Reporting for duty!

Saturday 22.03.2014

We went back to Karatu for a weekend and this time it was Ndetio again who drove us to Endamarriek. Going to Karatu means having to make the trip from Endamarriek to Karatu with the daladala and as always it was very cosy! This is something I have gotten used to over time. I don't mean having little space but the 'cosiness'. Here people don't mind when they're touching each other, while in Belgium people always try to have some space between them and someone else. In Tanzania, people lean against each other, sit against each other and hold each other's stuff. You're in it together, literally and figuratively.

After having breakfast at the guesthouse it was mister Snorrie that made his way around Karatu with us. He took us to the ATM, the post office and eventually his home! There we saw his daughter Veronica, who we had met before. Apparently it is a habit here that when you visit someone you get something to eat. Mister Snorrie gave us a drink and something to eat from his shop (their house is one room that is split in two; they live at one side and the other side is their shop). Because his wife was absent, he had to keep open the shop. He quickly put in a film for us and went back to work. When his wife arrived she started making food for us. People here are really welcoming and inviting :)

Even after he had spent the entire day with us, Snorrie still drove us to the shop to buy a modem. We always borrow Happy's and put in our own phone card, but sometimes she isn't there and then we can't upload our blogs. Consequently, we wanted to buy our own which we could maybe give to the students that are coming next year or leave it here. Unfortunately, they wanted to charge us double the normal price. They do this because we're mzungu's and they assume we have money but still it didn't fly with us. We wanted to ask Happy if she could go and buy it for us, but we couldn't find her.... No modem it is then!

Towards the evening Snorrie brought us to Happy Days, where we had pizza! Yummy! :) After dinner, we went back to the guesthouse.

Sunday – 23.03.2014

Happy birthday, Ian! You're getting old, dude! 25 already :p

So what did I do to celebrate your birthday? I went grocery shopping (Party...), then went to Happy Days (Party! Seriously though, PARTY! :D) and in the evening came the real celebration: crisps! So don't worry, I did your birthday justice ;)

Monday – 24.03.2014

On Monday morning, harsh reality set in. I'm not as good at getting up early as I thought. I've become a lot better at it since I've been here, but getting up at 6.30 am so we can be at school at 7 am (no, that's not a typing mistake. It's really 7 am.) is still difficult. Why do we have to be at school at 7 am you ask? Well, Astrid and I proposed to do duty this week. This means supervising everything the students do. Just so you know, they do a lot!

After waking up early, we had another bridge to cross (more like road). We had to get to school. It had rained the entire night. Consequently, the roads had turned into mud pools again. Just like us, most students had difficulties getting to school. There weren't even 20 students there! Something to write down in the book since we were teachers on duty.

Another thing you have to write down is what the students and the teachers get for mid-morning breakfast and on Monday it was …. NOTHING! For the first time since we'd been here, we didn't get breakfast at school. Do you know what four little cookies at 6.55 am and nothing else until 2 pm lead to? A very, very, very hungry Laura!

From 2.30 pm until 4.30 pm the students have to do chores, which again was something for us to supervise. The students got told what they have to do in Kiswahili. Consequently, we didn't really know what we were supposed to supervise. You can't really tell somebody that they're doing it wrong when you don't know what they are supposed to be doing....

At 4.30 pm we hurried home and had dinner because at 7 pm we had to be back at school to supervise the evening study session. At 10 pm, it was over and we went straight to bed, because we knew what was coming the day after.

Tuesday – 25.03.2014

We knew we would have to be awake pretty early, but we didn't expect to be woken at 4 am and definitely not by a rat instead of our alarm clock. Since we were awake, everyone had to be awake. At least that were the consequences when we saw the rat and screamed for Pweza to come and save us. He showed up after 10 minutes and by then the rat was already gone, but still I couldn't really fall asleep again. Consequently, the day was even more tiresome than the day before.

One of the chores the students had to do Tuesday was cleaning out the old staffroom so it can be turned into another classroom. When we found a long rope, the girls started rope skipping. Five minutes later the head boy found a Canadian flag and immediately he turned himself into the superhero he is by using it as a cape. Maybe next time he can come and chase the rat out of our room.

Wednesday – 26.03.2014

The next day was a looooooong day. Why? Because I had to teach for 6 hours and no matter how sweet those students can be, they're still teenagers. They don't always listen. Admit it, you didn't either when you were a teenager. Thankfully, the last two hours I had to teach in form 4 and they did cooperate.

Afterwards, there was the debate and while all the students are hesitant to speak, barely any girls came to the front. We told them that during the next debate they have to participate or otherwise we will organise an extra one, just for the girls.

Thursday – 27.03.2014

Every Thursday the teachers on duty have to check something concerning the students their appearance. This is what was going on when we saw the teachers check the hair the week before and this time it were the nails. They can't be too long and they have to be clean. We didn't know exactly which length was allowed but from seeing the nails from the teachers and most of the students we got the picture: they had to be short.

A couple of hours later I was crying. No worries, I wasn't sad, but I was visiting mama Regina. Even though, I love sitting with her, the smoke from the fire makes me teary-eyed sometimes. Nevertheless, it could never keep me away from her. I like spending time with Regina and during breaktime some of the students stop by as well. Fact is that  they're a lot more open just because we're in a different environment and I really enjoy the small conversations I have with them there.

Friday – 28.03.2014

Head boy! Head boy! Where is that superhero when you need him to chase away a rat! No kidding, there was another rat in our room. It is going to take me awhile to start sleeping decently again....

The nightly visit from the rat kept occupying my mind but there was no way around it: the mid-term examinations have to be prepared since they are starting in two weeks. After that it are the holidays.... Safari time! :D

XOXO

You know you love me! (Sami, ge wordt hier gemist!)

Laura