First Day at Placement
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I know I said last entry I wouldn't be posting every day, and that was yesterday, but today was once again a whole lot of new.
Breakfast was delicious - they make the most amazing pancakes, these little tiny sweet things. And there were eggs and bread and pineapple jam and fruit and all sorts of yummy things. The food here is incredible in general - I get excited every time I hear the bell ring for a meal. Lots of authentic African dishes, but with the occasional home comfort (like the scrambled eggs). Although, it's hard to tell what's authentic and what isn't sometimes. Well, what I mean is, it's hard to tell if familiar foods are also commonly cooked in Tanzania or not. In any case, it's always delicious.
My malaria pill gave me loads of trouble this morning - I guess I didn't eat enough (the breakfast I described was actually yesterday's - I just had bread this morning). I almost lost it in the van ride to the placements - the roads here are unbelievable. There is one paved main road, and the rest are deeply rutted dirt paths that we basically bumble over at 2 km/hr, which for an upset stomach was a nightmare. I muscled through it though.
I had such an amazing time at my placement! I have one other volunteer with me, Jessica. We thought we were just going in to observe mostly today. The teacher had them recite basically everything they knew (which was a lot - numbers 1-100, colors, she gave us the picture flash cards of animals to go over, parts of the body...a lot of stuff. Then she just sat back and we were in the front of the class and it was a sink or swim kind of deal. So, we swam. We learned more body parts, we worked more on writing numbers (they have a lot of trouble with writing), we gave them paper to just color and have fun with, sang songs like twinkle twinkle little star...come to think of it, we really did a lot. Mostly just to see where they are. I think we're going to have a lot to teach them in the next 3 weeks.
Their break was my favorite part. Lily held our hands, kids played tag with us and laughed with us, we played a jumping game, it was so amazing. they all wanted to play with our skirts (which we both bought the other day - we wore our authentic Tanzanian batiks to our placement). There was a poor little kitten we had to yell, "Hapana! Hapana!" (No! No!) for them to stop (it had a rope tied to its neck and they were twirling it around), but for some reason the kitten still stuck around.
I will elaborate more on this later, there are people waiting to use the computer. I am so excited for the next 3 weeks though!
p.s. My weekend trips are all set up! This weekend I'm going on safari, and next weekend I'm taking a trip to some beaches in Kenya. I won't elaborate on them until they happen, but they are going to blow your mind, no joke. And my last weekend (I have 2 free days before my flight leaves) I will just spend in the town of Moshi, maybe talking to some locals and doing most of my shopping.
Kwa heri!
I know I said last entry I wouldn't be posting every day, and that was yesterday, but today was once again a whole lot of new.
Breakfast was delicious - they make the most amazing pancakes, these little tiny sweet things. And there were eggs and bread and pineapple jam and fruit and all sorts of yummy things. The food here is incredible in general - I get excited every time I hear the bell ring for a meal. Lots of authentic African dishes, but with the occasional home comfort (like the scrambled eggs). Although, it's hard to tell what's authentic and what isn't sometimes. Well, what I mean is, it's hard to tell if familiar foods are also commonly cooked in Tanzania or not. In any case, it's always delicious.
My malaria pill gave me loads of trouble this morning - I guess I didn't eat enough (the breakfast I described was actually yesterday's - I just had bread this morning). I almost lost it in the van ride to the placements - the roads here are unbelievable. There is one paved main road, and the rest are deeply rutted dirt paths that we basically bumble over at 2 km/hr, which for an upset stomach was a nightmare. I muscled through it though.
I had such an amazing time at my placement! I have one other volunteer with me, Jessica. We thought we were just going in to observe mostly today. The teacher had them recite basically everything they knew (which was a lot - numbers 1-100, colors, she gave us the picture flash cards of animals to go over, parts of the body...a lot of stuff. Then she just sat back and we were in the front of the class and it was a sink or swim kind of deal. So, we swam. We learned more body parts, we worked more on writing numbers (they have a lot of trouble with writing), we gave them paper to just color and have fun with, sang songs like twinkle twinkle little star...come to think of it, we really did a lot. Mostly just to see where they are. I think we're going to have a lot to teach them in the next 3 weeks.
Their break was my favorite part. Lily held our hands, kids played tag with us and laughed with us, we played a jumping game, it was so amazing. they all wanted to play with our skirts (which we both bought the other day - we wore our authentic Tanzanian batiks to our placement). There was a poor little kitten we had to yell, "Hapana! Hapana!" (No! No!) for them to stop (it had a rope tied to its neck and they were twirling it around), but for some reason the kitten still stuck around.
I will elaborate more on this later, there are people waiting to use the computer. I am so excited for the next 3 weeks though!
p.s. My weekend trips are all set up! This weekend I'm going on safari, and next weekend I'm taking a trip to some beaches in Kenya. I won't elaborate on them until they happen, but they are going to blow your mind, no joke. And my last weekend (I have 2 free days before my flight leaves) I will just spend in the town of Moshi, maybe talking to some locals and doing most of my shopping.
Kwa heri!