Russ's Adventures in Tanzania

Hi everyone. Well, after 27 months, we're almost done.

This past week was our last at site and the news got out pretty quick that we were leaving for good. There were lots of goodbyes to say: I had an official going away party at the Teacher's College where I was given a nice purple shirt and matching outfit for Lisa. We also went to town and the market where we took pictures with people and said goodbyes (I think Lisa is posting most of the pics online). We also went to several teachers' houses and had dinner with our close friends.

Oh, and of course, we had a party with the fellow volunteers in the area. Two Saturdays ago, we went to Dodoma to stock up on supplies (cheese, wine) and I fired up the pizza oven. It was a great time with good food and better people. We'll really miss the company of the mentals around us - best of luck to you all!

Last Wednesday and Thursday, we were busy getting our stuff together - one pile to give away, one pile to burn, one pile to take with us on our trip, and one pile to give to the next volunteer that will replace me at the Teacher's College. It took two full days to get everything sorted out, but we did it. Then some light cleaning at the house and we turned in our keys. We stayed the last night with Angus then boarded the bus to arrive in Dar where we're at now.

So, now we are at the PC office doing our Close of Service. Basically medical checkups and lots of forms to fill out. Then, off to our big trip - Ethiopia, Uganda, and Egypt.

Did I mention that it is quite windy these days around here? ;) Yes indeed it is. But that's nice - sitting in the shade is a pleasure and it clears the air of all the burning crops/trash/cooking fires. And just the other day I thought I detected a hint of moisture in the air...

Things are well here. Lisa and I are still at site, busy finishing things up at work. Lisa has final exams to write, deliver, and grade next week. I am not currently teaching, but finishing up some projects such as setting up a proxy server with web filter, repairing several of the PCs disabled by bad installations and a great Kenyan picture virus.

This past weekend we visited our newest site mates' villages in the south part of our district. We drove by Ben's site (sorry - we didn't have time to stop and say hi) and then continued on to spend the night with Tony and Carla. They were great hosts and we had a good time. I really enjoy going out to the villages - each are different in their own way and all are set in beautiful landscape, albeit dry.

This weekend, Lisa and I started cleaning up a bit at the house. I burned a big pile of papers and documents not needed anymore. Lisa cleaned out all of the closets and started making piles of stuff to give away. It's still early to be doing this, but we were bored yesterday and decided to be early.

We are planning on a big going away party/get rid of stuff day in a few weeks. We'll go to Dodoma to get some supplies (cheese, decent wine) and fire up the pizza oven. Should be good.

Well, Lisa and I are back at site (for a week or so now). We had a great time in Morogoro helping with the new Education Training - the new teachers are all really great and will do good things here.

So at this point we are staying here until our Close of Service in late November. We are both still at work - Lisa is finishing up classes and preparing her students for final tests in a few weeks, and I am getting in as much teaching as I can before my students are off to Block Teaching Practice at other Secondary Schools.

On the weekends we are planning day trips to get out to the villages to see the Environmental volunteers one last time at their sites. Other than that, we are starting to go through our stuff and begin to sort out what little we are taking and what we are leaving behind.

Also high on the agenda is our travel plans after leaving here. Right now we're planning to hit Uganda (to visit a good friend), then Ethiopia, then Egypt all in three weeks before flying back to Hawaii for Christmas. We've booked some plane tickets already and have been excitedly reading travel guides for the above countries - it should be an amazing trip. We'll take lots of pictures!

It's hard to believe that we've been here more than 2 years at this point and only have 6 weeks to go. I'll admit these are a tough few weeks left - we both really are ready to head out. But, we'll keep busy and they'll fly right by before we know it.

Hi all. Russ here writing from Dar es Salaam. Dar es Salaam? But I'm supposed to be at site! How did this happen?

Well, it turns out that Lisa and I are here and in Morogoro last week, this week, and next week to help out with the new training group coming to country. We applied and were accepted by PC TZ to help plan the 10 week training for the trainees. So that means that we were in Morogoro last week to develop the schedule, training materials, develop training sites, and meet with homestay families. This week were in Dar to receive them at the airport and get them to their training sites at the end of the week. Finally, we'll be in Morogoro next week to answer questions and teach classes about the Tanzanian Educational System and preparing for practice teaching in secondary schools.

And boy has it been a lot of work! Whew! Lisa did a great job typing and revising a day-by-day 10 week schedule, we've both revised/formatted the Training Welcome Book and Education Technical Manual, we'll be giving a session on Safety and Security, and next week we'll be doing sessions about how to live in homestay families, how to dress appropriately, and the above mentioned classes about education here in TZ.

So, 40 trainees arrive tomorrow and we'll do our best to keep 'em here safe and sound. Karibuni wote!

Hi all! Well, we had a great time on safari and other trips with John, Chris, Catherine, Hannah, and Alison, but they had to go so we sent them off from Dar last week. The following day we got on a bus and headed back to site. We arrived just fine to find the house in great condition (thanks Mzee Mariatabu and Mw. Sajigwa!). Then we proceeded to do laundry and catch up on sleep for the next several days!

On going into town, I was shocked to see that the local govt. had knocked down most of our "market". Some explanation - our market consists of a food section and a clothes/knick-knacks section. Well, only the food part of the market is designated to be there - the rest had grown up from squatters over the years (since everyone goes to the market every day for food, makes sense to put up your stall right next to that). Well, the Prime Minister was coming to town and it was a decree from higher up that all these squatters would be chased away, so... the govt. came in a burned/drove over all of the illegal sellers' booths. Which was just about everyone in the area. So, our town lost a big part of its charm and personality - all in the name of making things "cleaner". Fortunately for the sellers that I knew who had been chased away, they simply moved to another part of the area or got together to rent a permanent space in a building. So everyone is still around there, but scattered - and the area looks hideous. Viva la socialism and bureaucratic missals from up high - they know better than you!

Anyways, working on vacation blog posts - I'll get those up this week. In the meantime, here's a collection of photo galleries from the others:
John
Catherine
Hannah
Allison - http://homepage.mac.com/allie412/PhotoAlbum11.html
Chris - Bado
Russ and Lisa - Tunaamini kumalizia hivi karibuni