Exhausted. Overwhelmed. Satisfied. Anxious. Curious. Unsure.
Happy.
It’s hard to say how I feel right now. All of the above for
sure, although it is a strange mix of emotions. We’ve been in Iringa for the
past two days and training has definitely taken off! We have 2 hours of
kiswahili lessons every morning, which are quite intense! But I do feel like
I’m learning a lot! My brain runs in slow motion when trying to think and
respond to questions, but I’m sure with continued practice it will become more
natural. It’s a very logical language to study, so hopefully by the end of the
year I’ll be confident in Swahili! (not necessarily fluent…just confident.)
Then after our language lessons, we have different sessions
led by the three women who are extending their volunteer commitment. It has
been extremely helpful having insight from them since they are speaking
straight from their experiences in a Tanzanian classroom! I must say again that
I am quite excited to get into the classroom again and to start teaching!
Although today we were discussing difficult topics and assessing our personal
expectations for the year versus the realities of life, community and school in
Tanzania. Ultimately we just need to keep an open mind, laugh a lot, and find
constructive ways to deal with our inevitable frustrations. (I’m thinking a lot
of running and reading will happen; while I also might learn to hand sew a
quilt from traditional Tanzanian fabrics. Fun stuff right?)
Come evening, we’ve been able to do our wash and explore the
town. Yesterday I experienced hand-washing my laundry for the first time, and
let me tell you, I will never complain about doing laundry in America again.
It’s a workout! You need to scrub your clothes and carry heavy buckets of water
and ring them out and hang them up to dry. And then you need to hope you don’t
get bugs or other nasty things so you leave it sit in the sun all day. (and if
you’re like me, forget about it so it will stay out for the second night in a
row now…hopefully no critters take my clothes!). Tonight was more exciting
though, we were able to split into smaller groups and explore the bus station
and fresh produce market! Normally, this would be extremely overwhelming for
me, but I am starting to feel more confident about going out and speaking with
people, and I actually thought tonight was fun! There was so much variety of
produce, from avocado (parachichi) to potatoes (viazi) to bananas (ndizi), and
I’m hoping that the rumors hold true about the good food we’ll find at our
site!
These have been two very long, filled days, and I think a good
night’s rest will do me well. So I will leave you with one more Kiswahili
phrase: “Lala salama”…sleep peacefully.
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