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.