January 20, 2011
I cannot tell you how much fun I had this last time that I went into town. It was so much fun. Randi, Claire, and me just hung out, made amazing food, and watched chick flicks. It is really weird because when I am at Claire’s house I don’t feel like I am in Africa, I feel like I am at college. We all just sit around and talk while we are all doing our work. It is so much fun. They are the best, I couldn’t of asked for better people to be placed with. We get along great and have a lot of fun together. We made sushi with salmon, caramel corn, bagels with rosemary, salsa and ate it with the tortilla chips that Jenna carried all the way over here from the US, and crepes with vegetables. I have to say it was some of the best homemade food ever. I am trying to think of fun food to make when we all go into town because it is so much fun to make food together and eat it. I hate taking the time when it is just me, so it is really nice when I am with people. Tell me if you guys have any ideas for food that I could cook here.
I felt like I somewhat accomplished things, I was able to catch up on all my emails, send out some letters, talk to offices that I have been trying to talk to you, and read some more research papers. My professor Blair also sent me some books about livestock which was awesome so me and Randi looked at this for a while. Claire thinks we are nuts, why would we ever want to have a pet pig or goat. Every time we see one she reminds us that they are going to grow. I don’t think she has to worry, I really want one, but I don’t think I want to spend the money on it or have to ask someone to take care of it when I am not around. But I still might cave one of these days.
I came home and went and a talked to a member of my government to talk about possible projects, only to find out that our water is seriously having problems. People have stopped paying the 500shs each month and as a result there is no money to fix the water taps. Which is just great because the 2 taps nearest me are both broken. I am not sure what the community thinks of this yet, as they have lots of water at the moment due to the rains. If this is not addressed though, we are going to have water problems even more than normal. Oh the joys of living in Africa.
I also went to a meeting to again find no one there. This one does and doesn’t make me made because I didn’t really want to go. And all I had to tell them was that I might be able to help them later on, but at the moment I am focusing on these certain projects. But this did get me to thinking that I really, really need to have a talk with people about time management and what I expect. Because these I think are one my biggest frustrations which in turn lead me into bad moods and then they just spiral from there. So hopefully we can work this out.
I came back to see J1 starting to weed my garden. I was yelling at her, but she just kept doing it. I have so blessed to have such an amazing friend, she really is just like my mom and sisters rolled into one. Of course she told me that I didn’t know how to farm because tractors do it for me. So she and all the neighbors came over to show me. I don’t think I impressed them at all. I think it might just be me, but I don’t have a problem how people get rid of weeds as long as there gone. But with everyone there was definitely a right and wrong way and I was definitely doing it wrong. So I think I need to practice a lot. Luckily I have lots more weeding to do.
While I wrote this, I had the same bug attack me like 15 times. How did he keep finding me after I kept trying to kill him. He is dead now. Also saw a scorpion today in the garden, killed that as well. And I did see a really cool yellow bug. I need to get a insect book, it would be interesting to see what types of insects are found here.
The goal this week is to get some sort of research proposal going or to at least get some ideas onto paper. Wish me luck.
I also talked to my mom and Andrew this week. It was really great, especially because I have not had a chance to talk to them since before the holidays. It was really nice to catch up. Andrew is auditing a class at Northwestern and is starting a new job in the next few weeks. I am so proud on him, this is good too because it means at least one of us is going to be successful. Also my mom and dad have been redoing the cottage and send me updates. OMG it already looks so different. I cannot wait to see it in person. It is going to be like a whole new cottage.
January 21, 2011
I have been waking up pretty late lately. I just cannot seem to get myself out of bed, I am so comfortable and I since everyone leaves really early for their farms, it is so quiet I can actually sleep. I love it. It is funny though every morning J1 greets me on the way to her farm through my window. This is at like 6 in the morning. It reminds me that I am living on top of everyone, both a comfort and a burden.
So I finally got up and decided to start cleaning only to find out that termites had set up residence in my floor mat. It was unreal how far they had got in a matter of days. So it took me awhile to get that all cleaned up, especially because that meant that I couldn’t put off mopping. Then I did some laundry. I still cannot believe how fast everything gets dirty.
The WEO (ward executive officer) then came over and we went and looked at some more water pipes. Only to help me realize even more that water is going to be a big issue. I don’t think there is a single tap that is not broken in some way and no one seems to care at the moment which sucks because after the rains come we are going to have a huge problem. I really hope they can get their act together before then because I don’t want to have to go to town to get water or pay to have it brought to me. I really think in the current state this could become a reality, but I hope I am wrong.
After dinner, I was invited to a neighbor’s house to pray together before bed. It was kind of cool, the dad sang and then everyone else sang. It was defiantly different than my usual Hail Mary or Our Father. I find it so interesting the amount of singing and dancing that are done together in Church here compared to home.
I also made popcorn with Lawry’s salt. So good, it reminds me of movie nights at home.
January 22, 2011
As is becoming my norm, I woke up again really late today. My villagers must think I am so lazy now. But then I read a book, did some laundry, and made biscuits that I didn’t cook all the way through. Not too much exciting happened today, all the kids came over as usual and we read magazines. I then did a little weeding in the garden and fixed my water filter. A pretty boring day, I also made another meeting with my village government so hopefully this time the meeting will actually happen, we shall see.
I have been trying for the last 2 months to go the farm with J1. And she continues to tell me she isn’t going or it is too far. Hopefully by the end of the season, she will let me go with her.
I watched some of the boys playing cards today. I still am not sure how exactly to play but it looks close to UNO. I am hopefully going to learn it and be able to play with them. They wanted me to learn today but I didn’t have my dictionary and was actually really tired from all the kids today. It is amazing how tired one can get even when they are doing nothing.
My Swahili is getting worse by the day. I really need to work on this, but I get so comfortable in my bubble of a village where everyone understands me or at least knows what I am trying to say. I really need to start studying again. Even J1 said that my Swahili is getting bad. It doesn’t help that Claire and Paul came here and they are amazing at it, but it still could be a lot better. I have lived here for 6 months are should be better than I am. Luckily I can still get the point across even if it is like nails on the chalk board for whoever I am talking to.
January 23, 2011
Again I did nothing today, but it was really nice. I didn’t let the children into my house until the afternoon so I had a nice morning where I just read my book and drank tea. I also worked on my homework a little. Still not sure where to go but Blair suggested just start trying to write something and see where it goes. Smart man. I feel a little better now, but I know I still have a long way to go.
I started running today if you can call it that. I ran for 15 minutes and it was horrible. I think my body forgot how to run, not that I was any good at it before. My legs were all jelloy like on Run Fat Boy Run. I am really lucky stairs do not exist in my village. The kids got a kick out of me running and stretching. I am starting to get used to this being laughed at and stared at all the time.
I am reading Three Cups of Tea right now. Again everyone loves this book, but so far I cannot see it. Hopefully that changes.
Oh yeah and I think I broke my ipod. The verdict is still out, but this would happen because Han just left. Luckily I brought my iriver too, so hopefully that still works. Not sure how it broke but all it will do now is beep. This cannot be a good sign. If anyone knows how to fix it, email me because I really liked the music on it.
January 24, 2011
So much happened today I am not sure where to begin. As usual, I did not have my meeting, so now I am cutting the government out of my plans which is fine, it would have been nice to have them with me but it is just too much of a hassle. But because I didn’t have this meeting this morning, it spiraled me into a horrible state. I was wanted to get out of here so bad. I am just so sick of all of this. I know that I am not going to make a huge difference here but at the same time, please give me the time that I deserve. I really need the bullshitting to stop. This is one of the first things that will be addressed if a meeting every happens. I also really hate how my mood can change so fast. It freaks me out, this has never happened to me before. I think it is a mixture of being here and taking malaria medications. So instead of malaria, I have horrible mood swings and sleepless nights. I think I would rather have malaria.
I finally got back on track and did some reading and tried to prepare to have my first meeting with the village to talk about chickens. Hopefully this goes better than the village government meetings.
Someone told me that if you boil water and beans together and put it in a thermos over night the beans will be done in the morning. This is definitely not true. Which is really sad because this would have saved me so much work, time, and fuel. This also means that I will be eating less beans. But I still get protein by way of peanuts and peanut butter.
I also ran again today, I am making a calendar tonight and taping it to my door to help me stay on track. All my muscles really hurt, I am so out of shape it is embarrassing.
And I washed my hair today and used conditioner, I forgot how wonderful conditioner is. I am also trying to have better hygiene out in the village. Not that it was bad before, but it definitely could be better. WE might even try a shower everyday now that I have a huge surplus of water.
January 25, 2011
As usual I am really frustrated. Only this time it is almost all my own doing. Earlier this week, a baba came to me and said he wanted me to pray with his family every night. I said that I would do it like once a week, but somehow I got pulled into every night. Which I have been meaning to talk to the baba about, but as usual I put it off. I missed one night and they thought I had some big problem so I went tonight because I still have yet to have the conversation with him and he wasn’t there. Here I tried to do as I say and what happens I could totally have just stayed home. Instead I went to his house and his kids asked me a thousand questions and one of the girls talked smack on me. Of course I didn’t hear everything, but I heard enough to hear one of her brother’s say that she can understand you (me). Oh and I also told them that we don’t have banana is the US. They asked all these questions about my house but when I think of my house, I think of Tanzania now so when I was asked about banana’s. I said no because she said “do you have banana’s at your house.” And of course I was thinking, god your asking me for stuff already. Only to realize she was wondering about the US. But at this point I didn’t feel like correcting myself. From this I have come to 2 conclusions: First I am starting Swahili lessons 2 times a week again so that I understand everything that is being said and not just the jist and secondly I am just going to be blunt with people from now on. Forget culturally appropriate if they are going to be rude to me, I have no problem being rude back.
Also I helped a neighbor with her English homework today. And realized even more how bad the school systems are here. The homework was terrible, I even had a hard time doing it and it should have been preschool work. How do they expect the kids to learn if the teachers cannot even teach. I am very happy not to be teacher right now, but I am really sad too because how are they suppose to learn if the teachers don’t even know the material. I am very happy that I have received the education that I have. I know I take it for granted but I am reminded a lot here of what I have and don’t have.
Reading The Girl who Played with Fire right now and mom you are right, it is really good. I am having a hard time doing anything else. Which luckily isn’t a problem because I have hardly anything to do until I have my meetings. I also went running again today. I cannot decide which I should try and train for yet the 25K, 10K, or the 5K. I know I have all this time but I honestly don’t know if I could finish a 25 or 10K even if I did train for it. I am going to look at work out plans this weekend and make a decision. I am also going to talk to my friend Randi about it. (she runs every day and is running the Mt. Kili marathon in Feb, she is insane) I am also really lazy still, cannot seem to get up early but the last 2 days one of the mama’s has come to my door really early to get her phone charged so I think I might need to start getting up a little earlier or at least get up and open my doors so it appears that I got up.
Also I looked up today while cooking and met a new friend. I now have conformation that a bat does live in my house. Not too happy about this. I know he is harmless but I still cannot get pictures of him attacking me and biting me out of my head. I know this will never happen it is right up there with sharks attacking in a pool (James Bond anyone? Stephi you’ll get this if you read this). I know it will never happen, but the mind plays weird tricks, especially when you live by yourself in a third world country.
Cell phone is going crazy as well. Very nerve racking, I keep trying to use it, but I have no network in places that I have always had it.
January 26, 2011
I am sitting in my bed minding my own business reading a book when a cockroach comes flying towards me and lands on my pillow. I freaked out and hit it with the flashlight and it flew off my bed but where I am still not sure. I didn’t know cockroaches could even fly, I knew they had wings but I had never actually seen one fly. This is also one of the first cockroaches that I have seen alive. Usually there dead on their backs or I see parts of them that fell off as the lizards were trying to eat it. I hate cockroaches so much.
I was in the cooking mood today and attempted to make oatmeal bread. I was lazy and used the yeast that I bought last week instead of going to the duka to buy more and because of that one point my bread sucked. I am still eating it but it didn’t really rise. Also I put it in the sun to rise and was inside finishing The girl who played with fire (awesome book, I really want to read the last one now) and the kids came without me hearing and they took some of my dough to eat. I could have screamed. I am so happy to be leaving for a few days tomorrow. These kids are driving me nuts. Yesterday they were throwing rocks at my roof while I was in the shower and today they were stealing my dough. And what is even more frustrating is I lack the skills to properly yell at them. All I had to say to them the last few days is “I saw you do that” and “ I dislike”. I really need to work on my language skills. So in retaliation I am not letting them look at any of my magazines or play any of my games. We will see how long it takes before I finally give in, but these kids are walking all over me. And the sad part is that I let them.
January 27, 2011
I again spent another day not having a meeting. I cannot even believe this. But for some reason, this did not bother me as much as not having the last meeting. The only think that sucks is I went in to the office in the morning to make sure it was still on and they said yes. So I did nothing for the whole day except prepare and read. I have now almost finished the Kite Runner.
Other than that not to much is new. Although I did get eaten by mosquitoes really bad last night. To the point that I didn’t even sleep. It has been a long time since a night without sleep. I am not sure if it was the actual mosquitoes or just the sound of them buzzing in my ears that makes me live in fear, but something does.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Monday, January 17, 2011
The NEW Year
December 24, 2010
Merry Christmas!! After days of trying to figure out where Hannah was we arrived in Iringa to go to Ruaha National Park. But of course Hannah called the minute we arrived at the nicer hotel and me and Jenna were attempting to go snorkeling. She was just lucky that it was starting to rain. So we picked up Hannah and began our vacation.
We saw some SWEET animals today, which is good considering Hannah and Jenna have been in country less than 1 week and saw all the animals on the way to Iringa and I slept the entire ride through Mikumi National Park. (this is an 8-10 hour ride, with 1 hour in the park) So anyways we saw: Impala, Elephants, waterbuck, Hippo, Lions, Giraffe, Crocodiles, zebras, and lots of really cool birds that I cannot remember the names of. Cannot wait until tomorrow. And now we are staying at the coolest hotel ever, I feel extremely rich. We have our own cottage on the river with the coolest bathroom/ shower ever. (don’t worry, we took lots of pictures)
January 9, 2011
So I have been on a whirlwind for the last month and a half. First I went to seminar in Morrogorro and got to hang out with all of my friends for 2 whole weeks and then Hannah and Jenna came to visit. After that a girl whose parents both served in PC came and stayed with me for a little bit and now I am back in the village by myself. (not sure how I feel about this yet)
Seminar was great, although when I first got there I was really overwhelmed because I went from not having a single person to hang out with, to 40 different people to hang out with along with electricity and internet. It was so overwhelming. It was great though, every day we went to seminar from 8 to 5 and then we got to do whatever we wanted. I ate a lot of really good food. Lots of pizza.
I came home one night to our house flooded because a tap was left open. (they periodically turned the water off, so you never knew if the water was on or not) this also left my room a disaster zone, especially because I left a lot of books on the floor. I then was walking home one night with 2 friends and one of them got robbed. It sucked, never even saw it coming. The guy just grabbed her purse which was around her wrist and ran. One lucky guy, he got 2
phones and a camera.
After seminar, Hannah and Jenna came to visit which was awesome. More awesome after Han actually got here. The weather seemed to be a large inconvenience for me. But she finally got here and we were able to start our vacation. After Han got here we boarded a bus and went to Iringa which is a 10 hour bus ride with a little stretch through Mikumi National Park. I slept most of the ride but Jenna and Han stayed up and saw all kinds of animals. (it figures that I have been in country for 6 months and have seen none, while they have been here 2 days and have already seen them all. They thought that was hilarious) We spent a day walking around Iringa before going on safari. It was awesome, we then stayed in the park for Christmas Eve and it was great. We ate dinner in a tree house and had hippos eating dinner outside our little cottage. Jenna thought this was awesome, me and han opted for bed instead. The next morning we also walked by a hippo. He was really close, only to find out later that a park ranger was killed by a hippo in a walking tour the a few weeks ago. Good thing we choose a car. We saw lots of cool animals. We saw lion, lions eating hippos, crocodiles, giraffes, zebras, ostriches, hippos, elephants, lots of birds and lizards, and tons of Impala. (impala are like the buffalo of Yellowstone) After safari, where somewhere along the way Jenna gained a friend in the form of a tick we headed to my village. It was a little weird being back especially knowing that I was going to be leaving right away again, but everyone was awesome and really happy to see me. I showed them around my village and they met all the villagers and children. They also learned to cook ugali, eat with their hands, use a choo, wash clothes with their hands, carry water on their heads, and wear traditional African clothing. They said they loved it and thought my house and everything was a lot better than I was saying. I still stand by my words, especially since they were only here a few days, After my village, we headed back to Dar for some beach time. It was awesome. We stayed at a great place that had an amazing view and great food. We went snorkeling and I am sad to say I didn’t enjoy it all the way. I swallowed more salt water than I think I have ever in my life. I did see some cool fish but I think I liked it better in Hawaii. I also think I might actually really enjoy snorkeling in Little Whitefish lake the best. (who would have thought that) We did see a turkey fish, which was really cool. But it was still really fun. It is amazing how intense the sun is, I think we used more sunscreen in a few days than we use all year in Michigan. It was a great trip, I had so much fun hanging out with Jenna and Hannah. Having Jenna around made me ask myself again why I ever left steamboat, I think this a question that will be asked the rest of my life.
You will be happy to know that between all of us, we took over 1000 pictures, most of them being Jennas. It is also interesting because depending on whose pictures you are looking at, it looks like only 2 of us went on vacation. I will try and put the pictures up soon.
Sorry this is pretty much word vomit, there is just too much to say at the moment.
January 10, 2011
I still have lots more to tell you. I guess I should start with when I arrived home the story that the children in my village told me after I asked about a car that was driving through the village. Cars drive by on the main road fairly regularly but this car was driving on the foot path. So this is the story and before I begin, I am fine. On Dec.31 at around dusk my neighbor went to the store that is like 100 feet from her house to buy something. She didn’t lock her door but made sure that it was latched. She returned to find that it was open and that a thief was in her house. She yelled and a neighbor came with his machete and hit the thief in the neck, back, arm, and leg. The thief was then taken to the hospital where he died a few days later. The thief was a guy from our village, who I think I bought charcoal from. He lived next to my friend Jessica. Although this is a horrible story, I think that this is also a good thing because it tells would be thieves to not FUCK with my neighborhood. (sorry for the language) I still feel very safe in my house and everything, I always lock my doors and shut them when I leave to go into the village and at dusk. The only thing I do not understand about this, is why did nobody touch my house or try and get in. I have been gone off and on for like the last 1, I just don’t understand. I am very, very thankful that this did not happen to me, if this would have, I am pretty sure that I would either be on a plane home right now or living with a family in the village. Also you can tell life is just different here because everyone talks about the incident as if they are saying what they just had for dinner. There is no emotions or anything, it is very matter a fact.
But again, everything is fine, so don’t worry. Although I have to say I am a little jumpy more than normal sometimes now. I now have a bat to add to my household friends as well as a few sparrows that make lots of noise on my roof to the point that you might actually start to believe a person is on my roof. I also found out today that I am home to a few nests of wasps. The worst thing about this, is that I just cleaned and now I have to get all the nests down which means more cleaning.
Han brought me some m and m’s. I opened the bag today and am happy to announce that I have not eaten the entire bag yet. I am hopping I can make it last at least a few days if not a week.
Also reading a James Patterson book that Aunt Diane gave to me. It is really good. I have never read any of his stuff before, but I really like it.
I have a meeting with the government tomorrow to go over my seminar and possible projects, I am interested to see how this goes. I have also realized that I am not going to be able to do all the projects that I was hoping to do. There just is not enough time.
January 11, 2011
As usual I got up early this morning to meet with a villager only to have him come 2 hours later. Oh how I love it when people are late, especially when I get up extra early. Anyways I went with him to his house to help him plant trees only to find out that he didn’t get the trees yet. Did I mention that he lives an hour away by bike. So I am at his house and we are talking about projects. The last volunteer gave out a lot of money, much of which he benefited from. And he asks about buying things, so I go into my whole shpil about how I am here to educate and not give out money. I am not sure this went over well but I think he understands now. So on the way back it starts to rain and then it pours. I think I found myself in one of the biggest rain storms I have ever been in. I could not see 1 foot in front of me, it was horrible. All the villagers were huddled in houses, but I was already soaked so I just walked the rest of the way home. They all got a good kick out of this.
I then tried to have a meeting with the government about my work, to have no one present within the office. I feel like things are going to start very, very slowly. But hopefully everything turns out well. I also made posters to hang in the village office that explain what my role is here and what my counterparts role is as well. Hopefully this helps straighten out some of the confusion.
Also finished the James Patterson book. It was great. I now am still trying to get through The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Not sure how long this is going to take, I know that you all said it was great but I am having a hard time getting into it. I also have started to freak myself out with the book, so this now might be a book that is only read during the day time. I really want to finish it soon though.
Also if anyone was wondering, I have not finished the m and m’s yet. I am really proud of this at the moment. I am also craving a bagel with cream cheese right now, which really sucks because there is no way in hell that I will be eating one of these before I get back on US soil. Hopefully I can be eating one in May. (Trying to get home for 2 weeks in May for Han’s graduation and the Old Kent 5 K)
Also I hear Auburn won. That is awesome.
On other random notes, Grandma my dad told me about Grandpa so do not worry about having to have that conversation with me. I think this is a really good thing. Maybe now you can come visit me in Tanzania or even better go to Poland and hang out with Leonia.
January 12, 2011
I am finally learning to sleep in. I didn’t get up until 8 today but I did have Jessica walk by at about 6 and say good morning. Surprisingly I heard her. So I am not sure if 8 actually counts.
I then spent most of the morning doing laundry and planting my tomato plants. I kept going back and forth about where to plant them. I finally decided on inside my courtyard. This decision was helped by a 7 year old that told me that I planted them outside someone would steal them. I decided I didn’t want to have to deal with that can of worms. But I do find it interesting that in a country where the first thing that they tell you is how peaceful the country is, they sure talk a lot about thieves. I just don’t get it, everyday I think I have a conversation about thieves and to make sure everything is in my house at night. They don’t even want me to leave anything in my courtyard. It is exhausting. It is also interesting because in Grand Rapids, I definitely don’t live in the best neighborhood, yet I leave stuff out all the time in my backyard without having to worry. I really like that. Also if Tanzanians are so concerned with theft, what do they do about their farms. There is no way that they can keep an eye out on all that land.
I have been playing a dice game (Aunt Diane gave it to me, thanks) with the children in my village and still am not sure how to explain the rules and how the game works. They are slowly getting part of it, little by little. It is so foreign to me that these kids have never seen die before or have no clue what a pair or small straight are. I cannot even fathom as to how to teach them because it is so second nature to me. I am so thankful that I grew up playing games with the family and at the cottage. I am hoping that by the time I leave here, they will have a grasp of it. I was also thinking it could be fun for the carpenters in the village to make wooden dice.
Also, almost finished with The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. You were right it does get really good at the end, but I half to say it sure takes a long time to reel ya in, I definitely would have stopped reading the book if it wasn’t for all of you people telling how good it was. That and the fact that I am in the middle of Africa with nothing better to do, except maybe my homework and think of a research project. It is interesting how I still manage in the middle of nowhere to put homework off.
January 13, 2011
So today I almost found myself in the middle of another full on tsunami. I was just about to leave J2’s house when she said to wait. I said ok but I was really thinking, it is not going to rain. Not 1 minute later there was a huge downpour. It was insane. I am so happy that I was not soaked this time. Although after the rain stopped I was on my way home and almost fell like 10 times. I am pretty sure I am going to take a really big fall in the next week and be covered from head to toe in mud. I am not looking forward to this. I was also walking home and a group of kids came running out of nowhere and into the village. I kept walking but then noticed that everyone was watching them. Apparently a dog needed to die. My guess is rabies but I don’t know. Anyways guess how they kill it, the school kids (primary school that is) run after the dog with sticks and beat it to death. Very humane wouldn’t you say. Surprisingly this doesn’t bother me as much as I thought it would.
I went to a seminar on corruption today, and was able to make out exactly one word today. Corruption. I think my Swahili is getting worse. There were about 30 people at the seminar so that was good, hopefully this will cut down on the amount of corruption in the village. But who knows. The seminar was held in a church, I find that very interesting.
I finished both the m and m’s and The Girl with the Dragon tattoo today. Both we awesome.
I forgot to tell you, the last night I was in Dar es Salaam, I stayed with an American family that works for the Embassy. It was like being back in the US, it was crazy, they had a real kitchen and everything. They also had air conditioning. I think had one of the best night sleeps ever, but it didn’t last long because I had to be up at 4:30. But I now understand a little more how people can live here for long periods of time. I also talked to their daughter, she lived in Tanzania for 10 years and didn’t know any Swahili. That is so weird to me, but I also understand because she lived in little America here.
January 14, 2011
I just realized that there is snow in Michigan right now and that it should be the middle of winter. This is not a good realization. This will be my first winter in like 10 years where I was not skiing at least 1 time a week. This is very sad. Oh I so wish that there was somewhere to go skiing here, but of course that would require snow. Jenna I think you are going to be able to beat me when we get back, no contest every time. This makes me really sad, although I plan to one day beat you again.
As usual I was suppose to have a meeting today only to find out that the entire office had
left without telling me that it was canceled. So far this week, we are 0 for 3, hopefully next week goes better. At this rate if I get anything accomplished while I am here it will be a feat. I am going into town on Monday to talk to some people about chickens, bees, and farming. Hopefully this all goes well. I also need to start thinking about a research project. I really have no idea where to even begin. I thought that having a choice would make it so easy, not true. The exact opposite has happened. Now there is just too much to choose from, it is like picking a major all over again.
I made bagels today. And if I do say so myself they are delicious. I am very pleased with them. Now if I only had some cream cheese to go with them. I think I am going to try and toast it tomorrow on the stove with some butter, not as good as cream cheese but a close second.
My friend Claire is coming tomorrow. I am really excited. I have started to realize that I do not mind living in the village, I just wish I had someone to talk to who knew English and I also wish I could have people live with me. I can hear all the neighbors at night talking and that is one thing that I miss. Talking to people before I go to bed and when I wake up in the morning. It would be really nice to have someone here. But oh well. I think if I could just have mornings like at the cottage with everyone, everyday that would be the best. So if you could make that happen that would be great.
Claire just got back from the UK so we are going to try and make sushi. Not sure how this is going to work yet, but it should be really fun trying. I also made beans today. They were great, I am pretty sure it was the gigantic spoonful of salt that did the trick. I am becoming really addicted to salt in my food and sugar in my chai, these are definitely not good habits to pick up.
This is another random thing. (aunt Joyce, Aunt Suzzette, and Grandma) You will all be happy to hear that I wear sunscreen everyday without fail now. A girl told me that she has seen her skin age in the year that she has been here. That was enough to scare the crap out of me so now I wake up every morning and put a lot of sunscreen on. I also wear a hat and glass a lot. I am pretty classy.
I was blowing out my stove today and the flames wouldn’t go out. They instead came back at me. Luckily I had my glasses on because I really thought that I had lost some eyelashes. But they all still seem to be there.
January 16, 2011
My friend Claire came yesterday and it was great. Her, me, and Paul made some spicy peanut sauce and sat around and talked. It was a great evening. I almost forgot I was in the village. We made bagel sandwiches that were awesome. I think this will be something I will be making a lot in the future. It reminds me so much of home and my mom and dad and skiing.
Me and the kids are working on new handshakes and in this, they have decided to try and teach me the packing a dip motion. It is unbelievable, all the kids can do it. If they only knew what they could use it for.
Jenna I finished My Maasai Life. I thought it was alright. I really don’t like her writing style or how she talks about her family, but it was an alright book. I can see why you liked it, it does have a lot of similarities to my experience (another reason why I might not find it that interesting).
So I have encountered my first bought with corruption. Apparently there is a villager that
has been saying that him and me are working on a cow and pig project together and that they need to give him 5,000 shillings (this is a lot for a family) and then they will have animals by next month. ( This is definitely not the case.) I was alerted to this yesterday when my neighbor came and asked me about it and then Jessica told me that some villagers have asked her about it too. I really don’t know how this guy thought he could get away with this. I have now constructed a poster that I am going to put on my door telling the villagers of the projects I am currently working on. Hopefully this will end some confusion and prevent at least a little corruption, we shall see. (that is if my sign doesn’t get stolen)
January 18, 2011
So my neighbor asked me to go to his farm yesterday because he wanted to show me what he was planted and see if I thought it would be good to plant tomatoes after the corn was done. I told him that I really don’t know anything about tomatoes but that I would come and look still if he wanted. He told me that was fine and said that his farm was far so I would need my bike. To me far is like 1 hour bike ride, nope this was a solid 2 hour bike ride through gorges with lots of mud. And it one point there were no farm or anything. At this point I was thinking “god I really hope we are going to his farm” I have been reading way to many murder mysteries at the moment. So we finally get there and when we go to leave I get a flat tire and we cannot find the whole to fix it. It took us 4 hours to get back. Making me the most tired I think I have ever been. I was really worried that I was going to pass out because I only had a handful of raisins and only brought one water bottle because I thought I would be back pretty early still. We left at 6 and didn’t get back until 1. It was a very long day.
I then went into town to meet up with Claire, Yue, and Randi. It was really fun. We sat around and talked and then made Sushi and carmenl corn. Claire had brought seaweed back from home and Randi got a package in the mail with smoked salmon so we had awesome sushi. ( it was supper easy to make too, so was the carmel corn.)
Merry Christmas!! After days of trying to figure out where Hannah was we arrived in Iringa to go to Ruaha National Park. But of course Hannah called the minute we arrived at the nicer hotel and me and Jenna were attempting to go snorkeling. She was just lucky that it was starting to rain. So we picked up Hannah and began our vacation.
We saw some SWEET animals today, which is good considering Hannah and Jenna have been in country less than 1 week and saw all the animals on the way to Iringa and I slept the entire ride through Mikumi National Park. (this is an 8-10 hour ride, with 1 hour in the park) So anyways we saw: Impala, Elephants, waterbuck, Hippo, Lions, Giraffe, Crocodiles, zebras, and lots of really cool birds that I cannot remember the names of. Cannot wait until tomorrow. And now we are staying at the coolest hotel ever, I feel extremely rich. We have our own cottage on the river with the coolest bathroom/ shower ever. (don’t worry, we took lots of pictures)
January 9, 2011
So I have been on a whirlwind for the last month and a half. First I went to seminar in Morrogorro and got to hang out with all of my friends for 2 whole weeks and then Hannah and Jenna came to visit. After that a girl whose parents both served in PC came and stayed with me for a little bit and now I am back in the village by myself. (not sure how I feel about this yet)
Seminar was great, although when I first got there I was really overwhelmed because I went from not having a single person to hang out with, to 40 different people to hang out with along with electricity and internet. It was so overwhelming. It was great though, every day we went to seminar from 8 to 5 and then we got to do whatever we wanted. I ate a lot of really good food. Lots of pizza.
I came home one night to our house flooded because a tap was left open. (they periodically turned the water off, so you never knew if the water was on or not) this also left my room a disaster zone, especially because I left a lot of books on the floor. I then was walking home one night with 2 friends and one of them got robbed. It sucked, never even saw it coming. The guy just grabbed her purse which was around her wrist and ran. One lucky guy, he got 2
phones and a camera.
After seminar, Hannah and Jenna came to visit which was awesome. More awesome after Han actually got here. The weather seemed to be a large inconvenience for me. But she finally got here and we were able to start our vacation. After Han got here we boarded a bus and went to Iringa which is a 10 hour bus ride with a little stretch through Mikumi National Park. I slept most of the ride but Jenna and Han stayed up and saw all kinds of animals. (it figures that I have been in country for 6 months and have seen none, while they have been here 2 days and have already seen them all. They thought that was hilarious) We spent a day walking around Iringa before going on safari. It was awesome, we then stayed in the park for Christmas Eve and it was great. We ate dinner in a tree house and had hippos eating dinner outside our little cottage. Jenna thought this was awesome, me and han opted for bed instead. The next morning we also walked by a hippo. He was really close, only to find out later that a park ranger was killed by a hippo in a walking tour the a few weeks ago. Good thing we choose a car. We saw lots of cool animals. We saw lion, lions eating hippos, crocodiles, giraffes, zebras, ostriches, hippos, elephants, lots of birds and lizards, and tons of Impala. (impala are like the buffalo of Yellowstone) After safari, where somewhere along the way Jenna gained a friend in the form of a tick we headed to my village. It was a little weird being back especially knowing that I was going to be leaving right away again, but everyone was awesome and really happy to see me. I showed them around my village and they met all the villagers and children. They also learned to cook ugali, eat with their hands, use a choo, wash clothes with their hands, carry water on their heads, and wear traditional African clothing. They said they loved it and thought my house and everything was a lot better than I was saying. I still stand by my words, especially since they were only here a few days, After my village, we headed back to Dar for some beach time. It was awesome. We stayed at a great place that had an amazing view and great food. We went snorkeling and I am sad to say I didn’t enjoy it all the way. I swallowed more salt water than I think I have ever in my life. I did see some cool fish but I think I liked it better in Hawaii. I also think I might actually really enjoy snorkeling in Little Whitefish lake the best. (who would have thought that) We did see a turkey fish, which was really cool. But it was still really fun. It is amazing how intense the sun is, I think we used more sunscreen in a few days than we use all year in Michigan. It was a great trip, I had so much fun hanging out with Jenna and Hannah. Having Jenna around made me ask myself again why I ever left steamboat, I think this a question that will be asked the rest of my life.
You will be happy to know that between all of us, we took over 1000 pictures, most of them being Jennas. It is also interesting because depending on whose pictures you are looking at, it looks like only 2 of us went on vacation. I will try and put the pictures up soon.
Sorry this is pretty much word vomit, there is just too much to say at the moment.
January 10, 2011
I still have lots more to tell you. I guess I should start with when I arrived home the story that the children in my village told me after I asked about a car that was driving through the village. Cars drive by on the main road fairly regularly but this car was driving on the foot path. So this is the story and before I begin, I am fine. On Dec.31 at around dusk my neighbor went to the store that is like 100 feet from her house to buy something. She didn’t lock her door but made sure that it was latched. She returned to find that it was open and that a thief was in her house. She yelled and a neighbor came with his machete and hit the thief in the neck, back, arm, and leg. The thief was then taken to the hospital where he died a few days later. The thief was a guy from our village, who I think I bought charcoal from. He lived next to my friend Jessica. Although this is a horrible story, I think that this is also a good thing because it tells would be thieves to not FUCK with my neighborhood. (sorry for the language) I still feel very safe in my house and everything, I always lock my doors and shut them when I leave to go into the village and at dusk. The only thing I do not understand about this, is why did nobody touch my house or try and get in. I have been gone off and on for like the last 1, I just don’t understand. I am very, very thankful that this did not happen to me, if this would have, I am pretty sure that I would either be on a plane home right now or living with a family in the village. Also you can tell life is just different here because everyone talks about the incident as if they are saying what they just had for dinner. There is no emotions or anything, it is very matter a fact.
But again, everything is fine, so don’t worry. Although I have to say I am a little jumpy more than normal sometimes now. I now have a bat to add to my household friends as well as a few sparrows that make lots of noise on my roof to the point that you might actually start to believe a person is on my roof. I also found out today that I am home to a few nests of wasps. The worst thing about this, is that I just cleaned and now I have to get all the nests down which means more cleaning.
Han brought me some m and m’s. I opened the bag today and am happy to announce that I have not eaten the entire bag yet. I am hopping I can make it last at least a few days if not a week.
Also reading a James Patterson book that Aunt Diane gave to me. It is really good. I have never read any of his stuff before, but I really like it.
I have a meeting with the government tomorrow to go over my seminar and possible projects, I am interested to see how this goes. I have also realized that I am not going to be able to do all the projects that I was hoping to do. There just is not enough time.
January 11, 2011
As usual I got up early this morning to meet with a villager only to have him come 2 hours later. Oh how I love it when people are late, especially when I get up extra early. Anyways I went with him to his house to help him plant trees only to find out that he didn’t get the trees yet. Did I mention that he lives an hour away by bike. So I am at his house and we are talking about projects. The last volunteer gave out a lot of money, much of which he benefited from. And he asks about buying things, so I go into my whole shpil about how I am here to educate and not give out money. I am not sure this went over well but I think he understands now. So on the way back it starts to rain and then it pours. I think I found myself in one of the biggest rain storms I have ever been in. I could not see 1 foot in front of me, it was horrible. All the villagers were huddled in houses, but I was already soaked so I just walked the rest of the way home. They all got a good kick out of this.
I then tried to have a meeting with the government about my work, to have no one present within the office. I feel like things are going to start very, very slowly. But hopefully everything turns out well. I also made posters to hang in the village office that explain what my role is here and what my counterparts role is as well. Hopefully this helps straighten out some of the confusion.
Also finished the James Patterson book. It was great. I now am still trying to get through The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Not sure how long this is going to take, I know that you all said it was great but I am having a hard time getting into it. I also have started to freak myself out with the book, so this now might be a book that is only read during the day time. I really want to finish it soon though.
Also if anyone was wondering, I have not finished the m and m’s yet. I am really proud of this at the moment. I am also craving a bagel with cream cheese right now, which really sucks because there is no way in hell that I will be eating one of these before I get back on US soil. Hopefully I can be eating one in May. (Trying to get home for 2 weeks in May for Han’s graduation and the Old Kent 5 K)
Also I hear Auburn won. That is awesome.
On other random notes, Grandma my dad told me about Grandpa so do not worry about having to have that conversation with me. I think this is a really good thing. Maybe now you can come visit me in Tanzania or even better go to Poland and hang out with Leonia.
January 12, 2011
I am finally learning to sleep in. I didn’t get up until 8 today but I did have Jessica walk by at about 6 and say good morning. Surprisingly I heard her. So I am not sure if 8 actually counts.
I then spent most of the morning doing laundry and planting my tomato plants. I kept going back and forth about where to plant them. I finally decided on inside my courtyard. This decision was helped by a 7 year old that told me that I planted them outside someone would steal them. I decided I didn’t want to have to deal with that can of worms. But I do find it interesting that in a country where the first thing that they tell you is how peaceful the country is, they sure talk a lot about thieves. I just don’t get it, everyday I think I have a conversation about thieves and to make sure everything is in my house at night. They don’t even want me to leave anything in my courtyard. It is exhausting. It is also interesting because in Grand Rapids, I definitely don’t live in the best neighborhood, yet I leave stuff out all the time in my backyard without having to worry. I really like that. Also if Tanzanians are so concerned with theft, what do they do about their farms. There is no way that they can keep an eye out on all that land.
I have been playing a dice game (Aunt Diane gave it to me, thanks) with the children in my village and still am not sure how to explain the rules and how the game works. They are slowly getting part of it, little by little. It is so foreign to me that these kids have never seen die before or have no clue what a pair or small straight are. I cannot even fathom as to how to teach them because it is so second nature to me. I am so thankful that I grew up playing games with the family and at the cottage. I am hoping that by the time I leave here, they will have a grasp of it. I was also thinking it could be fun for the carpenters in the village to make wooden dice.
Also, almost finished with The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. You were right it does get really good at the end, but I half to say it sure takes a long time to reel ya in, I definitely would have stopped reading the book if it wasn’t for all of you people telling how good it was. That and the fact that I am in the middle of Africa with nothing better to do, except maybe my homework and think of a research project. It is interesting how I still manage in the middle of nowhere to put homework off.
January 13, 2011
So today I almost found myself in the middle of another full on tsunami. I was just about to leave J2’s house when she said to wait. I said ok but I was really thinking, it is not going to rain. Not 1 minute later there was a huge downpour. It was insane. I am so happy that I was not soaked this time. Although after the rain stopped I was on my way home and almost fell like 10 times. I am pretty sure I am going to take a really big fall in the next week and be covered from head to toe in mud. I am not looking forward to this. I was also walking home and a group of kids came running out of nowhere and into the village. I kept walking but then noticed that everyone was watching them. Apparently a dog needed to die. My guess is rabies but I don’t know. Anyways guess how they kill it, the school kids (primary school that is) run after the dog with sticks and beat it to death. Very humane wouldn’t you say. Surprisingly this doesn’t bother me as much as I thought it would.
I went to a seminar on corruption today, and was able to make out exactly one word today. Corruption. I think my Swahili is getting worse. There were about 30 people at the seminar so that was good, hopefully this will cut down on the amount of corruption in the village. But who knows. The seminar was held in a church, I find that very interesting.
I finished both the m and m’s and The Girl with the Dragon tattoo today. Both we awesome.
I forgot to tell you, the last night I was in Dar es Salaam, I stayed with an American family that works for the Embassy. It was like being back in the US, it was crazy, they had a real kitchen and everything. They also had air conditioning. I think had one of the best night sleeps ever, but it didn’t last long because I had to be up at 4:30. But I now understand a little more how people can live here for long periods of time. I also talked to their daughter, she lived in Tanzania for 10 years and didn’t know any Swahili. That is so weird to me, but I also understand because she lived in little America here.
January 14, 2011
I just realized that there is snow in Michigan right now and that it should be the middle of winter. This is not a good realization. This will be my first winter in like 10 years where I was not skiing at least 1 time a week. This is very sad. Oh I so wish that there was somewhere to go skiing here, but of course that would require snow. Jenna I think you are going to be able to beat me when we get back, no contest every time. This makes me really sad, although I plan to one day beat you again.
As usual I was suppose to have a meeting today only to find out that the entire office had
left without telling me that it was canceled. So far this week, we are 0 for 3, hopefully next week goes better. At this rate if I get anything accomplished while I am here it will be a feat. I am going into town on Monday to talk to some people about chickens, bees, and farming. Hopefully this all goes well. I also need to start thinking about a research project. I really have no idea where to even begin. I thought that having a choice would make it so easy, not true. The exact opposite has happened. Now there is just too much to choose from, it is like picking a major all over again.
I made bagels today. And if I do say so myself they are delicious. I am very pleased with them. Now if I only had some cream cheese to go with them. I think I am going to try and toast it tomorrow on the stove with some butter, not as good as cream cheese but a close second.
My friend Claire is coming tomorrow. I am really excited. I have started to realize that I do not mind living in the village, I just wish I had someone to talk to who knew English and I also wish I could have people live with me. I can hear all the neighbors at night talking and that is one thing that I miss. Talking to people before I go to bed and when I wake up in the morning. It would be really nice to have someone here. But oh well. I think if I could just have mornings like at the cottage with everyone, everyday that would be the best. So if you could make that happen that would be great.
Claire just got back from the UK so we are going to try and make sushi. Not sure how this is going to work yet, but it should be really fun trying. I also made beans today. They were great, I am pretty sure it was the gigantic spoonful of salt that did the trick. I am becoming really addicted to salt in my food and sugar in my chai, these are definitely not good habits to pick up.
This is another random thing. (aunt Joyce, Aunt Suzzette, and Grandma) You will all be happy to hear that I wear sunscreen everyday without fail now. A girl told me that she has seen her skin age in the year that she has been here. That was enough to scare the crap out of me so now I wake up every morning and put a lot of sunscreen on. I also wear a hat and glass a lot. I am pretty classy.
I was blowing out my stove today and the flames wouldn’t go out. They instead came back at me. Luckily I had my glasses on because I really thought that I had lost some eyelashes. But they all still seem to be there.
January 16, 2011
My friend Claire came yesterday and it was great. Her, me, and Paul made some spicy peanut sauce and sat around and talked. It was a great evening. I almost forgot I was in the village. We made bagel sandwiches that were awesome. I think this will be something I will be making a lot in the future. It reminds me so much of home and my mom and dad and skiing.
Me and the kids are working on new handshakes and in this, they have decided to try and teach me the packing a dip motion. It is unbelievable, all the kids can do it. If they only knew what they could use it for.
Jenna I finished My Maasai Life. I thought it was alright. I really don’t like her writing style or how she talks about her family, but it was an alright book. I can see why you liked it, it does have a lot of similarities to my experience (another reason why I might not find it that interesting).
So I have encountered my first bought with corruption. Apparently there is a villager that
has been saying that him and me are working on a cow and pig project together and that they need to give him 5,000 shillings (this is a lot for a family) and then they will have animals by next month. ( This is definitely not the case.) I was alerted to this yesterday when my neighbor came and asked me about it and then Jessica told me that some villagers have asked her about it too. I really don’t know how this guy thought he could get away with this. I have now constructed a poster that I am going to put on my door telling the villagers of the projects I am currently working on. Hopefully this will end some confusion and prevent at least a little corruption, we shall see. (that is if my sign doesn’t get stolen)
January 18, 2011
So my neighbor asked me to go to his farm yesterday because he wanted to show me what he was planted and see if I thought it would be good to plant tomatoes after the corn was done. I told him that I really don’t know anything about tomatoes but that I would come and look still if he wanted. He told me that was fine and said that his farm was far so I would need my bike. To me far is like 1 hour bike ride, nope this was a solid 2 hour bike ride through gorges with lots of mud. And it one point there were no farm or anything. At this point I was thinking “god I really hope we are going to his farm” I have been reading way to many murder mysteries at the moment. So we finally get there and when we go to leave I get a flat tire and we cannot find the whole to fix it. It took us 4 hours to get back. Making me the most tired I think I have ever been. I was really worried that I was going to pass out because I only had a handful of raisins and only brought one water bottle because I thought I would be back pretty early still. We left at 6 and didn’t get back until 1. It was a very long day.
I then went into town to meet up with Claire, Yue, and Randi. It was really fun. We sat around and talked and then made Sushi and carmenl corn. Claire had brought seaweed back from home and Randi got a package in the mail with smoked salmon so we had awesome sushi. ( it was supper easy to make too, so was the carmel corn.)
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