9/15/10

I am down to my last two weeks in Arusha, I like to refer to it has the two week scramble. When I first got here I felt like I had all the time in the world, three months of teaching, exploring, learning Swahili, meeting new people, making new friends, bonding with the kids, enjoying my life and all that Tanzania has to offer. Now that my time is limited, and will surely fly by, I am panicked to visit Khans Chicken on the Bonnet one more time, spend as much time with the kids as possible, eat as many plantain chips as possible, and of course visit and spend time with all my friends at least once more before I leave. In the book Eat, Pray, Love, the author Elizabeth Gilbert talks about the difference of traveling through a town, and actually living in the town, creating a lifestyle. I will be sad to leave this life behind, the Tanzanian life; polepole, and hakuna matata(yes it really means no worries, and it is defiantly a motto here) but I also leave knowing that I will always have family here, and have meet some amazing people from all over the world who I will always have a special bond with.

That being said I will try to catch you up as much as possible from the last couple weeks, but just in case I forget anything, Jennie has a blog as well did a much better job blogging than I did so be sure to check out her blog http://jenniekwood.wordpress.com/. I apologize in advance for this being very scatterbrained, but that’s what happens when I don’t write for a while J

Last time I wrote I talked about two volunteers coming back to Arusha for one week, Kathleen and Victoria. It was so great to see familiar faces, and hear all about their travels around Africa. Vic who we also refer to as “mama” is pregnant, and I expected her to be exhausted, and well to be completely honest much bigger. She was the opposite, she looked amazing full of energy, and while her belly was bigger( although not as much as I expected) not much else changed in the five weeks I had seen them. I told her whenever I am pregnant and bitching and complaining I’m going to think to myself “what would Vic do?” and remind myself of her doing(but not limited to) a six hour hike three months pregnant, not to mention the horrible train rides she experienced traveling around Africa, she is defiantly a champ.

I was really excited for Jennie to meet Vic and Kathleen, because I had talked about them to each other and it is always nice for a friend from home to meet some of the amazing people that you meet in your travels(that way at least ONE person will know what your talking about when you say remember when….). The first night the girls arrived was a Thursday night which is a big night at a club called Via Via, which we of course had to go to because after all it was Kathleen’s last Thursday night in Arusha(like we need the excuse to go do some karaoke in Tanzania).

The next few days we spent hanging out with the kids, doing some souvenir shopping, eating lunch watching movies with the kids. Jennie and I took a morning to go to town and see the Rwanda Genocide Trials, that take place at the AICC(Arusha International Conference Center) building in Arusha. We got to see a trial that was somewhat interesting but hard to follow. You don’t get any information on what is going on as far as or is being tried, and for what. We saw a man being questioned about roadblock, and whether or not there were dead bodies on the roads. I’m sure most of you have seen the movie Hotel Rwanda which is a good movie, but for a more accurate, non-Hollywood movie of what happened you should check out the movie Sometimes in April, and make sure to have a box of Kleenex by you.

One thing that Jennie really wanted to do while she was here was to see a giraffe(how unfortunate to travel this whole way and to not see at least ONE twiga-giraffe) after a few trips to Nogorongoro crater fell through we realized that the best option was to go to the Arusha National Park, which is only about 30 minutes from where we live. I told Jennie I would go with her, I can’t image experiencing something like that all on your own, being in the safari vehicle and doing all the ooo-ing and ahh-ing all by yourself, isn’t ideal. Not that the safari driver wouldn’t have been someone to talk to but he has seen these things countless times so the excitement fades, as you can imagine. Our driver Charles picked us up at 8:00 and we headed for our game drive. The day started out cloudy in the morning, but as usual in Arusha by lunch time the sun is out and the clouds have disappeared. As we pulled into the gate of the park the first thing we saw was a little family of twiga, it was the perfect way to start off the drive and Jennie was very excited. Our drive was complete with a soundtrack that we ourselves provided that included music from the Lion King, Pochohantus, and other Disney songs, and of course some Kilimanjaro beers that our driver provided for us at 9:30 in the morning, TIA!!!

I had been telling Jennie about Khan’s Chicken on the Bonnet since she got into town, and told her that she had to go there at least once before she left town. So one random night, Kathleen, Vic, Solo, G, and I all went to go eat at one of my favorite restaurants in Arusha. This time Khan himself was there, and greeted us and told us to grab a plate fill it with the variety of salads (which is a mixture of veggie salads, potato salads, and even coleslaw type salads, sectioned out by how spicy each dish is) and he would bring the rest to our table. The last time I was there I only ate the chicken. This time Khan brought us three plates filled with different kinds of meat, one being chicken, another being beef, and the third was some type of lamb(I think). At home I am picky about the non-white meats that I eat, and typically stick to chicken and turkey. But I also have to try everything once, how do you know you don’t like something if you have never tried it? Yes sometimes you have to get passed the textures, and looks of certain things, but I have a strict “try it once” (when I was little we would say “try it, you like it!”) policy so I took small pieces of each meat, and I was very glad I did! I ended up eating more beef, and lamb than chicken. It was so tender and had amazing flavor to it, so no regrets on eating it!!! They also have the best Nan bread there that I’ve ever had. Khan cooks it right over the grill, and it’s warm, soft and chewy and I could easily eat three big pieces of it! All the girls loved the food, and we all agreed it is a must stop place for anyone travelling in Arusha. Khan came over at the end of dinner and made sure everything was okay, and handed us his business card, the reads: “Nadeem Khan (at the top) Khan’s Barbeque (on the left hand side, then lists the variety of food they have) Zubeda Autospares, dealers in: Injector pump, spares and services (on the right hand side). Auto shop by day, amazing chicken by night, genius.

Over Jennie’s last week we spent doing some last minute souvenir shopping, spending time at our favorite café called Africafe a place so amazing that it actually has to-go cups(now if that doesn’t make me feel like a “real” teacher I don’t know what does J) On Jennies last full day we decided to take the kids to a place called Mount Meru Game Lodge. It’s a beautiful lodge that has a sitting area where you can eat, drink and watch some wildlife go about their day. We saw zebras, peacocks, monkeys, antelope, and a few birds. We brought the kids some cookies and gave them some Fanta pop and we sat with them to watch the animals. It’s so sad to me that so many of the orphans in Tanzania will never see the amazing wildlife that their country as to offer. Mzungus travel form all over the world and spend thousands and thousands of dollars on trips to the national parks, and it cost us less then ten US dollars to get the kids in to see the animals.

Jennie left the next day, Tuesday night. We went into town to drop off her bags at Bariki’s office and then Jennie and I headed out to eat so she could get a good meal before the usually horrible plane food you get when leaving Tanzania. We went to Masai Café, a place that has amazing pizza, so we split a pizza had a salad and discussed the difficulties of returning home, sort of a reverse culture shock. I tried to give her some advice; although I’m not sure I was much help and maybe gave her more anxiety, when I told her how it will be hard for anyone to relate to what she has experienced here. At one point during dinner I looked over at her and said, “Welcome to the club, your life is officially changed forever”. I told her that she is lucky she will always have Erin and me to talk to about this experience because we will “get it”. Solo and Bariki drove us to the airport, which was complete with a soundtrack(provided by me, being the DJ that I am) of the songs that will always remind us of Tanzania, some Swahili bongo flava songs, and others are ones from home but we heard here over and over.

The first few days with Jennie gone were hard. I used to doing everything with someone, and spending 24/7 with the same person (and shockingly not getting annoyed, which my mom can tell you is rare). Even my first run in the village on my own was a little depressing not having a mzunugu running next to me. On Thursday I decided to go visit my friend Maria who runs the Future Happiness House. I figured it would be good for me to get out and see the girls there, and spend sometime with them. I decided to walk there instead of taking the daladala. Its about a 40 minute walk, and has Maria says “the while people love walking” so it doesn’t bother me. It’s a time where I just put my ipod in listen to good music, and take time to appreciate the environment that I am in(because even after three months I still sometimes think to myself, ‘holy shit I live in an Africa village’).

When I got there the girls came running outside to greet me, saying teacher Lindsay! I immediately felt at home. I sat with the girls for a while and they taught me how to make some bracelets. We talked about favorite colors, and favorite foods, things they liked to do. Then it was time for the girls to take a bath, so Maria had the dada cook up a ton of food (even though I insisted I wasn’t hungry, I hate a mixture of beans and maze, oranges, cucumber, and avocado) and we sat at the kitchen table and she told me about her life. She told me about the time she found out she was pregnant, and her boyfriend left her and she hasn’t seen him since the day she told him. She told me about not knowing how she would provide for her and her son, and she at one point had to leave her son with her brother and his wife and go to another town( by foot) to find work, not seeing her son for months at a time. Her and her son used to sleep on the floor of a small hut, and she always had a bible with her that her son would use as a pillow, can you imagine? She was crying, I was crying, I couldn’t believe all this woman had been through in only four years, it’s enough grief to last a lifetime. At the end of it she looked me in the eye and told me she would never go back to that life, because she has her son Brian now, and because of him she has to keep looking forward and not look back. Her life changed when she meet a Canadian lady who she calls her “Canadian mama” and gave her some money to feed her son, and helped her get on her feet, and now she is the headmaster of an orphanage. It is amazing how just a little help can completely change someone’s life.

This past weekend I was able to do something that I have always wanted to do in Tanzania, attend a wedding! Bariki and Solo’s cousin got married on Saturday and they invited me to go. We didn’t go to the actually ceremony which apparently started four hours late because the groom decided to do everything himself and he ran out of time! I asked Bariki if that was typical he said not at all, and that many people in the tribe were not happy and would have a talking with the groom after the wedding. So we attended the reception portion. When you walked in there were a ton of tables set up, only for I think close family and relatives. Behind the tables were a bunch of plastic lawn chairs set up in rows. Everyone was facing the “center table” which looked more like a cheesy background for an old school prom photo. There were tons of twinkle lights in the background, and than four chairs, two for the bride and groom, and two for the best man and maid of honor. The bride was in a typical white wedding dress, and the groom in a white suit. The maid of honor and best man pretty much matched the bride and groom, no the bride is not the only one in white! A man spoke in Swahili for at least two hours, no idea what he was saying, but many times people would break out saying yeyeyyeeeee(if you’ve seen me on thanksgiving then you know I fit right in!). The groom has a turn to speak, as well as the bride and then everyone eats! The food was very good, although you had to eat it with your hands, which I am still not used to, so you kind of just have to ball the rice up and use it to soak all the other sauces and dishes. Everyone also had their choice of pop, I choose a Fanta. Right after you are done eating (and you have to stay to eat, it’s very rude to leave earlier, plus most people only go for the food), people approach the bride and groom and give their congrats, and drop money and or gifts into a basket. I’m very glad I got to go it was quite an experience!

The next two weeks I will be running around like a madwoman trying to say goodbye to everyone and see all the people that I have meet along my journey, and on top of that spending as much time with the kids as I can! Hopefully I will have time to blog once more before I head home, but I will defiantly try and post pictures soon!

The kids at Mount Meru Lodge

Painting our nails....yes that is a boy to the right of me who also painted his nails, but only every other!!!

Some places to check out....

Here are a few links of some places that I have talked about in my blog...

KNM Tanzania:

www.meieats.com/stu

All Girls Orphanage:

http://www.futurehappiness.org.au/homepage4.php?view=home

Lovely pictures...

Teaching the kids how to multiply 9's by using the finger trick!

Visiting an all girls orphanage called Future Happiness Home...amazing girls and I plan to go back there this trip and stay a night with them!

Had to put this one in...Jennie and I made the houseboy search for an abnormally large spider that was creeping around our room. Eventually he found it and squished it in his fingers and then almost attacked Jennie with it, I documented the whole thing....Erin you would've been proud.

Teacher Jennie, shes a regular Bob Ross....yes we have the kids calling her BOB ROSS....watch some public television if you don't know who he is...

8/26/10

Even though the motto in Tanzania is polepole, time flies! Jennie has already been here for over two weeks but it seems like she just got here yesterday. We have been spending some time doing team teaching with the kids at the center. We lesson plan the night before and divide the lessons between the two of us. I warned Jennie when we first started teaching the kids would look at you like they have no clue what is going on. They’re used to the kind of setting where there is no cooperative learning, no chances for kids to come up and write on the board, the teacher just writes everything down on the board makes the class repeat it a few times, and then they copy it into their work books. With that being said, I do my best to incorporate cooperative learning, and differentiated instruction, without it being too overwhelming for the kids. It is also VERY common for the children to be shamed during school for getting an answer wrong; as a result a lot of the students lack confidence even though they have the skills. I also told Jennie after they look at you like they don’t know what is going on you typically show them once what you want them to do and they pick it up extremely fast.

One of the skills we decided to work on with the students was spelling. The students do not have spelling tests in English or Kiswahili. We had a volunteer leave us with a spelling bingo game, so we decided to use words that are in the game to make a spelling test. We started with ten words and made each student a “spelling book”. The first day we gave them a pretest; Jennie announced the word and used it in a sentence just like we did when we had spelling tests. As any lesson you plan as a teacher, in the US or elsewhere, you never know how a lesson is going to work, and you always have to be prepared to make changes and adjustments according to the student’s reactions. With this lesson no changes were necessary. The kids picked up exactly what to do very fast. As Jennie was saying the words I was walking around the room making sure they understood what they had to do, as I was doing that they were all eager to show me how they spelled a word and would hold up their paper and say “teacher look”. They were very proud!

After their pretest we had them self check their pretests so they could see how to spell the word correctly and see what mistakes they made. Then we went right into a game of spelling bingo. We write the word on the board but leave out one letter, and if they have the letter that is missing they cover that with a bingo chip on their board. We have been trying to get them to yell out BINGO when they have a bingo, but they are so shy about it! I think it is because they are so used to not being able to speak out in class. The rules are very strict during class time, you don’t speak unless you are called on and they actually follow those rules  It’s hard to find the balance because when I teach I want the kids to have fun and smile and laugh, but they are not used to that kind of a classroom. School time in Tanzania is all work and no play, they save that for lunch time and after school. We’ll get there.

One of the projects that I have been wanting to do since I first go here was a literacy circle with the older kids(ages 10-12). Jennie and I went trough this storage unit full of books out at Kisongo and found seven books of the same kind. I was really excited because I knew we would be able to use it. The book is a simple read kind of like a “Dick and Jane” but “Dick and Dora” (British version). We started off in a circle everyone had their own copy of the book. I took the kids through the first chapter and we just looked at pictures to make predictions. I had each kid say what they thought would happen based on the pictures they saw. It worked out really well; the kids had great ideas and came up with a few things I wouldn’t have thought of! Then we read the first chapter, stopping after each page to as a question about what we just read. They seemed to really like it, and when Jennie and I saw them the next day they asked us when they were going to read again.

We have now finished the first section of the book Jennie and I are working on an art project for the kids to do that relates to the story, I will let you know how it goes!

Last week Jennie and I hung out with my friend Bariki who I met last time I was here through his girlfriend from California. Bariki, his brother Solomon(Solo), and his cousin Mohkey(who we call G) are all Masai, but definitely not your typical Masai. Bariki and Solo’s dad only has one wife and three kids (google Masai or read my blog about them to learn why that is not the norm), and decided to pursue his life as an artist and live in the city. Bariki now has his own safari company and does a lot of work with tourists and different volunteer groups around Arusha. Bariki and Solo just moved to a house pretty close to where we live, so we went over to their place for dinner one night and had the best salad we’ve had since we got here. It had fresh fruit; mangos, avocadoes, banana even watermelon and some good chicken which I haven’t had in a while! The power went out about three bites into our meal (TIA) and they were all concerned trying to figure out if they blew a fuse or if it was the government shutting of the electricity (which happens often), but Jennie and I weren’t fazed and continued to eat our food (mama didn’t raise no fool) put good food in front of two hungry girls and it will disappear fast.

Friday we tried to do a game day with the kids. We took them to a field with a football and some music and wanted to play around. They were extremely tired and not in the mood to do much. I ended up playing football with some of the boys from the village and one other boy from the centre (the rest are girls and did NOT want to play any field games). We also danced a little and played lost of music (aka Shikira “Waka Waka”, and now we have the kids hooked on Jason Derulo “Solo”, picture a bunch of little kids going s-o-l-o soooo cute). Game day didn’t last very long due to lack of enthusiasm but there is always next time.

Today Jennie and I continued with our lessons in the morning and we had been promising the kids we would watch the movie “The Princess and the Frog” that I bought in town a few days ago. So in the afternoon Jennie made her first batch of bread which turned out very well. I went and got the kids from the centre brought them down to the house and we watched the move, ate peanut butter sandwiches, and drank some juice. The movie was very cute, Jennie and I had never seen it and both feel in love with the music, plus the message that the movie shares.

Tomorrow evening some volunteers that I meet when I first got here, Kathleen and Vicky are coming back to Arusha. I am sooooo excited to see them. They left Arusha, traveled all over East Africa and are coming back to Arusha to end their last week with the kids. I can’t wait to see them and hear about all their adventures. It is always hard to get close with volunteers and say goodbye not knowing when and if you will see them again. Knowing that two of them are coming back is awesome, and will be like a mini reunion of volunteers!

This is a random side note that must be shared-Esanjo(aka pocket man) our houseboy ate lunch with Jennie and I the other day. We were eating some veg and soup that we made for ourselves and he comes out with a plate of ugali(a local favorite, think paper mache) and chicken. However this chicken on his plate had a CLAW on it, nails attached and all, but it was cooked and seasoned. It was the most appalling thing I have ever seen, I do not get sick very easily but it all of a sudden hit me, picturing him eating this chicken claw, I got up quickly took my plates into the kitchen and left immediately before I go sick all over the table. He was cracking up and making this facial expression only he can make. I am not sure how long it will take me to get over that, chicken may not be on the menu for me for a while!

adding pictures pole pole (slowly, slowly)

Bonfire, teaching kids how to make smores

Making the best bread, with dada

Helena wearing my head lamp

making their own swings with jump ropes, and a metal pole

8/19/10

Last Wednesday my friend Jennie arrived from Michigan to stay in Arusha for a month. I love having a familiar face here, it’s really nice to be able to show someone all around town, and introduce to the kids that I have talked about so much. Before picking Jennie up from the airport David and I went out to this restaurant that I had heard about from a few different people. It’s called Zhans Chicken on the Bonnet. By day it is a car repair shop, by night it is a chicken BBQ place. I thought it was a little shady at first and asked David on our way there if I was going to get food poisoning, and he just laughed. As we pulled up we saw huge barbeques on the sidewalk with all kids of meat on it, and tables set outside along the sidewalk. The next thing I noticed was the tables were full of wazungus(white people)! Not something I was expecting, but it made me feel a little better that I wasn’t going to get sick from the food. The first thing you do is walk up to the cook and tell him what kind of meat you want, and how much, then you grab a plate and head to a table full with lots of different salads, potatoes, chips and sauces. You load your plate with whatever you want then go have a seat and they bring your chicken to you when it is ready. The chicken was soooooo good, we don’t get much meat here so it tasted that much better. I will defiantly be taking Jennie to eat there, it’s kind of like one of those great little taverns that has really good food when you would never expect it to, something everyone has to experience, and it definitely gives you some culture.

After eating we headed to the airport where David insisted I drive. I’ve driven a few times in Arusha, but was a little hesitant because the roads are so dark and it’s a long drive out to the airport. I decided it was better for me to drive because Tanzanians drive crazy, so I took the wheel and successfully made it to the airport even though there were a few close calls(just kidding….kinda). Waiting for Jennie in the airport was really exciting, the only times I have been to the airport is when I am coming or going, but I liked this better. Greeting Jennie as she walked out of the gates was really cool, it reminded me of the first time that I stepped foot in Tanzania, and taking in the smells, the people, the environment. On the way back David drove because I didn’t want to have to try and talk to Jennie and concentrate on driving at the same time. There was a lot to talk about so we chatted the whole way back.

Thursday during the day I took Jennie into town to show her around town, go to bank, use the internet etc. We went out to lunch and dinner that day, I made sure to let Jennie know that doesn’t usually happen so don’t get too used to it! Thursday night we went out to a bar in Tanzania with other volunteers, and a girl I met at a meeting named G from Boston. We sang karaoke in a Tanzanian club, it was very interesting (we sang Madonna, Bob Marley, and Toto just to name a few).

Over the weekend Jennie got to meet all the kids that stay at the centre. They were excited to finally meet her because I had been telling them she was coming. It doesn’t take long for the little kids to warm up to volunteers. Within minutes she had this little girl Deborah sitting on her lap, eating a peanut butter sandwich! The older ones take a little bit longer to warm up to strangers, but not nearly as long as kids in the US would take, I think they get used to the fact that they get new volunteers all the time.

We also spent some time searching for the movie Lion King. Ever since coming to Tanzania the first time, I’ve wanted to watch Lion King but never got a chance to. About two weeks ago I found it on a disc in town. When you buy movies here you get one disk with about 10 different movies on it. I bought the one with Lion King and we went to watch it with the kids it stopped working halfway through. So I found it again at another shop and we successfully watched the whole movie with the kids on Sunday. It is so cute watching the kids reactions to movies, especially this one because they throw in a little bit of Swahilli in the movie.

Monday all the volunteers went out to Kisongo to see the kids at Yakini Primary School. Right now the kids are on holiday so there are only about 30 kids staying at the school. For the first hour we each worked individually and read with the kids. I sat with two girls and we read a fantasy book collection. We read Snow White, Goldilocks and the Three Little Bears, Pinocchio and some poems. The two girls I was reading with each took turns to read different paragraphs. They were very strong readers, the teacher in me kept quizzing them on what we were reading, and asking for summaries, the girls answered with much detail!

After reading Jennie, Chelsea(another volunteer) and I found some water balloons and started filling them up for a water balloon fight. We filled up two buckets worth, then got all the students, volunteers and teachers together, and we explained to them that the object was to get everyone as wet as possible but to not hit anyone in the face. We showed them the boundaries that they had to stay in, and everyone spread out and when we said go it was a free for all! It was really fun I nailed a few students good and even got some students to team up against teacher Peter, he was soaked by the end!

Monday night we had a bon fire with the kids at the centre. We just built a mini fire in the driveway, played some music and taught them how to make smores. The chocolate Jennie and I bough turned out to be too hard so we were trying to melt it in the kitchen then put it on a cracker. The chocolate turned hard very fast but the kids didn’t complain at all(even though they tasted so nasty I couldn’t eat mine), as they were all feeling a sugar high after eating at least three smores each(quite a bit for kids who don’t normally eat any sweets). They were all running around like crazy singing and dancing. They LOVE the song “Waka Waka” by Shikira, it was one of the theme songs for the World Cup. They literally ask to hear it over and over again, and they always dance to it, it is so cute! We did lots of dancing; they also loved this other song called “Yes”, by LMFAO. I’d never heard of it but a volunteer had it on her ipod and all the kids were in a circle every time they said “yes” in the song, we got some video of it, hopefully I will be able to post that soon although I’m not quite sure I will be able to figure it out J

The next night was the last night for the group of six from Montana. We had a huge cookout with the kids from the centre. We helped the dadas cook the food, my job was to slice the potatoes to make chips(French fries), I was struggling quite a bit then the houseboy Esanjo showed me his cutting style and it worked much better! Everyone had a different task to help with. In the end we had pumpkin soup, chips, guacamole, chipati(kind of like a crepe but thicker), salad, watermelon, banana, rice, and beans. It was a very good feast, espically for the kids because they usually get one thing for dinner. After dinner we had another dance party, and made more smores, this time with good chocolate!

Wednesday morning Jennie and I took some of the new LWCC kids to the hospital. They all have to be tested for HIV and if they are positive they have to go to a orphanage specifically for children with HIV. Once we got there we had to wait only a few minutes and then we took the kids one by one to get their finger pricked. They were so good none of them were scared(they didn’t know what they were getting tested for), and after the last one the doctor said that we just had to wait 30 minutes for the results. I had a slight panic attack in my mind because I had no idea that I would be the one who got the results. I figured it would take a few days and Anza or Dora would have to call to get the tests back. A million things ran tough my head as we were waiting, the most obvious thing, what the hell were we going to do if one of them was positive. Jennie and I did our best to just hang with the kids and not let them see how worried. Soon the doctor came out and handed me their slips, which all came back negative THANKFULLY….I still don’t know what I would’ve done or how I would have reacted if the results turned out positive. After that we waited for 1 ½ hours to be picked up TIA! I went and bought the kids some juice boxes and muffins at a little shop right outside of the hospital. I felt bad for them because we were waiting so long, plus they were very good patients and thought they deserved a little treat.