Sun(rise) Salutations!

 "We're in Bagamoyo. Take this time to think about what makes you happy, how little it takes to smile, and to be grateful for all you have."

The former was said by Amel, a lawyer from Bahrain/ instant close friend who I first met when we shared a connecting flight from Dubai to Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. Amel said this as she was finishing leading a morning yoga session and I have been repeating it since. It is a perfect way to start the day with peace and gratitude. Africa is very much a sunrise/ sunset place as people live by the sun rather than electricity. Frankly, they don't have much choice as hardly anyone has electricity in their homes(huts) and the few places in town which do have electricity can't rely on it since the power frequently goes out. Honestly though it is quite refreshing to know there is a time work must cease as the night calls all to sleep.

While Cross Cultural Solutions does have a generator for power, they also have a 10pm curfew so the other volunteers and I are always back to home base by then. My usual habit has been going to bed at 10(3pm Eastern Standard Time) and waking up at 6am(11pm Eastern). It is interesting to think that as I'm waking up, people on the other side of the world are going to bed. I must say I love how I see the streets come alive as I walk on the dirt roads to the school I teach at. There is no such thing as staying in bed past sunrise here. The roosters and the people alike all rise to start a new day and each day I am greeted by dozens of smiling members of the town during my walk. Habari za asubuhi? (How are you this morning?) There is a group of volunteers from West Point and some ROTC volunteers so I've been joining them in their PT first thing in the morning. Some days we run, others we do ab work outs, or yoga. Whatever it is we do, we always feel more energized for the day ahead so it's certainly worth waking up for!  

Prior to leaving FL, I emailed the high school cross country team I coach along with other coaches. The boys' cross country coach told me that he was sure any run I did in Africa would be memorable. That certainly has been the case as I've enjoyed sunrise and afternoon runs. One afternoon, a friend and I were running and I asked him how much farther he wanted to go before turning around. He nonchalantly pointed a good bit ahead and said, "We'll turn around at that hut." Of course this was comical because we were passing huts the entire way. Nonetheless, I'm sure the next time I'm on a long run I'll picture those huts instead of light posts. African sights will surely follow me in every race I do the rest of my life be it a training run or another marathon.

This morning(Tuesday- 12- July-2011) was a personal favorite morning as I woke up with six fellow volunteers at 5:40 to walk ten minutes to the beach and do our yoga session there. It was so calming to do standing strength to the sounds of the Indian Ocean. We went from warrior poses in the dark to sun salutations as the sun rose. We then sat peacefully in the sand to take in the beautiful sunrise with open eye meditation. I am slowly learning to let go of the fast pace western ways and embrace the slow life style in Africa. As we say in Swahili, "Pole, Pole." (Slowly, slowly)

And because it bears repeating, wherever you are...

"Think about what makes you happy,

how little it takes to smile,

and be grateful for ALL you have."

7/8-7/10 Safari!

"Live it, love, it, bleed it." "Love ya Lions!" Being the daughter of two Penn State alumni and the sister of another, I was born with a love for lions. While growing up I saw lions in zoos and of course there was the famous stuffed Nittany Lion in Paterno Library at Penn State. Yet there certainly is nothing like seeing lions a mere three feet away! The latter is what I did this weekend in Mikumi National Park. It was about a five hour drive from Bagamoyo to Mikumi which was an adventure itself complete with one of the land cruisers breaking down leading the seventeen of us to go from three vehicles to fitting in two vehicles. The third land cruiser was fixed by Saturday morning though and it was all worth it as we unexpectedly saw nocturnal lions right on the highway when driving on the main road through the park at 8pm on Friday evening.
Saturday, we woke up early to drive an additional two hours from the hotel at the edge of Mikukmi to Udzungwa Mountains National Park so we could start our day with a morning hike. We hiked to see the largest waterfall in Tanzania, which is 170 meters high. The view was breathtaking of the falls and also of the vast horizon out beyond us. While hiking we saw monkeys all through the trees and an array of various butterflies. We felt as though we were the ones on display as all the locals shouted, "Mzungas" as we drove by, meaning white people. Following lunch we drove back to Mikumi to begin our first safari. After a quick trip through the museum to read up on the animals we'd be seeing we reboarded the land cruiser with the top up so we could stand taking in all the beauty surrounding us. The first thing we spotted was impalas and our guide wouldn't stop to take pictures, insisting, "Impalas are like chocolate at the super market. You'll see plenty." They certainly were everywhere as we went on to see elephants, zebras, warthogs, giraffes, camels, and more! We did get to stop when it came time for sunset, which we watched at the Hippo Pool! While the four hour safari was incredible we were anxious to see lions again as we had Friday night but there were none to be found on Saturday.
Sunday morning, we woke up early for the sunrise safari, entering Mikumi first and beginning with the top closed as it was chilly enough to see your breath. Twice as many animals were out at sunrise and in large groups, including over twenty giraffes together. It was the coolest things to watch the giraffes sprint across in lines after one another. Once the sun had risen enough we took the top up to stand up and I must say my favorite part of the safari was being right in front with my arms spread open along the open paths of nature! Just when we were about to give up hope on seeing lions again we spotted five! We drove extremely close to watch them interact with one another and cross right in front of our land cruiser. I am loving being immersed completely in the land of Tanzania and now even more, I love those lions!

Becoming "Madam" at Mwasama

 "Madam, we need you to teach this class from now on. The previous teacher isn't coming back." These were the first words I heard this morning as I arrived to the second day of my volunteer placement at Mwasama Primary School.
To backtrack to my first day of placement, yesterday on Tuesday, I observed how the school works and spent time in the kindergarten, first, second, and third grade classrooms. There are just four teachers who work at the school, one teaching each grade. The classrooms are basic with open doors, no lights besides what comes in from the open windows, and only one chalkboard per room. The bathroom is a row of buckets in stone walls. In addition to the four classroom buildings there are two buildings of bunk beds for the parentless children(street children or orphans whose parents died of HIV/AIDS) who attend the school. The school is designed to help the children learn English so they are not suppose to speak in their native language while in school. Their textbooks(only the teacher actually has one) are written in English and they try very hard to use that English the best they can.
As  I entered the gates yesterday to the school after signing in with the security guard I was immediately bombarded with hugs! Every child grabbed my hand and started singing a greeting song to me which starts with, "Welcome Madam" It was so precious to see how excited they were for my arrival. For the first two hours I helped the third grade teacher teach a math lesson on length and width. I then visited the Kindergarten classroom where I had all fourteen students hanging on me at once. At 10AM a bell rang for snack and all four rooms of kids emptied out with kids carrying their cups to get porridge. A student brought me chi to have with the Tanzanian version of doughnuts. I'm usually not a tea fan but I quickly found out I love Tanzanian tea! It is very sweet. I was surprised to learn that it is the norm for the teachers to sit and have their tea while the students play during this time. After half an hour of playtime the students go back into their classrooms as the teachers continue their tea in quiet. I told the other teachers how this would not be permitted in America as we are always supervising our students. The teachers at this school do not have a planning period though so I suppose it is the only small amount of time they have sans students. Following the tea break, I went to teach second grade for the rest of the morning. I helped with the English lesson teaching opposites. The teacher then asked me to step outside the room with her. She explained how difficult the day is for her since the school is shorthanded and asked me to teach a game so I taught the class Simon Says, which the students loved. At noon it was time for me to go back to the Cross Cultural Solutions home base for lunch and my own Swahili classes followed by other activities planned. The goal of Cross Cultural Solutions is cultural exchange so half my day is spent volunteering and the rest of it being immersed in the culture in other ways, such as visiting historic sites and participating in traditional dances.
Last night after the cross culture activities, I planned a matching game on opposites to use with the second grade class and devised a schedule of how I would spend my morning so I could work with all grades since the second grade teacher wanted me to teach English and it is at a different time each day. As a teacher, I've learned to overplan and then go with the flow. That was exactly what I had to do this morning when I was was ready to show the teachers my schedule and instead informed the third grade teacher I spent two hours with yesterday quit and would not be returning. There is a major shortage of teachers here in Bagamoyo so if I didn't happen to be there to help the teachers for my volunteer placement than the classes would have to be rearranged in some way. The third grade class of thirty students were happy to see me and immediately stood up to greet me by singing the "Welcome Madam" song as I entered. I grabbed a piece of chalk and began teaching for that's what I'm here to do. I must admit that piece of chalk quickly became four pieces as I discovered I am not used to writing in chalk. So while it took a few pieces of chalk I made it through day two and am excited for the rest of my days as Madam!

Safe & sound in Africa!

I'm here and everything is amazing thus far. I went for a run as the sun was rising this morning with another volunteer and told her I felt like we were running through a movie set. Obviously, not a glamorous one as we ran by people living in huts, but it just still feels unreal to be in Africa. Here's a quick recap of the past days:

Friday/ Saturday= Travel:
-After enjoying seeing Spiderman on Broadway Thursday night and spending time with friends in NYC, I took the subway to JFK on Saturday morning.
-My first flight was almost eleven hours but went by quick as we were served three full meals that I enjoyed between reading, movies, and sleeping.
-I had a three hour layover in Dubai, which is the most ornate airport I've ever seen.
-The second flight was about six hours and there ended up being another volunteer in my group who joined the one volunteer and I who flew out of JFK.
-The flight landed on time and the three of us, filled out our paperwork, and then got our baggage and met four other volunteers who had arrived earlier.
-During the flights I met quite a few people venturing to Africa for various reasons. There was a large high school group of kids going to volunteer in Kenya. During the layover I made friends with a girl from Germany who was going to Tanzania to volunteer in a hospital. I also met a guy from Austria who was coming to Tanzania to work on a farm for eight weeks, along with a few Americans coming simply to vacation.
-Due to traffic it took about two and half hours to get from the airport to Bagamoyo where we were greeted by the rest of our volunteer group and enjoyed a delicious dinner! There are seventeen total volunteers in the group who are all wonderful people. The staff here at Cross Cultural Solutions is also extremely friendly and welcoming.

We had a busy day of exploring historical sites today but there's too much of that to write now. So for now, lala salama! (sleep well)