popcorn or cake?

First, some more pictures... This is the front view of our house, and our garden off to the side and shown below...we just harvested the corn -- well, we didn't, but Maggie did -- and we are trying to figure out what other veggies we could plant, and if they would grow...
The garden...
Using the kerosene stove in the kitchen -- on the days without power, it's quite a process to cook our meals because we only have the one stove.
The group: Brendan, Christy, me, and Aleya with our Swahili teacher, Mama Simiono. She invited us over to her house for lunch last weekend. I think that's her son's zebra on the wall.
Our living room/dining room/classroom. We have posters of Swahili grammar and vocabulary all over the walls. Our last lesson was last Friday, so now we are on our own...

We are into our fourth week here and our Swahili is coming along. We have learned so much, now it's just a matter of memorizing it all and practicing with the people. Right now, speaking is a group effort. Between the four of us, we can usually get our point across. We're getting better at the market, and now that we can speak more Swahili and are learning how much things actually cost, we're getting ripped off less.

I still do not know where I will be volunteering. We have seen many NGOs around Moshi now and this week we are going back to Arusha to see some orgs there, as well. I still think I want to stay in Moshi, but I am trying to stay open to all my options. We (volunteers) have started to take matters more into our own hands, as far as finding a placement. Sometimes the system just needs a little nudging and exploring. At this point, there are two organizations I would be interested in working with the most -- with one, the choice is up to me, and with the other it's more up to them and whether or not they think they would have work for me to do. So, we'll see. We are supposed to start working sometime at the beginning of August, so things should come together soon.

Little by little, we are getting to know Tanzanian culture and trying our best to adapt. The other night we had an amusing experience eating out. We were craving something different, but familiar. Our guide book mentioned a place that doubles as a restaurant and vocational training school and serves set menu, 3-course meals -- and Thursdays, it's Mexican food. So, we piled into a taxi, ready for rice and beans, maybe a burrito, a taco, who knows? We were, however, the only ones there (for the entire meal) and apparently they only cook what they have available in the kitchen that particular night: beefsteak and chips (fries, to us Americans). We were disppointed, but we figured it still meant we didn't have to cook or do the dishes, so we'd give it a try. We were starting to wonder if there would still be courses when the woman came out and asked us, "you want popcorn or cake?" We just kind of stared at her for a minute, confused and wondering if we had heard her correctly. She repeated it a few more times and that was, indeed, what she asked us. So, we figured we'd try both -- maybe the translation was different from the actual dish and we just didn't know what we were getting. But what came out was exactly what it sounded like: two bowls of freshly popped corn and two slices of cake. An unconventional appetizer, but who doesn't enjoy hot popcorn and dessert? We did, unfortunately, end up paying extra for it. It really kind of sums up how we've been feeling with the cultural adjustment lately -- everything is new and kind of novel, so you're enthusiastic and naive and willing to try it...but a lot of the time, you just end up confused and ripped off. We're easy targets right now, but we will learn.

Pictures

Here are a few pics of our house and the view of Kili from our front yard. I will post more later when I have the patience...

Kidogo kidogo...

Things are gradually starting set in now and Moshi is starting to feel more and more like where I want to be. When we got back from Arusha earlier this week, it definitely felt like coming home. I have finally started unpacking and arranging my room, putting up pictures and making my own space. The four of us are starting to get really comfortable with each other and regularly have meals together and wander around town. It's looking like we will all probably stay here in Moshi -- for one thing, we haven't seen too much of what Arusha has to offer us in terms of work, and also because...life just seems better here. Maybe it's because there are less expats and volunteers in Moshi and so we feel more needed and maybe even a little special. I just feel like I would like it better here.

Orientation continues to be both interesting and frustrating. We are learning a lot, very quickly -- especially Swahili. It's been about 8 days since we started and we're already overwhelmed by how much we still have to learn, but our teacher, Mama Simiono (an adorable grandmother-type), and others that we practice on say that we have already learned a lot and are further along than they would have expected. It's a fun language and relatively easy, in terms of pronunciation and grammar, but it definitely has its peculiarities and there is a lot to remember. We have now visited about 6 or so NGOs here in Moshi and still nothing has really grabbed me, but there are few places I can see myself working. They seem to have some good programs here, but with the usual problems -- no funding, cultural and religious obstacles, government bureaucracy, etc. There will definitely be a lot to learn, whatever I decide to do. We have been a bit frustrated by the fact that we aren't seeing more options, but we have to keep in mind that things take a little more time here and that not every organization wants to have foreign volunteers. Tutaona (we will see)...

Life in general is good. We're getting used to living with limited electricity -- they shut it off every Monday for the entire day, so we have to boil water and cook using a kerosene stove -- boiling our drinking water, shopping for groceries at the local markets and cooking our daily meals, hand washing our clothes, etc. We go to the market about every other day to buy fresh vegetables, fruit, and whatever else we might need. Mostly we've been living on spaghetti and homemade sauce, rice with beans or stir-fried veggies, and lots and lots of fresh fruit. We've started learning how to make local dishes like ugali -- the staple here, a kind of thick porridge-like substance made our of maize flour (it's hard to describe and it's pretty much tasteless, but you eat it with a variety of flavorful dishes and sauces). Our next goal is chapati, a fried bread similar to nan. It's excellent.

We have a housekeeper, Maggie, that comes every day to clean house, do the dishes, burn the trash, etc. She also provides a degree of security for the house during the day when we're not there (we have nightguards that watch the house while we're sleeping...). She has been working at the Visions house for years and her pay comes out of volunteers' pockets, so it was our decision whether or not to "keep" her. If we didn't want to, we would essentially have to fire her and this way we are able to provide her with a regular income that she would not otherwise have. She brings her 3 year-old daughter Karin with her every day, and we have all completely fallen for her. She helps us with our Swahili and it's exciting to try it out on her. She's pretty forgiving of our mistakes. I think we will learn a lot from her.

Unfortunately, we haven't seen a lot of Mt. Kili. As the locals say, it's a shy mountain and only shows itself when it feels like it (especially this time of year)...the rest of the time it hides behind the clouds. It's funny, you wouldn't even know it was there and then a clear day comes along and bam, it's right there in front of you.

In other news, I'm sick...but only with a cold, fortunately. That, I can handle. I will try to get some pictures up here soon...

Badai (later).

Settling in

I've been here for almost a week now and everything is still very new and surreal. The four of us are settling into our house in Moshi, although it might only be three of us staying there. We still have the opportunity to change our minds about whether we want to live and work in Moshi or Arusha -- a larger, more international city about an hour away. We're actually in Arusha right now, checking things out...I'm still not sure where I'll want to be, but the quiet, easy-going lifestyle of Moshi is getting more and more appealing. The house there is really nice -- four bedrooms, two bathrooms with a shower and a bathtub, hot water, relatively reliable electricity, and an incredible view of Mt. Kili right from our front yard. We fall asleep to the sounds of our neighbors singing prayers and conducting exorcisms (yes, that's right), and we are awaken sometimes by the 5 am Muslim call to worship. A lot of new sounds to get used to... We've begun our Swahili lessons -- about four hours a day for the next couple weeks. It's coming along slowly and it's going to be a long road, but it's a neat language and I'm excited to be able to speak it. In Moshi, people don't speak as much English, so I think I'd learn it much faster if I decide to stay there. We've begun to check out the various NGOs here, as well, to see which one we might want to work with. We've visited some interesting ones, but so far nothing that really calls to me...but, we'll see. I'm trying to stay flexible and keep an open mind. Really, I'd be willing to work just about anywhere, as long as they could use me. It's a beautiful country and so far the people are very welcoming and friendly -- especially when you try out your Kiswahili. It's still hard to grasp the idea of being here for an entire year...right now that seems like such a long time. But I think things will start feeling more like home over the next few weeks.