The One With The Messy Brackets (written 8/29/2012)

Today I taught for the first time in a Tanzanian classroom.  Elizabeth, Elise, and I got to plan and teach a lesson together about subsets.  It was awesome!  Teaching here is definitely going to be challenging, learning to speak slowly, figuring out how to gage comprehension, raising my voice to drown out the noises on the other side of the paper-thin classroom walls, but I am totally looking forward to it.  Seeing the faces of the students as I was teaching, so eager to learn, so excited have the right answer, was incredibly encouraging.  I have been thinking over the last few days that it is going to be the small things that bring me joy this year; it will be the smiles on students faces as they answer a question or  their hands proudly going up to come to the chalk board to write up their work.  I got a small taste of what that is going to look like as I taught today and I am so grateful for that! I can’t wait to get into my own class and start building relationships with some of the students.  I know that there are going to be incredibly challenging days, but being around the kids here is bringing me so much energy and joy already. 

Moses, the science teacher at the school we have been teaching at, sat in on our class.  He has been doing that all week and giving us feedback on our lessons.  After the lesson today he told Elizabeth, Elise and I that we have unacceptably messy brackets used for our set notation.  But, he told us that other than that, we are ready to be professional teachers.  So we came back to the centre where we are staying and practiced our brackets for a while… hopefully tomorrow we can bring them up to standard.  But I have to say, if the only thing that is keeping me from being a professional Tanzanian teacher is my brackets I think I am going to be ok. 

We had another cooking class this afternoon where we learned how to make bread over a charcoal stove.  It was easily some of the best bread that I have ever had! I would say there is about a 30% chance that I will be able to reproduce it when I am cooking on my own, but I suppose I have all year to practice.  Apparently there is nowhere to buy bread in Kafule (or in a three hour radius around the village for that matter) so I guess many of my Saturdays are going to be attempting it for myself.  This whole cooking process is still a little daunting but one day at a time I am sure I will figure it out.  All I need each day is daily bread right?

Tomorrow I get to teach again, on unions and intersections of sets this time.  Elizabeth, Elise, and I have planned something a little out of the Tanzanian box with an activity we are trying at the end of class (there is really no deviation from lecture and example problems here in the classroom so the Ministry of Education has really encouraged us to try games and activities and to share ideas with local teachers).  We know it is a little daring, and could be a total failure, but we are excited to see what happens.  Either way I think it will be a great opportunity for us to learn what to expect from the students in our own classrooms.  Hopefully I will be able to let you know how that does tomorrow night.

The One With All The Cooking (written 8/27/2012)

Today we had our first cooking lesson.  Wow, I don’t really know where to begin.  Well for starters, I guess I had in my head that my fall back meal would be rice and beans.  That is what we learned to make today.  Would anyone like to guess how long it takes to cook rice and beans in Tanzania…. 5 hours… yup that’s right, I will be spending 5 hours a day cooking my fall back meal over my jiko (charcoal cooker, by the way I will have to carry a bag of charcoal that is as big as I am 45 minutes up the hill to my house).  It’s just a casual 17 step cooking process here.  So I have a new fall back plan… avocados. They are cheap and they can be eaten raw so I don’t have to light the jiko. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner, I will be eating avocados.  For our next cooking lesson we are scheduled to learn how to make bread… over charcoals… making rice is overwhelming right now so I have no idea how bread is going to go.  I guess I will let you know on Wednesday. 

Overall things have been going well.  We have had a few more sessions but mostly we are lesson planning and spending time in the classroom here in Iringa which has been an awesome experience so far.  I will be teaching Wednesday and Thursday mornings, subsets and subset operations.  I realized all over again how much of a math nerd I am today when I was looking through the textbook that I bought and getting super excited about all of these topics I get to teach… I cant wait to start J looking forward to letting you know how it goes!

The One With The Tribal Dancing (written 8/24/2012)

I know, I know with a title like this I have you hooked.  But before I tell you about the dancing I’ll tell you about my morning.  I got to go to a school here in Iringa and observe a biology and a math class.  It was so great to be in the classroom, see some of the students, what their participation is like, and what the classroom pace is like. It was so refreshing at this point in training to be able to step back and be reminded why I am here and how I am going to be able to serve my community.  It gave me so much energy and motivation. I am really excited now to finally get to my placement and meet the students that I will be working with!

After school we came back for Swahili class and then some sessions where we all became hypochondriacs.  We had a local doctor come and tell us about some of the common diseases in the areas we are going to be and some ways we can prevent contracting them.  Basically all I came away with is either I can not eat anything for the next year or I can be continually sick, not sure which I am going to decide yet.

Then we got to go to this place called Neema Crafts.  It is kind of similar to a café with a gift shop but all of the workers are deaf (I know mom, I wish you could have been there with us! Maybe we can come back when you visit J) and everything in the gift shop is handmade by deaf or disabled Tanzanians who, if it weren’t for this shop probably would not have a job.  The owners of Neema Crafts invited two local tribes to send dancers from their villages to perform that evening.  It was incredible! We got to see incredible dances, cirque do sole style acrobatics, a guy who danced with snakes, and amazing drumming.  Then, for the finale, some of the deaf staff came out and danced.  Amazing night!! I am going to try to upload some pictures later tonight so stay tuned for those.  

The One With The Stress Of Tests

These last two days have been very busy here in Iringa! Three of last year’s volunteers have extended their time here in Tanzania and are staying here with us at the centre for the week.  They have been running all kinds of classes and discussions for us on everything from how to teach in a class with 100 students and no textbooks to what to do when we encounter corporal punishment in our schools to coping mechanisms to help with homesickness and much much more! It has definitely been information overload and there is a lot about this upcoming year that is intimidating to me right now.  But I am getting really excited to get into Kafule and begin understanding the social dynamics that run throughout the community. 

We have been talking a lot about the Tanzanian national exams.  Students here go to 7 years of primary school and then have to take a national exam.  If they pass this exam they can continue on to the first 2 years of secondary school after which they take another exam.  They can continue their last two years of secondary school if they pass that exam and then take an exit exam for secondary school. If that exam is passed then they can finish the last two years of school and then possibly go on to university.  If they do not pass any of these exams they are kicked out of the public school system and can either pay for private school (which they most likely cannot afford) or begin working (but they do not have the education for a career more than basic village work).  These tests are taken VERY seriously (they have guards with guns monitoring each test as it is proctored)!  This system has resulted in a lot of challenges to teaching.  First, the students want to learn for the sake of the test, not understanding (and that is all the teachers usually teach for).  The tests are also poorly written, full of spelling and grammar mistakes. The questions test more for facts and regurgitation of knowledge than any real understanding or critical thinking.  There is such a sense of anxiety over these tests; students will even carry around tattered copies of exams from 20 years ago and study in between classes.  Last year’s volunteers who are here with us have said that their students are always asking for more tests so that they can feel more prepared for these national ones. 

Hearing about all of these challenges over the last few days have been really hard.  I am really anxious to get into my school and see this dynamic firsthand.  Until then it is hard to really understand what this is going to mean for me in the classroom but I know that it is going to make for some unique challenges.  But I guess we will just have to wait on those, no sense in worrying today right? 

For now I am just trying to make it through all of my Swahili homework.  We have started taking classes every morning and we are definitely moving through this material quickly! But it has been good. I am starting to pick up on certain words when I listen to conversations and I am beginning to be able to pick out the topic; slowly but surely, it is progress.  Tomorrow is another full day of classes and discussions but I am getting to go to bed early tonight so hopefully I will be ready for another long day!

The One Where We Ended Up On A Safari (written 8/20/2012)

Today we traveled from Dar to Iringa where we will be staying at a Lutheran Centre for the final two weeks of training.  We left the city this morning around 9:00 and began what we thought was going to be a 6 hour drive.  I am learning a lot about time here in Tanzania.  A few days ago we talked about the American mentality that time is a commodity that is not to be wasted in contrast with the Tanzanian mindset that time is a gift most valuable when being shared with others.  In theory I love the concept.  However planning on being on the bus for 6 hours when we left this morning and then showing up at our destination almost 11 hours after we left Dar made the day seem very long.  However, I got to share the time with the other volunteers making the entire day a Tanzanian success. 

A few hours into the drive we entered into a national game reserve.  It was incredible! We saw giraffes, elephants, water buffalo, wildebeests, and TONS of monkeys and baboons! The animals were literally just on the side of the highway, so we had our bus driver pull over a few times so that we could take pictures… it ended up being an inadvertent safari. 

Then we got to Iringa.  It is a smaller city which means that it has some great markets where we will be able to get some of the last minute supplies we will need before heading out but it is also very safe to explore so I am really looking forward to that tomorrow during some of our free time.  We just finished dinner here at the centre and it was amazing, which is great news since we will be having cooking lessons here next week (although I am not sure that I will ever be able to cook anything very well over the charcoal stove with the 5 or so ingredients that will be available in my village).  The rooms are incredible; I am not sure what Ashley our field director) is trying to do to us letting us get used to running water (that is warm!) right before we head off to our villages but I am definitely planning on enjoying it while we are here. 

The internet works really well here so check back in for updates regularly for the next two weeks.  Thanks for reading!  

The One With Restless Development (written 8/19/2012)

Restless development is a non-profit organization in Tanzania that works with the youth of the country doing everything from HIV/AIDS testing and education to training in entrepreneurial skills which equip youth who do not have enough money to continue schooling with a vocational education.  Today they sent 6 of their volunteers to come show all of the WorldTeach volunteers around Dar in small groups, teaching us how to do things like find the right bus, how to pay when we are on the bus, how to order at a local restaurant and how to maneuver our way around a marketplace.  I know I have said it before, but each day brings a whole new list of daunting activities that I will soon be learning how to navigate on my own.  But each day also brings new mercies and new confidences.  It feels like I have been here for both the blink of an eye and an entire year already all at once! 

Tomorrow we head out of the city for Iringa where we will be for the remaining two weeks of our training. I think I will be able to use the internet periodically there so hopefully there will be more updates coming soon! Thank you for all of your prayers and encouraging comments! You have no idea how much I look forward to getting on the internet to read them all!    

The One With The Smells, The Stars, and The School (written 8/15/2012)

I cant believe I am finally here! I still feel like I am in a dream, but here I am, sitting on the front porch of our cabin, looking out over the incredible fields of the Tanzanian countryside.  But let’s back up to yesterday.  After a fairly uneventful flight I took my first step onto Tanzanian ground and was hit with a wave of humidity and that unmistakable smell of Africa which jogged countless incredible memories from last summer.  I am in Africa, there is no denying it.  An hour and a half later I had my bags, my visa, and walked out of the airport into this new world.

With my new and fast friends the 16 of us who traveled over together found Ashley, our field director, and piled our luggage into the bus that would take us to our home for the week. It is beautiful here! We arrived at about 11 at night, exhausted and ready for bed, but no amount of sleep deprivation could keep me from doing two things first.  First, to stop and look up.  I don’t even know how to begin to describe the stars here.  They are incredible! I could have stood there all night, but knowing that a folder with my school placement and my roommate was waiting for me beckoned me on. 

I will be teaching at the Kafule Secondary School in the Ileje district of Mbeya.  Here is the description that I was given:

School Information: Kafule Secondary School is an O‐level institution about a two minute walk up the

mountain. It started out as a missionary school many years ago (similar to everything in the area) and is

now run by the government. There are just over 100 students in each form. Unfortunately, there is not

an influx of teachers so you have a heavy work load to deal with. The students, for the most part, are

well behaved but you are dealing with extremely large classes without sufficient space for the students.

The secondary school is set atop a mountain with an amazing view. There is a decent library with a wide

selection of books. The offices are powered by solar energy for you to charge appliances (not big

enough for a computer though, you will have to charge that in town). The headmaster and permanent

teachers speak English quite well and are very welcoming. The headmaster likes to keep close watch on

the volunteer teachers so open communication is a must.

Challenges: There is no electricity in Kafule, except for solar at the school. Electricity is available in the

nearby town of Isoko. To get to town, you will have to walk for 45 minutes down a steep hill. It’s a

beautiful, but physically intense walk (especially going back uphill!). The roads going in and out of Isoko

are often flooded in the rainy season, making travel slow and the buses delayed.

Community: The community is very small and mostly made up of students and teachers/faculty at the

primary and secondary schools. There is no electricity in the village so it is always a big celebration

when the generator gets turned on. Kafule is off the main road straight up the mountain. During the

dry season it can get quite chilly at nights and a good sweater, socks, and sweat pants are a must.

During the wet season the mud turns to clay so bring shoes with good soles. It is too high up for

mosquitos but other insects come in swarms.  Since Kafule is remote, your choice of food comes from

the ground. You will be cooking all of your meals unless you make friends with your neighbors.

Greetings and daily conversations are done in the vernacular language: Kindali. Most of the older

generation only knows the vernacular language. Life is also heavy centered on the Moravian church.

School Information: Kafule Secondary School is an O‐level institution about a two minute walk up the mountain. It started out as a missionary school many years ago (similar to everything in the area) and is now run by the government. There are just over 100 students in each form. Unfortunately, there is not an influx of teachers so you have a heavy work load to deal with. The students, for the most part, are well behaved but you are dealing with extremely large classes without sufficient space for the students. The secondary school is set atop a mountain with an amazing view. There is a decent library with a wide selection of books. The offices are powered by solar energy for you to charge appliances (not big enough for a computer though, you will have to charge that in town). The headmaster and permanent teachers speak English quite well and are very welcoming. The headmaster likes to keep close watch on the volunteer teachers so open communication is a must.

Challenges: There is no electricity in Kafule, except for solar at the school. Electricity is available in the nearby town of Isoko. To get to town, you will have to walk for 45 minutes down a steep hill. It’s a beautiful, but physically intense walk (especially going back uphill!). The roads going in and out of Isoko are often flooded in the rainy season, making travel slow and the buses delayed.

Community: The community is very small and mostly made up of students and teachers/faculty at the

primary and secondary schools. There is no electricity in the village so it is always a big celebration

when the generator gets turned on. Kafule is off the main road straight up the mountain. During the

dry season it can get quite chilly at nights and a good sweater, socks, and sweat pants are a must.

During the wet season the mud turns to clay so bring shoes with good soles. It is too high up for

mosquitos but other insects come in swarms.  Since Kafule is remote, your choice of food comes from the ground. You will be cooking all of your meals unless you make friends with your neighbors.

Greetings and daily conversations are done in the vernacular language: Kindali. Most of the older

generation only knows the vernacular language. Life is also heavy centered on the Moravian church.

Living Situation:

Volunteers will share a house located across from the primary school. It is a two minute walk to the secondary school. The home has four rooms: two bedrooms, a living area, and a kitchen. This living space opens to a back compound enclosed by walls. Across the enclosed yard there are four smaller rooms: toilet (ceramic hole in the ground), bathing room, storage room, and a second storage room that also serves as a kitchen area. Our home is the most modern in the area. Like Kafule and the surrounding area there is no electricity unless you invest in solar paneling. Our source of water comes from a tap in our back compound. The water flow is quite steady. During the dry season (June‐ November) it will go out for a day each week but always returns. The school equipped the house with plenty of cooking utensils and furniture.

Excited, anxious, nervous, joyful, homesick, blessed, I don’t really know what to tell you I am feeling right now, a little bit of everything I guess.  But I can tell you one thing that I am certain of; I serve a God who answers prayers.  I am amazed at how the smallest details are becoming a part of my prayers and answers are coming faster that I can thank Him for them.  Big prayers are being answered as well; I found out today that my village has one of the best churches of all the sites! I know I am not the only one who has been praying for a strong home church so thank you for those who have been lifting up that request! Please keep your prayers coming for this training time, for my classes as I know my students will be behind academically (last years WorldTeach volunteer taught math at the Kafule school but before her no one had taught math in the school for 4 years because no one knew the material well enough!), and for my roommate Dahlia and I (she seems very sweet but I have not gotten to spend much time with her yet).

For a quick look ahead, we will be at Mpenga Farm Stay until Saturday.  We will spend the weekend in Dar which is probably when I will have internet to post this, and then we will heard to Iringa where we will meet up with 3 of last years volunteers who have extended their stays.  They will be helping up learn how to lesson plan and prepare for what life in an Tanzanian classroom is like.  And then we will get a chance to actually teach before heading to out sites.  We leave for out sites Monday September 3^rd and will have a few days to settle in before we begin teaching on the 10^th. 

The One With The Tanzanian Ministry of Education (written 8/17/2012)

Yesterday we got to go to downtown Dar and visit the office of the Tanzanian Ministry of Education (located right across the street from where their president works).  We got to meet the heads of the English as well as the math and science departments.  They were very encouraging, but also very real about what this year is going to look like for us which made the entire meeting a little overwhelming.  They talked about the huge classes (but told us we would make it work), about the challenges of living in a totally unfamiliar culture (but told us we would figure it out), about the lack of resources (but told us we would be creative), etc. Speaking of lack of resources, we were told that one school got a new science lab so they now have test tubes, the mark of an advanced laboratory here in Tanzania!

But the one thing that I was most impressed with leaving that meeting was that these schools, which to me seem totally off the map, lost and forgotten, are in no way that.  These people at the ministry know each school, the teachers, headmasters, and nuances that come with each location.  Tanzanian education is for lagging behind for lack of heart but for lack of hands.  There are simply too many students and too few teachers and because of that I am incredible grateful that I can be here!

The One With My First Lesson Plan (written 8/17/2012)

Today we had a full day of instruction on both lesson planning and culture shock.  I got to write my first ever lesson plan employing my new bag of teacher tricks and had a lot of fun doing it! I still wont get my syllabus explaining what content the school wants me to cover in each of my classes until I get to my site so for now these are just practice but I am definitely feeling more prepared after today.  We also talked about homesickness today.  If you would keep this in your prayers I would really appreciate it.  Living in a new culture involves constant ups and downs which I know will be challenging but I know that God listens and loves in both of those times.  

**I know that this was a few posts at once but it saves me time to load them all at once (since it takes about 4-6 minutes each time I load an internet page).  Sorry it if gets confusing!**

The One With The Settings Mishap

For those of you who have been unable to post a comment on my blog, that has been my fault.  Evidently there is a setting for that which a novice blogger such as myself might overlook.  My apologies, comment away :)

PS there is really no telling if I actually fixed the problem yet, so please let me know if you are still having trouble (via email at carly.spoor@gmail.com).

PPS New information is streaming in faster than I can update this page.  Apparently things should work if you chose the "anonymous" option under the "comment as" tab. Please just make sure to sign your name so that I know who the comments are from!

The One With All The Packing

I can't believe I leave tomorrow! First, I would like to thank everyone who has already been diligently praying for my preparations and for my year in Africa. It means so much to me that I can count on such an incredible support system of friends and family at home.  The reality of leaving has been setting in over the past few days but God has been showering me in His peace. I am so excited to step through the security gates at the airport and to know that it is just He and I setting out on this adventure together.  Goodbyes are always bitter sweet but the joy of knowing that I am about to embark on the adventure that God placed on my heart 7 years ago is bringing me a joy that is making all of these goodbyes worth it.

For those of you who are anxiously awaiting more details about my school placement I am sorry to say that I  wont find out more until I arrive in Dar Es Salaam (Dar for those in the know).  But that is only a day and a half away so don't let yourself get too worked up waiting. For now I am home and packing, getting my last few things ready to go and spending the evening with my mom, dad, and Christian (who is currently sitting over my shoulder pestering me in a way that only a brother would know how to do, I can't wait to be missing moments like this).

I will arrive in Dar Tuesday night (which will be around lunchtime here in the states) after over a full day of travel.  I will be heading straight to Mpingo Farm Stay (named after the Africa blackwood trees) located about an hour outside the city which is where I will be living for the first week of training.  After that I will have two more weeks of training at a location a little more rural.  For now, that is about all that I know.  I look forward to posting more from Tanzania as soon as I have a break from training and access to internet.