So coming here to Tanzania is by far the biggest, the coolest, and the hardest thing I have ever done. I have learned an incredible amount of stuff in just 3 months and am progessing each day. Eventhough Im having a great time here its hard to think about whats going on at home with out me. My little nephew just turned one. Kristin is workin hard on her bowling skills. Jim passed the licsw and dating. Meaghan passed her nursing test and is moving to Hartford. And the biggest news of all.......Jenna is gonna be a mom!!! Whats going on here.
This morning I was talking with my school principal about some of my ideas. Here in Katesh there really are no programs for kids/teens. Eachday after school they have nothing to do. The girls go home to work, boys roam the streets and hang out, and we all know what the teenagers are doing. My thoughts right now is to start afterschool programs for primary school kids. Eachday there will be art projects, music/dancing/ and of course sports. I also would like the students from the secondary school to work with me to run the programs. So while everyone at home is growing up, im gonna stay here and play kickball for a while...peace
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
We're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo
Forget Raffi and the zoo song, go to Ngorongoro Crater dude. Well from my last post you saw I was waiting on the word from PC staff. Well they let us go. I think today is wednesday which means I met those 2 teachers 1 week ago. Monday we hitched a ride to Haydom to meet their bus and the students were shocked that 2 white kids jumped on their bus. (i dont think the teachers told them!) So try to picture our old school field trips to Plymouth Plantation or something. A well organized, peaceful trip to see some boring stuff and eat sandwiches. Yum. well this is a bit different. The tiny bus us liscenced to hold 30 people. We had 48 total people on the "bus." Students were literally sitting on top of each other and perfectly happy to do so. We got to our hotel and the next morning woke up bright and early for the crater. What an unbelievable day!. Before I came here I knew I wanted to visit the crater. Then on the spur of the moment I was given and offer and took it. Some of those students have never left their region and I got to see so many firsts for them. So cool. The crater is scary as hell to go down and up, but well worht the near death experience. It was wonderful to see the kids eyes when then saw elephants, lions, flamingos.... amazing. We stopped at a picnic area, in the middle of the crater, to eat some bread and a monkey came running and stole a bag. That was awesome so I started laughing but soon realized that I was wrong. That was 1 of 2 meals we had that day. Today we went to Kilimanjaro Airport to see the planes and that was awesome to see the expresions on their faces to see planes taking off and such.
Its 1 in the morning here and im pretty tired and talking non sense, but its so cool to be here. The people you meet, things you see and the surprises around the corner. So crazy. Tonight i met this family from California who decided to pack up the kids and travel the world for 1 year. Im talking to them now while I use this crappy yet free computer. I dont know what Im talking about so im gonna end. Its time for bed. peace
Its 1 in the morning here and im pretty tired and talking non sense, but its so cool to be here. The people you meet, things you see and the surprises around the corner. So crazy. Tonight i met this family from California who decided to pack up the kids and travel the world for 1 year. Im talking to them now while I use this crappy yet free computer. I dont know what Im talking about so im gonna end. Its time for bed. peace
Thursday, September 11, 2008
yup...
So Im so disapointed that I do not know how to put pics on this blog. I think I may just buy an account somewhere and post them there. Who knows, but I have alot!!!
So I can honestly say that my most favorite part of being here is the people you meet. In America I always say hello to strangers or initiate conversation with people but most people think that is wierd. And yes, I do agree that im a little off beat, but either way it is seen as a negative thing. Well, in Tanzania if you do not greet people as you pass, visit neighbors for no reason, or visit for dinner it is considered to be extremely rude. The other night Randy came into to town and we went out to dinner for some "kiti moto." It translates to "hot seat" but it is just pork. When we walked in we wanted to eat outside but I began to greet a young couple and they invited us to sit down. If we didnt sit, we would be rude "wazungu" so we sat with them and im so happy we did. They are a young married couple who are teachers at a nearby school and they are in town for grade reporting (right now students are taking national exams). We sat and talked with them for like 4 hours and we immidiately hit it off. They invited us on their school field trip to the Ngorongoro Crater next week. Well i am the kind of person who loves the spur of the moment decision to just get up and go with a crazy idea. I live for it. Right now I am trying to the get the approval of PC staff, cross your fingers for me.
What is so awesome is that if randy and i choose to sit outside we would not have met such interesting people. Here, when you greet someone it can go on for like 15 minutes (no lie). There are so many amazing people you get to meet, just like the old lady i mentioned in my last post. Living and working here is very difficult at times and volunteers naturally question their decision to come and continue. It is the expection of the people you will meet and the experiences you could gain that truely keep me going.
final thought: forget what mom said and SAY HELLO TO STRANGERS....
So I can honestly say that my most favorite part of being here is the people you meet. In America I always say hello to strangers or initiate conversation with people but most people think that is wierd. And yes, I do agree that im a little off beat, but either way it is seen as a negative thing. Well, in Tanzania if you do not greet people as you pass, visit neighbors for no reason, or visit for dinner it is considered to be extremely rude. The other night Randy came into to town and we went out to dinner for some "kiti moto." It translates to "hot seat" but it is just pork. When we walked in we wanted to eat outside but I began to greet a young couple and they invited us to sit down. If we didnt sit, we would be rude "wazungu" so we sat with them and im so happy we did. They are a young married couple who are teachers at a nearby school and they are in town for grade reporting (right now students are taking national exams). We sat and talked with them for like 4 hours and we immidiately hit it off. They invited us on their school field trip to the Ngorongoro Crater next week. Well i am the kind of person who loves the spur of the moment decision to just get up and go with a crazy idea. I live for it. Right now I am trying to the get the approval of PC staff, cross your fingers for me.
What is so awesome is that if randy and i choose to sit outside we would not have met such interesting people. Here, when you greet someone it can go on for like 15 minutes (no lie). There are so many amazing people you get to meet, just like the old lady i mentioned in my last post. Living and working here is very difficult at times and volunteers naturally question their decision to come and continue. It is the expection of the people you will meet and the experiences you could gain that truely keep me going.
final thought: forget what mom said and SAY HELLO TO STRANGERS....
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
pictures
so i just wasted about 2 hours of my life trying to figure out how to get pictures online. I should have done all of this in America. I still have no idea how to put them all up at once. I only managed about 20. sorry, they are all random. The picture of my arm is when I had bed bugs. One is of my homestay family. most are Mikumi and the ones at the end are my new house. Enjoy the choo picture!!! ill try again soon...
My first 2 weeks!
Wow. Peace Corps is awesome. So I get dropped off in the middle of nowhere and have to figure it all out on my own. Its pretty cool. I have spent my past two weeks getting my house together. I built my own bed and my first night it crumbled to the ground. But now it has 7 legs and is perfect. I went to a huge market called Mnada and bought a Barabaig tribal knife and im having a spear and sandals made out of tires made for me. I live on school grounds so after school I walk home with a kid so I can get to know my town and meet their family and neighbors. That has been way cool.
For my birthday and 2 other volunteers bdays we got together for a party, of course. Although this was a party like no other. We bought a goat at Mnada for 50$ and had people from the Barabaig tribe (this is the main tribe in my area, google them) help us kill it and prepare it for cooking. So all day we roasted goat, drank horribly warm beer and refressments and watched some tribal dancing. It was pretty awesome. The next morning Randy and I decided to walk back to town which was about 3hours away. It was soo beautiful. Exactly what you picture Africa to be like.
Im sorry I have to be short so I will skip to my most favorite day of all. An old woman came into town a few weeks ago and one day she followed me back to my house. She wanted me to look at her baskets that she makes and see if I would want to buy them. Well alot of people assume I have money and want me to come to their stores. I agreed and I walked across the street to where she set up her baskets and they were gorgeous. So far I have bought about 30,000 Tanz Shilings worth and sat with her for a little bit. Since then the other vols. have come to visit and together we have spent about 115,000 Tanz Shilings ( about 110 US$). That is about 1/3 of what she usualy makes in a year she told me. Everyday I have gone to sit with her and just enjoy eachothers company. Which is so cool too because right now...thats my job. My American mind was thinking I need to get up and be busy but then I realized that yes, sitting here, eating pineapple and trying to speak swahili with this old lady is my job. How cool is that?
When I want to study swahili and go and sit with her because I know she loves me by now and she is very patient when talking with me. The other night she invited me over to the house she is staying at while in town to teach me how to cook ugali (flour & water). Last night I had her at my house and I made her pasta and garlic bread. She was so thrilled to try American food.
I have to end here because i need time to try to figure out these pictures. Peace
For my birthday and 2 other volunteers bdays we got together for a party, of course. Although this was a party like no other. We bought a goat at Mnada for 50$ and had people from the Barabaig tribe (this is the main tribe in my area, google them) help us kill it and prepare it for cooking. So all day we roasted goat, drank horribly warm beer and refressments and watched some tribal dancing. It was pretty awesome. The next morning Randy and I decided to walk back to town which was about 3hours away. It was soo beautiful. Exactly what you picture Africa to be like.
Im sorry I have to be short so I will skip to my most favorite day of all. An old woman came into town a few weeks ago and one day she followed me back to my house. She wanted me to look at her baskets that she makes and see if I would want to buy them. Well alot of people assume I have money and want me to come to their stores. I agreed and I walked across the street to where she set up her baskets and they were gorgeous. So far I have bought about 30,000 Tanz Shilings worth and sat with her for a little bit. Since then the other vols. have come to visit and together we have spent about 115,000 Tanz Shilings ( about 110 US$). That is about 1/3 of what she usualy makes in a year she told me. Everyday I have gone to sit with her and just enjoy eachothers company. Which is so cool too because right now...thats my job. My American mind was thinking I need to get up and be busy but then I realized that yes, sitting here, eating pineapple and trying to speak swahili with this old lady is my job. How cool is that?
When I want to study swahili and go and sit with her because I know she loves me by now and she is very patient when talking with me. The other night she invited me over to the house she is staying at while in town to teach me how to cook ugali (flour & water). Last night I had her at my house and I made her pasta and garlic bread. She was so thrilled to try American food.
I have to end here because i need time to try to figure out these pictures. Peace
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