3/24/10
Today the rains started. I have been lucky the past week and a half because the weather has been unusually sunny and warm. When it rains here it impossible to walk outside without rubber boots. I slipped and fell in the road and got covered in mud the first day it rained and I tried to walk outside without boots. The floor of the school is covered with mud by the end of the day. The mud is full of clay so it is incredibly slippery. The ride home from school was scary because the Land Rover was slipping and sliding down the road, narrowly missing trees. I thought we were going to flip over the vehicle. No one else was scared because it is the norm during the rainy season.
The bugs here are enormous. I hear them slapping loudly against my bedroom wall at night, and I close my eyes and tell myself that I am safe because I have a mosquito net. I have gotten 10 or 12 mosquito bites, but I take a daily malaria pill so hopefully I won’t get sick. I’ve seen a few little lizards in the road. The staff house has a rat problem, but I haven’t seen one yet. I’m just glad I haven’t seen any tarantulas.
For my birthday, we had a dinner party at our house. Ben brought over a chocolate cake that he had bought in Arusha that day. He braved heavy rains, a dala dala (bus) accident, and a dala dala driver fistfight. Lisa cooked chicken alfredo with beans and green peppers. It was delicious. We drank Kilimanjaro and Safari beer.
The dala dalas are the main form of public transportation. It costs about 1200 shillings (roughly $1.00) to ride them. The dala dalas in Monduli all go to Arusha, and from Arusha you can travel elsewhere. Basically, you board the dala dala and the driver waits for it to fill up. This could take hours. While you wait for the bus to fill up, vendors come up to the windows. They sell anything from candy bars and drinks to watches and jewelry. The trick to finding the right bus to ride is to ask the driver where they are going first instead of telling them where you need to go. Sometimes they tell you that they are going where you need to go when they aren’t. They cram the bus with as many bodies as they can. It is a rather uncomfortable ride most of the time, and sometimes there are so many people that they open the door and hang out the side.
I am constantly entertained by the American influence here. While walking in Arusha and Moshi, I’ve seen many Tanzanians wearing American baseball caps and t-shirts. I saw one man wearing a shirt that said, “Show me the money.” A lot of dala dalas have portraits of rappers painted on them. My favorite one had a huge picture of Jay-Z on the back and said, “Jigga Van.” My friend Junior showed me some really awesome African reggae that I hope to get before I go home. Junior knows more about American music and pop culture than I do. The bars and restaurants play American hip-hop, and everyone seems to know every word. I was shocked to see a young female student at Orkeeswa with an “Undertaker” backpack. The picture was of this huge, evil looking guy. Apparently, The Undertaker is an American wrestler who is really popular here. The girl let me take a picture of her and her backpack. A few students have Barack Obama backpacks. Everyone seems to love Obama here because his family is from Kenya, Tanzania’s neighbor to the north.
Since I am only able to be here for 2 weeks, there are many things that I can’t do. If I ever get a chance to come back, I want to go to the island of Zanzibar off the Tanzania coast. It is a 10-hour bus ride from here to the coast, and then you have to take a boat. I also want to go to Nairobi in Kenya and Dar es Salaam, the biggest city in Tanzania. When I first got here I thought it might be possible to go on a two-day safari. Unfortunately, I was unable to get a group together so that it could be cheaper. All of the teachers here have already gone on safari, and to go by myself would cost about $500! The tourism industry here is booming. I also would like to climb Mt. Meru, Tanzania’s second largest mountain after Mt. Kilimanjaro. Ben, Lisa and Scott all climbed Mt. Meru the weekend that I got here. From what they told me, it took about three days and it was amazing.
I can’t wait to take a hot shower and use a toilet! I am kind of getting used to being filthy, though. B.O. is part of everyday life here, and no one seems to care. I also can’t wait to have a burger. The food here is good, but I feel like I have been eating the same things over and over: beans, rice, boney chicken, avocados, bananas, grisly beef, and ugali (corn meal and water). I have also developed an intense addiction to pineapple flavored Fanta soda. I never drink soda at home, but here I have to have a Fanta almost every day. The avocados here are the best I have ever tasted. They have a very buttery taste.
I think I will try to look for teaching jobs near here. I really love it, and I think I could live here. Junior has been telling me about places in Africa that are relatively safe and might pay well. For example Botswana, Rwanda, Mozambique, and Morocco. If anyone knows anything, let me know!
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
This place is crazy
3/23/10
Warning: My vegan and vegetarian friends may find this disturbing!
On Saturday, Junior took Ben and I to Monduli Ju, a Masai marketplace. Junior, a 21-year-old Tanzanian teacher at Orkeeswa, has become one of my good friends. He is probably the most hilarious person I have ever met. He has lived in Monduli his entire life, and enjoys taking Ben and I around Monduli to explore.
On the way up the mountain, we stopped at a lake. The water was milky brown. There were brightly colored butterflies everywhere. The Masai take their cows, goats, and donkeys to the lake so they can drink. Junior said that he has seen cheetahs drinking from the lake before.
The marketplace was about a 30-minute drive into the mountains outside of Monduli. On Saturdays there is a goat slaughter. We walked up a hill to where there were goat carcasses hanging up. It was like an assembly line with different stations: slaughter, head and brain removal, hide removal, disembowelment, and roasting meat over a fire. They use every part of the animal except for the excrement. We watched as they laboriously squeezed it out of the big and small intestines. They didn’t seem to mind that we were there, and I got some great photos. All the men and boys were working while the women were at the foot of the hill selling what looked like corn meal on blankets. I was not disturbed at all until they brought out a live, bleating goat to kill. I had to turn around and plug my ears. Ben and Junior watched the slaughter. When I turned around, I saw a look of complete horror on Ben’s face, and Junior was laughing hysterically at our reactions. Junior bought us some ribs that had been roasted over a fire. I had a few bites, but it tasted weird to me.Then we went back to town to play pool at Junior's favorite bar, Full Dose (They have the most hilarious bar names here: Three Way, Golden Shower, etc.). We played pool on a slanted, rough, and crinkled pool table. I was doing badly, and this kid came up to me and said, "You are very bad." We went out that night because Junior said he knew of a disco, but we never found it.
The next day, Ben and I went to Moshi, which is about three hours away from Monduli. We planned on going to a nearby waterfall in Marangu, but that never happened. We stayed in Moshi and planned on going to the waterfall in the morning, but at 7 am I got a knock on my door and it was the receptionist saying that I needed to talk to some immigration officers. I freaked out and went and got Ben. There were two very intimidating men waiting for us, and they questioned us about not having our passports with us. We thought that since we were traveling within Tanzania that we didn't need our passports. They said that it was an offense not to have our passports, and that we should "come with them." Ben and I both were extremely terrified and tried apologizing to them and explaining that we did not know. I don't know if I've ever been more scared in my life. I thought they were going to arrest us and that I would never see the light of day ever again. They were very stern, and they said they would not let us go until they looked at our passports. So, we had to call Ben's host father and he had to drive all the way to Moshi with our passports. We waited in suspense at the hotel for 5 hours because the immigration officers told us we couldn't leave. Meanwhile, a few locals and the receptionist told us that we should just leave and that the officers wouldn't follow us back to Monduli. Neither of us felt comfortable leaving because we had given them information about where we were staying. Ben's host father ended up going to the immigration office before picking us up to clear up the mess. When he picked us up and said that he had taken care of it, we were so relieved. He seemed relaxed about the whole thing and did not seem inconvenienced. He even took us out to lunch.
We found out later that the immigration officers randomly check hotels for "illegal" travelers who didn't fill out their passport information. When we got back to Monduli, we learned that a lot of fellow American volunteers had gone to that same hotel without passports and had no trouble. I guess it was just bad luck. For the next four days I plan on staying in Monduli.
Warning: My vegan and vegetarian friends may find this disturbing!
On Saturday, Junior took Ben and I to Monduli Ju, a Masai marketplace. Junior, a 21-year-old Tanzanian teacher at Orkeeswa, has become one of my good friends. He is probably the most hilarious person I have ever met. He has lived in Monduli his entire life, and enjoys taking Ben and I around Monduli to explore.
On the way up the mountain, we stopped at a lake. The water was milky brown. There were brightly colored butterflies everywhere. The Masai take their cows, goats, and donkeys to the lake so they can drink. Junior said that he has seen cheetahs drinking from the lake before.
The marketplace was about a 30-minute drive into the mountains outside of Monduli. On Saturdays there is a goat slaughter. We walked up a hill to where there were goat carcasses hanging up. It was like an assembly line with different stations: slaughter, head and brain removal, hide removal, disembowelment, and roasting meat over a fire. They use every part of the animal except for the excrement. We watched as they laboriously squeezed it out of the big and small intestines. They didn’t seem to mind that we were there, and I got some great photos. All the men and boys were working while the women were at the foot of the hill selling what looked like corn meal on blankets. I was not disturbed at all until they brought out a live, bleating goat to kill. I had to turn around and plug my ears. Ben and Junior watched the slaughter. When I turned around, I saw a look of complete horror on Ben’s face, and Junior was laughing hysterically at our reactions. Junior bought us some ribs that had been roasted over a fire. I had a few bites, but it tasted weird to me.Then we went back to town to play pool at Junior's favorite bar, Full Dose (They have the most hilarious bar names here: Three Way, Golden Shower, etc.). We played pool on a slanted, rough, and crinkled pool table. I was doing badly, and this kid came up to me and said, "You are very bad." We went out that night because Junior said he knew of a disco, but we never found it.
The next day, Ben and I went to Moshi, which is about three hours away from Monduli. We planned on going to a nearby waterfall in Marangu, but that never happened. We stayed in Moshi and planned on going to the waterfall in the morning, but at 7 am I got a knock on my door and it was the receptionist saying that I needed to talk to some immigration officers. I freaked out and went and got Ben. There were two very intimidating men waiting for us, and they questioned us about not having our passports with us. We thought that since we were traveling within Tanzania that we didn't need our passports. They said that it was an offense not to have our passports, and that we should "come with them." Ben and I both were extremely terrified and tried apologizing to them and explaining that we did not know. I don't know if I've ever been more scared in my life. I thought they were going to arrest us and that I would never see the light of day ever again. They were very stern, and they said they would not let us go until they looked at our passports. So, we had to call Ben's host father and he had to drive all the way to Moshi with our passports. We waited in suspense at the hotel for 5 hours because the immigration officers told us we couldn't leave. Meanwhile, a few locals and the receptionist told us that we should just leave and that the officers wouldn't follow us back to Monduli. Neither of us felt comfortable leaving because we had given them information about where we were staying. Ben's host father ended up going to the immigration office before picking us up to clear up the mess. When he picked us up and said that he had taken care of it, we were so relieved. He seemed relaxed about the whole thing and did not seem inconvenienced. He even took us out to lunch.
We found out later that the immigration officers randomly check hotels for "illegal" travelers who didn't fill out their passport information. When we got back to Monduli, we learned that a lot of fellow American volunteers had gone to that same hotel without passports and had no trouble. I guess it was just bad luck. For the next four days I plan on staying in Monduli.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
3/19.10
3/19/10
Internet is more difficult to come by than I thought. I have to catch a ride and go 20 miles to Arusha to find an internet café. I can’t post pictures now because it takes up too much bandwidth, but I will post them when I get home. So far I’ve gotten some great shots of the kids and the village.
The kids at the school are talking to me more and more. Lately they have been approaching me to talk instead of me having to go up to them. Everyday it seems I have a new favorite student. They are so kind, welcoming, funny, sweet and bright. So far, I have interviewed five students. A lot of them wish to be engineers, doctors or teachers. I started noticing that they make this strange gasp/hiccup noise when I talk to them. At first I thought it was because they were offended at something I said, but then I realized that it is their form of politely nodding or saying “uh huh” when someone is talking.
Yesterday we went to ISM, the International School of Moshi, to watch a play. ISM invites Orkeeswa to a play or event about once a year. We all piled into four buses and drove about 30 minutes. On the way, the kids all sang songs, which I guess is what they normally do on bus rides. I was blown away by the ISM campus - large buildings, running water, lawn, flower gardens. I guess this is a school where the wealthy people from all over the world who live in Arusha send their children. The play was based on the American movie “High School Musical”. All the kids in the play had different accents. It was interesting to see the kids from Orkeeswa try to make sense out of it. Their lives are completely different from the lives of the kids who attend ISM, and the play was very American. I think they enjoyed it, though.
I’ve met some awesome people here. Scott and Lisa are a couple that I am living with in the staff house and they have been helping me learn the ropes. They have been here for two months and are volunteering at Orkeeswa for a year. They moved here from southeast Alaska. I also made a buddy named Ben who is a lot of fun. He is a college student from Boston who is here for three months doing research on sports teams.
I am hoping to go on a 1 or 2 day safari but it is really expensive, especially if I go alone. There is a guy named Rafa who works with IEFT who is going to help me find a group to go with.
Internet is more difficult to come by than I thought. I have to catch a ride and go 20 miles to Arusha to find an internet café. I can’t post pictures now because it takes up too much bandwidth, but I will post them when I get home. So far I’ve gotten some great shots of the kids and the village.
The kids at the school are talking to me more and more. Lately they have been approaching me to talk instead of me having to go up to them. Everyday it seems I have a new favorite student. They are so kind, welcoming, funny, sweet and bright. So far, I have interviewed five students. A lot of them wish to be engineers, doctors or teachers. I started noticing that they make this strange gasp/hiccup noise when I talk to them. At first I thought it was because they were offended at something I said, but then I realized that it is their form of politely nodding or saying “uh huh” when someone is talking.
Yesterday we went to ISM, the International School of Moshi, to watch a play. ISM invites Orkeeswa to a play or event about once a year. We all piled into four buses and drove about 30 minutes. On the way, the kids all sang songs, which I guess is what they normally do on bus rides. I was blown away by the ISM campus - large buildings, running water, lawn, flower gardens. I guess this is a school where the wealthy people from all over the world who live in Arusha send their children. The play was based on the American movie “High School Musical”. All the kids in the play had different accents. It was interesting to see the kids from Orkeeswa try to make sense out of it. Their lives are completely different from the lives of the kids who attend ISM, and the play was very American. I think they enjoyed it, though.
I’ve met some awesome people here. Scott and Lisa are a couple that I am living with in the staff house and they have been helping me learn the ropes. They have been here for two months and are volunteering at Orkeeswa for a year. They moved here from southeast Alaska. I also made a buddy named Ben who is a lot of fun. He is a college student from Boston who is here for three months doing research on sports teams.
I am hoping to go on a 1 or 2 day safari but it is really expensive, especially if I go alone. There is a guy named Rafa who works with IEFT who is going to help me find a group to go with.
Orkeeswa- Day one & two
Orkeeswa – Day One & Two
I arrived in Kilimanjaro Monday evening around 9:30. Michael and Peter picked me up from the airport in a Land Rover and we drove about 2 hours to the staff house in Monduli, I should have been exhausted, but my eyes were bugging out of my head. On the way along the road there were a lot of houses, shops, gas stations, one fancy hotel (for wealthy travelers who climb Mt. Kilimanjaro or go on safari), Pepsi signs, speed bumps and people walking. It was about 85 degrees. We turned on the radio in Arusha, and I was surprised to hear American hip-hop and really bad R & B music.
We drove down the bumpiest road imaginable to get to the staff house. It is pretty big with 4 or 5 bedrooms, a kitchen, living room, and bathroom. IEFT hired two Masaii men to guard the place at night, so they were the first people I met. They were wearing their full Masaii outfits. Inside, I met Scott and Lisa, a couple who have been teaching here for the last two months. Lisa teaches English and Scott teaches biology and agriculture. They are very friendly and welcoming. Lisa showed me how to use the bathroom (squat over a hole in the ground) and how to do a bucket shower (self explanatory). Good thing I was expecting this. My room has a bed with a mosquito net and a shelf. My first night sucked because I barely slept. I was anxious and the neighbor’s dogs kept barking. A rooster woke me up at sunrise when I finally did fall asleep.
The ride to Orkeeswa Secondary School in the morning was very entertaining. We hopped in the Land Rover. I saw kids in uniforms walking to school, women carrying huge bundles on top of their heads, donkeys, chickens and roosters, dogs (I have to stop myself from going up to dogs because they are not friendly and most likely have rabies), and lots of people walking. Everyone stared at us as we drove by, and a lot of them smiled and waved. We gave a ride to teachers and staff we saw on the way, and by the time we got to the school we had 11 passengers.
Orkeeswa was exactly how I had imagined it from seeing pictures. When we got there, the students were gathered outside and one student was addressing them. Lisa introduced me the students, and I explained a little bit about why I was there. The “lead boy”, Petro, gave me a tour. Much of the campus is under construction. I think it is about to double in size with the construction of a science lab, new classrooms and a new staff house. Men from the village were hired to build. Petro showed me all the buildings, the football field, the outhouses, the kitchen and the garden. They are trying to grow corn, pumpkins, herbs, carrots and lots of other vegetables, but the garden gets invaded frequently by goats, elephants and monkeys who eat the crops when no one is looking.
The other teachers and staff members are very friendly and talkative. There are two or three Tanzanian men who teach at the school, and a Tanzanian headmaster. I sat in on Lisa’s English class, which was fun. Lunch consisted of beans and this stuff that is basically cornmeal and water. In Scott’s class, he invited me in to have the students ask me questions. I stood in front of the class and almost every one of the students’ hands shot up. They asked me questions like: how many kids to you have, how many brothers and sisters do you have, what is your dad’s name, where does your brother live, who is the Vice President of the USA, what is Barack Obama’s favorite drink, what religion are you, what is your favorite sports team, where do you go to school, and my personal favorite, what are you doing to help your community? They had trouble understanding that I am not a new teacher and that I am only here for two weeks. This question and answer session went on for about 30 minutes until school let out.
After school activities included basketball, crazy ball (I have yet to figure this out), gardening, and practice for the Orkeeswa Idol contest. Orkeeswa Idol is a group singing competition. The winning group gets to go to the movies in Arusha and eat popcorn and drink Pepsi. To the students, this would be the most exciting thing ever. I was assigned to help a group of four girls practice their song, Cat Stevens’ “If you want to sing out, sing out.” The girls had practiced earlier, but I helped them choreograph a dance to go along with the song.
That is pretty much it for now!
I arrived in Kilimanjaro Monday evening around 9:30. Michael and Peter picked me up from the airport in a Land Rover and we drove about 2 hours to the staff house in Monduli, I should have been exhausted, but my eyes were bugging out of my head. On the way along the road there were a lot of houses, shops, gas stations, one fancy hotel (for wealthy travelers who climb Mt. Kilimanjaro or go on safari), Pepsi signs, speed bumps and people walking. It was about 85 degrees. We turned on the radio in Arusha, and I was surprised to hear American hip-hop and really bad R & B music.
We drove down the bumpiest road imaginable to get to the staff house. It is pretty big with 4 or 5 bedrooms, a kitchen, living room, and bathroom. IEFT hired two Masaii men to guard the place at night, so they were the first people I met. They were wearing their full Masaii outfits. Inside, I met Scott and Lisa, a couple who have been teaching here for the last two months. Lisa teaches English and Scott teaches biology and agriculture. They are very friendly and welcoming. Lisa showed me how to use the bathroom (squat over a hole in the ground) and how to do a bucket shower (self explanatory). Good thing I was expecting this. My room has a bed with a mosquito net and a shelf. My first night sucked because I barely slept. I was anxious and the neighbor’s dogs kept barking. A rooster woke me up at sunrise when I finally did fall asleep.
The ride to Orkeeswa Secondary School in the morning was very entertaining. We hopped in the Land Rover. I saw kids in uniforms walking to school, women carrying huge bundles on top of their heads, donkeys, chickens and roosters, dogs (I have to stop myself from going up to dogs because they are not friendly and most likely have rabies), and lots of people walking. Everyone stared at us as we drove by, and a lot of them smiled and waved. We gave a ride to teachers and staff we saw on the way, and by the time we got to the school we had 11 passengers.
Orkeeswa was exactly how I had imagined it from seeing pictures. When we got there, the students were gathered outside and one student was addressing them. Lisa introduced me the students, and I explained a little bit about why I was there. The “lead boy”, Petro, gave me a tour. Much of the campus is under construction. I think it is about to double in size with the construction of a science lab, new classrooms and a new staff house. Men from the village were hired to build. Petro showed me all the buildings, the football field, the outhouses, the kitchen and the garden. They are trying to grow corn, pumpkins, herbs, carrots and lots of other vegetables, but the garden gets invaded frequently by goats, elephants and monkeys who eat the crops when no one is looking.
The other teachers and staff members are very friendly and talkative. There are two or three Tanzanian men who teach at the school, and a Tanzanian headmaster. I sat in on Lisa’s English class, which was fun. Lunch consisted of beans and this stuff that is basically cornmeal and water. In Scott’s class, he invited me in to have the students ask me questions. I stood in front of the class and almost every one of the students’ hands shot up. They asked me questions like: how many kids to you have, how many brothers and sisters do you have, what is your dad’s name, where does your brother live, who is the Vice President of the USA, what is Barack Obama’s favorite drink, what religion are you, what is your favorite sports team, where do you go to school, and my personal favorite, what are you doing to help your community? They had trouble understanding that I am not a new teacher and that I am only here for two weeks. This question and answer session went on for about 30 minutes until school let out.
After school activities included basketball, crazy ball (I have yet to figure this out), gardening, and practice for the Orkeeswa Idol contest. Orkeeswa Idol is a group singing competition. The winning group gets to go to the movies in Arusha and eat popcorn and drink Pepsi. To the students, this would be the most exciting thing ever. I was assigned to help a group of four girls practice their song, Cat Stevens’ “If you want to sing out, sing out.” The girls had practiced earlier, but I helped them choreograph a dance to go along with the song.
That is pretty much it for now!
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Tanzania!
I am leaving for Tanzania tomorrow morning! I can't believe it. I'll be visiting Orkeeswa Secondary School in Monduli. Monduli is a very rural area about 20 miles west of Arusha. My friend Ashley Holmer started this school in 2005 through the Indigenous Education Foundation of Tanzania (IEFT). To learn more about this school and the foundation go to www.ieftz.org.
I will be gathering data for my MA TESOL thesis project. My goal is to create classroom materials for the school's English classes.
More to come later...
I will be gathering data for my MA TESOL thesis project. My goal is to create classroom materials for the school's English classes.
More to come later...
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