July 11, 2014
K. Here goes another quarterly update. A little late (as usual...). And it's a big one! On July 5th, my 'class' and I hit the one year mark in country! Here's how I feel about the last few months of my first year in Tanzania:
"My Job"
I've been on break this past month and will be starting teaching again this coming week. I'm hoping to pick up a few more periods this term as the Form II and Form IV kids are prepping for their national exams this fall (and my current 4 period week doesn't quite meet Peace Corps guideline of between 16 and 24). I have heard that there is a Form VI student who will be helping out in the physics department with me for a month or two, which will be good.
Besides teaching though (which is nothing new), I have taken on some new responsibilities also. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I am now the assistant warden in my region and went to a training for that in June. But also, I was selected to help with the Pre-Service Training (PST) of the new education class which arrived in country this last week. At the beginning of this month I went to a Training of Trainers (ToT) to prepare for this training. I will be going to do Shika na Mikono sessions at PST with a few other Shika members in late August. We will give the trainees an idea of the science education situation in country and provide ideas to cope with the challenges they will likely face.
Planning session
During our few days at ToT, we outlined our sessions, decided on what activities to do, and got a shopping list of materials we will need.
"Life"
Life has been good these last few months. After finishing up my semester, I had a few other volunteers come and check out my site which is always fun. We baked a lot, ate more than is healthy, and caught a few World Cup games at my village bar. I have a couple brackets going: one with a friend back home (which I've already won, you know who you are), and one with my counterpart here (which I still need to run some numbers on). It's been fun keeping up with games though, and finding places to watch has been an adventure on its own!
After my volunteer visitors left, I flew up to Arusha to meet some other visitors. My aunt, uncle and cousin came to visit! They started up north since it was on my uncle's bucket list to climb Kilimanjaro, and after he and my cousin got back down (they summitted successfully!!) we hopped on a flight back down to Iringa to give them a cultural experience! It was cool to fly again. After taking long and uncomfortable bus rides for a year, flying through the air with leg room and three seats to myself seemed like the miracle that it really is. (If you don't understand, search for Louis C. K.'s stand-up bit on human flight).
During our PST last year, we were shown a chart which outlined the common periods of ups and downs for volunteers throughout service. I'm still not sure if it's accurate because of how people generally operate in our situation or if it's accurate because it tells us how we're supposed to feel and we obey, but apparently it's accurate for many. It shows the roller coaster of PST with major ups and downs with fast falls and fast recoveries. There's a low portion during the first three months at site, when people are coping and getting a better understanding of what they got themselves into for two years. Then comes Early Service Training, you get to see your friends again, you're getting a handle on the language, you realize that everyone is facing similar challenges, you get new ideas for tackling them. It's a high point.
At MSC, we have a low which we like to call "mid-service crisis." I can't say I've hit this yet, and I'm not sure if I should be concerned about that or not. I think the things that contribute to this usually are realizing that you're only half way through this, not finding success in all (or any) projects, not being able to see any change in students or community, and becoming jaded. So we will see what happens in the coming months. I might have a mid-service crisis to look forward to!
"Back Home"
My relationship with friends and family back home hasn't changed a ton since last time, but I am noticing that the list of people I have direct communication with on a regular basis is pretty short. Which isn't a bad thing necessarily, and I'm not even sure if that's new in these past few months. Just something I've noticed. Most of the contact I've had with people back home has been more sporadic, or indirect through Facebook or other social media. I haven't made myself easy to relate to by moving to Tanzania for two years, and that doesn't make communication easy. So thank you to all who have kept in touch, directly or indirectly, consistently or sporadically, through pictures, messages, Facebook statuses or letters. I am so grateful that you haven't all forgotten your long lost "Joel," "Jor-el," "Joelizle," "Joelle," "Schmoel," "Pumpkin," or whatever you call me. I'll be back before you know it.
2 Biggest Challenges Right Now:
- Balancing jobs. I have a full semester ahead: teaching, exam prep, mid-service training, pre-service training, and a possible girls science conference. I'll have to find ways to keep an eye on all these things so nothing gets left too far behind.
- Ehh... I don't know. I guess keeping motivated to continue learning Swahili again.
Well there it is again. Another three months. 12 down, 15ish to go.
Aaaaaaand some pictures:
My Fourth of July of July outfit
Cousin Christine and me at the Masai market.
