SOCIAL (or whatever you wanna call it) UPDATE:
So what all has happened since my last post. It seems like so much, yet nothing at all. After I posted, we hurried back to good ol' Newala. A few volunteers came and stayed at my house. It was 3 girls and just one guy so we made popcorn and made him watched "Pride and Prejudice." And he loved every minute of it! So you might be asking "popcorn?" Well I amazingly found in my local market. So its not just an American movie must-have, its a world-wide phenomenon my friends! But it proved a little difficult to make. Kathryn and I were attempting this for the first time. By the end of this small task, there was popcorn all over the kitchen and Duck, the cat, was cowering under my cabinet after an unfortunate incident of Kathryn dropping a hot pot on her head. I have also been working really hard on my back courtyard. I "mowed" my grass using a machete type thing. Now that was a stress release if I've ever had one! I also de-bee'd my courtyard. There were tons of bee nests so I just used the heavy duty Africa bug spray and got rid of them...bwa ha ha!! Even broke up an old, rotting bench and fallen down tree. So now I love to lay in my hammock in my back yard and read. Pretty much the best thing ever. My dear Duck is proving to have a real awesome killer instinct. Her new favorite things are to eat cockroaches and catch and eat lizards. Recently, she even went after her first rat! I was putting a new bucket of water in my shower and suddenly a rat flies over my shoulder and lands in front of me. I turn to run, screaming (as usual), but Duck kicks it into savior mode and goes for the rat. Unfortunately it escaped out the drainage hole before she could get it. She then just sat there, crouched by the hole just beggin' that vermin to come back. Could not have been more thankful for her. One of these past weekends, I had to ban all volunteers from my house. I have people at my house almost every weekend, which I love for the most part, but I also like my personal time. So I declared it a "ME" weekend. It was glorious. I just read, watched movies, and visited people around my ville all weekend. Also, one of these weekends, a volunteer came to town to get her cat fixed. I got to hold the light and watch as the operation went down on the kitchen table. It was LEGIT. This last weekend, I went to Claire, another volunteer's village. One of her students has become my bestie and she roasted cashews and drew a picture for me! While there, my village played her village in soccer. I have to say that after years of playing, I have never seen a full game played with only about 2 of the players wearing shoes. My ville schooled hers, 7-2. GO NEWALA!
SCHOOL UPDATE:
Also since last time, NECTA results came out. If you aren't familiar with the Tanzanian school system, the NECTAs are the national exams that students take every two years. Well our results weren't so hot. We had over 100 students get 0's. Not exactly what we were shooting for. And apparently Mtwara region has the lowest average in all of Tanzania. So I guess there's nowhere to go but up? My school also got 2 new teachers!! AND...wait for it...they are both female and actually showed up! That's actually a pretty big deal. They moved into the duplex attached to mine so now whenever I scream when I encounter a new "house guest," they are entertained. Also, important info to know when teaching in Tanzania: when it is raining really hard, the metal roofs make it impossible for the students to hear so don't even try. Also, being Teacher on Duty, or TOD, is really not a fun job. It rotates around all the teachers and I had my turn. Not cool. You have to take care of all the school attendance, get there early and supervise students cleaning the school, write permissions for kids wanting to go home, blah, blah, blah. I now have a new respect for school secretaries. Other than that, teaching is going really well. I've had some discipline problems with my Sophomore Biology kids, but love my Junior Chemistry students to death! They seem to understand balancing equations, which makes me the happiest teacher in Africa! I also found out that if there is a skink running amuck in your classroom, the students will chase it with sticks until it runs out the door. That makes getting class started a wee bit chaotic. This last week, I started practice with my girls soccer team. We shall see how that goes, but I'm pretty excited.
IN FURTHER NEWS...
We also have our IST, or In-Service Training coming up. In years past, they have had the North and South at two separate trainings. This year they are combining us so I get to see all my dear friends up yonder. Super pumped. Our training is at the end of March so not that much longer and I get to see my peeps! Also, I had ringworm. Thanks a lot Duck! But no worries, we are both treated and all better. And one last thing, my cousin, Denise, is preggers!! WAHOO!!
P.S. My malaria medicine induces really strange, vivid dreams. The other night I dreamt that my older sister dressed up as Ron Burgundy for Halloween. If you don't know who that is, watch "Anchorman." It's great. The End.
