Tanzanian Family Structure

June 28

Tanzanian family structure is very confusing sometimes.  Jon and I got our homestay family figured out quite easily.  But, many of our fellow trainees are even today still trying to figure out who is who and how they’re related.  One problem is that most people just refer to any relation as “brother” or “sister” when in reality they are cousins.  There’s no real term for aunt or uncle.  Older people are just referred to as grandma or grandpa, even if they really aren’t your grandma or grandpa.  In our home, even our servants were introduced to us as our sisters.  So, as you can see, it can get incredibly confusing.  My mama’s sister and niece are currently staying with us.  I asked mama how long they will be here for.  Mama told me that in Tanzanian culture, it’s incredibly rude to ask your guest how long they will stay for.  So, your guests come and stay as long as they need/want.  So, we refer to Mama’s sister as mama, too.  Her sister is a born-again preacher who travels to various places of worship to preach.  Mama’s niece is 19 and finishing up her last year of high school.  She plans to attend university next year.  She speaks wonderful English and is very sweet.  My host mama has an infectious laugh.  She is always laughing and when she learns something new, she makes this great “aahhhh haa!”  I love hearing it.  On the other hand, her sister is very reserved and soft spoken.  I really enjoy her company.  She is a preacher and seems very peaceful.  Her presence helps me calm down after a stressful day or aggravating moment.  Unfortunately, she leaves tomorrow to go preach.  My host sister works 15 hour days, so I sadly have not had an opportunity to get to know her.  All in all, things are going pretty good.  Our training group has arranged for a hike this Sunday.  I am really looking forward to it!

First Day off

June 26

Today was our first day off from Peace Corps training.  It was fantastic.  Jon and I got about 10 hours of (interrupted sleep), but I still felt very rested when I woke up.  The anti-malarial pills that Peace Corps has us on gives me really bad dreams which wake me up, the cow gets milked and moos all morning wakes me up, the servants who are working wake me up, you get the idea.  It’s hard to get any uninterrupted sleep.  Mama taught us how to handwash our clothes today.  After this process, I decided that my clothes will stay cleaner longer.  It’s our first time doing any laundry since leaving the USA, so most of our clothes got a lot of use before washing.  But, I think I can make them stretch even longer.  It’s really not that bad of a process, but it’s time consuming.  After that, I took a really long bucket bath so I could shave my legs.  It’s not something that I really care if I do or don’t do, but I just wanted to feel some comfort.  Then, I helped mama make lunch.  She made us this dish last week for lunch and it’s my favorite one so far.  So, I asked to do it with her so I could write down the recipe.  I got it written down, and I’m psyched.  I can’t wait to try it on my own completely.  Then we had a very pleasant surprise which is why I didn’t get to the internet cafe like I had planned today.  A couple who stayed with my host family last year stopped by.  It was great to get to know them during the day.  They are a very young couple like Jon and I.  I really enjoyed their company and it was nice to be around a couple.  Maybe next week, I’ll take pictures of how to do laundry by hand to show you the process!

Frustrated

June 24, 2011

I’m starting to miss things.  I miss coffee, like real coffee.  Every now and then I get a mug of instant, but it’s terrible.  I am missing hot showers.  I am missing the internet and my friends.  I am missing variety in food.  I am missing looking cute in capris and a tank.  I’m missing toilets.  I want some ice cream and some chocolate.  I miss my privacy. It’s Friday night and it doesn’t feel that way at all.  It’s just like any other day now.  I still have training tomorrow and even if I didn’t, I would be awoken early by my surroundings.  On some positive news, I saw monkeys today.  They had blue balls.  They were climbing all over the lawn outside training and jumping up into trees.  It was pretty cool.  We are hoping to get a cell phone this weekend.  Also, I’m hoping to be able to post this up soon.  We’re also signed up to hike in two weeks.  I really am looking forward to that.  Jon is progressing much better at Swahili than I.  I am so happy for him, but frustrated with myself.  I just can’t remember as much.  Tonight, my host brother asked me why I don’t speak as much Swahili.  It’s really sad to me.  I hope I can find a way to lift my spirits soon. 

Training

June 23, 2011

Training is getting harder for me.  Not harder meaning I can’t understand the content, but super hard in terms of motivation and staying alert.  We’re exhausted, I’m exhausted.  I used to be able to get through the first half of the day okay.  Now I’m just tired all day.  It’s hard to concentrate on anything but wanting to be in a nice big hotel bed.  Our bed at our homestay is great, but it’s a really loud place.  It’s hard to get much sleep.  Mooster is up early and late.  Swahili is coming very terribly for me, I think.  The concepts are simple, but I am not having much opportunity to speak.  This evening after training, a group of us got some beers at a local bar.  It was so good to be around other trainees in a non-training setting.  It’s also nice because we discovered that this bar is really close and that there are 5 other trainees who are really close to us.  It was only about a 10 minute walk.  I am pleased to learn that.  Yesterday, Jon asked our host mama, “where can I play in the trash”?  He meant to ask “where can I put the trash”?  Mama laughed hysterically at him.  Other than that, things are just progressing as we’re all burning out.  We technically have a day off on Sunday, but it’s not. Our host mama will be teaching us lots of new things…

Dala Dala

June 22, 2011

I am going to highlight a dala dala today.  This is how I get to and from my training site every day.  It’s the preferred mode of public transportation within cities in Tanzania.  It’s basically an eleven passenger van that we use in the USA, but without any real transportation or safety laws, you’re usually crammed inside one with far more people.  On our first day using the dala dala to get to training, we counted 30 people inside of it.  You pay 300 shillings and it takes the same route.  It’s not really transportation in terms of like a “city bus”, but it is really efficient and gets you there quickly.  Someday, I’ll get a picture up.