Simba

July 20th (part two)

On Friday after school we were told by the second headmaster, Philmore, to be ready to leave for our house at 11 AM the next morning. I was excited to finally depart to our home. After my little walking adventure that afternoon, I spent the evening packing up and finishing some things on the computer. 11 o’clock came and went and there was no sign of a car, but there were plenty of people around. I walked outside a few times that morning and there were people everywhere. I didn’t seem to recognize them and they acted like they never saw a white person before. My conclusion was that on Saturday’s the police or some kind of government official drive to neighboring villages and fill up a truck with locals who could not otherwise get to a hospital during the week. Around noon Lindsay and I started to get hungry. At 1 PM we decided to walk to the same little restaurant we have eaten at all week. On the way down we stopped and chatted with someone from the hospital. They informed us that there was a bus accident down the road a bit. There were five or six deaths and many injured. The hospital isn’t typically that crowded on a Saturday.

Because of the accident we didn’t think we would actually move out. Luck has it that at around 2 a car drove up, beeped his horn, and we started loading up the car. It was all very exciting. We arrived to our house to find the other full-time teachers waiting to greet us. They bought us rice, beans, sugar, kerosene, oil, tea bags, and flour to help us start cooking. The guys showed us how to use the charcoal and kerosene burners. About a half an hour later one of my students walked in the house. She started cooking for us. Eventually the headmaster also walked in to welcome us to our new home. It was a very nice welcome. I was very excited to unpack my bags! A half an hour later, the staff left us with the student who continued to cook. While she was cooking we started moving things around. As Lindsay was assisting moving our luggage into the next room the girl told her, “And this is where I sleep.” The other teachers had moved both beds in the one room for Lindsay and I to share because our spare room was for our house girl! As soon as the staff left we were planning to move the one bed into our extra room. With that simple statement from the student, I realized that Lindsay and I might be sharing rooms for a while. We didn’t know what to do. I didn’t really understand what was happening. I continued to go and assist with cooking and thinking of our dilemma. I came up with the plan that after dinner I was to ask where she was sleeping. Then I would find out where she lived and tell her we didn’t need her. If she insisted I figured we could walk to the headmasters’ house and explain that we didn’t need the help. In the end I found out she lived pretty far so I let her spend the night and planned on telling her to leave the next morning.

Before we departed the hospital on Saturday, Lindsay and I became friends with a puppy. The puppy was sooooo cute. On Friday night there was a dog barking outside my bedroom window but it was too cold for me to investigate. Instead, I slept through the barking. The next morning I was uploading photos onto my computer and saw something run by the window. When I looked out I saw a puppy the size of my hand. It had a tan body with white paws and a white spot on its nose. It was soo cute. I called for Lindsay to come look. We ended up chasing the dog for quite some time because he was quite skittish. I tore apart a banana for him but he was too frightened to even smell it. Eventually we left him alone and returned later to find that he had eaten the banana! Eventually, he warmed up to us and we brought him inside in a bucket and fed him some more. Of course the car to pick us up came shortly after we brought the dog inside. I snuck the dog out the back door and let him run free. As I was loading my bags the men saw the dog running and asked if it was mine. I told him it was and sure enough the dog was captured and placed on Lindsay’s lap for the ride home. The other teachers were a little apprehensive but excited we had a puppy. Lindsay suggested we name him Simba and the name stuck with him. The first night was awful.

Our house is a little compound. The main building has a living room, two bedrooms, and a cooking area. Out the back door there is a seven by twenty foot dirt yard. On the opposite side of the wall we have two storage rooms, a bathroom, and a shower room. The other two sides of the dirt yard are protected by walls. In this dirt yard we left Simba for the night. Simba cried and cried and cried. Being the light sleeper that I am I didn’t sleep a wink. Lindsay is a much deeper sleeper so when I repeatedly told her to kill the dog she didn’t hear a thing. Eventually our house girl woke up at 5 AM and decided to sing offbeat which absolutely drove me nuts. The dog stopped barking but then we got bad singing instead! It wasn’t going to be a good day. I finally rolled out of bed to find the girl made us chapatti (similar to a thin pancake) and tea for breakfast. After breakfast I let her know that her services were no longer needed and that after church she was free to go home. She was a bit confused but understood. Lindsay stayed home while Love and I attended a Moravian church service down the street. The service was long. In the middle of the service they had me stand in front and introduce myself. After two hours we went outside for more singing and then there was an auction. There was corn, rice, beans, nuts, and avocado to be auctioned off to raise money for the church. I eventually got the idea and bid on some nuts. I was the second bidder imagining the price would go up but everyone either got scared or felt bad for me and didn’t bid over me. For 300 Shillings (equivalent to 20 cents) I received about four pounds of nuts. I was very proud of my work!

After church Lindsay and I said good bye to Love and prepared lunch for Philmore. It took us a long time but we presented him with some pasta and he was very impressed. None of the Tanzanians think we can cook and believe we will starve ourselves this year!!! Even though the meal wasn’t very grandiose, I was excited to prove them wrong. After Philmore left, we were finally able to unpack. We moved my bed into the extra room and sorted out our bags. I was soo excited to unpack even though my room wasn’t the friendliest looking thing. I have footprints of blood on my walls that won’t come off. I am just imagining it is paint though and living with it at this point. I slept much better on Sunday night. Lindsay wasn’t very happy with Simba though and he got the boot the next morning. He started crying again and she let him in the house to sleep. With the mattresses the house girl slept on, she cornered him into the corner of the living room for the night. His crying was minimal but he happened to escape quite easily. For some reason she thought it was a good idea to bring him into her room so that he wouldn’t cry at all. In the middle of the night he escaped and peed and pooped all over her room. She was not very happy when she woke. On Monday morning we let him outside when we left for school. Simba walked with us about halfway until he was scared of all the children and lost us. I figured we would see him when we arrived home and wasn’t too worried.

After school on Monday I returned with no Simba in sight! After cleaning the dishes I decided to start working on the compost hole I made outside. As I was working I kept hearing Simba cry but had no idea where he was. I worked for a good hour and a half filling the hole with dirt and some banana peels and egg shells watching two neighbors play soccer. The boy and girl were very funny and kept laughing at each other. They eventually caught on that I was watching and started showing off for me. Eventually I joined them and we played soccer and catch for the next two hours. As we were playing the dog started crying again and I made a sad face to the kids. One of the boys saw me and ran. He must have ran to a friend’s house because he arrived back with a key and unlocked the classroom where they were keeping Simba! I knew Lindsay would be very angry with me but I didn’t know what to do. The kid dropped the dog where we were playing and decided it would be funny to kick the soccer ball at the puppy. I kept moving Simba but he continued to run back to me which the kids thought was hilarious. Eventually Lindsay walked outside and saw Simba and started yelling, “Oh no you didn’t!” to me. I went over and explained the situation and so she took Simba on a walk and left him.

After almost two hours of playing, Philmore walked by and asked us where Simba was. Lindsay said she didn’t know, but all the kids started pointing at her. Kids don’t lie; especially when you can’t bribe them with something when they don’t understand a single word you are speaking. She backed talked her way into telling Philmore that the kids locked up Simba and now she doesn’t know where he is. Philmore told the kids to find the dog and Lindsay told me there was no possible way. After we started cooking we got a knock at our door. About ten kids stood outside and one walked up to me with Simba. The dog was found once again. Lindsay started freaking out again so I walked with Simba down the road, left him in a hole and ran. We haven’t seen Simba since. I have walked back to the hole but he is no longer there. Hopefully someone nice found him and is taking care of him!

On Tuesday I had a busy three class schedule at school and was excited to go home. I picked up a cold from Lindsay and was just feeling pretty lousy. I took the night pretty easy. Tonight I did the same thing. We did walk down into Isoko looking for some food to buy but we arrived home empty handed. I am hoping this cold passes so that I can start running the mountains!

Love,

Gretchen