18 Feb: A Simple Misunderstanding

The first few days here felt like weeks. They are starting to really fly by now. Today I taught more classification to forms II and II, which to be perfectly honest bores me to tears. I cant wait to get to some human biology. I never really considered how as a teacher, sometimes you have to teach things you dont care about. Also, Im not a teacher, which makes it even more difficult.

I asked Mr. Kisava if I could pick things out of the syllabus that I felt I had something more to offer when teaching, but he explained that the government tests which determine whether or not you get to have a paid education after secondary school go directly along with the syllabus. I guess I can deal with a few yawns. The problem is that its hard to be funny or interesting when youre focusing so hard on simply having the students understand the words coming out of your mouth. Form III seems to be understanding fine. Ive really enjoyed teaching them so far. Form II is different. I get a lot of stares, and some students dont take notes. The material is boring and they can hardly understand me. They havent been studying English very much yet (the difference between Form II and III students in terms of English speaking is amazing) and the accent is too much for them to handle. Ive been working on my pronunciation so they can understand better. For example in the word 'better' I have to really over pronounce the Ts, whereas here I would sound it more like 'bedder.'

I got through teaching classes and did a lot of reading afterward, something Im finding myself getting back into while Ive been here. We also took a walk for about two hours to become more familiar with our surrounding. We ran into Gama, the schools night watchman. He picks peas during the day and watches the school at night. Quite frankly, I think he probably just goes to sleep after all the lanterns are off. Gama was convinced we were lost, so he insisted on walking us back to the school. He speaks English well, so it was fun to talk with him, not to mention his giggle.

Inset: An unfinished house, a villager on the road by another unfinished house, and tell me thats not the same agave plant used to make tequila (dould Jose Cuervo also conquer the African horizon?).

If this is your first time here, please be sure to read the first entry on this site. Thank you.

17 Feb: Charlie Church

After we woke up, we wandered around like idiots for awhile before making our way to the church (its what people do here). For todays mass, the students were singing all the songs. The church was completely full and uncomfortably hot, and after the mass which was of course conducted entirely in Kiswahili, they asked us to come up in front of the church and say a few words. Of course, they asked this of us in Kiswahili, so we sat there like idiots until one of the students sitting by us translated. I said a few words about feeling at home despite being so far away from ours which seemed to be well received, I guess. Afterwards, we had a little pow-wow with the catechist, chairperson, and secretary of the church, with Mr. Kisava translating. Five to ten minutes into the meeting I had one of those moments of realization when I finally figured out that they were asking us to help them find money to start a kindergarten. We agreed to speak with some churches when we returned and deliver a letter for them, and that agreement was so well received that they actually clapped. After that moment, there was about another hour or so of nicities, followed by a brief discussion about HIV/AIDS which was interesting. The meeting ended with soda and crackers which Im still not sure were supposed to be soft and chewy. This was one of those situations, however, when things cannot be turned down. Delicious.

When we got home, I was feeling pretty terrible, either from the crackers, or from convincing myself that the crackers were making me sick. Still, I ended up playing a little soccer for the first time. I am a terrible soccer player and of course couldnt keep up with a bunch of young Tanzanians, but I ended up just playing around taking shots on goal with a few of the students and had a lot of fun. I also came to realize just how little exercise Ive gotten since arriving, which might be related to the drowsiness and trouble sleeping. Not to mention the way these people carbo-load. I should be exercising for hours a day based on the way theyre feeding us here.

Speaking of eating, I still have a tough time handling too much of the African food, though Im getting more and more used to it. But if someone piles more food on my plate one more time without my asking, I might flip out. Thanks, but no thanks. No really. Im good.

Inset: The village Catholic church

If this is your first time here, please be sure to read the first entry on this site. Thank you.

16 Feb: Iringatown

We woke up at 0530 this morning to catch the minibus (daladala) to Iringatown (named Iringa, but everyone says 'Iringatown, and I like it). This was quite a trip. The bus can barely hold up against the rough road, and the rain weve been getting doesnt help any. The overcrowded bus blasts through the mud, swerving at forty-five degree angles to either side, wondering how the thing doesnt tip over or fall apart. The beauty of it is that everyone in this country is a mechanic. This bus has probably died at least a dozen times and keeps getting new life breathed into it by the industrious Tanzanians. The ride ended at an impassable bridge. The river had flooded from all the rain and the road was washed out. Hundreds of people were crossing the bridge on foot, or were stranded waiting for buses to come pick them on the other side of the bridge. Once we were finally able to get a ride to Iringatown, we went to the net cafe to write and respond to emails for about an hour. We walked around for awhile and picked up some phone cards, water, and the western remedy for most illnesses, Sprite. We waited for awhile as Mr. Kisava, who has been with us, took care of some business, and Todi and Ayobu stopped by to visit for a bit. When we had all finished everything we needed to do in town, we took a cab back, a small sedan. Ever the optimist, Bryan estimated the odds of us getting stuck in the mud at 50-50, while I guessed that those were probably the odds we made it to the school in the car period. I must say I was impressed with the skill of the driver, navigated the mud, holes, and gouges that filled the alternative route we had to take, and he did make it about 4/5 of the way back before getting stuck in the mud. With the aid of about six villagers, we got it out after maybe twenty or so minutes of muddy pushing and lifting the car. When we had finished, the villagers asked Mr. Kisava to tell the wazungus to pay them. I was glad when Mr. Kisava scoffed and paid them himself, which we of course reimbursed. I felt kind of bad for the driver after we arrived at the school. The drive had taken 2.5 hours, and there was probably 1.5 hours of light left. Good luck, buddy.


Insets: people crossing the washed out bridge, Iringatown from the net cafe, and a video of the smooth ride on the daladala

If this is your first time here, please be sure to read the first entry on this site. Thank you.

15 Feb: On the Ups

Once I got going today, I was feeling much better. We dont have shower shoes yet, so that process has been difficult. They make sure that we have warm water every morning to pour over our heads, but our refusal to have bare feet in the bathing room makes things tough.

Mr. Kisava and I arranged for a student to teach a class in form IIIA biology today. This way I can observe the methods that the students are used to learning from. Brayn has been able to learn this way by observing the math teacher that is here, but since there is no biology teacher, I havent had the same opportunity. It helped a lot, and I think Im going to be a lot more confident with teaching now.

After classes ended, Brayn, Mr. Kilinga, Lagoos, and I went to the village pub. The pub was the biggest store in the village, which had an adjoining dirty room with eight plastic lawn chairs around a single table. We drank Konyagi, a corn liquor (70 proof) out of the little plastic bags in which its packaged, mixed with Coke. We all had two, but since I hadn't been eating hardly at all for the past couple days I got a little more intoxicated than I had planned. As far as I know, Brayn was the only one who was aware of this, which is probably for the best. I came to realize that we were pretty much drinking on Friday at happy hour. While we were there, people kept peeking their heads in the door to sneak a glance at the wazungus, and the kids were peering through the windows despite Lagoos constantly shooing them away. It made us feel like VIPs (were not). While we drank, conversation was terrific. Mr Kilinga and Lagoos both speak English very well, and we talked about everything from electoral and social politics to soccer and other sports. On our way out we picked up some shower shoes, which are sure to completely transcend our experience here in Africa. Also, walking around the school with a buzz was an interesting new experience. All I know is that Im feeling better, I have a buzz, and these two things coming together are doing a lot for my optimism. Today was a great day.

Insets: Us with Mr. Lagoos (hopefully Brayn will send me a better picture), The washroom, and us at the bar with a couple locals

If this is your first time here, please be sure to read the first entry on this site. Thank you.

14 Feb: Teaching

This morning I taught two bio courses, one to form II and one to form III. Form III went very well, but I'm worried that form II is having a lot of trouble understanding me, which would make sense what with all the trouble Im having understanding them (this would become the theme of my teaching experiences). In form II I was teaching about fungi, which to be honest bores me to tears both now and when I was learning it in high school. I would so much rather be teaching human biology but I have to stick to their syllabus so that they will have all the information they need when they take their government exams. Thats one thing I never really thought about, is that teachers have to cover everything, whether its something they enjoy, or something they loathe. Whenever I thought about being a teacher, I have only imagined teaching something like calculus or human biology.

Between classes I threw up again. Great, the first two classes Ive ever taught and Im throwing up. The past day or so Ive been finding myself looking at food in terms of what will taste best when coming back up. After my second class I went back to our room and spent the rest of the day lying down and reading. I want to be more interactive right now, but its difficult since I cant keep things down. We made our way to the soccer field (football pitch) and saw the students warming up for a game. That might have been the most intense warm-up Ive ever seen. If I was feeling 100% and had participated in the warm-up, that would have been it for me. These kids do their warm-up and then play a full ninety minute game. Unfortunately we couldnt make it through the whole game, so I went back to the room and pondered a number of things:

1) How dehydrated can I really get without being dangerously ill?
2) Should I start the antibiotics?
3) Will I be able to eat any of the African food while I'm here (we brought a large stash of food for emergencies)?
4) The Score is awesome (second time Ive watched it on the trip).

I figured I had better try to put away some fluids before bed since I was worried about going another six hours during the night with no water. I did, and kept it down. Thats a good thing. Right before bed, I used the phone we bought for the first time and called Liz. This first week has been very difficult, and having the opportunity to talk to here for a couple brief minutes was amazing. Happy Valentines Day.

Inset: The building with classrooms for form IIA, IIIA and B.

If this is your first time here, please be sure to read the first entry on this site. Thank you.

13 Feb: Trouble

Brayn got up an impressive four times during the night to go to the bathroom. I myself chose not to move for fear of stirring the nausea. When I finally did move, my fears were confirmed and I was nauseous all morning. I went to the teachers office and tried to figure out my schedule, but it proved difficult when I could not understand the woman who was currently teaching most of the science classes. After struggling to figure that out for about a half hour, I went back to our room and finally threw up. Perhaps I should take it easy today. Brayn and I spent most of this day laying down, exchanging trips to the bathroom, and not eating. We talked about the overwhelming feeling of having pretty much no idea what was expected of us while we were here. I was worried about the language barrier between myself and the science teacher, and in order to calm myself down I listened to Toto a couple times. Brayn, at this point, i think is just trying to get through the minutes.

That night I talked with Mr. Kilinga and Mr. Kisava about which classes would be best for me to teach, and we came to agree that form II and form III (like high school sophomores and juniors) biology would be best. Its a relief to have a better idea of what I'll be doing now, and the fact that I wont have to struggle through another conversation with the science teacher is a nice stress reliever as well. I think tomorrow will be a better day.

Inset: Where we spent most of our night and day.

If this is your first time here, please be sure to read the first entry on this site. Thank you.

12 Feb: The First Day, Really

We woke up around 630 Im feeling OK, but Bryan is still in pretty rough shape. Today we were to be introduced to the students, and we did so by going around to all the classes with Mr Kisava, the headmaster, and Mr Kiringa, the head teacher who also lives in the same place as us. They both speak English well and were able to translate for us when necessary. The students asked us numerous questions from social, political, and academic arenas. We stood for hours on end answering questions like "What is the difference between the tricuspid and bicuspid valve?" and "Why does the United States pollute so much?" and "Can you have more than one wife in the United States?" Three flaps vs. two, we like money and everyone likes industry, and no. It was highlighted by a heated discussion regarding the origin of HIV/AIDS when I happened to mention the popular theory that it began in Africa as the result of a monkey bite. I made sure to affirm that indeed it is a world problem and that in developing theories of origin no one is assigning blame, just trying to better understand the nature of the virus. The experience was incredible, and I love the way the students all sit attentively, raise their hand, and stand to speak. Ive never seen anything like this in the U.S.

By the end of our classroom tour, we were both feeling pretty terrible. A couple hours later I was sitting on my bed and I suddenly broke an enormous sweat and had to literally fall into bed. Brayn would later describe it as being like watching someone get knocked out by a punch. I had severe nausea and had to skip dinner. We took it easy for the rest of the night, though somewhere in my GI tract, I can sense trouble brewing.

Insets: Us with Mr. Kisava (gray shirt) and Mr. Kiringa (red shirt), both taken at the flagpole, which ended up being the hot hang out for teachers.

If this is your first time here, please be sure to read the first entry on this site. Thank you.

11 Feb: The Road to Magulilwa

We woke up early, and apparently Brayn is doing much better, though certainly not well. He is currently on a steady diet of water and dry Cheerios. I understand why its difficult to adjust to a new sleeping schedule. In college I even studied the hormone patterns that make it easier to adjust your time forward than backward. But for the life of me I can't figure out why I can't sleep when I'm this tired. Perhaps is has something to do with the beds in this hotel. The mattress conforms to your position and stays that way making it nearly impossible to change positions. It was infuriating. In any case, we hitched a ride to Magulilwa with Todi and Ayobu in a Land Rover. Todi says its a better idea because the road will be even worse due to the large amount of rain last night (it is the rainy season). About an hour and a half or so into the ride, we finally get stuck in the mud, something that seemed like a bit of an inevitability. We got out of the car to help push along with some villagers, and the driver continues blasting through the muddy road. When the road dries up, the guy decides to just keep going. I realize the ride has taken awhile and he wants to get back, but we paid for this ride. Either way, we get to walk the remaining ten kilometers or so. I'm rally not sure Brayn can handle this as dehydrated as he probably is, but hes willing to give it a try. When we finally arrive (with the cab driver just hanging out by the car) people take our bags for us and carry them into our place, and bring us some food and tea. The treatment is so good its enough to make us uncomfortable, a theme that would be recurrent throughout the trip. Another thing making me feel uncomfortable is the idea that I have absolutely no idea what I am going to be doing 1 minute, 1 hour, 1 day, 1 week, or 1 month from now. Its also exciting, though I'm becoming increasingly aware of my need for structure. We were first greeted by Mr. Kisiki, the village elder. He speaks English very well which is a relief (while our friends up to this point speak enough to get us around, there has certainly been a large language barrier). We took a rest before dinner (which was terrific, though I hadnt been there long enough to appreciate it yet), and the rest of the night we spent unpacking and talking about what in the world we were supposed to do tomorrow.

Inset: The front of the house in which we stayed.

If this is your first time here, please be sure to read the first entry on this site. Thank you.

10 Feb: Rough Night

Still unable to sleep, I watched The Score on my iPod for the first time. So good! DeNiro, Norton, and Brando teaming up for a caper flick. Its a cant miss. I strolled over to Brayns room only to learn that he has been puking and pooping his guts out since 4am, immediately shutting me up concerning the bad night I had. Brayn continued his festivities in the bathroom, while I went to the market with Todi and Ayobu. We decided we should buy a cellular phone (they really are everywhere now) though I dont really understand yet how it works. We picked up a couple other necessities (TP and a razor) before I headed back to the hotel. Lacking much else to do, I went to the net cafe and figured out that I am nine hours ahead of home (IM IN THE FUTURE!!!). I made sure to warn people that Brayn gets sick at 4am, so bring a poncho.

Our plans were to leave for Magulilwa this afternoon, but the ride was apparently 2-3 hours on a very rough road. We ended up deciding to wait one more night so Brayn could do some more recovering. Feeling brave, I figured Id kill some time by going for a walk (see the picture* of the garden, which will give you an enormously false impression of Iringa), where I experience this exchange with people selling things upwards of 20 times:

"Hey you!"
"Hey."
"[something in speedy and aggressive Kiswahili]."

In one hour of walking, I saw zero white people. Ive never really been a minority like this. Its cool though, because I blend right in with this new haircut.

Back at the hotel I experienced my first Tanzanian beer, a Serengeti, from Dar. Excellent stuff, though nothing really distinguishing about it. I went back to the net cafe to kill some more time (500 shilling for 30 minutes) where I met two girls with some college program staying just outside of Iringa. One was from Chicago and the other from University of Washington where my girlfriend Liz happens to be. I felt an immediate connection with both of them, despite having said all of maybe a dozen words to either of them. Back in Brayns room, things are still going poorly. I make sure hes got plenty of soda popinski and bottled water (which I mistakenly call A. Frica). We watched Superbad which I had rented on the iPod and I went back to my room to read another sleepless night away.

If this is your first time here, please be sure to read the first entry on this site. Thank you.

*You can enlarge pictures by clicking on them

09 Feb: The Bus

Ayobu. His name is Ayobu. Whew. He and Todi pick us up at 8am and we go to change some money at the bank. $1=1270 shilling. Part of me wants to change $1000 just to hold a million of some paricular currency in my hands at once, but I settle. Unsuprisingly, I hadnt slept the night before despite a dose of Tylenol PM and Miles Davis' 'Kind of Blue.' Ater a quick breakfast at the hotel, its off to the bus. The only thing I know about it is that its a nine hour ride to Iringa, and Ive seen some minibuses so packed with people I thought they might explode. Silently praying that these were not the vehicles we were taking, I exhaled for about five minutes when I was a nice big almost Greyhound-esque bus pull into the station. The scenery was amazing, but I'll do a better job of describing it on the way back, when I actually take some notes. On the bus I start cracking away at my first book of the trip, Next by Michael Crichton. Todi reads the summary and asks me about it, and I tell him how I like it because I studied genetics, which he also asked me to explain. Somehow I think my explanation of genetics may have gotten lost in translation. We arrive in Iringa in the early evening, and check into Hotel Isimila (sp?). For dinner we ate at the Hasty Tasty, a decision that just might haunt us for the rest of the trip. Unable to sleep, I watched The Score on my new iPod for the first time. We both brought our iPods. How else were we supposed to listen to Toto every day?

If this is your first time here, please be sure to read the first entry on this site. Thank you.

8 Feb: Taking Bad Notes While Traveling

The flight to Amsterdam was no problem. Northwest has has built in monitors on the back of every seat for international flights. On these you can choose what movie you want to watch, or even play in-flight trivia against other people on the plane. I won 3 straight games and could have turned the plane around calling this a successful trip. We got to the Amsterdam airport and decided that, no, this wouldnt be a good time to start gambling in their casino. On the way back we might have to, but not now. We settled for a beer at the casino bar (Bier Special), and couldnt help but find it ridiculous when we found ourselves having to go through security again while boarding our next flight. How did they think we got into the airport? Our layover lasted four hours and I was able to sleep for half the ride to Nairobi. Bryan* woke me up for the crappy meal but not the ice cream. Explain that one, punk. We had a brief layover in Nairobi and were off to Dar Es Salaam, where we were being met by some guy named Todi (whom we were very concerned we might call 'Toto' given how often weve been listening to Toto's 'Africa,' and I can hardly contain my excitement about the possibility of arriving at an airport where someone might be holding a sign with my name on it. Todi did indeed have the sign, though Bryan had been spelled 'Brayn' and greeted us with a friendly "How was the safari?" "Safari njema." I replied, much to my delight at having successfully used my first Swahili phrase. "Hi Tot...Todi." greeted Brayn. He was also with a friend, Oyab...shoot. I really am having trouble remembering, much less pronouncing this guys name. They took us to a hotel about 20 minutes from the airport and went on their way to stay with some relatives. Brayn and I settled in for the night, the equivalent of about 3pm for us. Right on.

*Bryan: The Lewis to my Clark, the man with the plan, who set up this safari**
**Safari is the Kiswahili*** word for journey, not just a trip where you go see elephants
***Kiswahili is the Kiswahili word for Swahili

If this is your first time here, please be sure to read the first entry on this site. Thank you.

Philanthroblog

Hi everyone and thanks for visiting this site. The purpose of this site is four-fold: One, people have had a lot of questions about my trip, and I figure this will be a good place to which I can refer them. Two, I enjoy doing this, and it will be fun for me to relive this experience by rewriting my journal. Three, I want other people to be encouraged to have similar experiences. Last, I am going to be hitting you all up for money at the end of each post. There are a lot of great ways to donate to Magulilwa Secondary school. For under $200 you can sponsor a student who lives in the village and goes to school for an entire year, and for under $400 you can sponsor a boarding student. A $20 donation can buy a student a mattress (the male boarding students sleep two per twins mattress on bunk beds), and you can also donate whatever you can afford to a general scholarship fund, or to the solar power fund which will be explained in more detail in a later post. If you do wish to make a donation, you can find my email address by clicking on the picture under 'about me' on the right. While youre clicking things on the right, also feel free to browse the school's website by clicking the link. I can assure you that all the money you donate will go directly to the school or student, and if you choose to sponsor a student for a year, you will get a picture and profile of that student.

Whether you choose not to or cannot afford to make a donation, there are other ways to contribute. Talk to your employer and see if they are interested in contributing (this is something that has already been done by a friend of ours, and a very large sum was raised). You can talk to your parents, other friends, your place of worship, or anyone else you think might be interested in making a contribution. Even better, you can visit the school and have the same amazing experience that we had.

Again, thanks for visiting this site. I hope you find it entertaining at times, and I hope that together we can raise enough money to send a few kids to school. Be aware that the first couple days are a little bare because I wasn't as diligent about writing that first week. It gets better, I promise. I'll be doing my best to update every day, so come back often.

Thanks again,
Dan Signorelli
Wazungu