After I returned from Nairobi, we went on our third retreat to a place on the coast called Tanga. I’ve fallen in love with the Indian Ocean, so I was excited to spend a few more days there. We stayed at a retreat center that was right on the beach, and it was absolutely beautiful. I spent most of my time in my swimsuit, either in the ocean or right next to it studying my Kiswahili, it was a much needed retreat. We had just finished grading mid-term exams at school and it was a lot of work. Grading 400 essays written by students with a broad range of English knowledge was both strenuous and hilarious.
We were on retreat with the community from Dar, and once we finished in Tanga we traveled down with them to their home to spend Easter there. Dar was where we spent our first two weeks in Tanzania, so returning there stirred up a myriad of feelings. I spent a lot of my time there reflecting on how overwhelmed I had felt in my first few days, and how much more comfortable and confident I now felt, just a few months later. It was very affirming. It was also nice to see friends we had made and spend time with the Jesuits there. I was able to go to Loyola and watch both Christen and Caroline teach, which was very fun. In Caroline’s class, they were playing a Bingo game to review some geography that they had learned. Some of the boys in the class whispered my questions, hoping I could help them, and then giggled when I also did not know and had to whisper to someone else. How was I supposed to know the capital of Zambia off the top of my head? The next day I went to Gonzaga, the primary school that Nicholas and Emily teach at. So fun. I loved hanging out with the little ones, and totally instigated chaos. I had discovered a water gun in their staff room, so during Nicholas’ math class, I proceeded to sneakily squirt the boys in the class in the backs of their heads every time they did anything that could remotely resemble misbehaving.
Easter Day was very fun. Mary Beth and I were sleeping in our typical spot, a tent outside the house in Dar. I woke up early and as a stuck my head outside of it; I noticed two big white fluffy footprints outside of the tent. Next to them was a note, the Easter Bunny had made an appearance the night before! The note contained a clue leading to the next spot he had visited. Unfortunately, we needed to prepare for church. And it was going to take me awhile because my hair had been in braided for over a week and needed a good washing. We all dressed up in our Easter kitenge best and headed to church. All of the women looked beautiful, and it was nice to be back at the church in Dar. After a three hour mass, we headed back home to follow the path of the Easter Bunny! It was a strenuous hunt, filled with many mind-boggling clues and tricks, but we finally discovered the little bags of candy the Easter Bunny (aka Christen Reardon, one of the Dar volunteers) had left us. What a happy morning. At this point it was around 11AM, and we proceeded to feast on candy, cassava (a fried root that is extra yummy) and some beer that Nicholas’ family had brought from Canada since he and Emily both gave up alcohol for Lent. Delicious. Soon thereafter we headed to a friend’s family home for lunch. On the walk over, something magical occurred. While at Gonzaga, we had a discussion about the lack of rabbits in Tanzania. We had yet to see any in our five months here. That afternoon, we saw the Easter Bunny. There was a little white rabbit hopping along the path with us! What timing to see our first lil’ African bunny! Once there, I struggled to eat much of the huge portions put onto my plate; I ended up stealthily scraping my food onto Nicholas’ plate. Tanzanian hospitality can be brutal, you need to eat ‘eat, eat, eat until you are eaten!’ The rest of the day was spent preparing for a slightly more nutritious Easter feast at the Jesuits. I grated my first coconuts and made coconut rice pudding. Once there, we discovered that they had prepared nyama choma for us, roasted beef, goat and chicken. What a treat. We feasted and laughed all evening, it was a happy Easter.
My Braids
When we returned from Dar, the next week I was Teacher On Duty at school. Each week there are two teachers that pretty much run the joint. They make sure all of the student’s duties are done, make sure all school rules are followed, run morning assembly, basically make sure that everything runs smoothly and then administer discipline if it does not. Typically the Teacher On Duty walks around carrying a stick so that if any student is misbehaving they can give them a quick whack. The students knew that I would not be doing this, so they were slightly more difficult to manage the week I was Teacher On Duty. Luckily my time at Mercy taught me a lot about setting limits and natural consequences, so I didn’t have that much trouble. I was definitely center stage for the week, all of the other teachers were watching to make sure the school didn’t burn down under my watch. It didn’t, it was fine. The most eventful part of the week was when I was supervising lunch in the dining hall and all of the girls in one corner started screaming and running away with yells of NYOKA! NYOKA! There was a green snake slithering along the wall and promptly causing chaos in the entire dining hall (filled with about 400 students). I was laughing so hard at the situation that I was crying, but I managed to help Mr. Tom and Pascal (who is nicknamed the Arnold Schwarzenegger of Tanzania) to track it down and kill it. Rumours flew that it was a green mamba, but it was never confirmed. On the Saturday of my week on duty it was Labor Day in Tanzania and all of the staff were sent to Arusha for a celebration. I was worried I would have to stay and watch the school, but Sister Njau wanted all of the teachers and staff to be able to go so she stayed to watch the 900 students all by herself. So fun, and so kind of her to do. It was like a wedding reception, set up in beautiful gardens with lots of food, drinks and dancing. We had a great time.
A co-worker Tom and I on Labor Day
Lots of Dancing!
Speaking of snakes…we also traveled to Arusha to the snake park! Christopher (one of the Jesuit Scholastics), Tom (a co-worker and friend) and Mary Beth and I decided to take a day trip. On the way there we were pulled over at a police check-point. They asked us for our papers, and unfortunately the registration papers for the car had been left at home. The police, being corrupt and looking for every opportunity to profit, spent the next half hour trying to solicit a bribe. At one point a man came out with a big machine gun around his neck to try to intimidate us. It worked. Not for Tom and Christopher, because they had grown up in a war-torn Uganda with plenty of guns around, but for me. But not necessarily because of how big the gun was, I was more worried about the fact that he was wearing a Baltimore Ravens hat and scared that he would discover my loyalty to the Pittsburgh Steelers and we would be finished. Luckily he was content to check my passport and sneer at me. After giving them some money, they let us go on our way. The snake park was lots of fun and all sorts of scary. Good trip. Okay that’s it for now, I don’t want to overload. More later! Hope all is well wherever you are!
1 comment:
Resourceful information, I like the blog
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