Moving...Again

After a great weekend with some Dirty South volunteers, it was time to go home. Nick, Minh and I went to the bus stand around noon expecting to just hop on a bus. They were going to the East, I was going to the West. They only had to wait for an hour and a half. I waited for two and a half hours. Who needs bus schedules, right? So the obvious solution to staying entertained while sitting on an empty bus…lure Tanzanian children over and feed them Pop Rocks! Besides feeling like creepy pedophiles, we got some good laughs in. They just looked so confused and excited at the same time. I mean, what would you think if a stranger offers you candy and it starts crackling in your mouth? Pop Rocks will always be welcomed in packages J

I returned home to find that my maggot farm had taken off. I purposely put out nasty, rotten foods to breed maggots to then throw down my choo. Pretty disgusting, but they took care of my plumbing issues like I had hoped for!

I decided to time myself walking to the sokoni and back: 57 minutes. In that time I walked what I think is about 4km and bought all my groceries for the week. The egg man wasn’t there, but a sweet old man flagged down a teenager to take me to his house to get eggs. I bought tomatoes, potatoes, dagaa, flour, sugar, kerosene, and eggs for less than $5.

I did 5 loads of laundry this week! I washed 3 weeks of clothes, sheets, and my blanket and used a TON of water. I was kind of disgusted at how much water I used, but I justified it with the number of items I washed. That is literally my exercise (along with sweeping). Take bucket inside. Fill with water. Haul outside. Add soap. Add clothes. Stir them around. Let sit. Bend over and scrub. Wring the soap out. Place in empty bucket. When all clothes are in the empty bucket, haul that bucket inside. Add water. Let sit. Stir around. Wring out excess soapy water. Turn inside-out. Hang on clothesline.

I continue to enjoy cooking. This week I made pretzels (cinnamon sugar and plain salt ones), peanut butter brownies, and potato soup. I had spent 2 hours making the potato soup and was adding the finishing touches of salt (from my toothpick container, turned salt shaker) and the lid fell off and the ENTIRE bottle of salt went into my soup. I still ate it and it was pretty good! Salt water is supposed to help with dehydration too, so maybe it helped my health?

I had a great week at school. I got closer with my Form 3 class. We made a circle we played “kitimoto” (hot seat), so I just asked them questions at random to see what they knew. I asked questions like “Who do you live with?” and “What do you do after school?” and then corrected the grammar of their answers. They seemed confused about the circle at first, but I think the fact that I was sitting with them instead of standing over them made them relax. At the end of kitimoto one young man completely shocked me with his amazing English. He wanted to know my opinion about the flaws of the Tanzanian school system, to describe differences between America and Tanzania, and finally he asked me to teach them the different verb tenses. In English we have 16 verb tenses. Native English speakers don’t usually notice the difference between all of them! However, after searching through all the Form 1 and 2 books that I have, I found only 7 verb tenses. I took some notes and created a very systematic, formulaic way to understand how and when to use each tense. On Friday I started with Present Perfect, which is easy to relate to them because in Swahili it is “me”. “NiMEshiba”= "I have just become full.” They really liked the timeline where I showed how all of the tenses relate. I know 5 verb tenses in Swahili (but there may be more), so I compared all of them to Swahili. I thought it went really well.

After teaching that class, I went to teach my Form 2 class. A total of 12 students were there, so I took them to the Form 3 classroom to copy the same notes and then we even had time to play basically “Never Have I Ever”. They each had to look in someone’s eyes and ask “Have you ever…..?” It was awesome! It was also so much easier working with a smaller group of students.

The reason there were so few kids is that everyone else was outside preparing for graduation. The whole week students were randomly given machetes and told to go cut down trees. On Friday, they finally began constructing the graduation stage. I was amazed at how much they accomplished in 3 hours with some knives, sticks, and string. Other students were painting the rocks white and tidying up the campus for graduation. Graduation is on Monday from 9am-4pm and we apparently get to eat the goat that has been living behind my house.

I also opened the library. In total I unpackaged 874 books, organized them by subject, and have them set up on temporary “shelves” made of tables. Only about 30 students have visited the library in the 2 days that it was open, but they all looked so excited. Some Form 2 girls came in specifically wanting Chemistry books. Awesome! Apparently, my Mkuu wants to move the library to a different classroom in November and then the students will be briefed on how to check out books. For now, they really do enjoy just looking at pictures. I don’t even care that they aren’t using the books for educational purposes yet. Just the fact that they can look at pictures and see things that they have never imagined/never knew existed is beyond amazing. I also have a dream to make a book specially formulated for Form 1 and 2 students in Tanzania. I hope to include a dictionary and basic grammatical structure that they can use as an ultimate reference book.

After my wonderful week at school, I got some bittersweet news. I am moving to Newala, Mtwara to replace Katie, who is done with her service on October 11^th. I will be moving on Tuesday! Katie had written a grant to buy computers and start a computer lab, but it got delayed, so I will be taking over that project. Also, I should be able to start a Life Skills club and maybe even start some Girls Empowerment work. I was totally pushing for the site change, but when it became official I realized how much I could have given to the students at Chinongwe. The situation is not my fault: my community was supposed to provide me reliable transportation (not pikipiki) to the main road, but they never followed through with their end of the bargain. If there were ever an emergency it would have been a Safety and Security issue because I would have no way to get out. I will miss Chinongwe, but I think I will be more accepted and better utilized in Newala.

With that news, I decided I would ride my bike to Ndanda so I don’t have to deal with it on moving day. I’m leaving it in Ndanda for the other 2 volunteers to use. Yesterday I left my house at 6am on my bike. It is about 15km to Mikey’s house, so I figured I would make it there by 8am at the latest. WRONG. I got 3 flat tires. I stopped to get the tire fixed at 2 different fundis and they took forever. Thankfully, people noticed that I was walking my bike, saw the flat, and just told me to follow them to the “shop”. It is really nice to have everyone always looking out for you. After the second flat was fixed, I rode for another 15 minutes before I was tired so decided to rest. When I got up to start riding again, I realized I had ANOTHER flat, so just sat down. I finally flagged down a driver and he took me the remaining 5km to Ndanda. So it took me 3 and a half hours to ride 10km, get 2 flats fixed, and be driven 5km. I’m glad I tried the bike ride, but also very happy I don’t have to do it again!

*I updated my “Contact Me” and “Wish List” sections on my actual blog page and added a "Photos" section so they are always accessible. Please notice that all mail should now be sent to:

Sister Alyson Hite

P.O. Box 400

Newala, Mtwara

Tanzania

Week 2 of Teaching

Last weekend, I went to my first disco in Tanzania. All I can really say is that it was definitely not like an American club. It was this huge courtyard attached to what looked like a big storeroom. It was across from a creepy looking building that reminded me of a haunted house. Instead of everyone being smashed together, they were spread really far apart and everyone was basically dancing alone. There was a group of dancers on a stage doing kind of a line dance. The music was pretty bad. And me and the other female PCV were constantly getting followed and danced on by these two girls. I don’t really think I need to go to another club in Tanzania.

Anyway, my excitement the next day consisted of me dropping my phone under the seat as I was trying to get off the bus. Everyone was staring at me and trying to hurry me off the bus, but once I made it clear I wasn’t leaving before I got my phone, it magically appeared. After returning to Ndanda I went to the market and a pikipiki driver that I’d met before thought it was necessary to hold me hand and carry my bags for me. I had literally been in the market for about 30 seconds before I got a phone call from Gaudence (the Makonde carver) asking where I was. I was thinking, “Hmmm, I’m pretty sure you know where I am since you probably just saw me! I kind of stand out.”

After waiting for only 2 hours this time, my Mkuu came to get me. Oh, but first we had to go to the hospital to visit a villager. She had a big container full of petroleum and forgot about it and placed something flammable on top. Her face, arm and ankle were pretty badly burned. I actually am glad I got to see a hospital at night. It was about 3 times as busy at night that during the day. I think we arrived around the time that most families were bringing food to the patients. There were hot pots everywhere and people being spoon-fed. It basically was just a room with beds placed next to each other. There were a few people connected to IV’s, but otherwise there was not much medical equipment present. The woman with the burns had a table next to her bed with q-tips and Vaseline. That’s it. And she was pretty badly burned.

School went a lot smoother this week as far as feeling comfortable teaching. My Form 1 class is a lot better mannered than my Form 2 class. They also seem to understand more. There are 2 boys in my Form 2 class who sit at the front of class and are pretty much the only ones that will answer questions. It is sad, but they are probably the only ones who really want to be there learning. In my Form 1 class, I had 3 students write paragraphs with nearly perfect grammar. Two of them I had never even noticed before in class. The Form 1 students want to participate more and don’t care as much if they make a mistake trying. There are still about half of them who seem to shrink into their seats if I look at them and refuse to say anything. I just finished up the topic of “Routine Activities” with my Form 1. I created 10 sets of questions and answers, then cut them up into 1-3 word chunks. They had to rearrange the pieces to form the sentences. They loved it! They are never really given the opportunity to work with others or talk in class. On the other hand, I tried to do a similar game with NECTA problems for Form 2. On the NECTA there is a weird section that says “Join using:…too….to” and “Begin using: Although…” I guess they had never seen those types of questions before so it was just a disaster. Yesterday I started poetry with them and that was a disaster also. There is a poetry section on the NECTA with maybe only 3-4 basic questions about the poem. However, these kids can’t even understand most regular sentences in English, let alone the foreign idea of poetry. One of the questions I asked was what title they would give to the poem. I told them it could be ANY word they wanted. Seems simple enough, right? I started going around the room asking. I only got the 2 boys’ answers.

I had a meeting with my Mkuu to discuss my plans for the next 2 years. I want to open the library, start an English club, lead the FEMA club (life skills), and help create a new timetable that might actually be followed. He seemed like “ok, do it” but had no real guidance or input. I had seen about 20 boxes of books in his office and a library that is padlocked every day. Here was our conversation:

Me: “I noticed you have boxes of books in your office. What are the books for?”

Him: “Boxes?”

Me: “Yes.”

Him: “Boxes?”

Me: “Of books…”

Him: “What?”

Me: “Books. Vitabu. You have a lot of books in your office.”

Him: “Ohhh, books! Yes, from Read International.”

Me: “Can we move the books to the library?”

Him: “Um..”

Me: “When is the library open?”

Him: “I think the library hasn’t opened yet.”

Me: “Ok, well we can put the books in there and open it!”

Him: “Well, the students don’t use the library.”

Me: “We will see when it opens.”

Him: “Ok, you can sit in there. We will teach you how to record the borrowing of books.”

So I have started my library project. The library was swept on Wednesday and then I spent about 3 hours on Thursday unpacking boxes of books with dead bugs in the pages. There are still all the books in the library that I haven’t sorted yet, but there are probably at least 1,000 books total. Most of them are for Form 3 & 4 math and science. There are no teachers for those subjects in those forms so I don’t see why we can’t just give them to each student to study from or try to read on their own. Basically all that school is in Tanzania is the teacher writing a textbook word for word on the blackboard and the students copying that into their notebooks. And they are soooo slow. If you underline something on the board, they need a ruler to underline it in their notebook. I want to teach them how to write faster! I really don’t think they would be capable of taking notes (even in Swahili) if they weren’t written on the blackboard. So, if all the students had books, it would save a ton of time in class and maybe the content would actually be explained to them!

I’ve been having some problems with a Form 2 student that seems mentally instable. She came over and introduced herself to me on Monday and asked me to write her name down. I was assuming she wanted a nametag. The next day she sat with me for an hour in the staff room while I was grading quizzes. She started writing 2 pages of ramblings in Swahili/English about her family and what she does every day. She told me she goes home every day and takes medicine for her headache…then asked if I had medicine for her. She also wrote that she wanted to live with me until December. We started talking about food and then she said she would help me cook. I said I could cook. Anyway, I went home and then my water boy came over so I let him in, thus leaving the gate open. As he was finishing pouring the water, this girl, Sabina, just walked into my kitchen! I just said a few greetings and then when Shadrock went to leave I made eye contact with him saying ‘help me!’. We convinced her that she should go back to school…after she asked me for money and biscuits and to stay to cook. Later that day I went next door to get hot charcoals and was gone for less than 5 minutes. I came back and she was in my courtyard with a bucket of cashews dumped out that she was “preparing for me”. I got irritated and told her to leave, but was raising my voice and gesturing for the door. She just smiled at me like we were best friends. Thankfully the boys followed me back and they once again explained to her that this was my home and she was not allowed. She continues to show up at my gate, front porch and even peered through my front window one night. It is really creepy. I told me Mkuu about it and he doesn’t really think it is a problem. I see her a lot with his daughter, so maybe he doesn’t want to be mean to her. She also disrupted my class on Friday by walking up to the front and asking for a dictionary while I was teaching. A few minutes later she raised her hand (I thought to answer a question) and started rambling again about her family. When I told her to stop she ran out of the classroom and then I yelled at her to come back and sit in class. I just don’t know what to do with her! I continue to have students bang on my door/windows all the time to ask for water too. When I’m at home, I’m usually wearing shorts and a tank top and so it’s a pain to have to change just to answer the door, just to tell them they can’t have water.

I do allow certain students in my house-ones who are not actually my students, and those that talk to me and the neighbor boys that help me with a lot of things. One day they were beating the students in the staff room while I was trying to do lesson plans, so I noisily left the room. I was walking around the back of the building and found a group of Form 3 girls hanging out outside. We talked in Swahili and they laughed at me but it wasn’t the mean, mocking laugh that most of the students do. They were giggling because I was trying and I was laughing at myself too! They weren’t in class because they had no teacher. (Even though there were 3 teachers in the staff room beating students.) Later, they asked my Mkuu if I could be their teacher. The girls came to my house Thursday to ask me myself. They ate Honey Oat bread (that was chewy because I didn’t let it rise enough), drank water, painted their toenails, and read People magazine. It was fun to just hang out with them. One of them was Fausta, my old house girl. I asked her to come once a week just to mop the floor and sweep the dirt because I can’t make myself do that. Her and Regina (the really outgoing one) eagerly agreed to do it. When I asked them how much they should get paid they said “hamna” (nothing). I’m going to pay them 1,000/= each week, which is less than $1. On Friday I went to their class and I’m going to make that a very informal class and do mostly speaking exercises. There are only about 20 Form 3’s so it should be a fun, interactive class. We just did introductions and their grammar is horrible. “I have 16 year. And brothers, one; sisters, three.”

The other big thing this week has been graduation practice. I went to watch one day and had a good time. They have three drummers, a very talented young lady singing, and everyone else chants/sings along. It is just kind of line dancing (same formation), but just to the beat of the drum. Then, they did a comedy skit which I couldn’t really understand. The graduation is supposed to be next weekend, but they aren’t getting enough contributions from people. They came to my house asking for contributions. During training they told us that when asked for contributions (for a wedding, funeral, graduation, etc) to look at the contribution book and see how much other people put in. I couldn’t decipher their book, so ended up just giving 5,000 which seems about right after talking to other volunteers. The contributions go towards throwing a party. In America, most people have their own parties afterward, but here they can’t afford that, so the graduation is the party. Hopefully it will happen next weekend as planned!

This weekend I’m going to loot a PCV’s house who is about to COS (close of service). I’m excited! Last night we were at the bar and Mikey was flicking lit matches around and accidentally lit Steph's hair on fire. Oops.We were also thinking of how much a beer would cost in America, in shillings. Jenn was saying a Bud Light in NYC was $9 which is 15,000/=. We pay 2,000/= per beer. And 2.2 beers here equals a 6-pack by American standards. Each beer is bigger (500ml) and has a higher alcohol content (usually 6.5%). Also, beers here are sold in bars for only slightly more that the wholesale value. They buy them for 1,600/=to 1,800/= and re-sell for 2,000/= Speaking of which, I’M A SHILLINGI-AIRE! It is crazy to see that amount of money in your bank account. I think I’m going to save it for traveling to Zanzibar and Kilimanjaro at some point!

Some Humor:

Last weekend, we were talking about how we wanted someone to bring us ice cream on the beach. TJ said, “Well just go find a 4-year-old with a baby strapped to his back. Then you know he’s responsible. 4-year-olds with no babies on their backs need to get their shit together and obviously can’t be trusted.”

Cultural Notes

Mostly, people speak very quietly. Their hearing is incredible!

The Mamas and the Bibis can get very defensive and help you get out of unwanted situations.

Animals are beaten and no one really cares about them.

Tanzanians have a weird obsession with The Free Masons. They think most Americans are Free Masons and we control the world.

Greetings are very important. You cannot start a conversation without saying at least two greetings. And people get offended if you walk by without greeting them!

Children greet us “Good Morning, Teacher”, no matter what time of day it is. They also chant “How are you? How are you?” in shrill voices. These are usually the only greetings taught in schools and they don’t know proper responses. And of course they love to just yell out Mzungu. I started saying “mtoto” back (child). They don’t see the humor in that.

Women either wear no makeup, or they look like drag queens. I have yet to see a woman wearing normal makeup.

I don’t think they sell deodorant in this country.

Tanzanians think that walking more than 100 yards is a strenuous activity. They always apologize when we say we walked somewhere.

If it is less than 70 degrees, it is FREEZING. Out come the snow suits and ski jackets.

Time is run by the people; there is usually no reason to be in a hurry for anything. People can be over 2 hours late and that is considered acceptable. This also makes bus schedules quite unpredictable. 

Pikipiki drivers remind me of cowboys or bandits. When they see the daladala approaching, they come rushing over in a herd. They also like to wear jackets backwards to keep the dirt off, and sometimes wear helmets backwards because…?

Peace Corps says you have to be flexible to be a good volunteer. But literally, in order to get out of the daladala sometimes, you really do need to be flexible.

Titles are more respectable than names. So every single mother is “Mama”. If you’re unsure of their age, “Dada” is ok too. That is also why Tanzanians don’t know why we don’t like to be called “Mzungu”. “Wewe” (you) is used when respect is not necessary.

Breast feeding in public is totally normal. I’ve seen countless exposed boobs here. Slang for breasts is “maziwa”, the word for milk.

It is illegal to be homosexual here. Even if you try to explain about people in America being in same-sex partnerships, they don’t get it. But it is very common for same-sex friends to hold hands and be “entangled” in each other (men and women).

Personal space does not exist. Most of the time, resources are stretched to much that in order to survive, it is necessary to share everything. Tanzanians are collectivists.

Babies are always carried on women’s backs in their kangas. They are usually wearing a beanie and wrapped in a blanket too. They must be so hot! Usually just their little heads are hanging out the top being bounced around.

Marriage proposals happen so frequently here. Not sure if it happens as much between Tanzanians, but it happens a lot to PCVs. It is just normal if you find someone attractive that of course you would want to marry them!

They pretty much only think that 2 religions exist: you are either Christian or Muslim.

People drive crazy here! But they can’t go that fast because of the road conditions and the mechanical issues most cars have, so there aren’t many accidents. I’ve only seen 3 accidents.

Most clothes are sold in “piles” at the market. Basically, all the clothes that no one wants from thrift stores (around the world) get sent to Africa. Then they sell them to each other.

Drivers love to use their horns! Even though you may be the only person on the road, they still need to honk at you so that you can slide off the road into a ditch for them to pass. Mind you, they could just move to the other side of the road to pass.

First Week as a Teacher

This week I taught my first classes! Exciting, yes. Scary, yes. But I survived! First I will explain the Tanzanian education system, then tell about my experiences.

Tanzanians begin school at Pre-Primary (like Preschool), around age 5. Primary School is seven years: Standard 1-7. The majority of primary schools are taught in Swahili. However, in wealthier areas (like Morogoro), there are English-medium schools. These are private schools with high tuition fees. My home-stay siblings attended an English-medium Primary School and the cost was around 500,000/= per year for tuition, books, uniforms, transportation per student. That is EXPENSIVE here. Anyway, Standard 7 students take an exam to determine if they can pass to Secondary School.

In Secondary School (basically like high school), the language of instruction switches to English (or is supposed to). It doesn’t matter that the only English they know at this point is “Good morning, how are you?”. They are supposed to learn all the content (which is obviously more advanced than Primary School) and a new language all at the same time. At the end of Form 2 there is a national exam (NECTA) for all subjects. This test is written in English. This year, they are supposed to start implementing a new rule that if you don’t pass the Form 2 NECTA, you are done with school. Assuming they pass, they continue and then take another NECTA at the end of Form 4. The students who pass Form 4 are pretty bright.

Then there is Form 5 & 6, which I think I would compare to junior college. However, even if a student passes Form 4, they may not be able to afford to go to high school. Most villages don’t have high schools, so they would need to move to a town that has a high school. Of course then they would need to find a place to live. Most high schools are boarding schools, so that increases the cost. Or, students would need to “commute” to school each day. The closest high school from my village is 12km away. That would be about a 3-hour round-trip bike ride just to go to school….not really allowing time to study or make money to pay for school. Technically it is called High School. Once they graduate from High School, they can go to University.

Each school year starts in January and ends in October/November. So, I am coming in at the end of their school year. Form 2 & 4 students are preparing for their NECTAs and they are also preparing for graduation.

I am teaching Form 1 & 2 English. Each form meets 3 days a week for a double period (an hour and twenty minutes). My Form 1 students have copied a book called “Baseline” word-for-word into their notebooks. Baseline is supposed to be used to prep Form 1 students for basic English and is just a compilation of short lesson plans for teachers to use the first 2 months before going into deeper subjects. That is literally all they have learned in the past 9 months. Now, we are learning how to talk about routine and daily activities. It takes awhile for them to understand what I want, but they seem to be getting it.

There is a national syllabus for each subject, which outlines what students need to know for the NECTA. My Form 2 students have covered 2 of the 12 topics on the syllabus in the last 9 months. They should have finished at least 10 of the topics. They are taking their exams in 2 months and can barely write complete sentences in English! I have a book of the past 11 years of NECTA exams and am searching for patterns. So far, it seems pretty consistent: reading passage, multiple choice, adding prepositions, re-writing sentences, changing verb tenses, and a short composition.

I have no idea who their teacher was. There is no documentation of what they have been taught, except looking at their notebooks. They don’t know enough English to even know how to ask for help or explain that they don’t understand. They just say  “Yes” if you ask them anything. Here’s a typical dialogue from my class:

Me: “Are there any words that you do not understand?” (on the blackboard)

Them: Blank stares

Me: “Do you understand ALL of these words?”

Them: “Yes”

Me: “Ok, what does _____mean in Swahili?”

Them: ……

Me: “Let’s look in a dictionary! _____ means _____”

Them: “Yes!”

Me: “What other words should we translate to Swahili?”

Them: ……

Also, I have only seen one other teacher teaching! It seems like the students just sit around all day waiting for someone to decide to come to class. Most of the students seem to only be at school so that they don’t have to do chores at home. There are a few that stand out and show that they really want to learn. I hope I can at least help them. I offered to start tutoring students for the NECTA, but my Mkuu didn’t really care.

Other than teaching and making lesson plans, I have been cooking this week. I made banana bread, Tanzanian “Rice-a-Roni”, and French fries this week! I feel settled into my house finally. I also picked up my skirt from the fundi. I love her. She thinks that everything I say is so funny and that it is hilarious that I want clothes made like Tanzanians. I taught my neighbor boys how to play Uno and they taught me a similar game with a regular deck of cards. I’ve gotten hassled to buy water a lot this week and one man showed me his phone that had a picture of me as the background. Gross. Some students have started coming over to “ask for water”. They don’t really want water, but just want to be invited into my house. I painted my Mkuu’s daughter’s friend’s nails the other day and she loved it. There are kittens at my Mkuu’s house, so I’ve played with them. I watched a bird be sawed apart with a dull knife and have it’s intestines unwound. There was blood everywhere. Since I switched my medications, I haven’t had hallucinations and nightmares so I’m sleeping a lot better! Now I just need to get myself to deal with the heat. I spend a fair amount of time lying on my cement floor to cool down. I really like the neighbor boys that live with my Mkuu. They were amazed by my banana bread. I literally don’t think they have ever tasted anything other than rice, beans, uglai, and other staple foods. I’m going to invite them to bake with me in the future. They help by bringing me water, delivering my kitchen cabinet, hanging my clothesline, etc.

So that is pretty much my life! Right now I’m by the beach in Lindi with about 10 other volunteers and going to get Italian food and go to a disco tonight. 

Pichas

Here are links to my photo albums for those of you who do not have Facebook. I believe you can view all of them without having to be a member of Facebook. Please let me know if it doesn't work though!

Pre-Service Training

(June 6, 2012-August 15, 2012):

Chinongwe Secondary School

(August 16, 2012-November 2012?)

I will periodically add more pictures to this album until I create another album.

DSM

Just a quick recap of the last few days in Dar and on my health:

Monday: Ten hour bus ride to Dar. PC told me to take a taxi to the hotel. I got ripped off. Had horrible stomach pain/cramps. Got a hamburger. Told I had a “lovely hairstyle” at the bank. Got ice cream. Took a hot shower. My first hot shower in 3 months. Relaxed. Had another nightmare/hallucination that PC sent someone into my hotel room to watch me sleep.

Tuesday: Met a Canadian VSO at breakfast. Taxi delivered me to PC Office. Delivered my stool sample. Weighed myself. I’m about 10 pounds lighter than I was 3 months ago, though it is probably all muscle-loss. PCMO (Peace Corps Medical Officer) found a swollen lymph node with a 2cm nodule on it under my armpit. He said it might be malignant. Ruled out tuberculosis. Waited around in the volunteer lounge. Found a skirt, sweater, and Swahili flashcards in the pile of stuff people leave behind. Walked outside for Chai. Found a spa and got a pedicure. They laughed at how dirty my feet were. Taken to a hospital to see a doctor. After 2 minutes, he told me the joint where the clavicle meets my sternum was just inflamed and it was nothing to worry about. He refused to do an X-ray. Picked up some anti-inflammatory ointment at the pharmacy. He said the ointment might help or it may stay protruding forever. PCMO agreed I should get an X-ray. Met up with other volunteers at the office. Took a daladala. Sweated on some people. Almost got run over by a bus. Drank some freshly made Passion-Mango juice. Went to the mall. Almost died from culture shock. Bought some spices and staples for my kitchen. Ate a brownie with ice cream. Went to a movie theatre to see Ted. Froze to death. Bajaj-ed back to the hotel.

Wednesday: Zigzagged my way to Posta to catch a daladala. It didn’t stop where it was supposed to so I ended up walking 20 minutes to the PC Office. Had to wait for a driver to take me to the hospital. Got an X-ray. Sent upstairs to find a doctor. After being passed from person to person I finally saw an orthopedic surgeon. He thought it was my scoliosis. Sent back downstairs to pick up my X-ray and report. Returned to the ortho surgeon. He said my collarbone has always been that (since I developed scoliosis) and I had just never noticed it. “Maybe you just noticed it because you started wearing shirts like THAT”. (Yes, the scoop neck I’m wearing is a lot more revealing than what I wear in California….NOT). Told me there is nothing to do to fix it. Ate lunch with some PCVs who have far worse medical issues than me. PCMO looked back in my charts for more information about my scoliosis. Discovered my scoliosis curves to the left on vertebrae T4, which is exactly where the collarbone connects. Basically my collarbone is being pulled forward to compensate for the curve in the opposite direction. He seemed relieved. When I asked if I could see a chiropractor he said they don’t have them here. He also told me there was nothing to do to reduce the size. Got stool sample results back-no parasite or anything, probably just caused by stress. Switched to Doxycycline (malaria prophylaxis) so I can actually sleep at night. Told to go buy my bus ticket for tomorrow. After an hour I finally made my way to Ubungo, which is the craziest, dirtiest, busiest bus stand in Dar. Told there were no seats on any buses tomorrow, so need to leave in two days. Also told I needed to learn Swahili since I’m in Tanzania. Ignored dumb vijana saying “Mzungu”, “Rafiki”, “mambo?”, “I love you”, “umependeza”. Showered off the filth from being in dalas. Ate garlic naan with garlic street chicken. Walked to Snoopy’s for ice cream. Ordered ice cream with caramel. Got ice cream with honey. I thought it was alcohol at first though…that’s how long it’s been since I’ve tasted honey. Ignored a ton of beggars who prefer to ask Wazungu for money, since obviously, if you’re white you have money.

This sounds really vain, but I feel really ugly with my bone sticking out. I was hoping there would be something to do to get rid of it. I still disagree that it was “always” like this. I think I would have noticed it sooner. Hopefully I can see a chiropractor somewhere in the future and see if they can do something like re-align me. Who knows. I’m having a really low tolerance day. I really don’t like how cramped and dirty Dar is. You’d think that they wouldn’t care as much when they see a Mzungu because there are more tourists here, but it’s worse! I can’t walk 100 yards without a comment from someone! Gah!

Tomorrow I will wander around, get some groceries, eat shawarma, take a hot shower and pack. School starts on Monday. Still don’t know what I’m teaching…hopefully it goes well though. 

P.S. I would also like to point out that the abbreviation for Dar es Salaam is DSM. DSM is also the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Maybe that's why I feel like I'm going crazy here!

Chem Chem

Today was great! I know I already said this, but I love Ndanda. I woke up around 3am because I thought someone was breaking into the house. After almost having a heart attack I realized it was the beating of chickens’ wings that sounded like someone rattling the door. I couldn’t go back to sleep, so instead I watched two episodes of True Blood…because I could. It is nice having the endless options that electricity provides. I took a short nap and finally got up. For the first time since I’ve been “on my own”, I went out to get Chai. Man, I missed that. So I had chai with milk and chapatti and it was delicious. I went to the post office to try to mail some letters, but it was closed again. I did greet some of my new friends. I stopped and talked to the other guy who sells the Makonde carvings. He was telling me how he had made a carving 4 meters tall! If you haven’t already, Google it. They are most famous for their carvings which depict their ancestors piled on each other, kind of like a family tree. Anyway, they are gorgeous and I love looking at them, but I really don’t have the money to buy all of them! I did buy a bracelet though. Anyway, I went home and got ready to go swimming at the private pond (Chem Chem) that holds water to be filtered and then bottled. As I was walking by to find a driver, Gaudence came out and wanted to play bao again. He had taught me yesterday. I’m not that good yet, but at least it makes sense. It makes me feel good about my Swahili too.

Then he offered to drive me to Chem Chem. As soon as I got there a family from Germany arrived. The parents work in Masasi and they have been there for 2 years. They have 3 kids and they had a nanny and her 3 kids with them as well. I tried to teach the kids how to swim. When I went to call Gaudence to pick me up I realized I’d forgotten my phone. So I asked this German guy if they could drive me back into town when they were done. I’m so glad I ended up staying with them. The mom had made chocolate cake, so I had TWO slices of cake. They were laughing at how excited I was about cake. I guess it’s kind of a different experience in Tanzania when you have a car, electricity, oven, shower, nanny, money, etc. Then the kids wanted to hike up the small mountain that goes behind the pond. The little girl that I had spent most of my time teaching to swim just automatically grabbed my hand and wouldn’t let go. We got to see monkeys playing in the trees. Then as we were headed back down the mountain, the kids (who were leading the way) started screaming for us to stop. Two women were bathing in the creek. They seemed to cover up pretty quickly, but then alerted us that men were bathing up around the next bend of the creek. The father didn’t hear this whole exchange, so he said “What, are we going to wait here forever?” and started walking with all the kids. I waiting with the mom and the nanny thankfully. Finally we got the signal that it was safe to cross. The dad said “I didn’t know they were bathing like THAT!” (i.e. completely naked) Anyway, they drove me back into town and we ate dinner together. I still feel really bad about making Gaudence wait around all day to come pick me up. I think I’ll bring him a present to thank him for that, and for teaching me bao.

Tomorrow I leave for Dar and Tuesday I have my doctor’s appointment. Hopefully my health issues will be resolved then.