Back-Tracking

I’m going to have to back track a little…and start on Friday.  We didn’t have power all day, and I really wasn’t home all day so I didn’t have time to write.  Friday morning we went to Assumption school again, because my school was having testing.  I wish I could have said goodbye to my students more formally than simply waving, because we didn’t know it was our last day until we were leaving.  Assumption is a great school though, and they had a mass midday that we went to with the students.  It was a beautiful church, and despite the fact that the service was in Kiswahili and I understood next to nothing, it was a lovely mass.  I was glad I had the opportunity to go to church here.  After mass we returned back to the school where the students had a program prepared for their teachers (the students from Grand Valley). The songs were so cute and they almost made me cry reflecting on my time with my students. 

After the short program, we headed home and then two of my friends and I returned back to Shanga while the rest of our group either went to the orphanage or the Wildlife Conservation center.  Shanga means necklace in Swahili, because that is what the whole business started with…a necklace.  The story behind the place is beautiful and I enjoyed returning to hear the whole story, sign with some of the workers, and enjoy an incredible lunch.  Shanga employs primarily intellectually disabled and people who are deaf.  I wish I could have signed with them more, but I only knew a couple sentences that my friend taught me, and I still remember the alphabet.  Now I want to take sign language courses!—there is just too much that I still want to do and learn!!

After Shanga, we went back to the Outpost and got ready for our last dinner with Grand Valley at the Blue Heron.  It was a fun dinner and after that we continued out to a bar that was having live music that night.  It was a lot of fun to let loose and go out with some friends…everyone was up and dancing by the end of the night!  We had a lot of laughs and when we got back to the Outpost we were hoping to continue the fun; however, the power was out.  We all crammed into our room with flashlights for a little bit, but quickly sauntered off to bed.

Saturday morning we got up somewhat early, had breakfast, and then headed to the Maasai Market.  On our way we met a cute man in a red Toys ‘R’ Us shirt that was talking to me and told me what ATM I could and could not go to, as well as to be sure to go to the market.  At first, when he tried directing me to a different ATM I was a bit apprehensive about his presence with our group, but he was so kind and harmless, and at the end of the day I felt bad about even having those feelings.  We did walk with him to the market (because after all, that is where we were going) and he showed us his stand and then we continued shopping.  Before we left I was over by his shop again and he told me to go inside and look around, I told him I only had 500 shillings (not enough money to buy anything but a ride on the Dala Dala) and he said no worries just take a look and I have a gift for you.  He then proceeded to give me a bracelet with the Tanzania flag colors on it and told me that maybe I would be back sometime to shop.  I’m such a sucker, and my heart melted…so I quickly borrowed 10,000 shillings from a friend and made a purchase.  I bought a lot of great things that day, but my funds are dwindling haha. After the market my two friends/group members and I began writing our 30-page research paper…we’re up to 22 pages and that was only in one day! :)  We had dinner with our Grand Valley friends and then had to say our goodbyes.

Sunday we painted the outside of the orphanage, which was a lot of fun and made me feel good!  I was happy to actually be doing something for them as opposed to just giving them things.  It looked great when we were finished and despite some dizziness from paint fumes it was a very successful few hours.  We then relaxed at home and packed for our trip to Dar es Salaam.

We left the Outpost at 5:15 AM and headed to the bus station.  We all boarded the bus and were contently sitting with friends all in a row until about an hour in when one lady through a hissy fit about her seat.  Naturally, I was shoved to the back and was stuck sitting with a stranger.  I feel as if I am often screwed over when it comes to transportation.  So 7 of the 9 hours spent on the bus were with a stranger that did not understand the concept of personal space…I was practically sitting in the aisle the entire ride.  I was able to sleep for some of it, but not comfortably.  We finally arrived in Dar and were sent to our ‘host families’ that we will be staying with for two nights.  I am staying with a woman named Christel and her 13-year-old son Stefan.  She is very nice and welcoming, which put me at ease.  I’m leaving for dinner shortly and tomorrow I will be spending the day in the elementary international school.  Wednesday I will be checking out the University and then we head to our beach house for two nights! I just still cannot get over the fact that I leave on Saturday…at least I will have a couple days in Amsterdam to break up those long flights!

Random Side Notes

The kids at the school yesterday were just as anxious to hold our hands and play with our hair…I particularly love it when an older boy walks up to one of us and touches our hair quickly.  It’s just so funny to me, because despite their age they are still intrigued by us…I just think it’s cute how shy they are about it because they are sixth or seventh grade boys, so they run up touch our hair and run away quickly so no one sees, particularly the ‘Mazungu’ whose hair they touch.  Too funny!

Also, I forgot to blog about this earlier, but the students at my school would often kick a bottle around due to lack of games and equipment.  I think it’s sad in one aspect, because the school does not have the resources to provide the students with games and such.  On the other hand, I think it is a beautiful thing to see such creative children.  In America children are wrapped up in video games and television programs, when here in Tanzania all they want to do is play and be outside, and they find fun in the smallest ways.  Often times after school we would play ring around the rosy, and even the older students had fun with this…at home sixth graders wouldn’t be caught dead playing this game.  I found myself both elated and saddened at the same time in another instance when I took a class of fourth graders outside to play.  When I asked them what they wanted to do they simply said they wanted to play ‘running’ and were thrilled when I said they could.  They merely divided into two lines, one of boys and one of girls and raced each other to the fence and back and then it was the next person in line’s turn—similar to a relay.  They all cheered each other on and had the time of their lives playing this ‘game’.  I feel like many students at home would find this game more as torture and I love that the students here find pleasure in the smallest things.  They sure are helping me to open my eyes to all that is around me.  The littlest things are taken for granted and I need to appreciate all that I have.  After all, sometimes the little things are the biggest things.

Another Day, Another School

     Today, because our school was closed a group of us went with the Grand Valley students to their elementary school.  I started the day in the baby class, which was comprised of three and four year olds.  They were adorable, but it was a stressful class at the same time.  They had so much energy and they were difficult to control due to their lack of English.  We then had tea and after tea I went with another teacher to a Class Six English class.  It was a little boring, but it was still fun to see what English the students are learning and how they are learning it.  I then stayed in that class and was joined by a friend and we answered a bunch of questions that the students had for us.  My favorite was, “If I buy a television in Tanzania and bring it to America, will I get Tanzanian channels or American channels?”  What a creative question! The students were adorable and were so intrigued about our schools, hobbies, favorite foods, etc.  They also asked us if teachers in America use ‘the stick’, because corporal punishment is frequently used here in Tanzania.  The looks on their faces when we responded ‘no’ were priceless, and they all turned to their teacher with looks of astonishment.  That question was quickly followed up with ‘well how do the teachers punish students if they are bad?’. After some more questions we then taught them the Macarena…such an old dance, but boy did they love it! I stayed in that class for yet another period, and after some short science review they were left to do silent reading.  Instead of doing that we played games haha.  We played hangman for a while and then I introduced ‘silent ball’ to them…a perfect activity for today because Class Seven was in testing and everyone had to stay quiet. Overall my day at the new school was fun, but I missed my students soooo much! I continually thought I saw my students at recess but I had to keep reminding myself that I was no longer at Tetra Elementary. Every time I walk through the city I pray to see one of the kids, and I have only been away for a day! Haha—how am I ever going to leave the country? 

Last Day of School Blues

Today was sadly my last day of school.  There was a bit of confusion at the school the last couple days in regards to when they had school and when they had exams, so I didn’t really find out until today that it was my last day.  I am really going to miss my students, and I could cry thinking about it right now.  I’m glad I stayed later yesterday to play with them outside after school! I’m also glad I brought my camera today and had a friend take ‘paparazzi’ shots of me with my students! I know you aren’t supposed to pick favorites, but I may have stretched the rules this trip haha.  Anyways it was so sad saying goodbye, but even sadder because my little students could hardly understand that I am not going to be back to school.  Also, yesterday I received a note in broken English from one of the lunch ladies.  It was sweet and she thanked me for being at the school, and she also asked that I remember her and her family and help her so she can send her sons to school.  I wish there were something I could do to help.  Then, to make the situation more awkward, she gave me a kanga today at school as a gift.  A kanga is a beautiful piece of fabric that all the women here wear.  I felt so guilty because I had nothing for her and she was so nice to me.  Also, a group of teachers that worked with my friends and I over the last couple weeks ran out to buy us gifts when they realized today was our last day.  They bought us all cute Tanzania t-shirts…too bad they must be youth sizes...something is being re-gifted ;)

       After school we were in a rush and were delayed by waiting for our shirts; however, one of our teachers helped us out by getting us a ‘taxi’ outside of the school and negotiating a reasonable price.   I say ‘taxi’ because I am fairly certain this was simply a friend of the teacher and not truly a taxi, but either way he got us home safely and quickly!  Then we got our things together and headed to the United Nations building to see some of the Rwanda Tribunals.  The court case we watched was a trial for one of the Generals in the Army at the time.  There was not a whole lot going on while we were there, mostly background information on his role in the Army, but it was interesting nonetheless.  We then watched a documentary about Rwanda and the process of getting the tribunals started.  We finished our time by talking with one of the men that work for the UN and he answered any questions we had.  It was a long but very informative afternoon, and it is mindboggling to me that nearly 14 years after the Rwanda genocide there are still trials.  Although, I do think it is great that they are still convicting people and working to get justice from that horrific event.  They are still working to find some people that contributed to the events, but they have made tremendous progress.

       I cannot believe my trip is nearly over, particularly my time in Arusha! I am not ready to leave all the friendly faces, especially my students and the amazing staff at the Outpost. On Monday we leave for Dar Salam for the week and I only have one more night in Arusha when I get back.  My time here is wonderful and I have seen and done so much, but I wish I could do more!

SAFARI!

Here comes another loooong blog, but I could write about safari for hours....believe me this is the short version haha...

Well it is my first night back from safari and I am loving my time revisiting my pictures from the trip.  Words cannot explain my experience, and pictures can hardly give justice to the beautiful landscapes and animals that I saw, but I will try.  My time spent in the Serengeti and Ngorongoro crater was absolutely remarkable and I cannot believe the animals seen, the breathtaking views, and of course the lovely people I ran into along the way.  We headed out early Friday morning after loading all of our bags into the four, soon-to-be open-topped land cruisers.  On the way we passed by Lake Manyara and were able to take pictures of the lake and the well-known Baobab trees that are amazing to look at. My excitement was hardly contained on the ride and after hours of driving we finally reached Ngorongoro conservation area.  We saw a few monkeys and a lot of steep edges, the car ride through the crater was beautiful, but when I say breathtaking I’m referring to my gasps around sharp curves and plummeting slopes. 

After passing through Ngorongoro we descended into the Serengeti and that is where the animal sightings began. The Serengeti is difficult to describe, because it looks like it goes on forever.  The best way to explain it is through the word Serengeti, which in the Maasai language means ‘endless plains’ which could not be any truer.  The Serengeti goes on like the ocean, and I never felt like I could see the end.  There we saw zebras and wildebeest migrating together, because they help each other with their weak senses…one has the good hearing and the other the good sight, and they eat different parts of the grass so they live happily together.  You will not believe me when I say this but there were thousands of zebras.  I was in awe.  We continued on and saw tons of gazelle, impala, warthogs and more until we came to a halting stop in front of an average looking tree…average until we glanced up and saw the most elegant leopard sleeping on a branch while his lunch, a gazelle, was slung over a neighboring branch mangled and chewed.  As repulsive as this sounds to the reader, it was nothing short of magnificent for the viewers.  After a few minutes the leopard stood up turned around and lay back down.  I was able to snap some good pictures and we were off. For the longest time I felt as if safari was all staged, I pictured my drivers on their walky-talkies saying, “Cue the lions” or “I think they’re ready for the leopard”.  There was no possible way that this was real, that I was actually viewing these animals in their natural habitat, but I was.  The second day was just as exciting as we saw some of the same animals and many more new ones.  We found four lions sleeping in the grass and next thing you know our driver is off-roading and our land cruiser is circling the lions! I was in awe…the lions had to overall be my favorite animal to find and watch.  After we circled the lions our driver informed us of how illegal that was, but what an adrenaline rush for us, so naturally we cheered in response to the illegality of it.  That wasn’t my only experience circling lions, we did the same thing the next day and it was just as exciting, if not more.  I saw baby cubs with their moms and an entire pride of lions on top of rocks, and boy did that scene scream Lion King…which was naturally sung by many of us on a variety of occasions. On another day we went to a hippo pond where we saw hundreds of hippos swimming and snorting and moving about—it was unbelievable, but also smelly. 

The giraffes we saw were beautiful but shy and I loved trying to find them in the trees.  One of our cars was charged by a buffalo, but don’t worry they weren’t rammed.  After that incident I asked one of our drivers how safe we were in our cars, he responded “On a scale to 10? Probably about a 2”. How reassuring. We continued cruising through the Serengeti, now one of my top ten favorite activities, and looked for more wildlife.  We saw cheetahs relaxing in the grass and lions sleeping with all four paws in the air. 

After awhile we headed back towards the crater and spent our third and final night there.  The view from my room was gorgeous and is beyond words and pictures.  The crater was sure something to look at.  Monday morning we headed down into the crater, which was again anything but comfortable.  The fog was thick and the roads were thin with tight corners and plunging edges, I felt anything but comfortable until we were completely down.  Once there I could hardly believe my eyes.  Elephants were eating and playing, monkeys were everywhere, and the lions were everywhere.  This day, the lions were within arms reach of my car, and we didn’t even have to illegally maneuver the cars.  In fact, one lion walked over and started peeing on our car…that just goes to show you how confident lions are.  They were anything but scared of us and walked right past our cars like it was no big deal.  We saw at least fifteen lions and many more zebra, elephants, wildebeest, warthogs, etc.  We also saw a lake full of flamingo. 

The sights were unreal and I cannot believe I had this experience, but I also cannot believe it is over.  Well, after spending hours standing out the top of a Land Cruiser, I sure do understand why Clancy likes to have his head out the window…I only hope he gets as much enjoyment out of seeing squirrels as I did from seeing lions and leopards.

Random side note: I got to see Mt. Kilimanjaro the other day! It was small and far away, but I am glad I can say I saw it :)

Precious Moments

So yesterday was just another typical day at school: teach a class, teach another class, have an awkward tea break and then an afternoon of playing with kids.  Today on the other hand, was a fabulous day of school, of course with some awkward stories mingled in.  We brought all of our school supplies today and passed them out to all of the 800+ students.  The smiles on their faces were priceless and needless to say I have been in the best mood all day.  The students were delighted to see their own rulers and erasers, items they typically need to share in the classroom.  They loved the jelly bellys, but we did need to tell each class that they were candy to make sure they knew to eat them.  We had enough packages of supplies for classes 1 through 7 and provided the ‘baby class’ and kindergarten classes with jelly bellys and books.  The secondary school all received candy, toothbrushes, and toothpastes and I was told the gifts were received with similar excitement.  We got a lot of pictures, and I will be sure to try to post them at least on Facebook if not on here.  The students are so selfless there and when I returned to my class after passing out all of the supplies they were all sharing jelly bellys with me.  Also, I received a candy treat yesterday and one again today from two different students.  I always feel bad taking them, but I never know what to do, because the students want me to have them and it is difficult to explain that I want them to have the candy instead…otherwise it would look rude like I simply did not want it by handing it back.  It made me feel so great, being able to provide the students with something they find such treasure in, and unfortunately something that we take such advantage of at home.  My kids are really helping me to open my eyes and take a look at the world around me and to appreciate the little things.  One of my favorite quotes has always been “While we teach our students all about life, they teach us what life is all about”, and this quote could not be any truer of my time in the Tanzanian schools. 

            On to the light-hearted and awkward stories of the day…as a result of all of our gifts for the students, the teachers in turn wanted everything we had to offer.  The issue in this, is that we were working to make sure we had enough supplies for each student!  At the end of the day we were able to supply the teachers each with a toothbrush, toothpaste, and jelly bellys, and many also received books.  We were also able to give a suitcase to one of the teachers there (the one that asked for it first), and we could hear her cheering all the way down the hallway….I almost felt like Oprah, just with below par gifts in comparison to hers. Haha.  Also, one of the teachers I usually drink tea with said to me, “I noticed you have a nice water bottle, maybe you could give me that when you leave”.  I felt so awkward responding no, but I told her I still needed it even after my last day teaching because I was traveling to Dar Salaam still.  Another teacher told me she wanted me to leave my purse at the end of my stay here, and later added my shoes as well.  When I told her I needed them for Dar Salaam, she responded with, “Well, you won’t need that nice jacket you have because it will be hot”.  Talk about AWKWARD! I just laughed and walked away, but I felt bad not being able to supply them with the things they wanted.  They believe that any Mazungu or white person is incredibly wealthy and they think we can give them anything…boy I wish that were the case.  I understand that in their terms I am wealthy, but I cannot be handing over the clothes on back.  I just wish I could give everyone what he or she needs, if only it were that easy.

            Moving on, I could cry everyday thinking about how NICE and KIND and CARING almost everyone is here, particularly our staff at the hotel and our Safari Makers staff.  They go out of their ways to help us with anything and everything and they are all just so sweet. Well we are heading out to the orphanage now so I am sure to have many stories afterwards!