August 11, Last Day in Moro

So, here I sit in Oasis, for the last time at least for several months...

Did laundry at 7:30 in the morning but still managed to be watched 70% of the time. There is no escape. Hopefully my fenced in courtyard makes that a little bit better/gives me some semblance of privacy. They picked up my bags around 9:00, but I will have a big fat duffel to still lug with me tomorrow.

I gave my host family their gifts and they kidnapped my iPhone. Hoping to get that back, but who knows. But really, I do hope that I get it back. We are doing a strange goodbye-tour at each house in my CBT. Going from house to the next to say "Bye" and then eating food at Michelle's house. Apparently Pilau ("Curried" Rice) is what we will be eating. I am getting chipsi mayai while I'm here at Oasis. Such an addict to that potato egg goodness.

Apparently the Peace Corps is switching people sites, but not telling them when they're in the process of doing so. I am concerned about them switching me out of my region. Really hope they don't!

August 10, Broken Ring

We got back our tech exams yesterday. Seemingly subjective grading scheme... I got a 91, which was actually pretty high for the group, but I have no idea why 9 points were taken off. Most people seemed to get in the 80’s range, but there was no justification as to why they didn’t ace it. Thankfully it really doesn’t matter/nobody studied for it, so it’s no big deal.

Today was a long day. The real plus was that I got a bunch of compliments on my TZ jersey/an extra big piece of chicken at lunch. Michelle had a pretty serious reaction to her mefloquin and ended up vomiting/having chest pains. I went into the bathroom to see if I could do anything to help and five minutes after she finished puking, I ended up getting sick, too. I am not sure if it was because I heard her puke, or just coincidental, but I have been having major abdominal pain today and ended up losing the greater part of my lunch. I also didn’t feel well yesterday, so who knows. In any case, we spent a long time lying outside while everyone else talked about the first three months at site.

Another tragic thing happened today: my ring broke. Definitely not worth the 5000 shillings, though I really did like it while it lasted. One of the two bands is still on my finger, but the other one broke and ended up scratching me pretty badly before snapping itself into two sad little pieces. I am bummed about it, but the one my mom bought in the states should be coming in the mail soon. Hopefully that lasts a little bit better.

My bags are being picked up tomorrow at 8 am. This has been causing me a dilemma since I had planned to do laundry tomorrow morning. Either I will not get to go to town tomorrow (we are doing this go-around-to-all-the-host-families-thing in the afternoon), or I will have to do laundry in Dar in my bathroom and hope my things dry. I am going to ATTEMPT to do laundry before 9:00 am and get the best of both worlds, but we will see if that really works out. We are leaving for Dar at 8:00 on Sunday morning from the CCT. I am excited to be swearing in soon!

August 9, Going Late to CCT

Today I didn't have to go to CCT until lunch-time. It was a very odd morning, however. I don't know if I can even explain why, but everyone agreed that things were just going a bit strangely. We practiced our Swahili version of "Don't worry, Be happy", which we are singing for our swearing in ceremony, and then sang a really ugly version of both national anthems. I have a feeling we might have a few tone-deaf people in the group...but I still love everyone.

Things I have forgotten to mention before:
~There are little phone stands/shops where you can go to charge your phone. Usually you can also buy vouchers to call or send messages at them. The one in front of my house is a perfect example. I will be using a solar-powered version of such venues at site to charge my electronics. That or cough up 500,000 shillings to get solar power installed in my house.
~Putting money in my bra is very convenient and safe, but I sometimes get a rash. I think I will have a small money pouch made to lessen this problem.
~Mermaid style/hip-hugging dresses and puffy shoulders are all the rage here.
~Cockroaches tend to die under my bed constantly. It's gross. Speaking of gross, there is a gigantic spider outside of the CCT that has been catching bees. I am afraid to see the ones that apparently are even bigger....I HATE spiders.
~I saw a lot of sick children in the Tanga region. Snot-nosed doesn't really even begin to cover it. I haven't really seen many kids who look like that around Morogoro, though.

August 8, Nane-Nane

Today was nane-nane. It is a very important holiday here, though I can't really say much about it because I was trapped at the CCT taking my final oral exam/final technical exam. Nice timing, huh? The final LPI was an unfortunate display of nervousness and forgetfulness. I have been thinking of the mistakes I made throughout the afternoon, but it's too late now. At least I know what my mistakes were I guess... I did get a 95% on the final written exam, so I don't think they'll kick me out even if I did fail the oral one.

Today we went shopping at the market after we were released from our testing duties. Michelle & Sam bought kangas/host family gifts and we also got something for PJ. I am getting photos printed for my family, in addition to giving them some stuff I brought from the US, but I do feel bad for not doing more. Some people have gotten gifts from their families, so I'm curious if mine will give me anything. Part of me doubts it, but I'd really like a cute kanga or something. Guess I will see...

I got a ton of attention today because I wore a dress with leggings. The dress stops a little above my knee, but it's not short. The shoulders are covered. I don't know why I got so much attention for it...my dada acted all surprised but she had pants on tonight, so I don't get what the big deal was. I guess they were surprised I would wear such a casual outfit on a "work day", but I figured it was technically a holiday anyway!

Tomorrow I get to go in late since we aren't doing swearing-in practice until 12. Other people are doing their LPI's, so I'm glad mine is out of the way! Hopefully I will pick up the dress I had made from the fundi. I hope it fits well! Last time I tried it on the top was a little bit too big.

Several people are sick--mostly people who went to the Dirty South last week. I had a random bloody nose today and didn't feel so hot. It might just be the mefloquin though. It always makes my throat burn and sometimes upsets my stomach. I guess it's worth the pain since it prevents malaria, but it's super hard on the brain/liver.

Also, last night I got home late and ended up running into one of the female student teachers from St. Denis. She asked me where PJ was and I said we had all been at E-Pub. I confessed to having a Redds and then she started judging me hard-core. (Our staff actually bought us a round which was awesome. We were watching the Olympics.) She accused me of drinking a lot, and acted as though I had done something extremely scandalous. I learned my lesson and will never admit to drinking anything again. Or admit to going to a bar for that matter. One Redds is basically like a spiked soda, but it didn't matter.

The power was off last night but is on tonight (AMEN!). I had potatoes and rice tonight, along with something very chewy in meat form. At CCT I did have some pretty amazing chicken, though, so I did get some good protein today. I'm not sure how much meat I will be eating once I'm at site. Life without electricity/refrigeration is going to be very different!

August 7, Late Night Blog

I bought the 500 shilling day bundle (Airtel figured out the glitch with the hourly internet bundle...there goes my 200 shilling internet), so I'm trying to use up lots of computer time. I'm probably exaggerating in my head how little I will be able to use my computer at site, but for now it feels like this is the last week I will be able to do anything easily for a while. There are places to charge things in my village via solar power/I will be going as much as possible to Lushoto on weekends, but I still will be living in the dark for two years unless I get solar power installed. I asked Glenn to look into the price...I will probably wait a couple months, but it seems like a solid investment. If it's too pricey I will wait the year and get a grant to pay for it.

 I can't wait to get more of those cheap, delicious chipsi in Lushoto. I really love my group, too, so I'm PUMPED about being in Tanga. Can't wait to set up my house! I've been planning in my mind already. Need to get a bed made, buy a mattress, have shelving/cupboards put in, make my bunk-bed into a couch/storage thing, figure out how I'm going to store my clothes, buy things to cook with, get more solar lighting/kerosene lanterns....so much! But I'm excited! I also need decorations and curtains...I'm going to go broke.

My host family had our courtyard covered in sunflowers. They beat out the seeds with a stick and collect them to make sunflower seed oil. Pretty sweet!

Tonight I faced extra harassment on the way home. Sometimes I just hate being so noticeable/laughed at/mocked/talked to. They mean well I think, but it can be hard sometimes to be cordial. Fortunately I am usually able to give children the benefit of the doubt, so I'm assuming they are just having fun and never intentionally being rude or disrespectful.

My host family made me cabbage tonight (a whole pot just for me!), and I had some more rice and beans. My host mama and sister sang the anthem with me when I told them I had worked on it at CCT today. In other news, my half-cold seems to be worsening. I can't stop coughing. I'm not sure if I'm sick/allergic to something/being poisoned by my bug-killing spray.

August 6, At CCT for the Week

So, yesterday we took the bus back from Tanga at 8:00 in the morning. It was long, hot, crowded, and slow. So, it was a normal bus ride. We got back 2 hours after we were supposed to, also in true TZ style. I was starving by the time we ate lunch at 4:00 pm, but still didn't manage to finish my chicken curry & rice at Oasis. Think my stomach is shrinking here. I'm totally okay with that since I don't exactly always enjoy eating here.... and I wouldn't mind my clothes getting loose.

My host family enjoyed the chocolate & cheese I brought them. I also had some delicious passion-fruit juice, and for once actually wanted two cups full. That bus ride was very dehydrating!!

Today we have all been talking about our sites. Most people seem pretty happy which is good. Kyle & Jack switched sites which is cool. I also told Joel about my 4:30 a.m. bus problem so I am hoping for extra-special piki permission from Washington, DC.

One week left here in Morogoro. We practiced singing the TZ national anthem....and the US anthem.

Shadow Week RECAP!

So, a lot has happened this week. I have a feeling I will forget some things, or leave out some funny details, but hopefully I will be able to get the gist across.

Before leaving for our site visits, Glenn took me to see Ezra’s village. It was quite the hike up there, even after taking a bus, but the view was INCREDIBLE. It was a bit cooler there than it had been at Glenn’s, in addition to being a bit more green and lush. As a group we went to a monastery to pick up some bottles of wine. We stupidly tried to take a “short-cut”, which basically meant that we tried to go straight up a very steep hill. I have a lot of cuts to prove that it was a very bad idea. The earth under our feet was very loose and everyone fell quite a bit…well, except for Sam who was able to talk on the phone while still making it up the hill without really trying. Ezra’s stray dog buddy also seemed to have no real problem trekking up, but the rest of us got some cuts in the process. The moon was very full and there were lot's of pretty flowers up there. The brothers were all eating dinner when we got there, and we ended up walking back in the dark. 

I also had a momentary lapse of impulse control and ate some frosting that was well past expired/okay to eat when we got back to Ezra's house. I threw up within 5 minutes, so the “may contain dairy” warning was either applicable, or my body just quickly responded to some serious food poisoning. Ezra also had a little scoop and ended up dry heaving later, so we both paid the choo piper in the end. He is also lactose intolerant, so who knows the specific vomiting-cause. Probably bacteria... 

On Wednesday we all went back to Lushoto to depart for our sites. Brittany is also a gluten-free girl and made us DELICIOUS cinnamon roles that I could actually eat—exciting! Amy and Sam had their headmasters meet them in town, and Hannah was also escorted to her site. My headmaster didn’t come out to meet me, but Glenn accompanied me. The first bus we were supposed to get on broke down before we even left. We were sitting there as they opened the leaky engine compartment up and told us there was “no problem” a.k.a "hamna shida". They had us get off the bus, still insisting the bus was fine, even though it was very clear that the bus had pretty much broken down for the day. Fortunately, another bus came by 4:00 pm, so I was able to make it to my site by around 6:00 pm. My mkuu (headmistress) was very nice and met me at the dala-stop, along with several other teachers. They prepared us tea, eggs, and bread, and I was given a bed in my neighbor Emmanuel’s house. He is a geology teacher at the school and also the “Academic Master”. (Funny side-note: he explained that many TZ students have a hard time believing that the Earth is really in space/that it orbits the sun since they can’t feel the movement/that tides are actually affected by the moon. I was tempted to tell him I understood how hard it is to teach such things, since I did that as a pre-school teacher, but I refrained since I thought it might be rude. It was pretty funny, though.) I also met Martius, who lives on the other side of my duplex. He is a new teacher as well (he’s been at the school for 3 months), so he is also becoming familiar with Mlola.  He’s a pretty funny guy—very animated and intelligent. His friend asked me if I was going to marry him via-phone, so I told him “no” politely. Tanzanians love to talk about marriage/try to marry you/try to marry your friends/ask you to be their second wife. As of yesterday I have an 'engagement' ring on my finger, which will hopefully be helpful for rejecting other marriage proposals in the future.

On Thursday I was introduced to the student body. They gave me a big round of applause/laughed a lot. I also got to take pictures of my house. It has three rooms: bedroom, dining/living room, and kitchen. I have a really nice table and four chairs, but I don’t think I will be keeping the bunk bed. I will probably end up buying a new mattress and having a frame made since the one they gave me looks pretty uncomfortable. I have no electricity or running water, but there is a tap on the school grounds, in addition to a river that’s 150 meters away. I have an outdoor choo/separate shower space and a fenced in courtyard. The fence is very traditional and yet to be finished, along with the ceiling in my “kitchen”. I get terrible reception, though enough to text and sometimes receive calls, and have very limited transportation options out of the village. There are 3 buses that go to Lushoto, but all of them leave between the hours of 4:30 and 6:00 in the morning. After that, the only way out is by “boda-boda” (motorcycle a.k.a “piki-piki” taxi, which is not approved by the PC), or walking/biking to the nearest dala-stop. I’m going to invest in a bike/petition for piki-permission. The road leading to my village is a windy, somewhat narrow, rough, dirt road. In the rainy season apparently it rains out—it’s going to be interesting.

I am the second PCV to be in Mlola, although the first had to ET, so she was only there for four* months. Her name was Michelle and I’ve heard a lot of good things about her. She was a health volunteer, and hopefully someone will be coming to take her spot this fall/winter. Crossing my fingers for a site buddy!

On Thursday, Martius took me to the market.  Monday and Thursday are market days, so that will be when I can buy food. In Mlola they primarily grow potatoes, cassava, corn, and bananas, but there is every sort of produce imaginable in the Tanga region. I am anxiously awaiting mango/avocado season...

Anyway, the start of the nane-nane (8/8—for August 8^th) festival was taking place that same day. Nane-nane is a celebration of agriculture/farmers here in TZ. The council members (or some sort of higher ups) of the village were giving speeches via microphone on a stage, and Martius had me go sit up on the stage with them. I then had to introduce myself briefly in KiSwahili (quite embarrassing) after Martius introduced me as something that kind of sounded like “Judy”. Everyone has a super hard time with my name. I use “Jadey” since it’s a little easier for them to say (they add an “ee” sound to the end of everything), but it still is too hard for most people. When I said I was from Maine, a choir of people said it back in curiosity/confusion. I definitely perplexed some small children. After all the speeches were done, I was invited for a second lunch with the councilmen/guest of honor. I didn't know that I would be eating lunch again, or that I would be giving a speech for that matter, but was told it would be rude not to eat. I basically scarfed down a pile of tomatoes. Lushoto/Mlola has some awesome fresh produce. I love it.

My neighbors have two kids, Susan (I think?) and Papa. Only Papa was home as Susan attends primary school in Lushoto. Papa is three and apparently I am the first white person he has ever seen. He calls me “Madame Mzungu”, but his dad spent at least a solid hour teaching him my name after I explained I’m not a huge fan of the term “Mzungu”. I am hoping to get a village name like many of the other PCVs, but I guess that will come with time. Regardless, Papa is adorable. He thanked me for eating lunch with him the first time he met me, and he is quite the little charmer. I can tell we are going to be buddies. They informed me his name means "father" in many languages...I told them that, yes, I was aware. 

On Friday I got up at 3:30 in the morning and boarded the bus by 4:15 am to go back to Lushoto. The ride was scary and treacherous, but I lived. The bus got very packed because people take their produce with them to go to the Kwekame (spelling?) market that’s about an hour away. I hungout at the Tumaini hostel while I waited for the other PCVs to show up. I’m pretty sure it was the only thing open, but I’m not really sure. It was chilly and I just wanted to get inside quickly, so I didn't talk much or look around for many places.

The bus ride to Tanga was hot and long, but much less scary than the ride to Mlola. (I didn’t almost go off the road/bottom out the bus like I had previously on my way from Lushoto.) Once we got to Tanga we found our sweet, sweet, CHEAP guesti. (Motel of sorts) It reminded me of Italy because of the high-vaulted ceilings. The beds were pretty uncomfortable and the bathroom was kinda scary, but I was pretty impressed by the place since it only cost me 5,000 shillings for two nights. The only real issue I had was being devoured by mosquitos, although I was definitely not one of the people who got the worst of it. We used mosquito netting, but the nets had holes/didn’t fit around the bed properly. We met up with Jasmine, Jeff, and the Thomsons and their PCV hosts, Megan and Chelsea. We got some chipsi for lunch and went to the beach. It was warm, beautiful, amazing water. That night we had drinks and food out in the warm air (not sweltering hot because it’s winter, so pretty much the perfect temperature). I got more chipsi and ate some amazing fruit. My new favorite thing is guava.

Also, Hannah and I are way over excited most of the time. Our PCV group is awesome. We sang "Scotty doesn't know" over the phone to at least 3 people since we are now on the AIRTEL PLAN and can call one another for free! 

Saturday we hit up the market and the beach again. I did some bartering and got two jerseys. One is an Arsenal Jersey (I have been wanting one for years thanks to an amazing Barcelona spring-break trip in 2010) and the other is an authentic TZ Jersey. I also found a green “mermaid” dress as I call it. It has a strange collar, is made entirely of sequins, and has shoulder pads. When I tried it on over my modest-TZ style dress everyone in the market pretty much stopped to look at me. I got lots of “umependeza” (or “you look good”) comments from strangers, and some approving “wow she has a butt” looks. Hannah also did some good bartering, and got an Arsenal jersey/some skirts. She also bought a dress for her friend that I have kidnapped for the time being. I figured used is used, so it’s fine if I use it a little bit more before she gives it away. In any case, Sam was the best at the bargain game. He did the classic “this is all the money I have trick” twice to the same pair of vendors and got things for super cheap. I was impressed and plan to try that trick in the future. Probably one vendor at a time, though, since he honestly got lucky they weren’t paying very good attention.

At the beach we saw a whole bunch of school kids who had come on a field trip from Arusha. They spoke really awesome English. I also made a big mistake and wore underwear that showed a little too much butt cheek. (My bathing suit is in my Dar-bag, along with everything I ever want in life). I had a man apparently blatantly stare at me, and then a young boy came over and started asking me if I would talk to this other man. I pretended to be confused, so he then came back with a piece of paper that said something like “Could I please speak with you? My name is Diogratius.” I attempted to point at my ring and explain I was taken. I don’t know if they understood me, but I just gave back the paper without writing a response and called it a day. Reminded me of those middle school "Do you like me? Check YES! or NO!" notes. Later on we watched the Olympics and got delicious Indian food. It was a good evening, and I definitely can’t wait to go back to Tanga! 

Also, my goal is to ride on the top of a produce truck. It looks fun. Slash super dangerous. But fun.