Unasemaje?,

I believe I left off before we had dinner with the U.S. Ambassador to Tanzania at the end of last month. The 5 volunteers in the Dodoma region, all in our training class, myself, and our Country Director, Christine, had a wonderful buffet dinner at a very nice restaurant in town. The buffet included curry chicken, fresh fish, and STEAK. It was awesome. The Ambassador told us many stories about his time here in Tanzania and it was an enjoyable evening.

The next day I left for Dar to spend the night before heading back down south. I stayed with Francis again and he informed me we had to attend a funeral for a certain pig. Which meant we were going to have pork for dinner. We had to take a daladala at around 6pm when there aren't a lot running. But just as many people want to get on...

The Dar Daladala...

Francis and I arrive at the Mwenge bus stand to pick up a daladala to a local pork restaurant. As we approach a full daladala there is a big crowd gathered. Another daladala pulls in and people start running beside it. The door opens and people literally push against each other until all the passengers in are out and all that were out that can fit pile in. There is no waiting for people to exit. So Francis and I lay in wait for the next daladala. It pulls in and I grab the door and start to run with it nearly tripping over my own feet or other people doing the same thing. The daladala halts and the door swings open. I'm pushing the Mama in front of me as people battle to get past us into and out of the car. Absolutely crazy. Within seconds 25+ people have exited the vehicle and 25+ have entered and we're on the road again.

My trip back to Masasi was long and uneventful, too bumpy to read. Then came the month of guests: Anna, Steph, Josh, and Tony. Once I made it back to site I started preparing lesson plans and my house for all the visitors. After only 4 months I was finally gonna have my first real visitor. The week went by quickly and our headmaster informed the school of a slight problem. We have about 50 or so students supported financially by the national government and 25 or so by the regional government. Unfortunately, neither of these have paid the school yet for the students-the fees are due before school starts...well, supposed to be. Since those fees haven't been paid yet we cannot afford enough food to keep the students until the term ends and must end the term 2 weeks early. So I taught night classes and successfully got both my forms 2 weeks ahead in the national syllabus-the Form Is have been so good we're now a month ahead.

Anna arrived the second week of April. But it wasn't easy. The bus ride from Dar to Masasi took 26 hours. A few hours outside Lindi Anna spotted the buses coming FROM Masasi. (Look at the map of the Mtwara region.) 'Hmmm...they're only this far?!?' she thought. Soon after her bus arrived at a cue of vehicles and a giant mud pit. First lorries got stuck-but since the road is being worked on a construction vehicle, nicknamed the Caterpillar, was able to pull them out. Anna's bus was first in line but, if you ever visit a bank in Tanzania you would know, lines aren't respected here. So a bus, Akida company, went past them and got itself stuck. The Caterpillar tried pulling it out but got stuck as well. So and even LARGER Caterpillar connected to the smaller, which was still attached to the bus, and pulled both out. Then Anna's bus got stuck. 3 hours later they were free. 20 minutes later they found the Akida bus, which had left the mud pit 3 hours earlier, stuck and blocking the detour. So her bus tried to get through the main road but got stuck again. This time for only an hour or so. Finally, they made it to Lindi by midnight where the police refused to let the bus continue to Masasi until the driver got 3 hours of sleep. Finally, after leaving on Friday at 5:30am, Anna arrived in Masasi, Saturday at 7:30am.

I had school holidays on Tuesday and Friday the week Anna came to visit, so we got some extra time to hang out. We found these awesome spiders: one at my front door and the other in the backyard at the door to my outdoor kitchen. The one in the backyard is beautiful, shimmering blue with bright red legs. You can look at pictures on the April photos page. We called this one the Spider-Man spider. We also hiked to the Mwiti river which I've written about before. During our hike through dense forest we heard this weird bird calls that sounded much like manic laughter. It was coming from these shiny green birds with orange-red beaks. It made us laugh just listening to them. When we reached the river we had a picnic, took our shoes off, and walked through the river exploring downstream. The water was cool and only ankle deep...in most places. We found many sink holes, the deepest being almost up to our waists. The rest of the week we took advantage of electricity and watched movies because it rains about 3 to 4 times a day here. I'm also sad to say we played cards and Anna crushed me in almost every game. I showed her around school, we visited and ate at Geofrey's house, and then went back to Masasi so Anna could catch the bus back to Dar. I had been biking into Masasi a lot and didn't know just how bad the road had become. It was a tough ride in and at the worst part Anna and I thought we were actually going to tip over. And we were on the falling side, looking at the side of the road just a foot or two from our faces. Somehow the lorry stayed upright and we made it into town with only a few bruises from constantly knocking our legs and arms into the metal bars protecting us from falling out of the car. A lot of people came into town including Tony, Josh, and Michelle from the Deep South and Steph, Mike, and Joshua from our training group. We all hung out at Josh's and it was fun to get together as a group before Anna left.

Anna reluctantly got on the bus the next morning and arrived in Dar in only 20 hours. After she left Steph (who had biked into Masasi from her site in 5 hours) and I prepared to bike to my site. Once we got everything ready the rain started pouring down. With no way to know when it would pass we started our journey. The next day we would bike to her site from my site, then I would bike back to my site. Somehow, Steph and I always seem to have incredible journey's together...

Adventures with Steph...

The rain is pounding down on us as we walk our bikes to the bus stand. We reach the paved road and mount our bikes. Certain parts of the road are covered deep in water but we cut through them with little problem. I've never biked to my site in the rain and am not sure what to expect. We leave the asphalt behind for a mix of dirt, sand, and mud. I soon discover why the road to my site has become so bad: when it rains the road turns into, not just a river but at some places, a raging river. So not only are Steph and I biking uphill through sand and mud but we must also bike against a strong current. We arrive at my site in 3 and a half hours, clean up, check out my texting view, and get invited to Geofrey's for dinner-we are both very exhausted and grateful for this.

The next morning we wake, relax, watch a movie, and then prepare to bike to Steph's site. The trip will be through villages, no main roads, only paths. I had only done this once before with a guide and forgot to bring a map with the ever important names of the villages. Why are the names so important? Because there are about 15 different ways to get to Steph's site that vary between 3 to 7 hours. Knowing only our destination, we could be directed any which way.

After 2 villages I get us lost and we are on our way to a 6 and a half hour trip. But it was awesome...and frustrating (too much, impassable sand!). About 4 hours into the trip a local offers to guide us part of the way. We come to a river and cautiously climb our bikes down the slippery slope, lift them to cross the knee high water, and climb up a (luckily) dry, steep, narrow stream bed that will feed into the river during the next heavy rain. We arrive at flooded flat lands and begin pushing our bikes through the water. Soon we come to a strong flowing river. Our guide passes first almost falling but eventually getting across. I pick up my bike and pass through the water about mid-stomach high. The river is strong and I must be careful as to where I place my feet. Steph is one of the strongest people I know, mentally and physically, but the giant, scary, super-aggressive ants at her house have been biting her feet and they have become badly infected. They look horrible (sorry Steph) and after 2 and a half days of biking they were really hurting her so I carry her bike across and wait for her to wade through. She loses her footing and starts getting carried down stream. I grab her hand and start slipping myself. I grab her other hand just as she loses her footing completely. She quickly gets it back and pulls herself onto the river bank, still flooded but with far less current. We look at each other and just have to laugh. What a crazy journey.

We finally got to Steph's site. Mike biked there from Newala and has been waiting for 2 and a half hours. We share stories of our travels and hang out the rest of the night. The next morning Mike and I left Steph's and soon parted ways. It took me 5 hours to get back to site but it was uphill and I was armed with the names of the villages. I did go an hour out of the way but made pretty good time. I almost got swept away by a river and was lucky to have some swimming experience to fight the current. I was testing for a good place to cross with my bike and had laid it on the river bank. One wrong step and I almost got carried away. So biking, driving, just traveling in general has become more treacherous during the rainy season as evident from Anna's bus ride and our bike travels. But they make good stories and I hope you enjoyed them.

That next week was pretty normal except Josh came up on Wednesday for one night. We just hung out a little, he plays guitar and I have the acoustic plus a bass guitar so we played together a bit. Then he left and I realized I was real lonely. Having Americans who you can really talk to be around for a week and a half and then being alone is pretty hard. Even though I'm comfortable living here, the cultural differences make it difficult to relate things to Tanzanians. Also, since I had so many native English speaking guests my Kiswahili suffered a bit. So I was feeling a bit down. I keep in regular touch with a few PCVs one of which is Tony. I think I've mentioned a little about him before but here's a quick 'get to know Tony': he's a health volunteer who's been here for a year and a half. He's from Alabama and he and I met at the MangoTree workshop I went to back in December. We became close friends and I've seen him in my travels around the Deep South. He mentioned he was passing by the coming weekend so I asked him to stop by my site. I know this may have made things worse: another American, but he and I are able to talk about most anything and he offered a great deal of support while he was here. We also walked to the Mwiti River, so I've taken 3 out of 4 guests there-it really is a beautiful place. Tony helped me get my head straight and I feel ready to get back into work and integrate back into my community.

One more thing I thought of this month was how absolutely crazy it is that we teach in English. I've got a college degree, have been living in this country for 7 months, and I still can only speak basic Kiswahili words and phrases. The children we're teaching (unless they have English speaking parents) have only taken a few English classes in primary school and now must learn concepts like Physics, Chemistry, Biology, History, Civics and Mathematics in a foreign language. It's amazing they do well at all. Yes, sometimes it's frustrating, sometimes I'm lonely but I wouldn't trade it in. I care too much for the students and people I've met here. Until next month,

Justin