Shadow week/ Last week of Home Stay

Hello All! These past two weeks have been pretty eventful for the following reasons

1. I received my site assignment
2. I traveled to Lushoto for my shadow week.
3. We wrapped up training/ home stay!

So...let's tackle #1 first. My site has changed from my original assignment. I was originally placed in the Iringa region, but was asked to switch because a volunteer wanted to teach A Level, but was not placed at a school with A level. My school in Iringa had A and O level, so I was asked to switch to a school that is only O level. I will now be living in Mbeya in the Rungwe region and teaching at Isongole Secondary School! I have neutral feelings about the switch because I know I would be happy at either site. I do not know much about my new site, except that it (supposedly) has electricity and water. It is also in a region of a country that gets 3m of rainfall each year and is cooler. I will be about 30 minutes from my banking town and other volunteers, which will be very nice. I will also be in a region with a lot of mountains and lakes, which means lots of hiking and being outdoors in my free time! I will also be very close to the border of Malawi and Zambia. I am pretty excited to be able to travel to some other countries, while I am here and it is even better that they less than a days bus ride away! I will try to keep the blog updated as more details/ a new address become available.

Alright on to #2... The adventure to Lushoto started two Sunday mornings ago at 6 am. I left the house with chocolate cake, chips mayai and hot meat (prepared by my host mama) after being told to comb my hair... We drove to Chelinze, which is about an hour from Morogoro, to catch the bus to Lushoto. After waiting around for a good 1 ½ hours, we boarded the bus. It was a pretty sketchy coach bus with small lightly padded seats and people standing in the aisles. One of the first things I noticed, upon boarding the bus, was a cardboard box under a seat a couple of rows in front of me that contained not one, but three chickens. After getting settled in I took a nap, ate some cake and everyone who boarded the bus along the route inevitably hit me walking up the aisle, pulled my hair or “unknowingly” shoved their butts in my face. After a couple of hours of the above occurring, the bus veered off of the main road at Mombo up into the hills around Lushoto.  The road to Lushoto starts off perfectly fine, but one soon finds themselves on a coach bus traveling on a one lane road winding up the side of a mountain….in Africa. We reached Lushoto about 1 ½ to 2 hours after leaving the main road. There we met up with our host, Theresa, a second year PCV who is actually extending for a third year! Theresa was quick to inform us that about ½ hour outside of Lushoto the road is dirt and that because of the recent rains instead of the trip taking the normal 3 hours it could take up to 5. (Keep in mind at this point my dear blog readers that I have not seen a bathroom since about 5:30am) The ride up to Sunga was really nice because as we climbed in elevation the temperature dropped to a comfortable, what I would guess to be, 55-60 degrees. We arrived at Sunga Secondary School, where Theresa lives and is a teacher at about 4:30-5:00 pm ish. We were quick to find that there is no electricity or running water at her sight. We were also informed that a teacher from another school who was proctoring exams would be staying with us…a last minute surprise! After lighting a few candles and prepping dinner we went to bed. The next couple of days followed relatively the same pattern. We usually got up at 6:15ish, started some hot water for tea on the jicho/ kerosene stove, did the dishes from the night before, ate some breakfast and if you were me, did a little bit of yoga in the brisk morning air! Most of the mornings this week Eula and I would venture out for a good walk, about 1 ½ to 2 hours, (I should note here that on one of our walks we were actually lucky enough to see Kilimanjaro in the distance with snow!) come home and bake something for later in the day and then watch/ help Theresa review with her students for their exams. One day Eula and I got to teach a class on drug awareness… let’s just say it was quite an experience. We tackled every question from “Can I get a shot from the doctor to mask the pain in my ankle so I can play football?” to “If I take amphetamines then I can stay up and study more, right!?”. One afternoon our walk consisted of a jaunt into the local rainforest, which I thought was pretty cool, temperature wise. The climate of the Lushoto area is identical to that of Northern California, even down to the eucalyptus trees, which were imported by the Germans. Saturday afternoon our travels took us up to Mambo View Point (www.mamboviewpoint.org). MVP is run by a couple from the Netherlands and is a resort/ camp place set upon the highest peak around. We walked up to MVP in the morning, met the owner and went on a guided hike of the area and a cave with the owners dog Zua in tow. The walk down to the caves was really interesting and steep. At one point I turned around and looked back up the path we had just come down only to hear bells and to see about 40 goats and sheep coming down at us followed by three children yelling and poking at the flock. I could only compare this moment to the way Mufasa must have felt in the Lion King just before he was trampled by the heard of wildebeest (A this point if you have no idea what I am talking about please go watch the Lion King again). We eventually reached the cave, in one piece, and climbed inside (I actually almost got stuck!). The cave was formed long ago by rockslide caused by an earthquake. After our adventure in the caves we climbed back out and straight up hill. It was actually a little scary, but we eventually reached the viewpoint without any major problems, save for the fact that I had to help the guide carry the dog up the steep parts of the trail (i.e. over boulders). The view was absolutely beautiful and we could see in almost 360 degrees. We eventually walked back to MVP, had soda and tea and headed home. Sunday Eula and I traveled back to Moro and to spare you the details about the bus ride home it was exactly the same as above, basically people sitting in my lap for too many hours (5:30 am- 3:30 pm). All in all the shadow week was really nice and a welcome break from CCT, language classes and home stay. I really learned to bake on a jicho this week (breakfast bread, French bread, banana bread, chocolate cake [Monday was Theresa’s birthday, but we burnt the cake a little, pole] tortillas, etc.)

All the cooking this week has actually inspired me to try my own Julie & Julia experiment, PC style. I thought it would be really cool to cook my way through the entire PC cookbook that we received during training…we will see if this actually happens, but it could be entertaining! I also might be training for the Kilimanjaro half marathon at the end of February… we will see if this actually happens because I have no idea what the running conditions at my site will be like, but many volunteers run the full or the half and it would keep me motivated to workout here and give me something to do and it would counter balance all the cooking.

Lastly #3, Today is the last day of home stay. Honestly, I was petrified day one of home stay. I think most people would be. I did not speak the language and I moved all my stuff in the home of complete strangers on a different continent. After 6 weeks of home stay my view of families here has completely changed. There would be times I during the past weeks I would come home from Kiswahili class extremely homesick and after spending 30 minutes back at home with my host family it would disappear. I have found that families here are really no different than families back in the US, at least my host family wasn’t. Mama yelled at my host brother and sisters, my siblings had arguments between themselves, we had chores (I had to mop by bedroom floor), we watched television while eating dinner and mama sang while she was cooking dinner.

So…because last night was the last night of home stay our families threw our CBT a going away party. It was pretty awesome. The party was held outside underneath a tarp at Sarah’s house. Mike’s Baba, who I consider to be the mayor of Kila Kala, (our neighborhood) was the emcee for the event. We kicked off the party by joining in the Tanzanian version of the electric slide. All of our sisters started the dance and we eventually joined them. On that note now might be a good time to explain how my self-confidence has changed since joining the PC and living in Tanzania. I can honestly say that I am not as shy as I normally am. Before getting up to dance in front of people (sober), volunteering to lead a group activity, read allowed or be involved in any type of performance was really difficult, but I rarely feel that people here are judging me, even though they all stare because I am white. Moving on with the rest of the story… the rest of the party was pretty interesting… before dinner we were introduced with our families, one of our Babas said a prayer, our LCF said thank you to our families, we drank sodas and we had to cut the cake. The cutting of the cake is a big deal at Tanzanian parties. Our LCF/ Swahili teacher, Kondo, cut the cake into bite size pieces and then fed the five PCTs cake off of toothpicks, then each of us fed our parents a piece of cake off of toothpicks, while everyone else was singing. It was pretty interesting, but surprisingly not awkward. After the feeding of the cake we all ate a meal that was prepared by all of our Mamas, kabobs, potatoes, beef, cabbage, cooked banana, pineapple and watermelon. Following dinner we each said thank you to our families, I went with the half Kiswahili, half English speech, which was a smart move (Another thing I would have been terrified to do before coming here!). Post dinner we also presented our families with gifts and were presented with gifts. I received about four Tanzanian leis from my family along with a traditional Tanzanian outfit that Mama had made for me! Our families each received a family picture and when we returned home I gave my family some postcards, silly bandz (thanks Aunt Leanne!), lollipops and a jar of strawberry jam (something my family and I enjoy and something they would never buy for themselves). Over all the party was amazing and something I will never forget, but my night did not end there. Upon returning home Mama asked me if I wanted to attend a send off party with her, after hearing stories from other volunteers about their experience at these events I decided I had to go. For those of you who are wondering what a send off party is it is party to say goodbye to the bride before she is sent to marry her fiancé. It is usually put on by her parents and by contributions from the attendees. Mama and I arrived at the party and I was surprised and happy to see another volunteer, David, was there with his family (the only other white person at this event mind you). The party was held at a local restaurant, there were probably over 300 people and the theme colors were turquoise and pink. A send off party here in Tanzania is very well orchestrated and almost seems choreographed. If anyone from the immediate family moved anywhere, they did not walk, they danced. There was a ton of dancing and lots of bongo flava music! There was also the ceremonial cutting of the cake, which at a send off party is done by the bride to be and her maid of honor. At one point I got up to get my three complimentary sodas. Upon retuning to my seat the bride to bed was making her entrance, so I had to awkwardly stand in a space of sitting people, needless to say I stuck out and it did not help that I am a tall mzungu. My favorite part of the send off party was the video camera. Many send offs involve projection screens that are hooked up to a video camera, which makes its way around the party taking video of the guests and bridal party. Since the party was outside and it was dark the extra lighting for the camera was as bright as a big mac’s headlights and almost blinding. Once again, I feel I should remind my readers, I was one of two wazungu at this event, dressed in my new outfit Mama had given me and big white beaded Masai earrings. I stuck out like a sore thumb when that camera panned around the party and constantly found myself laughing when I could see myself on the screen. As awkward as it was, I can honestly say that the whole night I never felt like anyone was really staring at me, which was a nice change! It turned out to be a pretty late night, but I am really happy Mama let me tag along. I am sure I will never forget that experience and now I have a few new party traditions to bring back to the states with me! So… Asante Sana, Mama. Nilifurhahi kwenda. Niliimba na nilicheza juu ya Kiti changu. (Thanks Mama, I was happy I went. I sang and danced in my seat).

To wrap up my home stay experience, it was proven to me that experiences that you are afraid to partake are usually the experiences you learn and grow the most from. Take home message, folks, do things that scare you!!! I think it was Eleanor Roosevelt who said, “Do one thing every day that scares the shit out of you”.  I will miss my family dearly and if I am ever back in Morogoro I will be sure to stop in and say hello, hopefully in more Kiswahili, than English. They have taught me so much and I can only hope I have taught them a few things along the way too.

Okay so here is part of the blog where I ask for a little support from everyone back at home. As I will be moving to a new site (the school has never had a volunteer and my house has never been lived in) I am asking anyone who wants to send me some homemade artwork, quotes or pictures via mail that I can decorate my house with. I am not sure what my address at site is yet, but once I do, mail will reach me faster than it would be sending it to the address listed on the blog right now.

Once again I hope everything is going well at home and that you are all looking forward to Thanksgiving pour some gravy out for me and maybe some mashed potatoes. Wednesday is swearing in and I will be spending Thanksgiving Day on a bus to my new site, but Thanksgiving weekend I think I may be visiting other volunteers in the area! Also thanks to all of you who comment on the blog! You have no idea how nice it is to read your comments after a long day. Miss you all. All my love from TZ.