Going Home

June has been a crazy and wonderful month! Two of my really good friends just got married, Christiana and Kat. Also my brother Keegan graduated from high school. All of these events took place within the same week, which was also the week of midterm break at my school. It was all such an incredible coincidence that I decided it was worth taking a trip home. Also the fact that my grandma Carlson was not doing so well tipped me over the edge of the decision to go home so I could see her.

It took me two full days to get to the airport here in Tanzania, then another 24 hours on planes and in airports, but I made it home on Monday June 8th. I spent exactly 9 days in America, and then started the arduous trip back to Songea. In total 5 days of traveling and 9 days in America, but it was worth it.

My parents and Keegan met me at the airport and the first thing we did was get lunch at Subway. All during the flight home I was thinking about all the food I couldn’t wait to eat, and submarine sandwiches were at the top of the list. Man they were good. I ate so much good food while I was home that I probably gained 10 pounds. But after a week of beans and rice I have lost it all again.

Just after I got home I found out that my grandma died a few days before. My parents decided to wait and tell me when I got home, which I think was good so that I could be with my family when I found out. It turned out that on the day that Kara and I were planning to visit our grandma, we ended up going to her funeral instead…kind of ironic. I am certainly sad that I didn’t get to see my grandma just before she died, but it was an incredible blessing to be able to go to her funeral. Amazingly every one of my grandma’s 20 grandchildren and 8 great-grandchildren were there at her funeral. It was wonderful to see everyone and spend one last night at my grandma’s house.

The weddings were beautiful and a lot of fun. At Christiana’s wedding I saw many friends from high school that I haven’t seen in a while, and I got to see a few really good friends from UPS at Kat’s Wedding in San Francisco. After Kat’s wedding Andrea, Shaun and I spent a fun day at Alcatraz and exploring the waterfront.

It was a wonderful trip home. The weather was gorgeous in Seattle (since when has that happened in June?); the cherries were ripe in my grandma’s orchards; and all my siblings were home. I couldn’t have asked for more, but it sure made it hard to come back to Tanzania. I felt pretty homesick the first couple of days, and even came down with a touch of culture shock. But now that I am back into the swing of things at school, I feel much better and have remembered that I also love it here in Songea.

Tumeshinda! (We Won!)

Coaching basketball has been a good outlet for my teaching frustrations. We have had a lot of girls participating in basketball. There are no official tryouts. We just have practice every afternoon and anyone is welcome to play. Then before games we select 11 girls to suit up.

As in the classroom, it is difficult to build fundamental skills when it is a new group of girls at basketball practice every day. But most of the girls come every day and especially the girls who suit up come consistently.

I’ve almost got every girl who suits up doing lay-ups correctly. It drives me nuts to see girls shooting a right handed lay-up and jumping off their right foot. Their shooting form is getting better too, but it is hard to change people’s habits, even though they haven’t been playing for very long.

For the last two weeks we have been playing in the Songea Basketball Tournament. I was amazed to find out that Songea has a basketball association. And even more amazed when the other coach of our team told me that we would be playing indoors. I couldn’t wait to find out where this gymnasium was. When we arrived at the court on the first day of the tournament I realized I should have been more specific when asking if we were playing indoors. Within doors, yes, but no roof. The court is within an outdoor stadium. The court surface was a bit smoother than the court at Songea Girls, but you still had to be careful where you dribbled. The out of bounds lines were a bit unclear due to age and multiple paintings. During the tournament the rules of the game were also a bit unclear.

Four women’s teams competed in the tournament as well as about ten men’s teams. Some of the teams were from secondary schools, but many of the teams were other clubs. The first match of the tournament was a men’s game of seminary students versus soldiers. The theologians got their butts kicked. Our first game was against Ruvuma secondary school. I played along with my students. The Ruvuma team was pretty good. We scratched out a victory 18 to 15. That first game I tried not to dominate too much and let the students do most of the scoring, but as a result only the starters got to play. So during our next match, which was also against a secondary school, I made sure we got ahead enough in the first half so that everyone got to play.

The final showdown for the championship was last night. We played against a team of female police officers and soldiers who were also undefeated in the tournament. We had watched them play earlier in the week and knew that these women were tough. Against women my own age I had no qualms about playing all out. Almost the whole Songea Girls student body came to watch our match as well as many teachers and our Head Mistress. It was a hard fought game. Those soldiers really wanted to win and played rough, but we got ahead and held them off. I am really proud of how well my girls played. The final score was 34-28. When the final whistle went off the Songea Girls students flooded the court and danced around. As champions of the Songea Basketball Tournament we won the grand prize of a brand new basketball and about $70…not too shabby.

Our next game is this Friday against Songea Boys Secondary School. I’m sure they’ve got nothing on the women soldiers. We can take ‘em.

Fun times in Songea

Siafu are ants in Tanzania that don't just walk in lines, they create roads and take over everything. They really hurt when they bite too. The other day they decided to invade my couryard. Luckily they stayed out of my house!

Every day is like the fourth of July when you are cooking on your charcoal jiko in Tanzania. You get the sparklers and the barbeque all in one!

No Water, No Class

It is tough to plan ahead in Tanzania, because you never know what is going to happen. Last night the water and electricity turned off. This morning the electricity is back on, but no water. As I was about to start teaching my form V physics class today, I was informed that my students had to report to the kitchen to fetch water from the well. So much for my physics lesson. I also just found out that tomorrow we have ‘baraza’. Not sure what that is, but I gather that it is basically a huge school meeting for all the students and staff.

Maybe the baraza will be kind of like a kick off assembly for the new school year. School has been open for over a month, but students are still trickling in. About 25 of my 35 form V students have reported to school. If the rest don’t arrive soon, the government will offer their spots to other students who did not make the cut during the first A-level school selection process. So it may be a couple more months until all my students arrive. It is especially frustrating as a physics teacher because the topics build on one another. Students are really jeopardizing their chances of succeeding in A-level physics by arriving late. A second selection student who comes two months late to school hardly has any chance at all of doing well. And unfortunately the students don’t have a chance to fail out and start A-level over. They just ride along for two years not understanding anything and then fail the A-level national examination.

Workers' Day

On Friday night our school had a Workers’ Day party for all the employees of Songea Girls Secondary School. I’ve been to wedding receptions, confirmation parties, and graduation ceremonies, but had not yet been to a work party. I didn’t know what expect, but I am starting to get wise…all Tanzanian parties are pretty much the same. They start late and end late. There is always the table up front for the honored guests. On the table is always a large assortment of drinks for the honored guests. Behind the table the wall is always decorated with colorful fabric. There is always an MC and a DJ, and the music is always too loud. Tanzanian parties always consist of a meal. Speeches are always given by the guests of honor, and gifts are always presented to the guests of honor. There is a toast where everyone forms a line to toast the guests of honor. Then the party ends with dancing.

My favorite part is the presenting of gifts. People dance to the head table to offer their gifts. Everyone made a line and we passed the gifts around to each other as we danced toward the head table. Then finally the gifts were presented to the guests of honor.

The other entertainment for the evening was when one of the teachers threw up all over himself during one of the speeches. I don’t think the speaker could see what was going on, but he probably knew something was going on with all the snickering in the back.

The night ended with a conga line headed by our Head Mistress!

Garden Update

My garden is growing well. It is starting to get dry here, so I may have to start watering it by hand. I have harvested my corn and plan to grind it into flour at the mill at our school. My bamia (okra) plants have been growing like crazy. I have to cook bamia a couple times a week just to keep up with my garden. I got one pumpkin out of my garden and made some delicious pumpkin bread. There are other pumpkin blossoms, so hopefully there will be more pumpkins to come. As usual I have been enjoying the matembere leaves, cassava leaves, and pumpkin leaves from my garden as well.

The First Day of School

From my experience in America, on the first day of school everyone arrives full of exciting stories of the summer and anticipation for the new school year, showing off their new back-to-school outfits, and carrying backpacks full of fresh school supplies. No one wants to miss that first day of reunion with friends, or the chance to verify that they really want to take the classes on their schedule. As we opened school this month at Songea Girls, I found out that there is no such thing as the first day of school in Tanzania.

School officially opened on April 6. Even now after three weeks, not all of my students have reported. It sure makes it difficult for a teacher to get started when her students slowly trickle into school over the course of a month. I didn’t bother teaching at all the first week. When a little over half of my form VI students had arrived I started teaching them the second week. Finally I got going with my form V students who are new to the school. On Friday still only 15 out of the 35 physics students on my roster had reported to school. Maybe after this weekend most of them will have arrived.