the end of orientation

July 12th

A lot has happened since my last post.

Last week went by quite quickly. On Tuesday we traveled to two local secondary schools to practice teaching. By the way the morning was going I didn’t think we would get anyone into a classroom to teach. It took some time to organize transportation and then the drive was a good half an hour. The first school we stopped at only had forms 1 and 2. Four volunteers jumped out of the taxis and spent the afternoon teaching a class each. The rest of us, me included, continued the drive to the second school. I went into a form 2 class with Erica and Nicole. The two of them taught first and I watched. They were able to warm up the students so by the time I went the students were answering questions right and left. The activity I planned took way too long but it helped me get a feel for the level of the students. We were the last group to catch a taxi and arrived back to Kanaani pretty late. We didn’t have long before Swahili lessons began.

On Wednesday we traveled back to the same schools we taught at on Tuesday. For the first hour we sat in a classroom and watched a Tanzanian teach. I watched the form 2 math teacher. I was a little surprised with the content he was teaching, I thought it was a little advanced. I was actually very confused with the way he was teaching the lesson which made me laugh a bit. He did seem to get a good amount of participation from the students and they seemed to respond well to him. He also noticed that the males were the only students participating and asked for a female volunteer. I was excited to see him take notice. He did, however, have four of us female volunteer teachers in the back of the room and was probably trying to impress us. Twice during his lesson he asked if we had any input. We said he was doing great and should continue and so he did. After watching for an hour we took turns to teach a new lesson. I decided to teach a form one classroom which was a very different experience. There was not as much participation and the English level of the students was a lot worse.

Our Swahili lessons were cancelled on Wednesday since we were at school most of the day. Instead we were able to have free time. I went on a long walk with Alison. We lost track of time and arrived a little late to dinner that night. After dinner, Katie, Noah, Mary and I began cleaning and tidying up the living situation. We eventually curled up watching a movie to pass the time.

On Thursday we did a lot of reflection and cleaning. It was our last official day of training. The morning was spent cleaning and preparing for our departure. We sat and spoke about what to expect on our first day and what we should prepare. For lunch, we were joined by two Peace Corp volunteers, Ezra and Theresa. After eating we sat in a classroom and did a Q and A session with them. Theresa is in her third year volunteering and she has taught math and biology over the years. I asked a lot of questions and seemed to get a better feel as to what to expect for the coming year. After the Q and A we had tea before heading to our last Swahili lesson. For this lesson Sabine spoke about different customs and traditions and how to greet locals. It was a very interactive session. I unfortunately took the seat closest to Sabine and had to do a greeting demonstration with her. When you go to greet someone older than you you should say “Shikamoo” and then get down very low. She described it as getting on your knees so that is what I did and then she started yelling that I did it incorrectly. After laughing we finally figured out she wanted me to do something like a curtsey but to get low while doing it. We will see how I do with it this year!! After Swahili we continued to prepare for our departure. Many volunteers spoke with the PC volunteers until dinner. After dinner Ashley hosted a trivia game for us. The questions were based on TEFL certification and Swahili. I was able to get the first question correct and received an English dictionary and some pens. Most people won gifts and my roommate won the grand prize of a rice cooker. She didn’t actually win but the guy who won gave it to her as a joke. It will be hard to use a rice cooker when we don’t have electricity. After the game, we said good bye to the PC volunteers and headed back to pack. I spent a long time on Ashley’s computer that night working on an end of orientation survey and banking stuff. When I did return to my room we sat around talking for a while before heading off to sleep.

On Friday morning we woke to an early breakfast at 7 and the plan was to hit the road at 7:30. We actually left around 8 excited to head to our sites for the year. The beginning of the trip was a bit scary. The fog was so bad that we could not see what was in front of us. When you are going down a mountain on very treacherous roads it is scary. When you are going down a mountain on treacherous roads and it is foggy it is completely crazy. Obviously we did make it safely though. During the ride I slept a lot. I managed to wake up to see two baboons on the side of the road! Later in the journey, we came across a camel eating grass on the side of the road. Baboons are very common, but even Ashley was shocked by the camel! We arrived back in Dar at 3:15 that evening. Since most people were leaving on Saturday for their sites with a couple leaving on Sunday, everyone decided to go out to dinner on Friday night as a last hooray before the departure. At 6 PM we met out front to wait for the taxi. Over an hour later the taxi arrived and drove us to ex-pat center. We went to a nice pizza place in the heart of tourist capital. Everyone ordered drinks and we went around toasting. I ate so much food that night. I went to be bed at 11:45 that night not looking forward to my early departure the next morning.

Part two is reserved for my travels to Mbeya.

Love,

Gretchen