Settling into teaching....

The last week of teaching in Moshi has been really great. After a fairly awkward first day, I got much more comfortable with instructing. My lesson this week has been all around vocab words about professions. I had intended to teach this lesson in a day or two and move on, but it has really turned into an opportunity to expand. The first day, I taught them about ten words that were in their books, words like mechanic, tailor, butcher, grocer, etc., and gave them the definition of each. For homework that night, I told them to each try and think of a job or two that we didn't discuss, and the English definition. It's really fun teaching two classes, and seeing the differences in the things the kids come up with. The third class, we expanded on the jobs, and talked about where each person would work, so for example, we defined 'mechanic' as a person who fixes you car or lorry. So I asked the kids where I would go to find a mechanic, or a pilot, and so on, and this way they learned words like garage and airplane, and linked them to the jobs. For my last class, I thought I would get a little tricky, and I listed all of the jobs on the board, and told them that we were going to go through the jobs, one at a time, and I wanted them to tell me which jobs were for girls, and which jobs were for boys. For the last 15 minutes of class, once we got through the entire list, and all their answers were on the chalkboard, I explained to them that it had been a trick question. I told tham that ALL of the jobs were for boys AND girls. This started a very interesting discussion in which some of the old world customs of African sexism became apparent, and I hope that I helped the students see differently. Many of the girls seemed very excited to hear that they could be carpenters or pilots, and the boys seemed a bit puzzled to think of themselves as nurses. But I think that they were thinking. Another highlight of my week came on Thursday. Thanks, in part, to THE Mission, a water pump was purchased for the girl's school in Same that was without water, and I asked to come along to deliver and install it. We left very early in the morning to travel around Moshi to pick up the engineer and his team of laborers. At one point, we were way on the outskirts of town, and driving on a horribly bumpy dirt road by an old, broken down Pepsi plant. The plant was surrounded by a huge wall made of cinderblock-like bricks, like most properties are here in Africa. But these bricks were different, upon closer inspection, I noticed that every brick had the imprint of a swastika on it. Turns out that this plant, like much of the industry here in Tanzania, used to be owned by the Germans. I have never really seen swastikas so blatantly displayed before, and I was even more surprised to find out that no one in the car knew what they meant! The trip to Same was very long, they had planned on a two hour installation. Luckily, I brought a book, because after eight hours, the end was in sight, and we all stood around the well, anxiously waiting. Loud cheers were let out at hour 9, when water GUSHED out of the top of the pipe from the well. It was a pretty exciting moment, you would think that we had struck oil! I also had fun walking around the campus that day, meeting all of the students. The teenage girls in Tanzania love me, go figure :-). Another scene that stood out this week was when I was walking to work one day, I noticed about 8 kids kneeling outside of their classroom with their hands in the air. Come to find out, this is a form of corporal punishment. Although physical punishments are routine here in Africa, I have never actually witnessed anything like it, and it was pretty disturbing to see children forced to kneel on cement to induce pain. I found it interesting, when the teacher was explaining to me what was going on, he informed me where the stick for hitting the kids was kept, and encouraged me to use it. No thanks! Other than that, the week has been fairly quiet. I'm settling into a routine here, as I'm pretty much on my own. Teaching only takes up a few hours every day, so I've gotten pretty comfortable riding the dala dala into town. Being that there is so much down time, I've also finally gotten back into reading. I finished the book, Half The Sky, and would recommend that everyone go out and get a copy and read it. I was really inspired by what I read, and I know that coupled with the experience that I am having here in Africa, that this is just the beginning for me. I'm interested in exploring doing work fundraising when I get home, or maybe even starting my own NGO. Also, after much stress and aggravation, it looks as though my trip to Rwanda has come together, thanks in large part to help from my mother. It is very difficult to coordinate a trip in a country that has unreliable internet, and doesn't accept credit cards. I'm a little nervous about the legitimacy of the tour operator that I found in Kigali, but at this point, I'm just trying to have faith. As far as I know, I am booked on a flight from Kilimanjaro Airport to Kigali on Tuesday morning. Then, after a couple of days in the capital, I will be brought to Volcanoes National Park, where I will get to spend an hour with the mountain gorillas. I REALLY hope it all works out, as this has been a lifelong dream. I just couldn't go home without doing it. Oh, almost forgot. When I stayed in Old Moshi with my friend Tino's family, I met his sister Rose. She is a student at KCMC, a big government hospital here. Wednesday afternoon, I met her at KCMC, and we spent the early evening at her house with her son, and her husband's sister. Her English is very good, so it was a lot of fun to sit with her, eat a traditional ugali meal, and talk about the differences between Tanzania and the United States. It still amuses me so much that things that are so routine to us are shocking to people here in Tanzania. She couldn't believe that buses in America have enough room on the seats that you aren't touching the person next to you. She was even more shocked that people would have a problem with it if you did touch them! She was also in disbelief that we have had problems with kids and guns, especially in the schools. After a long chat and dinner, we headed into town with Paul, her 2 year old, and met her husband. It was a nice afternoon and evening. As time goes on, I feel more and more comfortable here. I can't believe that I'll be leaving Africa in two weeks....