Personality Blog

Just stop in and enjoy a Coca Cola out in the middle of the bush country!


A few names that have been painstakingly painted onto daladalas and

stores here in Arusha and around (I did not make any of them up, I swear).

Daladalas:

1. Sox

2. Law Enforcement

3. Sean Combs

4. Pablo

5. Spiritial Healing

6. Twista

7. Best Wishes

8. Dreams

9. Sir Jonathan

10. Livestock (which is how you feel when you ride a daladala)

11. Led Zeppelin/New York

12. Ice Cube

13. Tupac

14. Watch Out! Black Street!

15. Taliban

16. Guantanamo (who'd want to willingly get on that daladala?!?)

17. Cupcake

Shops:

1. Personality Garden

2. Personality Grocery

3. Bingo Bar

4. Las Vegas Bar

5. Texas Inn

6. Bugjet

7. Small Boys Butchery

8. Hebrew Snack Bite (my personal favorite)

There are many more that I wished I'd jotted down, but you get the idea. I really, really enjoyed this aspect of Tanzania-there was always something interesting for me to read!

Wherever you go

Of course wherever you go, you bring all those close to your heart with you. I have been thinking about what different people would enjoy here in Tanzania and what I wish they could see. My mom would love the girls and love to teach them, she would also love the landscape and no doubt be painting like a madman, or woman! My dad would like the whole experience, but one thing he would really love are the birds here. He loves to watch the birds at home and he would be amazed at the abundance and colorful variety of the birds in Tanzania. My brother and fam would most likely enjoy a safari and would have loved Kendwa beach in Zanzibar (no water-skiing though, sorry John!). My friends (sorry to lump you all together!) would enjoy the whole crazy experience—it would be so fun to experience this with them all, we definitely would have had fun in Zanzibar!

When I think about what I have enjoyed the most, and there are many things I have enjoyed, the students are at the top of the list. Today I showed them pictures (in the computer lab, projected by an LCD projector connected to my laptop!) from my time here in Tanzania and also some pictures from home. They were so excited and thrilled. They loved seeing pictures of themselves and laughed and laughed. They got excited to see pictures of Tony and missed him very much. They were extremely interested to see some pictures of my students at Central, my family, and friends and of course: John Ya Ya. I enjoyed myself thoroughly. They are truly wonderful girls and I have been extremely privileged to spend these months with them. We have learned so much together and I will miss them terribly when I leave in one week. Above is my favorite candid photo; Nasianda (the one making a funny face on the left) is just as funny in person as she is in this picture!

A few of my favorite things

1. The custom and ritual of morning chai at 10:30 am each morning. The chai is hot, sweet, and milky. It is so nice to have a break in the middle of the morning with my teaching colleagues. Schools in the U.S. should adopt this practice at once.

2. When people knock at the door they say, Hodi! and the person inside answers, Karibu! (you are welcome, please come in) Such a welcoming and warm feeling.

3. The way the faces of the Maasai people transform when they smile. At rest their faces are very stoic. When they smile, the smile lights up their whole face and shines on you: the lucky recipient. I have never seen such beautiful smiles in my life.

4. In the afternoon when you meet others you say, Pole (polay). This means sorry. In this case you are saying that you are sorry they have had a long day of work. You can also say pole if you see someone carrying a big load, or working hard. This is a caring greeting, to acknowledge your hard work. It is immensely encouraging.

5. This week I handed out a photocopy of the English parts of speech to each student for them to keep. I felt like I was giving out college scholarships or something! I was surprised at how extremely excited they became when they realized they could keep the paper; saying thank you in English, Kiswahili, and Kimaasai! In the U.S., half of my students would have left their papers on the desk or on the floor. I even received a You are a very good teacher! Amazing.

6. In Kiswahili you words generally end with a vowel sound. So its difficult for students to say, for example, road or tent. They would say road-ee or tent-ee. So I love that when I tell them they will have a test they all repeat, Test-ee? Test-ee? Ah, if you cant find humor in that, youre just not trying.

7. All of the random wildlife that just becomes a part of life here. Roosters, chickens, dogs, cats, donkeys, goats, sheep, cows, spiders, huge insects, and so on.

8. The crazy weather: one minute hot and sunny, the next a complete downpour.

9. The magnificent landscape: the Monduli mountains, Lashaine, Mt. Meru, the fields, trees, hills, and valleys. Everything is beautifully green from the rains.

10. How loving and warm the students are. They get excited when they see me every time. Mrs. Remple! Mrs. Remple! How are you? Where are you going?

11. The wry sense of humor of the Tanzanians.

12. The samosas, chocolate cake, and internet access at the Patisserie in Arusha. (In that order!)

13. The coffee shakes at McMoodys in Arusha.

14. The winegum candies at Shoprite in Arusha.

15. My alarm clock of sunrise and hearing the water rushing into the pipes plus the ever-present roosters.

16. The daily practice of respecting your elders. When you meet an elder you must greet them with the word: Shikamoo (may I kiss your feet a million times). They respond: Marahaba (only once or twice). It is nice, no?

17. Greeting. For example when you are walking down the road and you see a complete stranger you might have a conversation that goes like this: Hujambo. Sijambo. Habari za asubuhi? Safi. Na we we? Salaama, asante. Kwaheri. In Tanzania, you must greet everyone you meet absolutely. It gets tiring, but it forces you to interact with those around you. You must actually SEE your neighbor and interact with them even just in passing. This makes you part of a community, whether you like it or not!

18. That you can buy fresh bread for the equivalent of $.60 and get a weeks supply of fresh vegetables for around a dollar. Yum.

19. Drinking coke from glass bottles and returning the bottle when finished to be recycled.

20. How every child you meet, once they see you are a mzungu (white folk), say loudly, Good Morning, even if it is late afternoon.

21. The snake park for burgers, beer, fellowship, water fill-up; and the occasional view of snakes, crocodiles, and Tonys favorite: a vulture.

22. Jean and Marv who have taken excellent care of us.

When the rooster crows at the break of dawn...

Life in Tanzania would be strangely empty without the constancy of roosters and their obnoxious crow. Wherever you go in Tanzania, roosters are there. Monduli, Arusha, Dar es Salaam, Zanzibar…roosters live in all these places. As a westerner who did not grow up around roosters, I always foolishly believed that roosters literally crowed at the break of dawn to wake everyone up and that was it. Ha-ha-ha. What a fairy tale that is! In truth, roosters like to be quiet for maybe a few short hours sometime between 12 pm and 4 am. Around 4:30 am (or sometimes quite earlier), far before the crack of dawn, when it is still completely dark, the roosters begin. Soon you learn to sleep through the cacophony. Roosters live to make a fuss. Once they start, they do not stop and spend the rest of the day cock-a-doodle-doodling at the top of their considerably loud lungs. I have been in the middle of an English class, in the dining hall, and been rudely interrupted by an unbelievably loud cock-a-doodle-do. Needless to say, that never happened to me at Central High. A rooster is the ultimate ridiculous macho male. They strut around and make a huge ruckus and bother everyone and love every minute of it. Although they are annoying, I still can’t help but laugh when I hear them, just for the sheer amazement at the intensity of a rooster’s crow. Every single time they crow they really give it their all. I’ve often wondered if they get sick of themselves and their compulsion to crow. I know I would. The rooster pictured above has his home at a boma (Masai home) that Tony and I visited a couple of weeks ago. He was quite handsome and moving quite quickly, hence, difficult to photograph.

Rain

The rain keeps coming down. For the past five or six years there have been no short rains in Tanzania. The short rains are usually for about a month or two in October to December. When we arrived it was quite dry and dusty, but about two weeks into our time it began to rain. We have had many beautiful sunny days, but many days and nights of rain as well. In the city, you don’t really think too much about the rain. Maybe your shoes get wet and you get damp. Here, there is MUD. It cakes to an unbelievable extent on all of your shoes and they become very, very heavy. Also, because you must dry your laundry outside, it is at times very difficult to get your clothes dry. You must be very sneaky and beat the rain!

For those of you who don’t know, Tony has just headed back to the states and he wrote to me about a mud adventure he had on the way to Nairobi to catch his plane. Here is his story:

"the road was flooded an hour into the trip, so after thinking about the situation for a half hour our driver decided to follow some other coaster buses and take an off road route around the flood. except that he went head into another flooded area and totally got stuck. watched him enlist a bunch of dudes to rock the bus while he tried to back out and instead sink deeper into the muddy water. then he got a dude with a truck to tie up and pull him out, but just sank even deeper. apparently never occurred to him that the bus never moved in any direction but down. I was mostly just curious to know how long was gonna pass until he called for another bus or sent us with someone else. The show lasted another half an hour and then he put me on a Bobby Tours bus, which I took the rest of the way. the driver drove like a bat outta hell and we made good time, which was actually kind of a bummer for me. I enjoyed
watching the countryside a lot more than the airport. the best part of the trip was seeing a baboon (!!!!!!!) crossing the road ahead of us. we passed by it and I got a pretty good view of it. funny that it took me two months to finally see a monkey, and then the motherload. pretty great."

On the drive here, we had some crazy moments ourselves on the muddy track from the school into Monduli. Thank God for 4 wheel drive.

On the other hand, I am very glad for the farmers and pastoralists here; this rain makes the cows and goats very happy as well. Without the rains the land dries up and the people suffer. These other minor complaints are nothing next to the blessing that rain is for the land and the people. I wish you could experience the beauty of Monduli. Even in the rain.

The Gurlzz

Pre-form C Class

Pre-form B Class

Pre-form A Class

These photos were taken today of the three pre-form classes. Altogether, 78 girls! I have finally memorized all of their names, but it has taken me nearly two months to do so! We enjoy their personalities, but it is hard work for sure. So much energy to put out and take in. And there are discouraging moments too. For example, Tony spent a solid week with one group going over and over how to say numbers in English and how to write expanded forms. He then gave a test and the results were not good. Bummer for everyone involved. As for me, I gave a test which asked for a list of English parts of speech, and one girl wrote "ouch" as a part of speech. Sigh. But overall, it is rewarding to be with these girls who are so loving, warm, funny, charming, and at times downright hilarious.

Zanzibar

As you can see, Kendwa beach in Zanzibar is nzuri sana; very beautiful. The sands are pure white, the water a glorious blue and completely clear and warm. Ah, it was paradise. We went snorkeling for $10 each and saw numerous interesting sea life and rode in a dhow. Stonetown in Zanzibar was also very interesting and we had fun wandering around the narrow streets, getting completely turned around. We also ate the unique and tasty Zanzibar Pizza at the Forodhani Gardens: pastry filled with ground meat, spices, veggies, and egg then fried=yum. Overall, a vacation that was well worth the 10 hour bus ride plus 3 hour ferry ride each way. (I think...) I would like to write more about it, but this time pictures will have to suffice. (Check my flicker slideshow on your left for more Zanzibari pics.)

More Whitman

"Expression of speech...
in what is written or said
forget not that silence
is also expressive,

that anguish as hot as the hottest
and contempt as cold as the coldest
may be without words,

that the true adoration
is likewise without words
and without kneeling."

-Walt Whitman
From Great Are The Myths

Daladala

As promised, pictures of the public transport here, the "daladala". In the one to the right, imagine 10 or more people packed in, just in that section of the van! It is an experience! And then imagine 20 or 30 total packed into the van! This one pictured has a nice soft seat between the front two seats, but on the return trip, I was lucky enough to sit on a hard divider, up high between the seats, praying I wouldn't whack my head on the windshield! And Tony was jammed in a tiny seat, right by the door, with people crammed and crowded all around him, including a Maasae woman with a rooster under her arm. And still the hustler on the van keeps shouting "Monduli, Monduli" to pack yet more people in....Unbelievable and richly bizarre to travel on public transport here!

The Adventures of Ol' Gap Tooth

On the way to Amsterdam, I stupidly used my teeth to try to open a package of cheese. The package had clear instructions to “tear hear”. However, in my infinite stupidity, I decide to bite into the plastic, and “pop!” out comes my false tooth. So, in Amsterdam we realize we cannot get it fixed. So I scare people away with my gap-toothed smile. (See first picture below!) I’m sure no-one believed I was an American, because what American would go around without a tooth! Maybe they thought I was British or Dutch! So we arrive at the school on a Friday. Jean and Marv, (our friends here, who used to be our professors at LBI, now long term missionaries here at MGLSS) advised me to go to Arusha on that following Monday to try to get it fixed there. I say fine, I’ll take the Dala Dala. This is the public transportation that everyone takes here. It costs 1000 schillings one way, which in American dollars is less than one dollar. So I get up very early and walk into Monduli, the closest village to the girls’ school, and catch a Dala Dala into Arusha. (I will take a picture of the Dala Dala, as soon as I can, so that you can see one; for now you will have to imagine one for yourself.) Imagine a van, like a VW van, with four bench seats packed into the back. Imagine cramming your big, Norwegian-American frame into a tiny space with your knees pushing painfully against the back of the next bench seat. Then, imagine 20-30 other people crowding into the van after you. Some are sitting on the bench with you (4-5 folks per tiny bench) and some (5-10) are standing, crouched up near the door. Imagine this unbelievably overloaded van, careening on a pot-hole ridden road, pulling over to let people on and off as you ride the hour long Dala, Dala journey from Monduli to Arusha-town. Once I arrived, I navigated through the streets with no signage, armed with my map, and with some local help, arrived at the Selian Lutheran Hospital to see the dentist there. After a wait and morning devotions (!), I was ushered into the dentist, who very kindly told me he could not help me because he did not have the proper equipment. He directed me to another dentist and told me to take a taxi. I walked out, intimidated by the idea of finding a taxi. What if I hired a false taxi and was robbed? Well, I stopped at a hotel, and found a taxi. He drove me faithfully to the required place. I then walked into the dentist. I paid 20000 Tsh up front (approximately $20 USD) and then went into the dentist. She was very nice. I showed her my broken bridge. She said I should really get an implant (okay--I've now been told by many dentists, I will get an implant at my earliest opportunity!) but she would not spend any more money on this bridge. She then by hook and by crook, using filling materials, put my bridge back into my mouth. It cost only $90 USD, which is a steal! You could never get that done in the States for that price! It has now lasted two weeks, and I am being EXTREMELY careful to not bite with it. I hope it will last the rest of my time here. Here is a picture of me with my bridge back in my mouth:

But the adventure was not over yet! I went to get a Dala Dala back to Monduli. I had been told to make sure to ask the DRIVER: Monduli??? I asked people on the Dala Dala and they said, " Yes, yes, Monduli" The van itself had Monduli written on the front of the van...Needless to say, I soon found myself out in the middle of nowhere, in some village that was clearly NOT Monduli. I was transferred unceremoniously to another Dala Dala, which sat in this place for a very long time. I realized that knowing how to say hello, how are you, good-bye is not really helpful when you are in a jam. So I sat there, praying that I would get back to some familiar place unharmed. I kept hearing "Mzungu" (white person) blah, blah, blah...Ha-ha-ha...Very disconcerting. However, finally, we returned back to Arusha, a man put me on the correct Dala Dala, I made sure with the driver: MONDULI!!! And eventually, I was back to home sweet home. What a day!

First Post from Tanzania

Here we are at the MaaSae Girls School, Monduli, Tanzania, East Africa! Pictured here are our students! We have around 70+ students in our classes currently, still waiting for a few more that will show up! There is now way to describe all of the many things we are learning and experiencing each day. We are both rather exhausted, and so far the idealized dream of "writing" each evening has NOT materialized. In the evening we are busy making dinner, cleaning up, heating water, preparing for the next day and then falling into bed. So, until we get a better handle on the daily aspects of life, our work, and so on...I believe I will not be accomplishing all that I had hoped! But I am living--and this is very rewarding, and at times painfully exhausting and disorienting. I am missing my home, my family, my friends, my dog...I think of everyone very often. We are well and working hard! I will blog whenever I have the chance!

The Sonnets to Orpheus: First Series

15

Wait...that tastes good...it's already bolting.
...Just a little music, a tapping, a hum--
Girls, you girls who are silent and warm,
dance the taste of the fruit you've been tasting.

Dance the orange. Who can forget it,
how, drowning in itself, it refuses
its own sweetness. You've possessed it.
Exquisite, it's been transmuted into you.

Dance the orange. Discharge the warmer
landscape out of you so the ripe will glisten
in their native breezes! Glowing, strip

perfume from perfume. Become sisters
with the pure, resistant rind,
the juice that fills the happy fruit!

~Rainer Maria Rilke

Seattle and Whitman

"I resist anything better than my own diversity,
And breathe the air and leave plenty after me,
And am not stuck up, and am in my place.

The moth and the fisheggs are in their place,
The suns I see and the suns I cannot see are in their place,
The palpable is in its place and the impalpable is in its place."

"I play not a march for victors only...I play great marches for conquered and slain persons. Have you heard that it was good to gain the day?

I also say it is good to fall...battles are lost in the same spirit in which they are won."

"It is for the wicked just the same as the righteous...I make appointments with all,

I will not have a single person slighted or left away."

"Do you guess I have some intricate purpose? Well I have...for the April rain has, and the mica on the side of a rock has.

Do you take it I would astonish?

Does the daylight astonish? or the early redstart twittering throught the woods?

Do I astonish more than they?

This hour I will tell things in confidence,

I might not tell everybody, but I will tell you."

"Encompass worlds but never try to encompass me,

I crowd your noisiest talk by looking toward you.

Writing and talk do not prove me,

I carry the plenum of proof and every thing else in my face,

With the hush of my lips I confound the topmost skeptic.

I think I will do nothing for a long time but listen,

And accrue what I hear into myself....and let sounds contribute toward me."

~from Song of Myself by Walt Whitman

(A note: last summer I spent a week immersing myself in Walt Whitman's Song of Myself in Providence, RI; it was illuminating and inspiring and heart rending. In Washington last week, while visiting dear friends, I found him again. If you've never read WW because he technically is an old white dead guy, you should put that aside. He is magnificent. I know he can seem unbelievably egotistic, but he is the opposite, his great love just rolls down over us all from the page. I typed here some parts of SOM that I was just reading. Love. For those that want more concrete reporting, I may try that later on, but you can see recent pictures if you click on the flickr badge to your right.)

One Word At A Time

A quote I must share from the novel, Ahab's Wife, by Sena Jeter Naslund (a wonderful, absorbing, tale):


"She sat still, I thought and yet she travelled. (...) Writing a book, I thought, which men often do, but women only rarely, has the posture of sewing. One hand leads and the other hand helps. And books, like quilts, are made one word at a time, one stitch at a time."