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.