First, I have to correct a mistake. The Village Chairman in my all-Christian area who I thought was a Muslim is actually not. His dad is from a mostly Muslim area of Tanzania, and they both wear the traditional Muslim hats most of the time, but it turns out their Christian and there really are hardly any Muslims this far from the coast.
Volunteer Styles
Everyone has his or her own style of volunteering and of adapting to life in another country.
There are some volunteers that seem to depend on things from America, especially some environmentals (not meaning to stereotype too much) have a fair amount of free time that, by their reports, they devote much of to cooking elaborate meals. I'm sure I get an exaggerated account of their grandest successes and hear more about exceptions than the rule, but I have also heard from other volunteers of the more plain style that they have been shocked to see how luxuriously some of the other volunteers are living. Other reports tell me that some spend most of their time decking out their houses with exotic gardens and landscaping. Some of this is encouraged, to lead by example of good/sustainable/intensive gardening practices, but I've heard that some take the example bit rather far and do little else. There are also volunteers that I lump into this category (especially the 'mentals in this case) that don't have such elaborate lifestyles in their villages, but go into the towns almost every week and live it up there. As one example of this category, my distant neighbor Connor has a house that reminds me of college life when I visit. His housemama cooks for us while we sit on the couch watching movies on his laptop. He also spends a ton of money on American food in town and gets sent a bunch of stuff too. It's great when I visit, and I want to say that I'm trying not to be judgmental or hypocritical, but it's a little tough. Mostly, this is just how I see it. All that said, many of these volunteers still do lots of good work and help their communities a great deal.
The opposite extreme is the isolationists. I joined Peace Corps expecting a certain degree of lonesomeness, and some people deliberately isolate themselves, often requesting and getting the most rural sites. Two of my "neighbors" are like this in different ways. They both spend more time in the village than average without going in to town (but they are also dating, so they visit each other more than most volunteers). However they differ in that Jacob doesn't try to isolate himself as much, but leads a lifestyle very similar to that of his other teachers, eating rice and beans almost every day, and spending lots of time in his garden. Jeska, on the other hand, I believe it's more creative food (I've gotten a couple stories of her scaring her neighbors with some more creative dishes like sauteed apples with honey), but she goes months without getting to town, and although she recently got cell phone service at her site, she just turns it on to check her messages once every 3 days or so (that bit is by Jacob's account, so it might be a little exaggerated).
I sort of think of myself if a happy medium. I think I'm leaning more towards the village life side, I rarely cook elaborate meals for myself, though when I have company who will appreciate it, it's no holds barred. Recently, I've gotten some lovely packages with food in them, and the ramens have been nice for making a quick meal, but the fancier things (stove top stuffing, muffin mix...) are just kind of piling up, and I'll probably save them for when I have guests.
I definitely don't take steps to isolate myself. As I said, I came expecting a degree of loneliness, but quickly found friends in my village and also found that about 3 weeks of time in the village is enough for me to get frustrated with the slow pace at which things happen and make me want some time in town with friends--mostly Americans to complain to. And to stock up on peanut butter. Whereas most of the meals I prepare are of the rice and beans variety with some vegetables, for breakfast and sometimes lunch a peanut butter and banana sandwich is the thing I can make quickly without waiting for charcoal to be ready, though recently we got a couple new teachers and the school has started providing meals for a few teachers, and often I'll eat with them. Being on the busy schedule makes that very convenient, I think my average day in the office, including lunch, is around 9 hours. That just wouldn't be possible if I took an hour plus to cook a decent lunch. I've now found a mama in the village who makes good bread, and her daughter is a student so it gets delivered to my house, which is awesome. She has yet to do it, but says when the wheat harvest comes in she'll make whole wheat bread.
I definitely have come a long way from the days in training when I looked down on the volunteer I visited a little for all his empty peanut butter tubs, and I explained to my host sister when she commented on how many socks I have that I don't like putting on dirty socks. A long long way.
I also can't can't really imagine what the Peace Corps experience here would have been like even recently without cell phones and Internet access in the cities. The speed at which these amenities have arrived gives me a very positive outlook on development and progress here--an outlook that's often hard to maintain back in the village where it's needed most. Maybe more on that next time--which ought to be quite soon as I've got a little training in about a week. Until then, take care.
Saturday, May 26, 2007
Saturday, May 05, 2007
And.... no. And movies
5 May 2007
Nope. No househelp. She never showed up. Apparently, as I learned from the headmaster this past Monday, a week after she was supposed to start work, he found out about some "bad behavior," apparently she hadn't told him that she has a husband she ran away from in Njombe, and a son too. I'm not sure whether the son is with her or him. He saw this as good reason not to hire her (she was to work part time for me and part time for the school) and told her not to show up.
Now, I do agree that she probably should have told him about these things when he interviewed her--I know he asked her quite a bit about her time in Njombe and all she said was that she took some secretarial classes--but my instinctive prejudices tell me that she probably had a very good reason to run away from her husband, and that now she probably needs help, such as employment. Unfortunately, now that the headmaster has nixed her, it would be bad form for me to go look for her to just work for me without first consulting with him. I'll try to do that, but he's only been in town for a handful of days in the last month. Sooner or later I will get househelp.
I brought a VHS copy of Pirates of the Caribbean to my school because I found out we do have a VCR. I watched it last Friday with the teachers, and then this past Monday (the day before the May 1st holiday) I watched it with the students--about 600 of them staring at a normal size TV in the auditorium/dining hall.
The reactions to the movie were a lot of fun. I will continue to bring movies, but my next choice will be a shorter movie. Even a movie as fun as Pirates got boring for those who couldn't understand it well (everyone but me). After the viewing with the teachers the head of the physics department (whom I have previously referred to as Evil Physics Teacher, but I think I'll downgrade now to Annoying Physics Teacher) asked me "Is it true? Is it true that skeletons can talk?" I assured him that it was not true and asked him how he liked the movie. "It was absolutely terrifying."
Most of the other teachers seemed to enjoy it more than be terrified, and the kids enjoyed it. Explaining the plot also gave my Kiswahili some interesting vocabulary such as gold, curse, and skeleton.
Speaking of movies, the wishlist is updated and (as I cringe to think about what the ex-PCVs reading this are thinking) I've added some movies that would be fun to have in Njombe, either VHS or DVD is good, but don't anyone spend much on these. They're just whims.
Nope. No househelp. She never showed up. Apparently, as I learned from the headmaster this past Monday, a week after she was supposed to start work, he found out about some "bad behavior," apparently she hadn't told him that she has a husband she ran away from in Njombe, and a son too. I'm not sure whether the son is with her or him. He saw this as good reason not to hire her (she was to work part time for me and part time for the school) and told her not to show up.
Now, I do agree that she probably should have told him about these things when he interviewed her--I know he asked her quite a bit about her time in Njombe and all she said was that she took some secretarial classes--but my instinctive prejudices tell me that she probably had a very good reason to run away from her husband, and that now she probably needs help, such as employment. Unfortunately, now that the headmaster has nixed her, it would be bad form for me to go look for her to just work for me without first consulting with him. I'll try to do that, but he's only been in town for a handful of days in the last month. Sooner or later I will get househelp.
I brought a VHS copy of Pirates of the Caribbean to my school because I found out we do have a VCR. I watched it last Friday with the teachers, and then this past Monday (the day before the May 1st holiday) I watched it with the students--about 600 of them staring at a normal size TV in the auditorium/dining hall.
The reactions to the movie were a lot of fun. I will continue to bring movies, but my next choice will be a shorter movie. Even a movie as fun as Pirates got boring for those who couldn't understand it well (everyone but me). After the viewing with the teachers the head of the physics department (whom I have previously referred to as Evil Physics Teacher, but I think I'll downgrade now to Annoying Physics Teacher) asked me "Is it true? Is it true that skeletons can talk?" I assured him that it was not true and asked him how he liked the movie. "It was absolutely terrifying."
Most of the other teachers seemed to enjoy it more than be terrified, and the kids enjoyed it. Explaining the plot also gave my Kiswahili some interesting vocabulary such as gold, curse, and skeleton.
Speaking of movies, the wishlist is updated and (as I cringe to think about what the ex-PCVs reading this are thinking) I've added some movies that would be fun to have in Njombe, either VHS or DVD is good, but don't anyone spend much on these. They're just whims.
Religious Diversity and Property Values
22 April 2007
On Friday when I went to the village to pick up some honey (the good stuff is back, it's about $1.15 per liter. It's like crack. I'm completely hooked) my main man Mzee Protasi told me that they had just come from a town meeting type thing where they had where they had selected a new village chairman. The new guy is named David, and he used to be the village chairman of the 500 people who live to the southwest of the tiny village (in this country representative democracy, and corruption with it, has gone pretty far). Now he's the VC for the whole village--I'm not really sure how big this exact village is. He told me that next week there is a meeting of the four VC's in the (small) area, and the meeting is in the medium-sized village that's a 25 minute walk from my house, so it doesn't involve the big village 45 minutes away, or presumably, the little villages that are closer to the big village.
What I find exceptional about his election is that he is one of the only Moslems in the area. Religion in Tanzania tends to be Moslem close to the coast and Christian inland. At my school we have one Moslem teacher (who's from a different region), and one Moslem staff member, the school carpenter, who is the dad of David the Village Chairman. Coming from a country that's been democratic for over 200 years and has had 1 president who wasn't a protestant and 0 non-Christians, I think it's pretty cool that this largely Christian population has chosen a Moslem to represent them.
This smoothly transitions into property values because David came to talk to me about his problem: there's no Village Office. After the elementary school visit, it's probably good that we had this discussion, it gave me a chance to explain that when I said I was here to help and wanted to help the community, I didn't mean I was here to throw money at it. I was thinking of teaching English in the elementary school, but I'm so busy now that seems a long way off. I told him about my upcoming training in June which will teach me a bit about grant-writing, and told him that maybe when I learn how to do it, we can write a grant together. Especially if he's willing to do some HIV/AIDS work. And that grants typically pay for 1/4 - 1/2 of something. (I'm not so sure about that, but I don't want him thinking that this is going to be an easy answer to problems.) He seemed to understand quite well, and said he'd wait and actually seemed enthusiastic about helping with AIDS issues.
He has a house picked out to be the village office, and it's for sale. The price is 400,000 Sh, about $325. So that's what a house costs in Tanzania. However, I doubt anyone reading this blog would really like to live in this house. I haven't seen it, but my guess is my house at the school is quite a lot nicer. This is probably mud/straw/bamboo construction. But it's got a good location, relatively, and is probably decent sized. At least big enough for a small family.
As for nice houses, Mr. Fox told me that he's building a very nice house for a Canadian doctor who's going to start living here for half the year. This house is, I believe, 3 bedroom, the master has a nice balcony and there are fireplaces in the dining room and upstairs in the kitchen. The construction costs will total about $9,000, supplies and labor.
My schedule is being very hectic. Sometimes it's nice, and sometimes it's just stressful. I'll have more organized thoughts perhaps next week after my househelp starts. The only thing that's enabling me to do this is the immense quantities of notes Mithril, the old volunteer, left me. The only lessons I have to prepare from scratch are my F6 physics. But it's still a lot of work. Going over old notes, adapting them a bit, and then often having to learn the F6 physics myself and really synthesize it so I can explain it effectively. There's a lot in this physics syllabus that I've never really studied: optics, fluid mechanics, heat transfer. It is kind of fun getting to learn it now.
1 May 2007
So I'm half done with my 3rd week of crazy schedule, but I still haven't had a full week of it. For week one, the Form VI classes didn't start until Tuesday. Last week, week 2, when I showed up in the class room on Thursday there were about 5 students there. "Where are the other students?" I asked. In the dormitory. "Why are they in the dormitory?" Because it's a holiday. "Oh. What holiday?" Union Day, celebrating the unification of Tanganyika and Zanzibar. "Okay. Happy Union Day, see you tomorrow." This week we had yet another holiday, today, May 1. It's the first of May. Of course. I think it's supposed to be something like Labor Day, and some of the teachers were supposed to go to the district capital to do some teacher's union stuff, but apparently when they got to the bus stop the bus had already left so they were stuck here.
The Union Day holiday was actually really good. I was falling behind in my lesson planning and I managed to be more diligent about advance planning than usual so I finished lesson plans for at least another week. I just wish someone had told me about the holiday beforehand.
Today's holiday I did know about in advance, so I slept in just a little bit, took my time making breakfast since I knew there wouldn't be chai at school, and got a lot of work done in my office and taught a little bit. It is very strange to have a consecutive Thursday and Tuesday as holidays, but work as normal on the Friday and Monday in between.
Breakfast was uji, which is porridge made from cornflour and finger millet flour. I actually bought a nice uji mix in town that has ground nuts in it too, and I had powdered milk and some honey, it's pretty tasty. The students get uji for breakfast at 10:10, after being hungry in class for a couple hours. Their uji is not tasty like mine. I'm pretty sure it's just corn flour and water, which is just like the ugali they get for lunch and dinner too, except that it's runnier and doesn't come with beans in the mornings.
On Friday when I went to the village to pick up some honey (the good stuff is back, it's about $1.15 per liter. It's like crack. I'm completely hooked) my main man Mzee Protasi told me that they had just come from a town meeting type thing where they had where they had selected a new village chairman. The new guy is named David, and he used to be the village chairman of the 500 people who live to the southwest of the tiny village (in this country representative democracy, and corruption with it, has gone pretty far). Now he's the VC for the whole village--I'm not really sure how big this exact village is. He told me that next week there is a meeting of the four VC's in the (small) area, and the meeting is in the medium-sized village that's a 25 minute walk from my house, so it doesn't involve the big village 45 minutes away, or presumably, the little villages that are closer to the big village.
What I find exceptional about his election is that he is one of the only Moslems in the area. Religion in Tanzania tends to be Moslem close to the coast and Christian inland. At my school we have one Moslem teacher (who's from a different region), and one Moslem staff member, the school carpenter, who is the dad of David the Village Chairman. Coming from a country that's been democratic for over 200 years and has had 1 president who wasn't a protestant and 0 non-Christians, I think it's pretty cool that this largely Christian population has chosen a Moslem to represent them.
This smoothly transitions into property values because David came to talk to me about his problem: there's no Village Office. After the elementary school visit, it's probably good that we had this discussion, it gave me a chance to explain that when I said I was here to help and wanted to help the community, I didn't mean I was here to throw money at it. I was thinking of teaching English in the elementary school, but I'm so busy now that seems a long way off. I told him about my upcoming training in June which will teach me a bit about grant-writing, and told him that maybe when I learn how to do it, we can write a grant together. Especially if he's willing to do some HIV/AIDS work. And that grants typically pay for 1/4 - 1/2 of something. (I'm not so sure about that, but I don't want him thinking that this is going to be an easy answer to problems.) He seemed to understand quite well, and said he'd wait and actually seemed enthusiastic about helping with AIDS issues.
He has a house picked out to be the village office, and it's for sale. The price is 400,000 Sh, about $325. So that's what a house costs in Tanzania. However, I doubt anyone reading this blog would really like to live in this house. I haven't seen it, but my guess is my house at the school is quite a lot nicer. This is probably mud/straw/bamboo construction. But it's got a good location, relatively, and is probably decent sized. At least big enough for a small family.
As for nice houses, Mr. Fox told me that he's building a very nice house for a Canadian doctor who's going to start living here for half the year. This house is, I believe, 3 bedroom, the master has a nice balcony and there are fireplaces in the dining room and upstairs in the kitchen. The construction costs will total about $9,000, supplies and labor.
My schedule is being very hectic. Sometimes it's nice, and sometimes it's just stressful. I'll have more organized thoughts perhaps next week after my househelp starts. The only thing that's enabling me to do this is the immense quantities of notes Mithril, the old volunteer, left me. The only lessons I have to prepare from scratch are my F6 physics. But it's still a lot of work. Going over old notes, adapting them a bit, and then often having to learn the F6 physics myself and really synthesize it so I can explain it effectively. There's a lot in this physics syllabus that I've never really studied: optics, fluid mechanics, heat transfer. It is kind of fun getting to learn it now.
1 May 2007
So I'm half done with my 3rd week of crazy schedule, but I still haven't had a full week of it. For week one, the Form VI classes didn't start until Tuesday. Last week, week 2, when I showed up in the class room on Thursday there were about 5 students there. "Where are the other students?" I asked. In the dormitory. "Why are they in the dormitory?" Because it's a holiday. "Oh. What holiday?" Union Day, celebrating the unification of Tanganyika and Zanzibar. "Okay. Happy Union Day, see you tomorrow." This week we had yet another holiday, today, May 1. It's the first of May. Of course. I think it's supposed to be something like Labor Day, and some of the teachers were supposed to go to the district capital to do some teacher's union stuff, but apparently when they got to the bus stop the bus had already left so they were stuck here.
The Union Day holiday was actually really good. I was falling behind in my lesson planning and I managed to be more diligent about advance planning than usual so I finished lesson plans for at least another week. I just wish someone had told me about the holiday beforehand.
Today's holiday I did know about in advance, so I slept in just a little bit, took my time making breakfast since I knew there wouldn't be chai at school, and got a lot of work done in my office and taught a little bit. It is very strange to have a consecutive Thursday and Tuesday as holidays, but work as normal on the Friday and Monday in between.
Breakfast was uji, which is porridge made from cornflour and finger millet flour. I actually bought a nice uji mix in town that has ground nuts in it too, and I had powdered milk and some honey, it's pretty tasty. The students get uji for breakfast at 10:10, after being hungry in class for a couple hours. Their uji is not tasty like mine. I'm pretty sure it's just corn flour and water, which is just like the ugali they get for lunch and dinner too, except that it's runnier and doesn't come with beans in the mornings.
Start of the New Term
13 April 2007
So it's the end of the week. Last week I thought I would get to start teaching this week. I was wrong. Monday for sure, though. This week has been really disorganized; it's really made me appreciate how much the headmaster does. Last week A-level was supposed to start, which meant that by Friday around 30 or 40 of the 150 students had arrived. For O-level it was Easter break, so more than half the teachers were gone on Monday and by the end of the week it was down to 2 others. I went into town on Friday, along with the 2nd master who goes to Njombe for vacations to visit his family. He hadn't been unable to leave earlier because the headmaster had been traveling.
I stayed in Njombe for Easter, coming back Monday night. Tuesday, still students were arriving, but my headmaster had to travel for family reasons and the 2nd master, as well as quite a few O-level teachers, still hadn't returned. The school sort of seemed directionless. Neither returned until Thursday (both had said they'd be back by Tuesday). Anway, without really knowing how many students were present or what sort of time table we were working with, I didn't know whether or not to start teaching. I decided to use the other teacher's as an indication. Thursday morning the geography teacher asked me if I was starting to teach today. I said no, but that if he was I'd start tomorrow. He said he was and that we'd just use last year's timetable for the form 5's, which were here in enough numbers to start teaching. A look at the timetable indicated that he had no periods. (I think he taught anyway, which is great. We need to get these classes underway.) That afternoon I hashed out a new timetable with the chemistry teacher, which confirms my fears, I'm up to 28 periods of math and physics, 30 if you count the music I'll be continuing with, and, and they're still gonna want computer classes. That might just get a "too bad." The good news is that my schedule doesn't have periods on Fridays, which will mean I won't have to feel bad about missing classes on those weekends I want to use the post office, and for the majority of weeks when I'm here will give me some freedom to do some preparations or work on extra projects. The fourth A-level teacher, my counterpart whose advice I trusted when he said we'd probably be able to start teaching as early as Wednesday a week ago, I haven't seen in 2 weeks.
16 April 2007
Started teaching FV today. It's nice to be teaching again after so long a break, but tomorrow I'm starting the FVI's also, and that brings me up to 28 periods a week. A normal load is around 12. By some scheduling oddities, my classes are all on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, except for 2 on Wednesday. Thursdays, as often as I can manage will be labs, and on the days the schedule will be roughly halved. Still, it's a lot of work. A whole lot. My counterpart (who it turns out was at a workshop on teaching biology for the past 2 weeks) was complaining about his 20 periods. I don't know what I'll think about this set-up in a week, much less a month, but right now my mind is alternating between thinking "Why am I doing this, I didn't come to Africa to overwork myself," and indignantly retorting "This is exactly why I came to Africa!"
I went to the monthly big market this afternoon. It was the first time I've both known about it and been in town for it. Gotta say I was underwhelmed. I suppose to the villagers here it's a big deal, but I'm jaded by going into town all the time and it was like big bus stand, but with no buses, just the merchants. I bought some "high quality" rice for a decent price and got a earthenware pot I think I'll use as a breadbox. The pot, which I got with a little pot that fits over it as a lid, was amazingly cheap. I paid 1000/=, which is also what a paid for a kilo of the nice rice, which is the same price as 2 sodas and a packet of biscuits, or about 25 pears when they're in season, or 1 beer, or, in America, whatever you can buy for 80 cents.
17 April 2007
Just some quick reflections about teaching so far--I love it when I'm teaching, it's just the frantic preparation periods in between that are rough. I gave the new form 5 students tests in physics and math to see what they actually learned in their O-level. I also asked them what they want to be when they grow up, and almost everyone said doctor. A few wanted to be teachers, some pharmacists, a banker, a lawyer, and I got a few interesting responses: a responsible citizen, an adult, an environmental manager, and my favorite, "a facilitator like Mr. Gregor."
Also, progress has been made on the househelp front. There's a prospective who's going to ask her mom and get back to me. After teaching and working straight until 4:00 today (starting at 7:30), then going to pick up a little food in the village and washing clothes while my beans cooked, while wishing that I had time to sweep my courtyard while the wind was a bit low, I can't wait to get some househelp. Phew.
Also, some little things are letting me know that I'm adjusting to life here. For the first month or two something little like being hungry could really get me in a bad/sullen mood, so I worked hard at keeping myself fed regularly. Recently I've slipped a bit on that with no worse consequences than hunger, so apparently I'm becoming stable. But I still miss home. I've been thinking a bit (or a bit too much) about what I want to eat my first few days in America. I'm not going to commit to anything here as I've still got a lot of time I may change my mind in, but I'm pretty sure a fat juicy steak and some salad with a balsamic vinaigrette are high on the list. And Ranch dressing. And bacon.
So it's the end of the week. Last week I thought I would get to start teaching this week. I was wrong. Monday for sure, though. This week has been really disorganized; it's really made me appreciate how much the headmaster does. Last week A-level was supposed to start, which meant that by Friday around 30 or 40 of the 150 students had arrived. For O-level it was Easter break, so more than half the teachers were gone on Monday and by the end of the week it was down to 2 others. I went into town on Friday, along with the 2nd master who goes to Njombe for vacations to visit his family. He hadn't been unable to leave earlier because the headmaster had been traveling.
I stayed in Njombe for Easter, coming back Monday night. Tuesday, still students were arriving, but my headmaster had to travel for family reasons and the 2nd master, as well as quite a few O-level teachers, still hadn't returned. The school sort of seemed directionless. Neither returned until Thursday (both had said they'd be back by Tuesday). Anway, without really knowing how many students were present or what sort of time table we were working with, I didn't know whether or not to start teaching. I decided to use the other teacher's as an indication. Thursday morning the geography teacher asked me if I was starting to teach today. I said no, but that if he was I'd start tomorrow. He said he was and that we'd just use last year's timetable for the form 5's, which were here in enough numbers to start teaching. A look at the timetable indicated that he had no periods. (I think he taught anyway, which is great. We need to get these classes underway.) That afternoon I hashed out a new timetable with the chemistry teacher, which confirms my fears, I'm up to 28 periods of math and physics, 30 if you count the music I'll be continuing with, and, and they're still gonna want computer classes. That might just get a "too bad." The good news is that my schedule doesn't have periods on Fridays, which will mean I won't have to feel bad about missing classes on those weekends I want to use the post office, and for the majority of weeks when I'm here will give me some freedom to do some preparations or work on extra projects. The fourth A-level teacher, my counterpart whose advice I trusted when he said we'd probably be able to start teaching as early as Wednesday a week ago, I haven't seen in 2 weeks.
16 April 2007
Started teaching FV today. It's nice to be teaching again after so long a break, but tomorrow I'm starting the FVI's also, and that brings me up to 28 periods a week. A normal load is around 12. By some scheduling oddities, my classes are all on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, except for 2 on Wednesday. Thursdays, as often as I can manage will be labs, and on the days the schedule will be roughly halved. Still, it's a lot of work. A whole lot. My counterpart (who it turns out was at a workshop on teaching biology for the past 2 weeks) was complaining about his 20 periods. I don't know what I'll think about this set-up in a week, much less a month, but right now my mind is alternating between thinking "Why am I doing this, I didn't come to Africa to overwork myself," and indignantly retorting "This is exactly why I came to Africa!"
I went to the monthly big market this afternoon. It was the first time I've both known about it and been in town for it. Gotta say I was underwhelmed. I suppose to the villagers here it's a big deal, but I'm jaded by going into town all the time and it was like big bus stand, but with no buses, just the merchants. I bought some "high quality" rice for a decent price and got a earthenware pot I think I'll use as a breadbox. The pot, which I got with a little pot that fits over it as a lid, was amazingly cheap. I paid 1000/=, which is also what a paid for a kilo of the nice rice, which is the same price as 2 sodas and a packet of biscuits, or about 25 pears when they're in season, or 1 beer, or, in America, whatever you can buy for 80 cents.
17 April 2007
Just some quick reflections about teaching so far--I love it when I'm teaching, it's just the frantic preparation periods in between that are rough. I gave the new form 5 students tests in physics and math to see what they actually learned in their O-level. I also asked them what they want to be when they grow up, and almost everyone said doctor. A few wanted to be teachers, some pharmacists, a banker, a lawyer, and I got a few interesting responses: a responsible citizen, an adult, an environmental manager, and my favorite, "a facilitator like Mr. Gregor."
Also, progress has been made on the househelp front. There's a prospective who's going to ask her mom and get back to me. After teaching and working straight until 4:00 today (starting at 7:30), then going to pick up a little food in the village and washing clothes while my beans cooked, while wishing that I had time to sweep my courtyard while the wind was a bit low, I can't wait to get some househelp. Phew.
Also, some little things are letting me know that I'm adjusting to life here. For the first month or two something little like being hungry could really get me in a bad/sullen mood, so I worked hard at keeping myself fed regularly. Recently I've slipped a bit on that with no worse consequences than hunger, so apparently I'm becoming stable. But I still miss home. I've been thinking a bit (or a bit too much) about what I want to eat my first few days in America. I'm not going to commit to anything here as I've still got a lot of time I may change my mind in, but I'm pretty sure a fat juicy steak and some salad with a balsamic vinaigrette are high on the list. And Ranch dressing. And bacon.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)