Just breathe.

September 15, 2008 7:58 PM

It appears from the date on my last post that I let five days slip away without blog documentation. Time flies…Just 24 hours from now will mark 3 weeks since I was on a plane flying over the Atlantic ocean and I sit here waiting for the enormity of that reality to set in. But for now I am ok just going with the flow.

The title of this post is one that I find myself saying periodically: when I am nervous, when I am excited or when I am in a rush, for some examples. Just breathe. I suppose I must have learned this along the way, through Yoga and Pilates classes and self-care discussions. The amazing thing is that something so simple works so well.

Today I am saying this mantra because I have agreed to move into my new house tomorrow! Tomorrow! So exciting and nerve wracking at the same time. I went to the house today and agreed to paying 3 months up front, and that I would bring a contract tomorrow to sign. I now have a huge shopping list of minor things that I will need: sheets, towels, plates, mosquito net etc. For my new house! We even tested the tv, oven and stove today and it looks like I am all set in that department.

So now I will backtrack to the events that preceded my joyous news.

Last Friday was a very busy, yet slightly unproductive day. I got up early to catch the Mkombozi shuttle toward Arusha at 7:30am. The ride was very short because Abel dropped Amani and myself off at a school which is located just west of Moshi but down a rough rode to the south. We waited quite a while at the school for the teacher with whom we were to meet. She finally showed up and the meeting was very short. She had been trained along with 3 other teachers at this school in the Non-Formal Education program that Mkombozi uses and we were there for feedback on the training and what she had applied successfully within her classroom. Unfortunately, a student from this school had just passed away a few days earlier from Malaria and the entire school was shut down. Students ran around the yard playing and chatting. The teacher shared that the other teachers who were also trained were not there that day and the whole school would be attending the student's funeral.

Along the 3km walk back to the main road, Amani explained to me that this student that has passed away was set to write his Standard Seven exams this week to gain entrance into secondary school, and that his younger brother had been killed just a year earlier in a car accident. It was a very sad story and I was left wondering how often this happens. Amani asked me if we had malaria in Canada and when I replied that we do not, he said "oh because there are no mosquitos", so I attempted to explain that we do have skeeters but that they do not carry malaria. I'm not sure he understood.

After the long walk to the main road, Amani helped me flag down a dalla dalla (cramped minibus) so I could get to Arusha for my noon meeting. The dalla dalla came and I was off on the road before I could even say good-bye or thank you to Amani. The ride to Arusha was long, as dalla dallas stop when ever there is "space". This dalla dalla probably by Canadian standards could have fit maybe 15 people, maybe. But there must have been over 30 at one point. We stopped at the side of one road, when I was already cramped between a young mother and her very cute baby, with a rather large woman on the other side, a teenage boy beside her and another young woman against the other window, The next thing I know there are about 7 people getting on, I have no idea where they went but there weren't any empty seats behind me and only 2 full rows in front.

After about an hour and a bit we arrived at the Arusha bus station where I was bombarded by "mzungu taxi?" I shook my head and replied "hapana asante" (no thank you) and called William to let him know I had arrived in town so he could send Abel to get me. I crossed the road to the Barclays bank and waited close enough to the guard that no one harassed me. Although at one point a teen came over and asked if I was ok. I told him I was and that I was just waiting for a friend to pick me up and he told me that the people working in the bank assumed I was in trouble because I was standing there. I looked around and realized there were no other white people in the very busy bustling bus station vicinity. Point taken.

Abel pulled up in good time and I jumped into the Mkombozi van off to our Arusha office. Only 15 minutes late for the meeting! Corey had come to our office to meet with William and I to discuss each of our roles for my placement and my learning plan & evaluation form. It was a very brief meeting because William had just found out that he needed to leave for Moshi by 1pm and if I wanted a reliable ride home I needed to go with him. I was ok with this because after all the rushed travel I was feeling very tired and welcomed the nice ride back. The meeting went well and it was decided we would all read over what I had written in my learning plan and keep on track with the projects we had already discussed. I walked Corey out to his car and we chatted a bit about my adjustment to Tanzania and Moshi and possible excursions in the future with the other volunteers.

The rest of the afternoon was spent in transit to Moshi, then waiting at various banks for William and Consul to do Mkombozi business. I did discover that Barclays is very easy for getting money out using my Canadian interac card but that Stanbic bank is not and Standard Chartered only has a Visa symbol on their machine so I didn't attempt it yet. Back at the office I went online to check my email and do some banking and saw that barely an hour after I was at the bank machine the withdrawal was already noted on my account with the exchange rate and no service charge yet! Excellent.

I had a relatively quiet Friday night because I knew that Saturday I was spending the day at Mkombozi helping with the mentoring program. In retrospect, helping may be the wrong word. I sat there all day trying to look alert and helpful, but it turned out the entire training was in Swahili. The mentors were very friendly and chatted with me in English on the breaks but otherwise I attempted to follow along with the "hero books" they were creating and from what I did understand they were impressive. All the mentors and "little brothers" were very captivated by the activities and I could tell they were passionate about what they were doing. One activity had them draw a picture of themselves then all the important people in their life surrounding them, another required a map of their community to be drawn. Today I borrowed Amani's notes and spent sometime on a Swahili-English website trying to understand all of the other activities. It was very helpful.

After spending all day Saturday sitting and being alert I was tired but couldn't imagine sitting around all night too, so I went home and dropped off my back pack then set off into town. Wow it was still very hot at 4pm, I was sweating by the time I reached the Coffee Shop. I had been excited to check out the Coffee Shop because I had heard that many volunteers hung out there and it was a great place to hook up for cheaper safaris etc. Unfortunately there were only 2 others there when I arrived, and one was leaving. She was very nice and told me that ordering inside was much faster than waiting for the waitress but then she was gone. The only other person there was a guy probably around my age who was sitting with his pack in the corner smoking and writing intensely in a notebook. I let him be and ordered a choccino and a tuna sandwich. It was great finally having a delicious coffee. I had been stuck with tea since there are no coffee shops near where I am living and tea is put out with breakfast every morning, but I do plan to hunt down some good instant Kilimanjaro coffee now that I will be required to make my own breakfasts. The tuna sandwich was quite disappointing though. It had been heated up and was gooey and messy with lettuce I was afraid to eat. I managed to get it down without too much of a mess then enjoyed the rest of my coffee and a 1.5 L bottle of water. All this for $4.50.

It was still too early to head home and I wanted to relax some more before heading back out into the heat so I went to my regular internet café and spent an hour on the slowest computer known to man, but managed to get some good chatting in , even if it did remind me that there are no sushi restaurants in Moshi (thanks Kendra! :) ). In this small town called Moshi, luck would have it that I was wandering out of the internet café when I ran into Mwono who had just returned to town after a hike up Kili. We figured out that he had included the country code in the number he gave me and it was actually callable. Good to know! I wound up taking a taxi home because it was dark by the time I had finished with the internet.

That night I had a bit of a surprise. I was in my room catching up on emails - or typing them to send later in the week - when there was a knock at my door. Cuthbert wanted to see if I still wanted to go clubbing. OOPS! I had forgotten we had discussed going out earlier in the week. I also had assumed a group of us from the lodge would be going (me, and all the random guys that always seem to be around but are very friendly and harmless). I feel bad, but by this point I was changed into my comfy clothes and was very tired after the day at work and walk into town. I told him another day would be better and I was sorry I had forgotten. He did look sad, but I would rather play it on the safe side and not go clubbing with one guy I sort of know because he works where I am staying!

Sunday I attempted to relax and enjoy this little piece of paradise but after sitting around reading Vanity Fair by 2pm I needed to get out. It seemed to be a cool day so I put on a long sleeved shirt and grabbed my bag in case I came across a grocery store along the way. Boy was I wrong! It was very hot outside the lodge walls. I guess the shade was deceiving because the sun was very hot and I quickly wished I had instead chosen to go to the YMCA for a swim. I walked along one of the back main roads to town and managed to find a shop that did international faxing.

My voter registration has been sent! This is just a side note that I have faxed my form so I can vote in the Canadian election here in Tanzania. I know I have said it to some people already, but if I can vote from here….there are no excuses for you not to vote there! I even received an email from the department of foreign affairs offering to help if I needed:

Message from the Chief Electoral Officer of Canada

Subject: Outside Canada? You can vote by mail!

Did you know that a federal election is being held on Tuesday, October 14, 2008 and that if you meet certain conditions, you can vote when you are temporarily living or travelling outside Canada?


If you are a Canadian citizen, you can vote by special mail-in ballot if you:
· are 18 or older on election day
and
· have a permanent residence in Canada, but are away from your electoral district during the election period
or
· have resided outside Canada for less than five consecutive years (or longer if you meet certain employment-based criteria)

For more information on eligibility criteria and how to register and vote by special mail-in ballot, go to the Elections Canada Web site at http://www.elections.ca/ and (click the icon « I'm Mailing Mailing My Vote ! » ). Special ballot application forms are also available by contacting Elections Canada at 1-800-463-6868 (toll-free in Canada and the United States) or 613-993-2975 (from anywhere in the world - collect calls accepted) or by visiting the nearest Canadian mission.

Register early! Your completed application form and supporting documentation must be received at Elections Canada in Ottawa by 6:00 p.m., Ottawa time, on Tuesday, October 7, 2008. You are responsible for allowing enough time for us to send you a special ballot voting kit and for you to return it before the deadline of 6:00 p.m., Ottawa time, on election day, on Tuesday, October 14, 2008. According to the Canada Elections Act, your vote cannot be counted if it is received late.

Sorry, I couldn't help it… where was I?

Oh right. So I spend Sunday afternoon faxing and then some more time at the internet café. I really can't see the downside in walking an hour into town to spend a dollar using the internet for an hour. Its great exercise, fresh air and facebooking!

I had some daylight left after the internet so I thought I would check out the Indotaliano restaurant across the street I had heard about. I ordered a chicken/pineapple pizza which was very tasty with the type of crust I am used to and washed it down with a Coke. I definitely drink more coke here than at home, but it tastes good and is refreshing for only 50 cents usually versus buying a giant bottle of water which may not be very cold.

Sitting at a table nearby were two girls and a guy. The two girls were from England and either Canada or the states I am guessing from their accents and the guy was a local. It was amusing to listen in on parts of their conversation. I think the two girls are working in Arusha but one was born in Kenya. They were plotting ways to stay in Tanzania after their work terms were over so their families would not make them move home. The guy kept leaving the table to answer his cell phone.

Before heading home I was faced with a somewhat familiar dilemma: tipping. I have read that in Tanzania you would tip 10%, but when your bill is less than 5,000 shillings and you only have 5,000 shilling bills it is very hard to figure out what to tip. At the lodge I do not tip the guys because I see them every day and plan on giving them each a formal tip before leaving (tomorrow! Eep!). But for dinner I was faced with a bill for 7,500 shillings and only a 500 bill left over. I left the 500 realizing that was a very poor tip but also that it was that or nothing. I find it very awkward. There are bills in the denomination of 500, 1000, 2000, 5000 and 10,0000 then coins which I think come in 50, 100 and 200. If someone can figure out a good way to tip properly, please share….although I should add that it is very hard to get bills broken and I rarely have any change on me!

I spent the remainder of Sunday night hanging out with Isaac chatting about Canada and what I really don’t know. Did you know that we have had 22 Prime Ministers? I didn't. I'm a bad Canadian and had to google it today. If anyone reading this knows of a good, small, light paperback book on Canada please mail me a copy! I need to study up on Canadiana.

I also spent sometime chatting with a Swedish guy who is here and was able to summit Kilimanjaro the other day. Very cool. He is travelling alone and came back to Tanzania to conquer Kili because last year Kili conquered him. He asked me if I know who Mats Sundin is. Ha! That was an easy one. I did admit that I don’t actually watch hockey though. He's heading back home tomorrow so I think after I leave the lodge might be empty.

That brings me back to today. Monday. Today was fairly slow. I had anticipated either accompanying Amani to some schools for support group/research prep or going with Steven to the fostering training but I was unable to find Steven this morning and Amani had other work to catch up on. I spent most of the day reading journal articles about psychosocial support groups for children and youth who have experienced trauma and/or life on the streets. I also spent sometime reading up on the education system here since I will be working with some teens who have just written their Standard Seven exams. Somehow this took me all the way to five o'clock! Another day done.

So now I take a deep breath to end the day. Without knowing whether or not my new shower will be hot or have pressure, or cockroaches for that matter, I am going to enjoy the one I have for now then pack up what is left around me and appreciate another lights out before 10pm. Because I can.