Marriage:
No, no, I am not getting married. Ha! I've had offers, and amusing as they are, that particular topic has both a humorous and a rather serious side. Today in Kiswahili, we discussed how to conjugate verbs to put them in the passive tense. This brought up a subject that we have touched on, but did not go too terribly in depth on - the verb 'oa.' 'Oa' means for a man to marry a woman. In order to talk about a woman's marriage, you must say that she is 'being married' or 'getting married.' This is not the case for the man - he is the one doing the marrying.
Now, I don't want people to get all up in arms and start getting frustrated with how this whole Tanzanian society must be so discriminatory towards women through and through. This is not the case. But things are different here. The difference in the verbs is not malicious or cruel - it is the language, and, as our teacher, Pendo, reminds us quite often, 'Kiswahili is a young language.'
My students:
I have a standard 6 class of boys and girls at the local Mlimani Primary School, who are delightful. The more time i spend with them, he better my kiswahili gets, and the better thier English (or their boldness in class) gets. I'm glad. I don't mind if they chatter a bit as they do the lessons that I set for them - Their punctuation is getting better and better. I don't really mind if they giggle when I call on them to answer - at least they are answering, and answering in English. I don't mind at all that my teacher never comes to the room while I am teaching - she is of the opinion that since I don't smack the kids, I must not be doing an effective teaching job.
She came up to me the second day that I was teaching, and wanted to know if I would be smacking the children. I responded with a very firm, 'No,' and she did not look surprised. She then told me that hitting the children is the only way to control a class of 60, and that hitting thier wrists when they get answers wrong on their excersies helps them to study harder the next time. She offered me her 'stick' (for lack of a better term) which set back down on her desk and assured her that her students were so well behaved that I would certianly never need the use it. She looked skeptical. [By the way, I refer to her as 'she' or 'my teacher' because the only name that she has given me to call her was 'Madam,' and it is slightly odd to be writting that, leet alone trying to call her that.] Since that day, she has occasionally stuck her head into the class, but mostly she just sits in the teachers room with the other 'Madams.' I'm pretty ok with it, though, as the students seem to be much more willing to try answering questions when she is not walking around wacking them.
Upcoming travel:
At the end of this week, when out Kiswahili class ends, the whole LCCT group is spiliting off and traveling around Tanzania for about twelve days. Chris, Bryanna and I are heading to the northeast, to Mwanza, Ngara, Kibondo, and Kigoma before catching a train and returning to Dar but the 12th of September. We have out International Student Orientation on the 13th and 14th, and then classes were supposed to start then, but they have been pushed back until the 29th (my birthday, yay!). After the orientation, we will be heading north again, the whole group this time, to stay at Mama Macha's home in Moshi. She is a wonderful family friend of Chris's when he and his family used to live here in Dar. She lives on the side of Kilimanjaro, and has a beautiful veiw of both Kili and Mt Meru as the sun rises and sets....so that is going to be an amazing trip.
Lots of thoughts, I know. Sorry for the somewhat jumbled nature of it all...I will probably be coming back and revising it later, but this will be the last long post until about the 16th.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
August 19th - Meeting, greeting, WHEATing, laughing, and being a mzungu
Ben Durbin - I have been thinking about one of our last conversations before I left, and figured that it was about time I touched on this subject...For those of you who do not know what 'wheating' is, the title might be a bit confusing. It is something that Ben and Kim, our lovely youth directors at FLC in Duluth, introduced to the leadership team and the fish force. Without going into too many details, it is a way to get to know someone, a complete stranger, without having to seem cheesy or false. And let me tell you, Tanzanians are naturals at this. EVERYONE knows someone who knows someone who traveled to the same place as you last week and probably walked the same streets.
Everyone here has something in common with one another, and if they don't see it right away, soon they've figured it out. They are some of the warmest and most caring people I've ever met. It is only natural to talk for twenty minutes with a soccer player down on the pitch that you have never met before. It doesn't matter that I won't remember his name or that he won't remember mine. It makes total sense to joke and laugh with the man behind the counter, even if I barely speak his language, and he barely speaks mine - he is there everyday, and know that we get the same thing everyday, and laughs about it. Silly Americans, they sure love their beans and rice - and it is sooo good. The woman I buy fruit from every few days - always throws in an extra chungwa (orange) and hopes that I'll come back (which I always do). We chat, she laughs as I try to pronounce the names of the vegetables and fruits, and always laughs when she tries to talk to me in English. It isn't a jeering laugh, it is beautiful and warming and lets us both know that we've got something so basic in common as sharing a joke.
Sometimes it feels so lonely here, being so obvious and so unable to hide or blend in. But the majority of the time, I don't mind. The majority of the time, I am able to make connections and meet people that I otherwise would never be able to. Someone said to me the other day that this must be a blessing in disguise - all these relationships and smiles. Blessing? Yes indeed, but with no need for a disguise. The joy with which people live their lives here is astounding and beautiful and so evident to anyone who takes the time to notice.
Everyone here has something in common with one another, and if they don't see it right away, soon they've figured it out. They are some of the warmest and most caring people I've ever met. It is only natural to talk for twenty minutes with a soccer player down on the pitch that you have never met before. It doesn't matter that I won't remember his name or that he won't remember mine. It makes total sense to joke and laugh with the man behind the counter, even if I barely speak his language, and he barely speaks mine - he is there everyday, and know that we get the same thing everyday, and laughs about it. Silly Americans, they sure love their beans and rice - and it is sooo good. The woman I buy fruit from every few days - always throws in an extra chungwa (orange) and hopes that I'll come back (which I always do). We chat, she laughs as I try to pronounce the names of the vegetables and fruits, and always laughs when she tries to talk to me in English. It isn't a jeering laugh, it is beautiful and warming and lets us both know that we've got something so basic in common as sharing a joke.
Sometimes it feels so lonely here, being so obvious and so unable to hide or blend in. But the majority of the time, I don't mind. The majority of the time, I am able to make connections and meet people that I otherwise would never be able to. Someone said to me the other day that this must be a blessing in disguise - all these relationships and smiles. Blessing? Yes indeed, but with no need for a disguise. The joy with which people live their lives here is astounding and beautiful and so evident to anyone who takes the time to notice.
Friday, August 15, 2008
August 15th -
August 13th
Jambo
The greeting itself
does not seem particularly specific,
one can say
a wide variety of words.
Mambo
Just move your mouth.
and the end result is still the same.
The important thing is
that you say something.
A greeting means,
‘I see you.’
It means,
‘you exist,’
Tells a stranger that
‘you are a human being
And
I acknowledge you.’
Habari gani
At first, to me,
the greeting -
so superficial and incomplete!
as I have been here,
it becomes a comfort,
warm -
slowly turns beautiful.
Yes, I’m white.
Yes, I’m a woman
on a university campus
dominated by men.
But to them
I am still human,
I am still worth something.
Gone is the privileged lifestyle
assumptions
labels
stereotypes
just for that moment
I am still seen.
I am still here.
I still exist.
Jambo.
Jambo
The greeting itself
does not seem particularly specific,
one can say
a wide variety of words.
Mambo
Just move your mouth.
and the end result is still the same.
The important thing is
that you say something.
A greeting means,
‘I see you.’
It means,
‘you exist,’
Tells a stranger that
‘you are a human being
And
I acknowledge you.’
Habari gani
At first, to me,
the greeting -
so superficial and incomplete!
as I have been here,
it becomes a comfort,
warm -
slowly turns beautiful.
Yes, I’m white.
Yes, I’m a woman
on a university campus
dominated by men.
But to them
I am still human,
I am still worth something.
Gone is the privileged lifestyle
assumptions
labels
stereotypes
just for that moment
I am still seen.
I am still here.
I still exist.
Jambo.
Monday, August 11, 2008
August 11th - Mlimani Primary School
I went to kswahili class today and then had a little lunch and walked down to Mlimani Primary school, the place where I will be teaching for the next few months. I talked to my teacher, and she and I agreed that I would just observe today, so that way I could see how that class was run. Halfway through the first part of the lesson, however, she indicates and I should stand up andsays , "Sarah will be teaching a song and punctuation now." I thought that she had said 'Sarah will be teaching a song about punctuation"and I started panicking because I couldn't think of any - all that was coming to mind were School House Rock songs, but I didn't really think that would work.....finally it came to me what she had said, and so I taught them 'head shoulders knees and toes' which , even though they are 10-14 year olds, they LOVED it. Then 'Madam Sarah' told the class of 53 boys and girls all about 'full stops' (periods), commas, quotation marks, apostraphes, exclamation marks, and question marks. It went really well, even though I was totally winged it. I'll be teaching there acouple of days a week, basically whenever I have time. On Wednesday,and am teaching them how to write 'friendly' letters, or letter to and from friends. AND I'm teaching another song.....I'm thinking that Wednesday will be 'Are you sleeping Brother John.' I know that in a few languages thanks to Emily and Rachel going to Japan, I even know that one if them is Japanese! Anyway....it was a rather uneventful....Wendy, Kate, Stacey, Chris, and two random Tanzanian kids played World Cup for a while - that was fantastically fun...my ankle will hurt in the morning, but it was definitely worth it.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Yes, I'm still alive...
I know, I know, I sort of appeared to drop off the face of the Earth for a while, but truth be told, I have so many things that I am thinking about pertaining to my experiences here that it has become exceedingly difficult to write and express myself without appearing shallow, incomplete, or petty. I will continue to be authentic and honest about my thoughts, maintaining that it will be an incurably incomplete description of what I am learning.
Thoughts from the Ngorongoro Crater:
I’ve been thinking a lot about our trip to Ngorongoro crater as I’ve been talking to other LCCT participants about our thoughts on the experience so far. So far, I’ve been kind of coming up with a big metaphor as to our trip up to the crater, our day there, and what I am thinking some of the rest of my experience will be like. Certainly it will not be perfectly accurate, but they are a guess, and more importantly, they are what have been on my mind all day today.
I entered this program rather blindly. Sure, I’ll study abroad! Sure, I’ll go to Africa! Sure, I’ll enter a country where I do not know the language nor very much about the society! Optimism abounds. But I sort of had an idea as to where I was going, and that allowed me a few moments of calm when I actually got on the plane and started flying East. This is sort of like what driving up the side of the crater felt like. I had an idea about where I was going, I had a pretty good idea about what kinds of things were going to be there once I arrived, but I didn’t really know much more than that, and to top it all off, we could not see more that 8 feet in front of us during some parts of the trip. Talk about going in blindly!
Once we started learning about what the crater means to Tanzania as far as the tourism industry, grazing area for the Maasai and the politics behind that, and other facts, it became more than just a flippant, ‘oh sure, this would be fun,’ thought process. The same goes for what I was learning at TCDC and from Gemma. The more I was learning about Tanzania and the people here, the more I became aware of how important it was to value every moment that I am here, because my Western education provides a flimsy representation of the life here is actually like.
As we arrived at the top of the crater, we could finally start to see the place that we were headed. Then it became that much more real – I’m actually going to see zebras and lions and sweet stuff like that! We got off the plane and showed up at TCDC, we were actually in Tanzania, and I started to understand that my best friend is no longer a twenty minute drive away, my boyfriend and I won’t see each other for five months, and that if my Nana passes away while I’m here, I won’t be able to go home for the funeral. The fog lifted all around us, and we could see for miles and miles in every direction, and it was beautiful. My loved ones are at home, thousands of miles away, and although I won’t see them for five months, it isn’t too scary of a prospect as it was before.
The whole time that we were in the crater, it was amazingly beautiful, but we were still separated from what was outside of our window. There was a constant lens through which were viewing the animals, and there has been a constant lens through which we have been experiencing Tanzania as well. We are here, walking around and looking at everything, but we also know that in 5 months we are going home, which automatically limits our experience. Sitting and cradling children who have been orphaned by HIV/AIDS pains my heart, and it made me sick to my stomach to be grateful about leaving the nursery school.
On the way up out of the crater, we went to the hotel that costs 1,500 per night per person. I sort of think that my thoughts and disgust at my views of the hotel/resort is gong to be a lot of the same thoughts that I will have once I go back to the states. I know that I am already very critical about how much money I have spent while I’ve been here, and I know that I am gong to be even more critical of what money I spend from this point out simply because I am not earning anything these next 5 months. When I go home, especially because we are going home at Christmas time, I am pretty sure the materialism and frustration will be overwhelming.
Thoughts from the Ngorongoro Crater:
I’ve been thinking a lot about our trip to Ngorongoro crater as I’ve been talking to other LCCT participants about our thoughts on the experience so far. So far, I’ve been kind of coming up with a big metaphor as to our trip up to the crater, our day there, and what I am thinking some of the rest of my experience will be like. Certainly it will not be perfectly accurate, but they are a guess, and more importantly, they are what have been on my mind all day today.
I entered this program rather blindly. Sure, I’ll study abroad! Sure, I’ll go to Africa! Sure, I’ll enter a country where I do not know the language nor very much about the society! Optimism abounds. But I sort of had an idea as to where I was going, and that allowed me a few moments of calm when I actually got on the plane and started flying East. This is sort of like what driving up the side of the crater felt like. I had an idea about where I was going, I had a pretty good idea about what kinds of things were going to be there once I arrived, but I didn’t really know much more than that, and to top it all off, we could not see more that 8 feet in front of us during some parts of the trip. Talk about going in blindly!
Once we started learning about what the crater means to Tanzania as far as the tourism industry, grazing area for the Maasai and the politics behind that, and other facts, it became more than just a flippant, ‘oh sure, this would be fun,’ thought process. The same goes for what I was learning at TCDC and from Gemma. The more I was learning about Tanzania and the people here, the more I became aware of how important it was to value every moment that I am here, because my Western education provides a flimsy representation of the life here is actually like.
As we arrived at the top of the crater, we could finally start to see the place that we were headed. Then it became that much more real – I’m actually going to see zebras and lions and sweet stuff like that! We got off the plane and showed up at TCDC, we were actually in Tanzania, and I started to understand that my best friend is no longer a twenty minute drive away, my boyfriend and I won’t see each other for five months, and that if my Nana passes away while I’m here, I won’t be able to go home for the funeral. The fog lifted all around us, and we could see for miles and miles in every direction, and it was beautiful. My loved ones are at home, thousands of miles away, and although I won’t see them for five months, it isn’t too scary of a prospect as it was before.
The whole time that we were in the crater, it was amazingly beautiful, but we were still separated from what was outside of our window. There was a constant lens through which were viewing the animals, and there has been a constant lens through which we have been experiencing Tanzania as well. We are here, walking around and looking at everything, but we also know that in 5 months we are going home, which automatically limits our experience. Sitting and cradling children who have been orphaned by HIV/AIDS pains my heart, and it made me sick to my stomach to be grateful about leaving the nursery school.
On the way up out of the crater, we went to the hotel that costs 1,500 per night per person. I sort of think that my thoughts and disgust at my views of the hotel/resort is gong to be a lot of the same thoughts that I will have once I go back to the states. I know that I am already very critical about how much money I have spent while I’ve been here, and I know that I am gong to be even more critical of what money I spend from this point out simply because I am not earning anything these next 5 months. When I go home, especially because we are going home at Christmas time, I am pretty sure the materialism and frustration will be overwhelming.
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