like our last real week of training because on Sunday we’ll leave for shadowing current PCVs. I’m headed to Mbeya region, in southwest Tanzania close to the border with Zambia. It is one of the furthest sites and takes about 10 hours by bus from Morogoro. There are four of us going there, and I feel really lucky to be in the group I’m in (PC seems to like splitting us up completely arbitrarily); one of the guys is one of my best friends here and the other two are really cool and laidback so it should be a fun trip. I’m extremely excited to see some more of the country, and have heard good things about Mbeya (green and lush, cooler, tasty rice, etc.). It will also be really helpful to see how a volunteer lives, works, eats, sleeps, etc.
On Saturday we find out our site placements so it should be a crazy day filled with lots of emotions! I’m super anxious and it is pretty much torture waiting to find out where I’ll be living for the next two years and which volunteers I’ll be nearest to...stay tuned!!
Oh ya and it’s also been pretty crazy here lately with all the excitement surrounding the presidential election, which happened on Sunday. The current President, Kikwete, ran for a second term and won, which was expected. However, his party, CCM (which has dominated for a really long time) lost a lot of their seats in parliament to other parties which was also expected because there are a lot of people that think CCM has been in power for too long and want to see what other parties can deliver. Anyways, it was expected to be a peaceful election, but as a precaution we were on standby from Peace Corps (stay at home and don’t go into town and be ready to hear from Peace Corps with further instructions, etc.).
Ok, that's all I can think of for now...badaaye (later)!
LIVING:
My homestay family is still great. My mama has pretty much blown every conservative stereotype that PC told us out the window. I came home the other night and she told me that she had just remembered that today was her birthday. Remembering that she told me she was 25 the first day I moved in, I mentioned that she turned 26, to which she responded that no, she had turned 24. So I guess I'm still not sure how old she is, but it looks like she's just 6 months or so older than me which is amusing because homestay is conducive to being treated like a child (here's how you use the toilet, take a bath, cook, wash your clothes, clean your room, etc.). I also found out that her and my baba aren't actually married, but live together and have a child which is extremely untraditional for Tanzania. And after every warning given to me about how religious Tanzanians are and how they will not understand you if you say you don't have a religion, of course my Mama isn't religious at all. Of course village life will be much different, but it has been neat to see a broader picture of modern Tanzanians.
Flora, my house dada (house sister = live in housekeeper/cook) ran away about a week ago. It’s a pretty long story that I won’t go into because I still don’t really understand what happened myself. But long story short she is gone and now its just me, Mama Isaac, my kaka Isaac, and my dada Betty. It has been pretty crazy without Flora because she really did most of the work around the house and stayed home during the day with Isaac. I’ve had to pitch in a lot more around the house, which means waking up earlier and staying up later to help with the chores. My personal favorite (read: NOT) is sweeping the dirt around outside the house; I’m not sure I’ll ever understand the reasoning behind it, but I can say with pretty high certainty that I will not be waking up early to do this once I’m in my own house.
Most people are interested to hear that I eat dinner almost every night with my hands. Well really hand, because you're left hand is reserved solely for wiping yourself (don’t worry, I use toilet paper). At the beginning I was pretty paranoid about using my left hand for something I'm not supposed to and offending someone. For example, have you ever tried to peel a banana using one hand? I have, and it is not easy. Of course after a couple of minutes my mama's friend just started laughing and told me that I could use my left hand to hold the banana peel. I think about it a lot less now and so I've forgotten plenty of times and used my left hand to grab food. My mama and her friends also laugh at me a lot because I haven't really mastered eating rice and beans with my fingers. They're really good at like rolling it into a ball in their hands and eating it but I mostly just make a big mess and my hands are covered in food at the end of the meal. It is pretty amusing. In general, Tanzanians appreciate you even trying to fit into their culture and give you tons of slack because you aren't afterall Tanzanian.
About every other afternoon/evening I'll meet up with some of the other volunteers in the area for a (cold!) beer or soda. I know I won't have that luxury once I'm alone at site, but it's been really nice having other PCVs to talk to that know exactly what you're going through and to just be able to completely relax and be yourself.
TEACHING:
I’m about to finish my third and final week of internship teaching. It has gone alright, and it is definitely hard to take over a classroom for just 3 weeks, but it has been really interesting and I feel like I've learned a lot. English is by far the biggest challenge. Most of the students english skills are not where they need to be to be learning all subjects in English (most Tanzanian teachers teach primarily in Kiswahili which means that the kids can learn the concepts but then fail the exams which are written in English). The hardest part is definitely forcing myself to slow down my speech as much as possible, over-pronounce every syllable, repeat myself, and use really simple vocabulary. Students don't have textbooks and so everything you write (and only what you write) they copy into their notebooks and study from. It takes a long time for them to copy boardwork because they all want to write and draw really perfectly (they seriously use rulers to draw every single line). Besides the language barrier, you generally recieve very little feedback and it's hard to get a lot of class participation. Posing open-ended answers to students and having them feel comfortable answering them is a big challenge and a highlights a pretty huge difference between the Tanzanian and American educational systems; in general, Tanzanian students are not encouraged to think for themselves, but instead to memorize and regurgitate answers. But if anything, internship teaching has made me more excited to have my own class for an entire year, where I can set rules and expectations and really get to know my students. We've had some really great sessions given by current PCVs with really practical information about differences between American and Tanzanian schools, how to manage a classroom, how to encourage critical thinking rather than memorization, etc. Last week we also had a really cool session by a 4th year PCV (a lot volunteers here extend past 2 years) about hands on lab activities. It was a lot of fun and he gave us a lot of great information and ideas that have made me really excited to teach science as interactively as possible, and all of the cheap and local materials you can use to do so.
TRAVELLING:
Two weekends ago we went to Mikumi national park, which was about a 2 hour drive from Morogoro. It was a really great weekend and just the break we all needed from training. We did a late afternoon safari on Saturday and then a very early morning safari on Sunday morning. It was a really amazing experience and really the first time that it hit me I was actually in Africa and how lucky I am to be in Tanzania and experience the things I'm experiencing. I'm not even a huge animal person and I must say that it was so cool to see all of the elephants, giraffes, zebras, impalas, warthogs, a hippo, etc. Watching the sunset in the park was also incredible. We partied a bit on Saturday night and actually managed to stay up until like 2:30 in the morning which is really incredible when I think most of us go to bed around 9:30 every night. Anyways, the weekend went by way too fast but it was a lot of fun!
Training is starting to drag on and a lot of us are getting pretty antsy to move on to our sites, be able to cook and clean in our own houses, etc. Luckily this week seems like our last real week of training because on Sunday we’ll leave for shadowing current PCVs. I’m headed to Mbeya region, in southwest Tanzania close to the border with Zambia. It is one of the furthest sites and takes about 10 hours by bus from Morogoro. There are four of us going there, and I feel really lucky to be in the group I’m in (PC seems to like splitting us up completely arbitrarily); one of the guys is one of my best friends here and the other two are really cool and laidback so it should be a fun trip. I’m extremely excited to see some more of the country, and have heard good things about Mbeya (green and lush, cooler, tasty rice, etc.). It will also be really helpful to see how a volunteer lives, works, eats, sleeps, etc.
On Saturday we find out our site placements so it should be a crazy day filled with lots of emotions! I’m super anxious and it is pretty much torture waiting to find out where I’ll be living for the next two years and which volunteers I’ll be nearest to...stay tuned!!
Oh ya and it’s also been pretty crazy here lately with all the excitement surrounding the presidential election, which happened on Sunday. The current President, Kikwete, ran for a second term and won, which was expected. However, his party, CCM (which has dominated for a really long time) lost a lot of their seats in parliament to other parties which was also expected because there are a lot of people that think CCM has been in power for too long and want to see what other parties can deliver. Anyways, it was expected to be a peaceful election, but as a precaution we were on standby from Peace Corps (stay at home and don’t go into town and be ready to hear from Peace Corps with further instructions, etc.).
Ok, that's all I can think of for now...badaaye (later)!
Monday, October 18, 2010
more homestay
Hello there! Alot of stuff has happened in the last week but I will try and remember the interesting stuff. Last week was much more oriented towards teaching prep, which has been interesting to say the least. I don't want to bash Peace Corps, so I will just say it was rushed and disorganized (especially compared to the extremely well thought out/planned language training). Last week I met with the teacher whose classes I will be taking over for the next 3 weeks at my internship school. I'll be teaching the form 1 (~8th grade) physics class. There are 86 students. In one classroom. You can imagine it is pretty cramped, and they have to sit two to a desk. It is surprisingly quiet and orderly, which goes to show how much discipline and respect for the teacher are taking seriously in Tanzania. I sat in on math and physics classes last week and it was a bit of an eye opener. Although I am sure that there are plenty of great teachers in Tanzania, both teachers I happened to observe made pretty substantial mistakes. I guess it puts less pressure on myself, because if I can just teach accurate information the students will be better off. Also interesting is how mismatched the physics and math curriculums are. I'll be teaching a unit on pressure, which starts off pretty simply (force/area), but then essentially goes into fluid mechanics (which I didn't learn about until my sophmore year in college). Meanwhile the same kids are just now learning about perimeter and circumference in their math class. Anyways, my first class in on Wednesday, so I guess I will gauge what they know and have to make some adjustments. Three of the PCVs in my group taught their first classes today, so I am already getting pretty excited for mine!
In other news, I was sick this weekend, but I'm all better now so no need to worry. We had the 3rd shot for the rabies vaccine midday Friday, and my body had a bad reaction. Spent Friday afternoon and night feeling pretty shitty (headache, nausea, fever) and was still feeling not so great Saturday but was all better by Sunday. I was well taken care of by my Mama and had all kinds of neighbors stop by to wish me well, phone calls from family friends and other PCVs, etc. I decided to pass on a big 8 hour hiking outing with a bunch of other PCVs on Sunday to climb a nearby mountain, which was a bummer but that's just how it goes. Instead I spent a leisurely Sunday morning cleaning my room and washing all my clothes and shoes for 3 hours (Tanzanians are very particular about cleaning)...needless to say my raw knuckles aren't too happy! Went over to the house of Mama Isaac's best friend for lunch and then went to visit her sister-in-laws. I'm still getting used to being the center of attention. I'm a source of endless wonder, and people just stare and talk about me right in front of me. They also like to touch my skin, hair, etc. Could you ever imagine going over to a stranger's house, where they'd take off your shoes and start painting your toenails with henna?! (you also need to understand how impossible it is to keep your feet clean of all the dirt and dust, and how grossed out I am by my own feet)
We got kind of scary news today. One of my fellow volunteers, Danielle, got in an accident involving a pikipiki (motorcycle) yesterday evening. I don't know the details, just that she was hit and she was taken to the hospital in Dar. Luckily she's fine, and just has some cuts and bruises on her leg, so hopefully she will be back soon!
Next weekend marks the halfway point of training, and all the volunteers will be traveling to a nearby nature reserve for a safari. Some of us were going to try to camp, but it looks like that might not work out. Either way it will be a nice break from training and I'm really looking forward to it!
Anyways, I just want to say thanks to everyone who has messaged, emailed, commented, etc...I wish I had enough time (and money!) to reply to you all individually, but I have read and appreciate every word!
AND NEXT TIME I PROMISE PICTURES!!!
In other news, I was sick this weekend, but I'm all better now so no need to worry. We had the 3rd shot for the rabies vaccine midday Friday, and my body had a bad reaction. Spent Friday afternoon and night feeling pretty shitty (headache, nausea, fever) and was still feeling not so great Saturday but was all better by Sunday. I was well taken care of by my Mama and had all kinds of neighbors stop by to wish me well, phone calls from family friends and other PCVs, etc. I decided to pass on a big 8 hour hiking outing with a bunch of other PCVs on Sunday to climb a nearby mountain, which was a bummer but that's just how it goes. Instead I spent a leisurely Sunday morning cleaning my room and washing all my clothes and shoes for 3 hours (Tanzanians are very particular about cleaning)...needless to say my raw knuckles aren't too happy! Went over to the house of Mama Isaac's best friend for lunch and then went to visit her sister-in-laws. I'm still getting used to being the center of attention. I'm a source of endless wonder, and people just stare and talk about me right in front of me. They also like to touch my skin, hair, etc. Could you ever imagine going over to a stranger's house, where they'd take off your shoes and start painting your toenails with henna?! (you also need to understand how impossible it is to keep your feet clean of all the dirt and dust, and how grossed out I am by my own feet)
We got kind of scary news today. One of my fellow volunteers, Danielle, got in an accident involving a pikipiki (motorcycle) yesterday evening. I don't know the details, just that she was hit and she was taken to the hospital in Dar. Luckily she's fine, and just has some cuts and bruises on her leg, so hopefully she will be back soon!
Next weekend marks the halfway point of training, and all the volunteers will be traveling to a nearby nature reserve for a safari. Some of us were going to try to camp, but it looks like that might not work out. Either way it will be a nice break from training and I'm really looking forward to it!
Anyways, I just want to say thanks to everyone who has messaged, emailed, commented, etc...I wish I had enough time (and money!) to reply to you all individually, but I have read and appreciate every word!
AND NEXT TIME I PROMISE PICTURES!!!
Sunday, October 10, 2010
homestay update...for reals
Ok so I'll try writing this again. I've been with my host family for one week now. They are really great, although different than I expected. My Mama is only 25 years old, so she's really more like a friend. She's a primary school teacher, teaching English actually, which is good for me but bad for my Swahili immersion. But she's super nice and does try to speak to me in Swahili the first time, and then again the second time if I don't understand, but will usually switch to English if I really don't understand. Her husband, Baba Isaac, is 30. I just met him briefly my first day because the next morning he had to go to Zanzibar for work...he's in the military and their prepping for the upcoming presidential election on the 31st. He's nice though, speaks fairly good english, and I've talked to him on the phone a few times since he left. The best part of my family is my little kaka (brother) Isaac. That's right, his name is Isaac, just like my newest little cousin! He's only 1 year old and I'm already in love with him. It's awesome to come home and see his adorable, smiling face everyday. I also have 2 dada (sister), Betty and Flora, who aren't actually my sisters. I think Betty is the younger sister of Mama Isaac and Flora is the housegirl (cooks and cleans...which is awkward and deserves a long blogpost in and of itself...more about that later) and may or may not be related...not sure exact ages but I'd guess both are around 13. Everyone is really nice and I feel very comfortable in the house. We have electricity, but no running water. I've got my own room with a big bed and a desk to study. A lot could be said about training itself, but I guess it could be summed up as crazy and exhausting. There is very little free time, as we have class from 8 to 5 Monday through Saturday...I really don't think it is actually possible to shove that much Kiswahili in your brain every day. Then it's back home after class, where I am lucky to get in a pumzika kidogo (little rest), help cooking dinner (takes forever!), hand wash clothes (takes forever!), talk with my family, play with Isaac, etc. Eat dinner, bath, get in bed around 9:30 and try and journal for a few minutes before passing out anywhere form 10 to 15 minutes later. But don't worry, it's not as bad as it sounds and I am really enjoying every minute of it. I am also happy to report I am cleaner than I ever have been, because in Tanzania you both TWICE a day, so I take a bucket bath every morning and night.
Swahili is going pretty well. Another girl in my group learned some Swahili before coming as well, so it's nice that we're at the same level and pick up new stuff at the same pace. It is actually a fairly easy language to learn, and the grammar is really regular once you get the hang of it. I feel really confident in class and talking with my language teacher, but everyday conversation in everyday situations is totally different. It is still pretty intimidating and I get easily flustered, but I'm sure I'll get more comfortable with time. The 2 oldest volunteers (60s?) are in my language group which has been pretty interesting. I really can't imagine trying to learn a language as an old person...they really have such a harder time picking it up. The woman is especially slow, and after just 2 days they brought in another teacher just for her. So it's better now that we're able to move forward at the pace we should be, and I do really like my language teacher. Unfortunately, none of the people I became close friends with so far are in my group or live anywhere near me, which was pretty disappointing but is probably for the best anyways as I can just focus on Swahili and integrating into my host family. All the volunteers get together once a week at our central training hub for broad training sessions, and it was really great to see everyone on Friday. After training some of us went to a nearby bar and had a couple of cold beers and pizza (first "American" food since arriving) which was a great way to end our first week of homestay.
The food with with my host family is awesome! A lot less fried stuff and more vegetables and fresh fruit with every meal (banana, watermelon, papaya). My favorite dish so far is matembele, which is made from the leaves of the sweet potato plant...it cooks down to something similar to spinach, but much tastier, and Mama Isaac cooks it with tomato, onion, grated carrot and fresh coconut milk...delicious! My dada also makes a wonderful homeade fruit juice. So I'm eating very well!
Today was a free day since it's Sunday. I slept in until 7:30 and then woke up, ate breakfast, and studied some Swahili. Then I went into to town (about a 10 minute bus ride...also another blog post in and of itself) to meet up with some of the volunteers for lunch. Went to a bar for a couple of cold beers after, and now I'm at an internet cafe as my last stop. Another long week ahead, but we're starting more teacher training and less language so it should be pretty different. That's all for now...hope you all are well!!
Swahili is going pretty well. Another girl in my group learned some Swahili before coming as well, so it's nice that we're at the same level and pick up new stuff at the same pace. It is actually a fairly easy language to learn, and the grammar is really regular once you get the hang of it. I feel really confident in class and talking with my language teacher, but everyday conversation in everyday situations is totally different. It is still pretty intimidating and I get easily flustered, but I'm sure I'll get more comfortable with time. The 2 oldest volunteers (60s?) are in my language group which has been pretty interesting. I really can't imagine trying to learn a language as an old person...they really have such a harder time picking it up. The woman is especially slow, and after just 2 days they brought in another teacher just for her. So it's better now that we're able to move forward at the pace we should be, and I do really like my language teacher. Unfortunately, none of the people I became close friends with so far are in my group or live anywhere near me, which was pretty disappointing but is probably for the best anyways as I can just focus on Swahili and integrating into my host family. All the volunteers get together once a week at our central training hub for broad training sessions, and it was really great to see everyone on Friday. After training some of us went to a nearby bar and had a couple of cold beers and pizza (first "American" food since arriving) which was a great way to end our first week of homestay.
The food with with my host family is awesome! A lot less fried stuff and more vegetables and fresh fruit with every meal (banana, watermelon, papaya). My favorite dish so far is matembele, which is made from the leaves of the sweet potato plant...it cooks down to something similar to spinach, but much tastier, and Mama Isaac cooks it with tomato, onion, grated carrot and fresh coconut milk...delicious! My dada also makes a wonderful homeade fruit juice. So I'm eating very well!
Today was a free day since it's Sunday. I slept in until 7:30 and then woke up, ate breakfast, and studied some Swahili. Then I went into to town (about a 10 minute bus ride...also another blog post in and of itself) to meet up with some of the volunteers for lunch. Went to a bar for a couple of cold beers after, and now I'm at an internet cafe as my last stop. Another long week ahead, but we're starting more teacher training and less language so it should be pretty different. That's all for now...hope you all are well!!
Saturday, October 9, 2010
Homestay
Well I just typed out a really long post and the computer froze and I lost it all. So I'll have to update later. Got a phone so give me a call +255 682240387
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Karibu Tanzania (Welcome to Tanzania)!
We finally arrived in Dar es Salaam after over 24 hours of travel from Philadelphia, and it felt great to get here! We have basically been kept in a gated compound since we arrived Friday night (not quite sure what it is, but it is a big center/school/hostel/wedding venue run by Catholic nuns). I think it is actually quite posh, as they're trying to ease us into our living situation (we each have our own little rooms and bathrooms, complete with a shower and flush toilet). We are also being fed very well, although it is mostly fried foods and starches (rice, fried meat or fish, a meat stew, fried bananas, potatoes, etc.). I can imagine that so little fresh fruits and veggies will get old pretty fast, although I think they are not so hard to find in markets. Today we actually had a training session on permagardens, and I hope to have my own little garden to grow fruits and vegetables (avocados, peppers, and cilantro will grow here!). Aside from all the food, we're also processing quite a few medications. We've had close to 10 vaccinations and began taking our malaria prophylaxis pills (I'm taking the one that I was warned against by a couple of people - meflaquin/larium - but no crazy side effects yet).
So far we've undergone some more basic training sessions about Tanzanian culture, greetings, the PC Education program, health and safety issues, etc. Our training classes start at 8 every morning and have typically lasted until late afternoon, with breaks for lunch as well as morning and afternoon chai (tea + a big snack). There has been plenty of time in the evenings for the volunteers to hang out...we've played ultimate frisbee or soccer the last couple of afternoons. The compound even has a bar that serves cold beer, and we've spent most nights with cold beers and card/board games. It's crazy that our group has only known each other for a few days, and many of us already seem like close friends...it's really easy to imagine how volunteers become so close by going through this experience together for 2 years!
We've met with our country director a few times, and I feel like she is going to be really great. She was a PCV herself in Benin, and has spent the last 25 years working in Africa. There will also be a couple of current PCVs joining us each week during PST, and they have been a great resource so far for all of our questions. Overall the PC staff and trainers, almost all native Tanzanians, have been so welcoming, warm, and helpful. Tanzanians in general are very friendly, happy people...you always see them with smiles on their faces and laughing, which is such a pleasure to be around!
Learning more about the Tanzanian education system has been very interesting. The number of secondary schools has increased from approximately 900 to 4000 over the last 10 years. While this means many more students have access to education, there is a severe teacher shortage, especially those qualified to teach math and science at the secondary level (hence the focus of PC/TZ's education program). Classes consist of around 50-80 students, and it is quite common for classes to have no teacher at all (students will literally just spend the class period copying down notes from a chalkboard). The Tanzanian president, President Kikwete, visited the White House last year. Although the agenda had to do with big security issues facing East Africa (Islamic extremists, pirates, etc.), the first thing that President Kikwete asked Obama was if Tanzania could get more Peace Corps Volunteers. It is really great to know how appreciated we are by the government, as well as Tanzanians in general (our PC doctor, for example, was taught by a PCV when he was in secondary school). PC/TZ is therefore expanding its education program, with the goal of doubling the number of volunteers over the next 5 years. Needless to say, it already feels so amazing to be a part of this program! I really feel so lucky to have been placed in Tanzania, and I can't wait to see what the next 2 years have in store.
On Wednesday we will drive west to Morogoro (~3 hours) to our actual training site. We'll stay there until Sunday, when we'll be split off into groups of 4 or 5 into nearby villages and move in with our host families. I'm really excited to start out Kiswahili training, as well as meet my mama and baba (mother and father) and dada and kaka (sisters and brothers)! I expect to be much busier as soon as our real training starts, but I can hopefully update you all in a few weeks.
Anyways, I'm doing very well and I am really loving it here! Hope you are all well! Kwaheri (Goodbye)!
Just a few pictures so far of our training class...
So far we've undergone some more basic training sessions about Tanzanian culture, greetings, the PC Education program, health and safety issues, etc. Our training classes start at 8 every morning and have typically lasted until late afternoon, with breaks for lunch as well as morning and afternoon chai (tea + a big snack). There has been plenty of time in the evenings for the volunteers to hang out...we've played ultimate frisbee or soccer the last couple of afternoons. The compound even has a bar that serves cold beer, and we've spent most nights with cold beers and card/board games. It's crazy that our group has only known each other for a few days, and many of us already seem like close friends...it's really easy to imagine how volunteers become so close by going through this experience together for 2 years!
We've met with our country director a few times, and I feel like she is going to be really great. She was a PCV herself in Benin, and has spent the last 25 years working in Africa. There will also be a couple of current PCVs joining us each week during PST, and they have been a great resource so far for all of our questions. Overall the PC staff and trainers, almost all native Tanzanians, have been so welcoming, warm, and helpful. Tanzanians in general are very friendly, happy people...you always see them with smiles on their faces and laughing, which is such a pleasure to be around!
Learning more about the Tanzanian education system has been very interesting. The number of secondary schools has increased from approximately 900 to 4000 over the last 10 years. While this means many more students have access to education, there is a severe teacher shortage, especially those qualified to teach math and science at the secondary level (hence the focus of PC/TZ's education program). Classes consist of around 50-80 students, and it is quite common for classes to have no teacher at all (students will literally just spend the class period copying down notes from a chalkboard). The Tanzanian president, President Kikwete, visited the White House last year. Although the agenda had to do with big security issues facing East Africa (Islamic extremists, pirates, etc.), the first thing that President Kikwete asked Obama was if Tanzania could get more Peace Corps Volunteers. It is really great to know how appreciated we are by the government, as well as Tanzanians in general (our PC doctor, for example, was taught by a PCV when he was in secondary school). PC/TZ is therefore expanding its education program, with the goal of doubling the number of volunteers over the next 5 years. Needless to say, it already feels so amazing to be a part of this program! I really feel so lucky to have been placed in Tanzania, and I can't wait to see what the next 2 years have in store.
On Wednesday we will drive west to Morogoro (~3 hours) to our actual training site. We'll stay there until Sunday, when we'll be split off into groups of 4 or 5 into nearby villages and move in with our host families. I'm really excited to start out Kiswahili training, as well as meet my mama and baba (mother and father) and dada and kaka (sisters and brothers)! I expect to be much busier as soon as our real training starts, but I can hopefully update you all in a few weeks.
Anyways, I'm doing very well and I am really loving it here! Hope you are all well! Kwaheri (Goodbye)!
Just a few pictures so far of our training class...
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| Danielle, Doug, Kat, Katie, Eric playing a combination King's Cup/Swahili vocab game |
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| Eric, Carly, Ghee, Eula |
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| Megan, Uma, Justin, Michael, Amanda, Ezra, Paul |
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Staging update
Taking advantage of free hotel wifi to bring you a short update. Staging was yesterday and went well. All of Peace Corps' expectations were emphasized again, and we talked alot about our aspirations and anxieties as volunteers. There are 39 of us - 19 girls, 20 guys, 1 married couple, mostly people that graduated college in the last couple of years but probably 3-4 older people (in their 50s?), from pretty much all over the country. And guess what, 2 of us are from Austin! The other girl graduated from Westlake in '06 (but she said not to judge) and seems really cool. There's also another girl that has lived in Austin for the last 6 months. I'm sure we'll all bond over our love for Austin, and we'll try and test our tex-mex cooking skills in Tanzania! I got to know the table of 8 I was sitting at the best, and everyone seems really cool. As for the other 30 people, I'll have to work on learning everyone's names, but I'm sure there will be plenty of time today travelling to get to know more of them. A group of us went out last night for Philly Cheesesteaks, which were delicious! Then we headed to a bar to enjoy some last cold American beers. The bar tender ended up getting our group 2 rounds of shots, and we even played a little beer pong and flip cup. Welp, I've gotta get packing - we'll be checking out of the hotel in less than an hour, then onto buses to NYC. Adios!!
Monday, September 20, 2010
Goodbye, Austin! (Hello Dallas, Philadelphia, New York, Zurich, Nairobi, and FINALLY Dar es Salaam!)
Wow, I can’t believe it is finally time to go! The last 2 months have really flown by. It seemed like I did at least one thing related to getting ready to go every day, but it was still pretty amazing how much left I had to do over the last couple of weeks. My biggest time commitment was doing Rosetta Stone Swahili lessons, which I am happy to report that I finished on Saturday! I think I put in about 150 hours over the last 2 months, and I can honestly say that I hope to never see/hear another Rosetta Stone lesson. But I’m happy that I stuck with it and have a good start on Swahili, and I think it will make my transition to Tanzania a lot easier. I also spent more time than I could have ever imagined on my packing list/preparations. Special thanks to my mom that let me take over a whole room of her house and two 6-foot long tables with all my packing stuff, and put up with my craziness during the whole process. Add in everything else you can imagine associated with moving to a developing country for over 2 years. So all in all, it didn’t turn out to be the stress-free last week I had envisioned, but I was still able to fit in plenty of time with family and friends, enjoying my favorite places and restaurants in Austin, etc. Thanks again to everyone that I got to see over the last few weeks and all of the support/kind wishes/goodbyes you’ve given me…I will really miss you all!
Check it out…my bags are all packed! I should have taken a 'before' picture, because then you'd be really impressed to see everything I managed to get into these 3 bags. Turns out I’m 2 pounds and 3 inches over my checked baggage allotment, but it should be fine.
So what’s next? Tomorrow I’ll be flying to Philadelphia. I will meet up with the other education volunteers headed to Tanzania (there should be around 40 of us) on Wednesday for what Peace Corps calls "staging." This is when I'll turn in some final paperwork, officially register as a Peace Corps Trainee (PCT), receive my special passport and Tanzanian visa, and go through an initial orientation. The following day we will all head to Tanzania together! Although I’m not especially excited for a few very long days of travelling, I'm really looking forward to meeting my fellow volunteers and finally arriving in Tanzania! I've also never been to Philadelphia, so I'm hoping to be able to see a few sights, and try a real Philly Cheesesteak.
And so you know where I am whenever you think of me, my itinerary:
Tuesday, September 21
10:30am - flight departs Austin
11:35am - flight arrives Dallas
1:05pm - flight departs Dallas
5:30pm (4:30 Austin time) - flight arrives Philadelphia
Wednesday, September 22
12:30 pm - Staging begins; turn in final paperwork, officially register as a Peace Corps Trainee (PCT)
2-7pm - Peace Corps Orientation (Who We Are, What's Expected of You, What You Expect, What's Next)
Thursday, September 23
9am - check out of hotel
9:30am - load bus headed to New York JFK
6:00pm (5pm Austin time) - flight departs New York
Friday, September 24
8:05am (12:05am Austin time) - flight arrives Zurich
9:30am - flight departs Zurich
??? layover in Nairobi
8:10pm (12:10pm Austin time) - FLIGHT ARRIVES DAR ES SALAAM!!!
Check it out…my bags are all packed! I should have taken a 'before' picture, because then you'd be really impressed to see everything I managed to get into these 3 bags. Turns out I’m 2 pounds and 3 inches over my checked baggage allotment, but it should be fine.
So what’s next? Tomorrow I’ll be flying to Philadelphia. I will meet up with the other education volunteers headed to Tanzania (there should be around 40 of us) on Wednesday for what Peace Corps calls "staging." This is when I'll turn in some final paperwork, officially register as a Peace Corps Trainee (PCT), receive my special passport and Tanzanian visa, and go through an initial orientation. The following day we will all head to Tanzania together! Although I’m not especially excited for a few very long days of travelling, I'm really looking forward to meeting my fellow volunteers and finally arriving in Tanzania! I've also never been to Philadelphia, so I'm hoping to be able to see a few sights, and try a real Philly Cheesesteak.
And so you know where I am whenever you think of me, my itinerary:
Tuesday, September 21
10:30am - flight departs Austin
11:35am - flight arrives Dallas
1:05pm - flight departs Dallas
5:30pm (4:30 Austin time) - flight arrives Philadelphia
Wednesday, September 22
12:30 pm - Staging begins; turn in final paperwork, officially register as a Peace Corps Trainee (PCT)
2-7pm - Peace Corps Orientation (Who We Are, What's Expected of You, What You Expect, What's Next)
Thursday, September 23
9am - check out of hotel
9:30am - load bus headed to New York JFK
6:00pm (5pm Austin time) - flight departs New York
Friday, September 24
8:05am (12:05am Austin time) - flight arrives Zurich
9:30am - flight departs Zurich
??? layover in Nairobi
8:10pm (12:10pm Austin time) - FLIGHT ARRIVES DAR ES SALAAM!!!
Friday, September 17, 2010
How NOT to write about Africa
My sociology professor showed our class this video, which I think is pretty funny. Enjoy!
Monday, August 30, 2010
Welcome to my blog!
Karibuni! (Welcome!). I've created this blog to help my friends, family, and anyone else interested follow my journey as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Tanzania, teaching secondary (high school) math and science from September 2010 to November 2012. You will find lots of info on the right sidebar, including links under "Frequently Asked Questions" where I attempted to answer some common questions about Tanzania and the Peace Corps experience. I'm always happy to answer questions, so let me know if there is ever anything else you'd like to hear about. In keeping with the Peace Corps mission's third goal, I hope this blog will help promote a better understanding of Tanzania and its people on the part of my friends and family back home.
I hope to be able to update you all at least once a month (and pictures, too!), although this will depend in large part on my proximity to a town with an internet cafe. Please note that I will not be sending out announcements as I update my blog. However, if you are interested in receiving an email notification when I update my blog, I've set up a subscription link through the website FeedmailPro. Simply enter your email address under "Receive email updates of this blog:" at the very bottom of the right sidebar; you will then receive a confirmation email from which you can activate your subscription (it's quick, easy, free, and only requires your email address). You can also add my blog to the 'Reading List' on your Google Blogger Dashboard by clicking on the "Follow" link on the bottom right sidebar, or subscribe to my blog using Google Reader or an equivalent RSS reader from the "Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)" link at the bottom of my posts. (Google Reader and Blogger Dashboard do not send you updates via email, they are just platforms for organizing and accessing blogs, articles, etc.)
On a related note, please please post comments! I don't want to feel like I'm writing all of this just for myself, and I would enjoy your feedback on my experiences. I also want to hear from you and keep up with your lives, so send me emails to kathrynbalexander(at)gmail(dotcom)! Or better yet, write me letters (see address under 'How do I mail you letters and/or packages?') and be my penpal! And speaking of letters, they take at least 2 weeks to arrive, so if you'd like to send me one now so that I have it soon after arrival, that would be much appreciated :)
Cheers and happy reading!
Kathryn
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