New House

These past few weeks have been a whirlwind. Really only two or three weeks ago, Sean and I had basically given up hope on a search for a new home. It just seemed like our ideas of a JV house and all others' ideas were not matching up so giving up and letting go seemed to make the most sense. Sean and I started having some really difficult conversations with the two German girls we were living with in order to resolve someone of the unnecessary tension by creating better schedules, etc. Unfortunately, the night after this conversation, the JVC office called us informing us that we had only two options about the house – move into a home suggested by the Jesuits that is absolutely the opposite of anything Sean and I had imagined for Jesuit Volunteers in Dodoma (it's huge, far away from other people, and in a nicer neighborhood than desired), or stay in our current living situation. They also sprang on us another volunteer – originally JVC had decided to only send one, but because of issues in Moshi they have decided to close down that site next year and consequently the new volunteer heading there is now being sent to us. To be honest, I was absolutely ecstatic about a fourth volunteer for Dodoma, but all this news was a lot to take in. Sean and I thought about it a lot and eventually decided it would be most helpful to us, and most appropriate to our new community to move into our own space. And that brings us up to this week...

We had been told months ago that the previous owners were considering leaving furniture if we were to take the place, but I guess too much time went by that they decided to move everything. And consequently, the house is entirely empty. I can't imagine setting up a new place in the States – but in Dodoma, Tanzania, with no car of our own, no idea of where to buy things or prices? Chaos. Thankfully Fr. Sossy has been an incredible support and help throughout the whole process, and has kindly lent us a few of his workers to assist in this process.

Saturday, Mzee January (Mzee is a honorable name for an old person – January is a driver/worker for the parish) and Angel (the parish bursar) took us to town to shop for the home basics, like kitchen and bathroom stuff. Even though we had a list of things we needed and there weren't very many selections, it was incredibly stressful picking out so many things for this house at one time. I'm sure we could have spread it out a little, but I knew it would be so much better to get as much done as possible, especially if we had a pickup to throw everything into! Otherwise Sean and I would be taking the crowded tiny public buses home with all our new purchases – not exactly the most fun thing. We drove the stuff right to the house and hid it in a closet.

Sunday after Mass and lunch with Fr. Kitui – a really great Jesuit who is only around until January unfortunately – I spent some time in my room packing things up. I have really accumulated a lot of crap over the year here. A lot of it is books and papers from being a teacher, letters and other things sent from home, and new clothes and materials that I've bought while I've been here. I'm excited to get rid of a lot of it when I set up my new room, but for now, it's going in the bag!

Oh, Saturday was also the start of final examinations at the school, so Monday Sean and I only had our “Pre-Form I” session because we don't sit exams until Wednesday. That was a great relief because Cristina is scheduled to arrive in TZA on Monday, Hannah on Tuesday, and we're hoping they get to Dodoma by Wednesday. We want to have some of the major moving done by then. So Monday afternoon we went back to town to pick up mattresses for our beds and a gas stove and cylinder. I always think foreign currency is so strange because, for example, we paid 240,000 Tanzanian shillings for four mattresses. That sounds insane, doesn't it? (240,000/= is about $185). There's a man at the parish (who I actually sing in the choir with!) named Veda who is a carpenter. He's making our beds and dining room table. The beds probably won't be done until the end of the week, so if we decide to move in when the girls get here on Wednesday, we may be sleeping on our mattresses on the floor for a few days! Better than cold floor, though! We're also going to try to pick out a couch and mini fridge in Dar es Salaam when we're there over Christmas – another insane thing in my mind, having to buy these things and get them moved to Dodoma. Sossy says its cheaper and better quality if we look in Dar.

Tuesday we had our last pre-form session with out students (we played the “I'm going on a picnic” game and wrote stories) and then finished up the rest of my packing. Mzee came back to our house and we loaded up pretty much everything that we own, including a small table from the storage space behind our house here (it belongs to the Jesuits). Our first piece of furniture! My things added up to close to 6 small bags and one giant one, but I packed up most of our community stuff, so I'm allowed to have more bags than Sean, right? For example, I used my entire small suitcase for our community's books. So there! My room is pretty bare now, besides my bedclothes, a few things for showering and my clothes for tomorrow. We've decided to stay one more night here – it would probably be really overwhelming to stay in that empty house tonight. And I'd feel the need to unpack, etc. I'm excited though; these past two weeks Sean and I have been watching the first season of “True Blood” together almost every night and we've saved the last episode for tonight. We usually watch it while we eat, which isn't so great for the community building, but I think it's done us good actually. We spend so much time together that it is hard not to always talk about the hard stuff. It's fun to forget about that and escape into another world every so often. Especially if that world involves Vampires! (Just kidding, kind of). (PS have you ever seen this show? Mom and Dad – don't do it! It's ridiculous. Sean and I had a little bit of culture shock watching it for the first time. I mean, I know vampires aren't really living in the States, but the humans in that show definitely exist. Yikes).

So tomorrow (Weds) morning, Sean and I are heading to Veyula (a village 18 km away) to see Sr. Immaculata take her final vows. Sr. Imma was our school nurse for most of the year until she went on a month retreat in preparation for her final vows. It will be great to see her again and celebrate with her and the other Sisters. Three of the Ivrea Sisters will be joining us as students next year at SPCHS and have been attending our pre-form sessions, so it will be great to know so many of them! I'm really looking forward to it. The day starts with Mass at 9:30am and a celebration lunch after. Sean and I will have to leave around noon, however, because we're sitting for the last exam at school at 2:45pm. (The students have 2 or 3 exams per day, each is 2 hours).