* * * *
It's been a long week, to say the least. We started Orientation (you'd think I'd be done with Orientation after doing it all summer...guess not - shoutout to O-staff!) on Saturday with a trip to the SIC office, which is a beautiful two-story house, with indoor waterfalls, and a dog named Chong, in a neighborhood inside town. It's down a road called Fire Rd. because there's a Fire Station there, but there's no phone number for the police or fire dept in Tanzania...and I have yet to see a firefighter or a fire truck. So by Fire Station I mean a building with space for potential emergency-like vehicles and a pole to slide down from the lookout point upstairs.
We had our first Swahili lesson on Saturday also, which now, at 2 hours a day Saturday through Friday has now totaled more hours than the entire quarter of class at UCLA. It's definitely structured differently though, and our teacher often makes comments about "the other Swahili" (referring to the inferiority of Kenyan Swahili - all of our teachers were Kenyan, both for UCLA and Stanford). I haven't really been able to study very much because my Kiswahili materials are all in my other bag. But hopefully that should be fixed soon. Supposedly, my bag is in Arusha as I type and I should have it with me on the truck ride back to the Orientation site today.
That night we had our SIC opening dinner at Masai Camp, the bar and restaurant part of of it, buffet style, great food (I'm getting so fat here...the serving size is SO MUCH, and it's half starches and carbs), and we got to meet the entire SIC staff. The Tanzanian teaching partners, six men and six women, range in age from 21-30, and are either recent college graduates or current college students. We also have several Tanzanian full time staff members, most importantly a field officer who lives in and operates out of each Ward (which is a collection of villages) and is responsible for keeping SIC sustainable. The field officer continues the programs that we initiate during our stays in the villages, each of which I'm sure I'll write tons about once they are under way. To be honest, the Tanzanians are slightly intimidating. They don't speak perfect English, but they know our language, while we are still struggling with theirs. Their culture is just so different, but they have all made a sensational effort over the past week to make us feel at home and I become more and more comfortable with them every day.
On Sunday we went on a hike that is SIC tradition, called "The Waterfall Hike," through a small national park in the backhills of Arusha town to this gigantic beautiful waterfall. Everyone goes, volunteers and Tanzanians, and it's certainly not an easy hike, but some great staff bonding. The water is freezing, but you can climb near the top and feel the backsplash of the falls (more like a downpour), and it's a freeing experience because you just stop caring about everything else around you. The surrounding cove is a jungle oasis, as green and high as the eye can see. And then the hike back is long and hard, but we stopped for to each lunch on the top of a hill overlooking rural Tanzania, green mountains of cornfields and hornbills, and small hand-made houses of dirt and wood. On the walk back, several children followed us, but they mostly just smiled and laughed, retreating behind trees or goats and cows as we walked by saying "Mambo" and taking in the African farmland with our last breaths of fresh, mountain air before returning to the city below.
That night, we ate dinner at Kahn's, a mechanic by day, Indian food restaurant by night. We rode home standing in the back of a pickup truck. We have special permission (a hand-written note) from the police allowing SIC to use the back of the truck for human transport. We stand up, the wind blowing our face, and it helps sometimes just to see Arusha from an elevated angle, instead of the dirt and sweat of the sidewalks below.
Next morning: back in bed of the truck, standing up, cold wind blowing, volunteers singing songs inspired by words and phrases printed on the Daladalas (sort of like their metro system, except smaller, more crowded, and a lot more sketchy). We moved from Centerhouse hostel to a university of agriculture and forestry to officially start our Orientation. The site is beautiful, and for the past 5 days we have followed a strict 8am-5pm training schedule. Lots of bio. Lots of sex. LOTS of sex. Lots of HIV/ADS public policy. Lots of swahili. Lots of information about the villages, the program, the people...and lots more to come.
The Orientation site is beautiful, which seems to be a theme of Africa thus far, doesn't it? We have a picture perfect view of Mt. Meru, the 5th highest mountain in Africa, the 2nd in Tanzania. We are actually hoping to climb it in two weeks. We'll see.
My roomate is Shujaa, the youngest of the teaching partners. He just graduated secondary school at 21. Which means we're the same age for a few more days. He hopes to go to college to study economics, and was apparently the "Head Boy" at his school, which I think equates to Valedictorian in some way. He, along the other guys, really really like playing Football...which is Soccer. So we've played soccer a few times. I haven't really played in 5 years, but I remembered enough to get along. Although I am clearly out of shape. Especially when our days our spent sitting in a classroom all day, eating A TON for every single meal (learning this stuff is quite emotionally and mentally exhausting), getting up with the sun, and going to bed with the sun. We're usually tired by 8pm and ready for bed.
* * * * * Interesting Side Note * * * * *
We had our first Swahili lesson on Saturday also, which now, at 2 hours a day Saturday through Friday has now totaled more hours than the entire quarter of class at UCLA. It's definitely structured differently though, and our teacher often makes comments about "the other Swahili" (referring to the inferiority of Kenyan Swahili - all of our teachers were Kenyan, both for UCLA and Stanford). I haven't really been able to study very much because my Kiswahili materials are all in my other bag. But hopefully that should be fixed soon. Supposedly, my bag is in Arusha as I type and I should have it with me on the truck ride back to the Orientation site today.
That night we had our SIC opening dinner at Masai Camp, the bar and restaurant part of of it, buffet style, great food (I'm getting so fat here...the serving size is SO MUCH, and it's half starches and carbs), and we got to meet the entire SIC staff. The Tanzanian teaching partners, six men and six women, range in age from 21-30, and are either recent college graduates or current college students. We also have several Tanzanian full time staff members, most importantly a field officer who lives in and operates out of each Ward (which is a collection of villages) and is responsible for keeping SIC sustainable. The field officer continues the programs that we initiate during our stays in the villages, each of which I'm sure I'll write tons about once they are under way. To be honest, the Tanzanians are slightly intimidating. They don't speak perfect English, but they know our language, while we are still struggling with theirs. Their culture is just so different, but they have all made a sensational effort over the past week to make us feel at home and I become more and more comfortable with them every day.
On Sunday we went on a hike that is SIC tradition, called "The Waterfall Hike," through a small national park in the backhills of Arusha town to this gigantic beautiful waterfall. Everyone goes, volunteers and Tanzanians, and it's certainly not an easy hike, but some great staff bonding. The water is freezing, but you can climb near the top and feel the backsplash of the falls (more like a downpour), and it's a freeing experience because you just stop caring about everything else around you. The surrounding cove is a jungle oasis, as green and high as the eye can see. And then the hike back is long and hard, but we stopped for to each lunch on the top of a hill overlooking rural Tanzania, green mountains of cornfields and hornbills, and small hand-made houses of dirt and wood. On the walk back, several children followed us, but they mostly just smiled and laughed, retreating behind trees or goats and cows as we walked by saying "Mambo" and taking in the African farmland with our last breaths of fresh, mountain air before returning to the city below.
That night, we ate dinner at Kahn's, a mechanic by day, Indian food restaurant by night. We rode home standing in the back of a pickup truck. We have special permission (a hand-written note) from the police allowing SIC to use the back of the truck for human transport. We stand up, the wind blowing our face, and it helps sometimes just to see Arusha from an elevated angle, instead of the dirt and sweat of the sidewalks below.
Next morning: back in bed of the truck, standing up, cold wind blowing, volunteers singing songs inspired by words and phrases printed on the Daladalas (sort of like their metro system, except smaller, more crowded, and a lot more sketchy). We moved from Centerhouse hostel to a university of agriculture and forestry to officially start our Orientation. The site is beautiful, and for the past 5 days we have followed a strict 8am-5pm training schedule. Lots of bio. Lots of sex. LOTS of sex. Lots of HIV/ADS public policy. Lots of swahili. Lots of information about the villages, the program, the people...and lots more to come.
The Orientation site is beautiful, which seems to be a theme of Africa thus far, doesn't it? We have a picture perfect view of Mt. Meru, the 5th highest mountain in Africa, the 2nd in Tanzania. We are actually hoping to climb it in two weeks. We'll see.
My roomate is Shujaa, the youngest of the teaching partners. He just graduated secondary school at 21. Which means we're the same age for a few more days. He hopes to go to college to study economics, and was apparently the "Head Boy" at his school, which I think equates to Valedictorian in some way. He, along the other guys, really really like playing Football...which is Soccer. So we've played soccer a few times. I haven't really played in 5 years, but I remembered enough to get along. Although I am clearly out of shape. Especially when our days our spent sitting in a classroom all day, eating A TON for every single meal (learning this stuff is quite emotionally and mentally exhausting), getting up with the sun, and going to bed with the sun. We're usually tired by 8pm and ready for bed.
* * * * * Interesting Side Note * * * * *
So a few days ago, we (and by we, I mean a few of the Tanzanian guys) discovered that there was a TV hooked hidden in the cabinet of our dining room. So now, every meal, especially dinner, the TV is blaring and there are several Tanzanians glued to the screen. We watch a lot of news. For example, the other night, we watched a half an hour news break about the construction of buildings in surroundings areas. We would see a few minutes of a political figure talking about the building, then a flash of the building being built, maybe some footage of construction workers sitting around eating lunch, then back to the public official speaking about the building. So funny. There as another program about a barbershop during which we watched a three men get their hair cut. Yep, that's all. A continuous shot (with infrequent zooms in and out), of three men getting hair cuts.
We also watch the Indian channels sometimes, featuring all of your favorite Bollywood music videos, and some soap operas, particularly one called "Generations," an Africa-wide drama featuring both African and white actors, all dreadfully awful actors, speaking in Swahili and English.
We also watch the Indian channels sometimes, featuring all of your favorite Bollywood music videos, and some soap operas, particularly one called "Generations," an Africa-wide drama featuring both African and white actors, all dreadfully awful actors, speaking in Swahili and English.
* * * * *
And now we're back in Arusha. I'm a pretty good mood, because I've recently had my first shower that was both hot and had pressure since arriving to Africa. Everything here smells like burning trash (there is no garbage disposal system in Tanzania). We are being pestered once again at every corner. We see the T-shirts of every American sports team you can think of, every other person greets us with an open hand. And it is no longer safe to walk around at night (last night we took a taxi to go half a block down the street from a bar to our hostel).
This is my last blog post before we move into our villages, which are in the wards of Mikiba and Mataroni, and thus from now on my internet access will become quite few and far between (or at least unpredictable...I'm going to try for once every other week, but we'll see).
On Thursday our actual HIV/AIDS work in the communities begins. It's what we've been waiting for, it's why we're here. I can't wait to meet my homestay family, find out my teaching group, talk to my village leaders, and start teaching in the classroom...and tell you guys all about it as soon as I can.
Love you and miss you all,
Poa kabisa,
Devon
On Thursday our actual HIV/AIDS work in the communities begins. It's what we've been waiting for, it's why we're here. I can't wait to meet my homestay family, find out my teaching group, talk to my village leaders, and start teaching in the classroom...and tell you guys all about it as soon as I can.
Love you and miss you all,
Poa kabisa,
Devon
2 comments:
seriously, your words are always so inspirational and moving. i'm thinking of you and am wishing you success as you start it all. love & miss you, bf.
<3 jenn
awwwww i can just picture all these things happening too =) esp the people glued to the tv set!
come back soon honey!!!! =) love you!!!!!
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