The One With The Trip To Mbeya (written 9/29/2012)

This weekend Dahlia and I decided it was finally time to leave Kafule for the night and make our first trip to the big city of Mbeya.  What a long day it has been.  The truck leaves from Lupembe (a town about a 30 minute walk from our house) at 3:00am.  Which meant that we were up at 2 and walking by the light of the moon and flashlights to the truck stop (the moon was full last night though which was such a blessing!! I have never seen a moon that bright!)  We made it to the truck stop and got on.  Thankfully we had called ahead and reserved seats in the front so we didn’t have to sit in the back of the truck, but it was still a very bumpy and dusty ride.  Anyway, 4 and a half hours later we made it to the paved roads and the city of Mpemba where we got off the truck and onto a bus for the remaining three hours of our trip.  We made it to Mbeya around 10:30.  We had called Kita to ask him if we could take him out to dinner while we were in the city.  He decided to meet us at the bus station and stay with us the whole day! He showed us to our hotel, to the market, the grocery store, and the shopping area.  It was great!! We were able to get a bunch of spices, bread, mango, soy sauce!! We were like kids in a candy store all day, so amazed at all of the options we had!! And the hotel has running water so I got to take my first real shower in a month, what a blessing! It has been a long day! But I am feeling very accomplished for making it here… now we just have the journey back home.  But Kita is coming in the morning to see us off so we should make it on the right bus which will at least get us the first half of the way home.  

The One With The Pictures Of The School

A view of the school from the entrance 

A picture that I took from the window in the form 3 classroom

One of the form 2 classrooms

The board in the form 3 classroom

The One With The Pictures Of The Teachers

Here are a few pictures I was able to take at graduation with some of the other teachers.

Makala and I 

Stela and I 

Grace and I 

Kivega and I 

The One With The Graduation (written 9/28/2012)

Dahlia and I got to school early this morning to help prepare for graduation.  There was decorating, cleaning and lot of cooking to be done.  The ceremony was supposed to begin at 9am (and end at 12).  So we diligently set to work chopping onions and tomatoes and helping to decorate.  9:00 came… and went… there was a “guest of honor” who attended graduation (a district official from Ileje) without whom the ceremony could not begin.  The students were more than happy to wait though because a speaker had been through in for the ceremony and so they were able to play music and dance while they were waiting.  They literally danced for hours and loved every minute of it.  The guest of honor arrived at 1:45, so just a little later than expected, and the ceremony began shortly after.  It was great! I got to see the songs and dances again and watch the form four students proudly hear their names called and receive their certificate (and then promptly hand it back, the headmaster didn’t have time to sign them beforehand so they will receive them, signed, later).  It was so fun! The ceremony ended at about 6:00.  After, there was a meal for the teachers and officials that came.  And then, after another tiring day, I got to head home.  

The One With The Huge Improvement (written 9/28/2012)

Dahlia and I invited Elizabeth over for dinner last night and so we decided to give rice and beans another try.  We came straight home from school and began the long cooking process.  Three hours later we had rice, beans, and cabbage (it is not often that we are courageous enough to cook a three part meal but we were struck by ambition yesterday and it turned out well).  Just as we finished cooking Stela and Grace stopped by so we invited them to stay and eat.  Grace took one bit of her rice and said, “Oh you have very much improved!” in an astonished tone.  We know it is not the best rice in the world but we were excited for the compliment! And we just keep reminding ourselves that we have 8 more months to practice.  Elizabeth seemed to enjoy it as well, but I think she enjoyed the fact that we tried to cook Tanzanian food more than she enjoyed the actual food. She just kept saying, “I am so happy to be eating the food that white people cooked.” 

After dinner Dahlia and I cleaned up and sat down after an exhausting day, so excited to read and relax and go to bed early.  Not five minutes later did we hear a knock on the door.  Our neighbor, Mr. Mbughi had sent two of his daughters to invite us over.  So to the Mbughi’s we went to eat (again!) and talk.  We finally made it back home and were able to get some sleep before waking up early for the big day: graduation!

The One With The Graduation Rehearsal (written 9/26/2012)

Graduation for the Form 4 students is this Friday.  Today I was walking out of the staff room to go teach a class when one of the other teachers stopped and asked me where I was going. "Class" I said.  He laughed at me and told me that classes were canceled because there was going to be graduation rehearsal   I try to hard to anticipate these schedule changes, but alas, I always miss something.  So the lesson will have to wait.

I guess I don't really know what I was expecting, maybe one of the teachers telling students how to line up, going through the order of events, something generic.  Whatever I was expecting, it was wrong.  Evidently graduation here is more of a celebration than a ceremony so I got to spend three hours watching the choir from each form practice their songs and dances.  Then there was a group of four girls who sang a few songs together.  They sounded amazing! After the girls a group of three buys got up and started singing.  A few minutes into their song they started rapping.  It was absolutely hysterical! The students lost it... standing on their chairs, cheering... the other teachers and I were dying!  Finally "rehearsal" ended and the whole event ended turned into a huge dance off that about 30 of the students participated in.  It was seriously one of the funniest things I have every seen!  The whole school of about 450 kids stood around in a circle (about 4 of 5 deep with the kids on the outsides standing on the chairs), clapping, whistling, giving a beat to the kids in the middle who were battling it out for best dancer.  I don't think I stopped laughing for half an hour straight! SO FUN! (I am attaching clips from the dance off that was repeated during the actual graduation ceremony... I cant believe they did it again! But that is why the students in the background are staying in their chairs... there parents were there watching them.)

Then Dahlia and I rushed home because out neighbor Elizabeth invited us to go to the neighboring village of Kapelekese with her (and by neighboring village I mean just under an hour and a half walk each way).  Anyway, there was a drumming event in the town today so I got to see even more traditional drumming and dancing.  I am finally home now though and ready to go to bed.  Life here is exhausting but ALWAYS exciting!

The One Where We Played Hostess (written 9/24/2012)

Dahlia and I finally worked up the courage to cook for Stela and Grace.  We decided to make rice and beans.  It took us about 4 hours yesterday and I can say proudly that the beans turned out well.  The rice on the other hand was both crunchy and mushy (yes, apparently you can both under cook and over cook the same batch of rice) and wildly ill proportioned (I know Dad, you would think after we have made that mistake 100 times I would have learned not to make 6 times too much).  But Stela and Grace graciously ate the rice and loaded up on the beans.  Grace asked us if we had rice in America (assuming we don’t because we clearly don’t know how to cook it).  I told her we have rice that cooks in three minutes in the microwave.  I guess that explained our mushy/crunchy rice and she offered to come over sometime and teach us how to properly cook it.  I cant wait for the lesson!