I am Bukoba Bobby

Check this out, I now know where I will be posted for my two year stint. I am going to be placed in the most northwestern corner of Tanzania, in a town of about 100,000 called Bukoba. Look it up on a map. Here's what I know about it so far... It is on Lake Victoria (the second biggest freshwater lake in the world) and is the capitol of the Kagera region. The staple food is...guess what?...bananas!! Alright, I have become adjusted to them, so no prob. Also, there is a ton of fresh fish like tilapia and perch. Sweet deal. Almond crusted filets followed by bananas foster, anyone? Maybe. The region tends to be between 75 and 85 degrees throughout the year, and it is considered to be very rainy (welcome to Seattle where it rains all day). Bukoba is a 2-hour drive from Uganda and a 5-hour drive from Rwanda. This means that I will be doing the following: a) gorilla tracking in Uganda; b) white-water rafting on the Nile, also in Uganda; c) touring the remaining carnage from the Rwandan genocide. I hear it is a powerful experience, akin to visiting the Peace Park in Hiroshima. Worth a weekend, at the least. The school I'll be at is one of the oldest secondary schools in all of Tanzania. It is called Ihungo Secondary, founded by German missionaries in 1929, when Tanzania was still known as German East Africa (I'm pretty sure). I am one of the few Peace Corps volunteers to placed at a school with another volunteer. There will be one of my friends, Aaron, living maybe a five-minute walk from my house. So long, fears of isolation. Everything else I've heard about the school sounds great. Well-equipped lab, good headmaster (AKA principal), good rep in general. It is situated on a hill overlooking Bukoba town and the lake itself. The headmaster said, verbatim, "It looks very good during night with all the flash lights." I took this to mean stars, Aaron thought the town lights. Either way, right on. Across this hill from me is the local girls school (my school is like 98% male), where a third volunteer, Jodi, has been placed. This means there are three of us within a 3-mile spread. Jodi says she's going to teach me how to cook (word on the street is that ladies like a man who knows his way about the kitchen...). The nearest major city to Bukoba is Mwanza, across the lake. Mwanza is one of the five largest cities in Tanzania, and to get to Bukoba we take an overnight ferry (by the way, its a 3 day trip by bus and ferry from Dar to Bukoba. I feel that karma got me for complaining about the last ride. Also, I forgot to mention that the return ride from Njombe to Morogoro, I managed to get a front seat on the bus. This meant leg room galore, which was wonderful. The unfortunate part was that my seat was directly over the engine block, and there was a hole in the floor which piped ridonculously hot air into my legs and face. This was perhaps equally uncomfortable to the original ride. I found myself debating in my head which ride was worse for a good amount of time.) What else to say about Bukoba....oh yeah, I will be teaching the "A" level of secondary school. For those of you ignorant to the Tanzanian school system, their secondary schools have two levels- "O" and "A". "O" level is basically grades 9-12, equivalent to high school. Maybe one year younger here. So "A" level would be the same as junior college, taking two years. So here I am, fresh graduate and all, expected to teach these kids some near-college level physics. I'm ok with this, except for two factors. The first is that these students that reach "A" level are intense. Only about 1% of all students pass the rigorous tests to enter "A" level. I'm not kidding, I looked at the exam and wondered if I could pass it. So these students are serious about learning, they know that getting a college degree (college comes after "A" level) is their only chance to truly provide for a family. Secondly, I will be coming into the middle of a semester. In fact, this will be nearing the end of the second semester which I arrive. The second year students take a test in February which summarizes what they've learned. Its even harder than the test I looked at. And they expect me to prep these kids to pass this test and get into college. Hmmm, nothin like a little trial by fire I suppose. So that's my situation. I'll get to Bukoba next week, maybe Wednesday or so.
All in all, I am really, really excited about this. I think it will be a great experience to teach these more challenging students. I think Bukoba will be a great place for me, especially being so near my friends from training. A lot of other volunteers come up through Bukoba when visiting Rwanda or Uganda, so I'll get guests too. If any of you are interested in potentially seeing these places, I would love to be your guide. So yeah, I guess now that I know all about my situation, I'm just eager to get started. Wish me luck, I suppose...

My legs are too long

Hello. For the last week or so, I have been on the move. We left Morogoro Sunday morning and took a 3-hour bus to Dar Es Salaam. This is the largest city in Tanzania, with somewhere around 3 million inhabitants. Dar Es Salaam (locally referred to as "Dar", like the main character from Beastmaster, if you are familiar with well-crafted 80's films) was wonderful for two reasons. One- no curfew. At Morogoro our families keep a pretty close watch on us. If we are not back before dark they begin to start a phone-call search party which ends up with us receiving numerous texts from Peace Corps staff. At "Dar" this was not the case; it was refreshing to be off the leash, as it were. Due to this, we were able to be shown the night life of Tanzania by the volunteers who have been here a year or more. Not too different from America, really. Except for the notable difference of the locally-dubbed 'angels of the night' which hover around us Americans like mosquitos around my crappy Peace Corps net. This was so prevalent and blatant we actually were laughing about it. The other reason Dar was great was a little retreat known as The American Club. Quaint name, isn't it? Very inviting... Anyway, the largest perks of this club were A) air-conditioned movie room, and B) swimming pool. I spent an entire day there, rotating between eating BLT's, diving into the pool (which had so much chlorine I think my hair has begun to fall out), and watching DVD's. Ah, the simple pleasures of life. I guess when it's all said and done, I am as American as they come.
We spent a couple of days in Dar, then it was time to section of into our "shadowing" groups. Shadowing is us trainees crashing current volunteers sites for 3 or 4 days to learn about how they live, the things they've done, and so on. Myself and two others visited a Mr. Steve who lives near a town called Njombe. Well, the exciting thing about Njombe is that it is an 11-hour (give or take) bus ride from Dar. I'll be honest, I was dreading this journey. Nothing appeals to me about spending that much time cramped onto a hot, crowded beast. I used to think that the airplane lines perfected giving the absolute minimum amount of leg space to their passengers. Well take a clue airplane lines, because the Tanzanian buses have trumped you. Completely. I pretty much had two options of where to put my legs during this ride. One, I could put both of them in the aisle, thereby getting a charlie-horse any time someone wanted to move about on the bus. I got a lot of stank-eye glares for attempting this. So the other choice was to assume a position which I could describe as an upright fetal pose. My knees, resting on the seat back in front of me, were basically touching my chin. I could maintain this upright fetal for maybe 15 minutes before the lack of circulation became painful. So, for about 11 hours, I juggled between these two horrible, horrible positions. All in all it was a pretty nice ride. Before I complain more, I must say, the countryside was gorgeous. Njombe is in the southern highlands, and the terrain down here is truly beautiful- rocky rolling hills covered in those weird African trees. Also, we passed through Mikumi Nat'l Park on the way. In the park we were lucky enough to see, from the main road, giraffes, elephants, a zebra, some small antelope type thing (dekedeke perhaps?), wild boars, and I guess a baboon or two. Pretty awesome. Unfortunately we were driving around 200 miles an hour, so pictures were out of the question. We got to Mr. Steve's site, spent a few days with him learning the ropes (now yer learnin') and meeting people. It was great to have time to relax and see maybe how life will be for us around here. I am still in Njombe now, but I return home to Morogoro tomorrow. Later today I'll be visiting a famous waterfalls here, and who knows what else... I'll try to get some pics.
Other things. The Mom Question borders on embarrassing this week, but all-important. She was wondering about the bathroom situation. I'll spare you all the details, but basically the toilets here are gaping pits in the ground. Occasionally you will have the luck to find a porcelain throne, but that is most rare. And you must, must always keep TP in your pack, or even your back pocket. We all call this our "emergency action plan". The Tanzanians do not use TP. Go ahead and try to imagine how... It's not the three seashells, I'll tell you that. I think that is enough knowledge on the toilet situation.
Also, a quick story. I found this hilarious. I have found that a lot of Tanzanians draw their English from pop culture, like TV or music, or even movies. Snoop Dogg's way of speech is international for instance (dizzle fo shizzle and so on). But even better than that, one day I was on a local bus with a girl who spoke some English. I asked her how old she was, and she told me she was 18, running on 19. I was confused for a minute, wondering where she got that usage. She preempted my question by saying "You know, like in your movie"The Sound of Music"". Awesome. That happens all the time. Its great, if I see more examples I'll share them. If anyone has other questions, feel free... Take care.

The Birds

So I have mentioned my morning chore, the dirt-sweeping. I have grown accustomed to this 20-minute exercise every morning, and in fact I have begun to enjoy the certain amount of skill with which I can now use a Tanzanian broom. I sweep around three sides of the house, the fourth is grass and that is a logistical nightmare. Two of the sides I sweep adjoin to the neighbors' yards. Tanzanians have not found out that it is socially tactless to grown a spite hedge. This means that there are many bushes making a perfect outline of our dirt yard. That's okay, it gives me a good boundary on my sweeping. The major downside here is that these bushes have literally at least ten-thousand leaves which fall off of them every day. On one side, this is no problem, as there is a rubbish pit (more on this to come) next to the hedge. On the other however, things get pretty ugly. I asked Mama Mipawa, the oracle of Tanzania, how to quickly remove this shocking amount of leaf-fall. She told me (more or less) to man up and use a dust pan. I tried this for one day, and it resulted in me making roughly 8 trips to the rubbish pit, and 10 extra minutes of work. So, being American, I decided to look for a more....practical solution. The next day, I swept all the leaves under the hedges into my neighbor's yard. Case closed, problem solved. After continuing this well-planned solution for a good week, one day I returned home to find my side of the hedge carpet-bombed with these leaves. "Uh-oh...", I thought, "it looks like the jig is up." But instead of admitting my solution was not after all well-planned, I decided that this was a good opportunity to test the competitive nature of Tanzanians. So the next morning I swept it all back over. That night, same thing. Leaf madness. So I a enjoying our little game of "pass-the leaves", wondering who my mystery opponent is. This continues for maybe two weeks, with me thinking perhaps one of my neighbors is slowly working up a fantastic hatred of me. One day I return home from school early to find the yard still unblemished. I decide to study outside. Now, I believe I mentioned that Mama Mipawa keeps chickens. I am not sure if any of you know what chickens do when they are looking for seeds. It is the equivalent of a dog digging to bury a prized bone. So as I watch, several of Mama Mipawa's chickens saunter on over to the hedge, walk through the gaps to the neighbor's side, and begin to look for seeds in the leaves I raked over there that morning. Guess where all the leaves ended up? In the end, it appears the high and mighty, all conquering American reached a two-week leaf sweeping stalemate with several chickens. I felt shamed. I hope all of you are sharing my shame, because I am representing our country.
On the up-side, I have not yet fallen in the rubbish pit. Rubbish pits are giant holes dug in the backyards of every Tanzanian household. They gradually accumulate trash (rubbish, if you will) until its burning time. Then, all the leaves, plastic, tires, batteries, and whatever else happened to become rubbish goes up in flames. This is the leading cause of that smoke in the air. I am sure of this. My family's rubbish pit is still very deep (maybe 10 feet), and it is slowly gathering trash. The interesting thing though, is when other things end up in there. To date, I have helped rescue from our garbage pit: 3 baby chickens, 1 guinea fowl, 1 giant frog, 1 dog, my lazy brother (when he tried to rescue the dog). So I guess the reason I brought up the rubbish pit is so you all know that, even though we are even at moving leaves, chickens are nowhere near as agile near rubbish pits as I am.
Other things of note...I had a dream (I believe I mentioned that the malaria medication causes crazy dreams) worth mentioning. For those of you who have ever either set foot in a liquor store, or perhaps enjoyed spiced rum at some point in your life, you know who a Mr. Captain Morgan is. I am not unfamiliar with him. However, I would not say that "the Captain" has had enough of an impact on my life to warrant a dream in an African country. Well, he was there, standing with one foot up on a treasure chest. I guess the only weird thing about the dream is that he was telling me, in Swahili, where I would be placed for the next two years. Now, I understand that part of the dream, thats been on my mind a lot lately. But of all people, why Captain Morgan? But in all honesty, I think my brain couldn't have chose a better messenger, because I woke up laughing about seeing him in the flesh. He looked robust and healthy, if you are wondering.
Lastly, I have a mom question. She was wondering about how the women wear their hair, and this is kind of funny I guess. First, most of the women here have very short hair, kept close to the scalp, in rows that remind me of a cornfield. I suppose this is easy to maintain, I dunno. With this in mind, they have fantastic variations of patterns, some are very creative. Now, the really interesting thing is when they go out to town or to a party to half-dance for four hours. Then, they always, always put on a wig. Its bizarre. Wigs are everywhere. I have no idea why, the cornrows look fine to me. The wigs just approximate basic American hairstyles, I suppose. Hmm... Oh well. I'm out of time now. Take care, all y'all.

Moonwalker

So, it might seem like I have been complaining a bit in my past posts. Perhaps a little, but maybe thats also the way I write. However, having heard some stories from other trainees that make my situation look like Eden, I decided to share a little with you. The girl who has it the worst lives maybe 5 minutes from me, and the poor girl, her family is intensely religious. The first night we arrived and moved into our host homes, she was immediately bombarded by hours of religious questioning. Her family are zealots that would shame our televangelists, from what she tells me. That night they prayed for her soul, in English and Swahili, for around 10 hours. And that was only the beginning. She courageously went to church with them, where she was put on display for being a rich American who was not giving enough money to the church. Pretty much every night, her family prays until 1 or 2am, about what I'm not sure. One day she asked her mom to be more quiet, and her mom replied that she was channeling God and couldn't control her voice. Also, imagine that you live in a house that is shaped like a barn with no true walls, only cubicle-type separations between rooms. The sounds carry a bit, to say the least. So she got awful sleep until this last week, when she moved into the family's actual barn, with the animals. Now she sleeps well, with the cows and cockroaches. I think that is a pretty rough situation personally. She has had to defend her faith or lack thereof every night for the last month, on little to no sleep. Ugh. So me and my poisonous creatures, they don't seem so terrible. Anyway, just thought I'd give an update on someone else's situation.
As for other things...the weather. So far so good. It is beginning to get hot. Think late spring in America. There are light rains daily, which are increasing as it gets hotter. The days when it is humid and hot are pretty rough, and I guess December and January are supposed to be the rough months. It doesn't help that as Americans and as teachers we are expected to wear slacks and button-downs exclusively. I was telling someone that it feels like I am the ant/toy soldier and there is a magnifying glass between me and the sun. It just beats down here. The rain is always welcome...
When we arrived, Peace Corps gave us some basic living needs. These included a towel, a kerosene lantern, a mosquito net, and some odds and ends. Well now, the running joke around my house is that the Peace Corps buys crappy things. Why, you ask? Because the first time I washed my towel, it began to unravel. Now I have two half towels. That's alright, I'll make do. Also, about a week or two ago, I was eating dinner, and I left my lantern on low in my room. When I returned to the room, I was nonplussed to find that it had exploded. What I believe happened was the flame somehow was sucked into the base, causing a minor explosion which shattered the glass and left a flaming metal stand. That's nice. Another trainee said he never uses his lantern because A)he has electricity, and more importantly, B)his host sister told him the first day that those lanterns are very dangerous and explode all the time. Thanks Peace Corps. Also, my mosquito net is crappy, hence the scorpion waking me up in the morning by crawling on my hand. I think a successful net should keep out scorpions. Not "The Scorpions", because I need that kind of music, but the poisonous kind. Also I wake up with mosquito bites every morning. So that doesn't work either. Basically, thank you Peace Corps, for purchasing crappy exploding lanterns and poorly sewn towels. I hate you Peace Corps.
But I love my fellow trainees in the Peace Corps. Especially when the other day, I found out that one of the more quiet guys in my group used to have a schoolboy crush on Mr. Michael Jackson. Now, this is no ordinary crush, but I'm pretty sure it bordered on terrible infatuation. Sounds bad maybe, but the results are great. Not only can this guy moonwalk circles around people, he knows every dance to every song. Really. Andrew, I know you are reading this and you are angry right now that you don't get to share something this sweet with me. All I can say is, I'm sorry, but it's awesome. Completely awesome, especially when he does a side-to-side moonwalk, complete with the hand push and the screams (hee-hee). Wow...
Lastly, I have some more mom questions. She asked two things: What we eat here, and what I sleep on. First, the sleep thing. I sleep on a foam mattress. If you are thinking that it is probably Swedish Tempurpedic, you are mistaken. It is not. It is the type of foam that they ship big heavy stuff in, I think. If I lay in the same position for more than an hour or so, there is a more or less permanent groove in that spot. Also, my pillow is made from a strip of this foam rolled into a ball. That is actually really comfy. Now, the food. I get the unripe bananas still. Rice and beans and spinach are the daily standards also. But now, I have tried two types of food which are amazing. First, do a google search for "pilau". That is the local cuisine par excellence. Its rice and potatoes, and potentially meat, flavored with coconut milk, cinnamon, and cardamon. And it is excellent. Try making it if you can. The second delicious dish is kachumbali. This is just fresh tomatoes, onions, and hot peppers. You slice them up really fine, sometimes with cucumber as well, add a bunch of salt. Then you rinse off maybe half the salt and eat it. Its simple and tasty, like a greek salad without the feta or olives. Thats that for now. Also, I am trying to post pictures now. Its going slow, but here is the link:
http://africanrobpics.blogspot.com/
Take care.