On my own...

February 9, 2019

On my own….

Today I decided that it was time for me to venture alone downtown and back.  So this morning, I wandered out across the highway and caught a dala dala. When they are packed with 25 people, they are quite uncomfortable but I was lucky and caught one with only about 12-15 people. The young man who slaps the door seemed to understand where I wanted to get off so all was well.  Then I walked for about 20 minutes to get to the Elephant roundabout and easily found the Boma Museum. (Dala dalas aren’t allowed in the downtown area so one must get as close as possible and walk.) The Boma Museum is housed in a complex of buildings which were built by the Germans in about 1880 when they grabbed Tanzania as one of their colonies.  They lost it to the British in 1919 after the first world war. It’s now a Natural History Museum with a few interesting animals in the garden.

Entrance

Main Building

When I arrived, I paid 14,000 TZS or about $6.00. There was a tour guide who was very good. I shared the tour with a couple of young women who showed up soon after I did.  I noticed that they didn’t speak English and I was surprised to discover that I understood most of what they were saying. I asked, “Why do I understand you? Are you from Italy?"  (Good guess.) “Si,” they said. My Spanish from decades ago came to the surface of my brain at just the right moment. It’s very close to Italian.

Like I said, the guide was very good. One of the women seemed to be some kind of scientist because she kept asking him for the latin name/genus of some of the animals. And at one point they were talking about the periodic table of elements when we were shown some calcite minerals. The guide knew all the answers to her questions. Many of the dead and stuffed animals I had seen on safari so that wasn’t too interesting—except for the warthog. I didn’t get a good close up of a warthog. This one was stuffed. They are so ugly, they’re cute.

The real live animals included several tarapins, an eagle, and a very interesting stork. All of them I saw up close. Sorry, no photos.

When the tour was over, the guide asked us for his fee. I didn’t know there was a fee for the tour.  I asked him what the usual was and he said 20,000 TZS. I laughed. NOT!!! That’s almost $9.00 –more than the entrance fee.  I was thinking along the lines of 2000 and I gave him 5000.  John later confirmed that 2000 would have been sufficient. We both laughed at the 20,000. Some people are just silly.

After the museum, I was really really hungry.  I wanted to go to the buffet at Naaz that John had told me about, but they didn’t have one when I walked by.  I ended up going to Fifi’s which isn’t all that good….just expensive. I did pick up some bread there. The loaf I bought when I got here a month ago got a bit moldy in my fridge so I decided another one is in order. I don’t eat much bread, I guess. I’m hoping to have avocado toast. The avocados here are about as big as a large pear and cost less than 50¢ each. The bread is made locally. 

After Fifi’s, I walked down to Rushdah (spelling?) which is a “supermarket” with lots and lots of stuff. BUT it wasn’t open. On Saturdays, many businesses close in early-afternoon.  AARGH!  My bad. I went over to Dolly’s and got some samosas. Then, I walked to another “supermarket” (small grocery store) which isn’t nearly as plentiful as Rushdah but at least I got some yogurt. When I was ready to go home, I was tired and h-o-t so I decided to have an adventure.  I caught a bajaji!!!  It was soooooo fun! There I was in the 3-wheeled vehicle with the door flaps open racing through town with a breeze swirling through the little cabin. A bajaji is, in theory, safer than a piki-piki (motorcycle that doesn’t follow the rules of the road) and cheaper than a taxi. And of course, a bajaji is way safer than walking because feet are  the most dangerous mode of transportation. (Today, I almost got run over while I was in the middle of a crosswalk and a car that was stopped for pedestrians decided to go before I’d crossed. I could have reached out in front of me and touched the car. And I thought the piki-pikis were bad!) 

OK, I digress.The bajaji whizzed through town, and I noticed whizzed through a red light at an intersection but, hey, it worked. I got safely home. The driver charged me 2000 more than John was charged for pretty much the same trip. I guess I got the old lady Wazungu rate.

Here’s a photo of the driver of the bajaji as he dropped me off at Kundayo.  It really was soooooooooo fun!!!

My iPhone is telling me that my storage is full. That's probably why sometimes it won't even open and other times, the camera won't work.  I deleted practically all the videos and many many photos and apps and music and it still says it’s full. So, I might be limiting my photo taking if I have to use my heavier and larger camera. Bummer! Looks like I needed to delete yet more safari pics....or not go crazy taking them in the first place.

Albino Peacemakers

February 7, 2019

Albino Peacemakers

On Thursday, Janet and I went to Albino Peacemakers. A group of people from the United States went there as part of their tour and we went to hear the presentation about the Peacemakers group; and, I wanted to see how the women interacted with them in order to be more specific and applicable with the English I taught. They certainly had the routine down.  They moved their sewing machines out of the covered area and into the shade and were working when the group arrived.  

The group sat in a circle under the covered area.  Terry gave an excellent talk about Albinism—causes, prejudices against it, health problems like cancer and the serious danger that these people are in because they are sometimes killed or mutilated for their body parts. "Traditional" Doctors aka Witch Doctors have convinced some people that wearing a bag of ground up Albino body parts will make them wealthy very quickly.  Of course, the witch doctor is the only one getting rich.  Here’s a site you can access to learn more about it:

https://www.underthesamesun.com/

Siwema, one of the best English speakers spoke about having a child with albinism. Then the group went shopping.  Most of the women managed very well with the English with only  a few kerfuffles. I had to smile when one of the Americans asked Arafa (standing behind a counter), “Do you make these, too?” And Arafa said, “No.” Then the woman said, “Oh, you must not be one of the sewers.” Arafa thought she was asking if she had made the bag that the woman held up, AND, since Arafa is black with an albino family member, the woman thought she wasn’t one of the sewers. I think that Terry explained that the women in the workshop are either albino themselves or have a family member who is….but I’m not sure everyone caught that. After the group left, I chatted with each of the women…well, a couple of them don’t have enough English to actually “chat” but I talked to each of them. They made quite a bit of money that day—I think about $180—and after their overhead, each woman, who is an independent contractor of sorts, will get about $10. (I spend more than that a week on water.)

Janet took these photos of the afternoon when the visitors were there.

Speaking of water, I've been going through about 3- 10-liter jugs a week. Getting the water is problematic. I can't carry enough water so I have to take a taxi.  After the meeting at the workshop, Ray took us to the Perfect Choice Supermarket (think small grocery store), and I bought 10 10-liter jugs of water.  Yes, TEN JUGS of WATER. I'm good for about a month. YES! It cost me 66,000 TZH. That's about $28.

February 8, 2019

English at the workshop….

I left at about 9:20. Here I am on my way...leaving Kundayo. (LOL)

I arrived at about 10:00 and chatted with the women for a bit.  Then I pulled aside the ones who could speak pretty good English (3 of them) and we listened to some dialogues and talked about the parts of a conversation and practiced it. I looked through my old teaching files in the cloud and discovered some dialogues that my former colleagues, Ron and Tim, recorded about 20 years ago. Then I downloaded them to my iPad and there you have it. I encouraged the women to use the English rejoinders, even if they were speaking Swahili so maybe the workshop will ring with “uh-huh” and “that’s great” and “I see” and “WOW!”

With the others who are a bit lower-to-no-English, we went over some vocab that I noticed was problematic the day before. Then we went over common questions and answers that they might hear with the groups. Finally, we practiced counting aloud quickly as they added up the items the visitors might buy. Sauda, one of the women with the lowest English, was one of the best ones with counting and adding up the items. (They were counting silently so the buyers sometimes thought they didn’t know how to add up the purchases and there was some confusion. This is why they want to learn English...to be able to communicate better with the visitors.)

The two hours went quickly. I left and walked over to my favorite produce stand about a kilometer away. Then I walked home which is about 2 kilometers.  It was so hot that my clothes were completely wet and my hair was dripping.  I don’t feel so miserable when I’m walking and sweating but after I get home, I feel….well, the online dictionary describes it as “damp, dank, wet, moisture-laden.” That about covers it.  Icky!

I don’t have any photos of the workshop that day but I do have a couple of the mysterious black gate behind which one can find the Albino Peacemakers.