Mac N Cheese

I turned 23 in Tanzania last Friday. No – it is not a Tanzanian
tradition to have off of work for your birthday (darn, I know!), but
it was nice to spend the day with the students.

I had a dress made a few weeks ago out of kitenge (printed material)
that I bought in Dar over Christmas. The dress is very traditional
Tanzanian – a shirt and skirt set made out of a single pattern.
Essentially, I was head-to-toe light blue in this thing. When I first
tried it on I felt a little silly, considering it is so faux-pau to
wear only one pattern in the States. Plus, it fits a little bit
differently than most other things I would normally wear. It is quite
dressier than the skirts and tops I’ve been wearing, so I also felt
funny wearing it on any random Tuesday to school. I figured my
birthday would be a good excuse to break it out.

You know, I’ve become very accustomed to not having a long mirror in
my room. It’s nice, because if I would have seen myself full-length
that morning I may have second guessed wearing it. But I showed up to
school, and all day I received countless compliments from other
teachers and students. Many said I looked “so smart” – a phrase that
means you look really sharp, really put together, really great! And a
few of the girls individually pulled me over and said ever so quietly,
“Teacher Laura, you look so sweet today.” I felt like a true
Tanzanian woman in this dress! Kweli!

I didn’t mention it was my birthday to many because I fear the fuss.
But earlier that week with my advisement class we did timelines of our
life, and a few remembered my birthday was the 18th. So there was no
giant cake or whole school sing-along, but rather many little “happy
birthday teacher!”s throughout the day. It was Perfect (yes, with a
capital P)!

And the day ended with my art club – my favorite part of the week. A
few of the girls worked really hard on some beautiful birthday cards.
It was so fun to see them present them to me. It was also fun to
watch all the other students in a panic because they hadn’t made me
anything. Quickly before the class was over they signed their names to
the picture of a truck or a mountain (or a paper airplane and origami
box) under a “happy birthday!” as they lined up for the hugs I was
giving to those who wished me well on my special day. I went home
with lots of paper love, that’s for sure.

The Sisters also gave me a nice little gift that included a
beautifully beaded rosary. They are so sweet. (P.S. Sr. Beatrice
recently sprained her ankle – keep her in your prayers!)

Later when we got home, Jana and Maryrose (our new roommie) met Sean
and me at the gate and sang happy birthday (Maryrose was wearing a
silly homemade pipe cleaner hat!). Afterwards, they proudly
announced, “Want to meet your birthday gift?” Any guesses? A new
puppy? Maybe a cat? Or a rat? (Side note: did I ever write about the
rats we had in our house?) All wrong – they bought me a chicken! Jana
and I have been talking about getting a hen for our yard. It’s a
really big yard that we don’t use often and would be a great place for
the little guy to run around in. And how cool would it be to have
fresh eggs? They named my new kuku “Lola” – a mix between Laura and
Loyola (you know, St. Ignatius of Loyola). He, excuse me, “she” was
beautiful!

Jana and Maryrose were planning a nice dinner for us at home, and my
good friend David made plans to stay in town this weekend (he lives at
the school), so we invited him to join us. When David arrived (a
bottle of “Altar Wine” in hand – not kidding, that’s literally what
the label says), we introduced him to Lola. As I had suspected, he
announced that Lola in fact will not produce anything but a loud
cock-a-doodle the next morning. My sweet friends had bought a male
chicken. Whoops! We had a good laugh, decided to later buy a hen and
instead start a little chicken family! Problem solved!

Maryrose had set the table with beautiful Tanzanian flowers and other
decorations, and she and Jana cooked their secret surprise dinner
while Sean, David, Thomas and I enjoyed some freshly made juice
(mango, pineapple and passion fruit!). The girls also decorated the
walls outside my bedroom with signs proclaiming “Happy Birthday” and
“23!” I felt like I was in college again. Time to eat came, and so
did a massive pot of MAC N CHEESE! YES! They had bought noodles and
cheese from town. You can get both here, but they are really
expensive. Tanzanians don’t eat much cheese, despite the large number
of cows around – I don’t know why! It was a lovely dinner with lovely
friends.

We made it an early night because Sean and I had to head to school
early Saturday morning to be proctors for the students’ exams. They
take all exams on Saturday mornings – strange, eh? All teachers take
turns being proctors, so we only go every other weekend. Watching
them take exams was interesting though; I noticed many took a few
minutes before and even after finishing to shut their eyes, fold their
hands, (some make a Sign of the Cross), and say a little prayer asking
for help from Someone above. I wonder what schools would be like in
the States if students took the power of prayer that seriously.

So we didn’t end up going to the night club I had mentioned last
weekend for Jana’s birthday because our party got smaller than
expected, so we rescheduled for this night. I’m so glad we did,
because our group grew from three to about nine! Everyone came to our
house for a little while to hang out before we left and we had a great
time just sitting around the table, chatting about everything from the
students at school to if there is beer in heaven (FYI, there totally
is).

Club 84 was GREAT! We all had an incredible time. Most of the music
was “Bongo flavor” – a special Tanzanian groove that I’ve fallen in
love with since coming here. Unlike dance clubs in the States, the
dance floor was mostly men, with only a few women in one corner. I
suppose it is not the best “scene” for Tanzanian women to be in, so
most men come with their other male friends and just have a ball.
They didn’t even care there weren’t women. And a few times I tried to
join some groups with my friends and they didn’t even seem to notice I
was a mzungu, or a woman! It was funny! And great because everyone was
simply there to enjoy good music and good friends. I approve
immensely :)

The weekend ended with our friend Rosie (the cook at the Jesuits’)
coming over Sunday afternoon and teaching us to cook kitimoto (pork).
I sometimes visit her during the school day when I have free time. We
talk Kiswahili, she cooks and I watch and learn, and we just laugh and
enjoy each other. I like her and the other cooks/cleaners a lot.
They are my best Kiswahili teachers. We had asked her to come and
show us how to cook pork because she is by far one of the best cooks
that I’ve met. It was fun and such a delicious meal. Hopefully I’ll
be a pro at cooking by the time I come home!

A Little Love

This past week has been full of holidays: Valentine's day, Maulid day (a Muslim holiday = National holiday in TZ), and my birthday. Everyone keeps asking, how do Tanzanians celebrate such events? Not so different from us in the States...

Valentine's day was on Monday - I forgot to wear red under the orders of a fellow teacher. Apparently wearing red on V-day is the norm, just like at home. The students couldn't wear red; their uniforms are blue and grey. But people here wear red, buy each other gifts (again, read "jifts"), go out for nice dinners... sounds familiar, eh? Oh! But they also send many mass text messages (as on every other holiday). I'll share a good one...

From a fellow male teacher: "Be aware of other fake wishers, I'm the only authorised TBS T0 2011, Certified Super Dealer In Wishes! I wish you an "original" happy VALENTINE DAY."

What luck - the OFFICIAL wisher! Eh! He he he!

Considering it's a boarding school, the students couldn't go out and buy me all the presents they had wished to, but I forgave them (kidding!). On a serious note, one sweet girl called me over to her table at chai (tea) time, and said "Teacher, Happy Valentine's Day" and presented me with a jift: a single red thumbtack. At first I thought maybe she was teasing me, but I noticed her friends looking at me in anticipation. I quickly realized that this tiny red Valentine was a sincere attempt at sharing a little love with Teacher Laura. So I squeezed her tight, made a huge hurrah about the gift, and gingerly carried it to the teachers' table and showed it off to my colleagues. It now sits in my desk drawer and rolls around when I open it to remind me about the simplicity of love. So sweet, right? :)

Because it was a Monday, that afternoon was art club. Because our only supplies right now are plain white paper and our own pencils and pens, I tried to get the students to draw Valentine themed things. This turned into a Valentine card making fest, and I was the lucky recipient of many. The cards always have a sweet greeting inside, something along the lines of "follow your dreams" or "You are loved by your relatives." My favorite was "Lynda and Lora 4ever!"

Monday evening was our community night at the Jesuits' residence, where we share an intimate Mass, dinner, and conversation. Like the past few Mondays, the electricity has been cut, so we sometimes sit under the one light (powered by their generator) or a few altar candles when that kicks out. This night we were joined by two new Jesuit novices - young men on their way to becoming Jesuits. They will stay with us in Dodoma for two months doing their "experiments." This is a period of time when they work at a challenging organization to do some pastoral work. This night we ended our delightful dinner (the one night of the week we volunteers eat meat) with ice cream. My new favorite way to eat it: topped with Amarula, a creamy Bailey's like liquor. So delicious! (and a hit among everyone!)

So we technically had a national holiday this week... Maulid Day. The way the Muslim holidays work is they must wait for the sighting of the moon, so the holiday can technically be Tuesday or Wednesday. Because our school calendar already said the holiday was on Tues, that's the day Marty chose as our holiday. Sean and I volunteered to come to school that day so we could guarantee days off in the future when we may be traveling for retreat. When we arrived, first thing on the agenda was to take a walk around the perimeter of the campus to stretch our legs and move a little. It is about an hour walk, surrounded by nothing but vegetation. I enjoy it, but most of the students don't! Unfortunately, rain clouds rolled in unexpectedly about 10 minutes from the end, and we were all drenched completely. It was unfortunate, but kind of nice, too! There was no way to escape it, so we (Maryrose, a new volunteer from England, and me) just enjoyed the feel of the rain, (i.e. the feeling of home). Marty let us return home to change - thank goodness! Though the real holiday was on Wednesday, we returned to school for work.

Well, I had intended to add a little about my birthday, but I need these last few minutes on the internet to do some work for school. So you'll just have to wait :)

But a very happy belated Valentine's day to all of you, of whom I love so dearly. I hope you are blessed with much love in your lives.

First week at SPC

Our first week was incredibly exciting but incredibly frustrating. We started the week with an excellent game plan: a schedule full of icebreakers, group discussion, and fun skits to get to know Sts. Ignatius and Peter Claver. A combination of road blocks, including limited electricity (hard to print things), constant construction on site (created unbearable noise that limited announcements/conversation), materials not delivered (sports equipment, some textbooks, enough mosquito nets), a kitchen staff who underestimated food production (we spent a lot of time waiting for more food to be made) – [side note: they are awesome, now. More about them later], etc., etc. Needless to say, there was a little more sitting around than we desired. The students and some teachers didn’t mind much – I think this slower pace is quite normal for institutions in Tanzania.

Many of the students were very eager to being classes. They are so sweet (for now). They seem to have all made friends quickly and settled in with little problem. Besides sickness: The first week along a few came down with malaria and typhoid. This week many are complaining of sore throats and coughs. I also have had the same symptoms; we haven’t had rain since the last I wrote, so now the air is incredibly dry and the dust is so much. Ihumwa (the village where the school lies) is particularly dusty. I’m not sure if that is where this is coming from – an allergy maybe? Who knows. I’m feeling better though, just a stuffy nose remains.

Second week of classes and I’m finding myself constantly reevaluating myself as a teacher. Current status: I’m really bad. Okay, I’ll give myself credit – I’m coming up with some great ideas to make Study Skills a little bit fun, but the execution is going to take a while to perfect. I’m constantly reminded that I am not in front of American teenagers who understand my English or are a little familiar with the critical thinking skills that I am asking of these students. I see lots of potential in us working together well in the future, but for now I have a lot of work to do.

I’m using fun tactics to give them visuals and engage their senses in ways that will be good for all learners, but the discussion part becomes dull. I don’t blame them for yawning or putting their heads down or staring out the window during this part of the class. I do find myself obsessively running around the room, flaring my arms all around as I talk, and using intense variations in my speaking style. If anything, I sure am entertaining (or frightening) them for a good 40 minutes. We’ll see. I’m determined to win them over.

My body seems to be adapting to this teacher lifestyle (I feel you Maura, Amanda, Katie, Meghan, Ryann, Emily and all my other friends new teacher out there). I am able to fall asleep promptly around 10:11pm and wake at an early 6:45am to catch the dala at 7:10. I have also found that I am quite addicted to caffeine, unfortunately. Tanzanians have a universal “chai time,” literally tea time that sits between breakfast and lunch. I love this idea – it kind of reminds me of my brother John’s banana break at work, right John? It’s a nice little breather for us all, but an obvious side effect is this caffeine addition.

We teachers eat breakfast, chai, and lunch at the school with the students. Apparently, we eat really well for a boarding school, at least compared to other schools in Tanzania. Breakfast is always “uji,” a porridge made of millet flour, water, and sugar, sometimes with a little milk. It was strange at first, but now I kind of like it. Chai is always tea with sugar and sometimes milk, with white bread and butter sandwiches, mandazi (a doughnut-like bread), or chipati (those tortilla/naan-like breads). Lunch is something different everyday. The other teachers told me most school serve ugali and beans everyday, but we only get that once a week. Our meals are ugali with cabbage, or beans, or daga (I don’t eat this, it is like tiny dried fish, blech!) and other things. I can’t really complain!

I’m getting to know the kitchen staff a little bit! One of the girls who works in the kitchen rides the bus with us every morning. Her name is Agnes. She’s about my age. We try our hardest to talk, obviously only in Kiswahili. In fact, most of the people who ride our bus in the morning only speak Kiswahili, so I’m learning a lot just from those rides. It is really fun! In the mornings when I don’t have class right away I chat with Agnes and the other people in the kitchen as they prepare the day’s meals. They laugh at my attempts to communicate, but are always so sweet about trying to understand. Another who rides our bus works in the school shop. Her name is Happy and she definitely lives up to her name. The other day she gave me a gift (said “jift”) – really pretty silver leaf earrings! She and I always compliment each other on our accessories. It was so sweet.

Oh! I joined the kwiya (choir)! I’ve been wanting to ever since I knew that Jesuit Volunteer Emily from Dar joined her choir when she first arrived two years ago (thanks for the inspiration, Em!). I didn’t quite know how to go about the whole joining thing, but Agnes asked me one day if I wanted to go with her. It was a surprise, because I had never even mentioned I wanted to join! I was a little bit apprehensive, only because I don’t know nearly enough Kiswahili to spend a whole hour with a group which also hardly speaks any English, but I decided to go for it. She was surprised that I accepted but really excited! They practice every day from 5-6pm – I know, that’s a lot! Apparently they are trying to make a record and eventually tape a video (that’s the thing to do here for choirs), so they are practicing every day until that happens. I went with Agnes on Weds and Thurs but skipped Friday; I was too tired from the week. They sing at the first Mass on Sundays (the 730am Mass). I probably won’t go the first few weeks until I learn the music a little better. They don’t use any song books, which makes the whole learning songs in a foreign language thing especially difficult. Some of them take notes and share them with me, so I’m just going to have to borrow some of those notebooks! They think it’s so funny that a mzungu (white person) is there, but they are so welcoming. I think it will be a great way to meet people and practice the language!

Well, today is Jana’s birthday (my German housemate). We might make our way to the local dance club – Sean and my first time there. It is the hot spot (read: only night club) in Dodoma, so it will be fun. Hopefully our friend Martin will come with us. I think I might make Mom’s potato pancakes for her (a silly attempt to make something “German”), and maybe some homemade guacamole and pina coladas! A Tanzanian friend of hers bought her a cake from a bakery – it tasted a lot like Grandma Koch’s pound cake!! I was so surprised because cake here is a little different that from home. That was for sure a great treat!

Okay, that’s all I have for now. Thinking of you always.