A LOT has happened since my last post. For starters, and probably most importantly, we had site announcements yesterday! Our group is going ALL over the country but I will be heading to the south eastern corner in a region called Mtwara. In my placement interview I had asked to be on the coast and compared to the other ICT sites I got exactly what I wanted! I will be teaching ICT at an all boys Catholic school. I'm not sure whether or not the school is a boarding school or not, but I do know I will be living on the school's campus and it sounds like there is a community of nuns and monks that also live at the school. I will have electricity and running water and have heard rumors that the area is known for their cheese and handmade sausages. Almost like I never left Wisconsin! I have also been told that I will be living very close to a natural spring that the area is known for. In fact, there is a bottling plant that bottles and sells the spring water on the map that the current volunteer drew to describe his site for me, which makes me think it will be close.
The volunteer that is at the site now was the first that the school has had and it sounds like he's been very successful. The school apparently has about 50 computers and is really well run, with high expectations of their teachers. (Very different than my internship school where teachers spent more time in their lounge than teaching...) I'm really excited to be replacing a current volunteer because not only will they have a lot of the household essentials I will eventually need, but I think he will also be really helpful in speeding up my integration into the school and community.
Ok, enough about my site. I will know more when I finally get there in a few weeks. I need to post about the headbanging competition I won!
In addition to being a fundi (making clothes) and running a small duka (general store) my mama is also an event designer! And a few nights ago I got to attend a send off party she decorated! It was an INCREDIBLE time but the highlight had to be the traditional music and dance portion of the evening. After a lot of gift giving (they literally showered the bride with stuff, including the traditional blanket for the baba and large pot for the mama) a musician with a large guitar like instrument made from a tortoise shell started playing traditional tribal music. The MC made myself and another PCT that was at the party get up in front of EVERYONE and essentially have a dance off! The traditional dance is almost like a competition between two men to see who can shake their head the hardest - essentially headbanging. It was an incredible cultural experience, and I totally won...
You are working with a volunteer who is taller than you? Impossible!
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