I am sorry it has taken me so long to update but things around here have been pretty crazy. From now on I should be better about updating because I finally received my solar panel from my amazing parents!!!! It came just in time because my lovely area of the globe is entering the hot dry season, which for me means that the 45 minute walk down the mountain to warm beer and electricity wont be happening very often because the town relies on hydroelectricity and the electricity is constantly being cut. Getting my solar panel was another story that again involved me having horrible transportation problems. Things would be to simple if the postman were to deliver my packages to me but no instead I must go to him. He of course does not work on the weekends so I had to miss school one day to go to him. On the way there I got to ride on the fancy big charter bus that has started running from my village to Mbeya, but on the way there the bus got three flat tires and we were waiting for three hours before I befriended the conductor, Charles and started walking. An hour later I told Charles the next motorcycle that drives by get them to take me where I want to go I will pay good money. I have really become way to lax when it comes to transportation, getting on the back of random peoples motorcycles in the hopes that they take me where I want to go, but hey its Africa and everyone can be bought for the right price.
In other news when I was walking through a clothing market two weekends ago out of the corner of my eye I spotted what looked like a razorback so of course I immediately bolted towards it and low and behold it was a XXL razorback football jersey with the tags still on it, naturally I bargained with the man and that lovely piece of apparel became mine for the low low price of 8 dollars. I will be wearing it every game day from now one. It is basically like a dress on me but I don’t even care.
At school the big news this week is it is graduation for the form 4s on Friday. Graduation from secondary school is a big deal here because the majority of the kids do not get accepted to go on to further studies. What I did not realize is that it is a production. The whole school is involved. There are raps, skits, songs and dancing. They go all out. Apparently I should have known all of this already because for the past month we have been having staff meetings every Friday but of course the meetings are all in Swahili (even though everyone in the room speaks English) so I take that time to work on my brick breaker score. There is also going to be a feast with anything I could want according to my second headmaster. When I asked if there would be queso and salsa he just looked at me baffled, where upon I informed him that clearly they were not having everything. Graduation is also a day long event it starts at 10 and goes to 4 ish, then my roommate and I have been invited to an after party for one of the girls where there is going to be more food and dancing until whenever the petroli runs out. I am pretty excited for this and cant wait tog et some great videos and pics of the kids to show everyone the first chance I get with good internet, because it is a spectacle.
Lets see the pagan rituals have continued, we went again this past weekend and we learnd that this time there were two different groups drumming adnhtat it was a competition that ended with all these kids charging into the ring. Basically this whole "celebration" as they like to call it revolves around drumming and the groups taking breaks to go out into the banana tree fields to drink pombe (aka home brew, the name of one translates from Swahili to mean lion tears, so you know it must be good) Needless to say it’s a great time to people watch.
this week we have been invited to a send off for one of the student teachers at our school. Again these things involve massive amounts of food and dancing. I already have my outfit picked out because apparently people go all out at these things , and I have to keep up with all the Africans. Nobody wants to be that culturally insensitive mzungu. I will def be providing a detailed description on Saturday when I update with how graduation went.
So here is a list of a few things I have learned since last time
1. Found out that for the past two months we have been drinking typhoid water at multiple people’s houses repeatedly, that was a fun thing to learn, yet it helped to explain many things. I probably now have multiple parasites living in me but hey its Africa.
2. Thought I had some random skin disease (potential leprosy) on my arms because my skin was turning different colors, only to find out that in fact it was not a disease just dead skin cells that were collecting because I take a shower with a bucket. That was fun to learn, and furthers my belief that I really never get clean.
3. Pig fat is a totally acceptable as a dinner course. At the house of the postman of the village (where we have been drinking the typhoid water) they always serve us pig fat but call it meat. These are HUGE chunks of straight fat and we can never tell because it is always super dark by the time we eat. You never know what you’re going to get until you bite into it. I try to keep it off my plate but he always notices and throws huge piece onto my plate.
4. Because I wear knee length skirts I am risquÈ. We were having a talk with the girls last Friday and one of the things they brought up was skirt length for the girls and their uniform and all the sudden one of the teachers was pointing to me and my skirt and repeatedly saying hapana (no), awesome.
5. Kande in Tanzania totes different than candy in America. Kande here is basically a combination of beans and the maize that we feed cows in America. It is not a good combo. I go really excited when the kids told me that for lunch instead of the typical ugali and beans that we were having kande, but nope instead it was food that in America would be fit for the livestock. It was not a good experience (although I did learn that a banana leaf makes a great spoon). Now all the kids laugh at me when I ask wahts for lunch and I say sipendi kande sipendi kande (basically I do not like I do not like)
6. I am obsessed with bongo flava. Look it up, the music videos will crack you up
Until next time
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