The One With The Site Visit (10/14/2012)

Ashley, my field director, came to visit for the second half of this week.  She visits all of the World Teach volunteers to watch their classes, give them feedback, and see how they are settling into their communities.  It was so great to see her and to get her thoughts and suggestions on my teaching.  Getting to show her around and introducing her to all the people that I have become friends with was really fun! It made me realize how much of a life I have made here.  Most of the time I still feel like I am playing house, going to work, cooking, doing chores around the house.  My roommate, Dahlia, said that it is like we are in our own little world and it is just the two of us who share it.  But getting to take Ashley around made it seem more like real life.  It is so fun to really be settling into a life here!

The One With The Revolving Door (10/11/1012)

Tuesday Dahlia and I came home from school to begin cooking for our neighbor, Elizabeth.  Two and a half hours later we had our meal of rice and beans prepared.  And so Elizabeth came over to eat.  We were just saying goodbye to her and walking her to the door when Neema, one of my students came walking up.  She was wondering if I could answer some questions she had about statistics.  So we welcomed her in, gave her some food, and I worked through some problems with her. As we sat there studying we heard another knock on the door.  It was Stela, Grace and Rebecca (a teacher who is here proctoring the form 4 exam).  So Neema and I finished up, she went home, and Dahlia and I fed Stela, Grace and Rebecca.  At this point Dahlia and I became very glad for our inability to correctly portion the ride and beans that we cook.  Anyway, we spent the rest of the night laughing and drinking tea with them.  Another exhausting but totally rewarding day in Kafule! 

The One With The National Exam 10/9/2012)

Yesterday the national exams began for Form 4.  Each school is not allowed to have their own teachers proctor the exam so we had to send some of our teachers to other school in the district and we have some new teachers here with us for the week.  In addition to teachers who are proctoring, there are police here with huge guns; their job is to deter cheating.  I’m sure it is quite effective, nonetheless it was a little shocking to walk up to the school on Monday morning and see all those men at the doors to the exam room.  The students are taking the mathematics portion of their exam today and I am really eager to talk to them after and see how it went!

The One With the 11th Hour Studies (10/6/2012)

The form 4 students begin their national exams on Monday.  On Fridays classes end at 1:00 and for the last hour and 20 minutes of the school day the students have religion, which means they have choir practice if they are in the choir and if not they have time to pray.  During this time I usually sit in the staff room and lesson plan or pray myself.  With their exams begin so soon, the form 4 students asked if they could spend their Friday afternoon studying.  So at 1:00, after my last class ended, I went to the staff room to lesson plan.  But instead I had a fairly constant stream of form 4 students coming in to ask me questions about some of the topics that will be on the exam.  It was so much fun to get to work one on one with so many of the students! I really love getting that individual interaction with them and I am so glad that I could be here for their last minute questions. 

The One With The Cake (10/6/2012)

Thursday marked one month of life in Kafule for Dahlia and I so we decided to use this weekend to celebrate.  And what better way is there to celebrate than with cake.  I had been able to download the Peace Corps Tanzania Cookbook while we were in Mbeya and it turned out that we had everything that we needed to make a carrot cake! So with our ambitions high and our expectations low we attempted to bake a cake over our charcoal jiko.  To make the jiko into more of an oven we put some charcoals on the lid of the pot so that the cake could cook from the top and the bottom.  Things started out a little rocky; we had way too many coals underneath so within about 2 minutes the bottom began to burn.  But we quickly readjusted and with hopes still high we continued to cook the cake.  Half an hour later we had one of the most delicious carrot cakes I have ever eaten! It was incredible! We pretty much giggled the entire time we were eating because we were so excited! And so our celebratory weekend is off to a great start! 

The One With The Kafule Night Life (10/6/2012)

Last night Dahlia and I went over to our neighbor, Mr. Mbughi’s house.  We hung out for a while, drank some tea and talked.  At about 10:00 (right around our bed time) Dahlia and I were ready to head home.  “Oh no,” said Mr Mbughi, “it is time to go to the church.”  Apparently there is a weekend long service going on.  And so to the church we went.  It was awesome! There were a bunch of men and women dancing (picture a cotton eyed joe style dance but much more intricate and much longer), liturgical prayers, and the most beautiful hymns (which they accompanied with an exceptionally resounding base, they had brought in a generator which powered speakers and one light bulb that dimmed with each pulse of the base).  It was so wonderful.  I saw tons of my students there as well as Elizabeth.  Apparently night life does occasionally make its way to Kafule.

The One With the 11th Hour Studies (10/6/2012)

The form 4 students begin their national exams on Monday.  On Fridays classes end at 1:00 and for the last hour and 20 minutes of the school day the students have religion, which means they have choir practice if they are in the choir and if not they have time to pray.  During this time I usually sit in the staff room and lesson plan or pray myself.  With their exams begin so soon, the form 4 students asked if they could spend their Friday afternoon studying.  So at 1:00, after my last class ended, I went to the staff room to lesson plan.  But instead I had a fairly constant stream of form 4 students coming in to ask me questions about some of the topics that will be on the exam.  It was so much fun to get to work one on one with so many of the students! I really love getting that individual interaction with them and I am so glad that I could be here for their last minute questions.