One Year of Solitude

Today as I was walking in to town, I passed some convict laborers. They were wearing the same, easily identifiable, bright orange jumpsuits that you all know (and love?). I passed them at work around a police guest house a bit outside of town. I don't know what a police guest house is, but its not important. What was ironic to me was the work these convicts were engaged in. Every one of them had a little hand-held sickle and was crouched over some grass around the guest house, slashing away. A policeman stood over them, supervising their work. I couldn't help but picture in my head those convicts wearing the school uniforms of Ihungo, and the policeman being dressed like a teacher. It would be an easy switch- swap out his club for a cane and the transformation is complete. Otherwise, it was exactly the same. To be honest, seeing such an easy comparison between the way the law treats criminals and the way school administrations treat students saddens me. What to do, what to do..? My grant to provide them with push-mowers is completed and awaiting review, but that's not going to changes any attitudes. I'm not trying to be a whiner here, just wondering what more I can do...

Anyway, to lighten up a little bit, I've got some good news. Yesterday was my training groups one year anniversary in Tanzania. My dad talked to me last week, and said something like, "Doesn't seem like a whole year has passed, does it?" My response: "No, it feels like more." Its nice to feel like I'm starting a new year. Now that I have a comfortable grip of the language, I can get more involved. I'll keep you all up to date. Happy anniversary!

You have a what?

Last week was the final classes of the semester, and this week my students will be taking terminal examinations all week. I have the responsibility of "invigilating" (is this actually a word? It's used here all the time, to mean "supervising") them as they get owned by my new, more difficult tests. Then, I have another month off. I won't know what to do with myself; there's only so many times a man can watch "Pitch Black" and "The Chronicles of Riddick" back to back, you know? But I'm sure I'll figure out something to do, so instead of pondering let me fill you in on my last few weeks.

First and foremost, I'm not going anywhere. Or if I am, Peace Corps hasn't told me. But its been about three weeks now, so I think I'm in the clear. The second thing which is also pretty important is that my girlfriend visited me for about a week. Yes, you read that correctly. There is a certain lady by the name of Steph who tamed the mighty lion inside me in June or so, and then we made plans for her to come visit. Now, this was quite a feat, the two of us dating in the first place. The main reason being that she lives in Masasi, which is near Mtwara. (For those of you who need more reference, edumacate yourselves and look at a map). If you've successfully located Mtwara, you see that it is as far as possible away from Bukoba, while still being in the same country. When I mention Mtwara to people who live around here, their reaction is invariably "Ooh that's far!" And it is, it takes three days overland to get from here to there, if (this is a big if) none of the buses break down. Steph had to attend a conference in Moshi a few weeks ago, and managed to piggy-back a little journey up here onto her trip.

Before I continue, let me give you all a short run-down on Steph. She's from Colorado, which is basically the Northwest, just replace beaches with mountains. However, she went to University of Oregon to get her Bachelor's (in chem). That means she is familiar with my neck of the woods. She was even dragged to Glide once, to observe the majesty that is Colliding Rivers. So that's pretty interesting, knowing some of the same people and places. For fear of sounding ridiculous, I would probably say Steph is the coolest girl in Tanzania Peace Corps. And I really think most of the women I've met in Peace Corps have been awesome...

Anyway, that's the background. She came here for about a week, and we had a great time. It was nice to share a lot of the things I go through from day to day with someone else, especially someone who goes through a lot of the same things on her own. The first night she got in, I had arranged a little shindig. This shindig included two of the fraternity's staples- power hour and beer pong. I felt like I was home again! (But Sasha, its just not the same without you...). The rest of the week we relaxed, visited various people and friends, played some basketball, drew with crayons, and so on. The next weekend, we were invited to a costume party. The theme? You can wear anything besides clothes. You will see the picture of our costumes on my pictures page soon, they were pretty radical. Anyway, the whole time Steph was here we had a great time getting to know one another without relying on our cell phones. It was a (really) hard goodbye though, and a hellish trip back for Steph. Her buses broke down what must've been a record number of times, and men kept hassling her. (This can be a pretty serious issue for women in Tanzania, unwanted male attention. It seems to be more sedate here in Bukoba than other places, especially large cities. Sometimes behavior like that ruins the image you have of Tanzanians being such friendly folk.)

After she headed home, I came down with a little gut problem that rendered me immobile for about a week. The worst part was that I first got hit on the same day Steph left. Turned into a pretty bad day for me. What day was that? September 11th. I'll leave the irony at the door. One last thing- I have been trying to post a lot of pictures, and I have more. Keep an eye on my pictures page to be amazed.