Tunduma

August 10th (part 2)

On Friday I was so excited to teach again. I hadn’t taught in two days and was becoming very bored at the school. I had two classes on Friday and felt like I could have gone for so much longer. Unfortunately, there are nine new teachers on campus and they all want to teach! After classes I went home and started packing my bag and cleaning my room. The academic master, Kassim, came by while I was in the middle of cleaning. Since I was busy, Lindsay joined him on a walk to Isoko. When I left to meet them a few hours later, I ran into a few of my students who live behind us. They invited me over for some food. Again, you can’t turn down an invite so I walked into their home. They heated up some yams for me and I sat and ate alone. After finishing the first one I went to eat the second to find mold growing all over it. If I did not eat their food it would be entirely disrespectful. I tore apart the yams as best I could and left the mold on the plate. My plate looked a mess. There were bits and pieces everywhere. As I was finishing eating they started bringing in more food. The food was covered up so I couldn’t make out what else they were trying to feed me. I grew nervous. Since it was getting late I told them that I must go because I am meeting Madam Lucas in Isoko. They reluctantly let me leave and I was free but only briefly. As I walked by the postmasters’ house his daughter invited me inside. Now, I was stuck for the remainder of the night.

The church was performing their dances in Isoko throughout the weekend and I was invited to go watch. When I walked by the postmaster’s house they fed me some rice and beans before I left with Willy to walk to Isoko. We quickly found Lindsay and then walked up to the church together. No one was there. The dancing was supposed to start but no one was around. We waited a half an hour and then decided to start heading home. While Lindsay was in Isoko she investigated on the transportation to Tunduma. There was a bus departing at 5 AM the next morning that we were to take. The bus was to take us to Mpemba and then from Mpemba we were to catch a short bus to Tunduma.

At 4:30 Saturday morning Lindsay and I left our house. We walked to the main road and waited. She stood talking on her phone while I watched the stars. I managed to witness five shooting stars before the mini bus came to pick us up. Around 5:15 we started our journey. I slept most of the ride. It wasn’t the most comfortable transportation. The bus had seating for eleven people and at times there were numbers in the low 20’s on the bus. Some had their legs inside and sat in the window with their head and upper torso sticking out. Towards the end of the trip a woman sat next to me with a rooster in her basket. I didn’t notice it until I heard the noise. I almost jumped into Lindsay’s lap. The chicken wanted to fly away! His body was tied inside a plastic bag though so he wasn’t going anywhere. I was still a little freaked out and kept my eye on the chicken the rest of the ride. When we arrived in Mpemba we sat and waited for Lisa and Nicole. Lisa and Nicole are two volunteers who live in Isongole about two hours from our home. We were to meet in Mpemba because it was the last stop before Tunduma. Our drive took four and a half hours and their ride was supposed to take two. The busses were leaving at the same time yet we arrived well before them. Their bus broke down. Then as they were driving, a car driving in front of them fell into a ditch and their driver got out to help them. They had a rough start to their trip. Lindsay and I sat in a little restaurant having tea and chapatti as we waited for them. Of course we attracted many locals and never had a dull moment during that hour wait.

The short bus ride took us right in front of a few hotels in Tunduma. We checked out two different ones before we decided on one. For ten dollars we stayed in a fairly upscale hotel. After dropping off some luggage we set off for town. Tunduma is right on the border of Malawi so it is a very crowded town. Malawi’s official language is English though so we had many people to talk to. We had a lot of people following us around the streets as well. Lisa and I stayed together while Lindsay and Nicole stayed together. Lindsay and Nicole had two Malawian gentlemen show them around and Lisa and I were escorted by a Tanzanian woman. We told her what we were looking for and she brought us around to the appropriate shop or duka. She was very friendly. When we stopped to buy bread Lisa offered to buy her a loaf for helping us. Afterwards we wanted to depart but she wouldn’t leave us until we bought her a soda. Lisa ended up just giving her the money because we were tired and didn’t feel like sitting around with her all afternoon. We arrived back at the hotel and rested for a little while until Lindsay and Nicole arrived. The four of us went to the restaurant attached to the hotel for a late afternoon lunch around 3 o’clock. The food was outrageously expensive. Of course we were not told until after we ate how much we owed. We each bought chipsi mayai (French fry omelet) and sodas. A soda normally costs 500 Shillings, we paid 1000; chipsi mayai normally costs 1500 Shillings, we paid 5000. We weren’t too thrilled to pay such a price but had no other choice. After eating I returned to the room to shower and everyone else took a nap. After my shower Lindsay, Nicole, and I departed for another walk around town and Lisa stayed in to shower and sleep some more. We were gone for a total of two hours. We bought some kanga (fabric) and steel wool. After being followed and begged for money throughout our walk we finally returned back to the hotel.

For dinner that night we decided to stay away from the hotel as we didn’t want to pay an outrageous amount of money again. We went to a nearby restaurant and sat in the back of the building. We each received some vegetables and Lindsay ventured in the meat. After an hour and a half Lisa and I left to go to bed. Lindsay and Nicole came back to the hotel shortly after. They informed us that after we left,r the gentleman eating with us grabbed Lindsay’s butt. She decided it was time to go. The next morning we stayed in the rooms until checkout at 10 AM to charge our laptops. We bought a few more things before we decided to leave Tunduma. Shortly after noon we were back on a bus.

On Sunday night Lindsay and I stayed in Isongole with Lisa and Nicole. It was nice to see their house and some of the people that lived close by. Because they live at the school there aren’t many people living close by. They do have one neighbor who helps them with cooking who I was excited to meet. While Lindsay and Nicole walked to town Lisa and I stayed around the house. We spent some time on the soccer field kicking the ball around with her neighbors. We ended the night with a movie, Bridget Jones’ Diary, which I had never seen before. I was excited to watch a movie, it has been a long time.

On Monday we left the house at 10:30, walked to Isongole, and waited for the bus to Isoko. A little after twelve we were nineteen deep in the eleven passenger vehicle. I was squished. I did manage to sleep though which took my mind off of the conditions. When we arrived home around 3:30 I was very excited. I just wanted to stay low and go to bed early that night. Plans don’t always work out as you may want them. After unloading our bags we went to find the headmaster and give him our gift. We bought some random spices for him. We stayed with him for almost an hour catching up. He was excited that we were able to have a nice weekend away. As we were walking home we were invited to a house by a lady. We went in and were offered chicken and cooked banana. We didn’t realize we were paying for the food and accepted for it. Probably the worst mistake we have made here. After eating we left and headed home. The postmaster asked us to join him at his home for dinner and we ended up staying until well after 9 o’clock that night…so much for an early night. We had three courses of food while at his house. His family loves us and I am always happy to spend an evening with them. We brought them some cookies from our trip and they were thrilled.

Yesterday, I had class as normal. Two more teachers from the University of Dar es Salaam arrived. Now, there are 23 teachers at our school. Only 4 total teachers teach math, biology, chemistry, physics, and environmental science. I also found out that the form 4 students are continuing their exams all week so no class today or Thursday again. I decided to bring my laptop up to school today to update you on my life!

Oh and the chicken from Monday still isn’t settling in either Lindsay or I’s body. I just want it out of there!!! Blah!

Love,

Gretchen