We're in Zanzibar for our first official vacation! We spent the first 7 nights on the beach in a town called Paje, and it was lovely: nowhere to go, nothing to buy, simple bungalows on the beach, good Japanese food at our Japanese-owned hotel (we found the 1 tiny local cafe, too, because we were missing our usual beans and rice!), almost empty beaches with powdery white sand, more seashells than I've ever seen on a beach in my life, and, of course, swimming every day in the Indian Ocean. Really, really nice. Yesterday we left the serenity of the beach for the chaos of Stone Town, which is the main tourist town on the island. We're staying in absolute luxury: our hotel has air conditioning, cable tv, fluffy towels, and a bathtub! Yep, we're living large before we head back to the realities of our town. Speaking Kiswahili here is a secret weapon, because NO ONE expects that we can; thousands of tourists come here for vacation(for the beauty of the ocean, the great shopping, and the famous doors of Zanzibar), and almost no one can speak the local language, but we can, and people stop in their tracks! I have to admit that it feels really good to have this ability, and it definitely helps when it comes to bargaining for all the treasures I'm dragging home. So we're tanned and relaxed and had a nice time for our first Christmas in Tanzania.
Funny glimpse of Peace Corps Volunteers on vacation: our hotel in Paje had clotheslines on the porches for people to dry their beach towels and bathing suits. In very typical Peace Corps style, we all washed our clothes--all of them--in our rooms, and dried them on the clotheslines instead of our bathing suits. You can spot a Peace Corps Volunteer from a mile away because you'll spot the jeans and socks drying on any available surface.
So tomorrow is New Year's Eve. My plans for the last day of 2007 include receiving a massage (my first in almost 7 months!!), eating Indian food, shopping a little, then putting on a new dress and listening to a dj on a rooftop bar overlooking the ocean while the New Year comes around. I am wishing you all health, happiness, contentment and gratitude for 2008.
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Friday, December 21, 2007
on the road again
We arrived in Dar es Salaam yesterday, late in the afternoon, after a 9 hour bus ride from Mpwapwa. Interesting bus ride from Mpwapwa: we came upon a different bus that was broken down on the muddy road, and it broke down right next to a bridge that's under construction so we couldn't pass. After about 45 minutes of contemplating, our driver got the idea to pile rocks up on the not-finished bridge so make it more passable; then he told everyone to get off the bus. We all climbed off and waited in the ditch to see what his plan was: he gunned the engine and, at about 40mph, flew over the not-quite-finished bridge where the rocks were recently laid. It worked! We got back on the bus and waved at all the people who were still stuck in the broken down bus. After we got to Dar, we spent the evening walking around, eating everything in sight (Subway subs, ice cream, Chinese food.) Right now we're at Peace Corps headquarters taking care of some paperwork before we head to Zanzibar on a ferry tomorrow morning. Our plumbing problem is being repaired as I write this so when we return to our site, everything should be ok.
In the spirit of the holidays, I wanted to mention something about our intended projects in our town. For some of the things we have planned, we need to write grants to get the financial support to make things happen. Depending on the nature of the project (repairing a broken water tank, for example), we need to solicit the funds through the Peace Corps website, with something called a Partnership Grant. Tony and I have not finished writing our first grant proposal, but when we do, I am appealing to the generous spirit of our families and friends back home to help us actualize our projects and make our new home of Kibakwe a healthier place for everyone to live. I will keep you posted as this process continues. Thanks in advance for your interest in our efforts here in Tanzania.
Speaking of holidays, this is the first Christmas of my life that I haven't been in a cold, snowy place to celebrate. I suppose lounging on a tropical beach on Zanzibar in my bathing suit will have to be good enough! It's also very strange to be here without any of the Christmas shopping hype that is so pervasive in the US. Truth be told: I don't miss that part at all. So we're on the road (and on the water) again tomorrow--I'll write next time from Zanzibar.
In the spirit of the holidays, I wanted to mention something about our intended projects in our town. For some of the things we have planned, we need to write grants to get the financial support to make things happen. Depending on the nature of the project (repairing a broken water tank, for example), we need to solicit the funds through the Peace Corps website, with something called a Partnership Grant. Tony and I have not finished writing our first grant proposal, but when we do, I am appealing to the generous spirit of our families and friends back home to help us actualize our projects and make our new home of Kibakwe a healthier place for everyone to live. I will keep you posted as this process continues. Thanks in advance for your interest in our efforts here in Tanzania.
Speaking of holidays, this is the first Christmas of my life that I haven't been in a cold, snowy place to celebrate. I suppose lounging on a tropical beach on Zanzibar in my bathing suit will have to be good enough! It's also very strange to be here without any of the Christmas shopping hype that is so pervasive in the US. Truth be told: I don't miss that part at all. So we're on the road (and on the water) again tomorrow--I'll write next time from Zanzibar.
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
poop
Poop is an unpleasant thing to think about, but it's been at the forefront of my mind since we returned to our site last week after our workshop in Dodoma. We returned home with some Peace Corps friends who wanted to visit our town, and the first two days were good. Late Saturday night I noticed a foul odor coming from our sewage holding tank, which has been slowly oozing for the last 2 months; upon closer inspection, with a flashlight, we noticed it leaking sewage in a steady stream. Tony grabbed a shovel to dig a little hole for it to run into until we could see properly the next day, and the corroded pipe burst and sewage began flowing. Oh boy. Our houseboy/friend, Gilbert, heard the commotion (he lives next door), woke up, grabbed his shovel and helped Tony shovel dirt over the leak to absorb everything. We knew our sewage system was really old and in terrible shape, and we've been waiting for proper support in fixing it. The time has come--no more procrastination. It burst again the next day, unprovoked, and early this morning I noticed another slow ooze. Now everyone really believes that we have a problem. Everything will be fixed, finally, while we're on holiday in Zanzibar, so we'll return home to a proper toilet situation. To add insult to injury,on our way out of town this morning, all I could smell was the manure from the farms. Enough poop for me.
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
one last tidbit
We're getting ready to leave Dodoma and just stocked up on the essentials: avocados and passion fruit. Do I think about food constantly? Yes, particularly since I live in such a tiny town where a wide variety is simply not available.
I forgot to mention something really interesting that we did when we first got here last week. We had the chance to visit an orphanage called "Village of Hope" (or "Kijiji cha Tumaini" in Kiswahili.) This particular orphanage is run by an Italian Catholic priest, and has 150 HIV+ kids under the age of 15 living there. In one word: inspirational. He told us the story of his orphanage, then took us on the grand tour. The facilities are amazing, but more important than that was watching him interact with these kids: the love in his heart knows no boundaries, and he hugged and kissed and cuddled every child he passed. They were equally happy to be with him, too, jumping into his arms or holding his hands. He originally started the orphanage to give these kids a place to die peacefully, knowing what love feels like. With proper love, nutrition, health care, and a clean roof over their heads, the kids started thriving, not dying, so he has had to keep expanding the facilities (first a primary school, now a secondary school which opens next year.) His mission on earth is to give these orphans love, and it's working. I left with high hopes of working with him at some point during my Peace Corps service.
Ok, back to food. It's time for Indian (we found the secret Indian restaurant here in Dodoma) and I'm hungry. Not really--I just ate more yogurt. But that won't stop me.
I forgot to mention something really interesting that we did when we first got here last week. We had the chance to visit an orphanage called "Village of Hope" (or "Kijiji cha Tumaini" in Kiswahili.) This particular orphanage is run by an Italian Catholic priest, and has 150 HIV+ kids under the age of 15 living there. In one word: inspirational. He told us the story of his orphanage, then took us on the grand tour. The facilities are amazing, but more important than that was watching him interact with these kids: the love in his heart knows no boundaries, and he hugged and kissed and cuddled every child he passed. They were equally happy to be with him, too, jumping into his arms or holding his hands. He originally started the orphanage to give these kids a place to die peacefully, knowing what love feels like. With proper love, nutrition, health care, and a clean roof over their heads, the kids started thriving, not dying, so he has had to keep expanding the facilities (first a primary school, now a secondary school which opens next year.) His mission on earth is to give these orphans love, and it's working. I left with high hopes of working with him at some point during my Peace Corps service.
Ok, back to food. It's time for Indian (we found the secret Indian restaurant here in Dodoma) and I'm hungry. Not really--I just ate more yogurt. But that won't stop me.
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
yogurt & ice cream & avocados
Howdy from Dodoma! We're here for a Peace Corps conference and will be leaving in two days. We got here 10 days ago; that means we've had 10 days of hot showers, tv in our hotel room, TOILETS, fans, air conditioning during our lectures, yogurt, ice cream, and avocados. Wow. I think I've re-gained 5 of my lost pounds (only an American would say that.) It's so nice to be here with all our PC friends, exchanging stories about our sites and catching up on all the PC gossip. It just poured rain and I'm covered in mud right this second because I couldn't wait for the rain to stop before I went to the market to buy avocados. So we're all here together, learning about grant-writing and permaculture gardening (better health through small gardens near your house.) After the conference is over we go home for about a week with a bunch of our friends who want to see our house; then, a group of us are going to Zanzibar for Christmas and New Year! Christmas on the beach=perfection. We are so excited!!
So what's new at our site? Not much. Fence is almost finished, water tank is awesome, garden is planned. We have a lot of ideas for projects in the new year and I'll keep you posted. Our Kiswahili is coming along slowly, but since we've been in Tanzania now for 6 months (can you believe it?), I'm amazed at how far we've come. I am infinitely more comfortable in the sketchy situations (bus stands, specifically) and I'm feeling attracted towards working with at-risk groups (like the sketchy young men who frequent the sketchy bus stands.) We continue to have ups and downs, which I have to believe is completely normal for a "stranger in a strange land." Most important to us is that we are well-liked in our town.
Funniest moment of the workshop: learning to say, in Kiswahili, "This person here, in the toilet, is my friend."
Funniest thing at our site: Zizo, our houseboy/counterpart, was looking especially sleepy one afternoon. We had a lengthy conversation in Kiswahili about his sleepiness. Out of nowhere he said, in perfect English, "I am physically fit and chemically balanced." Out of nowhere.
So what's new at our site? Not much. Fence is almost finished, water tank is awesome, garden is planned. We have a lot of ideas for projects in the new year and I'll keep you posted. Our Kiswahili is coming along slowly, but since we've been in Tanzania now for 6 months (can you believe it?), I'm amazed at how far we've come. I am infinitely more comfortable in the sketchy situations (bus stands, specifically) and I'm feeling attracted towards working with at-risk groups (like the sketchy young men who frequent the sketchy bus stands.) We continue to have ups and downs, which I have to believe is completely normal for a "stranger in a strange land." Most important to us is that we are well-liked in our town.
Funniest moment of the workshop: learning to say, in Kiswahili, "This person here, in the toilet, is my friend."
Funniest thing at our site: Zizo, our houseboy/counterpart, was looking especially sleepy one afternoon. We had a lengthy conversation in Kiswahili about his sleepiness. Out of nowhere he said, in perfect English, "I am physically fit and chemically balanced." Out of nowhere.
Friday, November 23, 2007
it's raining mangoes
Right this second, I am looking at the biggest mango tree I have ever seen. There are hundreds of mangoes hanging from the branches; it's hard to walk in certain areas without stepping on the little underripe babies that fall too early. Kids throw rocks to get them to fall when they want a little snack.
We had Thanksgiving/Tony's birthday dinner last night at the Acropol Hotel here in Morogoro. It's owned by a Canadian woman who is really kind to the Peace Corps Volunteers here in Moro, and she cooked sweet potatoes, three bean salad and pumpkin cake for us, among other goodies. She also has a bunch of dogs, so we got a little dog-love, too.
Back to reality tomorrow, when we head home to Kibakwe. It's hard not to feel a little bummed out--Morogoro has tons of water and endless fruit & veggies, not to mention yogurt and other delicacies that we cannot get in Mpwapwa. I'm trying not to feel jealous of people who live here--I really like it here. The grass is always greener, isn't it?
We had Thanksgiving/Tony's birthday dinner last night at the Acropol Hotel here in Morogoro. It's owned by a Canadian woman who is really kind to the Peace Corps Volunteers here in Moro, and she cooked sweet potatoes, three bean salad and pumpkin cake for us, among other goodies. She also has a bunch of dogs, so we got a little dog-love, too.
Back to reality tomorrow, when we head home to Kibakwe. It's hard not to feel a little bummed out--Morogoro has tons of water and endless fruit & veggies, not to mention yogurt and other delicacies that we cannot get in Mpwapwa. I'm trying not to feel jealous of people who live here--I really like it here. The grass is always greener, isn't it?
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
greetings from morogoro
We arrived in Morogoro early this afternoon, to celebrate Tony's 37th birthday and Thanksgiving, which both happen to be tomorrow! It's about a 4 hour bus ride from Mpwapwa, but today it took us 5 1/2--as usual, bus broke down. No problem--we're here now. We visited Morogoro one other time and really loved it, so we decided to take a few days off from our lives in Kibakwe and come to the big city. One of our Peace Corps trainers describes Morogoro as the bread basket of Tanzania: green, lush, water year-round, with the potential to grow enough food to feed everyone in Tanzania. As we traveled here today, the landscape slowly became greener and greener; when we got off the bus, one of the first things I spotted for sale (EVERYTHING is for sale in the chaotic bus stands of Tanzania!) were big, fat bunches of carrots. Nope, not in Kibakwe any more. We immediately took a daladala (minibus-like public transport) to the center of town and started eating, because Morogoro is an awesome place to eat; within half an hour, I ate 2 kinds of bagia (deep-fried, savory little puffs--like hush puppies), caramel ice cream, vanilla yogurt and fresh passionfruit juice. Good start. Next stop: public market. Giant piles of pineapple, bananas, mangoes, avocados, passion fruit, fresh peas, papaya, coconuts, oranges, limes and carrots--and all the other usual goodies that we can get in Mpwapwa, like cabbages, tomatoes, onions, greens, and potatoes. DEFINITELY not in Kibakwe any more. We're here with our friend, James, a Peace Corps Volunteer who lives in a village near Mpwapwa (he's one of our Mpwapwa peeps), and are staying with our friend, Albert, another Peace Corps Volunteer who is a teacher right in Morogoro. After internet: Indian food. Then maybe brownies. Mmmmm. Plan for tomorrow is nothing more than to eat all day long. I love vacation. But strangely enough, I find myself thinking about our little house, wondering what our houseboys, who have become our trusted friends, are doing without us. This year in particular, in the spirit of Thanksgiving, I feel especially thankful for so many, many things.
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
maybe this will entice you
It's official: we are living in the middle of a National Geographic photo spread. Last week we had four consecutive days of rain, and it's amazing how the landscape is changing in front of our very eyes. We took a short walk to visit the sweet old carpenter who built our water tank for us (it's finished! It holds water!), and we stopped dead in our tracks: all around us, in every single direction, are mountains, their trees coming to life with the first drinks of water of the season. The giant, lonely baobab trees have buds on their tips. At night in our town, because only a few of us have electricity and it's very dark, the sky becomes a blanket of stars. We were awake today at 4:30am (not fun, but necessary to catch our bus) and watched the sun come up as we traveled to Mpwapwa: pink and orange sky, sun emerging from behind mountains. Lovely. Right now, at the Mpwapwa market, are huge piles of mangoes, bananas, coconuts and oranges: summer is coming. Rain is life.
Saturday, November 10, 2007
rather boring, sorry
We've gathered in Mpwapwa for a good-bye party for our friends, Lisa and Russ, who are finishing their two years of Peace Corps service. We making pizza tonight, and we even have cheese--a cheese run to Dodoma was made last week. It's hard to say goodbye--seems like that's all we've been doing. Other friends, Becky and Jason, left our Mpwapwa family after an unfortunate incident of violence in their village--a crazy guy attacked Becky, and luckily she's fine, but they moved to a different village far, far away. So tonight we say goodbye again.
Our water catchment tank is almost finished at our house, and we're really happy. The heavy rains haven't started yet, so we're on time. Next week: work continues on our fence, and we might start digging our garden. Tiny, sour mangoes appeared in our market!
Some info I learned yesterday from the big post office in Mpwapwa, where we had to go to collect some care packages from home: best to send things to us as a "packet," not a "parcel," in a padded envelope weighing under four pounds. If not, we pay big-time customs fees on our end. After a lengthy conversation, both in Kiswahili and English, it was concluded that you do not get that option when sending things from the US. Our postal woman didn't seem to want to understand. Bottom line: "packets" arrive with a small, green customs card from the US on the outside, and "parcels" arrive with a large, white piece of paper from US customs on the outside. Parcels are inspected and we pay to receive them; packets are not inspected and we get them for free. This is the best way I can explain it.
Our moods are pretty good and our health is fine. Nothing out of the ordinary--just the usual problems with our bowels. We're cooking and baking, working on ideas for projects. Best idea for our first project: writing a grant to try to get out town's huge, water catchment tank fixed. It's made of cement and has been cracked for over 15 years. If the tank could hold water, many, many people could use the water for growing vegetables, thus improving health through nutrition. We think it would only cost about $1000 US, which is a fortune here. We'll see what we can do.
Favorite recent conversation exchanges, in Kiswahili:
"Nyemo, you're riding a bicycle." "Yes, I am."
"Nyemo, you bought spinach." "Yes, I did."
Upon getting off the bus, carrying two eggs: "How were your travels? How much did you pay for those eggs?"
Upon giving our houseboys a jar of peanut butter: "Thank you very much! How much did you pay?"
Food items most fantasized about currently: spicey pad thai with tofu, with green papaya salad and a thai iced tea.
Our water catchment tank is almost finished at our house, and we're really happy. The heavy rains haven't started yet, so we're on time. Next week: work continues on our fence, and we might start digging our garden. Tiny, sour mangoes appeared in our market!
Some info I learned yesterday from the big post office in Mpwapwa, where we had to go to collect some care packages from home: best to send things to us as a "packet," not a "parcel," in a padded envelope weighing under four pounds. If not, we pay big-time customs fees on our end. After a lengthy conversation, both in Kiswahili and English, it was concluded that you do not get that option when sending things from the US. Our postal woman didn't seem to want to understand. Bottom line: "packets" arrive with a small, green customs card from the US on the outside, and "parcels" arrive with a large, white piece of paper from US customs on the outside. Parcels are inspected and we pay to receive them; packets are not inspected and we get them for free. This is the best way I can explain it.
Our moods are pretty good and our health is fine. Nothing out of the ordinary--just the usual problems with our bowels. We're cooking and baking, working on ideas for projects. Best idea for our first project: writing a grant to try to get out town's huge, water catchment tank fixed. It's made of cement and has been cracked for over 15 years. If the tank could hold water, many, many people could use the water for growing vegetables, thus improving health through nutrition. We think it would only cost about $1000 US, which is a fortune here. We'll see what we can do.
Favorite recent conversation exchanges, in Kiswahili:
"Nyemo, you're riding a bicycle." "Yes, I am."
"Nyemo, you bought spinach." "Yes, I did."
Upon getting off the bus, carrying two eggs: "How were your travels? How much did you pay for those eggs?"
Upon giving our houseboys a jar of peanut butter: "Thank you very much! How much did you pay?"
Food items most fantasized about currently: spicey pad thai with tofu, with green papaya salad and a thai iced tea.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
our short news
Ok, limited time today. Here's the Kibakwe scoop: bedroom is painted (three paint choices: white, cream, light blue. We chose light blue. Our ceiling is white. We like to think of our bedroom as a big blue box from Tiffany with a white bow on top.Ha ha.) Got our cabinets-- our clothes and dishes now have a proper home. Fence continues for our garden--garden will be big and hopefully awesome. WE'VE HAD RAIN! Light rain, but enough to soak our towels that were drying on the clothesline in our courtyard. Our roof doesn't leak. Our water storage tank will be started on Friday--we found an excellent fundi ("carpenter"), a gentle,wise old man who has an excellent reputation in our community. We have some ideas for projects. Baked a cake for a well-respected mama in the community; got big points for that one. More requests for cake-baking lessons from lots of other women; thinking about holding cake-baking seminars where we talk about health and "women's issues" (there are lots!) while the cake bakes. Our houseboys are doing a great job; we invited them to come with us to our first Peace Corps conference in Dodoma in December. We are each supposed to bring a "counterpart," someone that we plan to work on projects with, to this conference, and Tony and I both would like to work with the at-risk youth demographic that is HUGE in Kibakwe--these guys are part of that demographic, and are really interested in learning how to be peer educators. Good match. Tony and I still fight, but we laugh more. We have a lot to look forward to for the remainder of this year--feels good.
American food items most thought about today: veggie burger with cheese, soft bun, lettuce, tomato, fried onions, pickles, mayo, ketchup. Crispy french fries. Spicy bloody mary. Warm fudgy brownie (no nuts, please) with vanilla ice cream and caramel sauce. This menu will remain a fantasy.
American food items most thought about today: veggie burger with cheese, soft bun, lettuce, tomato, fried onions, pickles, mayo, ketchup. Crispy french fries. Spicy bloody mary. Warm fudgy brownie (no nuts, please) with vanilla ice cream and caramel sauce. This menu will remain a fantasy.
Thursday, October 18, 2007
so what exactly do we do all day?
It's hard to believe that we've been living independently in Kibakwe for two months now. We have worked really, really hard to make our house as comfortable and inviting and lovely as possible, and this is primarily what we've been doing for the last two months. And we're not done yet. I think that I am much more productive when my living situation is calm and pleasing; this is why we're spending so much time on our house. The bathroom is almost completely tiled; many are broken, unfortunately, but the hardware store ran out of tile, so we had to use the broken ones anyway. We're considering it a mosaic design. Tony and our houseboys dug out the perimeter of our garden, and our boys have started gathering wood to use for our fence. Last week I taught 7 neighbor kids how to bake banana bread; this was a huge hit. Some of them knocked on our door two days ago and asked to be taught how to make chocolate cake--we're doing that next week. When I walked into town a few days ago to buy tomatoes and onions, my favorite veggie vendor said she heard that I bake cakes and that she would like to learn, too. Word is traveling fast. Whoever would have thought that my cake-baking obsession would link me with my new Tanzanian friends? So that's the scoop--we're setting up our house, hanging out with good kids, cooking and baking. Next week we're painting our bedroom, and hopefully our water storage tank (for collecting rain water off our roof--the rains will start next month, and we want to collect them for our garden) will be started. Still no place for our clothes--we continue to wait for the carpenter to finish our kabati ("cabinet for clothes.") We won't actually plant our garden until the rains start--there's just not enough water right now to get it started. In case I haven't mentioned it, scarcity of water is one of the biggest problems in the region where we live. Sometimes our water pump shoots water out (maji mengi="much water"), sometimes it trickles water (maji machache="few water"), and sometimes no water at all (hamna="none.") Last month our entire town of Kibakwe didn't get a drop of water in ANY of the pumps for 4 entire days. Major problem. Tony and I have several large plastic buckets that we try to keep completely full of water; this is what we used for cooking, drinking, bathing and cleaning for those 4 scary days. By the time the water returned, we were down to our last bucket. We can't figure out where exactly the water starts or who is in charge of it or why its dispersion is such a problem. No one seems to understand, actually.
One tidbit we learned this morning from our Peace Corps friends who are just finishing their two years of service here: packages are more likely to arrive here (without thievery or us paying customs fees) if they are sent in padded, bubble envelopes and weigh under 4 pounds. Obviously, this isn't always possible, but it's worth mentioning, just in case you're thinking of sending any treasures to us...
So how are we REALLY doing? It's hard to say. Without question, this has been the most challenging and frustrating experience of my life. Our lives here are still taking shape, and we still haven't figured out our place in Kibakwe or how we can help. We are still learning our way around our town, trying to remember people's names, trying to observe the rhythms of life here, trying to master this language. Some days we can't bear to leave our house; sometimes it just feels overwhelming to walk into town and have stunted conversations with people when all we really want to do is buy our eggs and rush back home. Some days we have a bunch of kids in our courtyard, looking at our maps and reading our English/Kiswahili dictionary, and everything feels good. Some days we get under each other's skin and fight; other days we just laugh and laugh and laugh at ourselves. We're here for a reason, and we remind ourselves of that every day. One thing is certain: we are more committed to each other than ever, and we daydream about the day we'll settle down (where? Excellent question!) and have a big old house filled with dogs and maybe kids and a big garden and a kitchen full of friends & family and warm chocolate chip cookies and vases of flowers and soft cotton sheets on our big bed and maybe, just maybe, a fire crackling in the fireplace. Indoor plumbing would be nice, too.
One tidbit we learned this morning from our Peace Corps friends who are just finishing their two years of service here: packages are more likely to arrive here (without thievery or us paying customs fees) if they are sent in padded, bubble envelopes and weigh under 4 pounds. Obviously, this isn't always possible, but it's worth mentioning, just in case you're thinking of sending any treasures to us...
So how are we REALLY doing? It's hard to say. Without question, this has been the most challenging and frustrating experience of my life. Our lives here are still taking shape, and we still haven't figured out our place in Kibakwe or how we can help. We are still learning our way around our town, trying to remember people's names, trying to observe the rhythms of life here, trying to master this language. Some days we can't bear to leave our house; sometimes it just feels overwhelming to walk into town and have stunted conversations with people when all we really want to do is buy our eggs and rush back home. Some days we have a bunch of kids in our courtyard, looking at our maps and reading our English/Kiswahili dictionary, and everything feels good. Some days we get under each other's skin and fight; other days we just laugh and laugh and laugh at ourselves. We're here for a reason, and we remind ourselves of that every day. One thing is certain: we are more committed to each other than ever, and we daydream about the day we'll settle down (where? Excellent question!) and have a big old house filled with dogs and maybe kids and a big garden and a kitchen full of friends & family and warm chocolate chip cookies and vases of flowers and soft cotton sheets on our big bed and maybe, just maybe, a fire crackling in the fireplace. Indoor plumbing would be nice, too.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
my name is...nyemo
I have a new name, simply because the name Carla is almost impossible for Tanzanians to pronounce. They say 'r' and 'l' almost the same way, and cannot pronounce the two letters side by side, so if they try to say my name, it sounds like "Cala." Our houseboys, Zawadi and Gilbert, chose a new name for me: Nyemo. Nyemo means "happiness" in Kigogo--it's not a Kiswahili word. I simply introduce myself as Nyemo to new people, and they find it very funny that the mzungu ("white person") has a name like Nyemo.
So I'm going to show off a little and write a paragraph in Kiswahili so you have proof that I can almost speak this language. Don't worry--I'll translate. Remember--I'm not using a dictionary or a textbook. Prepare to be impressed.
Jina langu ni Carla au Nyemo. Nyemo ni rahisi kusema; Carla ni ngumu kusema. Mume wangu anaitwa Tony. Mimi ni mwalimu wa afya, na mume wangu ni mwalimu wa mazingira. Tulifika Tanzania tarehe kumi na mbili, mwezi wa sita, mwaka elfu mbili na saba. Sasa tunaishi Kibakwe, karibu na hospitali. Tutakaa Kibakwe kwa miaka miwili. Tunaweza kusema na kuelewa Kiswahili kidogo, lakini tunajaribu kila siku. Tafadhali, sema pole pole. Asante sana.
Now, the translation:
My name is Carla or Nyemo. Nyemo is easy to say; Carla is difficult to say. My husband is called Tony. I am a health teacher, and my husband is an environment teacher. We arrived in Tanzania June 12, 2007. Now we live in Kibakwe, near the hospital. We will stay in Kibakwe for two years. We are able to speak and understand Kiswahili a little, but we try every day. Please, speak slowly. Thank you very much.
Are you impressed??
More juicy details about our lives later--it's lunchtime.
So I'm going to show off a little and write a paragraph in Kiswahili so you have proof that I can almost speak this language. Don't worry--I'll translate. Remember--I'm not using a dictionary or a textbook. Prepare to be impressed.
Jina langu ni Carla au Nyemo. Nyemo ni rahisi kusema; Carla ni ngumu kusema. Mume wangu anaitwa Tony. Mimi ni mwalimu wa afya, na mume wangu ni mwalimu wa mazingira. Tulifika Tanzania tarehe kumi na mbili, mwezi wa sita, mwaka elfu mbili na saba. Sasa tunaishi Kibakwe, karibu na hospitali. Tutakaa Kibakwe kwa miaka miwili. Tunaweza kusema na kuelewa Kiswahili kidogo, lakini tunajaribu kila siku. Tafadhali, sema pole pole. Asante sana.
Now, the translation:
My name is Carla or Nyemo. Nyemo is easy to say; Carla is difficult to say. My husband is called Tony. I am a health teacher, and my husband is an environment teacher. We arrived in Tanzania June 12, 2007. Now we live in Kibakwe, near the hospital. We will stay in Kibakwe for two years. We are able to speak and understand Kiswahili a little, but we try every day. Please, speak slowly. Thank you very much.
Are you impressed??
More juicy details about our lives later--it's lunchtime.
Saturday, October 6, 2007
greetings from dodoma
This probably won't be a fascinating update--just the facts, because time is limited right this minute. We are in Dodoma with a group of other Peace Corps Volunteers for a fun-filled weekend away from our respective villages. Dodoma is the capitol of Tanzania; our town, Kibakwe, is in the region of Dodoma, so the weather is really similar: fierce, mean, unrelenting sun. Much better in the shade. We spent the day wandering the streets, buying mostly food that we can't regularly get in Mpwapwa (avocadoes, mangoes, cucumbers, oranges, pineapple, canned mushrooms, apples, Pringles--don't judge us--, Snickers, CHEESE!) We have decided that the measure of a city's value in Tanzania is the availability of cheese--you can get cheese in Dodoma. And ice cream, by the way. Peace Corps Volunteers primarily talk about the foods we long for, our frustrations with village life and our bowel movements--again, don't judge us. BMs are very different in Africa. Don't ask.
So what have we accomplished last week? Lots. Our walls completely meet our ceiling now--Tony filled the gaps with scrap lumber. No more rat crap!! We painted our living room, and hung some art on our naked walls. What art? World map, straw mat, map of parks in Tanzania, painting of Tony and I that we received from our host mama during training. We're hoping to expand our art collection while we're here. When we get back we'll finish tiling our bathroom and paint our bedroom. Keep your fingers crossed that we get our kabati (cabinet for clothes) soon--would love to unpack our suitcases.
We head back to Mpwapwa tomorrow. Back to the land of dry, dusty plains, mountains all around, and a sea of giant, lonely baobob trees.
So what have we accomplished last week? Lots. Our walls completely meet our ceiling now--Tony filled the gaps with scrap lumber. No more rat crap!! We painted our living room, and hung some art on our naked walls. What art? World map, straw mat, map of parks in Tanzania, painting of Tony and I that we received from our host mama during training. We're hoping to expand our art collection while we're here. When we get back we'll finish tiling our bathroom and paint our bedroom. Keep your fingers crossed that we get our kabati (cabinet for clothes) soon--would love to unpack our suitcases.
We head back to Mpwapwa tomorrow. Back to the land of dry, dusty plains, mountains all around, and a sea of giant, lonely baobob trees.
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
progress report
Once again I find myself in the computer lab in Mpwapwa, where we arrived this morning after an uneventful bus ride. I guess it was mostly uneventful--bus is supposed to accommodate about 60 people, but we estimate that our bus had about 100 people on board. Tony had elbows and asses in his face (we actually had seats--lucky us), chickens at his feet, and some woman kept stroking my hair as she was trying to hold on to the back of my seat. Our bus driver--it's always the same guy--is this extremely cool, distinguished man in his late 40s, and he keeps his eye on us to make sure we're ok. It's getting hot--we're coming up on summer here in Tanzania--and the expression commonly used here is jua kali ("fierce sun.") No kidding--fierce is an excellent adjective. Yesterday I left our house at 8am to walk into town to buy eggs; I thought I was being very clever for leaving so early, but I was wrong in two ways: first of all, the sun was already brutally hot and strong, without a cloud in the sky, and secondly, all the people who were drinking pombe (home-brewed alcohol) the night before were just making their way home, so I got surrounded by drunk men who thought it was hysterical that I couldn't speak Kigogo (local tribal language.) Extremely entertaining. I returned home a sweaty, frustrated mess. My temper has been short; many people are so patient and encouraging and welcoming, and that makes this whole transition easier, but when the jerks antagonize me and act ignorant about how difficult it is to live in a radically different place, I get angry. As my Kiswahili improves, I can tell them that they're being jerks, but right now all I can say is "I'm a guest here in Kibakwe, and I'm trying to speak and understand Kiswahili. Please speak slowly." Of course I can say this very well in Kiswahili, because I say it every day.
Anyway, here's what's new: we painted our bathroom with bright, shiny white paint, and installed a shelf for our toiletries. Unbelievable difference. Tony installed bright, shiny white tiles on the bathroom floor yesterday--I helped by handing them to him--and even though we're not finished and it's kind of crooked and some are broken, I can tell it's going to be great. Our houseboys built a fence around our little flower garden, and Tony will build a gate for it next week. We started using our hotplate, and I thought this would be the answer to all my prayers, but I was very wrong: the electricity is not grounded in our house (in Tanzania? I don't know), and I learned this by touching it without wearing shoes--got shocked across the room. After much crying and swearing, I figured out what happened. Shoes are now mandatory during any electric cooking. I forgot once, and got shocked again. Ok, now I won't forget to wear shoes. Stirring with wooden spoons: good idea. Stirring with metal spoons: bad idea. Another shock. Holding the pan with a dry towel while stirring: good idea. Holding the pan with a damp towel while stirring: bad idea. Shocked again. As if I can remember this while I'm trying to cram my brain with Kiswahili. I don't mean I got little baby shocks; I got monster shocks that I could feel all the way from my affected hand down to my toes. Baked four times last week: banana cake, brownies, chocolate fudge cake, and toffee cookies. (Great idea for your next care package to us: oats and chocolate chips!!) When one of our houseboys ate a piece of the chocolate fudge cake, he declared "This is the first time since I was born that I ate chocolate cake." He's 23. They also tasted peanut butter for the first time, and are enthralled. [Peanuts grow extremely well in Kibakwe, and I'm hoping that we can introduce a peanut butter project (making peanut butter and selling it--in the Peace Corps world this is called an Income Generating Activity.) There are plenty of people and plenty of peanuts in Kibakwe--this could be an excellent source of income for some people who desperately need it, not to mention the nutritional benefits of eating peanut butter. Please send any tips about making it.] We managed to seal some of the wall/ceiling gaps to keep the rat crap out, and Tony built a 10 foot ladder that weighs about 150 pounds. I also learned and applied a few new words. We've been busy.
Plans for next week: finish tiling bathroom. Paint living room. Pray that fundi ("carpenter") finished our cabinets so our clothes can be moved out of our suitcases. Plot out space for garden and start fence. Visit Italian nuns--hopefully while they're cooking lunch--and try to get invited to eat with them. Figure out best time of day to walk to town so drunk people don't mob me. Meet up with the Mpwapwa crew of Peace Corps Volunteers (PCVs) to talk and laugh. Figure out best time of day to walk to town so drunk people don't mob me. Did I say that already??
Extremely weird tidbit: as we were walking to catch our bus this morning at 5:15am (still completely dark--sun rises at 6:30), we heard really loud music in town. As we got closer, we could see where it was coming from: one house with electricity had its lights on, and there was some kind of dance party going on. The music was BLASTING from giant speakers, about 10 people (in their 20s) were dancing with great intensity in the front yard, and a bibi ("grandmother") appeared to be chaperoning. Did it start this morning? Was it going on all night? What was the reason? We'll never know. Imagine witnessing this as you're walking with sleep in your eyes to jump on the smelly bus.
Anyway, here's what's new: we painted our bathroom with bright, shiny white paint, and installed a shelf for our toiletries. Unbelievable difference. Tony installed bright, shiny white tiles on the bathroom floor yesterday--I helped by handing them to him--and even though we're not finished and it's kind of crooked and some are broken, I can tell it's going to be great. Our houseboys built a fence around our little flower garden, and Tony will build a gate for it next week. We started using our hotplate, and I thought this would be the answer to all my prayers, but I was very wrong: the electricity is not grounded in our house (in Tanzania? I don't know), and I learned this by touching it without wearing shoes--got shocked across the room. After much crying and swearing, I figured out what happened. Shoes are now mandatory during any electric cooking. I forgot once, and got shocked again. Ok, now I won't forget to wear shoes. Stirring with wooden spoons: good idea. Stirring with metal spoons: bad idea. Another shock. Holding the pan with a dry towel while stirring: good idea. Holding the pan with a damp towel while stirring: bad idea. Shocked again. As if I can remember this while I'm trying to cram my brain with Kiswahili. I don't mean I got little baby shocks; I got monster shocks that I could feel all the way from my affected hand down to my toes. Baked four times last week: banana cake, brownies, chocolate fudge cake, and toffee cookies. (Great idea for your next care package to us: oats and chocolate chips!!) When one of our houseboys ate a piece of the chocolate fudge cake, he declared "This is the first time since I was born that I ate chocolate cake." He's 23. They also tasted peanut butter for the first time, and are enthralled. [Peanuts grow extremely well in Kibakwe, and I'm hoping that we can introduce a peanut butter project (making peanut butter and selling it--in the Peace Corps world this is called an Income Generating Activity.) There are plenty of people and plenty of peanuts in Kibakwe--this could be an excellent source of income for some people who desperately need it, not to mention the nutritional benefits of eating peanut butter. Please send any tips about making it.] We managed to seal some of the wall/ceiling gaps to keep the rat crap out, and Tony built a 10 foot ladder that weighs about 150 pounds. I also learned and applied a few new words. We've been busy.
Plans for next week: finish tiling bathroom. Paint living room. Pray that fundi ("carpenter") finished our cabinets so our clothes can be moved out of our suitcases. Plot out space for garden and start fence. Visit Italian nuns--hopefully while they're cooking lunch--and try to get invited to eat with them. Figure out best time of day to walk to town so drunk people don't mob me. Meet up with the Mpwapwa crew of Peace Corps Volunteers (PCVs) to talk and laugh. Figure out best time of day to walk to town so drunk people don't mob me. Did I say that already??
Extremely weird tidbit: as we were walking to catch our bus this morning at 5:15am (still completely dark--sun rises at 6:30), we heard really loud music in town. As we got closer, we could see where it was coming from: one house with electricity had its lights on, and there was some kind of dance party going on. The music was BLASTING from giant speakers, about 10 people (in their 20s) were dancing with great intensity in the front yard, and a bibi ("grandmother") appeared to be chaperoning. Did it start this morning? Was it going on all night? What was the reason? We'll never know. Imagine witnessing this as you're walking with sleep in your eyes to jump on the smelly bus.
Friday, September 14, 2007
i almost forgot...
Check Tony's blog, too, for interesting anecdotes and photos: www.antnystoney.blogspot.com
making progress
Hello from beautiful Mpwapwa! We arrived in town this morning to do the usual: use the internet and shop for supplies. First things first--if you would like to send anything to us, please make one small change to the address:
Carla Stanke or Tony Stonehouse
SLP 36
Kibakwe-Mpwapwa
Tanzania
Sorry for the confusion--this is a good example of the miscommunication that is part of every minute of every day when you're a foreigner here. So what have we been doing for the last week and a half? Well, it looks like we are winning the battle with the cockroaches, which is good news. We are not winning the battle with the rats, however--we're at a standstill. The rats really like living in between our ceiling and our tin roof, and they especially like pooping where the ceiling tiles don't quite meet the walls. This means that we sweep up rat crap every day, which has actually stopped bothering me--yeah right. So right now we are trying to figure out how to completely seal our ceiling with the limited supplies that are available in Mpwapwa. We don't have a Home Depot here yet. Ha ha. We can buy rat poison everywhere, but I don't especially want them to die right above my ceiling--I just want them to stay away from my living spaces. Stay tuned for more news.
Here's some good news to help you forget about our rats: we had a concrete patio installed in our tiny courtyard, which I plan to fill with pots of flowers that do well with extreme sun and extreme drought. Feel free to send seeds our way if you know of any plants or flowers that would thrive with our weather conditions. We also had concrete stairs installed in front of our house, so we don't have to jump a pile of rocks anymore to get in. Small victories are big victories here.
More good news: we got electricity last week! We no longer knock around in the dark after sunset, and we've stopped going to bed at 7:30pm. I can charge my phone any time, so feel free to call or send text messages--use this number: 011-255-782-033-350.
Plans for next week: figure out how to keep rats from crapping in our house; tile our gross bathroom floor with shiny white tiles that we bought today (I'm super-excited about this project!!); paint gross bathroom with shiny white paint that we bought today; paint our living room/kitchen; maybe build a fence around our future garden (must build fence first to keep cows, goats, chickens, guinea fowl and children out); cook something other than beans/cabbage/tomatoes/onions; learn and apply 10 new Kiswahili words--last week I only mastered one new phrase, which was "as usual" ("kama kawaida"--for those of you interested in Kiswahili--useful phrase to know when you're learning to wait AGES for anything to get accomplished--kama kawaida in Tanzania!); begin work on our water tank, which will be nothing more than a concrete basin--like a hot tub, for those of you in the developed word--to collect rainwater from our roof to use in our garden. It sounds like a busy week, doesn't it? Our houseboys have been an excellent help to us, and are eager to please us and are thrilled to have such an unusual job as working for the "wazungu" ("foreigners," if you forgot.) One of our "boys," as we like to call them, has especially touched my heart. He's 22 years old, married to an 18 year old, has a 5 year old daughter, and both of his parents are dead. He's taking care of his family, plus his two younger siblings--this is unbelievably difficult, because there is literally no work to do in Kibakwe-- almost no way to earn an income, other than by running a small shop or fetching water for people or doing odd jobs. He is a hard worker and we trust him completely; he's a great kid, and he needs a chance to get ahead. I wish we could do more for him; we pay each of our boys about $1 per day for 4 hours of work, which is a great salary here. Whew--I'm sure there are lots of people who need a chance to get ahead in Kibakwe, but this particular guy is in my life for a now-unknown reason.
So--here's a short list of things that I have come to LOVE about Tanzania:
1. Everyone loves to eat. There are no hang-ups about body shape/size. People eat with great enthusiasm, and don't even think about getting fat. Being fat here is considered to be really good--that you're living a good life. I have lost a little weight since I've been here, and last week I was sitting in the living room of a bibi ("grandmother") who has taken a liking to us. She looked at me, shook her head, and said "why are you so thin?" First time in my life I've been asked this question. Being a crazy American, I was flattered, and said something about the fact that Americans like to be thin. She just shook her head again. People--especially women-- work very hard here just to live: fetching water, cooking over a charcoal stove, carrying babies on their backs, washing clothes by hand, working in the fields during the rainy season. Food is pivotal.
2. People hold hands when they're walking together and talking. Children, adolescents, adults--everyone. Men hold hands with men and women hold hands with women. Men and women don't EVER hold hands with each other--same sex only. It's very dear.
3. When a Tanzanian disapproves of something, they make a pronounced "tsk" sound. If somebody makes this sound, they are very unhappy. Nobody has made this sound at me yet--thankfully. I hear it every day when I talk to people, and I have become very good at it. Powerful.
4. When you travel by bus and the bus stops somewhere like a big bus stand and you're not yet at your destination, you can buy absolutely anything out of the bus window: vouchers for you cell phone, cashews, bananas, belts, fried potatoes, hard boiled eggs, woven baskets, loaves of bread, cookies, watches, soda, oranges, sugar cane. Incredibly fun.
We have lots of ideas for Peace Corps projects that we'd like to try in Kibakwe, and we're going to start language lessons with a tutor (a Tanzanian friend who lives in Mpwapwa who is friends with all the wazungu here and speaks excellent English!) in the coming weeks. Stay tuned for news of our developing house and our developing lives. Today is a good day.
Carla Stanke or Tony Stonehouse
SLP 36
Kibakwe-Mpwapwa
Tanzania
Sorry for the confusion--this is a good example of the miscommunication that is part of every minute of every day when you're a foreigner here. So what have we been doing for the last week and a half? Well, it looks like we are winning the battle with the cockroaches, which is good news. We are not winning the battle with the rats, however--we're at a standstill. The rats really like living in between our ceiling and our tin roof, and they especially like pooping where the ceiling tiles don't quite meet the walls. This means that we sweep up rat crap every day, which has actually stopped bothering me--yeah right. So right now we are trying to figure out how to completely seal our ceiling with the limited supplies that are available in Mpwapwa. We don't have a Home Depot here yet. Ha ha. We can buy rat poison everywhere, but I don't especially want them to die right above my ceiling--I just want them to stay away from my living spaces. Stay tuned for more news.
Here's some good news to help you forget about our rats: we had a concrete patio installed in our tiny courtyard, which I plan to fill with pots of flowers that do well with extreme sun and extreme drought. Feel free to send seeds our way if you know of any plants or flowers that would thrive with our weather conditions. We also had concrete stairs installed in front of our house, so we don't have to jump a pile of rocks anymore to get in. Small victories are big victories here.
More good news: we got electricity last week! We no longer knock around in the dark after sunset, and we've stopped going to bed at 7:30pm. I can charge my phone any time, so feel free to call or send text messages--use this number: 011-255-782-033-350.
Plans for next week: figure out how to keep rats from crapping in our house; tile our gross bathroom floor with shiny white tiles that we bought today (I'm super-excited about this project!!); paint gross bathroom with shiny white paint that we bought today; paint our living room/kitchen; maybe build a fence around our future garden (must build fence first to keep cows, goats, chickens, guinea fowl and children out); cook something other than beans/cabbage/tomatoes/onions; learn and apply 10 new Kiswahili words--last week I only mastered one new phrase, which was "as usual" ("kama kawaida"--for those of you interested in Kiswahili--useful phrase to know when you're learning to wait AGES for anything to get accomplished--kama kawaida in Tanzania!); begin work on our water tank, which will be nothing more than a concrete basin--like a hot tub, for those of you in the developed word--to collect rainwater from our roof to use in our garden. It sounds like a busy week, doesn't it? Our houseboys have been an excellent help to us, and are eager to please us and are thrilled to have such an unusual job as working for the "wazungu" ("foreigners," if you forgot.) One of our "boys," as we like to call them, has especially touched my heart. He's 22 years old, married to an 18 year old, has a 5 year old daughter, and both of his parents are dead. He's taking care of his family, plus his two younger siblings--this is unbelievably difficult, because there is literally no work to do in Kibakwe-- almost no way to earn an income, other than by running a small shop or fetching water for people or doing odd jobs. He is a hard worker and we trust him completely; he's a great kid, and he needs a chance to get ahead. I wish we could do more for him; we pay each of our boys about $1 per day for 4 hours of work, which is a great salary here. Whew--I'm sure there are lots of people who need a chance to get ahead in Kibakwe, but this particular guy is in my life for a now-unknown reason.
So--here's a short list of things that I have come to LOVE about Tanzania:
1. Everyone loves to eat. There are no hang-ups about body shape/size. People eat with great enthusiasm, and don't even think about getting fat. Being fat here is considered to be really good--that you're living a good life. I have lost a little weight since I've been here, and last week I was sitting in the living room of a bibi ("grandmother") who has taken a liking to us. She looked at me, shook her head, and said "why are you so thin?" First time in my life I've been asked this question. Being a crazy American, I was flattered, and said something about the fact that Americans like to be thin. She just shook her head again. People--especially women-- work very hard here just to live: fetching water, cooking over a charcoal stove, carrying babies on their backs, washing clothes by hand, working in the fields during the rainy season. Food is pivotal.
2. People hold hands when they're walking together and talking. Children, adolescents, adults--everyone. Men hold hands with men and women hold hands with women. Men and women don't EVER hold hands with each other--same sex only. It's very dear.
3. When a Tanzanian disapproves of something, they make a pronounced "tsk" sound. If somebody makes this sound, they are very unhappy. Nobody has made this sound at me yet--thankfully. I hear it every day when I talk to people, and I have become very good at it. Powerful.
4. When you travel by bus and the bus stops somewhere like a big bus stand and you're not yet at your destination, you can buy absolutely anything out of the bus window: vouchers for you cell phone, cashews, bananas, belts, fried potatoes, hard boiled eggs, woven baskets, loaves of bread, cookies, watches, soda, oranges, sugar cane. Incredibly fun.
We have lots of ideas for Peace Corps projects that we'd like to try in Kibakwe, and we're going to start language lessons with a tutor (a Tanzanian friend who lives in Mpwapwa who is friends with all the wazungu here and speaks excellent English!) in the coming weeks. Stay tuned for news of our developing house and our developing lives. Today is a good day.
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
is it true? another post so soon??
Yes, it's true--two posts in two days. I'm taking full advantage of being in Mpwapwa, our shopping/banking/computer town. We'll go home tomorrow or the next day--still need to gets lots of stuff for our house.
So what's a typical day like in the town on Kibakwe? Glad you asked--here goes: wake up before sunrise because of crowing roosters and horns from buses and people talking outside our house as they wait to fill buckets of water from the nearby pump. Start fire in our jiko (charcoal grill), boil water for tea/coffee/drinking later in the day. Wash faces in plastic basin and brush teeth with boiled water; eat fruit and bread baked the day before on jiko. House helpers come over at 10am (two young men in their 20s--everyone has house help in Tanzania) to wash clothes, sweep/mop floors, run errands, dig gardens, practice speaking Kiswahili/English together. After they leave, usually between 2 and 3 in the afternoon, Tony and I read, study, write and talk for a while, have a snack (bread or fruit), take a walk into town and visit people, then maybe make bread and start preparing the evening meal. This means soaking beans, washing rice and chopping veggies. We can usually only buy tomatoes and onions in Kibakwe, but sometimes cabbage and okra and peppers, and I bought 5 carrots a few days ago. I also can usually buy bananas and papaya every day, but more veggies will come later in the year when the rains start, which is usually November--that's why we come to Mpwapwa to shop, because you can get a LOT more here: carrots, eggplant, potatoes, pineapple, oranges, mangoes, spinach, coconut, lentils, different beans, garlic, spices, honey. Coming to Mpwapwa to buy food feels like shopping at Whole Foods now--wow! Cooking takes a couple hours, and we try to eat before dark because we don't have electricity yet. The sun sets at 7pm every day, and this is usually the time we're eating; we light our kerosene lamps and candles, eat, then wash dishes in our plastic basins. Then we heat a kettle of water for our shower, which Tony constructed out of a plastic bucket and some rope, suspended from a rafter in our bafu ("bathing room"); we take a shower (most Tanzanians take bucket baths, which means bathing with a bucket of water and cup to pour it over your body--but we prefer showers), lock up our house (four rooms arranged around a tiny courtyard), climb into bed under our mosquito net, read for a while with flashlights, then go to sleep around 9pm. That's a typical day for right now--after we start doing projects and we're much busier, we will be out of our house much more, and might hire someone to cook lunch for us--this kind of house helper is called a "House Mama." Cooking takes forever, and we really like to do it, but I'm guessing that when we're actually working, we won't have as much time. Once we have electricity, we will buy a hot plate, and that will make the cooking process faster, too, but baking bread and cake will always be done on our charcoal grill. Too bad we love bread and cake so much!!
So how are we feeling? Honestly, it's up and down. Some days are good and some aren't; for that matter, some moments are good and some aren't. We have made some excellent friends, both in the Peace Corps Volunteer community and within our town (obviously, the town friends are new friends); there are 12 of us volunteers total in the district of Mpwapwa, and we are separated by bad roads and many kilometers, but we love and support each other--these people are our built-in families here, and we get together as often as possible. Our closest Peace Corps friend is Ben, a 23 year old writer from Kentucky, and he lives 11 kilometers away from our house, so we see each other at least once a week. We all have cell phones and text each other every day. We are healthy and safe, and are eager to see how our projects develop. We might get a dog, and will plant flowers. Will we stay here for the whole two years?? Don't know yet--we take it one day at a time.
What do we long for? Magazines, salty snacks from the US, really good skin lotion (we live in the desert, and it's drought time right now!), proper cleaning products, dark chocolate ALWAYS, scented candles, hair accessories for my growing hair. Simple things that bring so much comfort. As someone in Peace Corps once said: we can usually buy what we need but never what we want.
It feels like a struggle trying to balance living as my neighbors do but having comforts of a developed world (electricity, for example, and flowers just for the sake of beauty in a land of terrible drought.) Our closest neighbors have satellite dishes and tv, but we won't. We work very hard every day to find our path here.
So what's a typical day like in the town on Kibakwe? Glad you asked--here goes: wake up before sunrise because of crowing roosters and horns from buses and people talking outside our house as they wait to fill buckets of water from the nearby pump. Start fire in our jiko (charcoal grill), boil water for tea/coffee/drinking later in the day. Wash faces in plastic basin and brush teeth with boiled water; eat fruit and bread baked the day before on jiko. House helpers come over at 10am (two young men in their 20s--everyone has house help in Tanzania) to wash clothes, sweep/mop floors, run errands, dig gardens, practice speaking Kiswahili/English together. After they leave, usually between 2 and 3 in the afternoon, Tony and I read, study, write and talk for a while, have a snack (bread or fruit), take a walk into town and visit people, then maybe make bread and start preparing the evening meal. This means soaking beans, washing rice and chopping veggies. We can usually only buy tomatoes and onions in Kibakwe, but sometimes cabbage and okra and peppers, and I bought 5 carrots a few days ago. I also can usually buy bananas and papaya every day, but more veggies will come later in the year when the rains start, which is usually November--that's why we come to Mpwapwa to shop, because you can get a LOT more here: carrots, eggplant, potatoes, pineapple, oranges, mangoes, spinach, coconut, lentils, different beans, garlic, spices, honey. Coming to Mpwapwa to buy food feels like shopping at Whole Foods now--wow! Cooking takes a couple hours, and we try to eat before dark because we don't have electricity yet. The sun sets at 7pm every day, and this is usually the time we're eating; we light our kerosene lamps and candles, eat, then wash dishes in our plastic basins. Then we heat a kettle of water for our shower, which Tony constructed out of a plastic bucket and some rope, suspended from a rafter in our bafu ("bathing room"); we take a shower (most Tanzanians take bucket baths, which means bathing with a bucket of water and cup to pour it over your body--but we prefer showers), lock up our house (four rooms arranged around a tiny courtyard), climb into bed under our mosquito net, read for a while with flashlights, then go to sleep around 9pm. That's a typical day for right now--after we start doing projects and we're much busier, we will be out of our house much more, and might hire someone to cook lunch for us--this kind of house helper is called a "House Mama." Cooking takes forever, and we really like to do it, but I'm guessing that when we're actually working, we won't have as much time. Once we have electricity, we will buy a hot plate, and that will make the cooking process faster, too, but baking bread and cake will always be done on our charcoal grill. Too bad we love bread and cake so much!!
So how are we feeling? Honestly, it's up and down. Some days are good and some aren't; for that matter, some moments are good and some aren't. We have made some excellent friends, both in the Peace Corps Volunteer community and within our town (obviously, the town friends are new friends); there are 12 of us volunteers total in the district of Mpwapwa, and we are separated by bad roads and many kilometers, but we love and support each other--these people are our built-in families here, and we get together as often as possible. Our closest Peace Corps friend is Ben, a 23 year old writer from Kentucky, and he lives 11 kilometers away from our house, so we see each other at least once a week. We all have cell phones and text each other every day. We are healthy and safe, and are eager to see how our projects develop. We might get a dog, and will plant flowers. Will we stay here for the whole two years?? Don't know yet--we take it one day at a time.
What do we long for? Magazines, salty snacks from the US, really good skin lotion (we live in the desert, and it's drought time right now!), proper cleaning products, dark chocolate ALWAYS, scented candles, hair accessories for my growing hair. Simple things that bring so much comfort. As someone in Peace Corps once said: we can usually buy what we need but never what we want.
It feels like a struggle trying to balance living as my neighbors do but having comforts of a developed world (electricity, for example, and flowers just for the sake of beauty in a land of terrible drought.) Our closest neighbors have satellite dishes and tv, but we won't. We work very hard every day to find our path here.
Monday, September 3, 2007
home sweet home...
We've successfully been installed into our new home in Kibakwe! For those of you interested in geography, we are living in the region of Dodoma, district of Mpwapwa, town of Kibakwe--the very middle of Tanzania, land of drought, also called the "red desert". We are the first Peace Corps Volunteers EVER in Kibakwe, and the town officials really seem happy that we're here. About our house:it's a fixer-upper, for sure, but that's by American standards; by Tanzanian standards, we are living like royalty. We live in the "subdivision" of Kibakwe, next to the town's doctors, nurses, and police; our house is made of concrete, we have a tin roof, and it's already wired for electricity (but it's not connected yet--maybe next week. For now we use kerosene lanterns and candles at night.) Almost everyone else in the village lives in mud-brick houses with no electricity. We cook on a charcoal stove (called a "jiko"--like a grill, but it sits on the ground), and we collect water in buckets from a pump and use it for drinking, cooking, cleaning and bathing. Tony even built a shower out of a bucket and some rope!! Here's our address if you feel inspired to write:
Carla Stanke or Tony Stonehouse
SLP 36
Kibakwe
Tanzania
We have some problems that we're dealing with, but nothing unusual for life in rural Tanzania: cockroaches, rats, questionable locks/doors. Every day we make some progress, but things work VERY slowly here; this is a huge challenge for a controlling person like me. The key to living successfully in such a different place is setting up structure and organizing your life effectively; just as important is meeting people and making friends, because the more people know me, the more they watch over me, which is critical for my safety here. This is NOT an unsafe place, to be sure, but because I am the only American woman in Kibakwe, it definitely pays to have people looking out for me. There are also two Italian nuns who live in Kibakwe, and we met them last week; that means there are 4 wazungu ("foreigners") total in our town. Our Kiswahili is improving every day, but now we also need to learn to speak some Kigogo, too, because the tribe of people who live in Kibakwe are called the Wagogo people. Right now I am writing this from the computer lab in the safi ("cool") town of Mpwapwa, and the president of Tanzania, President Kikwete, will be here tomorrow, so there's excitement in the air. It's a two-hour bus ride here from Kibakwe, and this is our closest town for major shopping and computer use; I'm thinking that we'll come here two times per month to check email, so don't despair if I'm slow to respond to your messages. That's all for now--I'll try to post photos within the next few weeks so you can see my new life!!
Carla Stanke or Tony Stonehouse
SLP 36
Kibakwe
Tanzania
We have some problems that we're dealing with, but nothing unusual for life in rural Tanzania: cockroaches, rats, questionable locks/doors. Every day we make some progress, but things work VERY slowly here; this is a huge challenge for a controlling person like me. The key to living successfully in such a different place is setting up structure and organizing your life effectively; just as important is meeting people and making friends, because the more people know me, the more they watch over me, which is critical for my safety here. This is NOT an unsafe place, to be sure, but because I am the only American woman in Kibakwe, it definitely pays to have people looking out for me. There are also two Italian nuns who live in Kibakwe, and we met them last week; that means there are 4 wazungu ("foreigners") total in our town. Our Kiswahili is improving every day, but now we also need to learn to speak some Kigogo, too, because the tribe of people who live in Kibakwe are called the Wagogo people. Right now I am writing this from the computer lab in the safi ("cool") town of Mpwapwa, and the president of Tanzania, President Kikwete, will be here tomorrow, so there's excitement in the air. It's a two-hour bus ride here from Kibakwe, and this is our closest town for major shopping and computer use; I'm thinking that we'll come here two times per month to check email, so don't despair if I'm slow to respond to your messages. That's all for now--I'll try to post photos within the next few weeks so you can see my new life!!
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
new info!
It's been a long time since I've had leisurely access to a computer--sorry for the delay in interesting updates. Here's what's new: we finished all of our tests last week. We don't know the actual results yet, but I think we both did well. Huge relief--now we just need to practice every single day!
Next tidbit: we went to Morogoro town last Monday and Tuesday to an agricultural festival called "Nane Nane." Walked around, looked at stuff. Morogoro is a pretty place, very green and lush; lots of fruits and veggies, huge market. Eager to spend more time here--it feels like a big city, with every possible amenity we could want or need.
Last Wednesday, we went to a town called Mpwapwa, which is in the Dodoma region of Tanzania, to do our "shadow" experience; this is where we live with other volunteers to see how they live their lives all by themselves. We stayed with a great couple, and did lots of hanging out, walking around, talking, cooking, and spent time with the other awesome volunteers who live in the area. The couple we stayed with built an outdoor brick oven, so we baked bread and cake every day! Mpwapwa is VERY dry--lots of drought issues.
Shadow was excellent for us; from there we went to Dar es Salaam (7 hour bus ride, with children vomiting across the aisle from us), which is where I'm writing this from the Peace Corps headquarters. Here's the big news: yesterday was the day for site announcements, and we're going to be living in the Dodoma region, where we shadowed, in a town called Kibakwe!!! Start planning your trip! We get officially sworn in as Peace Corps volunteers next Tuesday, and Wednesday we get "installed" at our site. We are really happy; this area has never had a health volunteer before, so I will be the first!! I have lots of ideas for projects, but the first three months at site are dedicated to mastering Kiswahili, making friends, setting up our house (it's a new house--we're the first volunteers in Kibakwe!) and learning our way around the village. Our new address goes into effect next week--I'll post it when we get it. We'll be an hour and a half away from Mpwapwa town; Mpwapwa is three and a half hours from Morogoro. 30 people in buses meant to hold 12. Piece of cake. Karibuni sana!! ("You are all very welcome!")
Next tidbit: we went to Morogoro town last Monday and Tuesday to an agricultural festival called "Nane Nane." Walked around, looked at stuff. Morogoro is a pretty place, very green and lush; lots of fruits and veggies, huge market. Eager to spend more time here--it feels like a big city, with every possible amenity we could want or need.
Last Wednesday, we went to a town called Mpwapwa, which is in the Dodoma region of Tanzania, to do our "shadow" experience; this is where we live with other volunteers to see how they live their lives all by themselves. We stayed with a great couple, and did lots of hanging out, walking around, talking, cooking, and spent time with the other awesome volunteers who live in the area. The couple we stayed with built an outdoor brick oven, so we baked bread and cake every day! Mpwapwa is VERY dry--lots of drought issues.
Shadow was excellent for us; from there we went to Dar es Salaam (7 hour bus ride, with children vomiting across the aisle from us), which is where I'm writing this from the Peace Corps headquarters. Here's the big news: yesterday was the day for site announcements, and we're going to be living in the Dodoma region, where we shadowed, in a town called Kibakwe!!! Start planning your trip! We get officially sworn in as Peace Corps volunteers next Tuesday, and Wednesday we get "installed" at our site. We are really happy; this area has never had a health volunteer before, so I will be the first!! I have lots of ideas for projects, but the first three months at site are dedicated to mastering Kiswahili, making friends, setting up our house (it's a new house--we're the first volunteers in Kibakwe!) and learning our way around the village. Our new address goes into effect next week--I'll post it when we get it. We'll be an hour and a half away from Mpwapwa town; Mpwapwa is three and a half hours from Morogoro. 30 people in buses meant to hold 12. Piece of cake. Karibuni sana!! ("You are all very welcome!")
Saturday, July 28, 2007
emotional stuff
We're now at the end of week 6 of our training, and next week is the biggie: my health group is giving an 8 hour lesson on HIV/AIDS in Kiswahili on Tuesday; on Wednesday, we have an oral Kiswahili language test; on Thursday we have the big written Kiswahili test; and on Friday we have the biggest of all: the FINAL oral Kiswahili test. Am I stressed? Yes. But there have been some small successes: I baked two chocolate cakes and one carrot cake with my family, and this was a BIG HIT!! The carrot cake was baked on a kerosene stove, with charcoal on top of the lid; now I know it can be done! And the language is starting to come out of my mouth a bit easier--Tony and I use Kiswahili words mixed in with English now, and it's actually really fun. But we're having some struggles too: we continue to realize that life is happening without us in the US, and realizing this makes us feel isolated and sad. People are sick, people are having babies, people are working hard, people are falling in love, people are relaxing and eating in restaurants with friends, people are baking cakes in lovely kitchens; life is going on, and we knew it would, but as we continue to hear from people, the reality of just how far away we are is setting in. I think this realization is part of the process of uprooting your life to live in another country; I have to keep reminding myself of WHY we're here: because we want to try to make this world a better place. We miss our family and friends so much, but we want to stick this out. We're healthy, we have lots of good new friends, and we live with a wonderful Tanzanian mama: we're ok. This is our life now, and we're adjusting and growing.
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
the good, the bad & the ugly
We're in week 5 of our training, and all is going pretty smoothly. Tony and I did really well on our mid-term tests (oral Kiswahili, written Kiswahili, and technical proficiency), and we went on our first safari last weekend! Let me say one thing: having to stop your car so that a wild giraffe can cross in front of you is an experience that everyone should have! So here are some sweeping generalizations about our lives here so far:
The Good
*Going on Safari and seeing giraffes, elephants, hippos, crocodiles, 1 hyena,warthogs, impala, wildebeest, cape buffalo and zebra. In the wild. Not in a zoo. Amazing!
*Doing well on our mid term tests. Big relief. Now we have a little proof that we're doing something right.
*Being able to say some complete thoughts in Kiswahili--not many, but it's becoming a bit easier.
*We have made some really great friends; we have gotten close with a few of our fellow trainees, and this has been excellent.
*We love living with our family. Our mama is patient and really loves that we live with her (she told our trainers this.) We eat delicious food at her house, and she couldn't be nicer. We will be sad to leave.
The Bad
*Moments of horrible homesickness. Sometimes I can barely think about my family and friends, because I miss them so much.
*Moments of overwhelming frustration with learning Kiswahili. When I can't say what I want to say, and maybe I'm having a bad day anyway--this can sometimes make me want to start packing my bags.
*Malaria. We all take anti-malaria medicine regularly (I hate the idea of doing this), and none of us (Peace Corps Trainees) have gotten sick with it yet. Lots of our families have had it, and some of our teachers have, too. Some of us have had really bad diarrhea and vomiting--there are threats to our health around every corner.
The Ugly
*Smoke. People cook on wood-burning outdoor stoves, and cooking goes on all the time, so the air is constantly smoky. In addition, people burn their trash, too, so these fires are extra-big, and we inhale the ashes all day long. We also use kerosene lamps and stoves, and the smell of kerosene makes my head hurt.
*Garbage. There is virtually no garbage collection, so people burn their trash--including plastic--sometimes. The roads are covered with garbage, and kids play with it.
*Dirt. Our bus trip for our safari took 2 1/2 hours, and we took it to the park and back. We inhaled endless amounts of dirt through the open windows; our boogers were rust colored (like the roads), our eye boogers were black, and I'm still cleaning dirt out of my ears 3 days later.
We miss the comforts of home: movies, being able to pet dogs, hot showers, clean water. Hot fudge sundaes. Down comforters. Stuff like that. Some days are good and some are not-- just like in the US. Keep those letters coming--we love them so much!!
The Good
*Going on Safari and seeing giraffes, elephants, hippos, crocodiles, 1 hyena,warthogs, impala, wildebeest, cape buffalo and zebra. In the wild. Not in a zoo. Amazing!
*Doing well on our mid term tests. Big relief. Now we have a little proof that we're doing something right.
*Being able to say some complete thoughts in Kiswahili--not many, but it's becoming a bit easier.
*We have made some really great friends; we have gotten close with a few of our fellow trainees, and this has been excellent.
*We love living with our family. Our mama is patient and really loves that we live with her (she told our trainers this.) We eat delicious food at her house, and she couldn't be nicer. We will be sad to leave.
The Bad
*Moments of horrible homesickness. Sometimes I can barely think about my family and friends, because I miss them so much.
*Moments of overwhelming frustration with learning Kiswahili. When I can't say what I want to say, and maybe I'm having a bad day anyway--this can sometimes make me want to start packing my bags.
*Malaria. We all take anti-malaria medicine regularly (I hate the idea of doing this), and none of us (Peace Corps Trainees) have gotten sick with it yet. Lots of our families have had it, and some of our teachers have, too. Some of us have had really bad diarrhea and vomiting--there are threats to our health around every corner.
The Ugly
*Smoke. People cook on wood-burning outdoor stoves, and cooking goes on all the time, so the air is constantly smoky. In addition, people burn their trash, too, so these fires are extra-big, and we inhale the ashes all day long. We also use kerosene lamps and stoves, and the smell of kerosene makes my head hurt.
*Garbage. There is virtually no garbage collection, so people burn their trash--including plastic--sometimes. The roads are covered with garbage, and kids play with it.
*Dirt. Our bus trip for our safari took 2 1/2 hours, and we took it to the park and back. We inhaled endless amounts of dirt through the open windows; our boogers were rust colored (like the roads), our eye boogers were black, and I'm still cleaning dirt out of my ears 3 days later.
We miss the comforts of home: movies, being able to pet dogs, hot showers, clean water. Hot fudge sundaes. Down comforters. Stuff like that. Some days are good and some are not-- just like in the US. Keep those letters coming--we love them so much!!
Thursday, July 5, 2007
i like tea
Yes, it's true: I like tea, and this is the sentence that I can say the best in Kiswahili ("Ninapenda Chai.") My language skills are progressing slowly ("pole pole"), but at least I'm moving forward. Tony can remember more words than I can, so it sometimes feels competitive when we study together. Every single conversation in Tanzania MUST begin with an exchange of greetings (in Kiswahili), and this is an example of conversations I have every day:
"I respect you, older person."-- or-- "Problems with your life?"
"I accept your respect and I'm delighted." --or--"No problems."
"How have you slept?"
"Peacefully."
"How did you wake up?"
"Peacefully."
"How is your morning/afternoon/early evening/evening?"
"Good."
"How is your work?"
"Good."
"How is your home?"
"Good."
"How is your family?"
"Good."
"See you later."
"Thank you, see you later."
I'm not kidding--if I want to buy some of my beloved tea, the transaction must begin with the above conversation first. Tony and I are spending about 8 hours a day in class, learning Kiswahili, and we study every night and practice talking with our family. We love our family and are predicting many tears when we leave. Next week is our mid-term language test, and after that we're going on safari to Mikumi National Park--we can't wait!! We have moments of extreme frustration, mainly because we can't say exactly what we want to; we also have moments of great satisfaction when we CAN say what we want to. We cooked "Pasta American" two nights ago, and it was a big hit--I had three Tanzanian women hovering around me as I prepared it. My next project is to bake some form of cookies or cake without baking powder or baking soda--wish me luck. Tanzanians LOVE sugar, and our mama can't wait for the baking lesson. Ok, so it's time to go back home and study--keep those letters coming, because you can't imagine how good it feels to get one.
"I respect you, older person."-- or-- "Problems with your life?"
"I accept your respect and I'm delighted." --or--"No problems."
"How have you slept?"
"Peacefully."
"How did you wake up?"
"Peacefully."
"How is your morning/afternoon/early evening/evening?"
"Good."
"How is your work?"
"Good."
"How is your home?"
"Good."
"How is your family?"
"Good."
"See you later."
"Thank you, see you later."
I'm not kidding--if I want to buy some of my beloved tea, the transaction must begin with the above conversation first. Tony and I are spending about 8 hours a day in class, learning Kiswahili, and we study every night and practice talking with our family. We love our family and are predicting many tears when we leave. Next week is our mid-term language test, and after that we're going on safari to Mikumi National Park--we can't wait!! We have moments of extreme frustration, mainly because we can't say exactly what we want to; we also have moments of great satisfaction when we CAN say what we want to. We cooked "Pasta American" two nights ago, and it was a big hit--I had three Tanzanian women hovering around me as I prepared it. My next project is to bake some form of cookies or cake without baking powder or baking soda--wish me luck. Tanzanians LOVE sugar, and our mama can't wait for the baking lesson. Ok, so it's time to go back home and study--keep those letters coming, because you can't imagine how good it feels to get one.
Sunday, June 24, 2007
our goats ran away...
So here's the post you've been waiting to read: all the juicy details of our lives in Tanzania. We live in a small village, part of a town called Kilosa (6 long, bumpy hours from Dar es Salaam). We live in a brick house with an indoor squat toilet ("choo"); we have electricity (most of the time); we have a private water well in our courtyard, and two times a day the water is routed inside, so WE HAVE A (cold) SHOWER AND RUNNING WATER! We live with a widowed mother of 5 grown children--she has the most amazing name, but I can't post it--who appears to be in her late 40s, her 18 year old son, and her ADORABLE 4 year old granddaughter. Our life here is very peaceful, and we are living in luxury, compared to most other people in our village. We even have a proper dining room, and our mama has a car and owns two businesses--we're spoiled. Our mama loves us, and she is incredibly kind and patient with us--she is taking her role (teaching us Tanzanian culture) VERY seriously, and she has infinite patience with us as we stumble and make constant mistakes in Kiswahili. We love her very much, and feel very lucky to have been placed in such a welcoming home for our 10 weeks of training. We have 3 goats--they ran away on Thursday, but my "kaka" (brother) found them. We have 4 cows. We have lots of chickens. We eat with our hands (beans, rice, cooked bananas, a polenta-like dish called "ugali," spinach, peas, tons of fresh fruit every day--we're spoiled, remember??, chapati), and we really like the food. It takes us 5 minutes to walk from our house into the center of Kilosa, which is where I'm writing this from. We have a tv, a computer, a printer, and a photocopier in our house, but we don't use them. We spend 8 hours every day in school (with 4 other Peace Corps trainees), 6 days a week, learning to speak Kiswahili. This is fatiguing, but we're getting better every day. I can now speak Kiswahili like a two year old Tanzanian child. When we're not in school, we are studying or practicing speaking with our family and people in our village. We washed two weeks worth of laundry today BY HAND, and it took almost 3 hours. Life is so incredibly hard here--people work so hard, and Tony and I feel like our lives have been very privileged. We love being here; we have moments of tremendous frustration, usually because we can't yet say what we want to. Here's our address for the next 9 weeks:
Carla Stanke
Peace Corps
PO Box 9123
Dar es Salaam
Tanzania
If you would like to send any goodies for our super-cute 4 year old "dada" (sister), feel free--I'm thinking crayons, coloring books, school supplies, etc. Our basic needs are met--we don't really need anything. We miss lovely soap and chocolate, however--just so you know. Once we get better at Kiswahili, we will start learning how to do our jobs. Not many people speak English, so we are completely immersed in Tanzanian life--it's working. We're not leaving!
Carla Stanke
Peace Corps
PO Box 9123
Dar es Salaam
Tanzania
If you would like to send any goodies for our super-cute 4 year old "dada" (sister), feel free--I'm thinking crayons, coloring books, school supplies, etc. Our basic needs are met--we don't really need anything. We miss lovely soap and chocolate, however--just so you know. Once we get better at Kiswahili, we will start learning how to do our jobs. Not many people speak English, so we are completely immersed in Tanzanian life--it's working. We're not leaving!
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
hamjambo! ("hello to all!")
Hello from Kilosa!!! Tony and I moved in with our host family last Sunday, and we are very happy here. We have a mama (but I can't name her--Peace Corps rules) who really seems to like us, and is being VERY patient and kind with us as we learn to speak Kiswahili. Basically we spend EVERY DAY in groups of five doing "Community Based Training," which is learning how to speak and get along in Tanzanian communities. My Kiswahili is already better than yesterday, but it's a very slow process. Every day we walk around and meet people from our tiny village, and today I met two Masai women--they were wearing their full, traditional Masai attire, and I exchanged pleasantries with them and shook their hands--culturally shocking experience for me, for sure!! Ok, we just discovered this internet cafe, and it's almost time for it to close, so I'll write more in the next few days. Kwa herini! ("Goodbye to all!")
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
we're here!!
I'm writing this from the Peace Corps Headquarters in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania! We arrived last evening at 10pm, after a smooth journey from Philly via Amsterdam. We all went as a group (we were met by Peace Corps people) to our hotel (kind of like a training compound) and crashed--major jet lag. Our room is very simple, kind of like a tiny dorm room with a double bed (and a mosquito net), and we share a bathroom with another couple. We really like our group--wide range of backgrounds and personalities. I'M IN AFRICA--can you believe it?? So we're here in Dar for a couple of days, going through lots of orientation stuff, then we go to Kilosa for 10 weeks of intensive training. Tony and I found out that we will be living together for training--we were initially told that we might not, so we're really happy and relieved. The next ten weeks of our lives will be focusing on learning Swahili, learning about Tanzanian culture, learning our jobs, and learning how to stay safe and healthy while living here. We move in with our host family on Saturday or Sunday, and I'm very eager to meet them. My anxieties are starting to melt--we've met lots of volunteers who are living here now, and they are thriving. Check out the picture of our group on Tony's blog (we took the photo right before we boarded the plane in NYC): www.antnystoney.blogspot.com. We're leaving the headquarters any minute, so I need to end for the day, but I did learn something else today that will make it easier for me to stay in touch: it's FREE for me to receive incoming calls on my cell phone (once I get one!), and it will be pretty cheap for you if you call with Skype. Worth investigating. Time to take my malaria medicine!!
Sunday, June 10, 2007
hello from philly!
We're in Philadelphia right now, attending what the Peace Corps calls "staging." Staging is where we meet all the other Americans who are going to Tanzania with us, learn about Peace Corps policy and procedure, and prepare for our first days in Tanzania. One thing that is required of me in my blog, for previous posts and future posts: the contents of this website are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the US government or the Peace Corps. There--fulfilled that requirement. So I think we're going with a really good group of people: there are 25 of us all together (10 of us are members of married couples, 5 people are older than Tony and I, and the rest are 20-somethings.) Interesting group--we're all either Health Education Volunteers or Environmental Volunteers, and it seems like, for the most part, we'll all basically get along. Tony and I had another major re-packing session tonight (6 times now? 7 times?), and we'll re-pack again in Dar es Salaam, the city in Tanzania that we're flying into (reason for the future re-pack: we don't need ALL of our stuff for our 10 weeks of training). We arrive in Dar on Tuesday evening, spend two nights in a hotel there, then on Thursday we go to a city called Kilosa where we'll spend two nights in a different hotel before moving in with our host family for 10 weeks of training. I'm excited, I'm nervous, I'm pre-menstrual, I'm exhausted. We got dinner delivered to our hotel room the last two nights (Indian last night, Thai tonight), and ate in our room, watching bad tv. It feels like the hardest goodbyes are behind me, because everyone I care about is someplace other than here--I'm ready to go. Stay tuned!!
Saturday, June 9, 2007
so long...
It's 6:15 am on June 9, and we're leaving my parent's house in 15 minutes. We barely slept last night. This all feels like a very big deal to me right now. I think I'm most afraid of missing my family and friends--I know I can adjust to anything else if I have enough time. So this is my last post from Wisconsin--keep watching, because I'm sure they will get more interesting!
Thursday, June 7, 2007
new insights
Earlier in the evening, on the way to sell my car, I had a major realization that was quite sobering: the past year and a half has been an endless lesson in surrendering. We surrendered when our dog died--no control over that heartbreaking situation. We surrendered when we sold our house--our stuff is in storage and for the first time in our adult lives, we do not have a place to call our own. We surrendered when we quit our jobs--no more source of income, making everything feel extra scary. We surrendered when we sold our vehicles--no way to get ourselves around without asking someone else for help. We surrendered when we went to Asia for our holiday in March--had no idea what to expect. And now this: surrendering to Tanzania, with every single variable completely unknown. Where will we live? How will we bathe? Will we be together (for the first ten weeks of training)? What will we eat? Will people be nice to us? Will I get a massage in the next two years? I might be ready for the scales to tip in the other direction, but maybe that's precisely the lesson that I'm supposed to be learning: that I can't really control anything, anyway, so I might as well just go along for the ride. Quite a task for a control-freak Taurus like myself. After this realization, Tony and I said goodbye to his family at his sister Jeanie's house, and it was really nice to sit around and talk and laugh. I think I might finally be packed, too--six must have been the magic number. If it's not in my suitcase by now, just send it to me, ok??
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
Is this right?
So I'm sitting here, trying to figure out how to create my blog--INSTEAD of packing for my huge move to Tanzania, which is happening in 3 days. Actually, we fly to Philly in 3 days; then it's off to Tanzania on 11 June, to start our service with the Peace Corps. So far I've packed and unpacked 5 times, and I think another round of the same activity is coming. I'm excited and nervous and nauseous, consumed with, I'm sure, ridiculously silly thoughts: will I have enough tampons? Are my clothes ok? Will anyone like me? Will I like anyone? Can I buy good lotion in Tanzania? So for right this moment, I'm wasting time, figuring out how to post things on my blog. I'm sure getting a pedicure and a massage today didn't help me get ready any faster, either...
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