I
don’t have too much exciting news to post, unfortunately, because we have
officially fallen into the routine of classes and schoolwork. We will still have
four hours of Kiswahili for the next two weeks, which should be pretty intense
because starting next week we will also start our Ecology and Human Evolution
classes. I think next week we will be in class from 8 until 4:30, with an hour
break for lunch. I’m excited to start those classes but a little anxious that I
will never leave campus. Luckily we have some sweet weekend trips coming up,
including excursions to Bagomoyo and Zanzibar. Oh and tomorrow we are planning
on going to some goat races. I’m not entirely sure what that means but the
theme is “wild wild west”, so it is bound to be interesting.
Over
the past week or so I have mostly been doing homework and relaxing. I have made
a few trips to Mwenge and the mall, but that’s about it. The most memorable
moments were when we witnessed a monkey swipe some guy’s doughnuts in the
cafeteria (it was so slick), and when we went out to eat at an Indian
restaurant last Friday. On the dala-dala ride back to campus around 10 pm we
passed a little icecream stand on wheels, and one of our group members yelled
“ICECREAM!” out the window. Much to our surprise the vendor took off in his
mobile booth and weaved his way through the traffic to catch us at a red light.
Of course Bob (the guy who yelled) had to buy ice cream at this point because
this guy’s performance was truly impressive. I also went to Mwenge to teach
English again this week, and it was quite fun.
Today we had our second Kiswahili
test, and I sure hope that it went better than last week… I got a whopping
total score of 65. Fortunately the Tanzanian grading scale entails that
anything above a 70 percent is an A, so I got lucky on that one. I think we are
all starting to get a little bit burned out on Swahili class, but we can now
have conversations which is cool. I have made a fair number of faux-pas so far... like "I am from two chapati", "my parents are very difficult" and I accidentally tell my tutor that I am drunk every time I try to say that I understand. I'm working on it.
Yesterday we had our first official
malaria victim. That sounds really sinister, but she is now on a bunch of pills
that should nip it in the bud. It was also determined that she has three parasites,
which is a bummer. I have been feeling pretty healthy so far, only with the
occasional stomach issues, which unfortunately is all too familiar.
Last update: I am making some
progress on my research project idea. My working research question involves education
and how the local village schools affect/conflict with traditional Maasai views
and education. The initiation ceremonies are going on, so it could be cool to
compare the purpose of the ceremonies to a traditional western education. I
think the topic of education could take me down several different roads, so I
am open to any suggestions or related topics…
I suppose I ended up writing more
than I had thought, which is probably a good thing. Again, I would love to hear
from anyone who is reading this blog… Sometimes I get pretty homesick so it is
always nice to get a little slice of home. In fact, I went out a restaurant
called “Chicken Hut” and went to see the movie “The Watch”, both of which are
activities that probably would not have happened if I were in the US, but felt
strangely comforting. Until next time!
(Most of the pictures I took this week were of the monkeys on campus)
(Most of the pictures I took this week were of the monkeys on campus)
Glad to hear it was a mistake when you said "my parents are very difficult."
ReplyDeleteDad was wondering what you were trying to say :)