April 2011

Well, they moved my site. In my funk I finally called up my apcd to complain about the teachers’ college schedule, you know, how there really isn’t any teaching to be done most of the year because the students tend to be MIA? Anyway, I thought it’d be a good idea to let PC know that 1) I was done teaching until late August when the students all returned so I had almost 4 months of idleness, 2) that I wanted to travel around and do the roving TC ICT maintenance thing I’ve sorta been doing covertly, and 3) [this is where I made a mistake] that I could also teach other topics. Anyway, it was proposed that I switch sites to Vudoi SS, in Mwanga, Kili region, which is sort of on the other side of the country… Amazingly, it got pushed through pretty fast, and by mid-April, I found myself adjusting to a new house in a new town at a new school. Apparently what had happened was that there used to be another PCV here, who had ET-ed, and the school made enough noise about wanting another volunteer and could provide housing that PC relented and sent me there. Coincidentally, it was one of the guys that shadowed me…

And so, I was once again plunged into uncertainty about the very basic operations of my school. In some ways, it felt like I was a new volunteer–trying to figure out school routines (they’re wildly different between TCs and SSs), teaching form 2 versus teaching diploma students, meeting new people, getting lost multiple times in town looking for the basic amenities like the post office and the soko, etc. Luckily I had a 2 week Easter+misc holidays break during my first two weeks there, so I had plenty of time to figure where things were and get settled in my house. Thanks to the break, I don’t really start teaching til May. I’ve been assigned to teach the form 2 basic maths, and the form 6 ict.

Turns out Mwanga is only an hour away from Moshi, that lovely city with a lot of mzungu-oriented stores. I can only imagine how terrible it is during high tourist season though. Was introduced to a variety of stores, an awesome bar, and the expat’s house. I think it’ll be kind of hard staying at site during the weekends here, as most of my site mates escape to Moshi since it’s so close by.

April was also my last vac meeting; it was also the first time I stayed with expats while in Dar instead of the usual econo lodge. The family was pretty cool, and I can see the appeal of staying with expats. Dunno if I’ll do it again…we’ll see. Although to be fair, don’t know when I’ll be in Dar next…Nothing of value got discussed or done; VAC has fully lived up to my expectations. That’s not entirely true, we expressed our dismay at being unable to get early COS due to overlap. meh.