Miscellaneous

Man, I cannot believe we've only been back in Magulilwa for a week and a half! It feels like a month already.

I'm having a lot of fun with my Form Is, and Emily and I both feel much better prepared for everything this time around. We are being much more imaginative with our lessons, and it's fun being unorthodox. I had another teacher come into my classroom twice last week because he thought there was no teacher and the kids were just being loud. We were playing a game in which they would have to run up to the board and translate something I said.

I also got to play frisbee three times last week with some students, mostly because the soccer ball was broken. But it was really great because then a bunch of girls told me they were interested in sports, they were just intimidated by the boys. So, hopefully we'll get that netball court soon just so they can have their own space to play. Having the frisbee around is also really great because it can't be used for soccer, so the boys can't co-opt it for soccer like they do with netballs. We'll be pestering the person in charge a lot this week to see what needs to be done to get started on that court.

This "rainy season" has so far been really mild. Everything is green, so we know it must've rained a decent amount in December, but it's been dry all week this week. The villagers are worried about their crops because the rains came late this year, and January wasn't very wet. I guess January and March are supposed to be the rainiest, so now it might be a while before it starts to rain regularly again. We hope it won't be too dry.

Anyway, that's the miscellaneous update I have for this week.

Netball and New Freshmen

Well, Emily and I both started teaching this week, and there are so few students that I now only have one class of Form I and she's teaching one class of Form II. Things will probably change as more students trickle in, but I like teaching Form I by myself. They really don't speak English at all, so I've conducted class mostly in Swahili so far, which is fun for me. I will have to try to remember to use both languages.

Besides finding better ways to teach this semester, I'm also excited about the prospect of getting a netball ground for the girls. Netball is a really weird game that sort of resembles basketball, except there's no contact and no backboards. And you don't dribble, so you can't run with the ball.

Basically, a netball ground is really easy to make because you don't need cement. You just need two poles with hoops on top. I asked the director of the school while I was home about building one and whether there was money, and he said it wouldn't be a problem, and just to ask the TZ staff. As far as I can tell, the only reason the school doesn't have one is because no one's ever asked. Almost all of the staff is male, and it's usually girls and women who play netball, so no one's ever thought of it! I'm guessing. I'm not certain of course, but it seems that way.

So, we're excited to have something stick around here because of us.

I'm here -- again!

Hello again!

I'm currently in a city called Morogoro visiting my friend Mario. He is studying at a university here, so unfortunately he won't be in Magulilwa anymore. Emily and I will leave for Iringa tomorrow probably, but it's TZ, so making too many plans is just silly.

Morogoro is quite hot and humid, but not as bad as Dar. The mosquitoes seem to like Emily and I better than the Tanzanians for some reason... annoying. But apparently they won't be nearly as bad in Magulilwa. Being here has been great, but I'm looking forward to having my own space and not being sweaty all the time. It's like Minnesota in July right now, with no air conditioning. Except in this lovely internet cafe :)

Emily and I are pretty much ready to get back to Magulilwa, even though unforetold challenges will undoubtedly be waiting. As of Friday, there were 12 form I students and 25 form IIs. So we felt justified in being late, as school technically started last Monday. Hehe. But the whole environment will be different, as it's the rainy season now. Apparently everything is going to be green and muddy. It will definitely be interesting.

We will be two of six teachers that we know of right now, unless the school has been more aggressive in hiring new people than I'm expecting. And the headmaster got fired, so pretty much everything is going to be up in the air. What an adventure, right?? Haha. I would not be handling it like this had I not had a nice long break at home, but Emily and I both feel refreshed enough to handle it right now at least. Anyway, I think that's enough for now. Hope you're still enjoying the snow!