Habari gani? (What news?)

I stepped on my first cockroach last week – accidentally and barefoot, but at least I got that first time out of the way. Last night I was woken up by a cockroach for the first time… crawling on the side of my face. I didn’t know what it was at first and I just brushed it off; then I felt something again so I brushed it off and turned on my flashlight (that’s part of my phone, by the way!). I saw the cockroach, jumped out of my mosquito net, and thankfully saw it crawl off my bed. I got back in bed, tucked in my mosquito net more firmly, and tried to convince myself that no more roaches could get in so that my heart rate would slowdown to a normal pace; it didn’t really work, but I fell back asleep anyways.

I started my internship teaching two weeks ago and this week is my last one teaching during training. I’m doing a geometry review with a Form I class twice a week and statistics with a Form II class once a week (both between 40-50 students). I was never all that excited by either angles or histograms, but oh well. My Form II class talks a lot more than the Form I, but it’s still frustrating to ask questions (including “do you understand”) and get no response! I’m not sure whether they’re too bored and they think the questions are too easy to bother answering, or if they’re lost and don’t understand. I often feel like I’m beating a dead horse and think I kind of understand/forgive professors who just couldn’t explain basic topics because it’s hard to fathom not understanding some topics after giving (what seems to me to be) a simple explanation! So, that’s fun. I also had forgotten, until a friend pointed it out, that I learned how to take notes in HS; so the students only write down what I specifically tell them to, and if I don’t write it on the board there’s no way it will show up in even one student’s notebook. I’m enjoying the actual teaching despite the frustrations, but I am looking forward to starting from the beginning and have more control over the class and the material. My school doesn’t do much corporal punishment, but it does happen. Tanzanian law recently changed so that only the discipline master at the school is allowed to do it – but that’s not really followed and each school does metes out different amounts and types of punishment. The whole attitude towards it unnerves me (“students expect it, it’s all they know and so it’s the only thing that works…” and yet if you make them stay late or miss part of chai break they’ll often ask for cp, a few whacks on the hand with a stick, instead! It’s clearly the easy way out, for both students and teachers, that’s why it’s preferred! Also, the entire country has chai/tea breaks in mid-morning, one of the more lasting colonial legacies.).

When I’m not teaching I’m still learning Kiswahili, as well as education/learning/teaching theory and about the Tz education system in general. Here’s a bit of Kiswahili: Mimi ninaitwa Julia, ninatoka Marekani jimbo la Pennsylvania. Ninafanya kazi PC/Tz na mimi ni mwalimu wa hisabati. Sasa ninajifunza kiswahili na baadaye nitafundisha kwa miaka miwili. (My name is Julia, I’m from America, state of Pennsylvania. I work for PC/Tz and I’m math teacher. Now I’m learning Kiswahili and later I’ll teach math for two years.) It’s about the halfway point in training and I’m still pretty much in the honeymoon phase. I’ve had a few maddening experiences with sexism, in which my perceived inequality to the male PCT math teacher in my group was made clear, but I try to talk with Tanzanians outside of school about sexism to balance that out.

In other news… have a farmer’s tan! And I haven’t minded wearing skirts as much as I expected to – although when I’m hanging out at home after school and on weekends I usually wear shorts with a khanga (big piece of pretty fabric that sort of acts like an apron) wrapped around me. And last week I wore loose, long shorts above the knee in public! But don’t worry, that was only because I was in a big tourist area – Mikumi National Park. It’s a small park relative to the others (ex. Serengeti) but still seemed big when we were there! 31 of us smushed into a bus for 1.5-2 hours and went on 2 safaris in that same bus. We saw elephants, giraffes, baboons, water buffalo, hippos, warthogs, guinea fowl, zebras, and more! Just chillin, living their lives in the wild. No lions (simba!), but I was/am still very excited. The scenery was beautiful by itself, and then seeing animals in their natural habitat made it an incredible experience.

Every Friday our whole group gets together for group training sessions, and last week my smaller language group all wore clothing that we had made! 3 were given outfits by their families and we all decided that the other 3 of us should get clothes made and then we would all wear it together. The original 3 all had animal prints (giraffe, hippo, elephant) so that was our theme. My skirt and top outfit is bright green material with zebras on it – I LOVE IT! There’s absolutely beautiful fabric here and I’m excited to get more clothes made. A number of the designs are still weird to my American mind… large, repeating patterns of umbrellas; spoon, fork, and knife; Grecian-looking water jugs; peppers; and more.

My family is still wonderful, helping me with Kiswahili, teaching me to cook, and helping me to do chores the Tz way. I made chapati from scratch this week, it was fun! Yesterday morning I made pancakes and “syrup” (sugary water, as it turned out) but the pancakes were delicious! And 2 weeks ago I made fried rice… well, I planned to make fried rice but the western supermarket that sells soy sauce was closed. So I went to the market, bargained for my veggies (but was apparently still charged double) and picked up a packet of garam masala. So I made Indian fried rice. My mama was a bit skeptical as she watched me pour in the spice mixture; actually I think they were all worried about how much I put in (they don’t use many spices in their cooking). But they wall said they liked it and it seemed genuine to me! I liked it J I also sauteed garlic and carrots in oil (thanks Aviva!!!), which I find absolutely scrumptious, and my mama LOVED them. She kept taking just one more… so I felt good about that.

I’ve been able to watch all the debates (anybody catch the PC reference) and I mailed in my absentee ballot! Most of us want to watch the election results, so we’re planning how/where/when to do that, but I know something will work out. It’s a bit odd to watch that stuff here, because I simultaneously feel very removed from it but also very passionate about it.

Some random side notes…. The phillies?!?!?!? Traditionally dressed masai walking around town with knives in their belts and talking on their cell phones. Eating rice and beans with my hands and then watching a pirated Russian copy of Fever Pitch (my dada here has seen a lot more American movies and tv shows than I have). I got my first marriage proposal the other day – I’m going to have to remind myself to brush it off… More on that some other time!

I’ve still got a bit of chocolate left, thanks to Lys because she sent me some! And I’m enjoying the food here, so while there are some things I miss eating I haven’t had any serious feelings of withdrawl. More about food next time…