Holidays and Washing Windows

Well, following last week's unusual week, this past weekend was also rather strange. We had Friday off because of the Muslim holiday of ID. Kjirstin and I were advised to not go into town because it was a Muslim holiday. Although the relationships between Christians and Muslims in the area is quite civil, we were told it would be better to stay home. I tried to use my extra time wisely, and I managed to get a lot of work done on my graduate school applications. I'm almost finished with two of them and have made quite a significant dent in the other two. The main things I have left to do are to update my letter of intention and organize my unofficial transcripts. Also, I invited two of my piano students to come for an extra lesson in the morning if they wanted. They were both excited when I mentioned it on Thursday and agreed that they wanted to come. After the lessons, I let them hang around the house and read or check their emails if they wanted to. In the evening, I had English choir and I practiced some piano. I'm really excited because I received a package from home that contains a bunch of sheet music that I left at home. Honestly, I feel like a kid at Christmas!! :D

On Saturday, frisbee was cancelled in the morning due to people being out of town, so I had a LOT of extra free time. I ran in the morning and then returned to hang out around the house for the morning. Kjirstin and I went into town to get lunch at Oasis (which is probably my favorite restaurant here!) It's got really good Indian and Chinese food and is a nice break from Tanzanian food. Afterwards, we went to the market to get our fruits and veggies for the week. We also wanted to get a small kerosene jiko (stove) so that we will be able to cook at our house. Luckily, we were informed ahead of time that a reasonable price would be 8,000 Tsh. When the man saw two white girls, he tried to charge us over 20,000 Tsh, but I talked him down to 9,000 Tsh. which was a pretty good deal. (I mean, 1,500 Tsh = $1 US, so I guess we got over charged by .60) I started to not feel well during our time at the market, so I tried to rush us along and we ended up not getting to buy a pan (our plan is to get one this weekend). But, we did manage to make it to the two supermarkets that I frequent in town before we headed home. In the evening, I had English choir and a piano lesson with one of the ladies of the church. I'm hoping to teach some people from the church how to play piano so that when I leave, they can continue the tradition at the church and teach others!!

On Sunday, I knew that we weren't going to have the evening prayer service in town because people were still going to be gone. Thus, I decided to sleep in a bit and not run in the morning. Church was normal and afterwards Kjirstin and I went to the pastor's house to hang out and eat food. In the afternoon, I washed the windows in my room. Although we do have a member of our church coming to clean our house 2 days a week, I've decided that I'd like to clean my own room. In the morning, I was trying to swat a mosquito on the window screen and a bunch of dust flew up. So, I decided that I needed to wash them. I've watched Mama Vanessa do it before, so I got a bucket of soapy water, moved my bed out of the way and started washing. I have to say, it's a pretty disgusting job with all the dirt and spider webs. I have a lot of respect for Mama Vanessa being willing to do that for us. After the window washing adventure, I skyped home for the first time in quite a while. I've been upset because every time we try to skype, the internet seems to shut down. But, we got a good hour in on Sunday!! YAY!! I ran in the evening and hung out until dinner. After dinner, I got to skype a friend from back home that I haven't gotten to talk to in a long time. It really made me happy to be able to be able to communicate with friends and family back home after not being able to for so long.


Recently, I've made a revelation that I've reached the point in my stay here that I consider Morogoro, Tanzania my home. I know that in the next couple of months, I will have lived here for an entire year! Somehow, that just blows my mind. I've made wonderful connections and relationships with so many people here. I know my way around pretty well now and I love what I'm doing at the school. It takes so much fighting to reach this place, but now that I'm here, I couldn't be happier. I dread the day that I'm going to leave to return to the US. I know it's not for quite a few months now, but it gets closer every day. I know, in my heart, that I need to go home and I need to finish my studies. So, for now I'm just trying to take in as much as I can before I leave.

Looking into the future:
This weekend is going to be quite full of cultural experiences!! On Friday night, Kjirstin and I are going to learn how to make chapati (which is a type of bread, kind of like Nan, that they eat here). On Saturday, we are going to the orphanage where my piano student is living and we're planning to spend the night there. In the morning, I think we're going to try and go to church with them (I heard it's a FOUR hour long service!!!). It should be quite the adventure. I hope you're all looking forward to a lot of pictures!!!

I hope that you all are having a great week and that those who are being affected by Hurricane Sandy are staying safe and dry. I know that Nadine and her husband have been affected since she's now studying at a Methodist college in New Jersey. I've heard that they are both safe and well, praise God!

May the Lord Bless You and Keep You,
~Christine

Even if You Fall, You've Got to Get Up and Just Keep Running

It's been an unusual week, a rough week, and just plain exhausting week. Every time I think that I've experienced everything that there is to experience here, I'm proven wrong. The worst of the week began when I went to SUA to play frisbee with the gang last Saturday. At some point, early in the game, I got knocked down when a fellow player ran into me. I landed very hard on my knee and scratched it very badly. It was so covered in dirt and at first, I couldn't tell that it was so bad. So, being me, I kept playing. But, then, after then next score, I looked down and noticed that blood was beginning to stream down my legs. So, I ran off the field, grabbed my water bottle, and began rinsing it off so I could get a better idea of what I was dealing with. It was a bloody, nasty mess. But, Kim had a first aid kit, so I cleaned it off and put a band-aid on it. I decided to go ahead and play the second half of the game, during which time the band-aid fell off. But, never fear, she had more. After the game, I walked all the way (40 minutes) back to town and met Kjirstin at the soko (market) where we bought some slightly overpriced bananas. I almost walked away plenty of times to let this man know that I wasn't messing around and I was not going to pay his price. But, that's the way it works often times. People here see a white person and they just throw out a price that is 3X's more than they would charge their fellow Tanzanians. Now that I've been there quite a few times, I've got more of an idea of what is a fair price and what is not, so I'm not going to settle unless I feel I'm being treated fairly. After the market, we rushed to the daladala stand to meet Anne (who I met through language school) and the three of us had quite a pleasant lunch together at Ricky's Cafe. After, we completed our shopping and headed home. All this time, my knee was hurting quite badly, but I just kept going.

The knee injury has prevailed throughout the week, and I've had to take various measures concerning the issue. It's been quite the experience for me in health care here in Tanzania. Not that I had to visit a hospital or anything (and it DID NOT get infected, Bwana asifiwe). But, it's not like there's a Walgreen's or CVS Pharmacy on every corner where a plethora of medical supplies is readily available to me. I've learned that there are 3 dukas that sell medicine nearby our house, but they're small and don't always have what you need. If you need more variety, you have to go all the way to town. I had Neosporin and had been using that on my knee and big band-aids that I was using at first. But, the craziest part was running out of my stock of large band-aids. I had a TON of smaller ones, but I only had a handful of the big ones. The way my knee was oozing (sorry for the description, but it did ooze, a LOT), I was having to change the bandage quite regularly. Thus, I began using gauze (found in my first aid kit) and duct tape. I mean, that's pretty much what a band-aid is, right???

Well, the worst part of all of this was on Tuesday when I was at school. For reasons that will be explained later, I was trying to show the students a fancy ballet turn with bare feet, on the uneven, grassy ground (not exactly a smart or proud moment for me). Basically, I fell and landed smack dap on my knee and re-opened/bruised it. Also, a ton of dirt also got into it. I went home for a few minutes to try and clean it out, but it was difficult because the water wasn't on and Mama Vanessa had used just about all of the water washing our clothes that morning. Well, I proceeded as normal despite the pain and what not. I even went on my usual run and to play volleyball. After volleyball, I asked the player who was going to drive me home if he had a first aid kit in his car and if he had any large bandages that I could have. He took a look at my knee and directed me to Dr. Hank who is also one of our frequent players. It was decided that I should be taken to the clinic at the tobacco factory where they work to have my wound cleaned out and get some stuff to put on it to help it dry out. The cleaning out part was quite painful because the wound was so big and so incredibly bruised. Putting any kind of pressure on it still hurts pretty badly. But, that was probably the best thing that could've happened for me. I was also given a pretty awesome anti-bacterial cream to put on it and was told to try and keep it uncovered so it would dry out quickly which would help against infection. So far, no infection has occurred and it is looking quite well. It still hurts, but it's doing much better now and the size of the opened wound it roughly half of what it was a few days ago and has been quite well dried out for the last couple of days. Thus, things are looking good!! :D

Aside from the medical adventures, this week continues on it's unusual course. The students were supposed to start their monthly exams on Tuesday, and I was prepared for that (meaning, I wasn't exactly prepared to teach). Well, the exams didn't start on Tuesday. They didn't even start on Wednesday, for that matter. All because the place that was supposed to type them up was going very slowly. Unfortunately, I don't think that I was the only teacher who wasn't quite prepared to teach this week because most teachers were not going into any classes at all. I managed to pull some stuff together quickly (which normally isn't a problem for me). But, in between my classes, I found that the students were playing and running around because no one else was teaching. So, Kjirstin and I ended up doing a lot of entertaining. We were working with them on reading, I taught them how to use a stop watch and we did races (this impromptu PE class is the point when I was doing the ballet turns and fell for the second time), Kjirstin went and taught math to the students who were struggling, and we even made sure to have a constant pile of books on our desk for the students to take if they wanted them. The chapter books were a HUGE hit this week (and any week for that matter). Especially since I have been reading out loud in class, students have gotten more excited about reading. I'm not sure if the kids were just bored, but many of them thanked me every time I came to their class to teach. It made me feel so good. I continue to wonder over these students' dedication (most of the time) to education and their desire to learn. It real seem to be the mirror opposite of students in the US. I mean, seriously, what student in the US is going to thank their teacher for teaching them (at least, not until they're older and can truly appreciate what they've been given)??

Well, I think I shall finish out here for now. This weekend has started off a bit strange for me because Friday has been a Muslim holiday and school was cancelled. Thus, it felt like Saturday even though Saturday is not until tomorrow. But, I'll do a write up about the weekend's adventures at a later time.

May the Lord Bless You and Keep You,
~Christine

Joy

In John 15:11 Jesus says "I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete". Just before this verse, Jesus was talking to His disciples about how we are to remain in God and if we follow Him, He will remain in us. I believe it 100%. I'm so incredibly happy to be here in Africa and having the opportunities I have to serve others; children and adults. All this week, I've been overcome with the complete joy I've been experiencing here. I love seeing my students. I love teaching them; even though they are not always on their best behavior. I love the fact that I have been accepted into this completely foreign community. I love that I get this opportunity to learn and practice another language. If there ever was a doubt about whether or not I was meant to do missions, I am sure there is none any longer. Following the calling that God placed in my life and coming here has made my joy complete.

I find it a bit strange that it no longer strikes me as completely odd or insane that I live in Africa. Now, living in Africa is just, well, normal for me. They say it takes about a year to become bi-cultural, and I'm quickly approaching that mark. I know what to expect in most situations and I definitely have a lot more confidence when new situations arise. The thing that strikes me now is my view of "the poor". Before coming here, I imagined the poor as being hopeless, sad, and lonely. I think a lot of that has to do with how "the poor" are portrayed through media and even in church. But, now, I can truly say that I have met "the poor" and they are not poor in many respects. There is so much joy, and my goodness, the worship and singing at church is breathtaking in so many ways. There truly is passion that I think many churches miss out on in America. The kids smile, laugh, and play just like every other kid in the world. Honestly, for me, it has been a privilege that I have gotten to know them and teach them.

In other news from the week:

On Tuesday, Kjirstin and I got up early as usual, and as we were getting ready for school, we noticed that we didn't hear any of the usual screams from children running around and playing. We wondered over it, but didn't dwell on it for too long. When we arrived at school, we learned that the government was doing vaccinations for the students against some disease that I've never heard of before. Well, surprise, surprise, Kjirstin and I ended up having a free day! It was kind of overwhelming for me when I was all ready for school and teaching and suddenly I had to shift gears and think of something else to do. But, no worries, there were plenty of things that needed working on (mostly graduate school applications and such) and I also got to read a LOT; which is something I haven't gotten to do quite so much of recently. It was a cooler day than we've had in a while and it was nice to just sit around and relax at home. (unfortunately, it's starting to heat up again. I haven't needed my fan at night just yet, but I know the day is coming quite soon)

My piano student, John, just had his 13th birthday on Sunday. I didn't find out about it until I had read his journal entry from this week and he had mentioned it. So, I decided that I wanted to do something simple, but special for him. I decided that after the piano lesson on Friday, I would get us drinks and some chips mayai. I also had part of a package of Oreos left that I thought would be good for our celebration. So, that's what we did today after his and Elizabeth's lessons. We ate and drank together. I asked if he had gotten to do anything special this past weekend for his birthday and he said "no". It made me a bit sad inside. Maybe it's difficult at a children's home or orphanage to give each child a special day. I hope that our little celebration helped him to feel a little bit more special; it certainly gave me joy. :D

On Saturday, I played frisbee, got knocked down and totally scraped up/bruised my knee pretty badly. It's pretty well swollen up right now. I've not been a person who has suffered significantly from injuries in the past, but it seems that ultimate frisbee is a pretty dangerous game. Since I began playing with the group (sometime in February) I've managed to twist the same ankle twice, sprain my big toe, and now mess up my knee with this bruise. (all of these have healed minus the new injury) I'm beginning to wonder if I need to stop...? Anyways, afterwards, I met Kjirstin in town and we bought some bananas at the market. Then, we continued on to meet up with my friend Anne who is volunteering at the Lutheran Jr. Seminary with the kindergarten. We got lunch at Ricky's together and had a great time talking and then made a few stops at a some stores on the way back home. This afternoon, I was working on the blog entry, I repaired the holes that have formed in my mosquito net, and I attempted to work on graduate school applications, but not no avail because the internet connection was so slow.

Looking ahead into the future, next week is supposed to be just a normal week at school, but we will see about that. Haha!

May the Lord bless you and keep you,
~Christine

Reading Power

Dear friends, sorry I’ve been having issues with the blogger website. Honestly, I don’t think that the problem is with my internet, but with the blogger website itself because other webpages for other websites have been working without problems for me. Here is the full entry that was supposed to be posted this past Sunday 10/14/2012:

This week I have begun a new activity with the students. They struggle a lot with reading and I was talking with Kjirstin about it. We ended up talking about how our teachers used to read to us. That was one of my favorite things when I was in the younger grades. Seriously, as much as I love to read myself, I could listen to someone read to me for hours (if they're a good reader, that is). Thus, I decided that I would begin reading to the students out loud at the beginning of English class. I began with Class VI to see how the activity went over. I was worried that they would try and do other work or play during that time. I picked out a story about pirates because I thought that would be a fun topic for them. It's a book from the Magic Treehouse Series. We have quite a few of those books and I've read a couple here just to see what they're like. They're fun and they also include some facts about history and past world events, so I thought it would be good for them. 

Right away, I noticed that discipline would not be a problem during story time. The students sat with rapt attention. It hit me about half way through chapter one that these students have most likely never been read to before. I don't know what it never occurred to me before, but I guess I never thought about it. I was so busy just trying to get them to read, that I never thought about if anyone has showed them how to do it. Reading the words on the page is one thing, but reading the story is COMPLETELY different. When you really read a story, and can really hear the characters and see in your mind what's happening, it's like experiencing a whole new world. That's what I hope to do for these kids. I want to unlock their brains to explore and think about new ideas and experience the world of imagination!! :D

It has been amazing to witness the students' responses. Class IV always claps after I finish reading a chapter. Class V laughs a lot when I get to the funny parts of the chapter. And, Class VI begs to be read to if they think I'm not going to do it that day. Every time we reach then end of a chapter and I close the book, each one of them has this look on their face that says "don't stop!! Keep going!! I want to know what happens next!!" It warms my heart and gives me so much joy to expose these kids to the wonders of reading. I hope this, along with the Hooked on Phonics activities they're doing with Kjirstin will help the students see reading in a new light.

Other than school, there have been a lot of other activities going on this past week. On Wednesday, Kjirstin and I me a missionary friend of mine in town for dinner because she wanted to meet Kjirstin. On Thursday, Baba Sesi and his wife had invited us over for dinner. It was really fun and we especially had fun playing with the children. It’s so funny how kids don’t care if you can speak their language or not. All the want to do is play and laugh, and that in and of itself, is a language that is enough for them! On Friday night we went to town again for a goodbye dinner at Dragonaire’s. Some friends that I met through volleyball were heading back to their home countries and so they wanted to say goodbye to everyone. It was a bit of a feat trying to arrange the taxi rides, daladala ride, etc. But, everything worked out well in the end. It was kind of nice to go out on a weekend night, something I haven’t done here just because it’s so involved. But, it was nice to have an excuse to get out! On Saturday, there was no Frisbee because so many people were out of town. Thus, I got to do some laundry (there are certain articles of clothing I would rather wash myself), work on graduate school applications, do some cleaning and organizing, and various other things. It was really a blessing to have the extra time and I’m feeling very accomplished and caught up right now!! :D

Well, I think that is all for now!

May the Lord Bless You and Keep You,

~Christine

How to Barter for Food and Pictures of the New House!

Honestly, I think this has been the first truly normal week of school I've had since I've returned to Morogoro. By that, I mean that there were no interruptions to the normal school schedule, I didn't go anywhere, and we didn't have any visitors. It was kind of nice to get back into the routine again! Things have still changed since the move, but they're more permanent changes. Now that we have our own house, Kjirstin and I are sharing the cost for rent (which altogether is surprisingly cheaper than it was for me to have my own room at the pastor's house). Thus, the cost for rent is pretty cheap for us. But, we are now sharing the cost to employ a guard. Also, I found out a lady from our church who is a single mother did not have a job. I asked her if she would want to come over and clean a couple days a week and help us with our laundry. I found out that she had been doing the same kind of work for Matt while he was here. Although I know that we could do all of these things ourselves, I feel good that we are able to provide her with a job so that she can support her family. Altogether, these cost changes do not affect the overall cost per month for me to live here!! I was simply amazed by this!!

Another recent change is that the new missionary and I are doing breakfasts and lunches on our own from now on. We felt it would be too complicated for us to constantly be running back and forth between our house and the pastor's house. Also, the new school schedule (yes it has changed again, for like the 4th time this school year!!) is that we go from 7:40am-2:40pm with only one 40 minute break, but no lunch. It's awful!! I have been feeling terrible by the end of the day and I can only imagine how these growing children feel by the time they leave school. Apparently, not enough parents were paying for the school lunches, so they had to take it out. Well, I decided that this was not good for us to continue like this, so I decided that we could do sack lunches. So far, it's been working out fantastically. I'm sure I'll get tired of pb and j sandwiches, but for now I'm loving it! I've been stretching my boundaries a bit and I'm trying to get into the market scene. So far, I think I've been relatively successful and bartering for my fruits and vegetables, but I think I still have a ways to go with it all. I hope that through trial and error, I'll soon be able to figure out what good prices are for various things. But right now, I'm just trying to figure out how exactly to go about all of this. So far it's been a really fun experience! I got a whole hand of bananas (somewhere around 12-15 or so) for less than $1!! I've also bought some grapes (but, I don't think that I got such a good deal on them) and various vegetables, which were reasonably priced. In a way it's like playing a game, only, this time I'm using real money in real life.

In other recent news, one of my students at school was in an accident this past week. On her way home, she was crossing the major road and got hit by a pikipiki (motorcycle). Basically, the guy hit her and then just drove off. I guess I understand why he would be afraid to stick around seeing as he would have to pay for the medical expenses and have to deal with all of that. But, for me, it seems so inhuman and just plain wrong to hit a child and drive off. Luckily, a father who had just picked up his child at the school in his car saw her laying by the road, crying on the way home. He picked her up and brought her to the hospital. There, it was determined that she had a broken collar bone and would have to go to a hospital near DAR where they specialize in bones. She was taken there on Friday and underwent surgery. I heard that the surgery went well, but I have not heard if she has gotten to return home yet. Please pray for her and her family. Also, please pray for the safety of my other students. As I have mentioned in previous post, many of them walk far distances to go home, though many are able to take public transportation at least some of the way. In any case, I hope that this will be a good lesson for the other students to be more careful when going and coming from school.

May the Lord Bless You and Keep You,
~Christine

Well, in closing, I will leave you with some pictures of the new home!! Enjoy!! :D

Our kitchen. Unfortunately, the stove is super old and broken down, so we can't use it. But the mini-fridge and sink work, so we can do quite a bit with that! :D

The living room!!

Yes, the bathroom sink is in the living room. We bought the nifty shelf for about $12 which functions great to keep all of our bathroom stuff!!

The keyboard!

The bathroom! I promise it doesn't look this messy anymore! :D

My bedroom. The perfect size for me and my few things.

I got to keep my shelves from the pastor's house! :D