Morogoro: Part 3

Some things haven’t changed since our last post, and some things have.

We are still eagerly plugging away at learning Swahili, and it is still tough! We still regularly enjoy walks to stretch our legs after sitting all day. We still enjoy the gorgeous views. We still dread riding in a packed daladala to go into town. And we still have a similar schedule to the one previously mentioned.

So what has changed?

Different Sense of Community-  When the German students left, the number of boarders dramatically decreased. We genuinely miss their energy and enthusiasm for life, as well as all the field trips we experienced while they were here. Yet, we are also enjoying this new era in a smaller, more intimate community. All the boarders now sit at the same large table during meals. We spend weekend evenings playing games and watching movies together. We will often sit and talk even after we have finished our meals or snacks. Two of our favorite boarders are little Yasmin (age 3) and Yara (age 2). They remind us of our nieces and nephew (miss you three!). Yasmin and Yara tend to seek us out at meals. Yasmin is especially fond of Eric who lets her play with his iTouch after he has finished eating. Last night she ran to him as soon as she saw him heading towards the dining hall. It was precious!

Visits to the Orphanage- Since the last post, we have also begun visiting the local orphanage every Saturday. Our first trip was on Linda’s birthday, and in one visit, we were hooked :-) Emily, one of our friends from the States, joins us every week. We love playing ball with, wrestling with, cuddling and reading to the kids.

Internet- We finally got tired of paying by the hour for the school’s slow internet. The final straw was when we couldn’t manage to download Skype to Linda’s computer. We kept getting kicked off at the end of the hour, and we would have to start all over again.
Therefore, we went to town and bought an Airtel USB internet stick. It uses a cell phone signal to connect us to internet. It has been vastly better consistency and speed-wise, at least on Linda’s computer. Eric’s computer still doesn’t like to connect to the internet here, and we aren’t sure why. Even on Linda’s computer, we still have moments when we are reminded we are in Africa (i.e. we want to throw the computer out the window). Yet, we are thankful that we can now use Skype to talk with family and friends (audio-only).

Kiswahili Worship Services- We’ve attended a few more worship services in Kiswahili. One was the graduation of the Form 4 students (seniors) at the Secondary School on campus. We didn’t stay for the graduation, since the worship service itself was already 2.5 hours long and numerous family members were waiting outside to get in. While we didn’t understand most of what was going on, we LOVED the music because each grade formed their own choir, the teachers formed a choir, and there was a visiting choir. In addition, it seems like every time we sing we are part of a choir, because the entire congregation breaks into harmony.

Last week, we were also invited to a Thanksgiving service at another local Lutheran Church. That was quite the cultural experience! I think I will save the details for a later post.

The Weather- We are now hitting the end of dry season, and this has been an especially dry time across Tanzania. What does this mean? We have seen a lot of people carting water by bicycle. Our own water access has also been sporadic. We still have access to clean drinking water thanks to the kitchen staff. However, some days we don’t have warm water for showers, and some days we aren’t able to use the showers at all (all that comes out of them is watery mud). On those days, the staff provides us with buckets of water, so we can at least take a bucket shower. Since some of Tanzania’s electricity comes from hydro-electric power, the lack of water has also affected our electricity. So far we’ve always had lights at night, but sometimes it’s not available during the day (i.e. we can’t use the fan we bought during the heat of the afternoon.) We are praying for good rains during the rainy season (starting the end of October), because we know how much the farmers need it and we like warm showers :-)

So that’s the news from here! We hope and pray you all are well, and always enjoy hearing from you.

Morogoro: Part 2

We have been in Tanzania for two weeks now and we are settling into a rhythm.

Our Weekday Schedule

6-6:30am      Wake up - Depending on whether we need to study or shower

7am             Breakfast - Usually it is a buffet of yogurt, bread with butter and jam, uji which is a type of porridge, some kind of fruit, and sometimes eggs.

7:30am         Head back to our room to take our malaria prophylaxis and other meds and grab our books.

7:45am         Morning Prayer with the other students and teachers. We will sing a Swahili hymn and hear a scripture reading in English and Swahili. Then, someone will offer prayer (usually in Swahili) and sometimes we all say the Lord’s prayer in Swahili. After one final Swahili hymn, the day of classes begins.

8am             Class - We meet in small groups based on when you arrived and how long you are staying. Eric and I are together with our own teacher. The teachers rotate every week so we have a new one each week. This helps us get used to different styles and different ways people speak Swahili

10am           Tea Break - They offer tea, coffee, hot chocolate and some kind of snack such as popcorn, banana chips, fried dough, etc. Usually by then our heads our about to explode, so the break feels amazing.

10:30am       Class

12pm           Lunch - A typical lunch buffet is rice, beans, potatoes, a vegetable sauce, greens and some kind of fruit.

1pm             Break - This gives us a chance to rest, study, write emails, etc.

2:30pm        Class or Lecture - We will either continue working on our Swahili or hear a lecture on a specific topic. So far we’ve heard lectures on “Tanzanian Beliefs about the Spirit World,” “Malaria,” and “The History of Christianity in Tanzania”

4pm             Tea Break

4:30pm         Free Time - Usually we will go for a walk, go into Morogoro, or try to get online. Our favorite walking destination has been a baobab tree that is climbable. Trips to and from Morogoro require us to ride on a daladala (a 15 passenger vehicle that Tanzanians manage to fit 26 people into with a combination of sitting and standing.)

6pm             Dinner - Similar to lunch. Sometimes we will have noodles instead of potatoes. Other options may include chicken, fish, goat m, hot dogs, or occasionally pizza (though the toppings are a bit different- light on the cheese because it is so pricey, cut up hot dog, onion and pinapple)

7pm             Free Time - Usually this is when we do our homework and studying.

8:30 or 9pm  Internet - So far this has been the best time to get online, though it is still very slow. About all we have time for in an hour is checking Facebook and all of our emails. Twitter thus far has been impossible, but we are still working on it. Right now we use the school’s wireless internet and pay by the hour.

9:30-10:30    Get Ready for Bed - Shower and possibly some for-fun reading or a MASH episode (We brought the series.)

10:30-11pm  Bed Time

Field Trips and Extra Activities

The last two weeks the school has had a big group of college-age German students (about 25 students), so there have been a lot of extra activities. One evening we took a field trip into Morogoro so we could find our way around. Another night we had an International Dinner where everyone was asked to prepare a dish from their home country. We had dishes from Germany, the U.S., India, the Congo, Korea, and Tanzania and it was all delicious! One day we went for a 6-hour hike in the Mountains of Morogoro. The views were incredible! One night they brought in Traditional Tanzania Dancers and Musicians. And then yesterday we went to Mikumi National Park and saw elephants, zebras, giraffes, warthogs, hippos, impalas, etc. in their natural habitat. It was absolutely amazingly unforgettable! For pictures of all these events, go to www.facebook.com/AfunketimeinTanzania. You don’t need a Facebook account to see the pictures.

Weekends

On Sundays, we get up and go to the English worship service at 7am and sometimes to the Swahili service at 8:30am. Otherwise the weekends are pretty low key and unstructured (with the exception of meals. No sleeping in if you want breakfast). Almost all of the German students left today, so it has been pretty quiet. There has been a small short term mission group from Oklahoma staying here the last few days and we have enjoyed their company.

We have spent the day cleaning our dorm, washing our underwear by hand (we can pay to have everything else washed, but having someone other than family wash your underclothes is taboo), and organizing life. Last week, I (Linda) successfully cut Eric’s hair for the first time and it turned out really well! Power goes in and out. However, we were able to get this post up, so obviously the power has come back on after being off most of the day.

So that’s a little taste of our life right now. Thanks for your loving support and we learn to navigate this new world!

Morogoro: Part 1

We have arrived safely in Morogoro, Tanzania! Actually we arrived safely on Friday, but this is the first day we have had access to internetJ

Overall, our trip went very smoothly. Our flight to Dallas on Tuesday was delayed by two hours, but we were able to relax with Linda’s parents that night and run many errands on Wednesday before our evening flight.

Dallas to London-- Our flight from Dallas to London actually felt relatively short (only 8 hours). We sat next Blanca, a woman from Mexico who was heading for France for friend’s wedding. On the far side of our row was Michael, who with his wife and three children (sitting in front of us) was moving to Glascow, Scotland. He will be getting his PHD in history there, writing about how Scottish Presbyterianism influenced American Colonialism and the American Revolution. They were both wonderful companions during the flight and made the journey seem shorter. Eric and I both got 3-4 hours of sleep that night. In the “morning”, Michael shared with us that he had experienced some insomnia during the “night”, so while he had walked the length of the plane, he had prayed for us and our work in Tanzania. We continue to be amazed by the beautiful encouraging people God puts in our lives!

10 hrs in London— One of Linda’s friends from her Social Work program now works in London so he had given us detailed directions about how to get around in London (Thanks Daniel!) When we arrived in London, we paid to have our carry-on luggage stored and took the underground into Central London. Everything in London was far more expensive than we expected, so we decided to go the cheapest route. We bought sandwiches at a local store and had an outdoor picnic in Trafulgar Square where a big screen was set up to show the Para-Olympics (side note: the U.S. is totally missing out by not broadcasting the Para-Olympics. It’s truly a shame and we should all write NBC. While we had lunch, we watched a former U.S. soldier who had lost his eyes in Afghanistan which a gold medal in swimming. It was awesome!) We then spent the rest of the afternoon touring the National Gallery (free) and seeing the outside (the free part) of Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, the London Eye, Westminster Abbey, the Royal Guards, Parliament, etc. Walking around helped us stay awake for most of the day, though we did take a brief nap in one of the parks. Finally, we headed back to the airport.

London to Dar Es Salaam— The next flight felt much longer even though it wasn’t that much longer (10 hrs). We were seated in a two-person row on a half-empty plane, so we did have a little more space to spread out. However, even though were both tired, Linda had a lot of trouble sleeping thanks to her back. She caught up on movies instead.

Dar Es Salaam to Morogoro— Thankfully all our luggage made it safely to Dar! J In Dar Es Salaam we were picked up by Abdallah, the same driver who drove us back in February. Instead of having to catch a bus to Morogoro, he drove us and all our luggage himself. We both slept some during the 3 hr trip, but Linda’s back was ready for a bed by the end.

Since arriving in Morogoro— We have now moved into our dormitory. All our meals are provided and have thus far been very tasty. On Friday, we caught a lecture with the other students on Tanzanian beliefs about the spirit world. We also unpacked and went to bed right after dinner. We were beyond exhausted!

On Saturday, we went into town to get some cash and buy a new SIM card for our phone (our one from February didn’t work). What we thought would be a 1 hr trip turned into a 4 hr trip since we were in a car full of people all getting supplies (a good example of “African time”). Saturday afternoon we rested, called our parents, and started getting to know our classmates. There is one family from Zambia and a girl from Korea who have been boarding here for weeks. The rest of the boarders, like us, arrived this weekend. There is only one other American girl and the rest (about 25 students) are from Germany. So the dormitories are full of languages we don’t understandJ. However, everyone’s English is also fairly good and we heard there are more American students living in town who take classes during the day.

On Sunday, we went to the English service at 7am and then went to the Swahili service at 8:30. We figured we should start becoming accustomed to the sound of Swahili. Plus the choir at the Swahili service was spectacular. We even knew a few songs from our Valpo days (Thank you Dr. Brugh!). This afternoon we again rested (jet lag is brutal) and went on a tour of the campus with the other students. We also were able to finally access internet cards. We have to buy them an hour at a time, and they only had 2 hours available tonight. Hopefully we’ll get more tomorrow because the internet here is incredibly slow.

So there’s your extended update! I will try to keep the rest of them shorter, but we’ve had a lot of time on our hands the last 2 days which gave us a chance to document our journey in detail. Tomorrow we begin classes so we’ll have less free time. Thanks for reading and for all of your prayers on our behalf!!