Hallo, hope all is well. Short update as I'm hanging out in a lovely cafe in lovely Moshi enjoying some wifi and real coffee, so life is good. Moshi is by far the most developed city I've been to in Tanzania, more so than even Dar es Salaam. There are American and European tourists and ex-pats galore, and I'm still getting used to seeing so many foreigners. The variety of food here is pretty amazing, and best of all is its plethora of cute little cafes that serve lattes and cappucinos and sandwiches and salads - you can easily forget you are in Tanzania! (Just ordered a lunch of pasta salad with feta cheese!). Today's our fourth day here and other than a nice little hike out to a nearby waterfall, we've been filling our days eating yummy foods (can you binge eat for a whole month?). We've also done a bit of shopping at expensive boutique stores, which we also balanced by heading to the used clothing market to pick up a couple of Goodwill rejects. It's been especially fun to see so many friends, as Moshi is a favorite vacation/gathering spot for volunteers. Last night we went to a cool little bar that has an outdoor movie theater set up; The Shining was playing, complete with bats flying across the projector screen for added atmosphere! On Monday we'll head up to Arusha to meet some friends for sushi (seriously) and spend a day or two exploring the city.
My apologies for everyone that was grossed out by my last few poop updates, so this will be the last and least graphic one - I'm happy to report that my bowel movements are back to normal! As I'm sure you've noticed, the two most talked about topics among PCVs are food and poop, and it's suprisingly difficult to get out of that mindset as I'm writing blogposts for non-PCV readers.
Time for lunch, so more later with pictures.
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Iringaaaaa
Hey hey short update from the beautiful southern highlands. On Friday Katie and I headed from Zanzibar to Dar. That evening we "unofficially" visited the new education class trainees that arrived in Tanzania on the 15th. Getting new volunteers is quite exciting for all of us PCVs in-country, and I can't wait to see who ends up near us in Mtwara. Then we took a pleasant 8 hour bus ride to Iringa, arriving Saturday evening. We met our friend and fellow PCV, Glenn, and went out from some Chinese food and a couple of beers before heading to bed early. Glenn left early the next morning on a bus and Katie and I slept in and explored the city a bit. We went and had a wonderful brunch of vegetable and cheese omelettes, french toast, and homeade yogurt at a local restaurat here that is an absolute favorite among volunteers. Then we walked a bit out of town and climbed a big rock to get a nice view of the city. After a long afternoon nap at the hostel, we ordered delivery pizza (say what?!) for dinner. On Monday two other PCV friends, TJ and Carly, came into town and we all went for a wonderful lunch of avocado bacon paninis! We spent the afternoon shopping, had some Tanzanian food for dinner, then headed back to our hostel to watch a movie. This morning we had another tasty breakfast and then went in search of the used clothing market (where all the clothes that don't sell at Goodwill end up). Now we're hanging out at a lovely cafe...it's run by a local mission that hires only Tanzanians with disibilities - all the wait staff are deaf and others are employed in making clothes and crafts for sale. What else...Iringa is cold! I do not have appropriate clothes so I'm freezing my but off once the sun goes down, but the hostel provides warm blankets so I'm sleeping well. I suppose it's a nice change from the hot south, but I'm still a Texan and I'll always prefer sweatin' to shiverin'.
Poop update: Thanks for the concern for my health, but I'm doing fine! My fever and headache lasted for just 2 days or so and I've been getting plenty of sleep since. The diarrhea lasted for 5 days; it seemed to be clearing up yesterday but I've had to run to the bathroom twice while trying to type this post so I guess its back. Of all places to get diarrhea I suppose its not so bad because I've had access to western toilets the whole time which is a nice treat and would not be the case at home down south. But we haven't been letting my pooping damper our vacation too much and we've still been eating well..lots of dairy which is probably stupid but when's the next time I'll get ice cream and yogurt? Tomorrow I'll take some immodium to clog up my intestinal track before embarking on a long bus ride, and hopefully I'll be back to pooping solidly in no time.
Added some more pictures of food and such. Tomorrow Katie and I will hop on a bus from Iringa to Moshi, which should take about 12 hours. Can't wait to spend a week in the wonderful north, with views of Mt. Kilimanjaro!
As always, much love from Tanzania!
Poop update: Thanks for the concern for my health, but I'm doing fine! My fever and headache lasted for just 2 days or so and I've been getting plenty of sleep since. The diarrhea lasted for 5 days; it seemed to be clearing up yesterday but I've had to run to the bathroom twice while trying to type this post so I guess its back. Of all places to get diarrhea I suppose its not so bad because I've had access to western toilets the whole time which is a nice treat and would not be the case at home down south. But we haven't been letting my pooping damper our vacation too much and we've still been eating well..lots of dairy which is probably stupid but when's the next time I'll get ice cream and yogurt? Tomorrow I'll take some immodium to clog up my intestinal track before embarking on a long bus ride, and hopefully I'll be back to pooping solidly in no time.
Added some more pictures of food and such. Tomorrow Katie and I will hop on a bus from Iringa to Moshi, which should take about 12 hours. Can't wait to spend a week in the wonderful north, with views of Mt. Kilimanjaro!
As always, much love from Tanzania!
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Dar and Zanzibar
Been away from site for about a week and a half now. PSDN training in Dar was good - lots of practice with active listening, common issues faced by volunteers, etc. Add in good food and good friends and you've got a good time. Then Katie came up (had quite the scare hearing about her bus accident...you can read about it in her blog) and we headed to Zanzibar on Sunday. We spent the first two days with a couple of other PCVs from our training class, Doug and Eric as well as Eric's friend Chris who is visiting from America. The first day we spent just wondering around the streets of Stonetown, which is so old and beautiful and quaint feeling. The island is something like 99 percent Muslim and has a strong mix of Arab culture, so that it doesn't feel like it is the same country as mainland Tanzania. Then we headed to the beach and watched the sunset, grabbed a beer, and found some street food for dinner. Monday we took a spice tour, which was really great. We went out with a guide to a spice plantation a bit out of Stonetown and just walked around and looked at all kinds of different fruits and spices and herbs, got to taste a bunch, hear about their medicinal uses, etc. The tour was complete with a tasty lunch and a trip to a nearby beach that was isolated and beautiful. After a delicious dinner, the boys left on an overnight ferry back to Dar that night, so the next day Katie and I were able to get in our shopping fix and also got some henna done. We also had an amazing Indian lunch with Claire, a PCV that lives near us down south, and her boyfriend Rob who is visiting from America. Yesterday Katie and I took a daladala to a village called Nungwi, about an hour and a half north of Stonetown. We spent a relaxing day at the beach, and even enjoyed a pitcher of Sangria! Unfortunately I got sick (of course the first time is when I'm vacationing in Zanzibar) - that morning I had diarrhea, had a headache all day, and by afternoon started coming down with a fever. Last night my fever was really bad and I still have diarrhea if I try and eat anything, so I've literally spent all day today lying in bed and sleeping. Not really the plan for our last day in Stonetown, but at least I got to enjoy the first few days. We had planned to meet up with a PCV that lives here and another PCV that is in town for dinner tonight, so I'm hoping I'll feel up for that in a few hours.
Well that's about it for Zanzibar. It is truly beautiful, and if you ever make it to Tanzania you must take the short ferry over and check out its beautiful beaches! I added lots of pictures, so have a look. Tomorrow we'll head back to Dar and then take a bus to Iringa on Saturday morning.
Well that's about it for Zanzibar. It is truly beautiful, and if you ever make it to Tanzania you must take the short ferry over and check out its beautiful beaches! I added lots of pictures, so have a look. Tomorrow we'll head back to Dar and then take a bus to Iringa on Saturday morning.
Monday, June 6, 2011
Highs and lows of the week
First, I added some recent pictures if you wanna check 'em out. I know I keep posting pictures of white people vacationing, when what everyone really wants to see is pictures of my students and villagers and Tanzanians' lives in general. I'm still pretty uncomfortable whipping out a flashy, nice camera in front of poor people, but one of these days I'll be brave and go crazy taking pictures in my village. Until then, you'll just have to use your imagination...pole sana (so very sorry)!
I just arrived in Mtwara town after a relatively pleasant (no breakdowns) 5-hour bus ride. This leads me into the highlight of my week. Drum roll please...tomorrow I will be...FLYING ON AN AIRPLANE to Dar es Salaam. Yep. Replacing a 15 or so hour bus ride on unpaved roads with a 1 HOUR flight is my idea of a good deal. The road up to Dar is not so great at the moment and volunteers have been getting stuck, which sucks for them, but meant that we (me and Toni, a health volunteer down here who is also going up to Dar for PSDN training) were able to convince PC to book us flights as a matter of volunteer safety and security. The few volunteers that have flown before give raving reviews of the flight, which even includes a snack service. Other people are just as excited as me about the prospect of my flight; my counterpart, Mr. Likulu, has never been on a plane and asked me to tell him all about it and take lots of pictures. And as ridiculous as it sounds, I am even excited to go through the airport security process!
So I'll try to wrap up the post on another high note, but first to bring you all down a bit...Tuesday was probably the worst day of my Peace Corps service thus far. All week I was invigilating (watching students take exams for 6 hours/day) the Form IV Regional Mock NECTA exams. On Monday afternoon, a small group of my top Form IV boys had come to my house and asked for help solving some math problems, which I'm always happy to do. Karim, our very top student that lives next door with my counterpart, even brought over a page of more problems late that night and asked if I could solve them and give him the solutions to review the next morning before the exam, which I also did. None of this was odd, because these students in particular are very motivated, like math, ask lots of questions, are constantly reviewing old NECTA problems, etc. Well the exam rolls around on Tuesday and, upon opening the exam, I was shocked to see about 75% of the questions I had solved for them the previous day. I don't remember the last time I was so shocked, angry, and hurt all at the same time; I was almost to tears. Not only did the students cheat (in the extreme), but they used me to do so. They all know my feelings about cheating - they've gone so far as to tell my counterpart they don't like when I invigilate because I stay in the room the whole time and watch them so they are unable to cheat. If it had even been any other students I don't think I would have been so angry, but I absolutely did not expect it from these students and I was so disappointed in them. They later told us that some students somewhere in the region managed to get ahold (my counterpart assumes teachers were involved) of the test in advance and texted them the questions. Everyone seemed much more concerned about how they managed to get the questions, than the fact that they cheated so badly. Unfortunately there were no consequences at all to the students. If students are cheating on my tests, I can take away points or give them a 0, but there is nothing I can do when it is for another teacher's exam or NECTA. With no consequences its not hard to imagine why students wouldn't at least try to cheat; it just seems to be so ingrained in the education system here that there is really nothing I can do about it but accept it and try not to take it personally...
But now I have 6 weeks off from school and I am starting my vacation and I promised to end on a high note... so one more piece of exciting news: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is visiting Dar next weekend. I may actually get to meet her, since I will be around the PC office for training....we'll see!!
I just arrived in Mtwara town after a relatively pleasant (no breakdowns) 5-hour bus ride. This leads me into the highlight of my week. Drum roll please...tomorrow I will be...FLYING ON AN AIRPLANE to Dar es Salaam. Yep. Replacing a 15 or so hour bus ride on unpaved roads with a 1 HOUR flight is my idea of a good deal. The road up to Dar is not so great at the moment and volunteers have been getting stuck, which sucks for them, but meant that we (me and Toni, a health volunteer down here who is also going up to Dar for PSDN training) were able to convince PC to book us flights as a matter of volunteer safety and security. The few volunteers that have flown before give raving reviews of the flight, which even includes a snack service. Other people are just as excited as me about the prospect of my flight; my counterpart, Mr. Likulu, has never been on a plane and asked me to tell him all about it and take lots of pictures. And as ridiculous as it sounds, I am even excited to go through the airport security process!
So I'll try to wrap up the post on another high note, but first to bring you all down a bit...Tuesday was probably the worst day of my Peace Corps service thus far. All week I was invigilating (watching students take exams for 6 hours/day) the Form IV Regional Mock NECTA exams. On Monday afternoon, a small group of my top Form IV boys had come to my house and asked for help solving some math problems, which I'm always happy to do. Karim, our very top student that lives next door with my counterpart, even brought over a page of more problems late that night and asked if I could solve them and give him the solutions to review the next morning before the exam, which I also did. None of this was odd, because these students in particular are very motivated, like math, ask lots of questions, are constantly reviewing old NECTA problems, etc. Well the exam rolls around on Tuesday and, upon opening the exam, I was shocked to see about 75% of the questions I had solved for them the previous day. I don't remember the last time I was so shocked, angry, and hurt all at the same time; I was almost to tears. Not only did the students cheat (in the extreme), but they used me to do so. They all know my feelings about cheating - they've gone so far as to tell my counterpart they don't like when I invigilate because I stay in the room the whole time and watch them so they are unable to cheat. If it had even been any other students I don't think I would have been so angry, but I absolutely did not expect it from these students and I was so disappointed in them. They later told us that some students somewhere in the region managed to get ahold (my counterpart assumes teachers were involved) of the test in advance and texted them the questions. Everyone seemed much more concerned about how they managed to get the questions, than the fact that they cheated so badly. Unfortunately there were no consequences at all to the students. If students are cheating on my tests, I can take away points or give them a 0, but there is nothing I can do when it is for another teacher's exam or NECTA. With no consequences its not hard to imagine why students wouldn't at least try to cheat; it just seems to be so ingrained in the education system here that there is really nothing I can do about it but accept it and try not to take it personally...
But now I have 6 weeks off from school and I am starting my vacation and I promised to end on a high note... so one more piece of exciting news: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is visiting Dar next weekend. I may actually get to meet her, since I will be around the PC office for training....we'll see!!
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