Brief update

Well, I'm leaving in a week and a half, so I thought I would just give a brief update. Next week our form Is have their exams, so I'm finished teaching except for the villagers. Emily and I both feel like we really know how the school functions (or doesn't) now, so we're really excited to come back next year and improve on things that we didn't do so well this year. Also not being noob teachers will be nice. Alright, I know it's brief even for a brief update, but I've gotta go.

Team of Dodgers

What I tried to post last time...

Sorry it’s been a while. I didn’t really feel like I had much to say
because teaching was going normally and I didn’t have any news. I
don’t really have any news now either, but I figured since I’m leaving
in 3 weeks, I could probably scrounge up some stories for you.

My form IIs have been kind of annoying. I went back and forth with
them all term, sometimes loving them, sometimes hating them. The
class as a whole has a discipline problem, as almost half of them skip
class regularly, so I get frustrated with them a lot. But, other
times I have fun just making fun of the rather big personalities I
have in my class that often skip.

The last two weeks, I was playing soccer with the boys quite regularly because they had a match coming up, so they had to get a lot of practice in. Some days, we had so many boys wanting to play that we had enough for 3 teams, so we would rotate one team out each time one team scored.

One of the days, we started out with just 22 people, so we played a match like normal. Then, a bunch of boys (11 to be exact) came super late, and when my team got scored on, they all ran onto the field shouting for my team to get off because now we had three teams. Well, I was already annoyed at them because at least 3 of them had not been in class that day, so I started shouting back at them (in Swahili of course) that they were too late.

One of them (nicknamed Crazy Charlie by Emily and I, and one of the “dodgers” in my class) engaged me personally, telling me to leave, laughing. I repeated again that he was late and that he should leave. We argued for a bit, and then I told him (loudly enough for everyone to hear) that when he comes to class, then he can play. All of his friends started laughing because he’s sort of notorious, and he told
me that class was another matter. I said “not to me,” and mustered my most teacher-like voice and said emphatically, “get out.” And they did. :) It was so funny, and I was really happy that my Swahili didn’t fail me. Usually when I get mad or fired up, my brain refuses to think in another language, but that interaction was pretty successful.

At the end of the game), I made a side comment to Mario about the “dodgers’ team,” and he started laughing and asking the students on our team whether they had heard me, and repeated what I said. Then they all started laughing and yelling to their friends on that team.

As we were leaving, the ones I accused of being dodgers were all coming up to me and saying “I’m not a dodger, he is!” “No, I’m not. You are!” It was really amusing. Mario ended the arguments by saying “OK, we have attendance. We will see tomorrow.” And Crazy Charlie came to class the next day :)

Finally teaching again...mostly

Teaching finally did resume last week, although more students were sent home for school fees last week. Efficiency is... defined differently here, or something.

I also just realized that I've never written about our other classes. In August we also started teaching some villagers for an hour 3 times/week. That class is really fun because we can teach whatever we want, and we can go as slow as we want because they aren't preparing for any national exams, and there's no curriculum we have to follow. Plus, the students all come every day just because they WANT to, so they're much more engaged than our other students, generally. And really enthusiastic. I was worried because we have a lot of different ability levels, so we had to start with the beginners, but the more advanced students find their own ways to challenge each other, instead of just sitting there and being bored, like I would be, haha.

My other classes are going well, too. We are teaching the past tense to Form I (they have a test on Monday!) and I'm teaching a whole random smattering to Form II, the funniest of which I think is Question Tags. I bet you've never noticed that you speak in Question Tags, have you? They're a super strange speech pattern, aren't they? And pretty annoying to learn. Poor kids. But, we actually do use them a lot, so at least they might be useful. Plus, since we've gotten to know each other better, I joke around with them more, and I now like to use the names of the notorious "dodgers" (the ones who always skip class) in my examples, which always gets laughs. Hopefully they've learned enough to pass to Form III.

Other than that, nothing else terribly new. I'm coming home to spend the long holiday in Minnesota before heading back in January, so it feels like no time at all left!

3-week break?

So, amidst all the excitement I neglected to tell you all that Sept. 3-12 (Friday afternoon to the next Sunday) was the "midterm break." I had planned to go to Dar to visit my roommate and other friends, and I was really excited to be in a different environment for a while. However, I had talked to the headmaster a while before that, and he said that he could not allow the Form IIs and Form IVs to go home because of the national examinations at the end of October and beginning of November. So, since I'm teaching a Form II class, it also meant no break for me either... sweet.

Well, then there were some rumblings amongst the staff that maybe the headmaster would be forced to give everyone a break because most of the students had to go home to collect school fees and fees related to graduation. It didn't really give me that much hope because I know the headmaster is quite stubborn, but some teachers were really convinced that he would have no choice. Well, he ended up deciding that the students were to go home for the weekend to collect the fees, but that they should be back for class on Monday. Doomed, right then and there.

Everyone knew he was delusional to think that the students would be back on Monday. Except for those students who live close enough to walk or who live in Iringa, this command was impossible. Plus, even if it WAS possible, they wouldn't be back on Monday anyway because 1.) it is not Tanzanian culture to be on time to anything and 2.) the Form IIs and IVs hadn't had a break since March (they spent the June holiday at school as well).

So I think Emily and I and two other teachers were the only people from who took the bus to Magulilwa on Sunday. Most students, as predicted, stayed home, and most of the teachers did as well because why not? Emily's and my problem is that good old Lutheran guilt. The headmaster told us specifically that we were "not allowed" to go for longer than two days, and he called on Sunday to make sure we got to the bus on time. So, we did a whole lot of nothing that week.

THEN, the next week a bunch of students returned, and then all got chased away for not having collected school fees. Why the administration didn't just have EVERYONE go home for the midterm break and make it clear that they had to bring their school fees on Monday is a complete mystery to me, and to all the other teachers I talked to. Some less-than-nice words were said about him that week, especially since HE was gone to some conference. So that week, Emily and I taught one Form I class with 33/70 students, and I taught one Form II class with 18/40 students. Great plan, your highness.

Now this week we're preparing for graduation, so the students only have two classes every day instead of 5. Really glad they made those Form IIs and IVs stay here during the midterm... Ugh. Most of the staff thinks the administration is very disconnected from the school and that they just like telling people what to do. It does seem that way sometimes. Oh well. Maybe I'll start teaching again next week.

ELECTRICITY

Holy crap!! I'm still in Iringa, so I haven't seen it, but the treasurer of the school called last night and said we have electricity now!!! My house still doesn't, but the staff room, all the classrooms and the dormitories do! Now the students won't be hovering over kerosene lamps all the time trying to study! I can't even believe it.

Intra-staff communication and teaching prepositions

So, last week Emily and I were trying to prepare our Form Is for their midterm exam this week, which we thought started on Friday. Then, the evening before our last class last week, we were informed that midterms, in fact, actually were going to start on Monday. We were, as usual, the last ones to find out, but even the rest of the staff only found out that day.

So, we had thought we had three more class periods to prepare our students for the exam, when in fact we only had one. Oh well.

Our one review day was my day to teach, so I very quickly tried to remind them of everything we had done since I got here. I had gotten about 3/4 of the way through what I had planned when a Form III student came into our class and asked to make an announcement. I let him, and he made the announcement in Swahili, so Emily and I didn't understand, but didn't really care. I continued to teach after he left, summarizing the family tree and whatnot, but after about 5 min, all of the students were really restless. Just as I turned to figure out what the problem was, Emily came up and said that one of the students had told her they were supposed to go to a debate right now.

Great. So I quickly told them the other topics that would be on the exam, and said ok Go. And they all stood up and started taking chairs and things out of the classroom, up to the dining hall.

So what was this debate, you ask? Oh, just a little inter-class debate, hosted by none other than the English department , of which we comprise half.

Perfect.

This sense of "what the hell is going on?" is sort of normal for us, and it's not always because we're foreigners. The administration often just decides things like this. Keeps things interesting.

So this week, I didn't have to teach Form I since they were in midterms, so all I had was Form II. I decided to teach prepositions, which, for those of you fluent English speakers who may have forgotten, are words like under, around, on, into, in front of, beside. The first class, I explained all the words as best as I could (try to explain the word "for" without using it. Just try.), and quickly realized that demonstrations were completely necessary. So I had the whole class do all kinds of crazy things like stand ON their chairs and put their noses UNDER their desks. They seemed to like it, and I think it actually worked.

In the next class, I worked on prepositions that use motion, so I brought a soccer ball to class. I first had them throw it over things, and into the class room, and around the classroom. Then I taught throwing TO vs. throwing AT by having one student catch the ball and then walking beside him and throwing it so that he couldn't catch it and it hit him in the shoulder. AT. Haha. And then I proceeded to jokingly threaten those of them who hadn't turned in their homework. Of course.

One of the footballers wanted me to throw it at his head, and I gladly obliged. He headed it back to me, so it doesn't count as beating. But that was the most engaged I had ever seen either class, and they seemed to be understanding, so that made it doubly fun. Plus, whenever anyone made a mistake, it was funny (and usually resulted in someone else getting hit with the ball), so maybe it was easier to learn.

To test their comprehension, I told them to send one student THROUGH the door, OUTSIDE, AROUND the building, pick up a rock, and bring it back INTO the classroom. Then I had another student throw the rock back THROUGH the window. The kid they volunteered was one I knew from soccer, and so I narrated as he ran around... "Ok, there he goes through the door. Now he's outside. Oh there he is, you can see him though the window, he's running around the building now... etc."

Needless to say, it was a really fun class, and definitely NOT something they're used to, but they were willing to humor me, and I think they had fun. Alright this post is ridiculously long and I haven't told you a lot of things I was supposed to but I'm staying in Iringa tonight at a friend's grandfather's house, so maybe I'll get another chance tomorrow. Enjoy Labor Day Weekend.

Teaching and Water

So, since we've talked last, Emily and I have fallen into teacher roles more completely. There was one day in Form I when I caught some boys scuffling in the back, and I asked them (in Swahili) what the problem was, and of course they saythere is no problem. But one kid tells me that they were fighting over a pen, so I scold them, and ask them where their work is. Of course they haven't started, so I get my annoyed teacher face on, and ask if they know what they are supposed to be doing. Of course they say yes, so I stand there and wait for one of them to read the directions on the board. Then of course they don't know what they are supposed to be doing, so I make them admit they didn't know what they were doing, and explain, and then walk away, shooting stern glances their way every once in a while.

Then at the end of class, Emily was explaining their assignment, and a lot of students weren't paying attention. I was already annoyed at those boys, so I had had enough. I yelled Sikilizeni! which means listen, and a deafening silence fell. Let me tell you, it felt really good.


In other news, the water tower is working! Now the students don't have to fetch water every day, except as punishment. Emily reeeally wants to start a school garden, and now that we have water it's actually possible so that might be happening in the coming months. Also, we're starting English lessons for the teachers this weekend, and other villagers next week, so our plates are filling up. It will be quite interesting, and I don't really know what to expect from either, but I never really do, and it seems to work out ok for me. :)

It's great getting emails from all of you, even if I don't get a chance to respond. I'll be back in Iringa not this coming saturday, but the following, so you'll hear from me then!

Normalcy

Now that Emily has been here for two weeks, everything is feeling settled again. We have a routine now, which includes school assembly at 7:30, then teaching one or two periods. Tea time/breakfast is 10:00, and lunch is at 2:00-ish. The afternoon usually involves writing letters and journals (it's a good thing I like writing!), and then we play sports at 5. At 7:30, we eat dinner, and then go get hot milk (straight from the cow, boiled) with sugar [sooooo good].

This week both me and my friend Mario (our teacher friend, remember?) hurt ourselves (me, a pulled muscle, him a kicked knee) playing soccer, so we were out for a couple days, and now we're only playing frisbee for a while, as it's easier on your legs. So, I taught him how to play and he thinks it's a really great game. He told me that he was going to make permanent teams so that his students could play a different game sometimes. He meant his boy students.

But then later he told me that he was asking for a list of girls who wanted to play as well. I figured he was going to make separate girls' teams, but when I asked, he said I had mentioned that girls and boys can play frisbee together, so that was what he was intending to do. :) I'm really excited. None of them know how to play, so we don't have to worry about the boys dominating the game, and the girls are improving very quickly. It's so great!

Other than that, teaching is also starting to get more normal. Apparently some of our Form II students told another teacher that they enjoyed having us in class, which was nice to hear. Unfortunately they are preparing for a national examination this fall, so our teaching has to be really focused on that, and not as much on other things, but hopefully they're still learning useful things.

Alright, timed internet is such a bummer in terms of being able to think while I write, but I hope it's ok. Let me know what you want to hear more about, and maybe I'll oblige ;)

Harvesting corn and playing sports

On Wednesday there were no classes and the students just harvested the school corn that they grow to make the staple tanzanian food, ugali. Emily and I went down with the teachers, I thought to supervise, but they asked if we wanted to help, so we all went into the fields. The corn they grow isn't sweet corn; it's maize, so it's white, and they don't harvest it until it's all dried out because they just grind it up to make it into this stiff porridge (ugali). So, they shuck the dry corn right on the stalk and then break the ear off. Most of the time I did just fine, but any time I got to a really big ear, I couldn't for the life of me break it off the stalk, and all the teachers and students were laughing at me. I was fine with it because I think it was a sort of endearing incompetence, rather than an annoying one (I'm hoping). But I mean, who doesn't like to feel more competent at something than someone else?

Ok, so that was really fun, but by far the best part of every day is 5pm when Em and I go down to the field to play sports with whoever shows up. One day we taught like 15 boys and a few girls how to play frisbee, which was suuuper fun. I think it was interesting for the boys to play a sport where a girl was better than all of them ;) But they learned really fast. Then on Thursday and Friday a bunch of boys were congregated in the middle of the field when Emily and I showed up with a few girls. The girls started doing laps around the field, and I hate warm-ups so I just ran onto the field to see what was going on. One of the boys came out to meet me and said that they wanted to play soccer today. I asked (in kiswahili) whether the girls could play, and he hesitated. He said that he didn't know, but that he'd seen me, and that i could play (haha). So, I ran over to ask the girls if they wanted to play, and Emily said she didn't want to, so her clan stayed with her.

So, I played soccer for the 1st time in 6 years, with 21 boys, and didn't do completely terribly. Some of them were certainly better than me, but there were enough who were worse :)

Then yesterday I was talking with that same teacher, and he said that it was so great for the girls to see me playing. He said he always tells everyone to go exercise every day, but that he's never seen so many girls come before. And yesterday all of the young teachers came to watch, which he said had never happened before. He said that while maybe some are coming just to see us, once they get here they have fun and start playing. He said it's great especially for the students because otherwise they do nothing but study.

Whew, ok I think that's all I have for now. :)

Officially starting to teach

Wow I can't believe it's only been a week since I wrote last. We started officially teaching this week, and it's been interesting to say the least. Emily and I are sharing a Form 1 class (freshmen) together since there are not enough classrooms for them to be split into two, so we technically have 78 students in one class, although not all of them come every day, for whatever reason. So that class is definitely going to be a huge challenge, especially since not all of these students passed their primary school exams. Apparently since this is a private school, you don't have to pass exams to get in like you do for public schools. So, some of these kids were confused even when they were being taught in kiswahili, and now they're being taught in English, so it seems impossible. And it's not the students' fault that they don't understand now, so figuring out a way to help them will be very challenging.

Of course there are also those students who understand pretty much everything in this same class, so Emily and I talked to one of our teacher friends and he said that he always puts students into groups of varying abilities so that they can help each other. So, that's what we're going to start doing next week.

My other class are second-years, and I teach them by myself since they are split into two and emily has the other half. So then I have about 40 students, which is like how many we had in my high school. They are much easier to deal with, considering their number, and their english is much better, so they at least understand what I want them to do most of the time.

I am really glad that I do speak some kiswahili because I often repeat directions in my broken kiswahili and it seems to help most of the time. The other thing that's super weird is that I was not once nervous to teach, even on my first day, and even when things aren't going as planned, which is most of the time. The first day I walked into my form 1 class with 70 students staring at me and was just like whatever, let's do this. I'm for some strange reason confident that eventually I'll figure out how to really teach.

Dar es Salaam -- My first love

Well now I'm here in Dar waiting to pick up Emily, and while I originally didn't want to go, and while the humidity is something awful, it was sooo good to come back. I got to see my roommate and one of the kitchen staff members at the University, as well as a couple other friends. It was so fun to be the one to show others around, as I was with two people from Magulilwa. It felt like going home in a way. I will definitely be ready to get back to the dry, cold Iringa region, though.

Yesterday I bought some soccer shoes (no cleats since most of the pitch is dirt anyway), so hopefully I will be able to play with the students and one of the teachers sometimes. I feel bad for the guys that are with me because I get so much attention, and sometimes I encourage it because I think it's funny by responding to them with something sassy. Like they always yell Mzungu (white person or European)! and sometimes I respond Mwafrika! which just means African! Most of the time it seems like they are testing me to see how much Swahili I know, so I always want to prove myself. Ridiculous, I know.

So, since I last updated you, I've been hanging out with a few of the other teachers a lot more, and finding out how I fit in, so its really starting to feel like home. I'm still speaking lots of Swahili, and one day I went to the soccer field to exercise because i was feeling restless. I was of course the only girl, but I think Im going to persuade some of my girl students to come play with me next time.

Anyway, it will be very interesting how things change when emily gets here, as she doesn't know any swahili for one, and everyone knows me already. I'm sure she will do just great, and she's good at learning languages, so she should be fine. It will be fun to share these things with her. Alright I think that's about all I can think of for now. Take care!

I made it!

Well, I've survived my first week in TZ, and I'm doing well. I've been doing some informal tutoring with students this week and meeting looots of people. I'll be lucky to remember more than 5 names.

I was surprised at how quickly all the Swahili that I had learned last time started coming back. During my first day here during random intervals another word would suddenly pop into my head; it was so fun feel like I was learning that fast, haha. Now I think I'm almost back to where I was when I left, language-wise, and thank goodness. Even with people who do speak English, it's good to be able to supplement the conversation in Swahili. Especially now, when everyone is still getting used to my weird accent.

Right now I'm in Iringa at an internet cafe. It took about an hour and a half to get here by bus, and it left at 7 this morning, so I had to get ready while it was still dark. Thus, I forgot the flash drive with pictures... sorry. Maybe next time.

I'm leaving on Tuesday to go to the airport to pick up Emily, and I will hopefully get to see my former roommate, as she is still at the University. Ok, I'm sure you're dying to know what it's like to live without electricity or running water. Well, for me it's quite easy actually. I'm considered a guest still, even though I'm technically a staff member, so I have it made. I don't have to fetch water or buy or cook food. I do have to pay for all of these things I think at the end of the month, but my stipend will cover it. I have a battery-powered lantern, so I really don't notice the lack of electricity much. Plus, I now know that I can shower using only 1 gallon of water. But seriously, I have it so easy, and I hope I contribute enough to deserve even half of the treatment I'm getting.

I feel like I could go on forever about random things, but blog posts aren't supposed to be this long. I'll be back in a couple weeks to write again. I hope you all are well :)

Round 2!

Hello all!

I just wanted to answer a few questions right off the bat before I leave because I don't know how often I'll be able to write once I'm there. So, I'll tell you what I think I know now and inevitably correct myself later.

I'll be teaching at the Magulilwa (Mah-goo-leel-wah) Area Secondary School. It's like high school. It's about 10 hours west of where I was before, and the nearest city is Iringa--a town of 500,000. I'll be teaching English in English, as it is the language of instruction throughout the school. From what I understand, Emily and I will each have two classes to ourselves. We are also expected to hold some type of teacher workshop things that we make up ourselves. Woo!

The specs? We'll be staying in the headmaster's house which I think is on campus, and we each get our own room (for the first time in four years! Livin' large, I'm telling ya). At some point we'll have electricity and possibly even running water, which will make life a lot easier. It'll be the dry season when we get there, and maybe low 70s during the day, and 40s at night.

Now, more interesting maybe is why I am doing this. I'm so glad you asked! I started thinking about going back in like March of last year. After those five months last time, I wasn't ready to come home. I finally felt like I had a handle on the language, and I was loving the increased access that those language skills provided me. I probably could've fallen in love with any place I visited, but this is where I have connections now. So thought to myself if I don't go back now, I probably never will. And so the 6-month-long search for an organization began.

Early in the fall of my senior year, my professor--who came with us to Tanzania for orientation--remembered that a former student of hers had started a school there. This student, Claire, had married a Tanzanian, Evaristo, who had come to Luther to study, and they started this secondary school in his home town, Magulilwa. (If you're interested, the school's website is www.maguschool.org).

So. That's a little bit of what I'll be doing and why. I hope to hear from you all soon!