Sweet Spaghetti & Fresh Mandazi (Tuesday 7/7)

Once more, I woke up to my alarm and actually ended up snoozing it a couple times (bad habit)! I got up, brushed my teeth, and went to the office with Joseph. I like how simple the mornings are here as there’s no reason to rush when all you have to do is a handful of things. We arrived and I got set up for the day. My goal for the morning was to organize all of the work I’ve done so far on my Google Doc for Kolibri and work on making videos. The Google Doc that I’ve been adding to since January was quite disorganized and consisted of over 100+ pages of documentation! In case I don’t finish all of my videos by the time I leave, I want to make sure that I leave a foundation that is easy to follow and understand. I worked on my computer, and unsurprisingly, the power went out! Thankfully my laptop was charged and the WiFi has a battery back up. 

Doing computer work makes the time fly by and tea time comes quickly around 10:00am! Even though I’m quite hungry by this time, there’s no reason to head directly to tea. I need to gather Eli and Miraclin from their morning teaching posts before I go and usually have to wait for them to finish up. While I waited, I went to Jonathan’s office (just a random room he’s working in for the time being) and asked him about the stuff he told me he would get in the States. Before he left he told me that he would get more Raspberry Pis to work on (tiny computers for Kolibri to run on), old routers, and an HDMI to USB converter so I could make videos. Not only is it way easier to get those things in America, but way cheaper too (there are very large import fees for anything coming into Tanzania to promote internal production). Jonathan didn’t know where any of the stuff was and told me that he would look for me!

Eli and Miraclin were ready to go and we went to Roza’s place for tea. We had delicious bread, sweet potato, and tea for breakfast! The bread looked like it was made in a pot which seems to be how a lot of bread is made out here since ovens are not very common. Regardless of its pot-like shape, it was absolutely fantastic and had a lot of seasonings in it to give it a great taste. There were also interesting looking fried banana patties from a neighbor, but I was too full to try them. We enjoyed conversation over a meal and were stuffed by the end.

When we finished, we went back to the office where I continued the same computer work until it was time for lunch around 12:30pm. The WiFi here is quite slow so work can be brought to a stand still which is frustrating. I wanted to get some photos of my trip onto my computer so I set up my laptop to work on uploading them (the prediction timer said it would take 10 hours!). I left the office with Eli and his host Jordan to their row of houses. 

We hung out outside on a bench and talked with a bunch of other men who are a part of the education department who live on the row. The row just happens to be called “California” so everyone says they’re from California which gives everyone a good laugh. Since it’s lunch time, that means everyone needs to wash dishes and prepare their food. Rambo was outside washing his dishes and we all had a conversation about hand washing dishes. Of course Americans have their fancy machines, but from time to time we do hand wash things. Rambo also proceeded to come up with quite the complicated set of lies that some people called him out for while some agreed with him. He claimed that he had a wife and a child but there was no proof! Apparently, lying is something that Rambo is known for so Eli and I will test him in a couple of days to see if his story stays the same.

While we enjoyed the beams of sun on the bench, we watched ducks walk by and listened to music on a nearby speaker. The man who owned the speaker, Mapunda? was playing a ton of Disney songs and their weird renditions. It was funny to listen to Frozen’s “Let it Go” in Tanzania on a tiny speaker in July. Apparently, Mapunda really loves Disney music and it was nice of him to share it with us!

During the time outside, Eli let me on his hotspot to download a video of us dancing at church to send to him (Moses had just sent me the video). While I was connected, I got a text from Jonathan that all of the stuff they got for me in America is still in America, but there are a couple of things that they already had on hand here that could work. I looked at all of the pictures and it looks like I’ll have some more Raspberry Pis and routers to work on! 

We were outside until 2:00pm when it was time to go to Roza’s for lunch. Miraclin was nowhere to be found so it was only Eli and I eating lunch today. When we entered Roza’s home, we saw that she was cooking spaghetti which got us talking about the ridiculous spaghetti found in the Elf movie. To our surprise, the spaghetti (supa get as Roza says), was super sweet! We’re not sure if it was supposed to be sweet, but it was good nonetheless. We chowed down and drank tea with our main which paired wonderfully. 2:30pm came quickly so it was time to get to the office to work! 

It’s time for me to teach! Today I focused on Kolibri Studio which is the website we use to develop content to put onto Kolibri. Essentially if you want a teacher to have access to PDFs of a textbook, you must first put it in Kolibri Studio so it can be put into the Kolibri Server. The only problem with Kolibri Studio is that it’s an online resource and the internet connection here is HORRIBLE! The entire teaching experience only went okay as half the group was able to load in while the other half could not. It was hard to not bore the group that was ready and not leave behind the group that wasn’t ready. I can tell the education department members understand what I’m saying/teaching, but I’m not sure if they see the end purpose or goal we are trying to accomplish right now. In total I would say the teaching period was mildly successful and everyone there at least was able to sort of accomplish what I asked of them. However, the group was doing the best they could with the slow WiFi and that’s all I can be thankful for!

When I was packing up my things around 4:00pm, Roza came in and was very sorry that she missed the meeting I was just holding. She was adamant in catching up and I assured her that she didn’t miss anything important and that tomorrow we would be revisiting how to understand Kolibri as a whole so she is back on track. I appreciate her diligence and kindness to not fall behind with my teaching. There is so much on her plate that I simply can’t believe she can fit it all in!

Before I knew it, It was time to go home and change for volleyball! Eli came with me so I could give him some toilet paper I had on hand. Even though I only have one roll and nowhere to get another one, I knew he needed it as he hasn’t been feeling well! Once Eli left, I got dressed quickly before running to the volleyball court with Joseph as our warm up. On the way I explained to him all of the running I did in high school and he found it pretty interesting (I honestly miss running)! 

When we got to the main field, there were SO many students playing! I assume that every other day they come out here and enjoy their evening just like any other kid would (the other days they are cleaning). Most kids were playing netball, handball, football (soccer), or volleyball (lots of ball games)! If you’re as unfamiliar as I was, netball is a weird version of basketball that girls play. There is no dribbling or running with the ball, but rather lots of passing. Handball is a hands-on version of soccer that is similar to netball in playing style. Even though the other games looked tempting, I was here to get my volleyball on!

The next hour and half went by okay. To be honest, I played horribly for someone who’s played volleyball before. For some reason, instead of hitting the ball with the proper form, I would frantically slap it with both of my hands in an underhand motion with no control or send the ball into the atmosphere! Anyone watching me would think I’ve never seen a volleyball before in my life. What made it hard to even get into the groove of things was that I was never passed to. I played in the front row and our setter would always set it to the other hitter and not me (it’s fine but I ended up just standing around and doing nothing)! I’m not sure if it was because I was playing poorly, but I wanted to get the ball and prove myself!

 I had some good plays here and there, but nowhere near how I wanted to perform. Since I wasn’t getting the ball, I had more time to focus on how the rules of the game were being called and they were very wishy washy. For example, I played the ball on the net just like anyone else was and got called for a net violation. It was hard to not be frustrated, when the other team was doing the exact same thing! With how consistently the rules are called, I don’t know if we’re playing for fun or seriously! The scoring also seems to be very weird and does not make any sense at all. Out of nowhere it will be game point and you lose! Since it’s unclear what score we play, it’s hard to know if you’re about to win or lose. 

Eli was on the opposite team and we talked throughout all of the matches; he was lucky enough to be on the winning team. We both shared the sentiment that we don’t get passed to and hoped that in the future we can get some good plays in! Joseph was on my team and even though he had some good skills, he was quite the ball hog. Instead of passing the ball, he would immediately send it back over making it impossible for us to set up any sort of good play to outplay the other team. He would also blatantly hit other people’s balls leaving his position open for the other team to get an easy point. It was like he wanted to hit the ball every chance he could and not let the rest of us play! I’m not entirely blaming Joseph for why we lost so many times, but what I found is that the setter is one of the most important positions and when you don’t play selflessly in that position, you’re ruining it for the whole team. I know it’s fun to hit the ball and what not, but I hope he sees that passing the ball can be even more gratifying for everyone involved. For the first half of the time, the students played with us and would sub in and out with the adults. Even Eli subbed out at one point, but I was never asked to. None of the kids were that good, but were fun to include regardless. Their recreation time ended quickly and they had to leave, which left the teams full of adults! 

My team did not win a game until the very last one which is the only one that counts in my books (Eli’s team had to take down the net)! The only reason why we won was because of one player named Moses that let so many points get scored! I could tell that he was genuinely trying, but it’s hard to play the ball when it’s so dark out and you can hardly see the volleyball. 

All in all, I’m thankful that I even got to play and hope that I play better tomorrow!

We have a brief after game meeting, but don’t talk as much as we did last time. I said a few words on the importance of passing and Rambo (a member of the education department is always a jokester), “elected” me as a new team captain for my “helpful” words. We finished up and I left with Joseph back to our house to shower. On the way it was cool to see so many fires illuminate the sides of houses and cast shadows of people cooking or enjoying the warmth. Joseph informed me that he would not be at volleyball tomorrow as he has to go to church to practice for Sunday. When we got back, Joseph took a shower with cold water before going to Roza’s house to pick me up warm water. For whatever reason, there is actually no way to make warm water in his house as there’s no electric kettle, propane stove, or place to make a fire! As I waited for the water, I sat in the front room and thought about stuff.

When Joseph got back with the warm water, I took my bucket bath and made sure to not take my change of clothes into the wet, dark room. When I was finished, I got dressed and sat in the front room of the house with Joseph for about an hour. I didn’t do much and only freed up some storage on my phone (I should’ve read or blogged in hindsight). Joseph’s reasoning for staying at home instead of leaving Eli's house to spend time with others is that we don’t spend enough time relaxing at our own house! I think he just wanted to talk to his wife on the phone!

Eventually Joseph and I left and we began the walk to Eli’s house, but first made a pit stop at one of the houses for women (called ghettos, no negative connotation unlike in America). Since a lot of teachers and education department members are single or simply don’t have their significant other living with them at the moment, groups of the same gender will all live in the same house. Joseph wanted to introduce me to two women, Sophia and Shuma and talk with them. I sat down with Shuma and we had a small conversation. I learned that she’s a teacher of biology and chemistry and from a different region. While we talked, and this is no disrespect to her, but for someone that’s a teacher and must speak English for their job, she did not speak very well (perhaps she was simply just nervous to talk with me). She had to tell Joseph to tell me to slow down my already slowed English! When the conversation was about myself, she thought it was so funny how young I was!

We eventually left and were invited to come back tomorrow to learn Swahili before starting our journey to Eli’s house once again. Arriving at the house, Joseph and I went to the back room where Eli was already sitting there with Skuma and Leonard. We watched more gospel music videos together and Eli and I got tested on our music theory knowledge. I had to really think back to my high school band classes and was able to successfully figure out what key a specific piece of music was in (the more time I spend with music, the more I’m realizing how much I miss playing it)! 

I had the realization that music is so universal. The fact that a “C” is the same no matter where you go! I’m very thankful for the experience I got in high school to play music and how much I learned from my amazing director. I genuinely forgot how wonderful and fulfilling it is to create music, playing and writing. Simply put, I was not grateful enough for the opportunity I got in high school now that I no longer play an instrument. Part of me feels inspired to join a jazz band when I get back to Mines! In the videos we watched, it just happened to be that Skuma’s wife was in one and we learned a new word in Swahili, “piscella”. It’s not an official Swahili word, but means a beautiful woman! Soon enough it was time for us to go eat at Roza’s house and we were told to “pick up” our hosts once we were done eating.

At Roza’s house, the meal is not ready so Eli and I shuck corn waiting for the food to finish. We ate small fishes, ugali, and greens with avocado. Of course I did not eat the small fishes but everything else was fantastic. While eating, Roza talked about Justin’s massive farms and that we might go sometime this or next weekend to see them. Apparently he has over 30,000 avocado trees!

With the meal finished, it was time to dance (even though we were technically supposed to go back to get our hosts)! Eli and I danced a ton and Andrew showed up a little while late and danced with us some more. While we were dancing, Roza and Miraclin were making mandazi for tomorrow morning. The aroma of the fried dough smelt heavenly and we even got to eat a couple fresh from the pan. I’ve never eaten fresh mandazi before and it was amazing! It’s most efficient to make breakfast the night before so all you have to do is heat it up the next morning. Of course that means that the food is less fresh, but it’s nice and easy! We all enjoy busting a move and the mandazi until Joseph and Jordan come to pick us up. They join in on the moves before taking us back to our respective homes.

At the house, Joseph wants me to lock the door from the inside and I fail miserably. The latch and the latch hole are misaligned and require a lot of force to pull the door up to match the two together. After several attempts I couldn’t get it in, but it only took Joseph a second! I’ll get my redemption tomorrow. We both part ways and I get ready for bed, blog for a bit, and go to bed! I was exhausted and so grateful to have a warm and cozy bed to lay in!