First, check the blog post below this. I think I (finally) got the pictures working. Pole sana! (very sorry!)
So I went on a Safari! A few weeks ago the whole training group got a full weekend off to go act like tourists for a weekend. We rented a couple buses and headed to Mikumi National Park, a few hours North (I think..?) of Morogoro. It's a fairly small park compared to the giants like the Serengeti, but it was pretty cool! We saw giraffes, hippos, zebras, baboons (right? I get my primates mixed up), gazelles, and elephants! It was pretty cool. Probably more than any of the animals we saw, it was nice to just be on our own for a weekend. Nothing against our great host families, but everyone feels a little like they're in high school again, so it felt good to be free!
What else? I started, and finished, internship teaching at Morogoro Secondary School. I taught physics to Form 1 students, which roughly corresponds to 8th graders, except they are in secondary (high) school. Its been exciting, rewarding, eye opening and a little frightening all at the same time.
I'm teaching two "streams" which basically means classes. In TZ, students all stay in the same room, and teachers move around. There are 60ish students in each class, which actually was less weird than I thought it would be since I'm used to larger college classes than smaller high school ones. It's a lot though. Teaching in English is challenging particularly to Form 1 students, as the language barrier is biggest. There is a really huge range in student's English ability. In both of my classes there were a few kids who I think were ready to answer every question I asked, in nearly perfect English. But, there were also kids who couldn't answer very basic yes or no questions I posed in English.
In general, students seem very motivated to learn and are well behaved (at least compared to American 8th graders!). Every day when I come in the classroom, all the kids stand up and say in unison "Good Morning Teacha" in their British/African accent. Its pretty cool.
What else? Swahili is going. Memorization is not my strong suit in any form, and it shows in my language acquisition. But, I'm definitely progressing. I'm understanding more and more from other's conversations and can get basic ideas across fairly well. I did good on the midterm written exam, and good enough on the oral one, so I feel okay, if not great on the language side. It's been more fun than I was expecting and it really is a pretty interesting language.
So the big news around here is the impending Site Announcements. It's happening this Friday, and everyone is VERY excited for it, including me. We're still in training, and haven't left Morogoro except to go to Mikumi since we left Dar. On Friday, we learn we're we'll be living for the next two years. Then the next day, we go there! We have a week long site visit, then head back here for a final week of training, then to Dar for a few days for swearing in, and we head to site for good! Site announcement means we know physically where we're going, what the climate will be like, what type of school we're at, if we'll have water and electricity, what other volunteer's we are near (and how far away from people we are). It also means we get to go on a trip and see some more of the country, wherever we are going! So yeah, its a pretty big deal.
There's lots of talk by the guys who make the site decision placements, by current volunteers, and by people who talk to those groups of people. So, there's lots of rumors going around. One I've heard is I'm heading to an A-level school, which means like upper high school (age 17-19ish), which would be pretty sweet. We'll see, I'm trying to not think about it until I know in 4 days!!
Oh I went hiking yesterday! It was sweet. We walked up a little mountain stream, got to see some amateur civil engineering proving water to a bunch of very basic houses on the side of the mountain. Also some really beautiful views of the town of Morogoro and just very Africany jungle.
K, I've got swahili to learn and undies to wash. Busy evening ahead! I suck and haven't posted pictures, but I promise I'm taking some, and stealing more from facebook, and I will post some within the week!
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