Just a regular old Wednesday yesterday. I have to say that my favorite part of every day has been the morning and afternoon bus routes with the kiddos. One, it wakes me up really quick, and two, it has taught me a lot. I can really make the kids happy to be boarding the bus if I greet them with lots of energy and excitement, but if I act tired and fed up they feed off of that too. Same thing in the evenings: most kids are tired of school and just want to get home, so it takes a lot of energy and perkiness on my part to snap them out of the grumbly moods.
Work was kind of boring. My favorite part with WFG had definitely been the M&E stuff (data analysis and report writing). That’s led me to neglect a bit of the community health stuff, so now I’m having to get back on track with that and grinding through the boring intern tasks in that realm.
At school I was disappointed when I saw makande as the only item on the lunch menu. I shouldn’t be complaining or picky because I’m being fed for free, but that didn’t stop me (and won’t stop me) from complaining and being picky. Makande is an interesting dish. It’s made with just corn (and sometimes beans) and is like a stew, but more on the watery rather than thick side of things. I think I struggle with it because it’s not the sweet tasting corn, but I know I’m not the only one with this problem because many other teachers load their soupy corn kernels with cane sugar. Anyways, if makande or dagaa are on the menu, I tend to eat only a small lunch, like yesterday.
After school I got home and was ready to relax for a little bit. It was right as I sat down in the couch that I got a call telling me I had left the A/C unit on in my makeshift office. Being the only with a key, I went back to school. I waited nearly 20 minutes for nobody to arrive in order to let me in to the school before giving up and just leaving the key for whoever eventually showed up.
When I got home after that unnecessary and tiring adventure caused entirely by me, I was pleasantly surprised by my buddy Ally. He’s one of Lucas’ “sons” (not actually a son, but he was taken in by the family I think when he was youngish) so that makes us “brothers”. Whether or not we are family, he is still one of the good friends I’ve made while in Arusha. He was just stopping by to say goodbye to me and bid farewell and it made me sad for all the coming goodbyes I will have to endure.
Thankfully last night didn’t have any surprise outings to chicken farms and I got to sleep at a regular hour. Today I’m hoping I’ll be able to get my bus ticket from Arusha to Dar es Salaam (my flight is from there), but with how things go I never can be too sure.