Beginning my second week
in Mbauda, Tanzania which the name of our village outside Arusha. I’ve walked around most of my village and
Arusha, however I still haven’t found the “touristy” part because I haven’t
seen one restaurant or hotel mentioned in my guidebook or any other “mzunga”
a/k/a “white person.” All the little
kids on the street yell mzunga at us all day long.
Thought I was going to be in an orphanage but I’ve been placed at
Shephard Junior School which is in Moivaro and have been observing a level 3
class the past week. I’ll be getting my
first assignments to prepare tomorrow, not that I’ve ever taught a day in my
life before so wish me luck! It’s actually
a pretty well off school compared to most others however the kids still share
books and have to copy homework questions off the board every night. They also sharpen pencils with razor blades,
yikes! I was surprised by how
exceptionally well behaved they are although the teachers said even the very
little kids in nursery level understand what a privilege it is to attend the
school. And yes, some of these kids
walk 45 minutes on their own to catch a 25 minute school bus ride to school
everyday. The 3rd graders
have class from 8 AM to 3 PM everyday, levels 4 and 6 have class until 5 PM as
they are preparing for national exams, they also attend class on Saturdays for
4 hours.
Last weekend was my first
weekend here. Saturday Marisa (super
nice girl I live with from Boston) walked up to the cultural center and toured
the galleries and bought bracelets. When
we were walking around after talking to some of the workers (well, greeting for
the most part) in Swahili the owner of the shop came up to us and asked us if
we were local. We told him we’d be
around for a couple months and he told us to come back and he would give us 30%
back for the “local discount.”
Nice. Then we got invited and put
on a list for the Arts Fest the next day which was fun. Mostly singing and dancing and food. We also went up to Shanga House which is a
shop where deaf and mute woman work making jewelry. We had an excellent lunch there with champagne,
fresh juice and about 4 courses and a bottle of wine for about $15 each. The place is really beautiful and hopefully
someday I’ll be able to post pictures!
That’s it for now,
settling in and getting used to everything.
It gets dark really early now because it’s the winter and the
electricity and lights are super dim. It’s
hard to read and write after about 7 PM.
We have a TV and Mama Zubeyda and her family are obsessed with watching
Brazilian soap operas, the favorite is “Shades of Sin” and American music
videos, no clue where the DVD’s come from though.
Hope all is well! Take care, Catherine
