(no subject)
Our house is a disaster zone right now due to all the repairs and reinovations going on right now: No air conditioning. No Kitchen. No upstairs room. Boxes of stuff everywhere. And sweating, horny mexican construction workers singing in spanish, supposedly working to get our house back together.
In lieu of such an unfortunate situation, I have been hiding out in Baton Rouge for the past couple of days visiting Travis and Amy, where I have done nothing but drink Jager and watch 'Flavor of Love'. It has been pretty great.
I had an AMAZING time in Africa. Really, it was great. Highlights include:
-Learning about my students
-Backpacking to Kenya
-the other volunteers
-all day hike down to a waterfall
-going on safari
-visiting a Maasai village
-chatting with the other teachers at my school
-drinking heavily
The headmaster at my school also offered 300 cows for 'my hand in marriage', but I wouldn't call that a highlight as it was just kind of annoying. In Tanzania, marriage is still an important means of social advancement and building connections, and marrying a white woman is a serious 'feather in your cap'. So it was hard for me (and the other female volunteers) to really go anywhere without being hit on. Not that I ever felt threatened or anything like that, but it was annoying and kind of weird especially as in the specific instance with my headmaster, he already had a wife and kids.
People are very friendly in Tanzania and everyone assumes that because you're a white person you are super super rich (and comparatively you are to a certain extent). It is a little bit like being a celebrity I think. Everyone wants to take a picture with you. People give up their seats for you. People let you cut in line. Everyone wants to buy you a drink or have you over for dinner. Everyone wants your contact information.
It is kind of awkward and sometimes kind of like 'polite racism'. And everyone always wants a little bit of money for this or a little bit of help for that or to sell you this. Sometimes it could just be exhausting, especially since you want to be polite and many times you may want to get to know and be friends with the person. It was very difficult to get past the economic differences.
Anyway...
As soon as I got home, I had to head up to Wisconsin for registration and orientation. I loved it. I had never been to Madison before and it completely exceeded my expectations. The campus is really pretty also.
All of my hours from Centenary transferred over without any problems, and as UW gives credit for AP Gov't (Centenary and their maniacal PoliSci department do not) I actually have more hours at UW than I would have had at Centenary. So I am still technically a junior, but I don't know that I will graduate a year early as I don't think I will be able to finish up everything for my major in two years, but it does give me more flexibility and also means I will still probably be able to study abroad.
Anyway, I hope you guys are having a good summer...feel free to drop me a line sometime...
In lieu of such an unfortunate situation, I have been hiding out in Baton Rouge for the past couple of days visiting Travis and Amy, where I have done nothing but drink Jager and watch 'Flavor of Love'. It has been pretty great.
I had an AMAZING time in Africa. Really, it was great. Highlights include:
-Learning about my students
-Backpacking to Kenya
-the other volunteers
-all day hike down to a waterfall
-going on safari
-visiting a Maasai village
-chatting with the other teachers at my school
-drinking heavily
The headmaster at my school also offered 300 cows for 'my hand in marriage', but I wouldn't call that a highlight as it was just kind of annoying. In Tanzania, marriage is still an important means of social advancement and building connections, and marrying a white woman is a serious 'feather in your cap'. So it was hard for me (and the other female volunteers) to really go anywhere without being hit on. Not that I ever felt threatened or anything like that, but it was annoying and kind of weird especially as in the specific instance with my headmaster, he already had a wife and kids.
People are very friendly in Tanzania and everyone assumes that because you're a white person you are super super rich (and comparatively you are to a certain extent). It is a little bit like being a celebrity I think. Everyone wants to take a picture with you. People give up their seats for you. People let you cut in line. Everyone wants to buy you a drink or have you over for dinner. Everyone wants your contact information.
It is kind of awkward and sometimes kind of like 'polite racism'. And everyone always wants a little bit of money for this or a little bit of help for that or to sell you this. Sometimes it could just be exhausting, especially since you want to be polite and many times you may want to get to know and be friends with the person. It was very difficult to get past the economic differences.
Anyway...
As soon as I got home, I had to head up to Wisconsin for registration and orientation. I loved it. I had never been to Madison before and it completely exceeded my expectations. The campus is really pretty also.
All of my hours from Centenary transferred over without any problems, and as UW gives credit for AP Gov't (Centenary and their maniacal PoliSci department do not) I actually have more hours at UW than I would have had at Centenary. So I am still technically a junior, but I don't know that I will graduate a year early as I don't think I will be able to finish up everything for my major in two years, but it does give me more flexibility and also means I will still probably be able to study abroad.
Anyway, I hope you guys are having a good summer...feel free to drop me a line sometime...