Cultural Exchange Through Cooking and Hiking

On Sunday the 22nd, I went hiking with that fellow student in addition to that saying about heart (see a previous post) we talked about listening, respect and tolerance. We were talking about this in regards to the student debate club. The guy was saying that he watched CNN and he was amazed that when they debate that they actually wait for one another to talk before talking (well they do to some effect). At the debate club at school the students try to rile up the debater by interrupting him/her before he/she finishes. This is because in secondary school they did this to have fun, but he thinks in their culture people like to put one another down when arguing to say that their point is right. I told him though in order to be effective at debate, you need to listen to the other person in order to prove their points wrong (you can do this once you know their reasoning behind their points) and in order to come up with a solution or compromise. So we both agreed that respecting and tolerating someone's opinion by listening and not just saying you are right without reason is the best way to become better at debating. And that got us on a different topic of cultural exchange when it comes to being on time as many students aren't on time for these debates. As a different student keeps telling me "There is no hurry in Tanzania". Tanzanians aren't punctual in general but those in the States are. So if someone was doing business with the States they should know that one should be on time. But at the same time an American should be tolerant of Tanzanians when they show up half an hour to an hour late.

On Saturday the 21st I had the students that I run with at my house in order to teach them to cook "American" food. We made egg noodles (from scratch) with pasta sauce, garlic bread, and peanut butter cookies. I showed them oregano and basil and they died and went to heaven when they bit into peanut butter cookies... We also talked, danced, sang, and I got to know them better. I am trying to get the token guy student that runs with us interested in cooking so far he tells me that I should teach him how to make peanut butter cookies. I plan on teaching them to make pizza next! :)