First Half of Shadow

First of all, I wanted to thank so many of you that sent me encouraging emails. I don’t have time to reply to every single person, but just know that I really appreciate it. I still haven’t seen my site, but am less anxious about it. I’m having a great time so far on my shadow visit. I know I can do it! It is definitely going to take some time to figure out how to do things in the most effective way, but I know that whatever I teach them is better than what they are getting now with no teacher. My favorite piece of advice came from my little cousin Max:

“Dear Aly,

If i was a little kid in the middle of nowhere i would want you to be my teacher.  if you are scared then don't be scared because you should have fun because Math is fun.  If I were you i would go over there right away and teach them and after the first day you wont be scared again.

Love,

Max”

Just to clarify, now that I know more, the closest town is Ndanda, which is about 8 miles away from Chinongwe. My two closest options for banking towns are Massasi (to the West) and Lindi (to the East). I could also go to Mtwara if I want. They are supposed to be putting an ATM in Ndanda soon also! The big thing in Ndanda is the Benedictine Brothers who have contributed a lot historically to the foundation of the town. The Makonde is the main tribe in the area, if you want to look up some historical information. I am technically in Lindi region (state), but am very close to Mtwara region. The two are usually just spoken of as one region.

On Saturday, I left Morogoro for Dar. I bought a "refugee bag" (giant recycled bag) and packed all of last night. My Bibi came to see what was going on because I was listening to Party in the USA. We had a dance party and then the kids came in to watch me pack. I managed to fit most of the excess stuff Peace Corps has issued us into this giant bag- language stuff, 5 gallon bucket, medical kit, mosquito net, blanket, sheets, books, bug spray....It was kind of sad to see my room so emptied out. I'm really going to miss my family. My Baba helped me load my gigantic, heavy bag and then Mama drove us down the road to catch the daladala. I was really grateful for his help.

A staff member, Paul, met us all at the bus stand. I boarded the bus with Minh, Nick and Drew. They are all placed in the Mtwara region, but we are traveling together. It was about 3 1/2 hours to Dar. I was sitting next to the window, so had to do some transactions for people at the "drive-thru" window. AKA people shoving buckets of food and drinks in your face and asking you to buy them. A mom had her 5-year-old sitting on her lap the whole way, so I felt bad and offered them some Skittles. They seemed to like them!

Our driver picked us up at the bus stand. He found us, since we were the only white people in the area. We got back to the Msimbazi Centre. We then went on an uncertain journey into town. We boarded a daladala hoping it was going the right way. It was headed to the Posta that was the only landmark we really knew. But before we reached the Posta, we got in our first daladala accident! Exciting! Both Nick and I watched the accident happen and saw the glass from the other car spray over the dala’s windshield. So we started walking in the direction we had been driving and stopped at the first place there was food. It was a super safi (clean, good, awesome) place with milkshakes. REAL, COLD, MILKSHAKES MADE FROM ICE CREAM. It was amazing. I ordered sausages and chipsi, but once again forgot that “sausages” here are hot dogs. It’s ok because there was this awesome hot sauce to go with it. We asked where a bank was and so we walked around a bit. We ended up finding 3 banks actually. During our Dar Walk-Around with Peace Corps staff, I had gone to the third bank, so we knew how to get home from there. But first, we went to a casino in a mall. Minh doubled a 10,000 Tsh on a slot machine. I did not gamble. We did a lot of khanga and kitenge shopping also. I got this awesome turquoise one that I’m splitting with Drew. I think I’m just going to get an elaborate skirt and coin purse made out of it. We made it safely back to the Msimbazi Center. I’m glad I’m good at recognizing where I am in relation to other landmarks. It was also cool because during our Dar Walk-Around during training, we knew pretty much no Swahili. So we were able to ask for directions, bargain, and greet others on the street. I think I know more Swahili than I think.

We left our rooms at 4:30am on Sunday. Our driver took us to the bus stand and we loaded our luggage onto the bus. Only a few people boarded so I was a little bit confused as we started to leave. The bus finally got out of the traffic jam of busses around 6:30am. We then stopped about 15 minutes later at another bus stop in Dar, which is where most of the passengers boarded. A larger woman sat next to me with her large 5 year old on her lap. I kind of felt bad for her being smashed the whole way, but towards the end I was pretty irritated. The kid kept grabbing things and people and then screamed the last hour of the bus ride. Most Tanzanian children are fairly reserved so I was shocked by his behavior. There were scandalous American rap music videos playing the whole way. Some men started cheering during one that showed women in bikinis. I slept most of the way and purposely didn’t drink much because I didn’t want to have to pee in the bush. My little seatmate got out and peed on the bus tire during a potty break and the conductor laughed at him. Pretty much people mob off the bus, into the bushes on the side of the road, pee right next to each other, and get back on. Maybe in a few months I’ll feel comfortable doing that. The road was mostly paved, but some parts were just stretches of dirt road. And when we slowed down it got really hot because we weren’t going fast enough to create airflow. At about 2:30pm we arrived in Lindi, so it was about an 8-hour trip. Tyler, Katie, and Kathryn met us at the standi and helped us negotiate our way out of the mob. I was getting hassled to pay for my luggage again and he kept telling me to pay. They just helped me pick up my bag and start walking.

We dropped off our stuff at a guestee and then got lunch. Lindi kind of reminds me of Seal Beach. It is a beach town, but small and pretty quiet. We went to a bar on the beach and sat with our feet in the sand for a while. It was nice to talk to other volunteers who are not part of our training class. I guess you could say we gossiped, but they were interested in the differences between their training classes and ours. It was cool to hear the similarities and differences between training classes that make each person’s experience unique. We walked around a little bit to get a feel for the town. We stopped by the bank and discovered we all had just gotten paid. My new goal: become a Shillingi-aire! That is, a millionaire in shillings (about $625USD). We then hired a bajaji to take us up a hill to eat dinner. A bajaj (they just add the “I” to the end of any word) is kind of like a cross between a motorcycle and a golf cart. It has handlebars and a clutch like a motorcycle, but the driver sits on a seat and then there is another wider seat behind that. So it is a tricycle? Anyway, we fit all 5 of us in the back of this little thing and puttered our way up the hill. The girls knew the owner of the Italian restaurant. He kind of reminded me of Mike Reppas. He was very friendly and created special dishes for Tyler and me because they didn’t have ingredients for the meals we wanted. It was pretty expensive, but totally worth it. Drew and I shared a double room and it was fine but it still seemed weird for me.

Monday we woke up early, got breakfast, bought some groceries at the market, packed our stuff, and bought Drew a mattress. We lugged my giant refugee bag, Drew’s luggage, the mattress, and everyone else’s luggage to the standi. We got stared at a lot and I don’t blame them. We probably looked pretty ridiculous! Tyler and I threw my bag on a bus and then said goodbye to the others. Thankfully, we got seats because we were there early. It was about a 3-hour ride to Ndanda and some people had to stand the whole way. We somehow managed to get an “ugly fruit” for free. It is like a mandarin I guess…we forget the name in Swahili. When we arrived, Mikey saw us coming up the street and came to help carry my giant bag. People were laughing at Tyler and me as we kept dropping the bag every few seconds. Within about a mile radius is a hospital, post office, police station, abbey, Mikey’s school, and his house. Mikey’s house made me forget I was in Africa! It is 3 bedrooms, he has electricity, internet, an oven/stove, running water, and a lot of furniture. We went out for lunch and halfway through eating these Makonde men showed up to sell us their carvings. Do a quick Google search of “Makonde carvings”. This is the prominent tribe in my region. Tyler bought this crazy ape/man carving with one ear that apparently is their weather god. He lives in a tree and created the rain, thunder, lighting, etc. If anyone can find the full story that would be awesome! We just couldn’t understand why one of his ears is cut off. I bought a carving of baby Jesus in Bethlehem to give to my host family.

We hung out for a while, and then decided to go swimming. I cannot tell you how excited I was! There are a lot of German missionaries in the area with the Benedictine Brothers. They own a spring, which produces the bottled drinking water in the area. Apparently, they have given all other Mzungus an extended invitation to come swim in the holding area near the spring. It was about a ¼ acre of water. It was so beautiful and clean! The water was such a pretty color. I think that is the longest I have gone without swimming ever…it had been over 2 months! Oddly enough I felt awkward swimming in a sports bra and shorts. It just felt so weird to expose my body! As we were about to leave, one of the Brothers came out for his evening swim. He has been in Tanzania for 47 years, but has traveled/lived in many different regions, so has not completed all the training to become a Father. He handed me a piece of bread and told me to hold it in the water for the fish to eat. They came up and nibbled on my fingers as they were eating. It was really cool. He went for his swim and saw a lizard sunning itself at the far end. Mikey had been looking for it earlier because it is usually there. The Brother came back and continued talking to us about his experiences and what we were going to be doing here. Then just out of nowhere, he started changing! He was just completely naked sitting on his towel, using the ends of it to dry his toes. And he continued talking to us like it was the most normal thing to be doing! Then he told our bajaj driver to take us to the far side to see the lizard. It had left, unfortunately. When we got home, I took the most luxurious shower I have taken in Tanzania. I got to shave my legs even! The water was so warm, and it was just a bucket bath, but it felt so good! Mikey made us dinner, which was spaghetti with peanut butter sauce. It was really really good. He also made bucket hibiscus wine. It tasted just like the alcoholic version of jugo de hamaica! If you just put fruit/flowers in a bucket with water, yeast and sugar for a few weeks, you get alcohol! We had a wine and movie night and I felt like I was back in America hanging out with my best friends. It is so cool how just by being PCVs we have a common tie that makes us all very welcoming of each other. I love it.

Today we went to watch Mikey teach at his school. He teaches forms 5 and 6, which is kind of like their version of community college, although it is called high school. It is an all boys school, so they obviously noticed that I was there. There were over 100 students in his class. After class, we hung out in the staff lounge for Chai. The teachers were all very nice. A lot of them laughed when I said I was going to be in Chinongwe, and they said it is out in the bush. We will see…One of the teachers is from Chinongwe. He seemed really cool, until he asked why I wouldn’t marry him. He seemed to understand eventually, so I hope we can get past that and be friends because I think he could help me in integrating into the community. Mikey’s neighbor has puppies that are about 3 months old. We went to check them out and they are so timid from being beaten all the time. They kind of look like Bear with short fur. I am possibly going to buy one for a security dog at my site. Tyler and I are now at his site. It is an all boy’s private Catholic school. His second master in charge saw us on the road and picked us up. Right away he asked if I was Tyler’s girlfriend. He also laughed about me being in the bush in Chinongwe. I am proctoring an exam right now. I will write more about my site when I see it! Also, Friday and Saturday nights we are spending at a beach house in Mtwara. I am super excited!