Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Mei Mosi

Labour Day was fun! It was great to be part of a celebration and interesting to exchange the fact that in America Labor Day is celebrated in September. They were surprised that not everyone celebrates Labour Day on May 1st. I saw my first fire truck demo and first fire truck for that matter that day. It was from China which prompted me to ask about an emergency 911 type system..they apparently have it but no one knows the number. And that day I was Tanzanian. And even now more and more of my community accepts me as one of theirs. It is funny once a stranger called me mzungu (foreigner) and a fellow TZ said she's not a mzungu she is my friend, or some will say daughter. Nice huh?

Right now we are marking exams, which I tend to get done faster but I think it is because English is my first language so I can read the student's exams quicker and thus mark quicker. And I have started to offer short courses to teach fellow teachers such skills as PowerPoint, Excel and even creating Websites so they can use these tools in their jobs. Some know it already but not well so they are open to the fact to learn these tools and it is the best time for such training as the only students left are bachelor's students and they are very few. Also I invited some students to my house for pizza, most Tanzanians don't like cheese so I put very little on their side of the pizza but that is ok because I like it alot. :) And the nice thing is my previous students that are going for summer internships have been dropping by my home or even texting me to say goodbye..makes me feel loved..as a teacher of course. :) And no I am not an easy teacher..I prefer to be tough..but I think I do put alot of effort into learning and I think the students like that. I hope to see some of them in the States one they..I hope they can get there..it would be awesome!

Currently I am busy planning the Girls conference..a month left to go! Hope it goes well..many women in my community are interested in helping out..hopefully they mean it.