Usiwe na wasiwasi, Tutashinda!

GUESS WHAT!!??!! The world is not coming to an end. Not at least until January 6^th 2013. You ask how I know, do you? Well consider this: The Sam Houston State Bearkats are headed back to the FCS National Championship to seek revenge on the North Dakota State whoevers*. The game is slated to be played on January 5^th, so the Mayans forgot about that little tidbit when they decided to end their calendar prematurely. Once we win, bring on the fiery inferno of balls of flaming fire and feisty bison that want nothing more than to eat you for dinner because they are cold weather animals and the earth’s temperature is rising dramatically as the world is ending!! Wait, did I just say “bison”? Indeed, they are called the North Dakota State Bison. Whatever, it doesn’t matter anyway. By January 6^th 2013 they will have lost and the world will be over and we will all die happy Bearkats.

Now, onto more pressing issues like a blog post that I have been meaning to write for some time. I apologize for the lengthy delay, but a lot of exciting things have happened in my Peace Corps life. Firstly, there was Thanksgiving with great friends. You probably think that I had an amazing Thanksgiving filled with a cornucopia of AMAZING food in an amazing house with an oven, stove, western toilet, tile floors, microwave, hot showers, and fresh baked bread. If this is the case, then you are exactly right. The only problem with any of that was the bad flour that I used to bake the bread. Pole sana marafiki zangu (very sorry my friends), the bread didn’t turn out well despite having all of those modern appliances at my disposal. I should have just trusted my intuition and thrown that flour out! It’s a good thing the thanks-givers weren’t relying on that bread for dinner. Yes, that truly was an amazing Thanksgiving. Phenomenal, really. Before coming to Tanzania I just wouldn’t have imagined such a celebration, but it was THAT awesome. To top it all off, I can now say that I have also had dinner next to the largest lake in all of Africa at one of the fanciest tourist restaurants I have been to in this country. To digress just a bit, this is one of the coolest, yet possibly overlooked, parts of Peace Corps. I am here in this country where I can experience it in a way different from almost every other person in the world. Here’s what I mean: I can live the high life at the ritzy tourist places (like a nice Tepanyaki/Hibachi Grill, see below) OR wander into a small one- room house where an extremely poor family who speaks no English lives in the middle of the village and enjoy myself just the same. Tourists don’t get to do that. 99.9% of Tanzanians don’t get to do that. For that reason alone, Peace Corps is an incredible opportunity. They give you the tools and ability to experience this country is such a unique way, as a well-educated Tanzanian would. 

Now, back to the story; Thanksgiving ended well and I traveled to Morogoro for In Service Training (IST) with my classmates (people I came to Tanzania with).  IST was great and I learned so much about the opportunities available to me in Peace Corps, in terms of secondary projects I can do in my community. Most of these opportunities have to with HIV/AIDS and malaria prevention and awareness. One such program is called Zinduka, which is the Swahili word meaning something like “awaken suddenly”. This program uses soccer to teach kids about HIV/AIDS and Malaria, while also giving them an after-school activity to become involved in, where they otherwise might be idle after school has ended. If you want to learn more about this program, you can google “grassroots soccer program” and you should find plenty, as well as the website by the founders of this program. Zinduka basically took the grassroots soccer program concept and adapted it for Tanzania, while also giving it a Swahili name. I have applied to take part in the program and can report to you how it goes if I am selected to become a Zinduka coach! If I am selected, I will have to go to a 5 day training workshop before I can start the program at my school. Also at IST, we tended to some technical stuff that we have to be aware of as Peace Corps Volunteers. For example, how to monitor and evaluate projects to ensure their success, professionalism in our work and proceedings, how to apply for grants for school libraries, boys and girls conferences, etc., how to carry out permagardening at our sites with local materials, and how to report what we are doing at site. The reporting is very important so YOU can know how YOUR tax dollars are being spent over here in Tanzania. Of course, we have to show that we are actually taking measures to try and affect positive change in our communities. It’s our way of telling our story to the U.S. government.

Half way through IST, we continued the PCV tradition of IST Prom. It was so great! I am certain I had more fun there than I did at my senior prom. We had great food, drinks, music, lots of awesome dancing, AND I was crowned prom court jester! Apparently my classmates think I am funny. At least funny looking. Following my crowning, I had the dance floor to myself, where I performed my best rendition of Gangnam Style. If you don’t know it, YouTube it. It was truly magical. I don’t think anyone got it on film, so it will only exist in my imagination. It’s probably better that way, anyway.

I was elected Prom Court Jester!

Hands off my pizza!!!

From there, IST carried on and ended bila tatizo (without complication/trouble), at which point I traveled to quite possibly my favorite area of Tanzania, the Southern Highlands. The weather is so great here, elevation is high, mountains dominate the landscape, and running is great here! This is really important for me, as I am officially training again as a runner. I will go run the Kilimanjaro half marathon next March, with the goal of becoming the first non-African finisher in the race. In other words, if you’re confused, I want to beat all of the other white people in the race. Last time I told someone I wanted to become the first non-African finisher, they told me that was very ambiguous insinuating that no other non-Africans had ever finished the race, so I wanted to clear that up for you too. Anyways, it hasn’t been so bad getting used to running again since I was pretty fit after finishing the Insanity program during the first few months at my site. It was absolutely difficult, but I finished it and got a little stronger and more flexible in the process. The half-marathon will be March 3, so I still have some time, but I can’t waste anymore in my preparation! Also during my escapade down south, I had the distinct opportunity of watching MY SHSU Bearkats eat up the Eastern Washington Eagles from my hotel room! I guess it’s possible I was the only person in Tanzania, maybe on the entire continent watching the game. What a cool thought! Sure the game got a little scary towards the end, but it was more than worth staying up until after 4a.m. local time to watch. I WAS SO EXCITED!!! I can’t wait until everything goes down on January 5^th! You better believe I will be watching that one.

From here, I will be celebrating Christmas with friends, travelling a little more for the new year, and then heading back up to my site before school opens again next month. All told, it has been a great last couple of months, here in Tanzania, as this new blog suggests. My Kiswahili (by the way, “Kiswahili” is the Swahili word for “Swahili”) has improved even more, and in fact, I love finding myself in situations with Tanzanians that speak absolutely no English. This is a pretty common occurrence if you wander into the village or off of main roads into small mgahawas (food places) where the mama cooking only knows Kiswahili and her tribal tongue. It is the best way to practice the Swahili that you know, as I am sure you can imagine. Plus I see it as a celebration of the work I have put in to learn the language, so it is a fun way to see my personal progress. To my close friends reading this, you know who you are; you are so welcome to join me in Tanzania before August 2014 to come experience the Tanzania that I now call home! We would experience Tanzania as both a Tanzanian would, as well as how a tourist might. It’s the best of both worlds! I know that is a significant challenge given the financial commitment, but I just want you to understand you are more than invited if it were at all possible for you to come here. If you are, talk to me and I’ll help you out with what you need to do to make it happen. One thing to bear in mind is that once you get here, everything is super cheap by American standards. Getting here is the issue. For now, I am going to wind up but know that everything is going great for me, and as more things develop with my Peace Corps service, I will keep you updated! Take care my friends and I wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year with your family. Tutaongeana tena na usiogope kunipigia simu au nizungumzie katika skype. We will talk to each other again and don’t be afraid to call me on the phone or converse with me on skype. Baadaye! Later!

*I thought about looking up the name of their mascot, but I thought that calling them the “whoevers” was more appropriate since it really doesn’t matter, because we are going to win this year, anyway. Then I remembered the name of the mascot was “Bison” and it made my alliteration a little funnier, at least in my opinion.