Rainy Season

            The past two weeks I have been busy teaching in the classroom, doing some farm work, reading some books, enjoying the great weather, exploring Arusha town, playing rugby, and planning a safari. I feel like I am building up a good base to experience the most here in Africa.

            The work in the classroom has gotten better over the past couple of weeks. Some kids are very advanced and some are still very behind. I have learned some teaching techniques from other teachers on how to get the students to understand and apply the new computer knowledge. I found it useful to prepare and place posters around the computer lab with pictures of basic computer functions.

students after match

After work in the class each day there are clubs that the students play in. I have been playing rugby with some of the students. We play at a nice sports complex called Tanzania Game Trackers just a few minutes from the school. It has a fitness center, bar/restaurant, and rugby field. People have said it is the nicest field in east Africa. It has been lot of fun spending time with the students here and playing rugby. I have been able to pick up on the rules and I am able to play in the matches on the weekends vs. other schools in Tanzania.

Peace House has a goal of becoming self-sustainable in the future. On campus there are a few large farms and gardens that produce the food for the students, staff, and volunteers. We have been preparing the farms these past few weeks just before the rainy season so we have a productive crop. Each week the students have to work for a few hours on campus. So after we finished weeding we started our planting just before the rains.

dust cloud

The first few weeks I was here it was very dry and dusty. There was one dust storm that came through last week. It was pretty cool to see the big cloud of dust and dirt fly through the air. You could taste the dust in the air even in the house. This last week the rainy season officially started. We get a few large storms each day that last for an hour or so. Everything is begging to green up and the sky is so clear, but now its hard not to track mud everywhere I go. I have been caught in a storm unprepared. It was after a rugby practice we were riding back in the back of an open transport truck and heavy rains started coming down on us. I thought it was pretty cool to be in it but all the other kids did not like it and were trying to hide behind me to stay warm and dry.

after rain

rain storm

            

week 3

This week I finally got to get into the classroom with the kids and teach. Right now I am teaching the basics of computers. The kids have no prior knowledge about computers so for many of them this is there first year using them. I have been teaching how to use Microsoft Word, and Microsoft PowerPoint. I have learned to talk slow and let the kids have time to learn some things on their own. Some of the most basic uses of the computer are still very confusing to the kids. Lots of the students struggle with using the mouse. They struggle with how it interacts with the screen and also what the left and right clicks do. It has made me realize how lucky all of us are. My whole life I have been able to use a computer at home and at school. You can see in the class that the kids want to learn so bad and are excited to show me some of the things they have done on the computer when they do it on their own. I look forward to seeing their progress throughout my time here.

Kilimanjaro Marathon

Last Sunday Chris, Simon, and I traveled to Moshi, Tanzania to check out the city and also see the Kilimanjaro Marathon. It was super cool to see the city and be directly at the base of the tallest mountain in Africa. I never thought a marathon would be a fun event but it was crazy. The beginning and finishing stadium was like a large concert with ground thumping music starting at 6am. We walked around much of the afternoon taking pictures and listening to the music. The city was active and pretty similar to Arusha. In the evening we took an hour bus trip back to Arusha for only a $1.50. It was not the most comfortable bus ride with people shoulder to shoulder but it was cheap so we took it.

Dolla Dolla ride

The food here so far has been the difficult part. Each day the students eat porridge for breakfast. The main courses here are either ugali or rice with occasional beef, a side of beans or kande, with either vegetables or fruit. It is definitely an acquired taste and hopefully my stomach will be able to handle over time. There is a market that we are able to go to buy some snacks but even the snacks have a different taste to them. I also bought some chili sauce to help me take down the tasteless ugali. To get to the market we have to walk to the main road about 5 km where we pick up a Dolla Dolla that takes us into the city. Dolla Dollas are the main way that Tanzanians get around the city besides walking. They are old Toyota vans that are piled with people. Rarely do you have a seat to sit in. We make sure to keep our pockets light with cash and have an eye on each other because pickpockets are common. It is a great way to get around very cheap only paying 300 shillings an equivalent to about 23 cents US. I did receive a wonderful care package from my aunt Sue filled with some treats that have really helped. Nothing tastes better than some homemade cookies.

Some days there is no power at the school so there is no Internet. We often have to walk to this very nice facility called Coffee Lodge. A cool fact is that George Bush stayed here when he visited Tanzania. It is weird not always being able to be plugged in and connected to the Internet all the time. It is almost like withdrawal, it is crazy to think how much we rely on the Internet nowadays. It feels good to get away from it all though.

Sayonara

Also feel free to leave comments and questions. I will try to respond to them in my next post