Bad Fail (lowest grade you can get on the Tanzanian grading scale)

            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)