Friday, September 25, 2009

This is your life...

“It’s when you cry just a little but you laugh in the middle that you’ve made it.” – Jason Mraz
First of all, I want to give my heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of Joseph Chow. Peace Corps TZ suffered a horrible loss this week when Joseph, an Education volunteer in Songea, passed away after a rock-climbing accident. I never met Joseph but PC TZ is just one big family, so I’m still deeply saddened to lose a brother. My heart goes out to all the other Volunteers in his class and region who I’m sure knew and loved him a lot. RIP.
It’s weird to be in the village and get news like that via text message. It’s like business carries on as usual except you can feel the shock waves vibrating throughout the entire PC population of the country and the sadness everyone shares. So that news was really hard.
Other than that, this has been a productive week. I was pretty much a culinary genius and made PB-Choc Brownies and an excellent loaf of bread jiko-style. It’s amazing what baked goods will do for your mental health. I also made a bucket of banana wine, so if all goes as it should that is fermenting now and will be delicious in 3 weeks! My villagers probably thought I was crazy buying 80 bananas to make “juice.”
I also am starting a penpal exchange between a class of 5th graders here and a class of 5th graders in America through the World Wise Schools program. So I went to the class to introduce the idea and ended up basically teaching a lesson on what students do in America and what the similarities and differences are. And of course this was all in Swahili except for when they made me sing the US National Anthem solo for them. Great.
I also went back to help out at the clinic, where I can’t believe how overworked the nurses are. I basically just weigh people and fill out their charts. But they need so much help I’ll probably end up going there 2x a week as a main project to help them with Monday baby-weighing and Thursday pregnancy exam days.
This week I also started House-to-House surveys to help complete the VSA. I’m working with Hadija, a 23-year-old girl who finished secondary school and wants to be a lawyer someday. So she speaks great English and is wonderful help. She’s also pretty cool to hang out with. We’re both quiet but I’m hoping we’ll get to be friends. We’ve visited 4 households so far asking questions about the village schools, health, agriculture, what they do for fun, etc. Just to get some baseline info on the village stats.
I also met Mariam, this lady who was sitting outside her house making beaded rings. So I told her I loved jewelry and she said she’d teach me how to make them! And she gave me a ring as a gift which I love. So possible income-generating-activity for a Mama’s group? Or just a fun craft hobby either way!
So in other news my cats like to run away to school and the neighbor’s houses, I eat an inordinate amount of peanut butter because I’m too lazy to cook more than 1x a day, and it has gotten HOT. Nights are still comfortable but in the daytime the sun is intense. Also, I’ve realized my biggest animal problem is bats; they keep me up all night squeaking and every morning I have to sweep up all their poop. Gross. I’ve also had a cold for the last 2 ½ weeks which is annoying. The overriding theme of this month has been just trying to handle the extreme mood swings of being here. Every time I see another PCV and get to speak English and hang out Marekani style it’s awesome, but then it makes the return to the vill that much harder. My worst days have been the ones I’ve returned from hanging out w/ Keith in town or something to being by myself. It is really lonely and difficult sometimes. There are definitely days where I’d rather lie in bed reading than get up and speak Swahili and integrate. But every time I get out there it gets better and easier. I’ve never had more than 1 bad day in a row so that’s good. And I always knew this settling-in period would be the hardest part. I just wish I could fast forward to after IST in December when I’ll have friends, better Swahili, and project ideas. But this is Tanzania, “polepole ndiyo mwendo” (slow and steady wins the race). Well that’s about it. Know what makes me the happiest person in the world? Getting mail!!! So write me letters or send me trashy magazines or postcards or anything!!! My address is on my facebook group, or you can message me to get it. If you write me a letter I’ll have your address and I’ll guarantee to write you back!!!!!
And HAPPY 50TH BIRTHDAY MOM!!!!
-Mboza (my Kinguo name...yeah, I'm not a fan either...)

Friday, September 11, 2009

Life in Kiteto: The Carrie and Keith Show!

Mambo! So here I am, alive and well, trying to collect my thoughts enough to give you all a decent update on my life for the last 3 weeks I've been at site. There have been some ups and downs for sure. I really am really remote, even by Peace Corps standards. There's 1 spot on the main road I can walk to to get maybe 1 bar of cell reception to check text messages, but other than that I am off the grid! My feelings about this are mostly "Well, it IS what you signed up for..." I've definitely had some moments of extreme loneliness in which I can't believe how long 2 years seems. But I'm starting to get settled and things are looking up so let's focus on the highlights:
1. My house is becoming a home! This week I got all the furniture I ordered delivered so I actually have my own bed, a clothes closet, some couches, and some tables. So I got to UNPACK for the first time in 3 months, woo!!! I also put up a ton of pictures on my wall to remind me of people back home, but if anyone wants to send me more or anything else to decorate that would be awesome!
2. Exploring the mountains and environment around my village has been pretty cool. There are several small mountains right around my house and Keith and I are determined to climb them all eventually. I also found an awesome little hilly trail to jog on where I only pass a few people herding cows usually so I don't have to deal with THAT many weird looks and people asking me why I'm running. Oh, and there are MONKEYS!!! Tons of them, actually. There are also apparently hyenas but I'm not trying to go walking around at night by myself to find them.
Yesterday I took the bus to Keith's village, almost passed out because I was standing with 2 heavy bags packed into the aisle and wasn't feeling too good. So I had to ask this guy to give me his seat which thankfully he did since I'm the wimpy white girl. But then of course I got to Keith's house (an hour bus ride) and we went and climbed a huge boulder-y hill in his village. It was really cool, we could see for miles around the whole valley. Also saw some naked Maasai guys bathing in the water holes which was scandalous. So yeah, there will be lots of mountain climbing in the next 2 years.
3. Making friends in my village is going well. All of my neighbors are teachers and they're all really nice (except for 1 stalker who I am doing my best to shake). The headmaster of the primary school is my main guy so far- he speaks English and is really smart and helpful. And his wife is HILARIOUS and feeds me so much and visits me every day if she doesn't see me. She taught me how to greet in Kinguo, the local language, so now I'm considered like the smartest person alive by all the villagers for knowing those few words. So she's like my best friend so far. The other female teachers are also awesome and I talk to them a lot to practice Swahili and there are 2 woman nurses who I'm also probably going to work with a lot. And of course the kids are constantly at my house trying to talk to the weird mzungu. So yeah, I have friends.
4. I HAVE KITTENS! Now those of you who know me know that I'm not a cat person, but as soon as I realized how many critters my house has, I was like "I need a cat." So my headmaster started looking for a kitten for me. So one day I get back from Keith's village and all of a sudden I'm presented with not one, but TWO little black kittens. So at first I was like "Crap, I don't know how to take care of cats..." but they are now like my best friends and they definitely know I am their Mama. They follow me everywhere and jump on me constantly. Sloopy is the girl (cheesy Ohio pride) and Buttercup is the boy (Keith picked the name in hopes that a girly name would produce a super-ferocious rat killer...so far it's working 'cause Buttercup is CRAZY.) So now I'm obsessed with my cats since they provide entertainment and companionship. The other day one of them wandered over to my neighbor's yard and he was like "Carrie...Mtoto yako yupo hapa." (Carrie...one of your children is here.) So that confirmed that I'm totally the crazy cat lady but I'm fine with it.
5. Getting stuff done! So I'm actually trying to follow the suggested schedule for what to do each week in order to complete the VSA. So I've been to village government meetings, introduced myself at both schools and to all the teachers, and basically just sat and talked with anyone who invites me in. I'm just starting to learn about all the problems in my village and trying to figure out what I can do here that will bring sustainable change for the better. On Monday I went to the clinic to help the 2 overworked nurses with the baby-weighing day. So I was weighing babies, writing charts, and giving polio medicine. It was crazy busy but awesome 'cause I feel like I actually helped a lot just by being an extra set of hands. So I definitely plan to help out at the clinic a lot.
6. So basically just hanging out in my village trying to survive and actually do something productive. I see Keith about once a week which is good...any other PCVs I see only when I feel like at least a 3 hour bus ride. But we're planning lots of fun holiday trips and outings so it'll be great. And apparently, I will be home in March to be there for Justine to get hitched! So get excited for that!
Peace out, leave me comments!!!

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