SWEET VICTORY!!!

i can't believe that i just got a picture up! amazing!

these are some girls from class 6. sarah (back row, third from left) is one of the girls who asked me to talk about my country. she invited me over to her house last week and i'm due back this week (as she reminds me) because she didn't have a soda for me last time. having a visitor in Africa is a grace; you have to offer them something. she wanted to walk with me and buy me a soda on the way home, but i suggested just paying another visit for my soda. and, like africans, i do love soda.

but, unlike africans, i cannot play netball barefoot. netball is similar to basketball, but you don't dribble the ball. you can only take a step or two before you have to pass the ball to a teammate. you pass back and forth across the court and then shoot to score. i don't think i've made a basket yet, but it's fun playing. the first time i played, i wasn't wearing proper shoes. all the girls were shedding theirs so i did the same. BIG MISTAKE. it was about 3:00 p.m. and the ground was toasty. i didn't really 'feel' it until after playing for a while when i suddenly realized i couldn't walk. i wobbled home. i still have a mark on one of my feet; it looks like a deep bruise and while i do have a picture of it, i will spare you from looking at my feet...for now.

what else...last sunday was my safari into the serengeti. we saw lots of animals and even saw 5 female lions up close and personal. the male lions were in hiding, but we managed to see many elephants, giraffe, zebra and gazelle. the wildebeests had, for the most part, already migrated north, so we only saw a few. my favorite parts were watching the giraffes eat. they look so funny when they chew. they made me laugh.

so, this is my last week of teaching. it has been going well. it is very interesting comparing the teaching styles of Tanzania with the teaching styles of the US, particularly in NYC. the students are so scared to talk in class, answering or asking questions. i know they're smart enough to answer my questions...if only they would try! sarah (the girl i mentioned above) has a brother named Andrew. he asked me the other day, "Do students in class laugh at each other in America?" it made me sad because i know that students are hassled by their classmates for 'incorrect' answers. what they don't know is that every mistake in math class is useful, not shameful. i hope my short three weeks of teaching can communicate this to some extent.

later this week i'll be giving tests to see how students have learned what i've been teaching. i'm eager to see how they do. also, class 6 is having a surprise party for me tomorrow, though they told me about it last week. SURPRISE!!

failing

i really, really tried. i sat here for 20 minutes almost. i am so sad that uploading pictures doesn't seem to be working. i will try again another day and hope for the best! thanks for reading the blog even without pictures...

the stories that go with the pictures...

NOTE: I was going to try for lots of pictures, but the internet is incredibly slow. These are captions that correspond to pictures that I will try to upload next...wish me luck!

This is the second 500-piece jigsaw puzzle that I finished within the first few days of being here, after I finished the first book I brought to read and before my luggage had arrived with my other books. There isn’t much entertainment around these parts, especially after the sun goes down.

Last Sunday, we visited the market in a nearby village to buy some produce and some kitengis (they’re the colorfully dyed pieces of cloth used as wraps or to make clothes).

Here is a view of part of the school, The Lion of Judah Academy (‘Simba wa Yuda’ in Swahili). [In case I haven’t said this yet, the school is in a village called Bulima, near a larger village called Magu and about a 1.5 hour drive from Mwanza.] From this view you are looking at two of the primary school buildings. They house Kindergarten through Class 5.

On Monday, I started teaching. I met with Class/Grade 3 and 5. I’m a little shy to take lots of pictures just yet, but here is one of Class 5. This class has some characters in it and I think they are losing their pens and pencils on purpose so I will give them one of my pens or mechanical pencils! They’re also obsessed with being marked correct when they do problems during class. If I mark one student’s notebook with a check, they immediately surround me with their notebooks saying, "Madame, will you mark?" I love it!

Also on Monday, I enjoyed a wonderful reunion with my luggage. The other case with supplies for the school arrived, too.

On Tuesday, we visited a girl’s orphanage that is about an hour away. This orphanage is in its beginning stages and was designed by a guy who actually lives in Brooklyn and attends NYU. It’s so funny to travel all the way to Tanzania and meet somebody who is your neighbor.

On Wednesday, it was my birthday! That afternoon, we invited the teachers and some people I know from the theological college to come over for cake and soda. Apparently, this will get any African into your home. So, we had quite a large group over and went through two large cakes and more than a crate of sodas. Here’s me cutting one of the cakes…After eating cake, we taught everyone how to play Pictionary with Bible stories. People were a little shy at first, but they got really into it by the end and we all laughed a lot. It was great.

To finish my birthday off, I helped make a Mexican feast…African style. The tortillas were actually chippati, which is sort of like a pita. I made the guacamole (which was pure happiness to eat). It was delicious!

As I mentioned before, I am teaching three different grades in math, but not every grade has math each day. With my spare time, I’ve been laminating books from the school library to help them last longer. The supplies and materials at this school are pretty limited, so it’s helpful to make things last. Yesterday I laminated for about 6 hours and when I closed my eyes at night, I had only visions of sticky paper and books.

My favorite time here is when I am with the students and getting to know them. I have a shadow named Lydia from Class 3. I have a friend named Sara from Class 6. She was over yesterday and wanted to talk to me about my country, my hobbies and my family. Another friend named Christian chatted with me for a while yesterday, too. She wishes to be a doctor and loves Science!

Tomorrow, I am looking forward to the graduation of three of the students I tutored four years ago. I hear the ceremony is long and in Swahili, but at least there will be singing! I love it when Africans are singing.

All that being said…I miss my friends! I don’t check email too often, but after about 4-5 days I start feeling pretty homesick and need to check email. It definitely helps me to write these updates so I feel that people are more in touch with me in spite of the distance. I hope they are enjoyable to read!

Polepole...'slowly, slowly'

Polepole - pronounced "po-lay-po-lay"

It has been a few days since arriving here in Bulima, Tanzania. After a long two days of flying (including a not-so-friendly-to-the-stomach flight from Kenya in a tiny plane), it was a comfort to get to the Lion of Judah Academy where I’d be spending the next few weeks.

It is great to finally be able to report my safe arrival. I found out that the power company sometimes switches off the power to the village when people are using ‘too much.’ This makes using a computer even more complicated, but I am finally sitting in front of this beautiful piece of technology to ease my withdrawal of all things internet. [I won't mention the power outage that just temporary haulted my post or the fact that the internet goes so...polepole.]

Yesterday (Friday), I was able to take a look at the math curriculum that the school uses. It’s all in Swahili, which is extremely helpful but since they teach students in English from a very young age, they also have some textbooks that are in English that the students primarily use. I was able to talk with the teacher who has been responsible for teaching two of the three classes I will teach while I’m here to get an idea of what I should cover. I’ll be teaching math to Classes 3, 5 and 6 (roughly the same in American ‘grades’).

All that to say, I’m still a bit nervous about starting teaching here in such a new environment. I can already tell that it won’t be hard to maintain their attention, being a white person. They are intrigued. They call me ‘Madame’ and want to know where I come from. They stare at me until I smile and then they say ‘Good Morning’ or whatever time it is. As all children, they are extremely charming, even when they snap their fingers at me and say "Teacher!" to get my attention.

So…in regards to the title of this post. Polepole. This is how my luggage seems to be making it to Africa. SLOWLY, SLOWLY. It was exciting, almost thrilling to see the first four (out of six) bags come off the luggage rack when we reached Nairobi, Kenya as I chided myself a being even a little bit skeptical that they wouldn’t all make it. I learned quickly, however, that a little skepticism wasn’t uncalled for.

I arrived in Nairobi Tuesday, July 8 at 11:00 p.m. The baggage people said the next flight from Brussels (where my bag was) to Nairobi (where I won’t be until August) would be Friday, July 11. We told the baggage people we weren’t staying in Nairobi; they said they will try to get the bags to Mwanza, which is still a good drive from where we are now. We got a message from them on Thursday saying that the bags would ‘arrive’ on July 11. We think this means they’re in Nairobi now though we don’t really know because the baggage people, who work 8:00-5:00 every day, don’t really appreciate phone calls as they never seem to answer them.

Of the two missing bags, only one of them is mine. The other is a box of supplies for the school. The situation is somewhat comical to me, only having two pairs of socks, two shirts and a pair of jeans along with me in my carry-on. I’ve already made a list of everything I remember being in my bag and if I have to, I think I can claim it all with my travel insurance policy. But it would be more comforting to receive my bag and have all my own stuff.

I was really homesick the first night I was here and extremely tired. I slept for over 12 hours that night/morning and feel like I’m slowly having more energy and feeling accustomed to meal times and waking up here, etc. I have to get used to the many roosters crowing, the ‘guard’ dogs barking and wailing at each other and the little footsteps past my window at early morning hours.