part 2

June 29th (part two)
When I arrived at breakfast at 8 AM on Saturday Ashley announced that we would probably be leaving much later. She tried all day Friday to call the head of transportation but he had his phone off. She tried various other ways to find out about transportation and was unsuccessful. I wasn’t too concerned as it was colder up the mountain so I would rather stay in the heat as much as possible even if that is the heat of Dar es Salaam. Throughout the day we received updates that the driver was headed to the office to fill out paperwork. Once the paperwork was complete he would get paid and would drive us. Eventually the news was that we would have to wait until Sunday. The drive was going to be six hours so it would be worse to leave later in the day. I went out to dinner that night and topped it off with a nice slice of chocolate cake. I figured I wouldn’t see sweets for a long time so it was probably best to get as much as I could before I left for the mountains.
During breakfast on Sunday Ashley announced that we were definitely going to leave that day but it would be a little later so we are going to do one of our lessons after breakfast. In the middle of the lesson the bus drove up and I heard a sound of relief from the volunteers. While we were completing some group work, Ashley spoke to the driver and then shortly after he left. He stopped by to let Ashley know that he was headed to his office to get paid for the trip. Four and a half hours later he returned from the office. Throughout we were receiving updates that he was on his way to pick us up but obviously that was just to stop people from freaking out. I found all of it quite comical.
At 2:30 we began our six hour drive to Lushoto. The beginning of the drive was slow. We hit a lot of traffic and our driver wasn’t the speediest. The drive was uneventful but I excited to see more of the country. I had only seen the tightly packed city of 3 million prior to that ride so I was grateful. I had an excellent seat in the front of the bus so I was able to see a lot of the traffic. The one downside was that I was one of the unfortunate individuals that saw the dog running across the street that we hit. Everyone did hear the thump though. We managed to keep driving along and the driver showed no emotion which was hard for me. The other volunteers noted that there was no way for him to stop which I agree with but I still expected some kind of facial response from him. The inevitable pee stop did happen and I was one of the first to jump out of the bus. There were some Tanzanians walking past laughing at us as we squatted in the tall grass. We were in the middle of nowhere yet there were still people walking around. This has been one of the most vibrant places I have ever been. At 1 AM in the morning you still see people standing around the streets trying to sell you things. I thought that once we left the city it wouldn’t be as vibrant, but I still saw people walking everywhere. I haven’t managed to go out late at night yet but I would imagine there would be people standing around chatting amicably with one another.
On Sunday the sun went down very fast. By 6 PM it was pitch dark outside yet we still saw people walking on the road without any light leading their way. Ashley made the decision to stop and sleep in a hotel for the night because of the danger of the roads. The ride up to Kanaani Resthouse, where we were headed, was on a single dirt road crowded with people, cars, and motorcycles. I thought she made a good decision. For the night we stayed at White Parrot hotel. Originally we were each going to have our own beds two to a room but there was some miscommunication and we shared beds with a roommate. After dinner I was the first to go up and shower but quickly ran back down to my roommate Megan because I thought there was a ghost in our room. As I was finishing up my shower the desk drawers flew open and wouldn’t close. No one was around so I got a little spooked. Megan came up shortly after and we went to bed. First thing the next morning a few of us ate breakfast and then we loaded the van with our luggage.
After two and a half hours we arrived at Kanaani Resthouse, our home for two weeks. There are many different buildings that we use on the grounds. There are two separate buildings for sleeping. Each building is separated into two rooms. Each room contains four beds, a table with chairs, an armoire, and a bathroom. I brought my luggage to the last room along with Mary, Katie, and Noah. We are a fun cabin, always laughing at something. Noah is petrified of bugs so we tend to laugh at him quite a bit. Mary is a semi-retired nurse. Her son is the head teacher on Glee so we talk about that occasionally. Katie is a 28-year old from South Carolina. She has a nice Southern voice and is very comical. We seem to get along quite well and there is never a dull moment. There are three other buildings on the ground which are used for cooking, eating, and classes. Construction seems to be going on at a continual basis is hopes of housing larger groups in the future.
Food takes up a large portion of the day. We have food four times a day and each time it is buffet style. Obviously there is a lot of eating going on and I definitely love it. A high proportion of the meals consist of fried food, fruits, and vegetables. There have been very few things I disliked. From 11:00 to 12:30 there has been cooking lessons this week. I learned to make chapati which I consider a very thin pancake. We also learned how to get the meat out of a coconut which I was able to show my expertise in. Each day a new set of volunteers learn to cook a new food. We were also given a recipe book when we arrived which will definitely be used throughout the year.

Besides food, we also receive two hours of Swahili. From 3-5 each night we sit in a classroom and try to understand Swahili. On Monday we had our first lesson with the Tanzanian teacher. It was a little overwhelming at first. He just kept saying phrases and we didn’t know much of anything. It took about ten minutes and then I started realizing what was going on and I was able to write out what he was saying to better understand. After the first hour the class started getting frustrated. Some of the volunteers asked him to write some things on the board because they needed to visually see something. He seemed a little taken aback and then just asked what words or phrases we wanted him to translate. For the next hour we threw out words and phrases and then he translated them. I didn’t like how the lesson turned out because that didn’t teach me a single thing. Yesterday was even worse. For the entire two hours we gave him words and phrases and he translated. At one point someone asked him to go over the verb agreement chart. That was beyond confusing and I had no idea what was going on. After the lesson many people spoke to Ashley about changing our tutor. Two of the volunteers who have had a fair bit of Swahili training were taking a class with Sabine, the owner of Kanaani Resthouse. Sabine knows the ins and outs of Swahili. She made an entire binder full of lessons for us. She knows her stuff. Right before tutorial today Ashley talked to Sabine and they switched. The lessons were night and day. I felt as though I understand a lot more of the fundamentals. I understood enough to write complete sentences. Now I have to spend time and learn more vocab in order to do well.

We have a very nice set up for orientation and I am enjoying my time. This weekend we will be staying with a host family which will definitely be interesting.

Love,

Gretchen