Monkeys and Electricity

So life has moved pretty fast over the last couple of weeks, but relatively void of events, so this post is going to be pretty uneventful and short.

Teaching is going well. I am proud to say I am ahead of my SOW (scheme of work), which means I am spend a lot of time reviewing with my students and setting up labs. I will say that students in Tanzania act the same as students in American when Friday afternoon rolls around. Last Friday my class of 80 students was getting a little rowdy. Usually when this happens with a normal teacher a thin, long stick emerges, the students are removed from the classroom, lined up and put through the gauntlet. Honestly, I do not want to waste space by telling you all how I really feel about this method of dealing with the situation, but I will say my feelings involve words that might offend some of you.  As an alternative I decided I would give the class three strikes. If I had to stop class three times, I would leave the class. After I taught most of the material I wanted to get through and with about ten minutes left in the period, the kids racked up their third strike, so I said, “I will see you all on Monday” and left the class.  I think my method of dealing with the situation worked fairly well because on Monday I could have heard a pin drop for most of the class. Most of the students here love to learn and love attention from the teacher, so not teaching seems like a better punishment then the stick. Like I told my students, I am here for them and because I want to be, not because I have to be. 

This past Monday, while I was looking in the science cabinet for a beaker one of my counterparts/ fellow teachers, Madam Yolanda, informed me that Nehema had a baby girl named Karen. My first thought was who the heck is Nehema? I asked who Nehema was. It turns out Nehema is the school secretary. A woman I see everyday and know very well, apparently not her name though. I had no idea that she was pregnant and just thought that she had a kitmabi or big belly. I told my counterparts this and it evoked a pretty good laugh in the office, especially for a Monday.

Yesterday, just like any other weekday, I got up, made some tea, got dressed while listening to some music and left the house at 7:35am. The only difference this morning was that there were no students at school. Usually by 7:20 the majority of students have arrived at school, but this morning…not a soul.  I quickly put two and two together and remembered that today was probably Maulid day, a lunar Muslim holiday, which is not announced until the day before it happens.  I decided to go into the village to buy some eggs for my breakfast, but on my way home I ran into a counterpart who told me that the holiday was actually tomorrow and that the students were confused, but there was school. So, long story short, I spent most of the day just hanging out because there were about 20 students at school and I have the day off today. Got to love the Tanzanian school system and lunar holidays!

So now for the more random part of my blog post: monkeys and electricity, unfortunately not simultaneously. Last Sunday, on my normal run down a dirt road through some farms I saw some animals crossing the road in front of me. As I approached I realized that they were Vervet monkeys, about 10 of them. Vervet monkeys are the little devils that steal stuff from your car, campsite or in this case corn from your fields.  I was pretty shocked to see them, but then again I do live in Tanzania… rule #56: expect the unexpected.

Speaking of unexpected, last night I was making dinner when I heard voices outside of my house. Interested in what was going on I walked out my front door to see two of my counterparts kneeling my the corner of my house with pliers, a hammer, a knife and electrical tape cutting into the wire on the side of my house that carries my electricity. My first thought was “holy crap are you stupid? “and my second was “I hope they do not cut the electricity to my house”. I greeted them and then suggested that they might want to turn off the electricity to my house before they go cutting into any wires. I also informed them that I did not want to be around to see one of them get shocked and would be inside should one of them fry themselves. After they had finished taping, but before they reburied the wires, it began to rain and because the wires were live they make a hissing noise when they were hit with raindrops, which freaked me out. Seriously do not know how they did not shock themselves and cut the power to my house, but I would like to congratulate them, hongera sana!

Like I said, the last two weeks have been pretty low key, but I hope everyone is well back at home and that the snow is starting to finally melt!!

All my love from TZ.