Welcome to my Africa Travel Blog

Yesterday was the start of a new school week. I had a hard time getting up; I felt super tired and wanted to go back to bed. I think it was the first time I’ve done this, but I set another alarm and slept 20 more minutes. Unfortunately I woke up groggier than before. Once I got up and moving I was fine, though, and once at school things got moving quick so I didn’t have a chance to feel sleepy.

My task for the day was to help finish marking the exams and input them into a grade book, but the whole process was messy. Teachers who didn’t show up on Saturday had to mark their portion of exams during class time, but they also had pupils to teach. I helped a couple teachers with marking, but I could only do so much. It felt like the first day of school scramble all over again, not to mention organizing a new “riveting results” English class.

I was meant to be sitting in this room most of the day marking exams, but thankfully the process was disorganized and I got to practice some music with Ezekia. We practiced “Happy Birthday,” “Tanzania National Anthem,” and some basic music theory. I’m really enjoying working with Ezekia because he seems to have some free time while at the school and he’s teaching me a lot during it. I did wind up moving back and forth between marking and music as some teachers finished and I could input the grades. Not everyone finished, however, so today will be more of the same.

After school I went on the bus route again. I really like seeing the area that surrounds where I’m living. The wealth gap is very interesting to observe. There are some shacks that are no more than 100 square feet made of branches, mud, sticks and corrugated tin roofing (used as walls, roofing, or both). The next piece of land may be the same, a piece of farm land—grazing pasture or crop fields, or a beautifully large house with all the modern amenities and a security wall with electric wiring. The bus route takes me through so many areas I wouldn’t otherwise see, and I’m glad I get to do so. After dropping all the kids off I went back to school with Abby (a teacher isn’t a daughter of Lucas, but is called sister and lives with the family) to do a bit more work. By the time we were leaving school it was 6 and a big storm had rolled in.

We waited for a while hoping it would let up, but someone at some point decided to go for it and we jogged home—very lightly and gingerly, it wasn’t much of a run. The thunder was so loud and constant it was actually a bit scary. Lightning was striking everywhere; what light was lost by the near-black clouds blocking out the sun was made up for by the bright flashes of lightning all around us. I was happy to see some stormy rain, but next time I’d prefer to be inside.

Last night I practiced guitar for a while so I’d be able to teach the kids “Happy Birthday” today. Jovin was incessantly begging to play which was a bit funny at first, but it got annoying after some time. For dinner we had one of my favorite meals which is a green—unripe—banana, some boiled potatoes, a meat of choice, and some veggies. Overall it was a long day, but after waking up really tired I was happy to be kept busy and active.

I went back to church yesterday. It wasn’t as exciting or impressive as I remembered; I think the novelty has worn off. It felt like a waste of time, especially because I couldn’t understand anything being said. The rest of the day was very mellow, everybody was doing chores and intermittently resting.

John, Lucas’ oldest son, left yesterday for college in Nairobi! This will be his first time living away from home and it made me reminiscent about three and a half years ago when I was doing the same thing. Lucas and Sylvia (John’s older sister) both drove 4 hours to send him off and get him to school and will be away for a couple days. Once they left around 1, the house got really quiet. We all did some chores and not much more. I played some soccer with Jovin, but overall it was a pretty relaxed and boring day. I had been wishing for a day like this, but I found myself feeling unenthusiastic and a bit down. Maybe these super long and busy days are something I need to be grateful for.

After dinner I played some uno with Jovin and Rebecca. I was very tired and wanted to go to bed, but I felt bad saying no to their pleas. I finished my first book, Brave New World, and now I’m struggling to decide what to read next. I’m glad I brought these books because I’m finding myself with a lot more alone time than I expected.

Aye aye aye. Yesterday was a long day. I knew I was going to school to mark papers and input them into the grade book, but I didn’t know how long it would take. I woke up early, willing to go walking, because I thought it would be a relaxing day. Got back, did laundry (which includes hanging it to air dry, but I am lucky enough to have a washing machine), had breakfast, then left for school around 8:30. I rode on a motorcycle to school with two others—I think the capacity is only one—which felt fine until a bump came and it seemed as if the back fender was going to touch the ground.

Once at school we got to marking right at 9:00 and didn’t take a break until nearly 1:00 for lunch (kept grading during eating, even), continued marking until 5:00 pm and… still didn’t finish! I wound up volunteering to help set up the computer room for this coming week which held me another hour. And even with all of that, there is more marking and grade inputting to be done as well as computer set up. A slow, energy depleted, walk home turned a 10 minute journey into a 30 minute snail race. So in all I was away from home from 8:30 until 6:30. When Pius, the head teacher, asked me to come saying it would be from 9 to 12 I happily agreed. Had I have actually used my brain and imagined the impossibility of marking 5 different subject tests taken by 900ish students in 3 hours I would have chosen to go to town with the family. However, I did have an amazing time hanging out with the other teachers in a very hot, makeshift grading set up.

Another walk this morning. And on a Saturday! I thought I might sleep in, but no, I got to breathe some fresh air and see the sunrise! Yesterday was similar to Thursday: more exams, and I stayed after school for a while extra. It was a long day. I went with the morning bus route; I left home around 6:30 to walk to school so I could leave with the bus to pick up students. We got back to school around 8:00. Some of the terrain the driver had to navigate was quite treacherous and sketchy, I could have never done it (aside from the bus being manual).

Once arriving at school with 30 or so kids, the parade had begun—so we hurried to join in. After that, more of passing out exams and sitting to proctor. I was with a different class and they were well behaved, not attempting to cheat and staying fairly quiet. The young ones seem to be oblivious enough to try and cheat while the old ones are either smart enough to not be caught or they simply don’t cheat.

The day ended with exams and students rushed to the busses, excited for the weekend. Right as everyone thought they were going home one baby student, who refused to speak, couldn’t find his bus, and none of the drivers put claim on him, so we held the busses for 10 minutes and eventually found his brother to settle the issue.

I stayed at school for a while to practice guitar for next week. Ezekia has been teaching me what I need to learn for teaching the kids. I’ve missed playing guitar and it’s nice to have one available again. I walked home alone and it was nice to go slow and look around the neighborhood. A couple kids ran up to me and gave me hugs; I think seeing a white person is rare and exciting for them.

Two weeks away from home already?!?! The shine hasn’t worn off yet. I wake up a bit confused about my environment everyday, still, but I once I realize where I am I become so happy and grateful. Yesterday was full and fun. The kids have “opening exams”, or baseline tests that serve as a yardstick for progress, at the start of every year. Yesterday was the first of two test days (today being the second). It was fairly easy, I passed out exams and then sat in a room proctoring—making sure the kids weren’t cheating or being disruptive.

It was hilarious watching the kids take the tests (yes, multiple, they had 3 different subject tests, each one and a half hours). They have such innovative but idiotic strategies to try and cheat. Many don’t care to be covert and simply turn to ask their friend for the answer. Others are a bit more sly, sliding little notes along with answers. What’s funny, though, is that most kids are doing poorly on the test from what I’ve seen. The blind are leading the blind.

We decided to let the kids have a little playground/recess time after breakfast and lunch to get a bit of energy out so they would be a bit more settled for the next exams. We played some duck-duck-goose, Mr. Lion, and a ring-around-the-rosy type game. The kids were very interested in me, especially my hair; they kept feeling my hands and skin saying “woooowww” and running their fingers through my hair.

This morning I went on another walk with Lucas.

Back home mom always wanted me to join her on her morning walk around 5:00 am and I always said there was no way I could do it. Now, I’m really enjoying starting my day off early with some fresh air and exercise. My legs are a bit sore after walking 4ish miles, so it’s probably a sign I need to do it a bit more.

We came across a hedgehog at the beginning of the walk. I was so surprised and confused to see it because I thought it was just a rare pet that some people have. I never connected the dots that these things actually exist in the wild; Lucas said there are many of them, but they are fairly elusive due to nocturnal habits.

This is the “trail” we walk on. It’s supposed to be a road that leads up to a couple government buildings and projects, but I’ve seen more people than cars on it so far. Lucas was saying once we get to this part of the walk it’s a bit scary because there might be hyenas or mountain lions lurking around the bush.

This is the sort of breakfast I have every day. This morning is a crepe with some green onion and then fried bananas. I have a glass of homemade juice with almost every meal I eat at home.

Yesterday was a fun day. I sat in on grade 1 classes. So far I like this age the most, they’re somewhat respectful and just young enough where the disruptions are harmless and innocent. I almost missed my bus home with Jovin and Rebecca, I had to run to keep it from leaving me (even though it’s only a 10ish minute walk home). Jovin was getting a little testy yesterday because today and Friday are baseline exams. I was supposed to have him do revisions (just what they call studying) but he wasn’t having anything to do with it. He really wanted to play soccer, but I said I wouldn’t play with him until he finished his studying. In the end we didn’t play soccer nor did we do any studying. Today will be fun proctoring the exams and seeing what level the kids are at!

I went walking yesterday morning with Lucas. We walked through the neighborhood where he lives—the roads are undeveloped and many of the houses are rickety shacks—up to a nearby hill where a new Tanzania Human Rights Court is being built. The views were beautiful as the sun was rising; the top overlooked many different neighborhoods and areas I hadn’t seen before.

I taught my first lessons yesterday. I was supposed to be observing second grade classes, but when I arrived there was no teacher. The other grade two teachers handed me a lesson notebook and told me to get to work. It didn’t go great, the kids were unruly and I had a tough time getting them to settle down, but learning is a process! I also worked again with kids learning the guitar. I’m going to teach them a couple songs by March (when they have to do a performance for the school), but that is only if I can learn the songs as well.

Yesterday we got another flower delivery.

25 new flowers/plants arrived yesterday afternoon for us to pot. It’s really simple to take care of them and it’s inspiring me. It’s making me want to have a house filled with beautiful flowers and plants. I asked Edith how many plants she thinks they might have here and she said at least 1000 pots laying around with some type of flower or plant in it, not counting the garden or large trees/bushes.

I had a really interesting conversation yesterday about technology and social media. Another teacher was saying that within the population of kids that he sees, many are losing Tanzanian morals and not respecting cultural traditions like they should be due to being online and having global access to information. He said all this as if it was a negative influence rather than a positive learning experience and I’m not sure how I feel about that. As a teacher you should be propelling your kids rather than telling them to remain stagnant.

Time is beginning to fly. Yesterday at school felt like 1 hour rather than 8. I sat in on more classes, the head teacher is emphasizing I must see every class before I start teaching and what not. So by the end of this week I should be done with sitting in on each class and should be teaching early next week.

The weather is starting to change a little bit. It’s still mid 80s during the day and high 50s at night, but some storms are starting to roll through. Yesterday right when it was time to leave school, thunder started to clap down and rain followed. The storm only lasted about 30 minutes, but it was refreshing to see some rain! I’d recommend looking in your weather app at Arusha, TZ. I suspect it will make a few people jealous.

With the rain and school kicking off, I haven’t been playing as much with Jovin. Now I tend to be more of a personal tutor for him and Rebecca. I also have my own lessons to complete each day. I’m trying to learn 5 new Swahili words a day with the help of anyone and everyone around me.

Overall, it was a great Monday and I’m very excited for this week! I woke up energized yesterday and happy to be going back to school, something I have never been able to say before!

I thought I was going to sleep in yesterday, but I was woken up for a spontaneous trip to church around 6:30. I couldn’t understand a single word, but it was a fun experience. I don’t know if all church’s are like this, but there were two mandatory donations and near the end of service the Pastor came around and was very pushy about donating more, calling many people out. I think I’ll keep going back with the family and hopefully I will understand a little bit more Swahili each time. After church we drove around a bit, Lucas showed off a new site he recently purchased to build a secondary school at. We went by another new site he bought to build a larger and better office/workshop at for his safari business. Then we went to his sister’s home to collect a few chicken for dinner.

(I’ll spare the in between stage)

Once home from church we got going on some chores. I had to do some laundry and unfortunately the dryer feature on their two-in-one washer/dryer was broken so I had to air dry all my clothes. Next we all did some house cleaning, I helped with doing some dishes from the previous day. They don’t have a dish washer so everything is by hand (there are a lot of plates and pots and pans every time 9 people eat). After dishes I read for a while until helping Jovin with his math homework. Then dinner and bed. Apart from yesterday being a calm day, I got to sleep in an extra 30 minutes this morning! Great start to a great week!

Yesterday the whole family went to Tarangire National Park where Lucas is currently setting up a camp. It was very interesting to learn about how it works (leasing land and hosting safaris in a national park, that is). The site he is building is meant to be ready in 3 months, he already has customers booked for late April, and there are about 10 guys living there and working every day.

The park is about 2 hours away from home and the camp is another 30 minutes into the park. One of Lucas’ guides, Ally, drove us there and gave us a wonderful guided tour through some of the park. One the way, we stopped in a small town just outside the entrance to get a bite of breakfast. The restaurants are very small and it’s a quick ordeal. It’s not a dining service, the goal is more you get your food, you eat and you leave.

Today I’m going to leave the narration brief, but here are lots of photos!

A fun fact about non predatory animals is that each one has a specific height that they eat from, so there isn’t much competition between the species. For example, giraffes reach up to 18 feet and eat mainly from that level, so any other animal that simply wants to graze can come near the giraffe without disturbing it. I was surprised by how common it was to see all of the animals congregated in one area.