Up and Down

October 24, 2013

Yesterday was pretty rough. Ok. Really rough. I taught 8 periods (5 hours and 20 minutes) and it was looong. My math classes don’t understand me and after such a long day it’s hard to have much patience for it. I got through it. That’s about as much as I can say. I did gett a little comfort from my second master who told me that even the Tanzanian teachers have trouble teaching Form 1 classes. Days like that I have been telling myself, “just make it to the end of November. Next school year will be better…” but it is hard to remove myself from the current situation. Thursdays and Fridays I only teach the Form 1 Math classes (no physics to break it up), so at the end of yesterday I was feeling pretty miserable about the next couple of days. What could I do but try my best to make things bearable? I tried to think of a way to make things more interesting and maybe somewhat interactive in class. I was feeling uninspired, but I came up with a lesson plan I was comfortable with and then relaxed for a while before bed.

Today, school was great! I got up and got ready for the day. Hopped on my bike and got to school in time for a little mental prep and had a chance to refresh myself on the lesson. I was motivated to make the best of the time I have with these students. I got to the classroom this morning and started the lecture and the kids were attentive and participating eagerly. They jumped on opportunities to come to the board and they responded well to my stupid jokes. The morning class gave me hope for the later classes, but energy is usually running pretty low towards the end of the day. The afternoon classes were not quite as energetic as the first, but they too were much more interactive. I left each class feeling confident that the students understood the lesson, that they enjoyed the class, and that they maybe, just maybe, are convinced that I’m an ok teacher.

I learned something this week. And it wasn’t about geometry. I think yesterday and today showed me the importance of my efforts. It is easy to be miserable in the class. It is harder, but much more rewarding, to find the energy to make class interesting. A little extra effort went a long way today. I’ve been struggling to decide whether or not I actually enjoy teaching. After yesterday, it was looking like a long two years ahead. But today, I really did enjoy it.

Peace Corps promised me that I would be experiencing the highest highs and the lowest lows during my service here. I am just beginning to understand what they meant.

Hike and Stuff

October 22, 2013

This last week a fellow teacher came to town with me to help me buy a bike. I think my Swahili skills have reached a level that I could buy one on my own, but I am still wary of the big purchases. We have been well warned about the “Mzungu” (white person) prices that some sellers will try to get us to pay. I haven’t had any bad encounters yet, and generally they are just happy to see a white person who can speak some Swahili. It also helps that my area does not draw a lot of tourists. Nonetheless, I asked if he would come with me for this purpose and he agreed (maybe it was me offering to buy lunch…).

We went around town, bought some food, posted some blogs at an internet café, checked the PO Box, and got some more envelopes. Then we went and checked out the bikes. As far as I can tell, there is no such thing as a new bike in Tanzania, but we managed to find a lightly used one that works! It has six gears and a little light that can be activated that uses friction on the wheel to light up. I paid about the equivalent of $60 for it. It could have been a lot more without my teacher friend with me. It didn’t hurt that the seller was a graduate from our school. Here’s a picture of the bike outside the door to my courtyard!

It cuts my trip to school from a 25 minute walk to an 8 minute ride. Niiiiiice. My students laugh at me the whole way. Tall white guy, funny clothes, weird helmet, bike a little too small…But I am used to it by now. I do lots of weird (normal in the US) things here.

During our trip to town my fellow teacher and I talked about the village and the surrounding area. He showed me some pictures of some cool places nearby and this last Friday we went on a hike! After school, he hopped on my bike’s rack and we rode to my house. We walked from there through the village and down into a valley. Here are a couple pictures

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It is relatively barren where my house is other than corn fields (Reed…) and a few intermittent trees. But as we went down, we started to go into more vegetation. Certainly no jungle, but more and more green.

And then…

There it was. Pride Rock.

Well not exactly… But not far off, right? Maybe I’ve been looking for Lion King scenes for too long and I’ll take whatever I can get now. But either way, I know at least my mom’s mouth is watering at the site of these beauties. And right in my backyard!

We got passed by a herd of cows and goats at one point. I felt like Simba(means “lion” in Swahili. How clever…) stranded on a rock in the middle of a stampede (RIP Mufasa). Ok…Done with the Lion King analogies now.

We continued along for a bit and walked through a tomato farm to get another view (tomato in Swahili is “nyanya,” one of my favorite words to say). Here’s the view.

Climbing all the rock reminded me of my hikes in the Olympics over the years. It was fun jumping and climbing around a little after being contained by the classroom all week. And whenever I get a chance to spend some time with the teachers I get a free Swahili lesson out of it. And they get some English practice too.

We got tired of climbing after a while and we walked back to my house. Made some traditional Tanzania style potatoes. I hadn’t had those since homestay! And talked about cooking, cats, and the bachelor life. They get married pretty young here so they’re often surprised to hear that I don’t have a wife, or even a fiancé! I think they want to help find me one.

Ehh…. I think that’s mostly what I wanted to say about that. Here are some pictures of the weird stuff I do.

This is a “jiko” (the thing I use to cook). You put sticks on top, add a little kerosene and toss a match on. Put it in the wind for ten minutes and then you can cook!

This is my iron. I get hot coals from my jiko after I cook and put them inside it. Wait a few minutes and then make my clothes all flat and nice.. But I think there’s some art to it that I’m still trying to figure out…

Fresh Papaya. I like eating this.

I’ve been experimenting with roasting my own peanuts. It’s fun. And tasty. And it isn’t always easy to find protein out where I am. No butchers in my village and beans can be a pain sometimes.

Here’s my dinner setup. Beans cooking on the left jiko, veggies in the middle, and rice just finishing up on the right with a few hot coals on top.

This is my current solar setup. More on this later hopefully. Basically a car battery, a voltmeter (to read how much charge it has), a power inverter (DC to AC), and then to my computer or phone or whatever…

Teacher’s Thoughts…

October 13, 2013

I just completed my first full week of teaching here! I feel accomplished. But I think that I may have learned more than my students this week. I don’t think that’s how teaching is supposed to work. Is it?

My form three physics students learned about light refraction through convex and concave lenses. My form one math students learned about significant figures and we started geometry at the end of the week. Every time I teach a lesson, I learn something new about being a teacher, the education system here, Swahili, the students, or myself.

The students, especially the younger form one students, have a really hard time understanding me. This can get very frustrating to me when the cannot do simple tasks that I just explained, or when they can’t answer a simple question on a topic we have just covered. But I have to keep reminding myself that these kids have it way harder than I do. They have to lean from ME! Haha. And it’s easy to calm myself down when I remember that before I got here, they didn’t have a teacher at all. I can’t be such a bad teacher that they would be better off without anyone at all, right? Right???

Emily, Chrissy, Emma, anyone have any thoughts or advice on teaching students who don’t understand English?

Pictures (round 1)

Here are some pictures of my area as requested.

 

This is my house (with some goats in the front yard)

 

Here is what I usually see on my walk to school. Some primary school students are walking in front of me. The one in the middle has an Obama backpack on!

 Here is a river near my village. The volunteer helped them build a bridge over it (not pictured)

 This is on the way to the river. About 2 km from my house.

 I cooked some homemade french fries ("chipsi") and fry sauce.

I also attempted to make some milk chocolate with peanuts. It turned out more like fudge, but I wasn't complaining.

Here is another picture on the way to the river. iPod Panorama mode at its best.

Update: 3 Months

October 5, 2013

Ok. So I was looking at the calendar and I thought of a wild idea. Today, October 5, I have been in Tanzania for 3 months. I was thinking about everything that has happened in the last three months and where I am now…blah blah blah… Whatever. Blah blah I’m going to write updates every three months that hopefully will be a sort of “checkpoint” or “check up” or any combination of words starting with “check” really… They’ll be here for you to read, they’ll help me to figure out where I’m at… I don’t want to glorify them too much, I haven’t even started writing it yet… I guess we’ll see what it is when I’m finished.

“My Job”

Mostly at this point my job has been to learn. To learn about the culture in Tanzania, to learn Swahili, to learn how to survive without many of the amenities I am used to, to learn about the education system here, to learn about the transportation system, to learn how to stay safe, to learn how to wash clothes by hand, etc. But now, three months after arriving in country and about 3 weeks after swearing in as a volunteer, I have now shifted into a new gear. I have now taken on the role of a teacher. I am teaching kids math and physics (and English informally), I am teaching Tanzanians about the US (the have endless curiosities about our fabled land), and I am teaching my colleagues about our strange (but somehow, effective) alternatives to corporal punishment in the school. This shift is a welcome one as my brain needs a breather to digest all of the new information it took in during training. But as I move my primary focus from learning to teaching, it is very clear that my learning days are far from over. After my first week of teaching here at site it is easy to see that one of the biggest challenges for secondary school students here is the language barrier. And as much as I want to teach only in English, both to give them practice and to make my life easier, I can see that the kids will be lost without at least some guidance in Swahili. If I am going to be effective as a teacher here, my Swahili will have to be more than just “survival” Swahili. And the sooner the better.

“Survival”

Upon arrival in Tanzania it has been a gradual, but nonetheless shocking transition to a very simple life. The first shocks included traffic jams on the way from the airport, a cold shower with no shower curtain (oh no!) and gross beer. Then came homestay. There was the initial shock of being plopped down with a family who did not speak my language. After that came the pit latrine, bucket baths, little communication with home and a new relatively unvaried diet. But then came the latest, and probably most dramatic transition. No family to cook for me or heat the water for my bath. No electricity. No daily contact with volunteer friends. No formal Swahili/cultural coaches.

I’ve now survived for 3 weeks here and I think now I can start more-than-surviving. Today I washed dishes, took a bucket bath, set up my solar (photo-voltaic) system, fixed my water filter, swept my room, washed my clothes, cooked lunch and dinner, and studied some Swahili. I don’t know if this will impress anyone in the States but I am pretty excited that I managed to do all this and still find time to write a letter, read a couple chapters in The Hunger Games, and add an entry to this silly internet blog.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that there are a lot of things here that take a lot longer (and a lot more effort) than I’m used to, but today I proved to myself that I am becoming efficient enough to take care of these things and still have time to enjoy myself along the way. And after a few months of not being sure, it’s a good feeling to know that things are getting easier. (Maybe this section will be called “Life” next time instead of “Survival”)

I think it’s important here to also say that I do have other PC Volunteers not too far away. A couple of them met up with me last weekend in our banking town for the night. It’s really good every once in a while to talk “Amurican.” We already have been making plans for Halloween and Christmas!

“Back Home”

I’ve been keeping pretty busy over here and I have a pretty “weird” relationship with my friends and family back in the States. The people I grew up with, the people who raised me, the people who I lived with in college, the people I care most about are now, quite literally, the farthest people from me in the world.

With that said, three months into my 27 month stay here in Tanzania, I am so grateful that everyone back home has been so supportive of me in this adventure. The letters, the phone calls, the Facebook messages, the emails. Every time a message makes its way to me from one of you, a little piece of the American comfort, that I didn’t know existed until I came here, comes too. I don’t want to get too sappy and gross and make mom cry and make my friends stop reading this, but I think I need to make sure you all know. I am so so so lucky to have the support system I do back home and I never want that to change.

2 Biggest Challenges Right Now:

-          Swahili

-          Becoming a part of the village community

Ok. So there it was. My first “Update.” How did it go? Boring? It felt good to write it. How does it read? Hopefully I’ll figure out how to post this and the other posts I have saved up before the six month update…