July
Eventually I’ll get caught up to the present, but for now, more remininscing of the past.
July started with mostly a blast. It saw the end of the community theatre training, followed by a mad dash to Dar. I was supposed to get a lifti with Peace Corps to Dar from Iringa, which would’ve been really nice, except they conveniently forgot that they had to carry a printer back also. I of course found out the day before we were supposed to leave, in the late afternoon, which meant my last day in Iringa was particularly memorable as I had to scramble looking for travel options. Eventualy I found the last seat of an 11:30am bus, which sucked because I got to Dar way after dark. I managed to miss the US Embassy’s July 4th party, which I was really looking forward to, but what can you do? Life in Tz with PC has really taught me to roll with the punches and not get too caught up in disappointments. As I like to refer to it, Peace Corps/Tz sets you up with all sorts of expectations…And then dashes them. Well, personal growth is always nice I suppose.
I get off the bus tired and hungry and catch what must be one of the last daladalas running to Oyster Bay, where I’m staying at some expat’s house. Oyster Bay isn’t necessarily the safest part of Dar at night, and I’ve got a wad of cash on me, so I’m just a bit paranoid. I’m also rather lost since the directions weren’t very clear on when I should get off the dala. Eventually I reach my destination, the safi expat house, after about 7 phone calls re-affirming directions. People not on the zain plan are annoying… And using a “tall building with blue tinted windows” doesn’t really work when it’s dark out. The expat house is like, wow. A bunch of people (7?) are there, half of whom I’ve not seen since training (common theme, I’m pretty isolated as far as the 2009 ed volunteers go). We go out, have drinks–well, I have this mixed meal of breakfast/lunch/dinner, first meal of the day and listen to drunk karaoke. We’re met by some other PCVs who happened to be in Dar and enjoy the singing. Oh, and I have my first gin and tonic in Tanzania, as the bar had Bombay Sapphire (it catered to the expat populations).
The next morning we all got up super early to try to find a ride to the ferry; after some minor hiccups we’re on the boat. The ferry was rather crowded, and it looked like a mix between HCNs and tourists. Luckily I didn’t vomit, as the ride was not very fun. Zanzibar–later in the day. Got to fill out customs information only to be told that since we all had our work permits we could go on in… We got some evil eyes for cutting in line though. Meh.
We’re met on Zanzibar by a couple other volunteers, including my reclusive site mate, and are told there are other PCVs here too. Jeez, is everyone I know in country on this island? Oh, of note, we met a volunteer who just COSed from Lesotho while waiting at a hotel, who told us cool stories about his former PCMO (now ours). Later that day we’re driven off to —- by a Tz whose a friend of a friend of a PCV who I met in Iringa; we paid for gas and his meal, and enjoyed his company (he also happened to be childhood friends with the dude who owned the resort we stayed at, and knew a lot about the ed system on Zbar since his pops used to be the minister of edu, so there was a lot of great conversation happening).
Zanzibar was f*cking awesome. It’s probably the most fun, and relaxation, I’ve had since coming to East Africa, and is the only place I’ve been that I wouldn’t mind taking friends/family too. It’s…like a different world, very Western in some respects due to the tourists, but after being frustrated with certain aspects of African life for the last 6 months (like things/classes never starting on time but always finishing on time, so tasks never get done correctly)… Oh and the food was delish. Just awesome seafood, local of course, and fresh. We stayed at the resort place for about a week, and then stayed in StoneTown for a few days. We went to the nightly stone town seafood extravaganza, and gorged on good seafood (fresh calimari, octopus, had 3 lobsters each for the cost of just under 1 USD, tons of shrimp, mmmmm gastro-intestinal heaven). Oh, btw, if you’re wondering about the seafood fixation, well, remember that I live in central desert Tanzania with nearly zero access to seafood. That was our last night on the island, and it was certainly memorable. I think I’ll be back, probably when my buddies in Ndanda and Lindi go later this year? Got kinda seasick on the ferry to Dar, had really aweful seating arrangements.
Well, the Zanzibar trip was the highlight of the month, after that it kind of tapered off. We caught a bus to Moro, my banking town, and the site of the next group of community theatre workshop trainings. Met some pretty cool health/env volunteers there, and hung out at K’nyembe TC with babu; also stopped by the host fam to greet the mama. It was pretty awkward and sad, b/c her brother had just passed away; I met the guy during my training days and he seemed pretty healthy…
While in Moro I exchanged some good ICT training ideas with Bill, and got him [re]started on learning [ubuntu] linux. Also happened to meet my APCDs and a visitor from DC, who informed me I had a site visit the following day. WTF happened to the 2 weeks notice via sms?? Anyway, it turned out the site visit got delayed somewhat, as the lady from DC wanted to meet with the Dodoma/Singida ed volunteers to see what they think of the ed project. It’s the year of the project review so the staff wanted to see if we had suggestions…Which we did. Had a 3 day mini conference in Dodoma in which good ideas were presented and hopefully some will get implemented…Encouraging things were apparently said by the Ministry also, so that’s good too? The volunteers pretty much came to similar conclusions: it’s damn hard to teach math science in the schools, partially because English language is a huge problem; If PC cared about building capacity, there’d be English teachers at the primary school level, issues of clustering, etc
My site visit followed this mini conference. Of note: we got lost going to my site (rather, they did, I was trying hard not to laugh at the ridiculousness of PC life), a coworker’s daughter got struck by a land rover and died, and I’m pretty sure there were strong words exchanged about my lack of teaching workload at the TTC.
July had my first Tz funeral, for the 9 yr old girl that got hit by the car during my site visit. Most awkward thing ever… The men were playing cards, talking about giant snakes that live in baobob trees in Dodoma and eat baby cows/people, and laughing while the women were on the other side of the house screaming, wailing and crying.
The last week of July saw me with 4 shadowers from the health/environment group that came in on June 16. We went to Ilolo for goat, the place by tanesco for kiti moto, and we talked about glamourous life of a PCV. Oh, and we made pizza at my house that turned out surprisingly well. When they left, I had to go back to Dodoma mjini to restock on cheese and other foods, and to buy a modem.
All in all, an eventful month.
