Men with Fish

Story #1 - So I was on the daladala today heading into Tukuyu. I was standing because there were no seats left. A man in the front, sitting next to the driver, started talking to me. By talking, I really mean, yelling across the dala so that I could hear him. I told him my name was Megan (my Tanzanian alias when I don't want to give people my real name) and that I was coming from Kyela (where I say I teach when I don't want people to know where I live) and we went through all the formalities of introductions in Tanzania- still yelling across the dala. He was a nice guy. We had a good conversation. When I went to get off the dala he was like "oh wait, let me give you a fish." At first, I couldn't really connect the Swahili words together and asked him to repeat it. "Let me give you a fish. Do you eat fish?" Afraid that taking a fish from a Tanzanian is the same as accepting a marriage proposal, I politely denied. But I thought it was funnny, in America, would you ever offer to give a random stranger a fish? Ps- the fish here aren't your nice slabs of salmon we see in the States. It's a dried, whole fish - eyes and all, tons of bones, and not very yummy. It's like saying "hey, you're me new friend, let me give you a can of sardines". That's pretty normal here. It made me laugh.

Story #2: Last night I went down to the basketball court at school because I heard people bouncing a ball and I was bored. So there were 5 guys just shooting around. Me, making 6 people, allowed them to play a 3 on 3 game, so they invited me to play. I said yes. So imagine this picture: 5 Tanzanian dudes and 1 white girl. Nobody took me seriously. We played seven games of seven. My team won 5 of them. I scored 3-6 of the points in every game. By the end, one of the guys on the other team just kept yelling, "don't let the mzungu get a basket". It was funny because they were so shocked that a white GIRL could beat them at basketball. It was funny and tt was a little of an ego boost too. It was a lot of fun and it was great to get some exercise.

So enough of the stories, and some of the facts. I actually started teaching this past week. A lot more students have showed up, but still not all. I am supposed to have 3 streams of math and 1 stream of physics. Math is going great. The students are starting to be a little more willing to answer m questions, and more importantly are starting to ask their own questions once in a while, which is good. Like I said, I normally teach 3 streams, IIIA, IIIB, and IIIC. On Wednesday, I walked into my IIIC class and there were no desks or charis or students. So I went to the second master and asked what the heck happened to my class. He had no idea. So I went to the Academic mistress. She said she consolidated the IIIC class into IIIA and IIIB but "just for this week" because there still weren't a lot of students in the classes.. WHAT! It's Wednesday! Is it really worth emptying out an entire classroom for 2 days. Apparently. Anyways, that wouldn't have been too big of a deal, but all three classes were at different lessons. So I had to go back and review starting from the second lesson. But, hopefully the students understand well, since many of them were taught the same lesson more that once.

So that's about it. Still no pictures, although I do have a camera. Hopefully next post. But no guarantees. Hope everyone is enjoying the snow and the cold. Go sledding and build a snowman for me!

Teaching

So school opened monday, January 10th. I was expecting to start teaching Monday January 10. As of yesterday, Friday, 20 of the 90 or so form 3 students had arrived to school. On of my classes only had 6 of the 32 students. Once all the students arrive, it'll be a bit tough. I only count 18 desks in the room. I gave them a quiz. The mean was a 58, with the lowest score being a 21. The highest was a 95! What that means...I'm going to have a tough year teaching Form 3 math and physics, when the students don't understand Form 1 physics. I will make so. All of my students seem very nice and I am really excited to have the students back and to be starting work!

Slowly, I am learning the school rules, learning what is expected of me, and learning the school schedule. Some of the more important school rules, as far as I can gather are: polish your shoes everyday, wash your shirt. Being on time isn't quite as important as polished shoes. I feel like an mshamba (redneck) because I haven't polished my shoes since I've been here. I need to get some shoe polish. I have, right now, 21 periods a week, but, according to the schedule, I am only teaching one of the streams physics, and I think I am supposed to be teaching all of Form 3 physics. So, when that glitch is fixed, I will be teaching 27 periods, which is a good amount. Enough to keep me busy without stressing me out.

So, the main purpose of this purpose was to give you my friend Andrew's blog. http://andrewshooktoafrica.blogspot.com Andrew is the closest volunteer to me and has also posted pictures on his blog! The last 5 or 6 are of my site, so you can see the view from my yard. Good news: I will be getting a camera sooner than expected, so hopefullly will be able to start posting pictures. Enjoy the pictures. Maybe next post, i'll be able to post some of my own!



Next week, I am actually going to start teaching (with or without students)

Christmas. New Years.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Years everyone! My first holiday season away from home was very nice. I went to Mbeya town to spend some time with some of the volunteers from that area, and the kid's that they work with. There was a Christmas tree, stockings, we sang Christmas carols, and Christmas morning the kids got to open up presents. It even rained all day so the "weather outside (was) dreary)". We stuck around Mbeya for a few days after that, waiting for banks to open.

I returned to site for New Years. Andrew(the volunteer who lives closest to me) and I cooked brownies (and ate them all in one sitting!) and bean burgers, watched 28 Days Later, played cards, then I went to bed at about 12:02. It was a crazy evening.

I start teaching next Monday. My mkuu has been in Dar for the majority of the break so I still do not know my schedule or my responsibilities as a "class master" and "dorm headmistress". I still have a week, I'm sure I'll figure it out. I've written and typed up my pre-class exams, but just asked, and to print the tests and then photocopy enough for all the students will be about the equivalent of $25, 1/8 of my monthly living allowance. I'll have to ask my headmistress what to do.

Things at site are going really well. I've made several friends (two of whom I can't walk by without giving them a high-five, low-five combo). That's pretty much all I have for now. Things have been pretty uneventful and I've been adjusting to my site more and more everyday. Give me a week, once school starts and students return, and I'll have a lot more to say, I am sure.

I hope everyone had just as a relaxing holiday season as I did!