Wednesday, December 22, 2010

On Home Leave..

Had a great Thanksgiving and then after that some training in Morogoro. But now I am on home leave! This is typically given to extending volunteers for one month. I am in Michigan right now and it is cold but nice to see the snow! I will be going to Australia for a short trip, it will be my last (7th) continent- a treat for my 30th bday! I am happy to be home but can't wait to start my new assignment on Zanzibar.

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Exciting News!

Next week, I will, hopefully, be moving to Zanzibar to start a one year extension in the health sector! I will be working with the Zanzibar Ministry of Health on Health Logistics. I am excited! Will let you know more later...hope it all works out..

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Almost Kwaheri...

This past week had the new PCTs come visit! We had some delicious food, they saw Mbeya town, observed/taught some classes, and went hiking in the Ngozi Crater Lake..which is beautiful. Seeing them reminded me on how I felt when I first came here in TZ. Time is sure flying by fast..yet it seems like yesterday. One teacher here thought I had been here for 3 years..LOL.

I also met my replacement...can't believe it's already happening! It finally hit me that I am leaving this place. I will miss the view from my balcony, the neighbors especially one family in particular, my host mama in Moro, new friends that I just made, the fresh produce, walking everywhere, etc. It has been a great 2 years plus..I would recommend this experience to anyone. Now back to the real world unless I get what I want. To turning 30!

July-October

The past few months have been a whirlwind! In July I was hiking Mt Hanang, attending an Education Project Review, and having bus adventures. In August I went to COS conference and had my friend Katwren visit me. In September I started the extension process and went to a VAC meeting. In October we had the elections but the incumbent won..though everyone around me wanted Chadema to win.

Friday, June 25, 2010

PCV Talent Show Performance

Here is the video of our Single Ladies performance for the Girls Empowerment Talent Show. We basically made the routine up 2 hrs before the show, inspired by Glee. :) If you have Facebook the quality is much better.

Single Ladies Performance

Wasichana wanaweza tena!

We had the 2nd Annual Girls Empowerment Conference at my site! Here are some pics:

Mbeya Girls Conference 2010

Saturday, June 19, 2010

It's Been a Month

Well it's been a busy month, I was barely at site and when I was at site, I was helping with the Girls Empowerment Conference. For two weeks I went to Dar and Tanga to help with the PC website and with various PSDN (peer support and diversity network) trainings. Tanga looks like a neat town and hopefully I will get the chance to visit it once more later before I leave here. When I got back we got right into the Girls Empowerment Conference..our 2nd one in Mbeya and the last one before I COS (close of service). This year was less stressful due to the fact we had done it before and there were more volunteers to help out. I definitely am glad that we did it again, and sad that this is the last one. More on it later with pictures!! :)

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Changing Again

New plans:
Dec 1st- Close of Service- official end date of Peace Corps Tanzania
Dec 2nd-18th- India to see grandma and relatives
Dec 18th-25th-Michigan to see parents
Dec 25th-Jan 18th-Australia: NYE Sydney, Tasmania Overland Track, Cairns Great Barrier Reef.
Jan 18th- back to Michigan
After that...who knows! :)

Saturday, May 15, 2010

pears and more pears

So I am currently making pear and guava wine..we'll see how that experiment goes. So far when I take the bucket lid off it smells like wine. :) The pears here are more like the Asian pears in the States (crisp and not as fragrant). The guava though has a nice smell, right now it just smells like fruit. The funny thing is in swahili pears are pears and guava is mapera...it almost sounds the same when you are at the soko (market). I remember when I first got to site I mixed the two up..when asking for pears I got guava. We shall see as weeks pass on. This is my first time making wine at site, no initiative till now.

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Changing Plans

I will be now leaving TZ Dec 1st..but going to Australia Dec 16th-Jan 18th- my last continent..yippee! :) So my 30th bday will now be spent in TZ and I will have completed my 7 continents plan at the age of 30.

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Wakike na Wakiume

Even in the States we are all about empowering women. I think it is a great idea, yet there are some ways this can be improved upon. In some of the poorer countries there is still a need to empower women, but in the richer countries I think we need to start teaching men that women are empowered. What is the point of women’s empowerment if only women believe in themselves? Yes, a woman can get things done but she needs support of the community- that community includes men. Here in TZ, many volunteers are focusing on boys’ conferences to teach them how to treat a female with respect- this is the next step in women’s empowerment.

Saturday, April 17, 2010

Problem Solving..Engineering Style

Today we had a meeting about how to give an exam. It was hilarious as people came up with every situation and tried to talk about it. This is what happens in a room full of engineers. Nothing ever gets accomplished because every situation is logically thought of and each situation demands an answer. I was thinking about programming and how when we program we need to consider all cases. The only bad part is the meeting then goes on forever like a very complex program.

And this got me thinking about myself-I wish I wasn't so logical sometimes..maybe then I could just live life instead of analyzing everything.

But the best part of this meeting was when in typical style they asked for payment for giving an exam. Here in TZ teachers get payment for extra things liking giving final exams and marking papers..but that is the culture here, though they are trying to get away from it.

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Mungu akipenda...if God wishes...

Just to be clear, this has nothing to do with Tanzania or Peace Corps; I am very happy here.

I don’t know why things happen the way they do- they just do. But I know somehow, somewhere they play a part in the grand scheme of life. Sometimes events change the course of your life, like the winter wind affecting a snowflake in the sky. Right now, I am that snowflake. The wind has changed what I am going to do with my life; it has made that decision for me-I just have to follow through, whatever that means. At this moment, I am thinking about the Robert Frost poem, “two roads diverged in the woods”, yet of course in this instance I am not taking the path, but instead I am forced to take this path by events that I cannot control. I hope this is all part of some master plan that gets even better as life goes on, because right now I am feeling the opposite of happy. I know I am definitely learning a lesson from this event, maybe I am a stronger person now because of it and it might help me in my quest to do extraordinary things. The path is vaguely clear, however; the event took all stability out of my life and has forced me to take some risks. And hopefully these risks will, as Frost states, make all the difference.

Monday, April 12, 2010

Wow...6 months

Time has flown by fast with almost 6 months left here for me. Lots of happened. We had some protests at school which everyone was sent home for 3 weeks to come back so that they can take finals. The management was trying to punish students by doing this but I think they have punished us teachers (well the ones that care if the students learn) as well because we don't get to finish the syllabus for the students to actually learn something. And also 40% of their grade comes from homework, etc...I don't think the students did enough assignments to properly assess a 40% grade. No clue why they sent students home just for not showing up to class one day (that was it for the protest, no violence).

Plans for after going home are to travel around South India and finally hit my last continent Austrailia. Hope to hike the Overland Trek while I am there...and maybe enjoy New Years Eve in Sydney..it all depends on when I get there.

So by the end of this month I should be done with my last full semester teaching here. It's kinda scary and sad...I do love this place but it will be nice to go home..

Sunday, February 21, 2010

nitamaliza

We already picked our dates to leave TZ. I am gone from site Oct 28th. It's going to be sad to leave here...can't believe we are already thinking about that as it seems I just got here. Only 8 months to go...

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Heri ya mwaka mpya 2010

I went home for Xmas and New Year's. It was great seeing everyone and having tofu. Yup brought back some tofu with me. :) Then went to Dar for Mid Service..can't believe I am more than halfway through my service! And now I am back to Mbeya (have been for a couple of weeks now) starting to teach students Data Structures. Good news is that they have hired a teacher to teach computer programming and I am training another one to teach it when I leave. Things are good so far. :)